A Brave New World: Song & Fury
Lots has happened since the last time we talked. Starting with the elephant in the room… We changed our name + rebranded! A Way With Words had an amazing run for three years and although I absolutely loved the name + the meaning behind it, it was time for a change. As we grow, our work + passions grow with us too. A Way With Words was based on a song called “Way With Words” by The Wrecks who I was listening to a lot during 2018-2019. Although the song was pretty depressing and essentially a breakup song, I was set with the title as the chorus went “you’ve got a way with words.” This blog was created for entertainment purposes. We didn’t have a niche when we first started. We were full of entertainment pieces including movies, TV and music, poetry, and whatever we wanted. However, as we grew into ourselves a bit further, we realized that music was what we were most passionate about. And as the years pass by my mind, we’ve fully rebranded and renamed ourselves, Song & Fury. The title is based on a song (of course) by one of my favorite bands (like have their lyrics tattooed on me forever) Ultra Q. But the song is actually from a different era where they were called Mt. Eddy, who produced one of my top three albums of all time, Chroma. The title is short and sweet, and gives you a feel of what we actually are. A music publication! So welcome to Song & Fury, life is so unusual… But we’re happy to have you.
CREEM MAGAZINE IS BACK
We also wanted to note that America’s ONLY rock n roll magazine is back - Creem. The publication ran from 1969-1989 in Detroit, they built themselves on being the anti-Rolling Stone and NPR. From 1971-1976, outrageous and influential music critic Lester Bangs served as the magazine’s editor, introducing all kinds of bands and artists that other publications weren’t even talking about such as Bowie, Van Halen, The Smiths, The Replacements and the list goes on. But one thing Creem stood for was telling the absolute truth. They were NOT a gossip magazine, no politics, but outrageously humor inside. Such words that came from Creem would NEVER be seen in Rolling Stone - and that’s what they loved about it. Creem would take you backstage into exclusive artist interviews and tell the absolute truth. No bullshit, no fake news, no scandals. And they write from such a personal opinion too. They write for themselves and for their readers because both of them are alike - fans of music. They never acted like they stood on a higher level than anyone, never acted as if they were the greatest. But they were and are still America’s ONLY rock n roll magazine…
NO NEWS-BASED ARTICLES HERE
With the recent relaunch of Creem magazine that began in June 2022, I started reading through the digital archives and current articles and felt a sense of acceptance. When I was doing a music journalism internship, I was taught to write in such a professional sense, in almost a news-based way. It felt so fake and unlike me. But since that was the way I was being taught, I kept writing like that even for my articles on here. But seeing and reading other people’s articles, especially through Creem, I’ve realized it’s okay to give your personal opinion and not just facts. I am allowed to write professionally, yet still have fun with it. So going forward, you’ll be seeing a lot more opinion-ated articles as opposed to news-based.
STRANGER THINGS SPOILERS
This summer is honestly the best one I’ve had in about five years… I could go into details why that is, but we can just leave it at that. My favorite TV show ever (like I’ve NEVER loved a tv show this much) Stranger Things returned for it’s fourth season this summer and it was a wild ride. This season felt so long and dragged out I can’t even comprehend all that’s happened. The light-hearted beginning of it is always my favorite, seeing the kids in the Hellfire Club, seeing Mike and Eleven getting to spend time together, Will being the third wheel… All fun times. Although it was an INCREDIBLE season, it wasn’t my favorite. And that’s okay! I still absolutely loved it. But something I didn’t love was what they did with Mike. They wrote his script like he was a total asshole (which yeah) and like he can’t even see what’s right in front of him: Will. In love with Mike. It’s been there for awhile and definitely showed more in season three, but season four? You have to be an idiot to not even realize it (which Mike is). Mike had his moment where he talked to El while she was fighting Vecna and kept her going (which I did cry at of course) and I loved when he said “You’re my superhero” which Finn Wolfhard improvised. But it just felt like he did nothing this season. He didn’t care about anything but El (I mean yeah what’s new), he’s totally oblivious to Will and he couldn’t even see what Will was explaining to him with his painting.
Eleven, however, is perfect as always. She’s always been my favorite character and although the Duffer Brothers are trying to make it seem like she’s the big bad monster who sent Henry, 001, Vecna to the Upside Down and opened a portal and Brenner’s all of a sudden a good guy, I still love her. And this season in the beginning, when she was being bullied, it hurt me. We all know Angela deserved that rollerskate to her head. But this season was SADIE SINK’S SEASON. I’m so glad they finally decided to go somewhere with her character and the fact that they sacrificed herself to save her friends was unbelievable. The scene (THEE SCENE) where her bones are cracking, and Lucas is fighting Jason, my heart dropped so far. As my boyfriend was making fun of me for my reaction, I thought she was gone. But of course she wasn’t because El saved her.
And what about Steve and Nancy? I mean let’s be real: Nobody EVER asked for Jonathan and Nancy… And of course they’ll probably be together in the end, but why make us wait? Eddie playing Master of Puppets by Metallica was one of the greatest ideas ever. I love seeing everyone listening to it and covering it. Of course his death was heart-breaking, but what got me was Dustin’s reaction. I had seen Dustin cry before, but never like that. When Eddie said, “Never change, Dustin Henderson,” that really got me because Dustin is the true heart of the party and always has been. And when Dustin was telling Eddie’s uncle that he was a hero, I lost it. Couldn’t do it anymore.
But what was most likely my favorite part of the whole season was… The reuniting scene with El and Hopper. Before he even said anything, I knew he would be saying “Hey Kid”. The fact that the same song (Deep by Peter Sanberg) was playing during that scene, as it was at the end of Season three when El’s reading Hopper’s letter, it was so perfect. A quote in that scene inspired something for me. When El says to Hopper, “I kept the door open three inches. I never gave up hope.”, I decided that would be my Stranger Things tattoo. I’ve wanted one for five years, but never got one because I thought I’d be over it by now (LOL). What I’m most likely going to get will be “keep the door open three inches” in typewriter font, with an 11 symbol, an eggo and a walkie talkie.
Anyway, this apparently turned into a Stranger Things rambling session, but keep running up that hill nerds! We’ll be back soon.
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