Morning Music Notes – Fighting for Your Right to Party…in Bahrain

The Black Keys Settle Lawsuits Against Pizza Hut and Home Depot

Sometimes songs just sound similar (see: Offspring and Foo Fighters). Other times, there is a blatant attempt to capitalize on the popularity of a song without actually paying the artist to use it (see: Pizza Hut and Home Depot).

The Black Keys claimed Pizza Hut ripped off their tune Gold On the Ceiling, as well as Home Depot ripping off Lonely Boy. Well, the good guys of rock and roll won (via Consequence of Sound)! The settlement terms (read: cash money) haven’t been disclosed – yet. Check out the commercial in question below as well as the original below that. If this lawsuit has taught me anything, it’s that I should never eat at Pizza Hut because they rip off hard working musicians – suck it and all your free advertising, Pizza Hut.

The Black Keys – Gold on the Ceiling

Unrelated: I could really go for some pizza right about now.

Paul McCartney to Appear on Saturday Night Live

You’ve got to hand it to Paul McCartney. The lad could sit back in his multi-million dollar home, “hang out” with his new, young wife, and figure out how to spend his giant wads of cash each day, and still have trillions in the bank vault. Instead, he is making music, and playing live shows that he doesn’t need to do, as he doesn’t need any more god damn publicity (or does he?). To boost his cred with the youngsters, he is appearing on Saturday Night Live about 8 years after it was still cool on Saturday December 15 (via Consequence of Sound).

The host of the show will be Martin Short, which begs the questions – what the hell is Martin Short doing these days? Maybe my Dad will want to watch this episode instead of me. Macca has done the show previously, including December 2010 where he did a shitload of songs and also appeared in sketches.

Andrew W.K. Issues Statement About Not Going to Bahrain As Cultural Ambassador

Andrew W.K. was supposed to go to the Middle East as U.S. Department of State’s Cultural Ambassador. Then he wasn’t going, thanks to “senior government officials”, much to his dismay. Andrew W.K. has now issued a statement on his website, clarifying matters.

He writes “I’m disappointed and puzzled by their change of heart and last minute decision. I was personally invited to take this trip by The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain over a year ago. They came to me. The first email they sent me is dated September 13th, 2011 asking me to give a motivational lecture in Bahrain. I was overjoyed and accepted their invitation immediately. We moved forward and completed their extensive approval process, background check, booked all the flights and travel, and had numerous phone calls with the U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Office in Manama, Bahrain, who were handling the details.”

So far so good. He continues “I was scheduled to fly to Bahrain on Saturday, Dec. 1st, 2012. We received our official itinerary from the State Dept. at 5:58am, on Monday, November 26th, 2012. Less than six hours later, we received an urgent telephone call informing us that the entire trip had been canceled, due to some higher level controversy. We couldn’t get any more information or answers as to why this was suddenly canceled at the last minute. When I was originally invited by our contact, it seemed everyone was aware of what I stand for with my positive attitude. They were aware of how I look and my high-energy rock music.”

Apparently not. This is pretty harsh, and has made the government look bad, and rightly so. Note on the website that the text is backed by the infamous blood on the face photo of Andrew W.K. There’s a hint as to why senior officials got scared.

Watch! Tanlines – Not the Same

We end this morning with some catchy piano-based indie pop. The band are New York City’s Tanlines and the track is Not the Same, which should be the theme song of the socks that I wear.

The video features the band splitting into multiple versions of themselves, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than hiring touring musicians. Unless these doppelgangers are evil and want royalty rights, in which case, be happy that they disappear in the end. Oh, spoiler alert (for the last sentence). Check out the track below, which is off of Mixed Emotions, which is out now.