#rock'n me

[musicandoldmovies]

Steve Miller Band - Rock'n Me

From the album Fly like an Eagle

[myimaginaryradio]

Rock'n Me - The Steve Miller Band - 1976

[musiclandoux]

: 🎼💜🎼

rock'n

[iamdangerace]

Helmet - Unsung (Official Music Video)

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔎𝔦𝔰𝔰 - 𝔏𝔢𝔱 𝔐𝔢 𝔊𝔬 ℜ𝔬𝔠𝔨'𝔫 ℜ𝔬𝔩𝔩

[lorenzlund]

*Teil 9 der Saga ueber die Toechter zweier sehr beruehmter Dichter aus England u. Deutschland, Shakespeare und Schiller! ('Das Geheimtreffen von Bern').

'Der Businessman 1 - 14' - mit George Barwick in der Hauptrolle! Serienerfolge grosse bei Kino und Fernsehen!

*Der Frotsetzungsroman! (Und gelegentliche soar -Krimi!).

bar / engl. : nackt. wick : bad, uebel.

"Opernstars besonders grosse der schon 80 wie 90er Jahre!

'Yesterday, ooh onlybin yesterday, I tell u, I nearly experienced even my own first complete private Waterloo ... true Waterloo - being just another man - like u!!!

'What nevertheless has brought even this man temporarily damn near to death, like I can asure u all, at least it was so or behaved so temporarily!!' *lediglich als Zusatz vor dem Publikum ins Mikrofon gesprochener Satz vom damaligen Saenger der Band, Heinz-Ruediger). *Heinz-Ruediger / Waren-Mueritz (Seenplatte), alter sogen. Osten).

,Wirklich erholsam (Und so als befaenden wir uns dabei in einer Form von Urlaub!) ist der ploetzliche Tiefschlaf fuer uns, erleben wir ihn erstmals dadurch vielleicht auch, im Grunde nie! Fast immer ist er es sehr viel mehr erneut dann nur wieder fuer andere!!' (*Ein ploetzlich neu von mir entdeckter Wand-Spruch)

*der, ein sogenannter 'Vielweiberheld' unter Maennern. (Es soll ihn umgekehrt hier und da stets noch genauso unter auch den Frauen geben!)

'Silence, a final silence (- most time this happens totally unknown by or from us, by men! -) always is or can be also golden! This is something that keeps valid since already many many centuries - or over two-thousand years!

Nur komme ich bereits von ihnen als Mann, den Sternen! Deswegen kann ich auch nur sehr schwer dorthin noch genauso auch wieder zurueckkehren! Oder dass andere mich auf einen davon vielleicht hinauf befoerdern koennten, fiele so leicht wohl niemandem! Fuer mich ist der Himmel somit das, was fuer andere immer die eigene Familie ist oder dastellt, mit jeder Menge an sehr guten auch eigenen Freunden auch in ihm (Dazu zaehlt selbst der Mond!), auf der Erde selber besass ich nie eine, wirkliche Eltern, und wenn, dann wurde das so nur wieder von Dritten mir gegenueber erneut gaenzlich frei auch behauptet! Eine reine Erfindung, wie gesagt, nur wieder, dann auch ihrerseits! (*Selber koennen sie es unmoeglich dann wieder so auch gewesen sein, ich hielte selbst das fuer wieder ganz unmoeglich auch, glaube meine genaue Herkunft sehr wohl zu kennen! Und auch, was die genauen Vor- wie Nach-Namen beider Elternteile betrifft, auch bei mir, auch da glaube ich das so auch weiterhin noch zu tun, jener also, die auch mich einst ueberhaupt gebaren!)

'Fuer sie da!'

[ixiot-ghostrebel]

La~La~la 🦇 anon here with a sagau idea!

I don't play genshin with sound on, I always have my headphones on and sing to some songs while I play witch got me thinking.....

What if reader started singing viva la vida/once upon a december or another song really well and it just so happened that they had characters who are really musical like venti Barbra and xinyan in their party?

It would start out really sweet like them complimenting their creators voice and vibing along, then turn into them trying to write songs that are more like our modern ones!

Venti accidentally inventing an acoustic ballad or smthn (I used almost all my spoons for the first half..)

xinyan making an unholy amalgamation of classic and rock

And Barbra trying out new scales while writing songs about the creator who has the voice of an angel and godly pitch

For a good idea of what I'm thinking try listening to, Viva La Vida (orchestral version) from annapantsu!

(Feel free to add )

OHOHOHOHOHO, 🦇 ANON YOU ARE COOKING.

I need to start crawling out of my hole and listen to the song you're recommending to me ASAP—holy cow, I live under a mountain at this rate (I'm like Azhdaha bro this is NOT good 😭 Watch me run with this blindly bc I keep FORGETTING to listen to the recommendations 🦇 Anon is sending me—)

I won't add any other characters, since the selection you have is already good!

Venti, Barbara, and Xinyan Wanna Jam, Too!

(Warning: Might be OOC!)

Venti

WISP BOI SHOOKETH. HE IS WHOOPING AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS. MONDSTADT IS GOING CRAZY WITH THIS BARD IN TOWN GOING AROUND ABOUT THE CREATOR—

All jokes aside, he's over the moon to know that about your singing and your song preference. I feel like Venti would try to make his version of the songs you sing :D

By the time you meet in person, man's hands down worshipping your singing like his LIFE depends on it.

"Oh, Your Grace! Please sing your songs for all of Mondstadt to enjoy!" You can hear the literal excitement practically radiating in his voice.

He's very stoked and will sing along if you do decide to sing. Watch him brag this to the other archons (cough Zhongli and Ei mainly cough)

Barbara

The moment she heard the Almighty Creator sing, she thought both you and Barbatos blessed her. I mean, the winds, carrying your voice, to her?!

She's utterly shocked. She doesn't know if she's worthy of hearing your voice—But Barbara loves your voice! Of course the Almighty Creator would have the best voice of all of Teyvat!

She once caught herself humming the song you were singing to previously in the Church of Barbatos. Barbara was so embarrassed because the others managed to catch her humming that strange tune.

When you came around, Barbara was immediately the first one to ask you to sing—albeit a little timidly.

"Y-Your Grace! Uhm...Is it possible if you allow us Nuns at the Church to...hear you sing? Of course, you don't have to agree! We can sing the song ourselves if you wish!" Barbara just really wants to let you know that Mondstadt worships and adores you.

She would definitely make a choir version of the songs you sing. Be prepared to be invited and no, you're insisted to come. By everyone. :)

Xinyan

The first moment she heard you jam, she was loving it! Utterly loves the genre of music she hears from you!

From where she grew up (Liyue), there were some people that were very picky with their taste in music and usually called her rock'n roll a ruckus. To hear you sing something without a care in the world to a song that doesn't really fit to the usual old geezer's standards was utterly refreshing!

Sometimes, when she's given the honor of the stage, she would perform some performances to you and perform a rock'n roll version of the songs you sing. She has a musician's ears after all, she would remember how the riffs go and remix them to fit her style.

When you arrive, you better go out and listen! Xinyan would absolutely credit you and (if your up to it) sing alongside you!

"Haha, Your Grace! You're here—wanna hear my rock'n roll version of your songs?" She's good at remixing, it's almost unfair—

Yeah, none of them realize any of the songs you sang weren't your creation. Good luck explaining to them :)

Ghost Rebel Side Notes: WHY AM I TAKE 3 ETERNITIES TO WRITE EVERYTHING SOBBING. WHERE IS MY MOTIVATION OFF RUNNING TO ISTG—

Ahem, anyways—I hope you guys liked it :D I'm currently facing a bit of a time crunch atm so my response to requests will be even slower than it already is :') Sorry about that. I hope you guys love this post, though!

✦ Check out The Ghost Rebel’s Blog Description & Info Page to See if Their Mailbox is Open! ✦

[neil-gaiman]

Dear Neil,

I hope you're fine!

In 2023 one of the nicest and reveberating thing, that happened to me, was, that I got know Terry's work and after some time, your works too, and, of course Good Omens (yeah...I don't know either, what took me so long...😉).

So, thank you so much for your written universe, I feel totally comfortable in it!

Some time ago, I also got your rewriting of the fairytale "Hänsel and Gretel" by the Brothers Grimm in my hands. I totally like how you made it your own in some way, but also did not disregard its core about wits, endurance, gumption and love. And I have high standards��, because I grew up with all the Grimm's fairytales and I, even as a small kid, disliked the editions, which tried to paint over fear, sorrow and in some tales, violence and horror, too. Without these plots the solution in the end would just be half the relìef! As you said in your review about Tatars The Annotaited Brothers Grimm the fairtyales are magic mirrors about the world we see or we want to see and which we have to cope and deal with every day.

