Caroline Murphy
- 10,000 Things - Review



So what do the music magasines know about the "sensitive side" of a group of sexed up 20-some"Things"!?! Their stage show gives anything but that impression but close up and personal in the smaller venues of Hull Jaz Bar and Shrewsbury Buttermarket, I can tell a different story. Ok, so the sexual content of many of their songs is anything but innuendo, but the bass and lead guitar riffs (courtesy of George, Will, and Davro) in "Food Chain" for example, give a far weightier tone to what could otherwise be pure frivolity. Lead singer, Sam Riley's horny girations, coupled with expressions like, "You're a good f**k Will" are balanced by the other musicians obvious talent and enjoyment in their music. Will hardly bats an eyelid whilst Sam humps his leg (like a hamster on heat) simply continuing to play in his Mr. Smooth style. What other band features bongos, and a guiro, alongside sex, booze, and rock 'n' roll.

Sandwiched between "Murdoch" and "Dogs", 10,000 Things certainly made a very tasty filling, and although the Shrewsbury audience were virgins to the "Things" experience, their cherries were soon popped by Sam and co's "bring-it-on" performance. George Riley's bass riff in "Eating's Not Cheating" was ample competition for brother Sam's salacious chat-up lines to the female members of the audience. This could only be bettered by Gareth "Davro" Davies' sparkly "Titanium" underpants, a present from yours-truly, adourning one of his best features to full effect!

The wrist action of Justin "Action" Jackson, is probably best demonstrated in the chorus of "Oh No", and what could be the theme of this song? Yeah, you guessed it, Sam playing away from home again, but this time he gets caught. Alistair "Stobb" Stobbard brings in percussion in a fashion more traditionally associated with the sleazy rock of today, and although no covers were played at Shrewsbury, Stobb showed off his matchless ability in their spine tingling rendition of Gang of Four's - "Damaged Goods", as part of the set at Hull Jaz Bar.

So what of their sensitive side? Well, ok they are hot and horny and all of that stuff, but my Mum loves them too, so they can't be all bad! She says they're their own best PR and i'm inclined to agree.

cazmurph@aol.com
http://groups.msn.com/10000things
notallsmurfsaresmallandblue@hotmail.com
www.10000things.tv
mrs10_000things@hotmail.co.uk
www.10000things.org.uk
caroline.murphy@63sqn.org.uk

At least is wasn't from Universal...

But c'mon, spammers, show a little respect. At least post a few other times before you drop your workload on us!

For the record, as is the case with most UK reviews, I really don't have any idea what these guys sound like. Post-punk? Pop? Rock? Country? Klezmer? I can't really tell. The only tip-off is the inclusion of a Gang of Four cover, which leans me towards post-punk revivalists.

I will give it this, it makes no pretenses. Between the user name and the shopping list of web sites and e-mail addresses, it's pretty clear the thread is shilling a band. Most of the spam we've had to deal with involves a hamfisted attempt to appear to be an objective "fan."

I wonder if we need to open a place around here where people can promote their own musical projects. Just because they stump for themselves on a message board, doesn't mean they're automatically a bad thing.

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Is this what all those interns are for? I thought they just got coffee orders.

At least at Universal, spamming seems to be the task du jour for interns these days. You've already met a representative of one of our more persistent IPs, sharing the same address with no fewer than seven other spammers from Universal.

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Speaking of our friend, Soulful_Star, I think that I found the strangest place to spam ever, and he just happened to spam there. Didn't get a nice welcome there however.Horror.com

I don't really know who this spammer is doing so for. This can't be universal, it just seems like a review of some strange unheard of band.

Does that sh*t ever work? Who's gonna want to buy a CD because a 10 year old says it SO GOOD {from the language of his posts, he sounds like a stupid child}.

EDIT: He's advertizing for an eBay store. You should see all the negatives he has. Over 400! I sent him a message calling him a "f*cking tool" which I thought was to the point.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Filmore Mescalito Holmes,

That is what frustrates me about Universal's "Grassroots" approach. They use terms like "yo" or "dope" and use caps. Doing these things insults the intelligence of people in the forums. I might be a little more considerate of the "Street Team." Why waste your time littering forums with things that nobody cares about? Damn you Universal Music Group!!!

That's what I mean! They write like idiot MTV watching 10 year olds that somehow know how to hook you up with a great deal on a mainstream artist from some place a 10 year old would have neither the forsight or ability to link to. Oh those Orwellian youth...

I'm surprised the moderators are letting the thread stand. I guess it's ok as a source of derision. I trust LinnTate & Mark F to cleanse when appropriate...

Here is a pretty good article on the "Street team" bastards

Yup, there's a big difference between handing out stickers after a concert and phoning people at home...I hate telemarketers too.

At the bare minimum, I think this thread speaks to how out of touch labels are with their supporting market and how idiotic PR manuvers such as this will always backfire. Does anyone remember that Brown Cow posting board/live journal thing that backfired? I'm not sure but I think Coke was trying to launch a chocolate milk by hosting a "live journal" and flooding it with spam posts about how great the drink was and everyone who actually went there just did so to bash how pathetic the whole attempt was.

Several thoughts...

Does this ever work, Filmore? Well, despite the rise of the no-call list, telemarketing works. If the millions and millions of dollars reported in the recent federal case prosecuting spammers is any indication, spam e-mail works. It's all a numbers game. If you cast your net wide enough, you're going to catch something.

The posting Mike links to is interesting in that it is an oddity. On forums with higher traffic than here, the spam tends to get lost in the sheer volume of traffic. I've made it something of a hobby to put a smack on the spammers when they arrive. A board-wide hostile response like the one on horror.com is unusual.

Which is, RayRay, why I tend to leave these threads up. I usually lock them, but I think they have some value in letting our membership know when a label has decided that they're too dumb to see through a poorly written script. Eventually, we'll probably have to delete them just in the interest of space, but these forums are still young and room isn't a serious issue yet.

All of this being said, I don't think we're looking at a vast, major-label conspiracy in this case. As I mentioned earlier, it's pretty obvious Mrs10_000Things arrived here to shill for the band. She may be a friend, or a member, or just a rabid fan. Having a place for people to outright stump for a band like this might not be a bad thing.

Personally, I'll be curious to see how Mrs10_000Things responds to such ado, if we haven't scared her off for good.

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I don't think she was here for the pleasant ambiance. It is kinda ironic she said "they're their own best PR and i'm inclined to agree" while she was doing PR for them.