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Column 24: The Oscars, Best Original Song, and Dreams of What Could’ve Been

January 21, 2015

And so Oscar season officially begins. With the announcement of last Thursday’s nominations, the annual awards campaign has kicked off. While there were notable surprises and snubs in every category, let’s get to the one that matters to readers of this blog though, Best Original Song. Lost Stars – Adam Levine (Begin Again) Grateful – Rita Ora (Beyond the Lights) Glory – Common & John Legend (Selma) I’m Not Gonna Miss You – Glen Campbell (Glen Campbell : I’ll Be Me) Everything is AWESOME!!! – Tegan & Sara and The Lonely Island (The LEGO Movie) That is the field for this year’s Best Original Song winner, which to me, could not be more depressing. In a year that was so uncommonly great for music in movie, to look at that crop as the “best” of the year seems so falsely representative of what the year was. There’s been a lot of[...]

Common – Nobody’s Smiling

July 25, 2014

Longtime G.O.O.D. music signee and legend in his own right, Common, is an interesting player in the rap game. His career started a couple decades ago under the name Common Sense, and his song “I Used to Love H.E.R.” is looked at as one of the greatest achievements in rap music history. He has a host of Grammy nominations, and a couple of wins. He’s also a successful actor, currently starring on the T.V. show Hell on Wheels, a Don Moretti favorite. He’s got borderline classic albums like Be (executive produced by Kanye, those were the days) and The Dreamer/The Believer, but he’s also had a few duds on his discography, especially when he tries to go instrumental like with 2008’s Universal Mind Control. Whenever Common sticks to the script, you can count on a thoughtful, poetic effort from perhaps Chicago’s most lyrical emcee ever besides maybe Lupe. Black history, activism, and Chicago social commentary plus a[...]