But, today while listening to my iPod and writing some crappy code no doubt the song Working Class Hero by John Lennon came on. I’ve always liked that song, next to Watching the Wheels it’s probably my favorite Lennon song. But it accord to me that Working Class Hero is such a punk song at its core!

So what do you say is the greatest punk song?

Just about all music genres will have ‘some’ good artist. Christian music is no exception, there ARE talented musicians within the Christian music genre; Shawn McDonald is one of the most played artist on my iPod and Mat Kearney is also way talented. But, the problem with 99% of Christian music is – I’m not buying it. Do these people really know what it means to follow Jesus? It’s not happy go lucky. In fact, anyone that has taken even a brief look at the Bible will conclude that people who follow Jesus do not end up with their life on easy street with all their problems solved. Most of the people that followed Jesus were ridiculed, martyred, imprisoned, or exiled.

So Christian musicians need to get real.

In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father’s ashes mixed with cocaine.

“The strangest thing I’ve tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father,” Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.

[ more here ]

I don’t even know what to say…I’m speechless….

Suck ass – no more Pandora

[ more here ]

The guy may be a bit of a freak, but hey, I listen to a lot of music done by freaks, so he’s no different there. The reality is the guy was damn talented. He’s got an excellent voice, maybe one of the best voices in the biz and he was a pretty good writer too. Unlike many pop stars George Michael did actually write his music.

I also like the fact that for a pop star he includes a lot of brass and funk in his music, similar to Prince, another freak that I dig.

I would highly recommend you pick up his greatest hits album, “Ladies & Gentlemen”. It’s good and fun to play at parties.

[ play Too Funky ]

The award-winning group, which won five Grammys and turned out hits such as “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take,” will open the event 23 years after breaking up.

David Gray found fame with his pop hit “Babylon” on his 1998 album “White Ladder.” While the song isn’t bad, it’s actually the worst song on the album. But, it had an up tempo and was catchy to sing and so radio ate it up.

Why David Gray? Here’s why, he simply is one of the best song writers there is and has written so many. Ok Ben, I will give you Paul Simon – he too is a legend song writer.

So it’s about quality and quantity.

I often make “best of” albums so it was a matter of time before I made the David Gray Best Of album. But after filling the first album with 16 tracks I realized I had not even touched the surface. I then made Part II with an additional 17 tracks, but it too was incomplete. It took 3 best of albums just to come close. When an artist can put out over 50 brilliant songs, that is a great artist.

David Gray is not a flashy guitar player and if you’re looking for good dance music, he is sure to disappoint, but if you like good lyrics and great songs like Van Morrison, David Gray is your man.

So head over to iTunes and try these 5 songs for a small sampling:

• Shine
• Birds Without Wings
• Flesh
• Flame Turns Blue
• Freedom

Recently, I told a good friend of mine, a guy who is a big music buff (probably even more than me) that I thought David Gray may be one of the top 5 best musicians of all time. He said, “you must be joking.” I told him that I wasn’t. I told him to give me 5 guys that are better. He listed off some pretty good musicians that certainly could be up there, but they still fall short of David Gray in my opinion… and remember, my opinion is usually right…

So what I am going to start doing is from time-to-time (maybe twice a month) is introduce you guys to a new artist. You may or may not already know the artist. They will come from all genres, all time periods, some old, some new, some dead, some alive, some punk, some country, some rock, some slow, some fast, some popular, some not-so-popular, whatever.

I will give you five songs that you should then go buy off of iTunes and put in your iPod and listen too. This will give you an introduction into the artist and hopefully wet your appetite for more. So I will start it this weekend.

You all do have iPods right? Good, just spend 5 dollars on the songs for the artist and get to know the artist as I post them. You shall not be disappointed…

For me, I prefer the old school stuff, that Trans-Siberian Orchestra stuff does nothing for me. Here are my favorite Christmas albums:

- Nat King Cole
- Vince Guaraldi – A Charlie Brown Christmas [ play ]
- Aaron Neville’s Soulful Christmas

Also check out the webPod, now in black!

Also, be sure to upgrade to iTunes 7, it rocks!