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Month: December 2022

Dave Chappelle’s 5 Best Acting Performances

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Dave Chappelle is known as one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time, and with any successful career in stand-up, there tends to come a career in acting. Chappelle is among the likes of Jim Carrey, Chris Rock, and many others that were able to make the transition from comedy to acting on both television and the big screen.

While Chappelle prefers the role of a stand-up comedian, he had plenty of roles that have kept him busy over the years. Here’s a look at some of Chappelle’s best acting performances, many of which come from when he was still a rising comedian.

Half Baked

The first, and to this date, the only time, that Dave Chappelle has had top billing in a feature film came in 1998 in the stoner comedy film “Half Baked”. Starring alongside Jim Breuer, Guillermo Diaz, and Harland Williams, Chappelle played Thurgood Jenkins, a janitor that had was easily the most grounded out of his weeded-out pals.

The film didn’t receive great reviews from critics, but it did do pretty well at the box office, making $17.5 million on a budget that was less than half of that. “Half Baked” would end up becoming more of a cult classic, and in the years since it was released, the overall view of the film has been much more positive. However, writer Neal Brennan said that the negative reaction upon its release caused a drift between him and Chappelle temporarily and almost ruined their careers.

The Nutty Professor

Released in 1996, the comedy film “The Nutty Professor” stars Eddie Murphy as a morbidly obese scientist named Sherman Klump that’s attempting to woo a woman named Carla played by Jada Pinkett-Smith. However, Klump catches the attention of comedian Reggie Warrington while the two are on a date, with Warrington played by Dave Chappelle.

Chappelle launches one fat joke after another, causing Murphy’s character to come up with a weight-loss potion. After taking the potion and becoming Buddy Love, though, Klump gets his revenge on Chappelle’s character by stealing his spotlight at the comedy club.

Con Air

While most of the acting roles for Chappelle have been straight from the comedy genre, he’s mixed it up a bit every now and then. One of his more serious roles came in the 1997 film “Con Air” starring Nicolas Cage, with Chappelle playing the role of ‘Pinball’ Parker. While there were some serious criminals involved in the movie, Parker wasn’t one of them.

Parker was a low-level inmate, which Chappelle used to play a character that wasn’t heavy-handed or the “alpha” of the group. Chappelle appears in several scenes, getting about five minutes of screen time with a few memorable interactions with the main characters.

Blue Streak

Martin Lawrence was on a tear during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and one of his biggest hits was “Blue Streak”, starring alongside Luke Wilson as Miles Logan, a diamond thief who poses as a detective after breaking into a police station. Chappelle’s character, Tulley, is someone that’s owed a lot of money by Miles, making for a great scene.

While in an interrogation room, Lawrence’s character tries to get Chappelle to stop talking, so as not to blow his cover. The result is one of the funniest scenes in the film, while Chappelle also gets involved in a shootout with Lawrence and Wilson earlier on in the movie. Fans of the movie certainly remember lines like “You didn’t use to be so violent!”

A Star is Born

“Con Air” was an action film, but there were a lot of comedy elements involved, especially for Chappelle’s character. That was not the case, however, for “A Star is Born”, which was a straight-up drama that marked a huge change of pace in Chappelle’s acting resume.

The Oscar-winning film starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga earned over $436 million at the box office, with Chappelle playing the role of George “Noodles” Stone, a musician who was also Cooper’s character’s (Jack) best friend. The casting took a lot of chances, and it paid off beautifully.

5 Classic Rock Hits That Were Revived Through Movie Soundtracks

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Every now and then, a movie or television show will use a song that we haven’t heard in ages, while also introducing a new audience to a hit. There have been many rock songs that have found a second life due to being used on a popular soundtrack over the years, with some finding new heights on the chart. Here are the five biggest cases of classic rock hits being revived through movie soundtracks.

“Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone

Released in January 1974, “Come and Get Your Love” was a universally beloved hit for the remainder of the decade and the top-charting song for Redbone. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over 1 million copies while being considered the fourth most successful song of the entire year.

