S01.E04: Rest in Metal

[shantown]

Quote

Charlie goes on tour with has-been metal band Doxxxology, a motley crew of dejected rockers who've spent decades trying to write a new hit; Charlie suspects foul play when one musician winds up dead.

Streams January 26 on Peacock

[AnimeMania]

Chloe Sevigny as Ruby Ruin, frontwoman for a heavy metal band
G.K Umeh as Eskie
David Chen as Rock Lawyer
Robert Loftus as Roadie
Erik McKay as Foreman
John Darnielle as Al
Chuck Cooper as Deuteronomy
Adrien Brody as Sterling Frost Jr.
Benjamin Bratt as Cliff Legrand
Nicholas Cirillo as Gavin
John Hodgman as Narc/Dockers

[Snazzy Daisy]

 

[Black Knight]

I just finished this one, the last of the four that were dropped Thursday, and I'm sold on this series. Chloe Sevigny was great in this one.

Something interesting is how Rian Johnson is addressing the "Jessica Fletcher problem" of how a protagonist who does not work in law enforcement gets involved in all these murder mysteries. The popular joke/theory has been that Jessica Fletcher really did all the murders herself and framed others. And Johnson is doing that here in a certain way: In three out of four murders so far, Charlie's said or done something that in some way affected the course of events so that murder resulted. (The Subway episode is the outlier.) It's a great explanation for how dead bodies pop up everywhere she goes.

The best advice to give to anyone who comes across Charlie is: RUN! She's not doing it intentionally, but listening to her will get someone killed. Too bad she can't use her second superpower to get Cliff killed. I feel bad for Benjamin Bratt. While Natasha Lyonne and the awesome bevy of guest stars get to live it up, he's got a thankless part. There's no interiority to the character; he just shows up every now and again to glower at and temporarily menace Charlie. There's no suspense because the show would be over if he caught her. It's just a device to keep Charlie on the run.

[possibilities]

This show has good music. Usually I'm talking about the songs they license for atmosphere, but this week I even liked the stuff they wrote just for the show.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I thought I liked Chloe Sevigny but her overacting in this one is just driving me crazy.  She probably thinks it's her character (Courtney Love? LOL?) but oh man, it's grating.

I was going to say that this was my least favourite episode by far, but I guess the last 15 minutes got kinda interesting.

Edited January 28, 2023 by Ms Blue Jay

[Zaffy]

6 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I just finished this one, the last of the four that were dropped Thursday, and I'm sold on this series.

ditto!

I was a tad skeptical after the pilot, mostly because I do not enjoy series where the hero(ine) is hunted by a big villain. 
But this is episodic and so far I really like it.

[akg]

From the discussion on S01.E03: The Stall

4 minutes ago, Paloma said:

In this episode and the previous episode, she apparently left town without talking to the police, just as they were arriving on the scene, and I assume that is what will happen each time.

I was impressed with how Charlie managed to take care of the murderers in this episode after leaving town. I wasn't really expecting the podcast woman to reappear (Chekhov's podcast?). I wonder if we'll see her again. She could be useful.

12 hours ago, Black Knight said:

The best advice to give to anyone who comes across Charlie is: RUN! She's not doing it intentionally, but listening to her will get someone killed.

I noticed that too. Poor Charlie.

[Rinaldo]

I loved this episode so much. I noticed the final clue as soon as it was introduced, and kept waiting for it to be revealed. It sure was satisfying when it finally was exposed.

[SomeTameGazelle]

On 1/28/2023 at 4:32 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

I thought I liked Chloe Sevigny but her overacting in this one is just driving me crazy.  She probably thinks it's her character (Courtney Love? LOL?) but oh man, it's grating.

Funny, I felt the opposite -- I usually find her overrated but here I really liked her. 

I laughed out loud at the one band member trying to grapple with studying the law and advising John Darnielle that his murder confession song was probably OK as long as he didn't sing it under oath.

