Internation Lyrics Server still kinda sucks
1999-12-11 17:32:56
If you care about these things, you already know about www.lyrics.ch and what happened to it. If you don't care about these things, why are you reading this?
Okay, so once upon a time there was www.lyrics.ch, which was a massive Swiss database with all the song lyrics you'd ever want. It was free, easy to use, had a really powerful search engine, and basically did what the web was supposed to do: provide information quickly, conveniently, and with total disregard for the law.
Then the Harry Fox Agency stormed in, had the machines seized by the Swiss Government, and kidnapped the guy running the server, exposing him to a variety of unhealthy radioactive substances in order to pound his brain into cooperation. At least, that's how I envision the whole thing happening.
The site's back up, and has been for a while. At the moment, it's not bad. You can search for a song by keywords or phrases or whatever. Then, sometimes you just can't get the lyrics to the song, and other times it passes you on to a weird song lyric web site that flashes the lyrics in front of you, but a little too fast to read.
Anyway, it's better than it was when it shut down, but compared to how it was before all the legal wrestling and hairpulling, it still pretty much is a pale and emaciated shadow of former glory. I'm glad the lyrics.ch guy did what he could to get the site back up in the face of the Hounds of Destruction that are Internet Copyright Lawyers, but I sort of wish he'd somehow like managed to relocate the whole thing to a Pirate Island some place that doesn't honor U.S. copyright laws.

T O P S T O R I E S
John Dvorak has passed. I’m of mixed emotions. First off I’m more positive about his contribution to the overall technology journalism of the early PC days through the 90s, despite how many things he got wrong. He was a firebrand and commanded attention. (More...)
America's National Recording Registry Inducts Culturally Significant Artist - Weezer!
America's Library of Congress calls them "defining sounds of history and culture" and "audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage." Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Weezer! (More...)
The Crossroads are real and The Blues is a place; The enduring myth of Robert Johnson (More...)
California Glory Hole attracts huge crowds
A glory hole at Napa's Lake Berryessa is drawing huge crowds. According to Chris Lee, the general manager for the Solano County Water Agency, the glory hole hasn't been active since 2019, and only restarted operations on Feb 4. (More...)
Republican State Senator busted after soliciting a teenage girl
Republican State Senator Justin Eichorn of Minnesota was arrested for soliciting a teen girl on Monday just hours after he introduced a bill proposing "Trump derangement syndrome" (TDS) as a form of mental illness. (More...)
Parents claim measles is not that bad after having only one child die
The parents of a Texas girl who died from the measles are defending their decision not to vaccinate their daughter. "She says they would still say 'Don't do the shots,'" an unidentified translator for the parents said. "They think it’s not as bad as the media is making it out to be." (More...)
C L A S S I C P I G D O G
Patient Joab's scientifick editorial discusses aspect of the space-time-beer continuum never before processed by sub-bush-robot minds!!! Too fabulantastic to contempulate! (More...)
On the Implementation of a Grocery Bag And Overforestation Initiative
Patient Joab and his evil cohort, Patient Steve, develop a proposal for the plastic-v.-paper problem that EVERYONE can be happy with. An EXCLUSIVE from Spock Mountain Research Labs! (More...)
Skunk School -- Learn Why Not To Keep Skunks As Pets
There is an alarming trend in pet purchasing habits this fall. People inspired by the WWII film, "Life is Beautiful" -- the one with that annoying Italian guy -- are buying descented skunks by the millions. (More...)
Experimenter is a film released in 2015 starring Peter Sarsgaard. It tells the story of Dr. Stanley Milgram's life, including the infamous Milgram electric shock experiment, tests on crowds, and his work developing a theory on the mechanics of social networks. It currently streams on Netflix. (More...)
Naked Australian Redhead -- Missing!
She posed naked on the web, fought for pornography online, and even kept an online "Diary of a Virtual Girlfriend." But after earning a place in internet history, Bernadette Taylor vanished without a trace. (More...)
Another Spocktail from the beverage researchers at SMRL: Home of The Deathwave Bar & Grill! (More...)