Though the song has remained relevant since its release, it was in 2014 that it saw another massive surge in popularity. The opening scene of the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” film features Peter Quill (played by Chris Pratt) lip-syncing and dancing to the tune in a memorable opening by director James Gunn. “Come and Get Your Love” was later used on the Bill Burr animated series “F is for Family”, furthering its new popularity.

“Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Swede

Speaking of “Guardians of the Galaxy”, there were plenty of classic rock hits that the film series brought back to the light, but we’ll limit it to just these two. The second is Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling”, which is a cover version of a cover version that was initially released in 1968 by Mark James, starting with the familiar “Ooga Chaka.”

The song was featured in the first “Guardians” film after the group is sent to a space prison and Peter Quill is tased for getting out of hand. The movie uses the song as a backdrop to show how the group slowly started to learn to trust one another during their time in lockup while they start to put together the pieces of each other’s history.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen

“Bohemian Rhapsody” feels like it’s five different songs in one, and is considered one of the greatest rock hits of all time. When it was originally released in late 1975, “Bohemian Rhapsody” enjoyed a lot of success, reaching the top 10 of the Billboard charts. However, it wasn’t until it was used in the memorable “Wayne’s World” scene in 1992 that it really took off.

Almost everyone and their brother was recreating the popular scene that takes place in Wayne’s car, and it revived worldwide interest in Queen’s music. The biopic that would eventually be released detailing Freddy Mercury’s life was also called “Bohemian Rhapsody” and was released in 2018.

“Tiny Dancer” by Elton John

The Elton John classic “Tiny Dancer” is an all-timer, even though the original release wasn’t a radio hit due to its length of over six minutes. In fact, “Tiny Dancer” wouldn’t even reach the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, and actually reached its peak in Australia of all countries, as it made it to number 13.

There was a huge influx of interest in the song in 2000 when it was featured in the film “Almost Famous” which earned Oscar nominations for Kate Hudson and Frances McDormand. The song got a lot of usage in “Almost Famous”, including the most memorable scene of the main cast singing it together in a van.

“Something in the Way” by Nirvana

Nirvana had a ton of hit songs off of their “Nevermind” album, but “Something in the Way” was sort of a deep track. The song was actually a bit of a hidden track as there were 10 minutes of silence before the track started to play on the original album. “Something in the Way” finally reached a lot of fans for the first time when it was featured prominently in the 2022 film “The Batman”.

The film had a lot of people Googling the song, and the new interest allowed “Something in the Way” to reach the top 50 of the Billboard charts for the first time in 2022. Even in countries like Greece and Iceland, it was able to find the top 40 charts.

5 Classic Rock Albums That Stood The Test Of Time

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There are many albums that end up being a product of their time and tend not to age all that well over the years. For most classic rock albums, though, that tends not to be the case (unless you’re talking strictly about some hair metal bands). 

There are many classic rock albums that are still beloved and critically acclaimed even decades after they were released. From the 1960s to the early 1990s, here are five classic rock albums that have withstood the test of time.

“Nevermind” by Nirvana

Nirvana wasn’t around for a long time as lead singer Kurt Cobain tragically took his own life in 1994, but he led the trio that put together a perfect album for its time that still holds up today. “Nevermind” starts with a memorable album cover and then hits you right in the face with “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, which would be the band’s anthem.

The great songs didn’t stop coming after the intro, either, as the next four songs were “In Bloom”, “Come As You Are”, “Breed” and “Lithium” which all ended up being grunge classics. There were even some deep tracks including “Drain You” and “Something in the Way” that were great, with the latter even being featured in the 2022 film “The Batman” and reaching the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time.

“Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac

If you were to ask a group of people to name a perfect album, there’s a good chance that a lot of them are going to say “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac. The album was the band’s attempt at making a poppier version of a rock album, and the result was an 11-track masterpiece that reached number one on the charts and is still relevant to this day.

Of course, there are the big hits from “Rumours” that include “Don’t Stop” and “Go Your Own Way”, but there are plenty of other top-tier tracks that include “The Chain”, “Dreams” and “You Make Loving Fun”. There’s really not a single bad song on the album, which is why it was recognized as the Album of the Year at the 1977 Grammy Awards.

