Posts Tagged ‘Music’
Here’s Some New Music From Shy And Not-At-All-Money-Mad Queen
THE notoriously shy and not-at-all-money-obsessed Queen have confirmed plans to release a new album featuring previously unheard tracks sung by their late frontman Freddie Mercury.
Since Freddie’s untimely death, Queen have never been so busy, putting out musicals under the band’s name and touring the world with a variety of guest singers, like Paul Rodgers from Free.
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Jack White: Bring Back The Clapometer At Gigs
NOTICED how there’s a lot of rock musicians complaining about the modern world lately? Like lunatics shouting at cars for being evil horseless carriages, spewing out Satan’s plume, they gripe and bitch about every modern development… apart from the ones that make them money.
And so, to Jack White – the most catholic musician in the universe – who has criticised people at gigs who spend more time on their mobile phones than watching the gig itself.
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Led Zeppelin Sued For ‘Stairway’ Rip-Off – Hear The Evidence
Leadsinger Robert Plant of the British rock band Led Zeppelin performs at the Live Aid concert at Philadelphia’s J.F.K. Stadium, on July 13, 1985. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy)
TO crate diggers and muso-nerds, this won’t be news at all, but to the occasional rock fan, you may not know that Led Zeppelin’s iconic ‘Stairway To Heaven’ has been accused of being a rip-off for quite some time.
And now, someone is suing the band over it.
Zep just so happen to be on the cusp of re-releasing their first three albums, which is handy as ‘Stairway’ is on the fourth and they might have to change the songwriting credits if they lose the case.
So what’s the craic?
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Bob Marley’s Ghost Arrives In Court
Priests and clergy from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church lead a procession out of the National Arena in Kingston, Jamaica. during the state funeral for reggae musician Bob Marley, May 22, 1981. Marley died of cancer last week in a Miami hospital. (AP Photo/Ray Fairall)
ONE thing you can always rely on, with the music industry, is that someone is going to sue someone else, trying to stake a claim to a song, or music, they had no part in writing.
And people wonder why the music industry is on its arse.
This time, the High Court in London is hearing arguments in a copyright dispute over 13 songs by Bob Marley. You’ll know Bob Marley because, to 90% of the world, he’s the only human on Earth who ever recorded a reggae record.
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Mötley Crüe Goes ‘Triple R’: The Best Bits From The Hot Mess Film
IF there’s one thing you can say about Mötley Crüe, is that their band name is a total pain in the arse to type on a computer, if you want to do it correctly.
Of course, there’s more to Mötley Crüe than that – they’re a hilarious hot-mess too.
It goes without saying that not everyone likes their music. However, as court jesters of rock ‘n’ roll, you can’t help but feel pleased they’re around. Media training is something that passed them all by and, in their day, they were rich, badly behaved and thick as pigshit – everything you’d want from a celebrity.
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Someone tell Rita Ora There’s No Fast-Track To Stardom
YOU may have seen Rita Ora’s face knocking around and indeed, may have heard some of her songs on the radio. However, putting the sounds to the face is a trickier prospect. While Miley Cyrus and One Direction swiped the pop crown from Lady GaGa and Taylor Swift (for a bit), Rita Ora is lording it up in the VIP section.
See, Rita Ora is being billed as a superstar without actually being one. And it looks like she’s believing in it too.
Obviously, Ora isn’t the first pop singer to be heralded and championed without reason, but there’s something unusual about this occasion.
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Led Zeppelin To Reunite At An Alright Jamaican Party
Leadsinger Robert Plant, left, and guitarist Jimmy Page, right, of the British rock band Led Zeppelin perform at the Live Aid concert at Philadelphia’s J.F.K. Stadium, on July 13, 1985.
IT seems weird when really famous bands don’t get back together, especially when the lead singer is still alive. Look at Abba. Look at Talking Heads. Look at The Smiths.
Look at Led Zeppelin.
With the latter, Bonzo has obviously gone, but rest of them are still hanging around and even got it on for one night in London. So what’s the problem? Roll out the hits, don’t embarrass yourself and let everyone listen to ‘Black Dog’ really loud. Sounds like a winner, right?
