Saturday, March 15, 2008

Random Song Select

I have been challenged!

My friend Ted posted this in his blog (and then emailed me a personal link to it as a pointed challenge).

A friend of his found a Photoshop game to keep graphically-inclined people occupied for hours. The game is to create an album cover using random elements.
Find a random phrase (using the Wikipedia Random Article function); that'll be the band name.
Find a random quote (using a random quote generator); the last four words of the last quote on the page will be the album title.
Find a random picture (using Flickr's Interesting Photos); the third photo will be the background image for the album.

Now build the album cover from those three pieces, making use of all your Photoshop skills.

I've been making them all night while I wait for other people or whenever I get a second. Here's what I came up with:

Timeline of Afghanistan is heavily influenced by Evanescence, Linkin Park and the entire Dollar Bin at your local Indie CD store. They feel that they've got a lot to be sorry about, sorry for, and sorry in so far as. Their new CD is a concept album based on what the drummer's troubled youth would have been like if he had tried just one more time to run away from home. Rider Specifications: four (4) bottles of L'Oreal Pox Black nail polish in each band member's dressing room, one (1) bowl of flowers and one (1) hairdryer plugged in next to said bowl.



The Lee County, Florida Sheriff's Office has been talking about putting out an album since 1983, when they first realized 3/4 of their officers had, at one time or another, learned how to play an instrument. It all came together when they needed to raise money to get to a crime-stoppers convention in Illinois and needed to make some money to afford plane tickets. Their first effort (and they had so much fun, they swear it won't be their last) includes their hit single, "Off The Cuffs," a tribute to Jimmy Buffet's music and Lee County's most notorious baddies. Rider Specifications: For the show to go on, there must be at least 30 kids under the age of 12 and/or 40 senior citizens over 60 in the audience.



Fur Seal plays Death Metal with no concern for the fact that a good 95% of the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse has been directly lifted from footage from their episode of Behind The Music. Their lead singer's name is Körgin Billy. That's not a typo or a pseudonym; his parents gave him that name at birth...along with his abdominal scars. Rider Specifications: Someone for the entire band to simultaneously hate, otherwise, they'll turn on each other pre-concert like a pack of rabid opossums.



Anneli Jäätteenmäki's Cabinet is a Swedish supergroup, made up of former members of Ace of Base, Abba, The Cardigans, The Hives and The Hellacopters, from before any of the groups became famous. The lead singer has a crush on Ian Anderson, and she hides his name in every one of the band's songs: anagrams, acrostics, or just using the string of letters '-ian' at the ends of words like 'Canadian' and 'Edwardian.' In fact, she's hidden his name twice on the cover of this newest release; Christ, she's like a demented Highlights editor. Rider Specifications: An open cash bar. Yes, it actually uses that phrase. Most venues assume it means they want to mix their own drinks and leave the money on the counter. No one's complained yet.



Command History likes to think of themselves as Weezer-meets-Barenaked-Ladies, but really they're just a cheap Smash Mouth knockoff. You know, like Sugar Ray. Rider Specifications: Glasses tape. They only wear their glasses on stage; they've all had Lasik. Really, guys? Really?



Varandinha is former Bollywood actress Varandinha Rajadhyaksha branching out to achieve mainstream international diva status. The only way to describe her music is kitschily catchy. Imagine if Shakira had been an Indian princess, and you're almost there. Rider Specifications: Two (2) bottles of suntan lotion, One (1) copy of the latest Danielle Steel paperback, four (4) steak kabobs... she should probably just kiss Richard Gere and get it over with.



Château LaFleur is an all-bisexual 7-member French punk band that prides itself on the sheer number of permutations for in-band relationships it has to offer the media. They also are steadfastly anti-SETI, a sentiment echoed on their new CD. They believe that if/when humans and extraterrestrials talk/meet, we should let it be on their terms and stop wasting all this money on clogging up intergalactic communication frequencies. Also, they hated Jody Foster in Contact. Rider Specifications: Wall-to-wall pillow mats, Jacques Brel over the intercom, and 2 hours of uninterrupted sex time before and after each performance.



Wow. My bands spread out quite a bit, didn't they? That's show biz for you.

1 comment:

Ted Hobgood said...

Excellent! You have outshone me once more in your cleverness and originality, sir! I do like the variety you ended up with, and the addition of their rider contracts is genius. Thanks for coming up to the challenge!