Search Results for: IN HER OWN WORDS

When the superstar pop vocal group ‘N Sync sat down to pick the songs for its upcoming album, the quintet found itself at odds with its record company. The Florida-based group, which has sold more than 25 million records worldwide since debuting in 1997, wanted to rock the boat with “Celebrity,” which is due in stores July 24. But Jive Records executives worried that too much change might make fans disinclined to buy, buy, buy like they have in the past. “They were like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t like that song. I don’t think you should go there. It’s… Read more »

A new album from the band named after a place the sun doesn’t shine will finally see the light of day next month, complete with a track co-written by an “American Bad Ass.” Experimental rockers the Butthole Surfers will release their first album in five years, Weird Revolution, on August 28, even though the family of Malcolm X forced the band back to the drawing board at the 11th hour. In the lyrics on the track “The Weird Revolution,” frontman Gibby Haynes copped a passage – save a few words – from one of the assassinated black activist’s most famous… Read more »

Atlantic Records has announced the forthcoming release of the new studio album from Tori Amos. Entitled “STRANGE LITTLE GIRLS,” this assemblage of songs is due in stores on September 18th. All the songs on the album were written by men, but are performed by Tori from the perspectives of a diverse cast of female characters. Songs composed by such artists as Neil Young, the Stranglers, Eminem, Depeche Mode, Slayer, Lou Reed, Lennon/McCartney, and others are taken apart and put back together darkly, gently, and in an uncompromising fashion. In crafting the new album, Tori wanted to talk about men –… Read more »

Hot on the heels of new releases from such established superstars as Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey, Virgin Records America is releasing seven key albums from developing artists the label hopes will follow in those multi-platinum footsteps. Ranging an eclectic musical spectrum from Pop-R&B to Urban-Alternative Rock to World Music, these artists reflect Virgin’s commitment to unique yet accessible music for which the label has become known. Forming the all-star rookie line-up are: Nikka Costa – All ears piqued when Tommy Hilfiger’s slick commercial hit TV screens last year, featuring that funky, rhythmic bassline from Nikka’s debut single “Like A… Read more »

Like Eminem’s last two solo albums, the debut LP from his hometown crew, D12, opens with a public service announcement. But this time, the announcer suggests that anyone offended by words like “bitch” and “faggot” should turn off their stereos immediately. “We want people to know what the f they gonna hear for the next hour,” D12’s Bizarre said, speaking from the group’s home base of Detroit last week. “It’s our own ghetto public service announcement.” The sextet asks those who keep listening to Devils Night, due Tuesday, not to draw conclusions from what they hear – a request that… Read more »

If you’re barely out of your teens and you’re skateboarding onto the third or fourth wave of punk rock, you’d better have twice the sense of humor and half the pretension. Canada’s Sum 41 like to set things on fire and admit they sometimes wish they hadn’t chosen that name, and their debut video makes them out as vintage Orange County pranksters. In other words, they’re new-millennium punk – slick, self-aware master entertainers in baggy shorts. All Killer lays a hearty ground cover of la-la-la superpop underneath its metal-hip-hop-ska shrubs. The single “Fat Lip” veers smoothly from Beasties to Blink… Read more »

Two words of advice to struggling musicians who can’t get a record contract: Don’t bother. Or rather, take a page from the book of Uncle Kracker, the 26-year-old pop singer whose debut record hit the top 10 on U.S. album charts even though he calls himself “probably the least ambitious person you’ll meet.” Many budding rock stars dream of great power and wealth in the music business. Uncle Kracker – real name Matt Shafer – dreams of a life changing tires, fishing and gardening. For the time being, though, he is playing a bemused accidental rock star and is on… Read more »

Clear Channel and American General Media appeared before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court in Los Angeles May 14 in a case that pits two Bakersfield, Calif. stations-AGM’s KISV 94.1 and Clear Channel’s KKXX-in a fight over which station can legally use the moniker “Kiss.” Clear Channel won a preliminary injunction precluding American General Media from using the Kiss slogan in Bakersfield, and the order denied AGM’s motion to stop Clear Channel and subsidiary City Casters from using the Kiss slogan on its station in Bakersfield. The lawsuit at issue was originally filed by City Casters in late August 2000. City… Read more »

A federal judge overseeing the case against Napster on Friday essentially threw up her hands and appealed for help in stopping the exchange of copyrighted songs. For the moment, her ruling guarantees Napster users can continue downloading copyright music at will. Major record labels want the online music-swapping service to remove any copyrighted songs from its Internet site, a position U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel has strongly endorsed in a series of rulings. But removing the songs has proved exceptionally difficult, since Napster users constantly make them reappear under different file names. Napster has said it cannot keep up… Read more »

With the Hollywood-Washington war expected to be reignited today, Motion Picture Assn. of America prexy-CEO Jack Valenti on Monday warned lawmakers in no uncertain terms to back off. “May God save the First Amendment,” Valenti said during a keynote speech before the National Assn. of Broadcasters, which is meeting here for its annual confab. Valenti, like his counterparts in the music biz, was gearing up for the release this morning of a Federal Trade Commission report that will chart how well the entertainment biz has done in stopping the marketing of violent or suggestive fare to kids. The FTC reportedly… Read more »