Trade Vocalists and WIN.

I don't listen to the radio as much as I used to when I was in college. At most, I listen for an hour a day total during my commute to and from work, and then I find myself listening to traffic and weather, becoming my dad decades before I expected to. I have an inkling of what's going on in music, and every now and then I'll pick up the occasional discounted CD in my company's bookstore, but I'm not as on top of things as I once was. I guess that's why the realization as to precisely who comprised the band Velvet Revolver came to me yesterday, reading the insert that came with a recently purchased album.

There was no mistaking the vocals of Scott Weiland of STP fame. Whenever I'd hear a Velvet Revolver song on the radio credited as such, I just assumed he'd started a new band after his nth rehab. I really had stopped following the whole grunge scene nearly a decade ago. I still enjoyed and appreciated the music; I just wasn't following the behind-the-scenes events. I was aware of their contribution to the Hulk soundtrack. Last week, I picked up a bunch of CDs and when I got to theirs, I was amazed to see that the rest of the band included Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorem, basically Guns n' Roses without Axl. I have to say, it's an amazing combination. Gn'R guitar riffs with a grunge voice, and STP vocals with amazing guitar work.

This trend of mixing and matching the best elements of preexisting bands is certainly nothing new. One of my favorite albums ten years ago, and still today, Temple of the Dog combined members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, a one-time tribute to the fallen lead singer of the group Mother Love Bone. Another group of one-time collaborators I enjoyed were Mad Season, which included members of Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees, and Pearl Jam. It had a flavor both funky and mellow, and unique to the sounds of its members' regular bands, though some influence could be heard. These days, I'd say the best regular group to rise from the ashes of other bands would have to be Audioslave. Combining former Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell with the former members of Rage Against the Machine has produced something greater than the sum of its parts, and a sound that has me excited about music at an age where I'm starting to have trouble discerning one new group on the radio from the other, where it's all sounding the same to me. Up until picking up Velvet Revolver’s Contraband, which in researching tonight's post I now realize is well over a year old, I had no idea that there was another quality hybrid group out there.

Tonight's musings have been brought to you by the “MCF is Getting Old and Behind the Times Foundation.” Donations will be accepted in the form of MP3s and Gingko Biloba. At this rate, it won't be long before I'm praising those “new horseless carriages”....