My three favourite ones are

1.Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten/The Town Musicians of Bremen

Even if your closest people tell you, you are not enough (anymore), you don't fit in and you are worthless, you one day, will find your bunch of soulmates, who are good for you and you can the hell Rock'n Roll with!

2. Die sieben Raben/The seven Ravens

The girl does not wait for some Prince Charming. She herself gets stuff done and does not get herself haunted by some mistakes her parents did years ago.

3. Das tapfere Schneiderlein/The valiant dressmaker

Sometimes weird and spontanous decision can turn your whole life around, in a good way, because they give you the self-consciousness to get it on.

And (finally, sorry) here come my questions:

1. Which are your favourite fairytales of the Brothers Grimm?

2. And why?

I wish you and your family a very merry Christmas, or holidays, and a very good year!

Have fun with Good Omens 3! ❤🌠

Greetings from Germany!

I like your choices, although I'd swap Hansel and Gretel for the Musicians of Bremen.

[sophaeros]

arctic monkeys for q magazine, june 2011 (x) (x)

ARCTIC MONKEYS: Inside Alex Turner's Head

Words Sylvia Patterson Portrait John Wright

The day Arctic Monkeys moved into their six bedroom, Spanish-style villa in the Hollywood Hills, where the first-floor balcony looked over the patio swimming pool, they knew exactly what to do.

"From the balcony, you could get on t'roof and jump in't pool," chirps the Monkeys' most gregarious member, drummer Matt Helders, in his homely Yorkshire way. "We looked at it and said, That's definitely gonna happen. So by the end, we did a couple of 'em. Somersaults in t'pool, from the roof. At night time."

In January 2011, as Sheffield and the rest of Britain endured its bitterest winter in a century, Arctic Monkeys capered among the palm trees, eschewing hotels for a millionaire's Hollywood homestead as they recorded and mixed their fourth studio album, Suck It and See.

The four Monkeys, alongside producer James Ford and engineer James Brown, lived what they called the "American man thing": watched Super Bowl on giant TVs, played ping-pong, hired two Mustangs, cooked cartoon Tom And Jerry-sized steaks on barbecues on Sundays, had girlfriends over to visit, all cooking and drinking around the colossal outdoor kitchen area featuring a fridge and two dishwashers. Living atop the Hills, they could see the Pacific Ocean beyond by day, the infinite glittering lights of downtown LA by night.

Every day, en route to Sound City Studios, they'd travel in a seven-seater four-by-four through the mountains, via bohemian 60s enclave Laurel Canyon, blaring out the tunes: The Stones Roses, The Cramps, the Misfits' Hollywood Babylon. For the sometime teenage art-punk renegades whose guitarist, Jamie Cook, was once ejected from London's Met Bar for refusing to pay €22 for two beers, the comedy rock'n'roll life still feels, however, absolutely nothing like reality.

NICK O'MALLEY: "It were really as if we were on holiday. When we came back it's the most post-holiday blues I've ever had!"

JAMIE COOK: "It's hard to comment on that. It were just really good fun."

MATT HELDERS: "We always said, As soon as things like that feel normal, we're in trouble. But it's just funny. You might think it would get more and more serious as you get older but it's getting funnier. We've done four albums now and I'm still only 24, I'm still immature to an extent. So who cares?"

Alex? Al? Are you there?

ALEX TURNER: "Yeah, it were good times. But we were in the studio most of the time. So there's no real wild Hollywood stories. Hmn. Yeah."

Wednesday, 16 March 2011, Strongroom Bar, Shoreditch, East London, 11am. Alex Turner, 25, slips entirely alone into an empty art-crowd brasserie looking like an indie girl's indie dream boy: mop-top bouffant hair which coils, in curlicues, directly into his cheekbones, army-green waist-length jacket, baggy-arsed skinny jeans, black cord zip-up cardigan, simple gold chain, supermoon sized chocolate-brown eyes.

Almost six years after I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor became the indie-punk anthem of a generation (from the first of Arctic Monkeys' three Number 1 albums), and nothing prepares you for the curious phenomenon of Alex Turner "in conversation". Unlike so many of the Monkeys frenetic early songs, he operates in slow motion, seemingly underwater, carrying a protective shell on his back, perhaps indie rock's very own diamond-backed terrapin. The most celebrated young wordsmith in rock'n roll today talks fulsomely, in fact, only in shapeless, curling sentences punctuated with "maybe... hmn.. yeah", an anecdotal wilderness sketching pictures as vague as a cloud. He is, though, simultaneously adorable: amenable, gentle, graceful, and as Northern as a 70s grandpa who literally greets you with "ey oop?".

"People think I'm a miserable bastard," he notes, cheerfully, "but it's just the way me face falls." Still profoundly private, if not as hermetically sealed as a vacuum-packed length of Frankfurter, his fante-shy reticence extends not only to his personal life (his four-year relationship with It-girl/TV presenter Alexa Chung, whom he never mentions) but to insider details generally. Take the Monkeys’ Hollywood high jinks documented above: not one word of it was described by Turner. Before Q was informed by his other Monkey bandmates, Turner’s anecdotal aversion unfolded like this:

Describe the lovely villa you were in. AT: "Well... we certainly had a... good view."

Of what? AT: "Well, we were up quite high."

The downtown LA lights going on forever? AT: "I dunno. It was definitely that thing of getting a bit of sort of sunshine. Is it vitamin D? If you can get vitamin D on your record, you've got a bit of a head start. So we'd get up and drive to the studio."

What were you driving? AT: "Nothing... spectacular. But yeah, we'd drive up the studio, spend all day there and sort of, y know, get back. To be honest... we had limited time. So we spent as much time as possible kind of getting into it, like, in the studio.

So your favourite adventures were what? AT: "Well, they were really… minimal. We were working out there!"

Any nightclubs or anything, perhaps? AT: "You really want the goss 'ere, don't you?"

Yes, please. AT: "I could make some up. Nah!"

And this was on the second time of asking. It's perhaps obvious: Alex Turner, one of the most prolific songwriters of his generation (four Monkeys albums and two EPs in five years, The Last Shadow Puppets side-project, a bewitching acoustic soundtrack for his actor/video director friend Richard Ayoade's feature-length debut Submarine), is dedicated only to the cause – of being the best he can possibly be. He simply remembers the songs much more than the somersaults.

Throughout 2009, Arctic Monkeys toured third album Humbug – the record mostly made in the Californian desert with Queens Of The Stone Age man-monolith Josh Homme – across the planet. While hardly some cranium-blistering opus, its heavier sonic meanderings considerably slowed the Arctic Monkeys' live sets and on 23 August 2009, Q watched them headline the Lowlands Festival, Holland and witnessed a hitherto unthinkable sight – swathes of perplexed Monkeys fans trudging away from the stage. With the sludge rock mood matching their cascading dude-rock hair it seemed obvious: they'd smoked way too much outrageously strong weed in the desert.

"Heheheh, yeah," responds Turner, unperturbed. "That's your theory. You probably weren't alone."

Back in the Strongroom Bar, Turner's arm is now nonchalantly draped along the back of a beaten-up brown leather sofa. He ponders his band's somewhat contrary reputation…

"I think starting the headline set at Reading with a cover of a Nick Cave tune perhaps was a bit contrary. D'youknowhat Imean?! But to be honest, that summer, at those festivals, we had a great time. And I know some fans enjoyed those sets 10 times more. And you can't just do, y’know, another Mardy Bum or whatever. Because how could you, really?"

With Humbug, notes Turner, "I went into corners I hadn't before, because I needed to see what were there," but by spring 2010 he wanted their fourth album to be "more song-based" and less lyrically "removed". He was "organised this time", studied "the good songwriters" (from Nick Cave, The Byrds and Leonard Cohen to country colossi Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline), discovered "the other three strings" on his guitar, and wrote 12 songs through the spring and summer of 2010, mostly in the fourth-floor New York flat he shared with Chung before the couple moved back to London late last summer (the New York MTV show It's On With Alexa Chung was cancelled after two seasons). The result: major-key melodies, harmonised singing and classic song structures.

At the same time he revisited the opposite extreme: bands such as Black Sabbath and The Stooges ("we wanted a few wig-outs as well"); he was also still heavily influenced by the oil-thick grinder rock of Josh Homme, who is clearly now a permanent Monkeys hero. After four months' rehearsals in London, on 8 January the Monkeys relocated to LA for five swift weeks of production and Homme came to visit, singing backing vocals on All My Own Stunts. Tequila was involved.

