Search Results for: Hold On Tight

Over the past week there were explosive developments concerning the fate of American Taliban member John Walker Lindh, imploding energy company Enron and president Bush’s problems with pretzels, but very little has been changing on the album chart. That means Creed’s Weathered will hang on to the #1 slot of next week’s Billboard 200, giving the band a solid two-month run as top dogs. Linkin Park will hold tight at #2 with Hybrid Theory as they embark on their last tour before working on new material, Ludacris will remain steady at #3 with Word of Mouf and Nickelback’s Silver Side… Read more »

Despite a cancellation and a police arrest, approximately 500 people in three cities have put their guitars where their mouths are so far, and more than a dozen have gotten to jam with the rhythm section of Limp Bizkit. In its quest to find a guitarist to replace Wes Borland, the band is holding open auditions at Guitar Centers in cities all over the country. The Put Your Guitar Where Your Mouth Is auditions have drawn an average of 150 players each day in Fresno, California; Clackamas, Oregon; and Seattle, with the try-outs running from approximately 10 a.m. to 10… Read more »

Vivendi Universal, seeking an elusive U.S. distribution outlet for its array of television and film assets, said on Tuesday it was in talks with USA Networks, sending the U.S. firm’s stock up sharply. Vivendi chief Jean-Marie Messier told Reuters the talks with media mogul Barry Diller’s USA Networks may lead to a purchase of the firm’s entertainment assets. But he rubbished as “absurd” a report that Vivendi could pay up to $18 billion. “We confirm that discussions have been ongoing for several months between Vivendi and USA Networks with a view to optimizing synergies in the entertainment area,” Messier said.… Read more »

Napster, Inc. has licensed the entire catalog from influential independent record label Matador Records for its upcoming membership-based file-sharing service. The deal, which also covers future Matador Records releases, contributes significantly to the quality music that will be available for sharing through the new Napster service. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Matador Records is currently home to premier indie artists including Belle & Sebastian, Stephen Malkmus, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, Mogwai and Cornelius. Napster will compensate these and all other artists, songwriters and rights holders whose music is made available through… Read more »

Music Choice, the world’s largest provider of commercial-free digital music via cable, satellite and the Internet, today announced that, the Cranberries and Queensryche are the featured artists for the October concert series. Music Choice’s concert series is a cable-exclusive program, reaching 25 million households across the country. Every month, the show delivers a fresh array of varied musical formats from an eclectic mix of artists viewers won’t find on other channels. The concert series features a variety of artists in a 60-minute show with live performances and interview segments. Music Choice also airs “Street Team,” a reality based show that… Read more »

Music buyers kept a tighter hold on their purse strings in the first half of 2001, but for those who did hit the stores, full-length CDs accounted for even more purchases than they did last year, according to data released Monday by the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Unit shipments of music in all formats tumbled nearly 10% in the first six months of the year compared with the same period a year ago, while their dollar value slipped by 4.4% to $5.9 billion, the RIAA said. Accounting for part of that discrepancy was the relative strength of the industry’s… Read more »

In the years since August 1, 1981, when MTV first went on air by broadcasting a song presciently called “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the cable channel has helped to turn musicians as different as Duran Duran, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Tupac Shakur, Marilyn Manson, and Britney Spears into cultural touchstones. MTV helped to mainstream rap music and to pioneer the trend toward reality television with shows like The Real World. And the channel has been at the center of any number of pop culture brouhahas, whether involving cartoon bad boys Beavis and Butt-head, sexually provocative and spiritually outrageous videos by… Read more »

Billy Idol rang in the summer solstice Thursday night with a tight, concise and energetic show befitting one of glam-punk’s most sovereign and feisty pioneers. At 45, His Right and Honorable Rude Dude can still whip crowds into giddy submission, as the 2,000 or so nostalgists and newcomers attending his Kiss the Skull Tour at the Fillmore happily discovered. With the house lights lowered, an introduction of ambient synth washes conjured visions of deep space nebulae (or any fantasy H.R Giger might dream up), before Idol sauntered out, trademark sneer intact, for the first of a long string of chartbusters:… Read more »

Nearly eight months after it was first announced, Napster appears to be almost ready to launch its new pay-as-you-go, copyright-friendly service. The company has begun recruiting users for a beta test of the new version at the Napster Web site, with testing expected to begin within a month, and the full-on launch of the new service set for sometime this summer. A Napster spokesperson said Monday (May 14) that no precise launch dates have been set. The fate of the existing service is unclear, but the company has said in the past that there will always be a free component… Read more »

Pop diva Janet Jackson’s latest album may have rocketed up the U.S. charts but fans in Singapore will have to wait as the state censor weighs whether to uphold its ban over her racy lyrics. Local distributor EMI Singapore voluntarily submitted “All for You” for vetting but launched an appeal after authorities decided the album could not be sold because of “explicit sexual lyrics” in the song “Would You Mind.” “The appeal is still in process,” a spokeswoman for the Films and Publications Department told Reuters. “We haven’t come to a conclusion yet.” EMI was not immediately available for comment.… Read more »