Faculty: Ryan Adams

*Start at 0:50, note steezy Spirit-handling at 2:20
-Ryan Adams has been a favorite here at Class Act since we first heard Whiskeytown, the alt-country group he started at the age of 20 . After going solo, Adams moved to New York and became a downtown legend and a troubador of mythic proportions. Some say his drug habit and erratic behavior overshadowed his incredible musical ability, but in our opinion he has yet to make a bad record.
-The above video is really pretty miraculous, as the camera angle and sound quality are both excellent considering the circumstances. While the song is one of his best, the most strikingly baller aspect of the video has to be his handling of the ever-present American Spirit at the end of each verse.
-On Love is Hell, Pt. 1, Adams killed "Wonderwall" to the point that Noel Gallagher actually gave him the song. Apparently, Oasis has abandoned their version of the '90s smash in favor of Adams' arrangement, which they now play exclusively. Coincidentally, Adams will open for Oasis in Seattle on August 26th. If you ask me, the imminent collaboration alone is worth the price of a ticket, which can be purchased here.

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Music Theory: Respect Your Elders

-Here's a little bit of music beefing that's been going on lately. So you might have read earlier in the summer that Noel Gallagher (of Oasis) bitched about Jay-Z playing the Glastonbury festival in England. Gallagher said hip-hop wasn't meant to be played at outdoor festivals like that or something. So in response Jay-Z pulled out a guitar at the festival and did a rendition of Oasis' seminal hit Wonderwall (check the inevitable mash-up here), with like 50,000 people singing along, which is badass. So that was all good, and then just recently Gallagher went on a rant dissing all the young whipper snappers of today, and called out Mark Ronson, saying he only knew how to play 2 chords. That lead to Ronson posting this response on his MySpace:

“So I just wanted him to know that I’m actually taking guitar lessons from Jay-Z right now and he’s already taught me both chords to Wonderwall. In fact, it’s so much fun having Jay teach me all of Noel’s songs on the guitar (hooray!) that I’m thinking of doing an Oasis/Jay-Z remix album [like Danger Mouse's Grey Album],” Ronson continued. “Potential titles are Champagne Superhova or Definitely Jay-Z. I’ll keep you posted.”

P.P.S. Noel, I did write a song called Back To Black, which actually has seven chords in it.”

-So I've got some thoughts on this. Noel Gallagher is a rock 'n' roll legend who everyone knew was a douche ever since he said Oasis was the greatest band of all time like 15 years ago. But Definitely Maybe was the first compact disc I ever owned, and Mark Ronson is an overrated - famous only because of his family connections - hipster DJ (even worse that Steve Aoki or Danny Masterson.) I can't get mad at Jay for coming back at Gallagher, because Jay himself is a legend, but Mark Ronson needs to shut the fuck up and respect his elders, even if they hypocritically call him out on his chord progressions. And how dare he compare anything he could do to the the fucking Grey Album.
-And if you're too young to appreciate Wonderwall, check out Cartel's cover.
-via Hypretrak, and prior knowledge n stuff. more