"Tequila is probably me favourite," manages Turner, by way of an anecdote. "But it takes a certain climate... It's not the same... in the rain. Yeah. [Looks to be contemplating a lyric] Tequila in the rain."

Vocally, he developed the caramel richness first unveiled on The Last Shadow Puppets' Scott Walker-esque The Age Of The Understatement, finding a crooner's vibrato. "Everything before was so tight,” he notes, clutching his neck. "Probably just through nerves. That's just not there any more." Suck It and See contains at least four of the most glittering, sing-along, world-class pop songs (and obvious singles) of Arctic Monkeys' career: the towering, clanging She's Thunderstorms, the summertime stunner The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala, the heavenly harmonised title track and the Echo & The Bunnymen-esque jangly pop of closer That's Where You're Wrong.

Elsewhere, in typically contrary "fashion", there's preposterous head-banger bedlam (Brick By Brick, the rollicking faux-heavy rock download they released in March "just for fun", featuring vocals by Helders; Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair, and Library Pictures). News arrives that the first single proper will be Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair. Q is perplexed. Brilliantly titled, certainly, but arriving after Brick By Brick, the new album will appear to the planet as some comedy pastiche metal album for 12-year-old boys.

You've got all these colossal, summery, indie-pop classics and you've gone for... The Chair? AT: [Laughing uproariously] "The Chair! I'm now calling it The Chair, that's cool. Well for once it weren't even our suggestion. It was Laurence's (Bell, Domino label boss). And I were, Fucking too right! He's awesome. It'd be good to get a bit of fucking rock'n'roll out there, won't it? It's riffs. It's loud. It's funny."

If you don't release The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala as a single I'm going round Domino to kick Laurence's "awesome" butt. AT: "I think it'll be the next one!"

The record's title, meanwhile, could've been more enigmatically original than the un-loved phrase Suck It and See. The band, struggling with ideas due to the opposing sonic moods, invented an inspiration-conjuring ruse: to think of new names for effects pedals in the style of Tom Wolfe, Turner being long enamoured with the American author's legendarily psychedelic books The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, "cos that just sounds awesome".

"There's the Big Muff pedal," he elaborates, "That’s the classic. I've got the Valve Slapper. And there's the Tube Screamer. So we came up with the Thunder Suckle Fuzz Canyon. And… wait till I assemble it in me mind… em… it'll come to me… The Blonde-O-Sonic Shimmer Trap. So we were going for summat like that."

A wasted opportunity?

"Nah. Because some of those things ended up in the lyrics anyway. Suck It and See was just easier."

Alex Turner, rock'n'roll's premier descriptive art-poet, still writes his lyrics long-hand in spiral-bound notebooks. "Writing lyrics is a craft that I've practised a bit now," he avers. "In me notebook it looks like sums. Theories. There's words and arrows going everywhere. There's always a few possibilities and I write the word 'OR' in a square."

For our most celebrated colloquial sketch-writer of the everyday observation (all betting pencils, boy slags and ice-cream van aggravations) the more successful he becomes, the less he orbits the ordinary. "I'm not struggling with that, to be honest," he decides. "In fact I'm enjoying writing lyrics much more than I did. Stories. Describing a picture. Um. There's quite a bit of weather and time in this one. Which is probably not reassuring. 'Oh God, he's writing about the weather.' Maybe leave that out!"

There are also some direct, funny, romantic observations: "That's not a skirt, girl, that's a sawn-off shotgun/And I only hope you've got it aimed at me..." (from the title track).

Some of your romantic quips, now, must be about Alexa. AT: "Right. Yeah. Definitely. Well... there's always been that side to our songs, when we weren't writing about... the fucking taxi rank. It's kind of inevitably... people you're with." [At the mention of Chung's name, Turner is visibly aggrieved, head sliding into his neck, terrapin-esque indeed.]

It must have been very grounding being in a proper relationship through all this madness. Because if you weren't, girls would be jumping all over your head. AT: "Em. Hmn. Well, of course that helps you to... I don't really know.. what the other way would be."

Does Alexa wonder if the lyrics are about her? AT: "Oh there's none of that. Yeah, no, there's no looking over the shoulder."

She must be curious, at least. "Maybe."

Did you ever watch Popworld? AT: [Nervous laughter] "Em! Now and again."

Did you ever see the episode where she helps Paul McCartney write a song about shoes? AT: "Ah, yeah I think so, maybe I did see that."

Well, if I was you, I'd have been thinking, "She's the one for me." AT: "Well. Yeah... maybe that would've... sealed the deal! Hmn. But maybe that wasn't when i got the ray of light. When was? Nah [buries head in hands]. I might have to go for a cigarette..."

Q can't torture him any more and joins him for a snout. Turner smokes Camels from a crumpled, sad, soft-pack and resembles a teenager again. As early song You Probably Couldn't See For The Lights But You Were Staring Straight At Me says, "Never tenser/Could all go a bit Frank Spencer…”

In January 2006, when Arctic Monkeys' Number 1 album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not became the fastest-selling debut in UK history, inadvertently redefining the concept of autonomy and further imploding the decimated music industry (& wasn't their idea to be "the MySpace band", it was their fans': the Monkeys merely kick-started viral marketing by giving away demos at gigs), the 19- and 20-year-old Monkeys were terrible at fame. They weren't so much insurrectionary teenage upstarts as teenage innocents culturally traumatised by the peak-era fame democracy.

To their generation (born in the mid-'80s) fame was now synonymous with some-twat-off-the-telly a world of foaming tabloid hysteria where renown and celebrity meant, in fact, you were talentless. Hence their interview diffidence and receiving awards via videos dressed up as the Wizard OfOz and the Village People. Which only, ironically, made them even more celebrated and famous. (“That were a product of us just trying to hold onto the reins," thinks Turner today. "Being uncooperative.")

Q meets The Other Three one morning at 11am, in the well-appointed, empty bar of the Bethnal Green, Bast London hotel they're staying in (all three live in Sheffield, with their girlfriends, in their own homes). First to arrive is the industrious, sensible and cheerful Helders, crunching into a hangover-curing green apple. He has recovered from last year's boxing accident at the gym, which left his broken arm requiring a fitted plate. Now impressively purple-scarred, the break felt "interesting" and the doctor couldn't resist the one-armed drummer jest: "D'you like Def Leppard?"

Currently enjoying an enduring bromance with Diddy, he still doesn't feel famous, "it just doesn't feel that real, there's no paparazzi waiting for me to trip up." He and Turner, during the four-month rehearsals last year, became an accomplished roast dinner cooking duo for the band. "I reckon we could have us our own cookbook," he beams. "Pictures of us stirring, with a whisk."

O'Malley, an agreeable, twinkly-eyed 25-year-old with a strikingly deep voice and a winningly huge smile, is still coyly embarrassed by the interview process. A replacement for the departed original bass player Andy Nicholson in May 2006, he went from Asda shelf-filler to Glastonbury headliner in 13 months and still finds the Monkeys "a massive adventure". His life in Sheffield is profoundly normal – he's delighted that his new home since last October has an open-hearth fireplace: "Me parents had electric bars." He has also discovered cooking. “I’m just a pretty shit-hot housewife, most of the time," he smiles. "I cook stews, fish combinations, curries, chillies. I made a beef pho noodle soup the other day, Vietnamese, I surprised meself, had some mates round for that."

Recently, at his dad's 50th birthday bash, the party band, made up of family and friends, insisted he join them onstage "for ...The Dancefloor. So I were up there [mimes playing bass, all sheepish] and it were the wrong pitch, they didn't know the words or 'owt, going, Makin eyes... er..." He has no extra-curricular musical ambitions. "I'm happy just playing bass," he smiles. "I've never had the skill of doing songs meself. It'd be shit!"

Cook, 25, is still spectacularly embarrassed by the interview process. He perches upright, with a fixed nervous smile, newly shorn of the beard and ponytail he sported in LA: "Rockin' a pone, yeah, because I could get away with it." With his classic preppy haircut and dapper green military coat (from London's swish department store, Liberty), he looks like a handsome '40s film star. (Turner deems Cook "the band heartbreaker" and had a word with him post-LA: "I said to him, Come on, mate, you've got to get that beard shaved off. Get the girls back into us. Shift some posters.")

His life in Sheffield is also profoundly normal. He still plays Sunday League football with his local pub team, The Pack Horse FC (position, left back), remains in his long-term relationship with page-three-model-turned-make-up-artist Katie Downes and "potters about" at home, refusing to describe said home, "cos I'll get burgled".