[PurpleTentacle]

The premise for this seemed a bit flimsy. Usually bands work on songs together and share the credits. That the old hit song was written solely by the drummer and she would get all the proceeds sounds fishy to me. Even if she wrote that song alone and all the credits went to her, performance is part of the package and so every time that song was played on the radio, downloaded, etc. the rest of the band would get money.

Also really no need to kill that exciteable young drummer kid. Convince him that the song has potential, but that you need to work on it a bit, change a few words back and forth and get joint credit. He didn't seem bright enough to notice. What is it with these shows that people's first instinct is always "murder!" instead of some light gaslighting?

Btw. that song was way too pop-y for a metal band.

So this is the second, arguably the third episode where Charlie got the guy/gal killed. If she never would have been there both last episodes victim and this episodes victim would still be alive. First episodes victim arguably, too. I think only in episode two she was blameless.

Also the "copyright infringement" wouldn't have been the death knell the show made it out to be. Just secure the rights to sample that old melody. That's done all the time. For an example of the top of my head, see "Uma Thurman" by Fall Out Boy. Yeah, technically the copyright holder could say no, but would they in this case, where the original is just an intro to a TV show? Very doubtfull.

That only leaves death girl going after the case, but so far I haven't seen any convincing evidence. So I'd say the band would get their hit and get away with murder.

But all that being said, this episode was the most entertaining one out of the bunch. Still not reaching the heights of Columbo. But that's about what I'd expect from Rian Johnson. He managed to write one half way competent murder mystery and everything since then was very subpar. I just wish this show had the Columbo writers or writers on par with them. I'd love to see what Natasha Lyonne would do with a banger script in this role. Ah damn it. Here I wanted to say something positive, but still drifted into negativity... I just think this could be a classic, with this premise and these actors, if only the writing was a bit better.

Edited January 30, 2023 by PurpleTentacle

[Ms Blue Jay]

That reminds me of how the theme to the X-Men Animated Series sounds exactly like Whitney Houston's "I'm Your Baby Tonight".  Whitney's came first.

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by Ms Blue Jay

[shapeshifter]

On 1/28/2023 at 11:00 PM, akg said:

I was impressed with how Charlie managed to take care of the murderers in this episode after leaving town. I wasn't really expecting the podcast woman to reappear (Chekhov's podcast?). I wonder if we'll see her again. She could be useful.

The writers for this episode were really pushing the envelope with the Murder podcaster bit that was almost-plagiarism of Only Murders In The Building, but I guess it was a short enough and spoofy enough and relevant enough to the plot to be covered under Fair Use Doctrine.
But, yes, @akg, definitely a Chekhovian podcaster.

So is the first third of each episode going to be all set up with no Charlie? 
Seems like they need to tighten that up. 

I loved that Gavin the crazy drummer kid actually did go to Julliard.
I am fanwanking that whoever has the rights to the Benson theme song decides to publish Gavin's song posthumously and use the proceeds to fund a scholarship for high school grads on the spectrum who otherwise qualify for Julliard.

It was very sweet how Charlie saw the good in Gavin and mothered him.
That is one thing the show does very well: Revealing where characters exist on the continuum of morality without just using Charlie's power reveals of "Bull shit!" It's more like Charlie’s declarations of "Bull shit!" are just confirming what the villainous characters have already demonstrated.

Charlie getting crowd surfed away from Wylie Coyote/Cliff was a perfect bit for this episode.

Nice that they stuck with the 4-hour warning bit without relying on an ATM or even a credit card, but instead 4 hours after a cellphone video went viral of Charlie punching the Outhouse Krampus. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by shapeshifter

[Black Knight]

9 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

So is the first third of each episode going to be all set up with no Charlie? 
Seems like they need to tighten that up. 

I was surprised by the extended cold opens at first, but now they're one of my favorite things about this series.

Realistically, because of Charlie's superpower, it's never going to take her long to zero in on the murderer(s). But I like the extended cold opens for the way it really lets us get to know the people involved. And I'm impressed by how well the show maintains suspense through the sequence, sometimes about the identity of the murderer or victim, sometimes about how the murder is going to occur. Noting things that seem like they'll be clues later on is also fun.

