Search Results for: the damned

For nearly a decade now, Tom Gabel has made a career of pissing people off. He played shows in Laundromats as a one-man acoustic act known as Against Me! before forming a full band (adding electric guitars = selling out!). He leapt from indie No Idea Records to equally indie Fat Wreck Chords (changing labels = selling out!), tinkered with Against Me!’s sound on 2003’s As the Eternal Cowboy (production = selling out!) and finally decided to sign with a major label in late 2005 (major label = selling out!). Whatever the situation, it seems he’s always derived some sort… Read more »

Green Day will toast the release of American Idiot on Tuesday, but perhaps an even bigger cause for celebration these days is the 10-year anniversary of their breakthrough LP, Dookie. The modern-day classic not only launched the Bay Area punk trio into the mainstream, it opened the door to a mid-’90s wave of popped-up punk and provided a launching pad for the current crop of melodic pop-punkers. “[Dookie] changed my life,” confessed Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden. “It made me want to start Good Charlotte…. Right after that record came out, we were like, ‘We have to start a band in… Read more »

Holding its festivities for the first time in the city of skin, Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards was sizzling, energetic and colorful – yet tame, by MTV standards. There were no wardrobe malfunctions (sorry TiVo). Britney didn’t kiss Madonna like last year – or anyone else, for that matter (neither were at the blowout affair). The most skin shown was from Usher, who preened in front of the camera barechested as simulated raindrops fell on his chiseled body during the opening performance. Even the Christina Aguilera was classy, dressed sexy yet demurely as she debuted a jazzy number, “Tilt Ya… Read more »

The future of the music industry is being held, quite literally, in the palm of a twentysomething’s hand. Not the “business” side of the music industry – you know, the folks you’ve perhaps heard weeping into their bowls of caviar over the 31 percent decrease in album sales over the course of the past year, a downturn the suits pin on the advent of digital music downloading and CD burning. No, the “art” side of music business is being forceably changed. Artists are either coming to terms with changes in the ways their music is distributed – or doggedly railing… Read more »

The early buzz on the new Britney Spears album was that it would be adventurous, atmospheric and above all, adult. Two out of three ain’t bad. Sure, Britney has a bit of a trip-hop vibe on her upcoming album, just not enough to justify her love for her mentor Madonna’s latter-day direction. In the Zone is by no means Britney’s Ray of Light. Instead, Spears’ fourth album jumps stylistically all over the place, from techno to hip-hop, even to reggae, with thumping, tribal dance songs being the predominant flavor, save for a touching ballad or two. The only thematic connection… Read more »

When Chubby Checker was asked recently to guest on “Ally McBeal,” he thought he was being recognized for his contributions to popular music. His elation turned to frustration, however, when a character on the show read the line, “Gee, I thought Chubby Checker was dead.” “That was it for me,” Checker said Tuesday from Boston, where he was performing. “I wanted to make sure everyone knows I’m not dead.” Checker, who turned 60 on Wednesday, may have gone a little overboard. He certainly seems to have some, er, twisted ideas. He bought a full-page ad in Billboard magazine declaring himself… Read more »