A tiler by trade, he always vowed, should the Monkeys sign a deal, that he'd throw his trowel in a Sheffield river on his last day of work. "I never did fling me trowel," he confirms. "Probably still in me shed." He's never considered what his band represents to his generation. "I'd go insane thinking about it, I'm pretty good at not thinking about it… Oh God. I'm terrible at this!"

Back in the Strongroom Bar, Alex Turner is cloudily describing his everyday life. "I just keep meself to meself," he confounds. He mostly stays indoors and his perfect night in with Alexa is "watching loads of Sopranos. And doing roast dinners".

No longer spindle-limbed, he attends a gym and has handsomely well-defined arms – "You have to look after yourself."

Suddenly, Crying Lightning from Humbug rumbles over the bar stereo. "Wow. How about that? I was quite happy the other morning cos Brick By Brick were on the round-up goals on Soccer AM. It's still exciting when that happens. It was like Brick By Brick is real."

He spends his days writing music, "listening to records", and recommends Blues Run The Game by doomed '60s minstrel Jackson C Frank ("who's that lass?... Laura Marling, she did a cover recently), a simple, acoustic, deep and regretful stunner about missing someone on the road.

Lyrically, he cites as an example of greatness the Nick Cave B-side Little Empty Boat [from ‘97 single Into My Arms ], a comically sinister paean to a sexual power struggle: "Your knowledge is impressive and your argument is good/But I am the resurrection babe and you're standing on my foot."

"I need a hobby," he suddenly decides. "I'd like to learn another language." Since his mum is a German teacher (his dad teaches music), surely he can speak some German? "I know how to ask somebody if they've had fun at Christmas." Go on, then. "Nah!"

Where Turner's creative gifts stem from remains a contemporary rock'n'roll mystery; he became a fledgling songwriter at 16, after the gift of a guitar at Christmas from his parents. An only child, did his folks, perhaps, foresee artistic greatness? "I doubt it!" he balks. "Cos I didn't. I wasn't... a show kid." Like the others, he doesn't analyse the past, or the future.

"You can't constantly be thinking about what's happened," he reasons, "it's just about getting on with it." The elaborate pinky ring he now constantly wears, however, a silver, gold and ruby metal-goth corker featuring the words DEATH RAMPS is a permanent reminder of he and his best friends’ past. The Death Ramps is not only a Monkeys pseudonym and B-side to Teddy Picker, but a place they used to ride their bikes in Sheffield as kids.

"Up in the woods near where we lived," he nods. "Just little hills. But when you're eight years old they're death ramps." The ring was custom made by a friend of his, who runs top-end rock'n'roll jewellery emporium The Great Frog near London's Carnaby Street. Ask Turner why he thinks the chase between his writing and speaking eloquence is quite so mesmerisingly vast and he attempts a theory.

"Well, writing isn't the same as speaking," he muses. "Not for me. I seem to struggle more and more with... conversation. Talking onstage... I can't do it any more. Hmn. I'll have to work on that."

The ever-helpful Helders has a better theory.

"Since he's been writing songs," he ponders, “It seems like he’s always thinking about that. So even when he’s talking to you now, he’s thinking about the next thing that rhymes with a word. Even when he’s driving. We joke he’s a bad driver, his focus is never 100 per cent on what he’s doing. Which is good for us cos it means he’s got another 12 songs up his sleeve. I think music must be the easiest way for him to be concise and get everything out. Otherwise his head would explode.”

The Shoreditch.com photo studios, 18 March. Alex Turner, today, is more ethereally distracted than ever, transfixed by the studio iPod, playing Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, a version of I’d Rather Go Blind. Occasionally, he’ll completely lose his conversational thread, “Um. I’ve dropped a stitch.”

The first to arrive for Q’s photoshoot, he greets his incoming bandmates with enormous hugs (and also hugs them goodbye). Today, Q feels it’s pointless poking its pickaxe of serious enquiry further into Turner’s vacuum-packed soul and wonders if he’ll play, instead, a daft game. It’s called Popworld Questions, as first posed by someone he knows rather well.

“Oh, OK. Let’s do it,” he blinks, now perched in an empty dressing room. He then vigorously shakes his head, “Um…I’ve gotta snap back into it.”

Here, then, are some genuine “Alexa Chung on Popworld” questions (2006-2007), as originally posed to Matt Willis, Amy Winehouse, Robbie Williams, Pussycat Dolls, Kaiser Chiefs and Diddy.

Why do indie bands wear such tight jeans? AT: “Um. I supposed they do. They haven’t always. When we first were playing I was definitely in flares. You need to be quite tall to get the full effect, though. So, that's why this indie band wears such tight jeans, cos we've not got the legs for flares."

What makes you tick in the sexy department? AT: "Wow. Pass. What do I find most attractive in a woman? Something in the head? That's definitely a requirement. Well... Hmn. I'm struggling."

Tell us about all the lovely groupies. AT: "No!"

If dogs had human hands instead of paws, would you consider trying to teach them to play the piano? AT: "Absolutely. I'd teach Hey Jude."

How many plums d'you think you can comfortably fit in one hand? AT: "They're not very big. [Holds small, pale, girly hand up for inspection] It's a shame. Probably three. Diddy only managed two? Maybe not then. I can carry a lot of glasses at once, though. If they're small ones I can do four."

Are you cool? AT: "Not as much as I'd like to be. There's this clip where Clint Eastwood is on a talkshow and he gets asked, Everybody thinks of you as defining cool, what d'you think about that? And he gets his cigs out, takes one out, flicks it into his mouth, lights it and says, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Here, Turner locates his Camels soft-pack and attempts to do a Clint Eastwood. He flicks one upwards towards his mouth. And misses. Flicks another. And misses. "Third time lucky?" He misses. "I'll get it the next time." And succeeds. "Hey. Fourth time. Don't put that in! So there you go. I'm four steps away from where I wanna be."

Thank you very much for joining me here on Popworld, here's my clammy hand again. There it is, let it slip, hmmn. You can let go now. AT: "OK! Were you a Popworld fan, then? It was funny. Cool. What were we talking about, before?"

Blimey, Alex. What must you be like when you're completely stoned out of your head? AT: "Stoned? What d'you mean, cos I seem like that anyway? Yeah. A lot of people... tell me I'm a bit... dreamy. But I like the idea of that. Of being somewhere else."

Two days earlier, Turner had contemplated what he wanted from all this, in the end. Many seconds later he gave his deceptively ambitious answer.

"I just wanna write better songs," he decided. "And better lyrics. I just definitely wanna be good at it. Hmn. Yeah.”

—

RUFUS BLACK: AKA Matt Helders, on his ongoing bromance with Diddy

Matt Helders has known preposterous rap titan Diddy since they met in Miami in 2008. “He goes, Arctic Monkeys! Then he said summat about a B-side and I was like, He's not lying! I just thought, This is funny, I'm gonna go with this for a while." Last October Diddy texted Helders, suggesting he play drums with his Diddy Dirty Money band on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, to give his own drummer a day off. “I were bowling with me girifriend at the time. In Sheffield, on a Sunday." On the day of recording, says Helder, "We had a musical director. That were one of the maddest times of my life. Next day Diddy said, Why don't you just stay? Come along with me. So I went everywhere with him." Diddy had "a convoy of cars" and made sure Helders was always in his. "He'd stop his car and go, Where's Matt? You're coming with me! So I'd get in his car. Just me, him, his security, driver." Diddy, by now, had given him a pseudonym - Rufus Black. "He kept saying, I don't wanna fuck up your image. And I'm, I don't think it's gonna do me any harm!" He stayed in Diddy's spectacularly expensive hotel. Some weeks later, Helders almost returned to the Dirty Money drumstool for a gig in Glasgow. "But we were rehearsing in London. I were like, I might come, how are you getting there? And he were like, Jet. Jump on t’jet with me. But I had to stay in Bethnal Green instead.”

Love’s young dream: Diddy (left) with Helders

[sootchild]

Fantasy Junior Year Episode Sketches

I have put together for free on my Ko-fi all the episode sketches I did for FHJY. Thank you to everyone for joining me on the rock'n whiplash that was junior year.

See you at Basrar's!

[doyourememberrocknrollradio]

Steve Miller Band - Rock'n Me

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

02/05/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Cast & Crew; Rhys Cameos; Samba BTS; Samba & Rhys Goofyness; Wee John Wednesday + surprise Leslie; UK Launch; Watch Party Reminders; What We Do In The Shadows; New Watch parties: Love Birds; Articles; Fundraisers; Schadenfreude; Trends; Morale/LoveNotes/MORE RHYS CAMEOS; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika;

Jeez Louise fam today was a seriously jam packed day! Once again Im worried I'm gonna miss something because there was just so much so please feel free to let me know!