“Master of Puppets” by Metallica

You could really pick any of the Metallica albums from before the mid-1990s to appear on this list, but the one that really stands out is “Master of Puppets” for a lot of different reasons. First, there’s the memorable album cover that’s considered to be one of the greatest of all time, then there are eight tracks, all of which are hard-hitting classics.

For the first 14 minutes, listeners are treated with one of the best back-to-back openings in music history with “Battery” followed by the title track, “Master of Puppets”. There’s not much of a break as the album is high octane all the way through, including songs like “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” and “Orion”, which many consider to be one of the most underrated Metallica songs since it wasn’t a big radio hit.

“Led Zeppelin IV” by Led Zeppelin

When you try to visualize what a classic rock album looks like in your head, you might picture “Led Zeppelin IV”. The 1971 album from the legendary British rock band was one of the greatest-selling albums in history and is considered by many music historians to be the best. Like “Master of Puppets”, there are eight songs total, and they’re all memorable.

The front side of “Led Zeppelin IV” features “Black Dog”, “Rock and Roll”, “The Battle of Evermore” and concludes with “Stairway to Heaven”. That list alone could be an entire album, but there’s also the second side that’s comprised of “Misty Mountain Hop”, “Four Sticks”, “Going to California” and “When the Levee Breaks”.

“Van Halen” by Van Halen

Van Halen has had a lot of great albums, especially when David Lee Roth was the frontman. However, their debut self-titled album released in 1978 remains their best work. It was a great introduction to the band, especially since the lead single was “You Really Got Me”, though the opening track on the album was “Runnin’ with the Devil”.

The hits kept coming thanks to songs like “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love”, “Feel Your Love Tonight” and “Ice Cream Man”. According to Roth himself, this was the band’s best work and was critically beloved upon its release.

Who Would Be on the Mount Rushmore of Oregon Sports?

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When people think of athletics at the University of Oregon, a few things come to mind. For starters, there’s the track team known around the world, helping to land Eugene, Oregon the nickname of Track Town, USA. There’s also the football team that became a juggernaut starting in the 1990s and is known for its unique uniforms, with hardly wearing the same combination of uniforms more than once.

Oregon sports has come a long way over the years, with all of the programs contributing to the overall legacy of the athletics department. If you were to create a Mount Rushmore replica in Eugene that took just the four most influential people, who would be on it? Here are our picks for the Mount Rushmore of Oregon Ducks sports.

Phil Knight

You can’t tell the story of Oregon athletics without talking about Phil Knight. Going back to his college days, Knight was a runner at Oregon who was on the varsity team for three seasons. However, it wasn’t his career as a runner with the school that landed him on the Oregon Ducks Mount Rushmore.

After leaving the University of Oregon, Knight would go on to start Nike, and his contributions helped to make Oregon a nationally-known program. Between the entire basketball arena and major contributions to the football and track programs, Knight and Nike have their stamp on just about everything on campus. Overall, Knight has invested well over $1 billion in the university, earning Knight the nickname Uncle Phil. 

Marcus Mariota

Oregon football had been building up to something special throughout the 1990s and 2000s thanks to the likes of Joey Harrington and the Chip Kelly offense. The culmination of Ducks football would come when the school landed coveted quarterback recruit Marcus Mariota from Honolulu.

Mariota would be the first Oregon player to win the Heisman Trophy, doing so in 2014, while also winning the Maxwell, manning, Walter Camp, and Davey O’Brien Awards (among others). Mariota set records left and right, throwing for 10,796 yards and 105 touchdowns while also rushing for 2,237 yards and 29 touchdowns. Mariota would go on to become the highest-drafted player from Oregon since George Shaw in 1955 at second overall.

Steve Prefontaine

Another member of the Oregon Ducks running team to make it onto the school’s Mount Rushmore is Steve Prefontaine, who was simply known as Pre to many around the world. Prefontaine tragically passed away at just 24 years old but left a huge legacy as the leader of the increase in running interest in the United States.

Prefontaine made it to the 1972 Olympics where he won a bronze medal, and only had three races during his collegiate career in which he didn’t win (all of them in the 1-mile run). Pre had a ton of charisma and was well-known, especially as he set his personal best of 3 minutes and 54.6 seconds in the 1-mile in Eugene in 1973.

