Riffs and Dunks, wk. 3!

Good things come to those who wait, don't ya know?

The Dunks



Julius Erving, Dr. J to you, is often seen as the bridge between the old style of play and what we have come to know as modern basketball. Other people had dunked but none had done it with the grace and athleticism that he brought. Surviving the 1976 NBA-ABA Merger, he found a natural home in Philly where he continued to play until 1986, retiring while still at the top. As far as legacies go, the "Rock the Baby" dunk, as well as his infamous 1980 behind the backboard layup against the Lakers, is pretty much unimpeachable.



It's kind of a punk move there with the pointing at the end, but this dunk, a sort of brutalized take on MJ's majestic 1988 slam dunk competition winner kind of warrants it. Dude apparently has possibly fathered 19 kids, all of them 6'9" and 220lbs.



My high school history teacher was Georgetown grad who had a few classes with Iverson during his tenure there. Apparently he spent a lot of time sleeping in the back.

The Riffs



Did we really need an NME-approved hair metal band to make it ok for us to dust off those Pretty Boy Floyd LPs and let 'er rip? In 2003, the idea of a hair-metal revival appeared to gain a lot of traction, especially over in Britain where it seems they missed the first go round. But here in the U.S., where Brett Michael's hair extensions control VH1's programming department and people still get misty eyed over Use Yr Illusion, it seemed a bit strange that hair metal was being repackaged so as to be culturally acceptable to US audiences. Poison still sell out concerts and hipsters spent most of the late 90s and early aughts trying to pretend they really loved Cinderella the first time about. The Darkness were such a strange pop-cultural blip that burned out faster than anyone expected that I become concerned anytime I hear that song of theirs any place outside of a light beer commercial.



Just the idea that the Stones had this shelved for so long because they thought the Who outdid them is pretty great. Obviously, the Who destroyed the Stones, who were dealing with Brian Jones' increasing slide into drug induced stupidity.



I'm not badass enough for this song to be played at my funeral but I wish I was.