== Cast & Crew ==

The Crew section is a hefty one today, so buckle up buttercup it's gonna be a chaotic and heartwarming ride.

Okay so, yesterday we had that lovely message that was edited from our beloved captain. But then our dear friend @meowzawowaza_ over on twitter released yet another part of the video that specifically went over Rhys' frustrations with the cancellation. Now it's less positive, but as she says, it adds another layer that is helping rally the troops to keep fighting. Here's the thread with the videos. Apologies if you don't have twitter... I don't have a link outside of there at the moment. If I find one, I'll update it here.

THEN because she's awesome, our lovely @lucyrosebutler decided to share the cameo she had gotten previously. Which he ended with, "Yeah, you be you, keep rock'n, and yeah, you be you, and do it loudly."

Before continuing with the cast & crew...

== Kudosboard! ==

Wanna send our lovely captain, Rhys, some kudos and love after all he's given us, especially the last two days? You can do so over on kudoboard.com! Thank you @madzilla84 for making this happen! Get on over there and send our sunshine man some love!

Alright! On to more Cast & Crew.

= Samba =

Samba, our favorite BTS buddy posted a new BTS picture + was making sure to shout out the new S2 out on BBCIplayer today!

= Samba & Rhys =

Then because our entire cast and crew is a pile of goofballs, Rhys and Samba shared this little exchange on twitter:

= Wee John Wednesday Monday! =

And well, then there was Wee John Wednesdays Monday! Where we not only got to see the expected three cast members: Kristian Nairn, Vico Ortiz, and Madeleine Sami, but a SURPRISE guest, Leslie Jones who crashed the Instagram live party.

You can watch the whole thing on Kristian Nairn's IG Here. WHICH I highly recommend because it was an absolute blast and got so many of us pumped and ready for more. Some highlights that absolutely cannot describe the pure and wonderful chaos were:

Rocket Jousting

Leslie fucking every alien in space

Leslie wants to come to a convention

Horny pickle ball

Jenkins is on board for s3 if it happens

They see how hard we're working on SaveOFMD and they said "they deserve it" (s3) and "so do we!"

Mads just randomly runs into Taika on the beach

Gypsy made a chest binder for all Vico's outfits @edscuntyeyeshadow ty for the screenshots here on tumblr

Oh and David Fane popped in because he's a gem of a human being. Thanks @madzilla84 for catching that!

= Leslie Jones + Convention =

PSSSST: Wanna help get Leslie to a con? Go request her on the Galaxy Con Websites! Thanks @insane_foliage on twitter for the suggestions!

= Vico Ortiz =

Upcoming cast events! Sunday Feb 11, 4PM PST, Vico will be interviewing with the lovely Samantha Rei on Instagram Live

= Erroll Shand =

I just, can't get over how amazing Erroll's IG Stories are, and how much he interacts with the goofy fan memes. I love this guy.

== Uk Launch ==

So many people logged in for the UK Launch of S2!!! Thank you everyone! The data teams over at @saveofmdcrewmates are still crunching numbers to show how things went the first day, but we can definitely see #OurFlagBBC trending for a bit!

Also Pink News was tweeting about the launch, and Wee John Wednesday!

Great job everyone-- please keep it up if you have the spoons! Wanna watch OFMD again? You can help support the UK Launch by watching it on BBCIplayer! Once again, if you are outside the US you can get instructions on how to here on @reallygoodplants page, or from this article.

== Watch Party Reminders! ==

= What We Do In The Shadows Watch Party! =

Tuesday February 6th, 9PM GMT, 1 PM PST, 4PM EST

Watch Party Hashtags:

#VamPirates

#SaveOFMD

#AdoptOurCrew

== New Watch Parties! ==

FINALLYYYYY we have a Love Birds Watch Party! Feb 9th - 9 pm GMT, 4 pm EST, 1pm PST.

Watch Party Hashtags:

#AdoptOurLoveBirds

#AdoptOurCrew

#SaveOFMD

==Articles==

So many articles today with the UK launch, including the Guardian again!

What’s On TV This Week: 5th February – 11th February

TV Tonight: It's the Final Series of Curb Your Enthusiasm

Our Flags Means Death fans get TV licence just to watch pirate show

The Best Romantic TV Series to Get into the Valentine’s Day Spirit

8 TV Shows Were Canceled in January 2024, Including 4 From HBO

Why won’t there be a Our Flag Means Death season 3?

= Fundraiser Status =

eSIMs and Sanitary Products for Gaza by Our Flag Makes A Difference is currently at 27% of their goal. If you're looking for a good cause to donate to, these folks have been incredibly transparent about all funds.

@One of the crew, @mcstuffiesphd is selling Jeff stickers as well as other SaveOFMD merch and donating 50% to the Our Flag Makes A Difference group for the above fundraiser.

== SchadenFreude / Trends Time ==

Thank you @btweenhisteeth on twitter for capturing this metric! Looks like WB Discovery is still having a bit of trouble with their stocks. Wonder why that could be?

Other fun trends that popped up today: Thank you @merryfinches catching a shot of the pile of royalty below.

== Morale / Love Notes ==

So normally I just want to say all the things about how lovely you all are, but Rhys posted YET ANOTHER video on cameo tonight, and I feel like his voice is the sunshine we all need. The longer one up, is dedicated to LGBTQIA+ folks with some anecdotes from Rhys' childhood, and another specific to the crew for this show (it's about 3 mins 10 seconds long). Please take a few minutes to go watch them, you don't need a log in or anything for them. It's just worth it to hear our lovely captain say nice things.

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

And to end the night, just some silly gifs that maybe sort of but don't quite go together for tonight. Goodnight lovelies, it was a LOOONG day today, please go get some rest. Love you.

[skulljackxiii]

Total Dangan Action Teams

Support me over at Patreon: www.patreon.com/skulljackxiii —————————————————

Three Stars: Lead by Kaito Momota

Rock'N Boners: Lead by Kokichi Oma

Money Makers: Lead by Miu Iruma

Electra Company: Lead by Korekiyo Shinguji

Mono-Dumbs: Lead by Kaede Akamatsu

On the set, the 16 Contestants will be divided into five teams who will have "Helpers"(the hosts) to represent all of them as mascots. These Helpers do not have any benefits or advantages to overcome the other team, except for providing "Hints". Hints are riddles, subtle clues, or small instructions that will help the team solve and get through the Challenges quicker. Each team may only have 2 Hints for the entire show. Whenever during a Challenge, team captain can decide on whether or not they want to use a Hint, but there's a "Penalty" when used. The Penalty is a setback that will cause the team to slowdown or hinder their progress through the Challenge.

Additionally, there'll be rules added for the winner and losing team in the competition this time around. The winning team gets to decide the fate of the team in last place; they either let them go vote for elimination like usual, or they all decide which member they get to steal from that team. This cycle will continue for every challenge until there's no more players in other teams, once all the remaining players are in the same team that's when they'll merge and everyone gets to play for themselves.

[k-martins]

JJK characters in: KARAOKE NIGHT!

Just a union of some HC's I have. Some can be read as Canon Compatible, others not. Follow your heart ♥

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ Tokyo Class of 2006~⋆｡ﾟ ☾ﾟ ｡⋆｡︎☁ﾟ｡⋆

♡ Gojo ALWAYS chooses a classic from the 2000s that sticks like gum in everyone's mind. He dedicated Call me maybe to Suguru every time he sang it. ♥ Shoko always chooses songs with dark themes, with slow and disturbing rhythms on purpose, because he likes to see Satoru and Suguru's uncomfortable faces. ♡ Nanami would rather die than sing. He also doesn't have a good voice. ♥ Haibara is the one who drags everyone to Karaoke, and he stays excited until the end. He sings all the songs and plays the instruments for everyone. He always pats Suguru on the shoulder when he gets a lower grade than Gojo. ♡ Utahime is the only one who strives to have a good score in the game, and she ends up getting furious when Gojo surpasses her without difficulty. ♥ Suguru likes rock songs, and for Satoru, he always looks hot when he sings.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ Tokyo Class of 2018~ ⋆｡ﾟ ☾ﾟ ｡⋆｡︎☁ﾟ｡⋆

