I went to high school with Ru Paul. Trust me, he's gay and not at all closeted about it. Sweet guy.

In reply to this comment by raven:
I didn't think it was particularly gay... I mean, Elton John is pretty out about his sexuality, but I don't know if Ru is gay or not, and I've always found it to be rather presumptuous to simply assume that a female impersonator is gay.

But we can *gay it up if you want.

But I REALLY like bananas!

In reply to this comment by MINK:
I just disagree. there IS such thing as "good" music, and there is such thing as "crap" music. but there's some different issues getting mixed up here, so let me explain...

The comparison to filet mignon and bananas is pathetic. Man did not create bananas. Nobody had the choice of creating a totally new plant and decided on the banana. The banana is not art. You could even say the banana is a higher form of food than filet mignon, because god/evolution made it over a period of billions of years. That has nothing to do with 2unlimited making a pop song.

anyway. i could write a book about this but... consider this question:

is it possible to study music?

if you answer yes, then please stop with your postpostpostmodern "it's just my opinion" bullshit. There is a theory of music. It works. Pop sells because it uses the theory very well. Bad songs don't use the theory well. The theory is scientific. If you study it you will write "better" songs. Some people have better intuition, but you can study it.

Some writers, for example Elton John, churn out the same stuff over and over, and i personally can't stand it. But it is good music. I would prefer if he innovated more, and i vomit at the thought of having to endure one of his concerts, but i have to accept that he is a master songwriter. Not just because of his popularity and durability, although that's a pretty good indicator.

You are getting confused by genres. There is good pop and bad pop, good techno and bad techno, good classical music and bad classical music (but we kinda lost all the bad classical over time, because it was bad, so now it looks like all classical music was perfect)

You might not like these modern repetitive drum sounds, but your african ancestors did.

You might prefer Kylie to Celine Dion, but they both make good quality music. People use the words "bad" and "good" to encompass all things, but i would argue that there are fundamentals at work, and then your preference is a thin layer on top.

Peronally, I call Celine Dion "bad" but i am expressing an opinion on the way she does not innovate, she goes for the easy win, and i think innovation is essential because it's how we got to the great music we have today. But hey, not everyone wants to contribute, some people just want to cash in.

Bjork is right that if music makes you happy, you should listen to it and enjoy it and not worry about snobs.

BUT

She, and the commenters above, are wrong to dismiss the idea that you could actually educate yourself and improve your taste

Taste isn't a lucky dip of equally valid choices, it is a scale from bad taste to good taste.

A person with good taste usually likes many genres, but chooses the particular songs and artists carefully. He/she usually plays an instrument or sings or has studied music or has had parents who constantly played good music in the house. Coincidence? Or education?

I am not just being technical here, music has many facets which take more than 15 seconds and an IQ of 56 to appreciate, and the music industry and media distort the supply of music, and governments don't seem interested in teaching music, so look at the crap we get.

In summary, i just can't stand it when people say it's all a matter of taste. It is not that simple.

it should be noted that bjork has never made a shitty song in her life ... so is she just saying that's it's an accident that she was born with the same tastes as millions of people? Or is there something fundamentally powerful in her music that makes people change their tastes... to move their tastes closer to hers, because they learnt something without even noticing. Does she just write whatever frequencies she feels like? Or does she use a piano with strings tightened to frequencies which are mysteriously "good" and accepted by billions of people?

Does anyone "prefer" the 6.34572/42 time signature?? No.

Would you accept that the reason you don't understand some music is because you are ignorant? You say you "don't like it" as if you've taken the time to study it and come to a knowledgeable conclusion. I guess you haven't.

You just say it's all about taste because you can't be bothered to learn anything.

I just disagree. there IS such thing as "good" music, and there is such thing as "crap" music. but there's some different issues getting mixed up here, so let me explain...

The comparison to filet mignon and bananas is pathetic. Man did not create bananas. Nobody had the choice of creating a totally new plant and decided on the banana. The banana is not art. You could even say the banana is a higher form of food than filet mignon, because god/evolution made it over a period of billions of years. That has nothing to do with 2unlimited making a pop song.

anyway. i could write a book about this but... consider this question:

is it possible to study music?

if you answer yes, then please stop with your postpostpostmodern "it's just my opinion" bullshit. There is a theory of music. It works. Pop sells because it uses the theory very well. Bad songs don't use the theory well. The theory is scientific. If you study it you will write "better" songs. Some people have better intuition, but you can study it.

Some writers, for example Elton John, churn out the same stuff over and over, and i personally can't stand it. But it is good music. I would prefer if he innovated more, and i vomit at the thought of having to endure one of his concerts, but i have to accept that he is a master songwriter. Not just because of his popularity and durability, although that's a pretty good indicator.

You are getting confused by genres. There is good pop and bad pop, good techno and bad techno, good classical music and bad classical music (but we kinda lost all the bad classical over time, because it was bad, so now it looks like all classical music was perfect)

You might not like these modern repetitive drum sounds, but your african ancestors did.