[PurpleTentacle]

12 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

The writers for this episode were really pushing the envelope with the Murder podcaster bit that was almost-plagiarism of Only Murders In The Building, but I guess it was a short enough and spoofy enough and relevant enough to the plot to be covered under Fair Use Doctrine.

Just having a true crime podcaster in your show isn't plagiarism. Even Dexter had one in the final season. That would be like saying "having a detective in your crime show is plagiarism". Or did I miss something very specific?

12 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

So is the first third of each episode going to be all set up with no Charlie? 
Seems like they need to tighten that up. 

This one was a bit on the long side and could have been tightened. But in general, I like them.

12 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I am fanwanking that whoever has the rights to the Benson theme song decides to publish Gavin's song posthumously and use the proceeds to fund a scholarship for high school grads on the spectrum who otherwise qualify for Julliard.

Just because they have the rights to the Benson theme song doesn't mean they have the rights to this new song.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Just because they have the rights to the Benson theme song doesn't mean they have the rights to this new song.

They could make a deal for a percentage of revenue to date. 

[PurpleTentacle]

46 minutes ago, paigow said:

They could make a deal for a percentage of revenue to date. 

There wouldn't be much if any, since the song hadn't been published yet. They could work out a deal going foreward, as I said above. Sampling deals are very common, but that money would mostly go to the band and a little to the copyright holder of the Benson Soundtrack.

It would only go to Gavin's family, if anybody could proof that he actually wrote it, which seems doubtfull.

Just as doubtfull as murder girl proving that the band killed him.

[paigow]

Murder girl called it a comeback hit.... somebody was making money

[akg]

35 minutes ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Just as doubtfull as murder girl proving that the band killed him.

I'm hoping that the amp the band tampered with helps in the investigation. The former roadie can testify it was in good condition before the accident. With a little pressure, I could see either of the guys flipping on the rest of the band, intentionally or not (the guy studying law especially, considering how great his advice was).

(I know it's probably not realistic and Doxxxxxology would probably end up free and rich at the end of this (the Benson theme might lose them some listeners even if they get the rights but the murder rumors would bring a lot of people in) but I like to pretend things ended up with the bad guys getting punished.

[twoods]

Awww poor Gavin. He seemed like such a sweet kid. I also don’t understand why they  couldn’t have helped write the song so they all get credit for it and gotten royalties. Bunch of miserable murdering over 40 year olds.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, twoods said:

Awww poor Gavin. He seemed like such a sweet kid. I also don’t understand why they  couldn’t have helped write the song so they all get credit for it and gotten royalties. Bunch of miserable murdering over 40 year olds.

Too bad Charlie’s power doesn’t seem to prevent any murders. 

Ruby was the sociopathic, Charles Manson-esque, slave master of murder. The other 2 middle aged rockers were mostly dupes and pawns——but, yeah, still guilty of murder.

Ruby saw Charlie as a fan who she could take advantage of and pay low wages.
Although Charlie couldn’t save Gavin, at least she avenged his murder.

Edited January 31, 2023 by shapeshifter

[Paloma]

On 1/29/2023 at 11:33 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

Also really no need to kill that exciteable young drummer kid. Convince him that the song has potential, but that you need to work on it a bit, change a few words back and forth and get joint credit. He didn't seem bright enough to notice. What is it with these shows that people's first instinct is always "murder!" instead of some light gaslighting?

Btw. that song was way too pop-y for a metal band.

I loved the first 3 episodes but did not think this one was as good because both the motive and murderers did not seem believable. As you said, there really was no need to kill the drummer. And even if Ruby did think it was necessary, since she was so obsessed with getting another hit, her bandmates did not share that obsession. They both were ready to give up the touring and move on with their lives, and their decision to go along with the murder plan was far from enthusiastic. Not everybody is cut out to be a murderer!

I don't know much about metal music, but I agree that the new song was not metal. But I did get a kick out of seeing how he came up with the lyrics.  

