Music Notes

Blog Closing

2006-03-10T17:19:00.000-08:00

This blog is being closed. The content will continue to be posted on the Pop Culture blog. Please change your Favorites.

We're combining the blogs into one -- easier for us to maintain, fewer clicks for you.

Here's the Last Guy You'd Expect to Beat Someone...

2006-03-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

The full article can be found here.

"The musician Yanni was arrested at his Manalpan, Fla., home after an alleged domestic dispute with his girlfriend, authorities said. Yanni, whose legal name is John Yanni Christopher, was arrested early last Friday and faces a domestic battery charge, according to a police report."

Yanni? YANNI?! He's not allowed to be angry, hate-filled, or murderous, nor is he allowed to beat his girlfriend, or threaten to hurt anyone else! Who does he think he is, a rap artist? Sheesh! Identity crisis!

3-6 Mafia Wins WHAT?!

2006-03-06T07:17:00.000-08:00

The full article can be found here.

"In an upset, Three 6 Mafia took home the best original song Academy Award tonight (March 5) at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Drawn from the film "Hustle & Flow," the group's "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" also made history as the first rap song ever performed at the event."

Maybe it's just my intense dislike of rap music, but... seriously, an Oscar? What are these people thinking? Who gives this award to a song entitled "It's Hard Out There for a Pimp"?

As Jon Stewart put it... "Scorsese, 0.... 3-6 Mafia, 1."

Grr.

Happy Birthday, Johnny!

2006-02-26T07:35:00.000-08:00

More "This Day in Music..." can be found here.

1932 - Country star Johnny Cash is born in Kingsland, Ark. He writes his first song at age 12. Among his No. 1 country hits are "I Walk the Line" in 1956, "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" in 1959, "Ring of Fire" in 1963 and "A Boy Named Sue" in 1969. He is elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980.

While I, myself, don't listen to him, he still deserves credit. Happy Birthday, Joaquin Phoen... err, Johnny Cash!

Rock Stars Will Be Rock Stars....

2006-02-20T08:07:00.000-08:00

The full article can be found here.

A videotape showing Kid Rock and former Creed frontman Scott Stapp engaging in explicit sexual activity with four female fans on a tour bus has been acquired by California company Red Light District, the distributor of the notorious 2004 Paris Hilton sex tape "One Night in Paris."

The company has launched a 40-second preview clip of the 45-minute tape online and says it plans to release the entire video at some point this year.

Red Light District president David Joseph tells Billboard.com he purchased the tape, which was shot in 1999 while Rock and Creed were on tour, from "a third-party source who was about to put it out for free on the Internet. I basically stopped him from doing that."

Wow! You stopped them from ruining these guys' lives for free, and rather, have made it so people have to pay first! You're such a nice guy! These people are deranged.

Not that it's right to do what they did on that bus... but still. That's something that's between them and those girls. These videos don't need to see the light of day.

I have nothing more to say.

We HAVE Lost Our Minds When It Comes To Music...

2006-02-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

...I was right!

The full article can be found here.

If you think there is no rhyme or reason to what songs make the top music hits of the week, you may be partly right, researchers said yesterday (Feb. 9). They tried to find a way to predict which songs would be popular, and found it very difficult.

Researchers at Columbia University in New York used the Internet to create an artificial market for singles, all recorded by artists not on the current top 40 hit parade in the United States. They then persuaded more than 14,000 young Internet users to log onto the site and choose their favorites.

In a finding that may console losers in both the market and in contests such as this week's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, they said the most popular songs were not always the songs that people thought were the best.

Jackson Singing... Pope John Paul's Prayers???

2006-02-07T12:17:00.000-08:00

The full article can be found here.

"Michael Jackson could sing some of the prayers written by the late Pope John Paul, the head of the music company coordinating the project said today (Feb. 6).

Father Giuseppe Moscati of the Edizioni Musicali Terzo Millennio, which specializes in church music and organizes musical events at the Vatican, said his company had the rights to 24 of Pope John Paul's prayers and wanted to put together a group of international artists to set them to music.

"We have been contacted by people close to Michael Jackson who have expressed interest and we are thinking about it," Moscati said."