♡ Kirara has one of the best voices, and is very expressive. Gesturing and dancing to the rhythm of the music. ♥ Hakari isn't exactly the type who likes these types of games, but Kirara always convinces him to sing a duet. ♡ Yuta tries to sing a song at least on karaoke nights, but he stutters the lyrics and gets the timing wrong several times. ♥ Toge, for obvious reasons, cannot sing at karaoke nights, but he is happy to bang his instruments as loud as possible to disturb his friends. Except when it's Yuta who's singing. Then he acts like a supportive friend/boyfriend and plays the instruments calmly as a sign of support. ♡ Maki doesn't like singing, even though she has a good voice. She will at least sing a rock'n roll song and a duet with Nobara. ♥ Yuji always chooses some American pop music, the kind that appears on Instagram or Tik tok. The problem is that he rarely looks for a translation of the lyrics and (to Megumi's embarrassment and Nobara's amusement) he ends up singing something like "Mary on a Cross" or equally with a double meaning. ♡ Nobara always sings some girl power song. She feels powerful singing this. ♥ + She sang I Kissed a Girl once and didn't stop looking at Maki for a minute. Toge smiled evilly at her for two weeks. ♡ It's very rare for Megumi to sing karaoke (in fact, he'd rather die than do that), but whenever he does, he chooses something basic and well-known. ♥ + Once Yuji dragged him to a duet of Rewrite the Stars and Megumi almost died of embarrassment. Neither of them knew the words exactly, but they both had fun. Of course, until Gojo shows that he recorded everything and Megumi tries to beat him up.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ Kyoto Class of 2018~ ⋆｡ﾟ ☾ﾟ ｡⋆｡︎☁ﾟ｡⋆

♡ Todo always sings a song from his beloved Takada-chan's idol group. He doesn't have a very good voice, but he gets emotional while singing (with tears and all) ♥ Miwa is not a good singer, but she tries hard to be, gesturing and giving emotion to the notes. Her score is never high. ♡ Kokichi sings like a robot. No jokes. The guy has no emotions. ♥ Noritoshi doesn't know how to sing and prefers not to try, although he shows support for his colleagues with the instruments (which he also doesn't know how to play) ♡ Momo sings American classics that no one knows, but Mai and Miwa still congratulate her. ♥ Mai has similar taste to Nobara, only she is less blatantly gay.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ BONUS!~ ⋆｡ﾟ ☾ﾟ ｡⋆｡︎☁ﾟ｡⋆

♡ At karaoke nights, Nanako is the only one who actually sings, all the songs she knows or tries to sing the ones she doesn't know. ♥ Mimiko doesn't like karaoke nights and always falls asleep on Suguru's shoulder. ♡ Ino sings anime songs and tells his juniors that singing is not a talent, but rather practice and study (he has one of the worst scores). ♥ Hana likes romantic and slow songs, but she always blushes when she sings them. ♡ Tsumiki likes Disney classics, so it's obvious that she's going to sing a song like that on the night. Sometimes she pulls Megumi to be her partner, other times Gojo accompanies her. ♥ Tsukumo sings the hardest and hardest rock songs to sing. His score is very good. ♡ Junpei is the same as Yuta, except that he makes a point of always choosing the soundtrack for a movie. Yuji and Nobara sometimes sing as a trio, with Megumi playing the instruments in the background. ♥ Choso doesn't sing nor does he know the songs being played, but he applauds to the rhythm of the music and always shows his support for Yuji and Tsukumo.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ BONUS!~ ⋆｡ﾟ ☾ﾟ ｡⋆｡︎☁ﾟ｡⋆

♡ Sukuna hates Karaoke nights. It always appears in Yuji's mouth to disrupt his singing or to mock others. He also threatens that Karaoke will be a crime under penalty of death in his new reign. He's very rude, but everyone tells him to fuck off, so it's okay.

Thanks for reading (ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥

[aspoonofsugar]

Adam: Stick It To The Man

When the world has screwed you And crushed you in its fist When the way you're treated Has got you good and pissed There's been one solution Since the world began Don't just sit and take it Stick it to the man

Stick It To The Man is a song from the School of Rock musical, which is referenced in Hazbin Hotel's episode 6:

Vaggie: "Act selfless, don't steal, stick it to the man". Are you fucking serious? Adam: Uh, yeah. Sure got me here, didn't it?

Why is that so? There are two reasons:

Alex Brightman, who plays Adam, is also the protagonist Dewey Finn in the musical play

Adam and Dewey share several similarities to the point that Adam alludes to Dewey in some way

In short, Dewey's story inspired Adam's, so School of Rock can be useful to analyze Hazbin Hotel's First Man.

SCHOOL OF ROCK

Here comes a short summary of the movie/musical for whoever has never watched it (and should). If you already know the story, feel free to skip it.

Dewey Finn is a penniless musician, who dreams of becoming a rock star. He has no job and lives with his friend Ned and Ned's girlfriend Patty. All he does is playing rock with the "No Vacancy", his band. However, he is considered too over the top and self-centered by the other members and is expelled. Meanwhile Ned's girlfriend gets fed up with him and imposes an ultimatum. He either pays the rent or leaves.

Dewey finds himself in a pinch. On the one hand he wants to win the Battle of the Bands, but he has no band. On the other hand he needs to buy time and find some money to pay Patty. So, when he answers a phone call for Ned and discovers his friend is asked to be a substitude teacher, he decides to take his place. He poses as Ned Schneebly and starts teaching a class of kids.

He soon discovers the kids are gifted at music and devises a new plan. He forms a band with his class, so that they can all take part in the Battle of the Bands. By doing so, he starts truly bonding with the children. He encourages them to discover more about rock, nurtures their artistic talents, creates a strong sense of comraderie within the class. Basically, the kids were used to a strict environment, but through Dewey, they taste freedom, creativity and learn to challenge the system. Dewey himself starts changing, as he becomes more responsible and selfless for the kids' sake.

The kids pass the audition and are admitted to the Battle of the Bands. However, just before it, Dewey is asked to report his students' progress to their families in a teacher-parent meeting. There Patty and Ned arrive and unmask him, so the situation degenerates into chaos and Dewey is forced to run away.

All seems lost, but the kids have grown fond of Dewey and forgive his lie. They escape school, go to their teacher's house and encourage him to take part with them in the competition. Dewey and the kids make a great performance and get through to the public, including the parents, who realize how much Dewey's "rock lessons" have helped their children. In the end, the class doesn't win, but they get an encore.

In the epilogue, it is revealed Dewey is teaching music in an approved after-school program. So, Dewey finds his place in society, all while teaching the new generations how to live in a rock'n roll way.

So, what does the detestable Adam have in common with the lovable Dewey? Well, for starters, both love rock.

I FUCKING ROCK

Adam: I know. I fucking rock.

Adam has a rock motif, which emerges strongly in his first meeting with Charlie. He plays in a rock band, has studs on his tunic and materializes a golden guitar he performs a metal solo with:

Adam: Guitar solo, fuck yeah!

Not only that, but his song Hell Is Forever is hard rock, whereas the other pieces are inspired by traditional musicals.

Dewey too is passionate about rock and loves playing. In particular, he dreams of becoming a rock-star:

Dewey: I'll be strummin' my axe in a basement dive with my totally kick-ass band! When an army of A&R men will arrive with pens and contracts in hand! And they'll whisk me away in a big, black car And the record execs, and the girls from PR They'll know from the start what a major league star I will be! Just wait and see! (...) I'll rise and I'll rise and I'll rise And the wings of my soul Up where I belong! And I'll climb to the top of Mount Rock And be part of that heavenly scene With Odin and Zeus on the base and the drums And Thor playin' tamborine And Elvis and Janice and Kurt will appear And Jesus will toss me a beer And we'll jam 'round the clock! At the top of Mount Rock At the top of Mount Rock At the top of Mount Rock!

These are the beginning and the end of the song When I Climb To The Top Of Mount Rock, which is Dewey's introductory song.

He imagines to kick ass with his axe-guitar:

And his badass band:

While climbing to the top of Mount Rock to be part of a heavenly scene:

Oh look! Adam got Dewey's wish! Why is that so? Let's head at the heart of the two characters' foiling.

Both Adam and Dewey feel like losers.

Adam loses not one, but two wives to Lucifer:

Lucifer: Well, your first wife didn't seem to hate what I had to offer… or the second, bow-chicka-pow-pow!

Dewey is instead broken, has no success and is forced to live with his best friend:

Patty: Give up your dreams Your dreams are lame and weak Can't you see you're talent free You sad, deluded freak Time's up, you loser And soon you'll have to pay Sell the vinyl, pawn the amps And put your little dreams away

Both are also very childish to the point of being men-children:

Adam: Here's my personal favorite. You'll love it. Charlie: Uh…thanks. Charlie tries to take a piece of rib, but her hand passes right through them, as they fizz on and off from the touch. Adam laughs. Adam: I got you again, bitch! Fuckin' hilarious!