[Ohiopirate02]

7 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Ruby saw Charlie as a fan who she could take advantage of and pay low wages.

Charlie was hanging out with the undocumented day laborers looking for work in a Home Depot/Lowe's parking lot.  Ruby knew she was desperate for money via under-the-table work and Charlie was not going to ask too many questions.  I hope for Charlie's sake that she was getting paid daily and not at the end.

[paigow]

59 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

 I hope for Charlie's sake that she was getting paid daily and not at the end.

Merch Girl likely gets a cut after every show 

[Paloma]

On 1/30/2023 at 12:27 AM, shapeshifter said:

I loved that Gavin the crazy drummer kid actually did go to Julliard.

That was funny, but it was another thing that made this episode less believable. My daughter went to Juilliard (dance, not music, but she was friends with a lot of the musicians and actors), and the students who go there are, for the most part, very dedicated to their craft. They do sometimes party, but someone with the drummer's immature behavior and heavy drinking would not make it at Juilliard. But maybe that's the point--he didn't say he graduated, so maybe he dropped out or was kicked out. 

[Haleth]

22 hours ago, Paloma said:

As you said, there really was no need to kill the drummer. And even if Ruby did think it was necessary, since she was so obsessed with getting another hit, her bandmates did not share that obsession. They both were ready to give up the touring and move on with their lives, and their decision to go along with the murder plan was far from enthusiastic. Not everybody is cut out to be a murderer!

Too bad the one band guy didn't finish law school.  He could have come up with a solution that didn't involve murder and maybe work out a deal with the owners of the Benson music rights.  I'm surprised the two guys went along with the murder plan so readily.

[Ohiopirate02]

2 hours ago, Haleth said:

Too bad the one band guy didn't finish law school.  He could have come up with a solution that didn't involve murder and maybe work out a deal with the owners of the Benson music rights.  I'm surprised the two guys went along with the murder plan so readily.

He was getting his MLS degree online, so I would not hold out hope that he actually learned anything useful.  The only MLS degree I have ever heard of is a masters in library science, one very close to the degree I have and I did not learn anything useful about American law in library school.  He was not going to be able to pass the bar after completing his degree.

Edited February 1, 2023 by Ohiopirate02

[Paloma]

31 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

He was getting his MLS degree online, so I would not hold out hope that he actually learned anything useful.  The only MLS degree I have ever heard of is a masters in library science, one very close to the degree I have and I did not learn anything useful about American law in law school.  He was not going to be able to pass the bar after completing his degree.

I also thought the MLS is only for library science, but I just did a search on types of law degrees and found that there is an online MLS degree offered by Pepperdine University (and maybe other schools) that stands for Master of Legal Studies. Unlike the JD, it does not prepare you to pass the bar or practice law, but it provides "legal skills that are useful in almost any field" (whatever that means).

[justmehere]

On 1/29/2023 at 10:27 PM, shapeshifter said:

So is the first third of each episode going to be all set up with no Charlie? 
Seems like they need to tighten that up. 

This one seemed especially long and like Charlie was hardly in the episode. I appreciate the set up in general, but a longer setup also means that Charlie has to solve things really quickly, which felt off to me in this one. 

Loved the crowd surfing, the punch to Krampus, and that it always only takes Cliff 4 hours to get from anywhere to anywhere else. He no doubt has use of a private plane and a large crew watching for any information, but the exactness of the timing is pretty funny.

[PurpleTentacle]

On 1/30/2023 at 9:32 PM, paigow said:

Murder girl called it a comeback hit.... somebody was making money

They were probably making very little money on live shows and it spread virally through the internet.

The episode made it clear that they were just about to sign a record deal, but that that hadn't happened yet. The record company exec said "It's copyright infringement that was about to become fraud." Meaning nothing regarding that song had been signed yet and it hadn't been officially released.

In conclusion: Just because something is a hit doesn't mean somebody is making money (yet).