Well, Jimmy Page has said that he is ‘fed up’ with Robert Plant for delaying Led Zeppelin reunion plans, so if you’re looking for someone to blame, blame ‘Percy’.
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You Can’t Take The Piss When You’re Famous, Rihanna
YOU’RE down the pub and someone walks in with a haircut like Steve Strange, and you shout “ALRIGHT SEAGULL HEAD?” If you don’t get a smack in the mouth, you go back to sipping your pint, chuckling to yourself.
Or maybe, you’re mucking around on Twitter and you see a selfie which is hilarious, so you screengrab it and share it with everyone, saying “Look at this fella! He looks like someone drew a dog on a butternut squash!”
When you get famous, you have to watch out for that because you’ll get branded as a cyberbully. Of course, everyone is a cyber bully from time-to-time. You slag off someone on TV? That’s basically the same thing? You call a writer from a newspaper names, that’s basically the same.
However, if you’re famous, EVERYBODY sees it.
And so, to Rihanna, who is being accused of cyberbullying after she took the piss out of a teen fan’s homemade prom outfit. Alexis Carter, a Baltimore high school student, designed a caped prom outfit which was inspired by an outfit worn by RiRi at the 2010 Echo Awards.
The outfit had a plunging neckline and a cape that resembled bat wings.
Carter’s photos were stumbled across and shared online, becoming a viral hit, with people referring to the girl as #PromBat. That was dismissed, but inevitably hurt. Then, Rihanna found them and posted about them, with a side-by-side comparison.
The second tweet compared the prom-semble to the Wu-Tang Clan logo.
“I was very offended,” Alexis said about Rihanna’s tweets. “Why throw shade on it when you had on the exact same thing. The poses was different but the outfit wasn’t.”
Carter was so unhappy with Rihanna’s tweets that she said she was no longer a fan, and that for her next prom, she would not dress up as her former idol. “She doesn’t love her fans like she says she does.”
Bants, going wrong since time began.
Posted: 16th, May 2014 | In: Celebrities | Comment
Justin Bieber: Celebrating Another Day Not Being Punched In The Throat
MAKE no mistake about it – Justin Bieber is a little turd.
However, this is not necessarily an insult to the gyrating singer. See, if there’s anything we all want out of a popstar, it is occasional bad behaviour…
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Posted: 14th, May 2014 | In: Celebrities | Comment
Are The Arctic Monkeys Dialling It In?
REMEMBER when the Arctic Monkeys first burst onto the scene? Ordinary kids, making sharp, loud rock ‘n’ roll coupled with slanted looks at society and crapfun nights out? Even if they weren’t your bag, they sure were fun to have around. They made gloriously dumb music and matched it with an intelligence that their peers lacked.
And then, slowly, they turned into Every Other Rock Stars, going to the gym and wearing expensive clothes and making dadrock.
Some will argue that they grew up, which is fine as their fans were growing up too. However, who says that a) You have to grow up at all in music? b) Growing up means slowing down?
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Copyright Is Corporate Theft: People Who Illegally Download Buy Music Too
EVERYONE outside of the music industry knows that people who illegally download also buy music. For example, Person A buys a lot of vinyl, but also illegally downloads a load of stuff he wouldn’t normally buy, like that song they hear on the radio now and then.
Some people will ravage a torrent and then go buy various albums from it in a try-before-you-buy way. Others will solely nick music, but whaddayagonnado? Those people, years ago, would’ve only ever recorded friends albums onto blank tapes anyway.
A new report goes one further – music and movie pirates behave completely differently. Turns out those who illegally download films are far more likely to pay for legitimate copies as well.
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Posted: 7th, May 2014 | In: Music, The Consumer | Comment
9 Reasons Why Courtney Love Is Wrong About Saxophones In Rock ‘n’ Roll
SHE really is fun to have around, but Courtney Love isn’t exactly known for being right very often. While talking about Bruce Springsteen, she said she liked him, but didn’t really like his music and had a leave a show she’d been taken to.
Fair enough. Not everyone like Bruce Springsteen. And his shows go on for roughly 378 hours. And those cut-off shirts he wears need sorting out too.