Sabrina Ionescu

Sabrina Ionescu was one of the top high school players in the country and decided to head to Oregon where she became the school’s highest-rated recruit of all time. Ionescu dominated in Eugene and became the only player in NCAA history with over 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 1,000 assists in her career.

Not only that but Ionescu would be named the Pac-12 Player of the Year in three consecutive seasons, as well as winning the Nancy Lieberman Award every year from 2018 to 2020. Ionescu was the 2020 Naismith and AP Player of the Year, and she became the first Oregon player to be drafted number one overall in the WNBA.

Who Just Missed the Cut?

It was hard to narrow down the list to just four, and there were some notable Ducks that were left off of the list. Those that were considered for the Mount Rushmore are Dan Fouts (football), Bill Bowerman (track), Ahmad Rashad (football), Payton Pritchard (basketball), Joey Harrington (football), and Ashton Eaton (track).

5 Best Games in Oregon Football History

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Throughout Oregon Ducks football history, there have been some monumental moments and big games that have taken place, either at Autzen Stadium or on the road. In the very long history of Ducks football, though, which games stand out as the best in school history? Here are our picks for the top five, with all of them coming in the 21st century when Oregon became established as a national power.

5. Time to Fiesta

Before Colorado joined the Pac-12, they were a member of the Big 12 and represented the conference in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl against Oregon, with the teams ranked third and fourth, respectively. Oregon came in with a chip on their shoulder as the team would have been in the BCS Championship based on the coaches and AP polls.

The Ducks played like a national title team as they thoroughly beat Colorado by a score of 38-16 with Joey Harrington and Steve Smith winning the offensive and defensive MVP awards. In the end, the Ducks were ranked number two in the AP poll behind champion Miami, and we’ll never know if they would’ve defeated the Hurricanes.

4. Seminole Smash

The 2014-15 NCAA season marked the first time that the FBS champion would be decided with a playoff, and Oregon was included after winning the Pac-12. Oregon went up against undefeated Florida State and Heisman winner Jameis Winston, but the Seminoles weren’t prepared for the onslaught that would come their way.

The game was tight in the first half with Oregon holding an 18-13 lead, but the second half was all Ducks. Up 25-20 halfway through the third quarter, Darren Carrington finished the quarter with two touchdowns of 56 and 30 yards, then Winston fumbled, leading to a Tony Washington scoop and score. Marcus Mariota and Thomas Tyner would add touchdowns in the fourth to give Oregon the 59-20 win and stamp their ticket to the title game.

3. Shootout at the Shoe

While Oregon was considered a strong team and ranked number 11 in the nation heading into the 2021 season, they had squeaked by Fresno State in week one and not many gave them a chance on the road against number three-ranked Ohio State. Oregon ran the ball early and often, wearing down the Buckeyes’ defensive line, and took a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter.

The Ducks salted the game away and walked out of Columbus with a 35-28 win, and their first against Ohio State after going 0-for-9. C.J. Verdell finished with 195 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns with the Ducks going on to win their Pac-12 North and playing Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl.

2. Upset at the Big House

In 2007, the Michigan Wolverines came into the NCAA season ranked in the top five, and had national championship aspirations. In their September schedule were games against Notre Dame and Penn State that they had perhaps looked forward to too much as they were upset by FCS team Appalachian State in the first week.

Many thought the Wolverines would rebound against Oregon in week two, but the Ducks proved to be the better team that day. Dennis Dixon ran wild and the Ducks routed Michigan by a score of 39-7 in front of nearly 110,000 people. The Ducks would go on to finish the season 9-4 and won the Sun Bowl over South Florida.

1. 2012 Rose Bowl

Coming into the 2011-12 NCAA football season, Oregon hadn’t won a Rose Bowl in 95 years. That would change on January 2, 2012, when the Ducks arrived as the number five team in the nation, taking on the Big Ten representative Wisconsin Badgers. The game was a shootout in the first half as the teams went into the locker room tied at 28.

