Stuck In My Skull 443 -- "Dear Daily Mail" (NSFW)

Song: "Dear Daily Mail" || Artist: Amanda Palmer || http://youtu.be/IY8qkJSQJ8M (just the song [NSFW, video below]), http://youtu.be/OiAffX0x04k (everything [also NSFW]) ||

Comments: Good morning, everyone, and happy Friday! You've made it, the weekend is nearly here! To celebrate (and because I feel bad for missing Tuesday's entry), have a lovely ditty by the one and only Amanda Palmer. Warning -- neither of these links are safe for work. Some background to this story -- not long ago, Amanda Palmer had a wardrobe malfunction in the midst of an otherwise normal concert at Glastonbury. Rather than mention anything about her singing or anything that happened in the rest of the concert, the Daily Mail wrote a rather dumb article where all they talked about was her wardrobe issue. Perhaps the Daily Mail wasn't aware that some celebrities shoot back when somebody takes pot shots at them, and oh, did she ever. This song was written in response to the Daily Mail's being stupid, and by her own words, will only ever be performed once, so there will be no higher quality video, unfortunately. Despite the fact that the entire piece was a satirical response to an act of stupidity, I could not get it out of my head yesterday. If that happens to you, I suggest you go look up more of Amanda Palmer. Her website (mild profanity) is lovely, and explains how her store works with her philosophy on digital music which is neatly summed up as 'pay what you want.' After you take a moment to reflect on how awesome of a philosophy this is, go try some of her music! If you're lazy, here's a link to a youtube search for her, and a link to her store where you can pay any amount of money including none at all for her music. (But you should most definitely pay something if you can and like her music -- let's all encourage this sort of philosophy, because we need more open-minded artists like her in the world.) If nudity and/or profanity bothers you, don't click any of these links or videos. If it doesn't, go nuts! Go and enjoy the incredibly catchy, incredibly flippant, incredibly heartfelt response to some people being stupid, and enjoy the weekend!

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AMANDA-- "CRIMINAL" by FIONA APPLE

Hey all. The nineties was a remarkable decade for many reasons, not excluding the fact that me and many of my friends were born. It was an especially great time for indie and alternative rockers or at least up until the end. On that note, I bring you the sultry and talented Fiona Apple. When her first album Tidal debuted, the singer-songwriter was only nineteen years old. The nineties saw the likes of many terrific artists- The Cranberries, Foo Fighters, Radiohead and more-all fierce contenders. I chose this song because it and Fiona Apple have had incredible staying power. Criminal" is her biggest song to date and won her the Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. I've known all the lyrics since I was six and years later they still resonate with me. Apple continues to rock into her thirties and sounds amazing as ever. Her music has no doubt matured as she has. At the height of her success, the teenager proved as gifted as her contemporaries but ever so slightly more controversial, probably due to her age. The music video features a barely clothed Apple in some provocative poses seeking absolution for having wronged a man she once loved (serious stuff-hence NSFW ). Enjoy!

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AMANDA-- "LET'S JUST BE FRIENDS" by ALEXIS LEWIS *NSFW*

Apparently it's Hipster Week here at Stuck in My Skull. As such, I'd like to take this opportunity to share all kinds of awesome and/or weird music that I feel deserves some attention. I first heard this song about a year ago (thanks Sidney!) and its been lodged into my brain for the last three days. Small-time entertainer Alex Lewis has several funny music videos floating around the web. "She's a Hipster" is hilarious and clever but not nearly as catchy as "Let's Just Be Friends" in my opinion. Everyone should be able to relate to it's message whether they've been the one to say or hear those four little words. In any case, it's a chance to see a bunch of bros channel their inner rock gods. The lyrics are great but probably not work appropriate so if you're in class or the office save this one for home. Lastly, I'll leave you with an interesting a quote from the artist's Facebook page about the song. Enjoy!

 "While filming "Hermione" Alex was going on dates with a girl and things were going well. He treated her nicely because he’s a nice person. At the end of June, she told him “You’re too nice to me and deserve someone better, let’s just be friends.” Alex took this incredibly personally, it was not the first time someone had told him he was too nice and just wanted to be friends. He was in the middle of writing a song when he started reflecting on what she said to him. He thought it was ridiculous that anybody would become disinterested based on how they nice they were treated. He started of thinking of humorous stories about girls saying “let’s just be friends,” to nice guys and LJBF was born."

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Stuck In My Skull 325-- "No Church in the Wild" [NSFW]

Song: "No Church in the Wild" || Artist: Kanye West and Jay-Z || http://youtu.be/FJt7gNi3Nr4 ||

[youtube http://youtu.be/FJt7gNi3Nr4]

Comments: I have been listening to this song on repeat for the last several hours, and I love it. The longer I listen to Kanye, the more I realize that while I don't really think much of his lifestyle or attitude, he really is a gifted artist. This song is just amazing, and the video hits you right in your sense of rebellion. Take a look, folks, but perhaps not at work.

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AMANDA--"BI***S AIN'T SH*T" by BEN FOLDS

Hello! Today is the second (and final part) of my mini cover week. As you might have guessed from the title of the entry, this song is NSFW. Admittedly, I have a really hard time actually enjoying and taking the original seriously but Ben Folds manages to turn Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit" into an incredibly lighthearted, whimsical pop song. Misogyny aside, there's something I find kind of charming about it. This version also makes it much easier to sing along to Dre's lyrics. Enjoy!

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