There’s this sensation when you’re experiencing a good book and a great album that feels somewhere in between flying and falling. It’s a weightlessness that has many readers and listeners searching for that next spell of satisfaction. Bringing the two mediums together might just be the delicious fix. Like a proper cheese and wine pairing, these 9 combinations of alternative albums and classic literature might give you that delectable feeling of floating. 1. ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë & Take Me Back To Eden by Sleep Token Wuthering Heights’ Katherine and Heathcliff are the exemplars of a toxic, tragic relationship.… Read more »
Basslines and Protest Signs is Brett Callwood’s column looking at the intersection of music and politics. This week talks about System of a Down.
Confessions of a Fangurl at Riot Fest Denver is an ongoing series taking place this weekend, August 28-30, documenting the music, emotions and history associated with the festival and its artists. Waterproof mascara encouraged.
Claiming that their free-speech rights had been violated, Mötley Crüe filed suit against NBC, the network that banned the group for dropping the F-bomb on a live New Year’s Eve broadcast of “The Tonight Show.” “This ban constitutes governmentally pressured censorship and violates the law the same as if the government itself had ordered the censorship,” read the suit, filed in Los Angeles federal court on Tuesday. Claiming the ban was a result of an attempt by the network to pacify the government in light of its crackdown on indecency, the band says in the suit that the action has… Read more »
The big surprise on “Saturday Night Live” was supposed to be Paula Abdul’s cameo mocking the Corey Clark scandal. But System of a Down managed to upstage the embattled “American Idol” judge. During a performance of their new single “B.Y.O.B.,” both singer Serj Tankian and guitarist Daron Malakian were seen – in close-up – mouthing the song’s profane refrain, “Where the f– are you?” with the expletive bleeped out by the show’s censors. But near the end of the song, Malakian screamed “F– yeah!” and the profanity made it by the censor. At least one fan rejoiced in the slip,… Read more »
Marred by fiery riots a year ago, the Leeds leg of Britain’s Carling Weekend made a sold-out, subdued and sunny return this weekend. Metallica, Linkin Park, Staind, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, AFI, the Polyphonic Spree, Hot Hot Heat, Good Charlotte, Sum 41, the Libertines, Blink-182, the Cooper Temple Clause, Death in Vegas, the Streets and many others played the open-air arena and three tents at the festival’s new site, Bramham Park. Fifty thousand people were on hand each of the weekend’s three days, but police reported that only twenty-seven arrests were made this year – in contrast to the chaos… Read more »
System Of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian has been busy starting a new label, EatUrMusic, and helping out Amen and Bad Acid Trip in the studio, but he’s also found time to work on songs for his band’s next album. Malakian says he has 25 tunes written for the next effort, and he notes that the band hasn’t even heard the new material he’s creating for the follow-up to the multi-platinum Toxicity. “The band hasn’t even heard them. They’re in the stage that I’m calling just my writing stage,? Malakian said. ?That’s how I write. I juggle like 25 things… Read more »
The rock band System Of A Down, which draws inspiration from diverse influences such as heavy metal and Armenian folk music, released “Steal This Album” on Tuesday in response to Internet users downloading the band’s songs before they’re ready. But how do they protect their music in the future? Singer Serj Tankian said it’s a difficult task. “We are just a little more critical as to who we get involved with,” Tankian told the Associated Press. “There’s so many ways of taking music. I heard certain sessions of another band were downloaded while it was being transferred on ISDN lines.… Read more »
System Of A Down’s Steal This Album will be offered with the most bare bones of packaging. The November 26 release will have “Steal This Album” scrawled across the face of the CD and that’s it. However, there will be a limited-edition run of CDs that will come with some artwork. Guitarist Daron Malakian, vocalist Serj Tankian, bassist Shavo Odadjian, and drummer John Dolmayan each created separate artwork. Each member will have 50,000 copies pressed of their version of Steal This Album. All four will be housed in a clear jewel case with no booklet. Tankian’s artwork is a “series… Read more »
When Ozzy Osbourne was chiefly known in middle America for decapitating winged creatures and urinating on the Alamo, he and his annual hard rock hoedown were greeted with protests, boycotts and prayer meetings. But, oh, what a difference a year makes. The former most-feared man in rock has now become its most beloved father figure, courtesy of the rib-tickling warts-and-all series “The Osbournes.” So as he returns to the road for the first time since becoming the toast of prime time, Ozzy and Ozzfest 2002 are being greeted not with protests but with open arms, and at least a few… Read more »