Oregon trailed by three points going into the final quarter, but took the lead within the first few seconds of the fourth thanks to a Lavasier Tuinei touchdown catch from Darron Thomas. Alejandro Maldonado added three more points and the defense held strong, with the Ducks winning 45-38. The game set the Rose Bowl record for most points in regulation while De’Anthony Thomas had the longest touchdown run in the game’s history with a 91-yard scamper.

5 Executive Orders That Were Taken to Court

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While laws have to be passed through the House of Representatives and the Senate before they can be signed into law by the standing United States President, the leader of the nation can sign an executive order into effect. Many of these go through a vetting process before being signed, as they can easily be overturned by the Supreme Court, Federal Court of Appeals, or members of Congress. There have been several instances of an executive order being taken to court, and here are the five most notable legal battles.

1. FDR’s 1935 Legal Battles

Franklin D. Roosevelt faced a lot of legal conflicts in 1935 when five of his executive orders were overturned by the United States Supreme Court. The first of which was the prohibition of transportation in interstate and foreign commerce of petroleum, with the next essentially being a duplicate. The next few ones get much different, though.

Executive order 6256 was to ensure that goods made with forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China didn’t enter the United States. There were two more that were overturned that were incredibly minor, and seem to be simply added to the list in one of those “while we’re here” situations that don’t have much information available from the U.S. government at all.

2. Reagan Starts a Snowball

Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 12291 which required the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to provide a benefit-cost analysis for any large expenditures by the government that exceed $100 million. The original executive order wasn’t altered by George H.W. Bush but has been revised or replaced by every president ever since.

How much the president has been allowed to change on the original executive order has been taken to court several times over the years, and it seems that presidents fight one another to make the executive order their own. In fact, Donald Trump made several alterations before they were rescinded by Joe Biden.

3. Clinton’s Anti-Strikebreaking Challenged

In March 1995, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 12954 that would bar companies from hiring employees on a permanent basis to replace employees that were legally on strike. While union workers were over the moon about this executive order, it didn’t last long thanks to a court appeal.

The Federal Appeals Court ruled that Clinton’s executive order couldn’t be signed into law because the National Labor Relations Act was signed into law in 1935. This act had more power than the executive order, causing Clinton’s ruling to be overturned. Known as the Wagner Act, it was signed by Franklin Roosevelt and has been amended in 1947 and 1959.

4. Trump’s Immigration Backlash

Donald Trump made a lot of promises regarding immigration to the United States when he became President, and within just a couple of weeks, he had signed Executive Order 13769 with immediate backlash. The executive order imposed travel restrictions from seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, all of which hold a Muslim majority.

Several lawsuits were filed as a result of the travel bans, most notably the case of Hawaii v. Trump, with the 50th state claiming that the executive order was simply a ban on religion with no other causation behind it. The executive order had been altered by Trump over the following 12 months and made its way to the Supreme Court where it was upheld before being revoked by succeeding president Joe Biden.

5. Biden’s Student Loan Appeal

Speaking of Joe Biden, he would end up undoing many of the executive orders signed by Trump while putting his own into effect. Biden announced in 2021 that he was set to cancel nearly $6 billion in U.S. student loan debt, and the following year, applications were being accepted to have up to $20,000 in debt relieved.

However, several states complained that their tax income would be affected by student loan cancellations, all of which were led by Republican governors. Shortly after student loan forgiveness was announced, it had to be suspended as it was taken to court, leaving more than 26 million Americans with their hopes dashed for the time being.

5 Conspiracies That Are Fully Documented and Verified

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Most of the time when somebody comes up with a conspiracy theory, we tend to dismiss them immediately and think that they might be teetering toward the crazy side. Anybody can come up with a conspiracy theory that would be nearly impossible to disprove, but very rarely can a conspiracy actually be proven.

From Bigfoot to rigged sports games and Elvis to the moon landing, there are a ton of conspiracies that many believe to be true but have never been proven. Then, there are those rare cases where a conspiracy theory did indeed turn out to be a reality, leaving many of us in shock. Here are five of those cases in which a conspiracy was fully documented and verified.