Oh yes. Because when I think "Christianity", I think "Michael Jackson".

The Pumpkins.... Are Back!

2006-02-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

The full article can be found here.

"In the clearest sign yet that Billy Corgan is moving ahead with his plan to revive seminal alternative rock act Smashing Pumpkins, sources say the group has signed a new management deal with Jared Paul and Paul Geary at the Irving Azoff-helmed Front Line Management.Billboard.com has learned that Corgan and Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin will initially begin work on a new studio album, the first under the group name since the original Pumpkins' 2000 swan song, 'MACHINA/the machines of god.'"

So, the Smashing Pumpkins are coming back? Hmm... nuts. Corgan's voice annoys me.

PLUG winners for 2006

2006-02-03T05:51:00.000-08:00

If you don't know about PLUG, here's an overview from their site:

PLUG is a collection of music lovers - writers, DJs, webmasters, bloggers, artists, filmmakers, managers, indie retailers, and most importantly fans - who gather together each year to celebrate the artists who live and flourish in the margins.

The PLUG Independent Music Awards is about the independent community coming together to recognize its own and about the bands we all devote our lives and careers to champion. For us fans, it ain't about the scans or the scrilla, it's about the music. It's about the artists who inspire and the music that disrupts the artistic and corporate mediocrity that dominates our culture.

Winners for 2006:

Album: Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty)
Artist: Bright Eyes
New Artist: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Song: Bright Eyes - "When The President Talks To God" (Saddle Creek)
Female Artist: NekoCase
Male Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Hip-Hop Album: Dangerdoom - The Mouse And The Mask (Adult Swim/Epitaph)
Punk Album: Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (Sub Pop)
Metal Album: Fantômas - Suspended Animation (Ipecac)
Indie Rock Album: Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (Vice)

For a complete list of winners as well as all the nominees, got here.

Tags: music, plug, awards, Sleater-Kinney, sufjan, indie, rock, metal, punk, hip-hop

Sigh... Rappers, Nowadays...

2006-01-25T15:12:00.000-08:00

The full article can be found here.

"Baby-faced rapper Cassidy was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault today (Jan. 24) in Philadelphia, in what prosecutors called the planned ambush of a man who had argued with the musician.

The 23-year-old Cassidy (real name: Barry Reese) was grossly negligent for supplying the guns that killed Desmond Hawkins and wounded two of his companions, Common Pleas Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan said at the end of a two-day non-jury trial."

"Grossly negligent"? GROSSLY NEGLIGENT?! Is that all?! The guy gave people GUNS, and I'll be DAMNED if he didn't know what they were gonna be used for. But hey, it's just negligence! "Involuntary" manslaughter my ass!

Grrr....

This "American Idol" Thing is Huge!

2006-01-19T11:55:00.000-08:00

The full article can be found here.

"The ratings juggernaut that is "American Idol" had a monster season premiere Tuesday, coming back with a vengeance to post its highest opening-night numbers yet with more than 35 million viewers."

35 MILLION! Why?! How can so many people sit down and watch this, year after year, when every season is exactly the same as the last?! The one judge (whose name I cannot remember) lets everyone down easy, Paula loves everyone, and Simon beats everyone with the "You suck!" stick. The first season wasn't bad. Even the second one. But seriously... if they don't start doing something a little more innovative, I'm not really going to care to watch Season 24 of American Idol.

It's just like Survivor. Or any other "Reality TV" show for that matter. I don't know how people can watch that stuff.

Russell Crowe? What?!?

2006-01-15T10:12:00.000-08:00

The full article can be found here.

"After spending two months in Australian clubs fronting his new band the Ordinary Fear of God, Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe will face a much larger audience on Jan. 25.

That day, Crowe and his band headline a nationally televised Australia Day concert on the lawns of Parliament House, Canberra, in front of 30,000 people. That means massive exposure for the Sydney-based actor's music, which he says "allows me to interact with audiences in a way films don't."

Crowe's previous outfit, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, released three albums between 1998 and 2003. His current download-only album, "My Hand, My Heart," is out on his own Gruntland label through iTunes internationally and Sanity.com in Australia."

Someone tell me what the HELL Russell Crowe is doing SINGING!

