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With Sting’s simple “Ladies and gentlemen, we are the Police,” one of the most iconic bands of the last 30 years ended a long absence from live performing to launch the 49th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night. Blasting off with the unmistakable, reggae-fied “Roxanne” riff from guitarist Andy Summers and the hard jazz drumming of Stewart Copeland, the Police lived up to their top billing on the show, providing a spirited kickoff to one of the most anticipated reunions in a year full of get-backs. With a buff-if-balding Sting in fine form and voice, the trio’s homage to a… Read more »

Swizz Beatz has his birthday celebration to thank for his latest hit. The producer, who cranked out songs for Busta Rhymes (“Touch It”) and Beyoncé (“Ring the Alarm”) last year, had been working on an album of his own material – One Man Band Man, set for a March 6 release – and hadn’t found a single to kick-start the project. But late last August on his birthday, Swizz found himself in the studio, tipsy and in a good mood, and decided to take a crack at making a beat. “It was like around 4 or 5 in the morning.… Read more »

Los Angeles – A few days ago, a colleague asked if it would be possible to get a Green Day poster for his 12-year-old daughter. “She’s always listened to nothing but rap and hip-hop,” the editor said, “but lately she’s been obsessed with the Green Day album ‘American Idiot.”‘ Warner Bros. Records chairman/CEO Tom Whalley relates a similar story. He says a couple of his teenage daughter’s friends who stopped by the house were evidently unaware that the red-hot punk trio is the prize act of the moment on Whalley’s label. But they knew the band was cool. “They said,… Read more »

It’s a good thing for Ryan Key that there’s no age requirement on nostalgia. His band, Yellowcard, is on the brink of a bright future thanks to a hit single that reminisces about the past. “It covers a broad, general topic without being too cheesy about it,” Key said of “Ocean Avenue.” “It’s one of those songs that kind of just captures that feeling of nostalgia and missing home and trying to get somewhere in your life that you can’t find anymore, because you’re all old and everything sucks and you’re not with your friends anymore.” Those sentiments seem better… Read more »

Veteran Los Angeles punk outfit Bad Religion will release a new studio album, “The Empire Strikes First” June 8 via Epitaph. Like its predecessor, 2002’s “The Process of Belief,” the forthcoming disc was co-written and co-produced by guitarist Brett Gurewitz and frontman Greg Graffin. “It’s not ready for public consumption yet, but it’s basically recorded and finished,” Graffin told Billboard.com. “We really put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make the best album we could. ‘The Process of Belief’ is considered by many to be our comeback, since Brett and I started writing together again. After so many years… Read more »

On Jan. 6, San Francisco’s Moscone convention center pulses with all the energy of a rock concert. A crowd sprinkled with hip-hop teenagers, digerati, and aging hippies streams in to hear the annual state-of-the-Mac keynote from Apple Computer Inc. Chief Executive Steven P. Jobs. Every facet of the event bears the fingerprints of the obsessive Jobs – right down to the music that fills the air. This year, it’s the King himself, Elvis Presley. Later, Jobs rolls the tape of Apple’s famous “1984” ad that ran on Super Bowl Sunday that year – and hasn’t been broadcast since. Only this… Read more »

A new sort of Pepsi Generation will get air time on the Super Bowl: music downloaders. Some 20 teens sued by the Recording Industry Association of America, which accuses them of unauthorized downloads, will appear in a Pepsi-Cola (PEP) ad that kicks off a two-month offer of up to 100 million free – and legal – downloads from Apple’s iTunes, the leading online music seller. The sassy ad, to be seen by Super Bowl’s 88 million viewers on Feb 1, is a wink at the download hot button. Pepsi hopes the promotion will connect its flagship cola, as well as… Read more »

When you’ve had enough studying, flirting and fraternizing at your college, MTV hopes you’ll tune into its rock and roll music on a revamped channel for universities. Music channel MTV said on Thursday its mtvU venture would be dedicated to U.S. campus life, with new programing starting Jan. 20. The 24-hour channel, an overhaul of the College Television Network bought by MTV in 2002, can be seen at 720 colleges in dormitories, dining halls and gyms. “Because this audience is constantly experimenting, we needed to be a laboratory,” for new music and trends, said Stephen Friedman, general manager of mtvU.… 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 »

They teased the release of their third album, The Long Road, with the melodic mid-paced single “Someday,” which delivered everything their fans were used to. Now that the album is on the shelves, Nickelback hope to catch listeners with their pants down. “I like you with your pants around your feet, and I like the dirt that’s on your knees,” Chad Kroeger sings before stabbing guitars puncture the track. “Figured You Out,” one of the heavier songs on the album, will go to radio in early November. A video will be shot in the coming weeks, but a director has… Read more »