Goodbye Kris Kristofferson

Kris Kristofferson died a couple of days ago, and the world is somewhat poorer for it. He was a talented songwriter and actor, and by all records a decent human being, fighting for a better world.

Kris Kristofferson, singer-songwriter and actor, dies at 88

Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and an A-list Hollywood actor, has died.

Kristofferson died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday, family spokeswoman Ebie McFarland said in an email. He was 88.

McFarland said Kristofferson died peacefully, surrounded by his family. No cause was given.

Starting in the late 1960s, the Brownsville, Texas native wrote such country and rock ‘n’ roll standards as “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Help Me Make it Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and “Me and Bobby McGee.” Kristofferson was a singer himself, but many of his songs were best known as performed by others, whether Ray Price crooning “For the Good Times” or Janis Joplin belting out “Me and Bobby McGee.”

One thing I will always remember Kris Kristofferson for, is that he supported Sinéad O’Connor when very few others did, Sinéad O’Connor would of course turn out to be right

This one hits hard

TW: Suicide

I have been laid low with laryngitis, so I have spent some time surfing the internet, and I came across a new music video from Linkin Park. It is not a new song, rather it is 20 years old, but it has not been released before now, and it hits hard, because of what has happened in those twenty years.

This is a song where you can feel the pain of Chester Bennington, who committed suicide in July 2017, just two months after the suicide of his friend Chris Cornell. It is like hearing the voice of a ghost, but from when he was alive, sharing his anguish with the world.

RIP Chester.

If you want to revisit the life and death of Chester Bennington, I think this Rolling Stones article is pretty good.

Music calendar 2023

We are only 14 days into 2023, but I have already bought tickets for several concerts next year

  • Sabaton, Babymetal and Lordi, April 30
  • Rammstein, June 3
  • Copenhell Festival, June 14-17
  • Fallulah, September 30

As you can see, the concerts are definitely towards the heavier side of music, but there is also Fallulah, who is not heavy metal at all.

Bridges is probably her most well known song, but she is soon releasing new music

I am hoping to fill up with more concerts as I get further into the year. I also hope to do a bit of traveling, so I also need to make sure that I have time for that.

Last year, I went to Copenhell during the summer, but didn’t see much else, until the end of the year, where I finished strong with the Hu and Behemoth/Arch-enemy (with Carcass as support), both of which were absolutely fantastic. Live music is such an powerful experience.

Let me know if there are any concerts that I shouldn’t miss in Copenhagen, and surrounding areas, in 2023.

New Rammstein music video

There is a new Rammstein music video out

Content warning: violence, religious imagery

Usually I have some understanding of the underlying messages of Rammstein videos, but in this case, I am at a loss.

Rammstein – Angst

Rammstein has release their new album Zeit on April 29th, and at the same time they released their first single/music video Angst (fear), which I interpretate to be a comment on racist fears of “black men”.

I based my interpretation on both the lyrics and the video (especially the ending). You can see both the German lyrics and the English translations at Loudwire, which somehow completely misses the references to racism, and thinks that:

Here “Angst” tackles the age-old fictional monster the bogeyman, which is known as “The Black Man” in other cultural depictions around the world, including Germanic folklore.

Read More: Read English Translation of Lyrics to Rammstein’s ‘Angst’ | https://loudwire.com/rammstein-angst-english-translation-lyrics/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

It is extremely rare that you should only think of the naïve interpretation of a Rammstein song – they usually have layers and layers, often quite critical of the society they live in.

 

Quitting Spotify Premium

The Neil Young ultimatum to Spotify about the Joe Rogan podcast, and the afterwards removal of Young’s music from the platform has gotten me to do something which I had considered several times before – cancelling my Spotify Premium account.

I am not a fan of neither Neil Young as a person nor of his music, but he is right that Spotify helps spread dangerous misinformation, and we need to show them that it is unacceptable.

I have been using Spotify, either the free version or the Premium version, since I was on a project in Sweden in 2008 or so. Back then, Spotify was only available in Sweden, and they checked your location when you signed in, so I could only use it when at work. Later the service became available in the rest of the world.

In the past, I have considered cancelling Spotify due to their fairly low pay to the artists (of the big streaming services, YouTube is the only one that’s worse), but one of the reasons I’ve stuck around has been the lack of alternative, and the lack of a definitive push. Well, promoting Joe Rogan is definitely a definitive push, so I guess I will be looking for a new streaming platform to hear music on.  I have heard good stuff about Tidal so I will be checking that streaming platform out.

If you want a good explanation why Joe Rogan is so problematic, I highly recommend listening to the Joe Rogan episode of the Decoding the Gurus podcast.