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 1/29/2023 at 11:33 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

Also really no need to kill that exciteable young drummer kid. Convince him that the song has potential, but that you need to work on it a bit, change a few words back and forth and get joint credit. He didn't seem bright enough to notice. What is it with these shows that people's first instinct is always "murder!" instead of some light gaslighting?

He would have been thrilled to share it if it meant he could be a permanent part of the band.  And even if he retained all the proceeds from the song, a resurgence in their careers means playing bigger venues and, eventually, getting a percentage of the ticket sales (and of course, selling more merch), doesn't it?

On 1/30/2023 at 12:27 AM, shapeshifter said:

I loved that Gavin the crazy drummer kid actually did go to Julliard.

So did I!

The guy studying for his MLS gave up his vegan principles to murder a human being.

It was fun to see John Hodgman.

And this was John Darnielle's (Al's) first acting gig, according to Wikipedia.  He was great!

On 1/30/2023 at 12:27 AM, shapeshifter said:

The writers for this episode were really pushing the envelope with the Murder podcaster bit that was almost-plagiarism of Only Murders In The Building, but I guess it was a short enough and spoofy enough and relevant enough to the plot to be covered under Fair Use Doctrine.

Murder podcasters existed long before Only Murders In The Building.  Only Murders In The Building is based on the fact that there are real-life murder podcasters.

On 1/30/2023 at 12:59 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

Just having a true crime podcaster in your show isn't plagiarism. Even Dexter had one in the final season. That would be like saying "having a detective in your crime show is plagiarism".

Exactly.

On 1/30/2023 at 12:27 AM, shapeshifter said:

I am fanwanking that whoever has the rights to the Benson theme song decides to publish Gavin's song posthumously and use the proceeds to fund a scholarship for high school grads on the spectrum who otherwise qualify for Julliard.

Now, that would be copyright infringement, since Gavin wrote the lyrics.

On 1/30/2023 at 12:59 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

Just because they have the rights to the Benson theme song doesn't mean they have the rights to this new song.

Agreed.

On 1/30/2023 at 3:43 PM, akg said:

I'm hoping that the amp the band tampered with helps in the investigation. The former roadie can testify it was in good condition before the accident.

Possibly, but it's actually not the same amp. John Darnielle replaced Gavin's blood-smeared amp with an almost identical, tampered-with amp. Then he foolishly listed Gavin's actual amp on eBay, which listing accidentally Deuteronomy found while searching for the same model, thus allowing Charlie to notice the blood smear on it from when Gavin was hit by the stapler.  The amp that shorted out was kept by the police following the electrocution for "insurance purposes," which made no sense.  Whose insurance?  The club didn't burn down; no one is making an insurance claim.

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by ItCouldBeWorse

[shapeshifter]

4 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Murder podcasters existed long before Only Murders In The Building.  Only Murders In The Building is based on the fact that there are real-life murder podcasters.

For sure. But I thought the shot of the podcaster at the end of the episode was supposed to look like (her hair and other styling) and sound like (the pitch and cadence of her voice) the character of Poppy from Only Murders In The Building, and was intended as a spoof. 
But maybe that’s how most podcasters look, and Poppy was a caricature of all murder podcasters?  
IDK 🤷🏻‍♀️

[shapeshifter]

12 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

On 1/30/2023 at 12:27 AM, shapeshifter said:

I am fanwanking that whoever has the rights to the Benson theme song decides to publish Gavin's song posthumously and use the proceeds to fund a scholarship for high school grads on the spectrum who otherwise qualify for Julliard.

Now, that would be copyright infringement, since Gavin wrote the lyrics

Yes, I should have explicitly stated that my fanwank fantasy includes the owner of the rights to the Benson theme song collaborating with the family or other legal owners of Gavin’s works, but, realistically, since all of Gavin’s words were taken from sources like the ad campaigns of commercial products, lawyers would have to get paid to parse out the permissions. 
IDK. If the proceeds are going for charity, does that help leapfrog over some of the legal potholes?
But is a scholarship to Juilliard for a student on some specific spectrum really a charitable entity? 
🤷🏻‍♀️

[Paloma]

2 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

The guy studying for his MLS gave up his vegan principles to murder a human being.

