Horrible Histories: Bridging rock and amusing historical facts

"Better late than never" has become my current attitude on getting more acquainted with history. Recently I discovered a show called "Horrible Histories" that goes over aspects of history that I didn't even know about. I think of my history teacher from Junior High School,who was even more droll than Ben Stein's character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. His history class was the first time I ever fell asleep in a classroom while class was in session. He was a strict teacher who was very by the book. For all those reasons I really didn't like the class and didn't get the best introduction to history.

As I became an adult I realized there was A LOT of history that my teachers never went over. Mainly all I learned about growing up was American history, so needless to say the gaps were quite big. One of the first things I learned about was the inventor by the name of Nikola Tesla. I grew up only hearing about Edison and "his" accomplishments. I never heard a peep about Telsa in my history classes. I also had never heard of Leif Erikson, who was actually the first person to reach North America (not Columbus, who did it 400 years AFTER Leif). Little did I realize this was not even the tip of the iceberg in terms of information I didn't get growing up.

Now living in an age of easily accessible digital information I'm doing a lot more reading then I ever did as a kid in class. It's been a fascinating topic to readdress, but then I discovered HH. Horrible Histories uses humor and re-written rock songs (such as "Charles Darwin" singing a new rendition of Bowie's "Changes") to deliver historical facts in an entertaining and grotesque way. The rock songs they reworked are really spot on. They do a great job of referencing and embodying bands like the Sex Pistols, The Smiths and The Monkees. The songs also make it even easier to learn and retain information. There is a lot of clever stuff on this show, like "Historical Wife Swap", "Stupid Deaths" and historical characters using the internet. I wish I had this when I was a kid!

You can find Horrible Histories on Hulu and clips on youtube.

Some of my favorites!

Comments

The album art of Tommy by Mike McInnerney

People often ask me what my favorite album is. Without much thought I am able to answer them. The Who's 1969 album "Tommy" is my favorite record of all time. The album artwork also happens to be my favorite. Recently I was thinking about the album and how it affected me in my life. I decided to look up the Tommy album art and was surprised that I was unable to find any of it. I could find the cover, but never all the album art inside. The Tommy CD comes with a booklet with lyrics and a series of different illustrations. But they weren't on the internet. So this blog will be changing that! I just took out my CD booklet and scanned all the artwork. There are two versions of the cover, one featuring small images of their faces inserted into the gaps in the central sphere. The other is just the original work. Executives at The Who's record label insisted on having the band members pictured on the cover, so that's why there are two covers. Pete Tow...

The Duck Walk

In honor of Angus Young's birthday today I've posted a little bit about his famous stage moves which he channeled from Chuck Berry. Angus, of course had his own more erratic spin on the dance move and made it his own. Check out the difference... "A one-legged hop routine, and the "duck walk", which he first used as a child when he walked "stooping with full-bended knees, but with my back and head vertical" under a table to retrieve a ball and his family found it entertaining; he used it when "performing in New York for the first time and some journalist branded it the duck walk." I love this guy's "Duck walk tutorial". "Just follow these easy steps...literally."

[REVISED] Eddie Vedder's voice, the most emulated voice in music history?

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder has one of the most distinct and emulated voices in contemporary rock music. I feel like I spent the entire 90's hearing alternative bands copying Eddie's singing style. Just to show you how many artists have been said to sound like Eddie Vedder throughout time; Creed's Scott Stapp, Fuel's Brett Scallions, The Stone Temple Pilot's Scott Weiland, The Calling's Alex Band, Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, Lifehouse's Jason Wade, and some say Nickelback's Chad Kroeger have a similar sounding voice (don't shoot the messenger). And probably more than I can remember. When I continued to look into this stream of vocals that sounded the same, I came upon a quite obvious realization. Whether they know it or not, they are actually emulating Jim Morrison. It also makes sense that Eddie later played with the remaining Doors members and inducted them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This singing style wasn't just ho...

Fiberglass Jacket