Korn Sells a Stake in Itself

2006-01-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

Submitted by VictorM:

The full article can be found here.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10 - When the hard-rock band Korn hits the road in the coming weeks to promote its new album, it will be performing not simply a string of gigs but a running experiment in music-industry finance.

Today Korn is expected to announce an unorthodox deal with the nation's biggest concert promoter that advances the band's strategy of turning itself into an investment vehicle and redefining how the revenue pie is split in the music business.

Under the terms of the arrangement, Live Nation Inc. will share far more than is typical for a promoter, which normally receives a cut of the band's box-office sales but little else. Instead, the company is paying roughly $3 million for an estimated 6 percent stake in the band's box office, licensing, publishing, merchandise and CD revenue for its recently released album, "See You on the Other Side," and its next album, music industry executives involved in the deal say. Live Nation will also be the exclusive promoter of Korn's concerts in the United States.

"We really are stepping 50 feet back and looking over the next four to six years at the profitability of the overall Korn business," said Michael Rapino, chief executive of Live Nation. "It's new ground for all of us."

No, Not Jacko's Animals!

2006-01-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

The full article can be found here.

"Michael Jackson is being sued for unpaid bills by the veterinarian who tends to the pop star's exotic animals at his Neverland ranch, which the singer has not occupied since being acquitted of child molestation charges last June.

Jackson has been living in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, but the lawsuit was filed in Santa Maria, Calif., where he stood trial last year.

Martin Dinnes, owner of Dinnes Memorial Veterinary Hospital, alleges that Jackson owes $91,602 in veterinary bills. Dinnes helped the singer acquire animals for his zoo including flamingoes, giraffes, elephants and orangutans, said his lawyer, Brenton Horner.Dinnes continues to treat the animals regularly, Horner said. "He filed this [lawsuit] with great reluctance," Horner said. "He has a lot of admiration for Michael. This is just a business matter." A hearing was set for May 2.

Jackson lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr. said he had not seen the complaint and could not comment."

I wish I had an orangutan...

Shaking Your Laffy Taffy for Fun and Profit...

2006-01-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

The full article can be found here.

"D4L's "Laffy Taffy" ascends three rungs to claim the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. The cut ends the two-week run of Mariah Carey's "Don't Forget About Us," which drops considerably to No. 7. "Laffy Taffy" is also the Hot 100's greatest sales gainer and rises 8-3 on the Pop 100. It remains No. 1 on the Hot Digital Songs chart."

The rest of the article goes on about other songs, but this one made me laugh.

I've heard this song. Twice.

I hope never to hear it again.

HOW is it that a song that is as bad and as pointless as this one (95% of the song is literally them going "Shake dat laffy taffy" over and over and over and over and over and over again) make it to the #1 spot?

Have people no taste? Ugh! And I think I remember something about Mariah having beaten Elvis, so... does that mean that this "Laffy Taffy" has beaten out the King?

Americans have lost their mind when it comes to music, I think.

What Makes Music Good?

2005-12-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

When someone mentions "music", I'm sure that people have different thoughts. I'm sure some people think of rock, with heavy guitars and booming drums. Others may think of a rap-style bass line. Others may think along an instrumental/classic line.

Others may not focus on the "sound" of the music at all. Some may focus on the message behind it. Some may focus on the lyrics.

All in all... what do you think makes music "good"? Is it the way the instruments come together, and the overall sound? Do the instruments have to be played at a superb level? (Take guitars, for example. Does faster playing really mean better?) Do the lyrics make the music? Is it all about the message within?

For me, the overall sound really makes the music what it is. A lot of the bands I listen to have lyrics that are hard to understand (a lot of the singers are from Finland or Norway), but I listen to them because of the instrumental goodness.

I am also a huge fan of movie scores. These have no lyrics at all, having been designed to go behind dialogue and action.

Another band I listen to is one from Germany - Rammstein. Now this band doesn't sing in english at ALL. Every one of their songs is in German (well, they made one in English, and it is by far their worst song). So I can't understand most of it, and the music itself is fairly simple. Yet it all comes together to produce music that I happen to enjoy.

So what makes it good? Let's hear it!