However, while talking about The Boss, she said that “saxophones don’t belong in rock ‘n’ roll.”
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You Won’t Believe Where Tupac Has Been Living
In this photo taken Tuesday, June 12, 2012, video images of the Tupac Shakur hologram are displayed on a computer monitor at the Subtractive Studio in Santa Monica, Calif. When Tupac Shakur rose from the stage in the California desert.Date: 12/06/2012
REMEMBER when Tupac died? That was sad wasn’t it? Well, Suge Knight, who just so happened to be in the driver’s seat of the car that was filled with bullets back in ’96, which resulted in wounds that led to ‘Pac’s death, isn’t convinced that the rapper is actually dead.
Anyone who has done any reading on Suge will know that he’s not exactly a trustworthy source.
“Why you think nobody been arrested if they said they the one that killed Tupac?” he wondered while talking to TMZ. “Because Tupac not dead. If he was dead, they’d be arresting those dudes for murder. You know he’s somewhere smoking a Cuban cigar on an island.”
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Posted: 6th, May 2014 | In: Music | Comment (1)
Listen To Scott Bradlee’s Greatet Hits: Pop Juggler And Coming To The UK
YOU may not know the name Scott Bradlee, but you’ll definitely know the songs he performs. That’s because you’ve probably seen his Postmodern Jukebox getting The Hits Of Today! and screwing them into the ground, kicking them around a little and uprooting and rearranging them as jazz standards, boozy ragtime belters and a whole load more.
Every so often, one of Bradlee’s videos goes viral, and everyone feverishly shares them without thinking of the people behind them.
Irish version of ‘Get Lucky’ for Saint Patrick’s Day? Scott Bradlee and his Postmodern Jukebox? Smooth covers of the Game of Thrones theme? You guessed it.
So, with that, we’ve collected some of his most fun reworkings (there are more) which somehow… and don’t ask us how he’s managed it… aren’t like those other twee cover version that deeply grate on every level. Bradlee’s takes aren’t judging modern pop and say it’s bad, but rather, screwing around with them and having some fun.
Good news for people outside of America is that he’s taking the Postmodern Jukebox on tour and, yes, he will be in the UK. Check out the tour dates here and watch the videos below. There’s a million more on YouTube as well.
Duck Tales… the ’90s R&B slow jam version
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Punks and Money: Pete Doherty Talks About Filthy Lucre
PUNKS and money have always been a funny thing, mainly because the entire foundation for punk is to not give two hoots about cash. They mean it, maaan. Anti-establishment, lone wolf rock music, that does things on its own terms without caring about what the SUITS think.
Right on! And all that.
Of course, all punks soon get tired of being poor and living grottily, which prompts them to say everything was just one big Art Jape. Look at John Lydon – poster boy for punk, later, advertisements for butter and appearing on reality TV shows in the jungle. Har de har har, all that stuff about being real? It was a joke wasn’t it? And all the reunion tours and reissues of our old records? Yeah, when we said ‘no future’, it was supposed to be funny! This was always likely to end up being our pensions! Hark! We even say ‘we’re only in it for the money!’ and talk about ‘filthy lucre’!
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The 10 Best Anti-Racism Songs
IN the past couple of years, most of us have been surprised, shocked and nauseated by high profile racism. In football, we’ve seen players walking off the pitch in protest and eating bananas thrown at them. The NBA is currently feeling the fire after the Clippers’ owner said a bunch of appalling shit in a phone call to his girlfriend.
Of course, it you’re not in a bubble, you’ll know that, while work against racism has come a long way, there’s still a lot to be done.
One of the greatest conveyors of message is music, so with recent events, we’ve picked a bunch of records that should show you two things: People against racism ALWAYS make better music than racists and, secondly, some of these records are old, while some are new, which underlines how depressingly racism still looms in our society.
The most recent protest is from R&B god, The-Dream, who released ‘BLACK’ online, where he says: “Black isn’t just a colour; Black isn’t just a race anymore. It’s a feeling and a place from which one feels isolated by the world of the governing elite. Classism is the new racism. This is what black feels like.”