Ha! I didn't even think of that. 

2 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Possibly, but it's actually not the same amp. John Darnielle replaced Gavin's blood-smeared amp with an almost identical, tampered-with amp. Then he foolishly listed Gavin's actual amp on eBay, which listing accidentally Deuteronomy found while searching for the same model, thus allowing Charley to notice the blood smear on it from when Gavin was hit by the stapler.  The amp that shorted out was kept by the police following the electrocution for "insurance purposes," which made no sense.  Whose insurance?  The club didn't burn down; no one is making an insurance claim.

Thanks for the explanation. This is an episode where I felt like I missed a lot.

[Ohiopirate02]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Yes, I should have explicitly stated that my fanwank fantasy includes the owner of the rights to the Benson theme song collaborating with the family or other legal owners of Gavin’s works, but, realistically, since all of Gavin’s words were taken from sources like the ad campaigns of commercial products, lawyers would have to get paid to parse out the permissions. 
IDK. If the proceeds are going for charity, does that help leapfrog over some of the legal potholes?
But is a scholarship to Juilliard for a student on some specific spectrum really a charitable entity? 
🤷🏻‍♀️

Even though Gavin stole all the lines from various ad campaigns, he did transform them into a coherent song.  The right lawyer would be able to argue that this does fall under fair use if any of those companies had trademarked their ad copy.  

[ItCouldBeWorse]

4 hours ago, Paloma said:

6 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

The guy studying for his MLS gave up his vegan principles to murder a human being.

Ha! I didn't even think of that. 

I didn't think of it either; the character said it to Ruby after they planned the murder!

3 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Even though Gavin stole all the lines from various ad campaigns, he did transform them into a coherent song.  The right lawyer would be able to argue that this does fall under fair use if any of those companies had trademarked their ad copy

Almost all of the lyrics were the names of actual products.  There's no prohibition in mentioning Coca-Cola, Amazon, etc. in songs, works of fiction, or other creative endeavors.  A trademark protects a good or service offered by a company from infringement by another company.

It might be fair use if he had used actual ad copy.

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

If the proceeds are going for charity, does that help leapfrog over some of the legal potholes?

No.  A charity can not call itself "Amazon" or "Coca-Cola" anymore than a non-charitable enterprise would be able to.

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

But is a scholarship to Juilliard for a student on some specific spectrum really a charitable entity? 

A charitable entity could create a scholarship.  A scholarship, in and of itself, is not an entity.

Edited February 2, 2023 by ItCouldBeWorse

[SnarkShark]

Benson?  😄

 

And they really had to jump through hoops to avoid showing Charlie in the first part of the episode.

I love the continuity of Charlie still using superglue.

 

John Hodgman?  Holy weird cameo, Batman.

Edited February 2, 2023 by SnarkShark

[SnarkShark]

16 hours ago, justmehere said:

This one seemed especially long and like Charlie was hardly in the episode. I appreciate the set up in general, but a longer setup also means that Charlie has to solve things really quickly, which felt off to me in this one. 

I think their justification is two-fold.  First, that they're getting pretty big guest stars, so that time is filled with people the audience wants to see.

Also, because of the streaming structure, these  episodes are longer, so there actually IS a little more time for Natasha Lyonne than in a traditionally aired 1 hour TV show.  

 

 

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I don't know any of those people except Chloe though. 

[Ohiopirate02]

14 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I don't know any of those people except Chloe though. 

I recognized John Darnielle playing the guitarist because I've read 2 of his books (don't recommend) and his band The Mountain Goats is one of those bands that on paper I should love but have never felt the urge to listen to their music.  But, The Mountain Goats are the kind of band that if you know you know, and are never going to sell out a whole stadium tour.  They will sell out moderately sized venues throughout America and add extra dates to cities like Raleigh, NC or Austin, TX. 

