The Royal Wedding, VH1 and death threats

I want to start by thanking my good friends in the royal family for the lovely invite they sent to I’m just sayin… for the “big day” coming up. Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend due to my very strict policy of not flying. I will, of course, still send a gift.

Did you hear that the guy who burned the Koran is getting death threats? I, for one, am shocked (SHOCKED!) that this is happening. I guess I will give him a little credit in that he has said this won’t stop him from doing all of this stuff. He has something he believes in and he’s willing to die for it. That’s fine. Good for him. What we at I’m just sayin… don’t like is the fact that crazies on the “other side” are going to kill other people because of what this guy does. That’s what we have a problem with. So to all the crazies reading our blog, let me first say that we use the term “crazies” will all due respect (and of course, we aren’t talking about you… just the other crazies). Let me also say that I’ve always felt that if someone did something that made you mad enough that you wanted to kill… a good rule of thumb is to start a blog and talk bad about them. I definitely wouldn’t kill complete strangers who had nothing to do with the thing that made me mad.

Speaking of being mad… What’s the deal with the VH1 Top 100 Hard Rock Songs? I have no idea when this list was released (hmm… a quick Google search tells me this was done in late 2008. Oops… guess I’m a little late to this). Anyway… I just saw it the other night. So if you’ve already seen it, sorry. If you haven’t, then Google it. I won’t go through the whole list, but I do want to comment on some things. First, I don’t really know what they consider “hard rock”. To be honest, I find it difficult to label a lot of music. What was once called “Southern Rock” is now “Country”. A lot of “Rock” and “Country” have now merged. I bring this up because some songs on the list are not songs I would consider “Hard Rock”. Specifically, Free Bird is on the list. This is a song that I always thought was “Southern Rock”… but they have it as “Hard Rock”. I say this to let you know that had Free Bird not been on the list, I would not have been upset. However, since it is on the list I must also let you know that whoever put it at #26 should have their ears cut off because they don’t deserve to hear music anymore. If you don’t want to have it at #1, that’s fine. But it’s got to be in the Top 10 (probably Top 5, but at least Top 10) and it HAS to be ranked better than Smells Like Teen Spirit. I’m sorry to all the Nirvana fans out there… I admit I was never a big fan of the group (though I do like some songs from the Foo Fighers). I know Nirvana had a lot of fans and they are credited (by many) to have started “Grunge Rock” (a genre I wasn’t really a fan of), so I can live with their most well known song being on the list. I can even live with it being in the Top 10. I don’t agree with it, but I can live with it. What I cannot live with is that song being at #7 while Free Bird is at #26. Ask any band who has ever asked the crowd what song they want to hear, and I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that 99.999999999% will tell you people yell FREE BIRD! I’d even be willing to bet that a large number of people yell for Free Bird even without being asked by the band what song they want to hear. I seriously doubt anyone yells Smells Like Teen Spirit! That’s really my main beef with this list (and I would have had a different #1). There are some songs not on the list that I would have had there… but with so many songs out there I kind of understand forgetting about some songs (even great songs).

As a treat for my readers, I’ll get the I’m just sayin… staff together tonight to see if we can come up with a Top 100 Hard Rock list of our own.



Know Your Medal of Honor Recipients:

Corporal Samuel Bowden (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on October 5, 1870 at Wichita River, Texas. His citation reads:

Gallantry in pursuit of and fight with Indians.

Corporal Chester B. Bowen (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on September 19, 1864 at Winchester, Virginia. His citation reads:

Capture of flag.

Private Emmer Bowen (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on (unknown) at (unknown). His citation reads:

Gallantry in the charge of the "volunteer storming party."