For someone who claims he never wanted to be on stage, Badly Drawn Boy has a hard time getting off of one. Damon Gough’s alter ego displayed his stamina with a marathon set that both delighted and exhausted a sold-out Toronto crowd. The singer-songwriter set the tone for the evening right off the top, claiming that it was “good to be back in America.” From that point on, his curious mix of affability, crustiness and wit had the audience hanging on every sung or spoken word. And there were plenty of both in the nearly three-hour performance. Backed by a… Read more »
When the upstart music channel Fuse officially launched last spring, MTV general manager David Cohn told Rolling Stone the new competitor didn’t scare him. “That ‘Where are the music videos on MTV?’ thing?” Cohn said. “I’m not sure anybody’s that fussed about it.” But in late December, industry sources were complaining that MTV had started turning up the heat on its competition, enforcing exclusivity contracts that keep some artists’ videos off Fuse. “We pay millions of dollars to the labels to support the production of videos,” says MTV spokeswoman Jeannie Kedas. “We take a handful of exclusives a year, and… Read more »
We feel like MTV felt twenty years ago,” says Marc Juris, the president of Fuse, a small but flourishing cable channel that’s staking its future on a simple idea: Music television should play music videos. So far, the results are encouraging: Fuse more than doubled its reach to 31 million households in the last twelve months, though that’s a long way from the 86 million homes MTV reaches or the 49 million households of MTV’s music-video spin-off MTV2. Fuse, which debuted in 1994 as a tiny U.S. offshoot of the Canadian music station MuchMusic, hired TV vet Juris away from… Read more »
City manager Jane Howington asked Miami University to cancel an April 23 concert by rapper 50 Cent because of public safety concerns, but the school says the show will go on. The concert is sold out, and a ticket only could be obtained with a Miami University student identification, university spokeswoman Holly Wissing said Friday. “We’re not expecting any problems,” Wissing said. Campus police and officials say no tickets will be sold at the door, alcohol won’t be allowed and there will be adequate security. Howington is concerned that violence could occur if fans come from other cities and find… Read more »
Disturbed are so proud of their new video for “Prayer” that they’ve decided not to let the mainstream see it. Last month, major video outlets chose not to air the clip because they felt the apocalyptic content was too reminiscent of footage of September 11 (see “Disturbed Video Deemed Too Disturbing; Band Examines Plan B”). At first, the band considered re-editing the video or replacing the scenes of destruction with concert footage. In the end, Disturbed opted to stand their ground and leave the video intact and unaired despite the fact that it could have been a huge promotional tool… Read more »
Rappers are known for their large entourages, but rap star Nelly might have broken a record. The rapper and an accompanying crowd estimated at about 3,000 people were refused entry to a Lake of the Ozarks night club Saturday night. “We were already full by midnight and had anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 people already inside,” Shooter’s 21 owner John Teichman told the Lake Sun Leader newspaper in Sunday’s edition. “When I realized Nelly and thousands of friends were trying to get inside the front door, I called the cops for help.” The crowd was not violent, said Missouri Water… Read more »
Orange County act Corporate Avenger is seeing controversy continue to escalate as the release of their album approaches next week. In addition to threats and angry correspondence, it now seems the liberal media won’t even stand behind the artists. MTV, Comedy Central and E! have all refused to air the Corporate Avenger TV spot in top markets such as Chicago and Phoenix due to the words “THE BIBLE IS BULL****” in succession. The majority of stations will only run the Corporate Avenger spot after 10PM. Corporate Avenger have backed up their lyrics and songs’ focus from the beginning. In a… Read more »
Hollywood Records is offering the entire Diffuser album, “Injury Loves Melody,” as a free download in three formats: MP3, Windows Media and Liquid Audio. This marks the first time a major label has offered a full album download in all three formats. “Injury Loves Melody” will be available in its entirety for the whole month of May. Fans can hear and download the album by visiting sites such as www.diffuseronline.com, www.windowsmedia.com, www.music.msn.com, www.liquid.com, www.launch.com, www.musicmatch.com and Rioport affiliate sites www.mtv.com and www.sonicnet.com. Transworld’s Twec.com has been chosen as the exclusive retail partner for the download. Fans who buy a copy… Read more »
Following the release of his fourth studio album Love In Stereo earlier this year and two must-watch live performances at the idobi Radio Studios in North Hollywood last week, MAX has issued a spellbinding, sun-soaked new single, “PINKBERRY.” “This was such a fun song to create,” MAX shares in a press release. “And usually the ones the most fun to create for me end up being my favorites.” He continues, speaking on behalf of the Miles Murphy-directed accompanying music video, “It was also really special to film the music video entirely in the Philippines our last trip there to continue… Read more »
Brooklyn’s premier punk duo THICK is back with an all-too-relatable track, “Mother” via Epitaph Records. And no—it’s not something to play for your mom this Mother’s Day. Preceded by the devastating “Father,” the new single has a lot to say about romantic relationship dynamics. “’Mother’ is a shoutout to all the caretakers in relationships who are sick and tired of falling into that role. It’s an easy trap to fall into. You start a relationship with love and care, then start to carry the burden of your partner’s wounds, becoming the parental figure, and wanting to heal them more than… Read more »