Have a listen to The-Dream’s new song, and a selection of other great anti-racist records. We’ve decided to pick a bunch that are off the beaten track, but feel free to share the famous and your favourites with us.
The-Dream ‘BLACK’
Brand new and powerful. Depressing that, in 2014, this record needed to be made.
The Impressions ‘Mighty Mighty’
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Paul Simon and Edie Brickell: Who Beat Up Who?
REMEMBER Edie Brickell? She was a pop-folkie way back when for Generation Xers. She’s best known for ‘Circle’ (here, with the catchier-than-mumps “I quit, I give up” hook) and ‘What I Am” which was covered by Spice Girl Emma Bunton of all people.
That is, she’s formerly best known for these things: now, she’s going to be known in the press as Paul Simon’s Wife, which of course, is what happens to any woman married to someone more famous. Look at how talented clothes designer and fashion powerhouse L’Wren Scott was referred to as ‘Mick Jagger’s girlfriend’ when she died.
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Posted: 29th, April 2014 | In: Music, Reviews | Comment (1)
Mariah Carey Spends £28k On Looking After Her Pets
PEOPLE get terribly upset when famous people spend obscene amounts of money on frivolous things. They tut about how much good could be done with all that dough. However, those people are stupid and wrong. Us humans need outrageous and wealthy people.
Imagine a world without Liberace? Imagine who tedious things would be without the tales of Elton John’s private jets?
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Essex Police On Patrol In Chelmsford Blast Sound of da Police by KRS One
GOOD to see that Essex Police patrolling the mean streets of Chelmsford, Essex, has downloaded our compilation of the Greatest Songs ABout The Police (not all of them in favour. But was it right for one of the force’s marked police car to blast from its speakers Sound of da Police by KRS One?
An Essex Police spokesman said: “We have viewed the footage and are looking into the matter.”
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Arcade Fire Are Arcane Dire: Guitar Band Takes Swipe At Electronic Music
Arcade Fire performs at the 2014 Coachella Music and Arts Festival on Sunday, April 20, 2014, in Indio, Calif.
THROW a brick into the air and, chances are, you’ll hit someone who likes guitar music who just can’t accept that electronic music is ‘real’.
Even though electronic pop music has been a thing since the ’60s, rock luddites still can’t get their heads around it. It’s just pressing buttons isn’t it? Just like owning a typewriter makes you an amazing novelist.
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Should We Boycott Record Store Day?
AS everyone knows, Record Store Day is to hipsters what Valentine’s Day is to the romantics. It’s enforced fun where naysayers chirp “you shouldn’t need a designated day to show someone you love them/buy records” and generally, everyone is quite annoying about it on both sides of the fence.
Of course, the people who really like RSD are those who love to queue for hours and touts.
Regarding the latter, Paul Weller, complete with his old lady’s haircut, has called for a boycott on the event, after copies of his limited 45 ‘Brand New Toy’ were being sold on eBay for hiked-up prices.
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Posted: 23rd, April 2014 | In: Music, The Consumer | Comment
The Libertines Reuniting ‘To Pay Off Smack Debts’, Probably
Pete Doherty (left) and Carl Barat of The Libertines performing on the Main Stage, at the Reading Festival, held at Richfield Avenue.
Picture date: Friday August 27, 2010.
SYPHILITIC grot-rockers, The Libertines, could well be making a comeback, which is great news for all those awful humans who live in a permanent state of mildew and have brown teeth and own nothing but four tattoos and a book of tedious soul-searching poetry.
How do we know about this comeback?
Well, Arch Bozo Carl Barât has pretty much said so. Rumours kicked off after suet-faced lightbulb-headed Pete Doherty gave an interview, where he said that he had been approached with an offer to reunite the band for a live show.
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Damon Albarn and Noel Gallagher To Make A Record Together?
THE animosity circus that was Britpop, with everyone trying to outdo each other by saying “we’re the best band in the world” and slating other bands was fun for 10 minutes. When bands like Scotland’s The Gyres started calling themselves the best band in the world, everything got a bit claggy.
However, one rivalry really caught everyone’s attention – Oasis versus Blur.