[akg]

15 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

He would have been thrilled to share it if it meant he could be a permanent part of the band.  And even if he retained all the proceeds from the song, a resurgence in their careers means playing bigger venues and, eventually, getting a percentage of the ticket sales (and of course, selling more merch), doesn't it?

I think, if the band's former drummer hadn't made it big alone with her song, the group would have found a more reasonable way to deal with the new guy. They'd had decades to stew over being cheated and picturing what their lives would be like if things had been different so they overreacted in a major way when they saw what they thought was history repeating itself.

 

15 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

The guy studying for his MLS gave up his vegan principles to murder a human being.

Thanks for pointing this out! I'm not sure I agree that wearing leather is bad but murdering a person is ok but I'm not vegan.

[wanderingstar]

On 1/26/2023 at 9:33 PM, SnazzyDaisy said:

 

He was great in this episode! And I liked the "Can't Un-murder Somebody" song 🤣

[Milburn Stone]

On 1/29/2023 at 10:33 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

That the old hit song was written solely by the drummer and she would get all the proceeds sounds fishy to me...[the] performance is part of the package and so every time that song was played on the radio, downloaded, etc. the rest of the band would get money.

Thank you for pointing this out. Like you, I knew the premise to be wrong. Sadly, now a whole generation will be feeling needlessly sorry for artists who don't write their own songs. 😄

On 1/30/2023 at 8:56 AM, Black Knight said:

I was surprised by the extended cold opens at first, but now they're one of my favorite things about this series.

I'm still surprised by them, such that when the timeline repeats, I'm saying "Hey, didn't that already happen?" Then I go "D'oh." 

[wanderingstar]

I grew up watching Benson, so I found Gavin's fanning out on it just delightful.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

For those who want to learn a lot more about how the murder was carried out: Death Capacitors

[merylinkid]

On 2/8/2023 at 8:27 AM, Milburn Stone said:

hank you for pointing this out. Like you, I knew the premise to be wrong. Sadly, now a whole generation will be feeling needlessly sorry for artists who don't write their own songs

No that is exactly right.   The money is in PUBLISHING.   The band only gets paid when they perform.   That's why Madonna is STILL touring.   She didn't write her songs.  So she has to get the money from touring to get paid.   The writer gets paid every time the song is played on the radio or streamed.   

It's why Beyonce changes a lyric or two in her songs so she can get writer credit.   Which is bloody what they should have done here.   Listened to the song and then said "okay how about if we say THIS on this line instead" and then they ALL could have had writer credit.   But noooo, the morons just decided to steal the whole thing and split it 3 ways instead of 4.   

[Ms Blue Jay]

10 hours ago, merylinkid said:

 That's why Madonna is STILL touring.   She didn't write her songs. 

Where are you getting this information?  Madonna has written and co-written the vast majority of her songs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Songs_written_by_Madonna

Edited February 26, 2023 by Ms Blue Jay

[Orbert]

They fired Deuteronomy, and Charlie was driving her own car, so who was driving the band bus?

Better yet, they killed Gavin, so who played drums that last show where they debuted the new song?

[Kip Hackman]

On 1/29/2023 at 11:33 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

The premise for this seemed a bit flimsy. Usually bands work on songs together and share the credits. That the old hit song was written solely by the drummer and she would get all the proceeds sounds fishy to me. Even if she wrote that song alone and all the credits went to her, performance is part of the package and so every time that song was played on the radio, downloaded, etc. the rest of the band would get money.

Not really.

The rock and roll landscape is littered with bands that fell apart because one guy (the main songwriter) was making the lion's share of the money.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 1/29/2023 at 11:46 AM, Rinaldo said:

I loved this episode so much. I noticed the final clue as soon as it was introduced, and kept waiting for it to be revealed. It sure was satisfying when it finally was exposed.

Kudos to our Rinaldo for recognizing a musical clue. Rinaldo is tearing himself away from his usual outpost on TCM movies. 

Edited June 7 by EtheltoTillie