Cigarettes and the Link to Cancer

These days, it’s common knowledge that cigarettes lead to a massive increase in cancer risks, but the public wasn’t made aware of that for quite some time. While millennials and gen z’ers have only known a world in which smoking is taboo, it wasn’t until the 1990s that tobacco companies admitted the link between cigarettes and cancer.

The original research came out more than 40 years prior, though, but big tobacco was able to cover up the fact that their products caused cancer. Many had their theories that there was a cover-up, and now cigarette companies are forced to put cancer warnings on their products.

Weather Control

Weather is a naturally occurring phenomenon, though it can certainly be swayed into doing things that we want it to do. There had been theories that the CIA launched a project that could control the weather in Vietnam by creating rain, and it turned out to be 100 percent true. The project was called Operation Popeye, with Henry Kissinger signing off on the government’s attempt to modify the weather by extending monsoon season on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The CIA felt that increasing the rainfall on the trail would cut off the limited roadways in Vietnam, causing the north to not get the supplies that they needed. It wasn’t until deep into the Vietnam War that the plans were revealed after they had been used for five years, with rainmaking coming to an end in July 1972. The act of creating rain is now illegal.

Nazis Worked For The US Government

There were some very powerful people in the Nazi Germany regime that suddenly went missing following the conclusion of World War II. Many of them were never tried for their crimes, and people theorized about where these people ended up. A lot of them fled to South America, while more than 1,500 landed jobs with the United States government.

The US brought in these Germans that were at the top of their fields in science, tech, and engineering. It was called Operation Paperclip and lasted through the 1950s. People in the US knew that there were a handful of Nazis that were part of the program, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the public learned about the true size of the program.

Cuban Air Scare

Airplanes being hijacked has always been a massive fear for people throughout aviation, and it was brought to a head in the 1960s thanks to Operation Northwoods. The CIA led several false flag hijackings to drum up support against Cuba by blaming the hijackings on their government.

Then-president John F. Kennedy was vehemently against the proposals of Operation Northwoods, and it remained a secret for decades. The documents were made public in the late 1990s as part of the government records that surrounded Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.

MK Ultra

One of the most well-known attempted coverups in the history of the CIA happened between 1953 and 1973 in the form of Project MKUltra, which attempted to brainwash people while also causing psychological damage. MK Ultra was an interrogation tactic that included the use of psychoactive drugs, abuse, and complete isolation that was considered to be torture.

It wasn’t until two years after the project was complete that the details of Project MK Ultra were revealed, with the final documents being declassified in 2001. What was even the goal of the project? To develop mind control drugs to use on foreign enemies as the United States felt that other countries were already using these tactics.

5 Celebrities That Were Charged With Murder

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Murder trials are always among the most fascinating and attention-getting, but even more so when it’s a celebrity that’s on the defense. There have been several notable cases in which the accused murderer was an A-list celebrity, but a few stand out as being the most-followed murder cases in history. Here are the five most notable cases of a celebrity being charged with murder, and how the courts decided their fate.

Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg has had quite a few run-ins with the law, many of which have been drug-related. However, there’s a much more serious charge that Snoop has faced, and that’s murder. In the summer of 1993, a member of Snoop Dogg’s rival gang was killed in West Los Angeles just outside of the building that he was living in at the time.

Snoop and his bodyguard McKinley Lee were charged with the first-degree murder of Philip Woldermariam after the two had run from the scene. After several years in court, nobody was convicted of murder as the LAPD had reportedly fumbled the investigation with Snoop claiming that he never fired a shot and that it was his bodyguard acting in self-defense. All men were acquitted of murder charges in 1996.

O.J. Simpson

Perhaps the most famous murder case of all time, NFL legend and actor O.J. Simpson was wanted for the stabbing deaths of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and family friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson led an infamous escape in a white Ford Bronco, and the subsequent murder trial was part of the national discussion for months.

Eventually, Simpson was acquitted of the murder, but was found guilty in a civil case where he had to pay over $33 million. Simpson was then arrested several years later in Nevada for robbery and was sentenced to nine years before being released in October 2017.