On one hand, you had the distanced Damon Albarn and his gaggle of middle-class artists, sidestepping the High Street to look at the way people lived. It was songs about lottery winners, girls who worked the check-outs, shipping forecasts and having sex with the telly on. On the other, you had Oasis – a gang of lads from some crap street, hungry for success and writing songs about having the best night out ever and immortality.
Everything about the rivalry worked, even though both bands were indebted to the same period of ’60s music (Oasis were aping The Beatles’ ‘Rain’ and noisy Freakbeat records, while Blur took a Ray Davies and ‘Penny Lane’ approach). Is was lads off the estate versus those that listened in school.
Many snide remarks were thrown back and forth and it was equally useful for both bands as the press and marketing teams gobbled it all up. It all came to the fore with Country House versus Roll With It. Both bands, in their own way won and, the ultimate loser was the record buying public as, once the fuss had died down, they realised they’d got suck into buying some subpar records.
However, they’ve all grown up now. Damon Albarn is a music magpie with a variety of collaborations and projects under his belt, while Noel Gallagher left Oasis, leaving Liam to tour with Beady Eye, the world’s best Oasis tribute act. Gone are the jibes wishing AIDS on each other. Damon and Noel, the statesmen of their respective camps, have grown to like each other away from all the din.
Albarn has, for a while now, talked of the times he bumped into Noel and, after a tentative start, they’ve grown to like each other. Now, in 2014, it looks like an album with them both is on the cards.
Damon revealed that making an album with Noel Gallagher is a “distinct possibility” and that the pair have discussed the idea “at least once”.
“I still see Noel from time to time. We text a bit,” Albarn says. When asked if the pair would be making a record together, he said: “I can imagine that being a very distinct possibility at some point in the future. But, as yet we haven’t really talked about it, although…”
“OK we have a little bit. We’re talking. It’s not anything to get excited about yet. I mean, he’s doing his thing. He’s finishing a new record. I’ve got my record coming out, but the principle of us making music together is something…you know, it would be fair to say, we have discussed it at least once.”
And if you missed it, Damon and Noel played on-stage together last year at the Royal Albert Hall for a Teenage Cancer Trust gig.
Could be a good LP, if they work it out.
Posted: 16th, April 2014 | In: Music, Reviews | Comment (1)
James Corden Says Something Truly Incredible About People At The Brits
Host James Corden, centre, takes a picture onstage with US recording artist Prince during at the BRIT Awards 2014 at the O2 Arena in London on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014.
FEEL free, at any point during this article, to tut to yourself “Cuh! Including yourself are we, Corden?”
James Corden has hit out at some of the “horrible” people who attended the Brit Awards while he was doing a very thorough job hosting the dreadful ceremony.
After four gigs, Corden decided to step down after the last one. Talking about his experiences at the annual hanging of pop music, during Michael McIntyre’s chat show, Corden was critical of some of the people who sit on the tables at the event.
“It was horrid,” Corden told McIntyre. “It is so much fun the week leading up to it and you get to see the bands, and then it is live and you are in this room full of people that don’t listen to anything you say. People who beg for a ticket turn up and pretend they are too cool to be there. They are all chatting, drinking and eating.”
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Posted: 15th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Music, TV & Radio | Comment
Kylie Ditches The Voice, Unsurprisingly
UNSURPRISINGLY, Kylie Minogue has announced she will not be returning to The Voice.
The show, which has completely failed to set the world on fire, mainly thanks to being somehow more cynical than The X Factor, thanks to it’s slapped-on veneer of authenticity, has been plodding along with Tom Jones looking confused, will.i.am. being oddly adorable like someone made a human tamagotchi and then there’s Ricky from Kaiser Chiefs who is what he is.
Kylie however, was a surprise inclusion, replacing Jessie J. Surely she was too successful and busy to be pissing around with a programme like The Voice?
Well, file it under An Experiment That Didn’t Work as she won’t be coming back for a second stint, saying that the timing of her tour is getting in the way. That’s useful and convenient isn’t it?
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Posted: 11th, April 2014 | In: Music, TV & Radio | Comment