You might prefer Kylie to Celine Dion, but they both make good quality music. People use the words "bad" and "good" to encompass all things, but i would argue that there are fundamentals at work, and then your preference is a thin layer on top.

Peronally, I call Celine Dion "bad" but i am expressing an opinion on the way she does not innovate, she goes for the easy win, and i think innovation is essential because it's how we got to the great music we have today. But hey, not everyone wants to contribute, some people just want to cash in.

Bjork is right that if music makes you happy, you should listen to it and enjoy it and not worry about snobs.

BUT

She, and the commenters above, are wrong to dismiss the idea that you could actually educate yourself and improve your taste

Taste isn't a lucky dip of equally valid choices, it is a scale from bad taste to good taste.

A person with good taste usually likes many genres, but chooses the particular songs and artists carefully. He/she usually plays an instrument or sings or has studied music or has had parents who constantly played good music in the house. Coincidence? Or education?

I am not just being technical here, music has many facets which take more than 15 seconds and an IQ of 56 to appreciate, and the music industry and media distort the supply of music, and governments don't seem interested in teaching music, so look at the crap we get.

In summary, i just can't stand it when people say it's all a matter of taste. It is not that simple.

it should be noted that bjork has never made a shitty song in her life ... so is she just saying that's it's an accident that she was born with the same tastes as millions of people? Or is there something fundamentally powerful in her music that makes people change their tastes... to move their tastes closer to hers, because they learnt something without even noticing. Does she just write whatever frequencies she feels like? Or does she use a piano with strings tightened to frequencies which are mysteriously "good" and accepted by billions of people?

Does anyone "prefer" the 6.34572/42 time signature?? No.

Would you accept that the reason you don't understand some music is because you are ignorant? You say you "don't like it" as if you've taken the time to study it and come to a knowledgeable conclusion. I guess you haven't.

You just say it's all about taste because you can't be bothered to learn anything.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'shatner, keep it gay, rocket, tambourine' to 'shatner, nice, tux, rocket, man, elton, john, bernie, taupin, tambourine, keep it gay' - edited by my15minutes

That was pretty funny, but that one about Elton John isn't true.

>> ^LittleRed:
That is one terrifying costume.


agreed.

I didn't think it was particularly gay... I mean, Elton John is pretty out about his sexuality, but I don't know if Ru is gay or not, and I've always found it to be rather presumptuous to simply assume that a female impersonator is gay.

But we can *gay it up if you want.

still tryin' to figure out how I reminded you of this....we we're talkin' drag queens I guess....I have never seen this viddy in m'life-Elton and KIKI DEE did it in the 70's...her one hit wonder-Drag queens do the best musical reviews, they look better and some sing better than the stars they do.....now, go and watch a Divine film.....

yeah, same thing happened to one of my vids. I got an email today saying that one of them had been saved, but when I went to look at it, the * save comment was there, but then an hour later sifty discarded it for lack of votes. wtf?

It was this one: http://www.videosift.com/video/Elton-John-Ru-Paul-Drag-Queen-Goodness

Drag Queens everywhere demand justice!

I think I'd like to be even more involved in this process. I'd like to go to KFC, head into the back, pick out my chicken(s), name them, and pull the lever myself while listening to Elton John's "Circle of Life".

hakuna matata!

Great post, rickegee. You can't go wrong with Elton, and although this isn't one of his best tracks (none of his later work is), the huge handheld fluid master shot of Robert Downey lipsyncing really makes it.

For my favorite Marine: http://www.videosift.com/video/Elton-John-Funeral-for-a-Friend-Love-Lies-Bleeding

Good call ID. The link arvana originally had was with an Elton John song playing...the link I found claimed it had been restored to the "original music". But now that I know the source of the video I was able to find a longer clip that must contain the actual "original music".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmaIYVxyD1E

Abba Badly Drawn Boy The Beatles Black Eyed Peas Chemical Brothers Christina Aguilera Daft Punk The Darkness David Bowie Elton John Eminem The Flaming Lips Franz Ferdinand Goldie Lookin Chain Guns N' Roses Har Mar Superstar The Hives Ice T INXS Jackson Five Jimi Hendrix Kiss Kraftwerk Led Zeppelin The Libertines Marliyn Manson Missy Elliott Morrissey New Order Nirvana Oasis Ozzy Osbourne Prodigy Public Enemy Queen Queens Of The Stone Age Red Hot Chili Peppers Rolling Stones Scissor Sisters Stevie Wonder The Stone Roses Tatu Tupac Shakur U2 Usher The Velvet Underground The Village People Wham! The White Stripes X-ecutioners Xzibit Yeah Yeah Yeahs Yoko Ono Frank Zappa

With the original graphics on the creators blog.. nice sift
http://www.flipflopflyin.com/portfolio/omm.html

Well if it's a British group or artist then I think it merits being in this channel. If is is only vaguely related (say a British member of a mainly American band) then I don't think it merits inclusion in the channel. Iconic Brit groups like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Elton John, Genesis, Pet Shop Boys, The Police, Radiohead, and others deserve to be in the channel.

gorillaman has a great British Comedy playlist so I thought it was appropriate to broaden the scope of the channel.