Remembering Beastie Boys’ Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch: A video tribute

Along with his bandmates, Yauch was “responsible for rap’s first big move from the New York streets to the manicured lawns of American suburbs,” says Christopher R. Weingarten at SPIN. His death at such a young age hits especially hard, says Kyle Buchanan at New York, as Yauch “managed to pack that short lifetime with so many indelible accomplishments”: Grammy Awards, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and more. Among Yauch and the Boys’ most celebrated contributions are their innovative, ground-breaking music videos, several of which Yauch directed himself under the pseudonym Nathaniel Hornblower.

As fans and the music industry mourn Yauch’s death, here’s a look back at some of the Beastie Boys’ most iconic music videos

Before Henry Dryer, a 92-year-old who suffers from dementia, started using his iPod, he could only answer yes-or-no questions — and sometimes he sat silently and still for hours at a time. But now that he listens to music regularly, he can sing songs, carry on brief conversations, and even recall things from years ago. Music “gives me the feeling of love, of romance,” he says.

About 5.4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, the disease that most often causes dementia, and recent studies have shown that music can improve memory and even help dementia patients develop new memories. 

“Music imprints itself on the brain deeper than any other human experience,” says renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks. “Music evokes emotion and emotion can bring with it memory… it brings back the feeling of life when nothing else can.”

How music improves the memory of dementia patients

Is the world ready for a “Trekkie” President? President Obama’s unabashed love for Star Trek, the most popular sci-fi TV show of all time, is just the latest sign that he has ’impeccable’ taste in pop culture. Here, some others: 

1. He called The Wire the greatest show of all time
   New York recently named the HBO crime drama The Wire the best drama of the past 25 years — but President Obama upped the ante when he insisted in an interview with Bill Simmons that The Wire is actually “one of the best shows of all-time.” (”Our president’s a cool dude,” says Tanya Ghahremani at Complex.) Obama named Omar Little as his favorite character, which is so awesome that it may just sew up the election, says Videogum.
    
2. He sneaks in episodes of Homeland: When does the president find time to watch the series? “He said, ‘Michelle goes out with the kids [to] play tennis on a Saturday afternoon,’” Lewis explained to TV Guide. “‘I tell her I’m going to work and then I go in my room and watch Homeland.’” 
    
3. His Spotify playlist is impressive: Obama’s Spotify playlist is “actually pretty good!” With tracks from the likes of Arcade Fire, Noah and the Whale, and Florence + the Machine, it’s certainly “hipster-friendly,” but balanced with a range of artists from different genres including country (Sugarland), R&B (Raphael Saadiq), and rock (Bruce Springsteen).

8 insights into Barack Obama’s pop culture tastes

(Source: theweek.com)

It’s an Annoying Song (After All)
If you’ve ever visited one of the five Disney theme parks around the world, chances are you’ve heard a continuous loop of the song “It’s a Small World (After All)” and found it vexing, writesJason Richards in The Atlantic. “It’s a Small World” is “a common ‘earworm,’ a piece of music that can easily get lodged in the auditory cortex.” And it may just be the most annoying song in the world. 

(Source: theweek.com)

Why make do with a regular pair of $200 “Beats by Dr. Dre” headphones, when you can buy a custom-made, diamond-studded version?

President Obama’s Spotify playlist: 7 things it says about his campaign

• Obama’s trying to hit all key demographics
  Obama’s “the first candidate to have waged a truly effective social media-based presidential campaign,” says Devon Maloney in Spin. So it’s no surprise he embraced Spotify, or that his eclectic mix “basically represents the president’s entire constituency.” The baby boomers get a little James Taylor, Gen X gets some U2 and REO Speedwagon, and “people with questionable taste everywhere” get ex-Hootie frontman Darius Rucker, says Nitasha Tiku in BetaBeat. The indie rock selections, from the likes of Arcade Fire, are “a blatant pander to twenty-somethings,” adds David A. Graham in The Atlantic. And Wilco? “Dad-rockers are basically Obama’s key demographic: Well-to-do, suburban, educated, and (probably) moderate Democrats politically.”    

• The country tunes are a sop to white blue-collar voters
  A whopping 25 percent of the playlist “unsurprisingly — and perhaps a bit panderingly” consists of country tunes, says Brian Braiker in The Guardian. The artists — Darius Rucker, Sugarland, Dierks Bentley, and the Zac Brown Band — are all “inoffensive roots-rockers loudly signaling the point: ‘Obama is a patriot!’” The country picks “tend to be patriotic, small-town-America-celebrating songs,” says The Atlantic’s Graham. Clearly, “the president knows he needs to firm up his support among white working-class voters.”

• But where are the rap and hip hop?
  Soul and R&B is the genre most highly represented, from Aretha Franklin and Al Green to newer singers like Raphael Saadiq. Glaringly absent? Hip hop, says L.V. Anderson in Slate. Obama’s said he likes the Fugees, Jay-Z, Nas, and Lil Wayne, but depressingly, I guess “the sting of Fox’s dog-whistle headline from last summer — ‘Obama’s Hip-Hop BBQ Didn’t Create Jobs’ — hasn’t yet worn off.” Whatever the political risk, says The Washington Post’s Richards, surely at least “one rap song in this great nation… would have been suitable for the president’s mix.”

And the Latin artists? And the women?

R.E.M.’s legacy: 6 ways the band changed American music

After 31 years and 15 albums, R.E.M., the band behind iconic songs like “Everybody Hurts,” “Stand,” ‘The One I Love,” “Losing My Religion,” and “It’s the End of the World as We Know It,” announced it would “call it a day.” The band secured a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, and is widely considered one of the greatest rock acts of the last three decades. Here’s what the group will be remembered for.