Sid Vicious

The lead singer of the Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious, was in a very infamous relationship with Nancy Spungen during the 1970s. The two partied hard, and one night, it went too far. The couple was throwing a party in a hotel room in October 1978, with Sid reportedly sleeping through much of the night. The following morning, Spungen was found dead in the hotel room’s bathroom, with Sid claiming at first that he had stabbed her death before changing the story to say he doesn’t remember anything.

Sid Vicious was charged with murder and gave several different stories regarding what happened in the hotel that night. The singer was released on bail but got into trouble again when he assault Todd Smith just a couple of months later. While still awaiting trial, Vicious died from an overdose in February 1979 at the age of 21, leaving the death of Spungen a mystery.

Phil Spector

The late Phil Spector was a record producer known for ushering in some of the greatest acts of the 1960s and 1970s, producing music all the way through the 2000s. At Spector’s house in February 2003, though, actress Lana Clarkson died in what Spector called an accidental suicide. He was arrested and charged with murder, with the trial going through several years of deliberation.

Spector was eventually convicted of murder in 2009 and was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. An appeal for Spector was entered, but he passed away in prison in January 2021 due to COVID-19, three years before he was set to be released on parole. 

Robert Blake

Robert Blake had a long career in Hollywood, starring in films including “In Cold Blood” and shows like “Baretta” after being a child star. Blake continued his career into the 1990s but retired toward the end of the decade. In 2001, Blake was married to Bonny Lee Bakley, with the couple tying the knot the year prior.

She was found dead on May 4, 2001, with a headshot wound outside of a restaurant behind a dumpster. After investigation, Blake was charged with murder the following April with the trial running all the way to March 2005. Blake was eventually acquitted, with the Los Angeles District Attorney calling the jury “stupid” after their decision. However, Blake was forced to pay $30 million in civil court for Bakley’s death, leading him to bankruptcy.

5 Songs That Went Viral on TikTok

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The music industry has changed a lot over the years, and it’s not enough to simply release a song and hope that it gets popular. Marketing a song has also changed, and now executives are making sure songs are gaining traction on the social media app TikTok so that it can boost exposure. With that, there have been several songs that have climbed the charts thanks to going viral on TikTok, with these five, in particular, receiving the biggest boost.

“Say So” by Doja Cat

A lot of people think that Doja Cat was brand new to the scene when her song “Say So” was released from her album “Hot Pink”, but she had actually been on the scene since 2014. Doja Cat had released several singles and an album up to that point, with none of her songs making the top 40 and her debut album “Amala” not cracking the top 100 of the Billboard charts.

“Say So” came out of left field as it didn’t become a main release until it gained traction on TikTok with content creator Haley Sharpe offering up a dance challenge with “Say So” playing. The trend would end up becoming viral, and the track that was an afterthought for Doja Cat ended up being her biggest hit. The song eventually reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 thanks to TikTok.

“Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion

Releasing her first singles in 2017, Megan Thee Stallion got off to a solid start in her career, with modest successes in the form of “Big Ole Freak” and “Cash S***”. Megan had her first hit with “Hot Girl Summer” featuring Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla Sign in 2019, but it wasn’t until the release of “Savage” that she scored her first top 10 and number one song.

“Savage” got a viral dance challenge of its own thanks to Keara Wilson, with her original video getting well over 15 million views. The song was the most played on TikTok, and it took off right as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking full effect, with more people glued to their smartphones in their houses doing viral dance challenges.

“Remember (Walking in the Sand) by the Shangri-Las

Though most people find the remixed version to be incredibly grating on the ears, the original version of “Oh No” by Capone is the 1964 hit song “Remember” by the Shangri-Las. The song, which typically accompanies someone or something experiencing immediate regret, was remixed and repitched to fit the TikTok motif.

The song went viral due to its use in seemingly every video, and it drummed up interest in the original version. Google searches for “the Oh No song” spiked in November of 2020, leading to a huge surge in the original’s popularity. As for the Shangri-Las, they had other hits including “Leader of the Pack” and “Give Him a Great Big Kiss”.

“Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga

First written in 2007, “Paparazzi” was a solid hit by Lady Gaga upon its initial release back in 2009 from “The Fame” album. The song peaked at number six in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 and saw a resurgence in 2021 thanks to its use on TikTok. Many of the videos associated with the song were satirically obsessed over a person.

