Battle of the Bands: Michael Stipe vs Nirvana & #IWSG

Time for the next round of Battle of the Bands!

Here’s how it works: I’ll be posting two versions of the same song and after you give a listen to each, place your vote for your favorite and reason for the way you voted in the comments section.

The Battles take place on or around the 1st and 15th of each month, and the results will be posted on or around the 7th and 21st. As I only post Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, the posting date will be closest to those dates as possible.

The other blogs participating in the Battle of the Bands are posting different battles (different songs), So once you’re done voting and commenting on my battle, take a moment to visit the other participants and vote & comment on their battles.  There are some really good battles going on!


The Song:  "The Man Who Sold The World"


"The Man Who Sold the World" is a song written and performed by David Bowie. It is the title track of his third album, which was released in the U.S. in November 1970 and in the UK in April 1971. The song has been covered by a number of other artists, notably by Lulu, who had a UK No. 3 hit with her version in 1974, and Nirvana, whose 1993 performance of the song for the television program MTV Unplugged introduced it to a new audience.
The song was reworked by Bowie, featuring a heavy bassline, güiro as percussion and a notably darker mood, for performances in concerts from 1995 to 1997, including the 1995 MTV Europe Music Awards. Bowie later returned to playing the original version in the 2000s.



The First Contender: Nirvana

https://youtu.be/fregObNcHC8



Michael Stipe is the frontman for R.E.M. By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience broad mainstream success, R.E.M. was viewed by subsequent acts such as Nirvana and Pavement as a pioneer of the genre.  Kurt Cobain was a huge fan of R.E.M. and was supposed to do a project with Michael Stipe shortly before his death.  It has also been revealed that R.E.M.’s “Automatic For The People” album was in Kurt’s stereo when they discovered his body.  Kurt listened to the album so much he wanted Nirvana’s music to head into that direction.

The Second Contender: Michael Stipe


https://youtu.be/ZoNst3p3TzE




Who will you choose?

Alright now, it’s time to cast your vote! In the comments, please enter who you are voting for and why you chose them.  Stay tuned, results will be posted on the 8th!


And don’t forget to visit these other battles going on today!

#IWSG

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that means it is time again for #IWSG. For those of you who are new here, #IWSG stands for the Insecure Writer's Support Group.  The first Wednesday of each month we post about our struggles and triumphs, our doubts and our fears that we have conquered as writers. The purpose of the group is to encourage and support.

First, I have to say that the month of May just blew right by. Do you ever have days when the time goes by so quickly that you feel as though you have lost complete days or weeks? Wake up on Thursday thinking that it's still Wednesday, or even worse, Tuesday?  That happens to me more than I care to admit.

Second, last month when I mentioned that I was participating with this group, I received some feedback that apparently a few of you think that this is a group where bloggers whine and complain about writing and is full of negativity. Let me be the first to tell you that this certainly is not the case. If any of you have ever read a few of the #IWSG posts from other bloggers, you will see that they offer nothing but support for each other.

So, May was a crazy month for me. Due to an increase in rent, I now have to find a lesser expensive place to live in the next few weeks. I don't know how much writing I am actually going to get done, other than the regular blog posts.  But I am keeping a notebook handy so I can jot down my thoughts as they come to me. That's a start, right?  What do you do when you don't have time to write or when life manages to get in the way of your guilty pleasures?

In the Robert Heinlein story The Man Who Sold the Moon about a business man, one Harriman, who puts together the financing for the first lunar expedition. In a subsequent story, the old Harriman has never got to the Moon, and bribes a barnstorming rocket jockey who flies people to orbit and back (this is by analogy with '20s- and '30s-era pilots who would do something similar at county fairs and the like) to bring him there---he's too old and in too bad shape to be allowed an official trip. I think of this when I hear 'I thought you died alone, a long long time ago'---Harriman is never depicted as a particularly nice or warm man, just one who got things done and didn't crave the limelight, and so I can easily image the pilot's believing that he (Harriman) had died alone awhile back.

Using the analogy of this song, I think I need to get busy, before I am unable to make this writing trip.

What does tomorrow bring?

Tune in to find out! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway