Viva la Vinyl

One of my new favorite songs is Viva la Vida by Coldplay, a catchy tune with string instruments and a thought-provoking set of lyrics (I think it's an allegory about George W. Bush with broader applications to leaders of any time or place).

I liked it so much that I paid the iTunes Store the 99¢ required to download it onto my iPhone and iPod. That's right, kids, Kushibo doesn't believe in piracy. Despite the way Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley colorfully portray them, pirates were killers who wreaked havoc on innocent people just trying to live their lives, and I'm not going to support that. Sure, piracy today typically involves non-violent theft of intellectual property, but it's still stealing and the fact is someone deserves to get paid for their work (or else they won't produce the next one). Write a book sometime and you'll feel the same way. If you like the movie, song, book, or software, pay for the freakin' thing! It's ninety-nine f-ing cents, for criminy sake!

Anyway, I'm writing about this because I heard recently that Coldplay decided to release this single on vinyl. "Vinyl?" my born-after-1990 readers (if I have any) might ask? "What's that?" Well, vinyl is what we called those big black plastic disks with all the tiny grooves that played the music on the turntable. "What's a turntable?" you ask. Shut the fu¢k up! 

Yes, Kushibo may not be Biblical old, but he's old enough to remember vinyl records. I might even have a few, most purchased for about $10 at Tower Records, which doesn't exist anymore. Man, maybe I am Biblical old. A flood... I remember something about a flood. Wait, no, that was Katrina. 

Anyway, I just thought releasing a song on vinyl in 2008 was novel and cool, and it's interesting that it seems to be coming back. Madonna released one of her albums on vinyl, but, well, that's just coming full circle for her. Just how old is she? Let's just say if she breaks a hip in one of her dance videos, Medicare will cover it. 

In conclusion, I would like to add that I really think the album cover for Viva la Vida is way cool, though a tad unrealistic. I mean, if I were marching along and some hot chick ended up topless in front of me, the last thing on my mind would be getting caught up in something that had a good chance of getting me killed. 

I'd be rethinking that whole political martyrdom thing real quick. You can see it in the eyes of the guy on the left in the top hat (click on the link for a larger image): he's a well-dressed fellow of some means and he's looking at the rack on that woman and thinking, "Am I really ready to give all this up just to make a political statement I'll be too dead to appreciate? Hell, no! Now if only I can get Miss Exhibitionist up there to feel the same, I'd be stylin'." He's about ready to grab her arm and make for the exit. 

The guy on the right, that's a different story. He either hasn't hit puberty yet (they didn't have BGH-infused milk and flickering televisions in those days) and therefore naked breasts don't excite him, or he has hit puberty but he's still at that stage of adolescence where he thinks he can impress girls by doing whatever they ask. She can't show you her appreciation (or her boobs) when you're dead, Pierre!