The version of the song that was used came from Lady Gaga’s live performance at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. For those that haven’t seen the video, her voice sounds almost nothing like the album since she’s showing a lot of emotion as she’s playing someone that’s been mortally wounded and showing a ton of distress.

“Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo

In 2021, actress Olivia Rodrigo had a massive breakout in the music scene thanks to her debut album “Sour”. The lead single from the album was “Drivers License”, which helped get a massive boost in popularity thanks to TikTok. The song has a strong emotional message and was used for more somber TikToks and also plenty of satirical comedy.

The success on TikTok helped get “Drivers License” to the number one spot of every major music chart in the world and propelled “Sour” to the number one album. Rodrigo would end up winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Best Pop Solo Performance for “Drivers License”.

5 Best Roblox Rhythm Games

Posted on by scatty

Since it was released in 2006, Roblox has had players making their own minigames within the universe in just about every genre. There have been sports games that emulate what it’s like to play FIFA or Madden, horror games that resemble Five Nights at Freddy’s, and just about everything in between.

One genre that has also gotten a lot of love over the years in Roblox is the rhythm game genre. Hitting buttons in rhythm with music has long been a popular genre and boosted in popularity thanks to the release of games like Parappa the Rapper and Guitar Hero. If you’re looking for some fun rhythm minigames within Roblox, try out these five that are rated as the best.

1. Sound Volblox

Based on Konami’s “Sound Voltex” arcade-style rhythm games, Sound Volblox brings its own twist with stunning visuals and gameplay. Some players have dubbed it the best rhythm game Roblox has to offer. 

It requires a PC and gamepad, or keyboard to play, focusing on accuracy and speed while hitting the proper keys to match the notes on the screen. Sound Volblox offers a challenging, but fun experience that plays as more than just your standard arcade rhythm game. 

2. RoBeats

Created by user RobeatsDev, RoBeats is an MMORPG-style rhythm game popular amongst Roblox players. There are 700+ songs to choose from, with a difficulty scale ranging from 1-38, 1 being the easiest and 38 being the most challenging. 

The game offers a crafting mode while also boasting signature songs from artists like Friday Night Funk, Camelia, Hyper Potions, and more. There are new songs added to RoBeats every day with hundreds of songs already on the list. So far, RoBeats has gotten over 230 million visits.

3. Rhythm Master

Rhythm Master is an anime-style rhythm game created by user Xsitsu. Released in 2015, the game has gained over 130k visits on Roblox. A gamepad or keyboard is required to play this rhythm game that’s heavily influenced by anime, using a total of 20 songs from various anime series. 

More than 3,000 people liked Rhythm Master during its heyday, and while it didn’t get any updates after 2017 (including a sequel that wasn’t released), it has remained a favorite for Roblox fans that are looking to get into a fun rhythm game. Rhythm Master is easy to pick up and master and the limited setlist has people coming back to master all 20 of the songs that they’ve become accustomed to.

4. Bloxy Beats

Bloxy Beats has been called the hardest rhythm game in Roblox and has had over 150,000 visits since its inception in late 2020. Created by HollyJollyAiden, Bloxy Beats can’t be found by console players as it’s exclusive for PC players. The great user interface makes people think of the popular Dance Dance Revolution when playing Bloxy Beats.

The speed settings can be altered in the game, and it’s a great intro for those that are just getting into rhythm games, as well as experts. There are plenty of familiar songs on Bloxy Beats and will give players hours of entertainment. Just make sure your fingers are well stretched out before playing.

5. Rhythm Track 

One of the more simple-looking games on the list, Rhythm Track is essentially a stripped-down version of Guitar Hero that has drawn over 13 million visits since it was created in 2016 by Dummiez. Rhythm Track has several difficulty modes and uses the PC keyboard to play, though the keys that are used can be rebound.

Rhythm Track has plenty of badges and updates, allowing players to continue coming back to improve their scores and aim for a full combo. Though not as intricate as Rock Band, it still gives players a taste of what the full Xbox/PlayStation game is like through the power of Roblox.