Stone's 50 Greatest Live Acts

Just finished reading Rolling Stone's list of 50 Greatest Live Acts Right Now. Performers were eligible to make the list if they have toured in the past 5 years and have not yet announced retirement, and were picked by a panel of writers, industry leaders, and artists.

SPOILER ALERT: I was pleased to see artists like RHCP, Janelle Monáe, and Tool make the list, though many of the listed artists could have been placed higher or replaced others. Naturally, Bruce Springsteen takes the cake at #1.

I was not pleased to see that Imagine Dragons didn't make the list - I just saw them last week at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY. They had an incredible performance - both visually and aurally - and were generally pretty tight as a live group. It was also wonderfully refreshing to see such a humble band perform and actually appreciate their audience. Fortunately, the band is still relatively young and while have plenty of time in the years to come to make the list.

What do you think of the list? Who would you have liked to see on it? Who do you think should have been left off?

A (Delayed) Response to the VMA's

From Rihanna's creepy opening performance to Nicki Minaj's over-dramatized, most articulate acceptance speech to Taylor Swift's mediocre lip-synching, I'd say this year's VMA's were an excellent flop.

Frankly, I don't care a whole lot about who won and who didn't. The VMA's are a dopey substitute to the Grammy video category, run by bigwigs and preteens, and the nominees / winners usually don't come as too much of a surprise. Nowadays, I can't find anything that stands out between most U.S. pop videos, and I couldn't tell you the difference in some of the categories, or why they exist. e.g. "Best Editing in a Video" ...How can you tell which video has better airbrushing?

Remember when R.E.M., Nirvana, and The Smashing Pumpkins took home VMA awards? Why not them now? Or Tool? Or RHCP? Or even the Foo Fighters? They're still coming up with creative (often-times meaningful) stuff. (Sidenote: Despite the majority of the nominations, I still approve of a few of this year's, like Maroon 5, Jack White, and Adele.)

Maybe I'm biased, but I'd just like to see award shows like this come back around to good music. But sometimes I have to remind myself that this isn't the 90's anymore.

At least most of America found priority in the President's address.

And where the hell was this guy?