Patty: No more excuses, there's nothing to discuss Ditch your pointless, futile dreams And join the grown up world like us

This immaturity shows in their power fantasy of getting revenge on the world. They wanna prove their detractors wrong:

Dewey: And no one will call me a loser again Or tell me what I can't do!

The difference is that, at the beginning of their respective stories, Dewey is failing, while Adam has succeeded:

Adam: Are they Winners? Are they Sinners? 'Cause it's cut and dry.

Adam is by his own definition a winner, as he has been judged worthy of Heaven. He can enjoy an eternal life of happiness and bliss, while looking down on his most hated rival, since Lucifer is instead banished to Hell.

In short:

Dewey and Adam are losers, who share a childish dream of fame and success

Dewey has this dream negated to him, whereas Adam fulfills this fantasy

Adam is Dewey's desire incarnated. He is a winged soul (quite literally), who has reached the very top. He can play his music with angels and he himself is a legend:

Adam: So, I was playin' this gig, and for some fuckin' reason, this virtue chick was diggin' on the drummer, and it's like, "do you know who I am? I'm fuckin' Adam. I'm the original dick!" All dicks descend from me. You think you want drummer dick? No way! I'm the Dick-fuckin' master!

He is the rockstar Dewey dreams of becoming. But is he really the embodyment of rock? Let's take a closer look.

THE BAND IS MINE

Dewey: You think you'll be just fine Without me, but you're mine You think you can just kick me out of the band? Well, there's just one problem there The band is mine! How can you kick me out of what is mine? Well, you're not hardcore Unless you live hardcore!

School of Rock starts with Dewey being kicked out of his own band because he is too selfish. Later on, he slowly overcomes his selfishness as he forms a new band with the kids. By working with them he realizes what it means to be part of a group. Not only that, but as a teacher he listens to the kids and helps them discover their individuality:

Tamika, a student: I was lost, lost and in pain So much hurt bottled inside All the things I should've said I just kept trying to hide And I thought nobody could But you, you understood i needed to share And only you would listen Hoped someone would care And only you would listen You raised my voice up taught me not to fear I've learned who I am because you're here

Adam too is part of a band and he is its leader:

Adam: Haha, yeah! Ladies, let's fuck shit up! [accompanied by a guitar sting] ATTACK!

Adam's bond with the exorcists can be commented on multiple levels.

1- A man among women

Adam is the only man among an army of women and he is the one in command. This ties with Adam's misogyny. As a matter of fact he builds a harem of badass ladies ready to fight for him. In a sense, Adam has his own army of groupies to objectify:

This is shown also through his biblical motifs:

Adam's favourite food is ribs because in the Bible Eve is created from his rib. Similarly, he makes the exorcists at his image and likeliness. He sees them as an extension of himself.

Adam: You were on the front lines, I wouldn't forget a bad bitch like you. It's why I named you after the best thing ever. Vaggie.

He is the one giving Vaggie her name, just like in the Bible Adam names animals. So, Vaggie is symbolically equated to a beast.

On this last point, he probably named the other exorcists, as well, which leads us to three considerations:

Adam chooses for Vaggie the most insulting and objectifying name possible, as he literally calls her vagina.

Lute too is called after an object. Not just any object, but an instrument angels play. She isn't supposed to be a performer, but just a musical device.

Typically, the one naming another person is their parent.

2- Parent and daughters

Carmilla abt the exorcists: By showing you the flaws in your own fighting style. Yours and all your sisters'.

The exorcists are "sisters" and Adam is their authority figure and metaphorical father. He is the one giving them names and a place to belong. However, they must obey his orders and live up to his standards. Cause, if they don't:

Vaggie is taught to fight, kill and hate. The moment she gives in to pity, she is immediately punished and discarded with no second thoughts. She is even used as a cautionary tale:

Adam: Prepare to slaughter every sinner in that shit hotel, and you all remember Vaggie? Exorcists: Boo! We hate her!

In short, Adam acts towards the exorcists as an abusive parent, who gives conditional acceptance. They have value only if they succeed. This one-sided mentality is perfectly shown by Lute and Vaggie:

Lute telling Vaggie to kill her: Do it, then. Correct your mistake.

Vaggie to Charlie: I'm supposed to protect you. I'm supposed to never fail you. If I can't help you, what's the point of me?

Lute sees Vaggie sparing someone, be them a sinner or Lute herself, as wrong. Vaggie is sure Charlie won't love her back, if she isn't useful. These behaviors are not innate in the two girls. They are the result of their upbringing by Adam. The First Man's controlling nature shows also in his band's looks.

3- Mask and horns

Adam has all the exorcists comform:

They wear the same mask, the same horns and the same uniform. Basically, they all dress the way Adam likes. Moreover, the exorcists have their faces hidden because they are not allowed to be people. They can only be Adam's copies. Soldiers under him.

What's interesting about this is that Adam's style is rock and metal inspired, so he forces the girls to adopt this look too. However, rock is supposed to be about self-expression, freedom and rebellion. Adam instead takes this aesthetic and turns it into a repressive military uniform. He takes something born to challenge the system and turns it into the system.

THE MAN

Dewey: THE WORLD is run by the Man. Oh, you don't know the Man? He's everywhere. In the White House, down the hall, MISS MULLINS, she's the Man. And the Man ruined the ozone, and he's burning down the Amazon, and he kidnapped Shamu and put her in a chlorine tank! Okay? And there used to be a way to stick it to the Man, it was called rock 'n roll. But guess what? Oh no. The Man ruined that, too, with a little thing called MTV! So don't waste your time trying to make anything cool, or pure, or awesome, 'cause the Man is just gonna call you a fat washed up loser and crush your soul. So do yourselves a favor and just GIVE UP!

Dewey teaches his students about the Man, who represents the system and corrupts everything, even rock'n roll. Well, Adam is the embodyment of the Man.

He is hierarchy:

Adam: 'Cause Hell is forever Whether you like it or not Had their chance to behave better Now they boil in the pot 'Cause the rules are black and white There's no use in tryin' to fight it They're burnin' for their lives Until we kill 'em again!

He is misogyny:

Adam: Just try to chillax, babe You're wasting your breath Charlie: Hehe…

He calls Charlie a loser and tells her to give up her dream:

Adam: Fuckin' Hell is forever And it's meant to suck a lot! So give up your dumb endeavor 'Cause you don't have a shot!

He presents himself as a hard rocker, but is actually the enemy of rock itself. After all, he is the very first man:

Charlie: Wait, your name is Adam? Like the first man Adam, that means you…Oh… That explains so much.

Adam's true nature is conveyed through his design, as well. He is one of the few characters with no animal motif because his animal motif is that to be "the man". That's it. And despite wearing metal and rock accessories, his tunic resembles a letterman jacket. He is an arrogant jock masked as a rocker.

Adam isn't who Dewey wants to really become, but he is who our rock'n roll teacher risks to become, if he doesn't grow up. A betrayal of rock. Let's consider this:

Dewey: I pledge allegiance… to the band… of Mr. Schneebly… and will not fight him… for creative control… and will defer to him on all issues related to the musical direction of the band.

This is what Dewey has the kids repeat when they join the band. It sounds like a cultish creed. Luckily, as the story progresses, Dewey learns to work with the students and helps them express their needs and personalities. Adam, instead, doesn't develop and traps the exorcists in a violent and controlling environment, where their personhood is negated. He is both:

The leader of an extremist religious cult

A rockstar surrounded by adoring fans

This double metaphor is conveyed through a religious reference:

Adam materializes a group of golden exorcists (both an army and a band), which alludes to the golden calf. According to the Bible, Moses goes up to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, but takes a long time and the Israelites lose hope. They start adoring a calf made of gold, only to be called out by an angered Moses once he gets back. In short, the golden calf is a false god, an idol. Adam too is an idol, both in the religious sense and in the musical sense. He is a fake angel and a fake rocker. He lives in Heaven, but his beliefs are rotten. He plays hard rock, but his spirit has nothing to do with it. He is a sinful angel and a metaphorical rockstar who sold himself out. So, he is the fake calf that needs to be broken.

How does one do it? Dewey teaches his students the answer:

Dewey: Get all of your aggression out They try to stop you let 'em know Exactly where they all could go And do it just as loudly as you can Stick it to the man

And who is the one who sticks it to Adam?

