First things first, I thoroughly enjoy reading Wikipedia but they fact that anyone can edit it leads to some ridiculous entries so obviously written by the subject themselves, but done in such a way as to go unflagged.
Our first installment:
I was listening to a song on the local oldies station (i.e. they play 80s music), and I heard a song I've heard countless times before but never thought enough of to actually google and find out who it was. I focused in on a lyric, "something about you baby" and found out the band wasn't Joe Jackson, as I had surmised but these guys:
Level 42
The intro is what got me:
"Level 42 is a popular British pop and funk band. The group had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s. The band gained fame for its high calibre musicianship, especially that of Mark King, whose percussive slap bass technique provided the driving groove of many of the band's hits. Level 42 have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide."
Oh yes THAT "Mark King". Who the HELL is Mark King? And why couldn't he come up with a better name? How about B.B. King, I've heard of him. Was Mark his brother? "..of many of the band's hits.." They were just a new wave band from the 80s with funny hair and ONE HIT. Like Tommy Tutone, Flock of Seagulls or a host of others. Oh it was hi s"percussive slap bass technique", don't they mean "percussive hair spray bang-fluff technique." How are they a funk band? George Clinton was funk, the Gap Band was funk. Mark King is geeky enough to write his own Wikipedia entry.
It's clear who wrote this. I wonder how the other band members feel about the bassist taking all the credit.
Speaking of Tommy Tutone, let's look at his entry
Now that's how you write a wiki entry. Straight to the point:
"Tommy Tutone is a rock band, best known for its 1982 hit "867-5309/Jenny", which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100."
In fact you could end the entry there and it would suffice. But what a great hit it was. How could a melody consisting of a phone number be so catchy? How could a band hardly anybody has ever heard of, who made one song that was a modest hit, but faded into the obscurity of new wave acts that permeated the 80s think so highly of themselves? Is a top 20 hit in Italy really that big a deal? Why doesn't Wikipedia have a Wiki-shit filter that limits the space warranted by desperate has-beens trying to sell a few otherwise unlistenable records? That should be enough to ponder while Tommy Heath and his band rock it out in the background.
