voluntaryXchange

InfoVideo: Best-Selling Musical Acts

This is a lot of fun:

For my part, the video moves a tad to fast. Even so, it’s almost 10 minutes long. But I was mesmerized the whole time.

The big takeaway is the movement away from bands towards single artists, starting with the video craze in the 80’s.

I’m also surprised at the star power of some people. I kind of wonder what the trick is to someone like Madonna or Prince: they continue to make sales between albums when others taper off. Better marketing I’m sure, but I wonder what that is.

I also wonder if workers in record stores notice this. I mean, Hotel California was huge in the late 1970’s. Was this like every third sale or something like that?

And then there are ones that got huge radio play, but don’t really enter the top 10. For example, Robin Thicke is not on there at all. Neither is Los Del Rio.

I was also surprised at the staying power of some of them. The Beatles, of course, are up there for years. But so are Pink Floyd, and Queen.

A lot of this makes me wonder if there’s a lot more albums bought by adult women than I realized. When I look at a lot of the artists on here, especially from like 1985 onwards, I envision the fan as a 25-35 year old woman. That’s not a bad thing, I’m just not getting the teenager vibe from many of the artists.

Via bookofjoe.

A Drum Machine On Excel

Add this to this list of unusual things people have done with Excel. Dylan Tallchief has programmed a drum machine using macros. While no doubt not as good as a commercial product, it’s nonetheless pretty fun to play with.

Download it here. Follow the link through to a Google Drive to get the file. It does require you to enable macros, so caveat emptor.

I’ve run this on Excel 2016, and the article below says it works on 2019.

Via Lifehacker.

Prettiest Song I’ve Heard In a Long, Long Time

Marginal Revolution (of course, who else?) pointed me to a song from Madagascar. And then YouTube’s playlists carried me to this one.

This is “Hay Hay” by Mahaleo. Mahaleo is actually the bunch of guys playing guitar and signing. I believe the women were added just for this video.

The song is in Malagasy (or Malagache as they would spell it). When I listen to this, I think this is the most musical language I’ve ever heard. It’s got Italian and French beaten hands down.

It’s not possible to get a decent translation of this (yes, I found something that’s not in the internet). But, I constructed this one with the help of Google, and some imaginative interpretation of the metaphors. I would love it if someone would offer to do better.

English

Malagasy

Hay, hay, hay, hay, hay, hay. Now you really feel it. For life is sweet. Hay, hay, hay, hay, hay, it’s cool To do good, Without complaining. When my parents were still alive, We were not permitted To do things only to impress others. Eeeeeee! What would our ancestors think of us? Their hearts might be broken. But we can’t stop the world. Even if our surroundings seem ugly. How could we stop? Hay, hay, hay, hay, hay, it’s tough. Life isn’t perfect, But what can you do? Hay, now my mother is not here, And I must endure, Even when hungry and trembling. Eeeeeee! What would our ancestors think of us? Their hearts might be broken. But we can’t stop the world. Even if our surroundings seem ugly. In spite of fists and fangs. Eeeeeee! What would our ancestors think of us? Their hearts might be broken.

Hay Hay Hay Hay Hay Hay, Izao vao tsapanao tokoa Fa mafy ny fiainana Hay Hay Hay Hay Hay, mafaitra Ny mikaroka ny soa Rehefa tsisy ny hitarainana Fony mbola teo i dada sy i neny Tsy nohenoina akory raha niteny Sy mba nanahanatranatra… Eeeee Raha mahatsiaro ireo taloha Mila ho vaky teo re ny loha Fa tsy misy ny atokona Ny manodidina ahy toa ngazana Nahoana no mitokona Hay Hay Hay Hay Hay, mafy izany tsy mba mitafy Afa-tsy ankanjo rovitra Hay, rehefa tsy eo koa i neny, Dia tsy maintsy mihafy Na dia noana sy mangovitra. Eeeee Raha mahatsiaro ireo taloha Mila ho vaky teo re ny loha Fa tsy misy ny atokona Ny manodidina ahy toa ngazana Ny totohondry no avokona Eeeee Raha mahatsiaro ireo taloha Mila ho vaky teo re ny loha

“Makin’ Whoopee” and Measuring the Effects of Inflation

I am not a great fan of the standards, but … they’re standard, so I’ve heard them. This week, “Makin’ Whoopee” came on in the car. I’ve heard it many times, but maybe I never listened to the lyrics. This time, I caught this stanza:

He doesn't make much money
Only five thousand per
Some judge who thinks he's funny
Says, "You'll pay six to her"

And the economist in me wondered how much the lyricist was envisioning. The song came out in 1928, and $5,000 back then is $74,149 in today’s dollars. Not sure if the 6 is hundreds or thousands, but you could scale that $74K up or down.

