Dynamic Range Radio After Hours: Cee Lo's "F**k You!"

The internet is all abuzz about the new single from Cee-Lo Green, best known to my listeners as the singer from Gnarls Barkley. I'm usually not one to jump on any internet fad, and I obviously can't play a song called "F*** You!" while so many of my listeners are tuning in from the office, so I resisted checking out the song until now. I'm home sick with extra time on my hands, so I succumbed to peer pressure and watched the video and, much to my surprise, the masses are on to something for a change.

Critics may point out that the song does rely on tired, predictable hip-hop cliches about gold diggers, but when he breaks down towards the end and starts crying like a two-year-old having a tantrum, it's hard for me to over analyze the song or label it misogynistic. And musically, the style is so unlike what I expected. It's a sunny, upbeat, tongue-in-cheek number along the lines of Lily Allen's "LDN".

The best way to watch the official video is by going to Cee-Lo's Facebook page here, but you have to press the "like" button first, which is a bit annoying, but you can always "unlike" it when you're done.

It's clearly not safe for work, so you've been warned. Either grab your headphones or wait until you get home, and enjoy.

Coming Soon: Mumford And Sons

I caught this excellent performance on Letterman a while back and immediately decided to track down the album. There are several other tracks that I'm liking a lot in addition to "Little Lion Man", which is what they performed for Dave...



I posted this because I'm not certain whether I should put the song into the playlist. It's a terrific tune but the album version has quite a bit of profanity and I know that many of my listeners tune in from their place of employment. I usually allow the occasional swear word to sneak through, but when the f-word appears in the chorus of a song that's a different matter. They cleaned it up for Letterman, but if you also want to hear the NSFW version you can find it among the related videos at the end.

You'll defintely be hearing other tracks from the album soon, and I very much recommend checking out the album as well.

Dynamic Range Radio After Hours - Concrete Blonde's "Still In Hollywood"

I was looking through my top artists list on Last.FM when I noticed that I haven't been playing nearly enough Concrete Blonde. I plan to remedy that situation in the coming weeks, but when I was going through my Concrete Blonde collection, I came across another track I'd love to play but probably shouldn't because of its rather obvious use of the "F" word. So that means it's time once again for Dynamic Range Radio After Hours.

I remember seeing the censored video for "Still In Hollywood" in regular rotation on Muchmusic several years before "Joey" captured the mainstream's attention, and it was one of my favourites back then. That riff is still one for the ages, but now that I'm much older and ostensibly wiser, the use of the "F" word in this song seems a bit forced and immature. It screams out "Look at us! We're cursing in our video! Aren't we edgy?" But I do love the elderly Jewish gentleman at the end. And seeing that this was released way back in 1986, you could probably make a case that Concrete Blonde was a major influence on the Seattle sound.

Now, here's the uncensored video in all its exuberant, youthful NSFWness.

Dynamic Range Radio After Hours - Beck's "Timebomb"

I try to keep my playlist reasonably worksafe, which means that there are songs I love that I won't play on account of the lyrics. I'm far from a prude, but I'm well aware that more than 50% of internet radio listening is done from the office, so the last thing I'd want is for one of my listeners to get in trouble with their boss because of something that was played on my station. You'll still hear the occasional swear word on Dynamic Range Radio, but I try to avoid it as much as possible, especially when the obscenity is impossible to miss.

So when I come across a track like Beck's latest single "Timebomb" which has a very obvious obscenity at the beginning, and a couple of more subtle ones near the end, I'm torn. I love this track, but I probably shouldn't play it, so the best I can do is offer up a YouTube link here on the blog for those of you who haven't heard the song yet, and remind everyone that the lyrics are definitely not safe for work. Unless you have a really cool boss.



PS - This appears to a user generated video, and if so it's a pretty impressive piece of work. This is better many "official" videos I've seen.

PPS - No, you can't borrow my headphones.