CHARLIE, CHILD OF ROCK

Charlie and Emily: If Hell is forever, then Heaven must be a lie If angels can do whatever, and remain in the sky The rules are shades of gray when you don't do as you say When you make the wretched suffer just to kill them again

This stanza of You Didn't Know is Charlie's answer to Adam. The First Man sings that Hell is Forever, whereas the Princess of Hell believes redemption is not only possible, but necessary for Heaven to work. Charlie's reply addresses a systemic issue and challenges the status quo, which is why it is much more punk rock than Adam's stance:

Adam and Lute: There's no question to be posed He's unholy, case closed Did you forget that "Hell is forever"?

In general, the court scene makes clear who represents the system (the Man) and who is trying to change it (the Rocker). Adam is in a position of power over Charlie and is backed up by Sera, the highest authority in the room. Charlie is instead at the very bottom of the hierarchy, as she is a "hell-spawn" and the Devil's daughter. This is shown by the seating arrangement:

Adam and Charlie are the two sides arguing, so they should be on the same level. However, the First Man seats in a higher position than the Princess of Hell. That symbolically conveys Sera has already decided who is gonna win:

Sera: Well, you failed to control the demons' unrest, and now Lucifer is involved, setting up an audience for his misguided daughter.

No matter what Charlie says or does: she has no chance to begin with. And yet, for just a moment, she and Emily break the order:

They look down on both Sera and Adam and call out their hypocrisy. The two girls tower over the two angels because they have the moral high ground. They sing in princess-like voices, but their lines slap as the hardest and noblest rock can. This is why their duet is a reprise of Hell is Forever. They are schooling Adam on what rock'n roll truly is.

Adam might look the part, but Charlie is Hazbin Hotel's true rocker, just like she is the messianic archetype of the series:

Angel Dust and Vaggie: Can't we just kill him? Shoot him and spill his blood? Charlie: That's an… option you could choose Angel Dust and Vaggie: Works for us! Charlie: But, who hasn't been in his shoes? It starts with sorry!

Jesus: He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first (John 8:7)

In the Gospel, an adulteress is brought to Jesus, so that he can order to stone her. Jesus instead asks that whoever has never committed sin throws the first stone. Nobody does and the woman is saved. This is similar to how Charlie steps in for Sir Pentious and convinces Angel and Vaggie to show mercy.

Charlie is clearly inspired by Jesus to an extent. She is the one willing to embrace humanity as a whole. Especially the wretched, the sinners and the outcasts:

Charlie: I can hear all their stories The lost and displaced And I know that they're more of an acquired taste But if I open the door and I give them a place At my Hazbin Hotel It'll be a happy day in Hell!

Adam is linked to an empy golden idol, whereas Charlie is set up as the savior of the world.

When it comes to the School of Rock motif, Hazbin Hotel takes Dewey's character and divides him into two:

Adam is Dewey's want. He is who Dewey initially wants to be. A shallow rockstar, who is self-centered and childish. A selfish prick showered with praise and success.

Charlie is Dewey's need. She is who Dewey eventually needs to be. A helper. Someone who makes the silenced voices heard. Dewey discovers he can be a rocker in a new band with the kids. Charlie slowly grows into the Princess of Hell thanks to her found family of misfits.

These two sides of Dewey and of rock itself come to a final clash in the Hazbin Hotel's reinterpretation of the Battle of the Bands: Extermination Day.

THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS

School of Rock's climax is the Battle of the Bands, where the School of Rock (Dewey's new band) faces off against the No Vacancy (Dewey's old band):

The Hazbin Hotel has a sign with the words "No Vacancy". That is used in hotels when there are no rooms left. However, it also alludes to the School of Rock's rivals.

The competition is where Dewey's character arc reaches its conclusion in two different ways.

He is unmasked, but the kids forgive him and accept him for who he is.

The School of Rock lose the battle, but they are the moral winners, as they touch the hearts of the public. Thanks to this, Dewey himself learns what rock is really about:

Summer Hathaway: What's wrong? Dewey Finn: What's wrong, Summer? Didn't you hear? We lost! Freddy Jones: Hey, chill out, dude. Rock isn't about getting an A. The Sex Pistols never won anything. Lawrence: Don't let the Man get you down. Zack Mooneyham: Yeah I mean, dude, you gotta cheer up. We played a kick-ass show. Dewey Finn: We did, didn't we? It was unbelievable, wasn't it?

Adam's Extermination Day is an inversion of both these resolutions.

1-Unmasked

Adam is forced to show his true face, as Lucifer breaks his mask:

And who is the real Adam? He is a man who can't get over a woman (Lilith) choosing someone else (Lucifer). So, he acts as a bully to hide his wounded masculinity.

Adam's real essence is hinted at by his final outfit, which has a golden leaf on the front. This is a reference to the fig leaf the biblical Adam uses to cover up his nudity out of shame. Such a detail can be read in two ways:

As an inversion of the original story. In the Bible Adam covers his penis, while in Hazbin Hotel the First Man puts emphasis on it through an accessory.

As a metaphor in line with the religious tradition. Biblical Adam hides his reproductive organ out of embarassement. Similarly, Hazbin Adam hides the fact he isn't such a great lover by overselling his sexual prowess. Both are ashamed of their dicks, even if for different reasons.

In short, Dewey is unmasked, but discovers a rocker behind the loser. Adam instead gets outed as a loser behind the rockstar.

2- Winning and Losing

Adam overpowers Charlie, but is stopped thanks to the bonds the girl nurtured throughout the series. Charlie can't win against Adam by herself, but this is ultimately not important. As a matter of fact Adam is defeated by Lucifer, killed by Niffty and proven wrong about redemption by Sir Pentious.

So, Adam loses, but he is given one final chance to mature and change by Charlie. However, he refuses it:

Adam: No… you don't get to end this! I'm fucking Adam! I'm the fucking man, and you're just some fucking clown or something! I started everything on Earth! All of mankind came from these fucking nuts! You all should be worshipping me, you ungrateful, disgusting, fucking losers-!

Adam's final rant reveals the Man behind the Idol. both in a religious and in a musical sense.

On the one hand Adam compares himself to God, which is blasphemy. This just makes the juxtaposition with the Princess of Hell stronger, as Charlie references Jesus's sacrifice during her final stand:

Adam: Why would you endanger your immortal life for these sinners? Charlie: They’re my family!

On the other hand Adam's speech can be juxtaposed to Dewey's final one to the kids:

Dewey: Okay, listen up, you guys, we only have one song to let these guys know who we are…so I think we should play Zack's. Zack: But why? I mean…really? Dewey: Yes! The thing is, you guys, I ain't that good. I'm not, I can admit it, but, dude, you're ten years old, you're already better than me, your song rocks harder, so let's play it! But hey, you know what? That's just one guy's opinion. This ain't my band, it's our band, we all have a say.

Adam is so self-centered he makes the whole universe about himself. Dewey instead accepts he has not enough talent to be a rockstar, but realizes he can help others bloom. Adam torments his descendants by exterminating them. Dewey finds happiness in nurturing the new generations. That is why the teacher is eventually loved by his students, while the exorcist is killed by a metaphorical child:

STICK IT TO THE ANGEL

Niffty: What can I do to help? Charlie: How about this. If you see an angel, stab it!

Niffty is:

An abused housewife who adores being ordered around by "bad boys"

Everyone's inner child, which is why she is cared about, as if she were a kid

She is the perfect character to land the finishing blow to Adam. On the one hand the First Man is dominated by a masochist woman, who thinks nothing of him. On the other hand the Man-Child is killed by the embodyment of childhood itself. Adam is a fratbro who fails to question his toxic masculinity and a person who never grows up. He is the Man, so he is rightfully stuck by one of Charlie's rock students:

Lucifer: Hey, y-ya got somethin' stickin' outta your… your thing there.

Katie Killjoy: The janitor said, quote, "Charlie told me to stab, so I did".

As a matter of fact it is Charlie, who teaches Niffty how to stick it to the man. She confirms herself as the true rock teacher, just like Dewey. That is because both realize "rock" is not about individualism, but about community. Like a class. Like a hotel.

CONCLUSION

Hazbin Hotel uses Adam's musical inspiration to comment on his character and on what he represents thematically. He is introduced as an expy of Dewey Finn, but is soon revealed as his deconstruction. He is who Dewey would be if he never got to the School of Rock and never learnt what this musical genre truly stands for. In short, Adam needs some rock repetitions :P If you read up until here, congratulations! Hope you enjoyed it and that it wasn't too unclear or confusing :)