Minis and Shuffles and Nanos, Oh My!

2005-12-30T09:57:00.000-08:00

With all these newfangled MP3 players that have come out recently, it's hard to decide which one is the best one to pick. Do you want an iPod? Shuffle, Mini, or Nano? Or do you not want an iPod at all? Perhaps a Creative Zen? Or perhaps one of the seemingly hundreds of other types that are floating around there, buried under the avalanche of iPod fans?

I'm not a fan of iPods.

I got an iPod last year. It worked awesomely... until it fell off my desk. Then it stopped working, and made all sorts of clicking sounds. I sent it in to be fixed. They did it for free, since it was still under warranty. Then, one day, it just... stopped.... working. For no reason at all. It would just flash a little picture of an exclamation point and a file folder, and then shut off. I sent it in again, but it wasn't under warranty, so it cost me about $30. Now, it's not working again. The battery runs out after like 15 minutes, it randomly freezes in mid-song or when I try to switch songs, and every now and then, for no reason at all, it decides that it would be fun to delete all the songs I have on it. I went on Apple's website to see how much it would cost to send it in and have it repaired (again).... $272. TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY TWO DOLLARS.

So now, I've got one of those Creative Zen Sleeks (the one I linked to above, 20 GB). It's everything the iPod was, without the tendency to randomly break. The buttons are a bit more touchy than the iPod's were, but other than that, I have no complaints.

So... what do all y'all use, and why? What makes it better than the rest?

Welcome!

2005-12-24T00:25:00.000-08:00

Hey there everyone! This is the "Music Notes" section, and I'm Brad, the Blog Monitor, for said section.

This is real simple - if it has anything to do with music, send it in! Rock, Roll, Oldies, 50's, 60,'s, techno, dance, new age, alternative, pop, punk, easy listening, metal, power metal, 80's cheese metal, instrumental, classical, movie soundtracks (you get bonus points with me if you mention that one), new album releases/reviews, old album reviews, upcoming concert previews, concert reviews/stories, news stories involving bands, whatever! All of it is more than welcome.

All that I ask... is that we not get any "WOW THIS BAND IS AWESOME!!!!" or "OMG THIS BAND IS TEH SUCK!!!!" threads. If you've got a problem with a certain band and you'd like to make it known, at least make your post somewhat intelligent and well-thought out. We don't need to get into any of those "flame wars" that I've seen in so many other places.

So just remember that most people have different musical tastes than yourself, and be mindful of that, and we should have an easy time.

I look forward to reading everything you send in!

Good bye... and happy listening!

Review of "The Black Halo" by Kamelot

2005-12-24T00:20:00.000-08:00

I'd never heard of this band until just yesterday, as I was searching around for something new to listen to. I tend to be a fan of Power Metal (there are a few bands I can't stand - Sonata Arctica, or Within Temptation, for example), but most of it I find rather enjoyable. When I first found this band, I figured that it would just be another stereotypical Power Metal album, with lightning-fast guitars and high, squeaky vocals.

I've never been so glad to be wrong.

The opening track, "March of Mephisto" opens with a kind of march-sounding beat, complete with a background voice, from the singer (I assume) from Dimmu Borgir. The guitars, as I was pleased to find, aren't fast and somewhat uncoordinated, but rather slow. Not too slow, but slow enough. The vocals for this song - and, indeed, all the songs on this album - are wonderful. No more are the vocals reminiscent of a 13-year-old. They are very slow and melodic, and, I think, fit very well with the music.

Some of the songs do have faster guitar playing in them, but all in all, I wish that more bands sounded more like Kamelot.

This album has everything. "Normal" songs (March of Mephisto, The Haunting (Somewhere In Time), and Soul Society), faster, more upbeat songs (When The Lights Are Down, The Black Halo, and Nothing Ever Dies), and slow, ballad-like songs (Abandoned, This Pain, and Serenade), and even a few "intermission" tracks, featuring latin chanting. Alltogether a very nice listen, for those of you who enjoy either Power Metal, or just Rock/Alt. Rock in general. If you do, I highly recommend you give "The Black Halo" a listen. And if you aren't... do it anyways. You might surprise yourself.