* Truth be told, I acquired a CD of the ‘Sleepless In Seattle’ OMPS many years back. Once in a while I pop those into the CD player in the car just to figure out why I have them. The late Dr. John and Rickie Lee Jones covered the song.

R.I.P. Johnny Savuka

In my circle, I’m the world music person. It’s a good thing the vXgirl is in Africa, or I’d be making her listen to Savuka all day. Frontman Johhny Clegg has died.

Lot’s of people will be showing this video of “Asimbonanga” with Nelson Mandela on stage. I believe that’s Mandisa Dlanga with the ridiculous voice leading him out.

For my part I would have liked to have found something from their performance on SNL to post, but I’ll have to settle for a song I’ve always thought was a good one for newbies:

I got turned on to this music by a woman from New Zealand who was working at a pub called the Bricklayer’s Arms in the West End in 1983. Of all things, she was moving on to South Africa, which at the time (as an American) I thought was kind of crazy. Can’t remember her name, but I wonder how her life’s journey turned out.

Anyway, that was his previous band, Juluka, which was mighty good too. I’m going by ancient memories, but I believe this seminal version was one of the songs she’s sneak on to the pub’s sound system when the office worker clientele had gone home:

When African music (for me) consisted of King Sunny, this stuff was a revelation.

FWIW: I think with this find, for once, I got out in front of Paul Hinz for musical curiosity.

(Gimme Some of That) Ol’ Atonal Music

Merle Hazard:

The solos are the best.

Tones (hee hee) of people have reposted this, so let me up the ante with one of the vXyoungwoman’s favorites:

That one gets me every time.

Charles Aznavour, R.I.P.

Charles Aznavour has passed away.

I can’t believe I’m writing this … but … I discovered a few years ago that I liked some of this stuff.

I have the vaguest memories of that name being around on TV when I was a kid (he was probably on The Mike Douglas Show or some such). And I did know he was French. But that was the limit of it until about ten years ago.

And then I saw his stuff playing on one of those blogs where people used to broadcast stuff they liked (before it all became more or less free on YouTube). And I liked some of it:

Yes. It’s an acquired taste.

In 2006, he was quoted:

There are some people who grow old and others who just add years. I have added years, but I am not yet old.

I like that sentiment.

Kickass Classical

I just came across this useful reference site: kickassclassical.com.

It has playlists of snippets of classical pieces you often hear as background music in movies and TV. I thought I knew my stuff, but there were about 20 I couldn’t name in the Top 100. There’s a Top 200 and a Top Themes list as well. Also, there’s information on each piece and what it was used in.

Oh … and they sell albums and MP3s too.

For data nerds like me, I especially liked that the lists are sortable.

R.I.P. Danny Kirwan

Danny Kirwan passed away this week. No one is quite sure, but he’d been homeless for most of the last 40 years. He needs a lot of peace.

I was a Fleetwood Mac teenager in the late 1970’s. I had the two big albums, but the radio exposed me to older stuff: “Bermuda Triangle”,“Hypnotized”, and then “Oh, Well”.

Kirwan played the well-known electric lead on Part 1 of “Oh Well”, while Peter Green played the acoustic lead on the second part.

A year or two after that a used record store opened nearby, and I found Then Play On in the bins there. I still regard that as one of the best single rock albums ever made. Kirwan played on that and three later studio albums, as well as some non-album singles.

Fleetwood Mac had a completely different sound back then, and arguably after Then Play On, a different sound on each track as the band devolved into disgruntled soloists with a solid rhythm section. Honestly, as a fan, none of the Kirwan pieces speak to me.

After leaving the band, he had a very modest solo career. I’m probably the only person left who still listens to the pop-reggae “Mary Jane” from time to time. No doubt it will show up in some Guardians of the Galaxy sequel or some such, and undergo a revival. For me, it was the soundtrack for typing my first serious class paper in economics in March 1982.

Weird. RIP Avicii

“Wake Me Up” by Avicii came up a few minutes ago on a playlist I put together a little over a year ago, and hadn’t listened to since. I’ve been working through it in my office for a couple of days.

And, I was even wondering about some background sounds in my version, so first I checked out the Wikipedia page for the song, which mentioned there were other versions. So I checked out a couple of different versions on YouTube to see if they were really supposed to be there, or if I’d been listening to some fan-sampled version. Nope: my version is the official one.

And then I checked out the headlines, and the artist (Avicii ◢ ◤) died today.

Weird.