Search Results for: Rock am Ring

Sugarcult have a video – “She’s the Blade” – that’s garnering major airplay, an opening slot on Blink-182’s European tour and an extremely devoted female fanbase. But as singer Tim Pagnotta is reminded every day, there’s still a whole lot of ground to cover before the band can count itself among rock’s elite. “Whoa, somebody is totally screaming,” Pagnotta said recently while standing backstage in Paris. “Sorry, some kid just saw Travis Barker eating a sandwich, and he just started screaming.” The fact that a kid wandered by the lead singer of Sugarcult without even pausing – but went totally… Read more »

New York – The year began with the Super Bowl halftime show fiasco and ended with aftershocks from Howard Stern flipping his detractors the bird and taunting the Federal Communications Commission with a just-try-and-get-me-now move to satellite radio. Between those two seismic events, the FCC levied a record number of indecency fines, responding to an avalanche of complaints carefully orchestrated by conservative zealots and election year political pressure. The results from the government crackdown were widespread. Top-rated personalities were fired. Zero-tolerance edicts were issued. On-air delays and indecency tutorials became commonplace. Warhorses like Pink Floyd’s “Money,” Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer”… Read more »

New York – Irish rockers U2, R&B singers The O’Jays and soul balladeer Percy Sledge are among five musical legends to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the foundation’s 20th annual induction ceremony next year, the organization announced Monday. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation will hold its induction ceremony March 14 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. U2, which became one of the planet’s most popular bands in the 1980s with their megahit “The Joshua Tree,” is still making the charts: Their November release, “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” is… Read more »

Los Angeles – Chicago rapper Kanye West, who survived a near-fatal car crash to record a debut album that ranked among the year’s biggest sellers, led the field of Grammy Award contenders with 10 nominations, organizers said on Tuesday. R&B singers Alicia Keys and Usher picked up eight nominations each, followed by late “Genius of Soul” Ray Charles with seven, and punk rock band Green Day with six. Jazz pianist Norah Jones, country veteran Loretta Lynn, funk musician Prince and engineer Al Schmitt each earned five. “If I get any nominations, I’m good,” West told Reuters after a press conference… Read more »

December 07, 2004 01:53 PM US Eastern Timezone Ray Charles’ Multi-Platinum “Genius Loves Company” Nominated for 10 GRAMMY Awards, Including Best Album of the Year BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Dec. 7, 2004- Music Legend’s Final CD is Best Selling Recording of His Career; First Ever GRAMMY Nominations for Starbucks Hear Music; CONCORD Nominations Now Tally Over 100 Genius Loves Company, the final recording from music legend Ray Charles, has been nominated for 10 GRAMMY® Awards; it was announced today. The “Genius” received nominations for Best Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year (“Here We Go Again”… Read more »

New York – After taking himself out of the music business “to regenerate, get free of myself and make an album for the right reasons,” Billy Idol has completed his first album featuring new songs in over 10 years, aptly titled DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND. The CD, which may or may not be named after a location deep inside the Idol mind, is scheduled for release on March 22, 2005, and is the English rocker’s first for CSP Records/Sanctuary Records. The first single, “Scream,” is a down and dirty love romp featuring the sinister signature guitar of Steve Stevens and Idol’s rock… Read more »

CANBERRA, Australia – Australian rock star-turned-lawmaker Peter Garrett said Monday he expected to return to Parliament on Tuesday following a health scare over the weekend. Garrett – former lead singer for the band Midnight Oil – collapsed Saturday as he waded from the surf at a beach in his southern Sydney electoral district and spent 10 hours in a hospital, undergoing tests that failed to explain his fainting spell. The 51-year-old, known for his passionate environmentalism, rested at his family’s country home when Parliament resumed Monday for the year’s final two-week session. Garrett issued a statement saying he intended to… Read more »

New York – The drummer of indie punk band Fugazi has created a new DVD series that spotlights live performances from notable rock acts in a given city, all recorded in a single day. The catch: the bands play one song each in an empty house that faces imminent destruction. In the initial installment of “Burn To Shine,” taped Jan. 14 in Washington, D.C., the house was burned to the ground at the end of the day as a training exercise by the Montgomery Fire Dept. “In D.C., bands always break up and disappear before their time, but the artists… Read more »

After witnessing this incredibly uneventful performance by “super group” Velvet Revolver, it’s safe to surmise that they’re getting by on history alone. Like many bands before them, they feed off of what their individual names used to mean and are entirely undeserving of the glory bestowed upon them. Now, before you start firing off hate emails, read on. Given the wealth of talent comprising Velvet Revolver and the obvious success of debut album Contraband, one cannot deny that this quintet is capable of writing a few solid tunes. The problem is that, aside from purely ego centric reasons, they’re just… Read more »

New York – Jerry Wexler is the classic record business guy. For more than three decades, Wexler, as co-owner of Atlantic Records and later senior VP at Warner Bros. Records, signed and worked with scores of vocalists and instrumentalists, and produced some of the greatest rock and soul records ever made. Now 86 and long retired, Wexler is still applauded as an insightful producer, crafty deal-maker and promoter, divining rod of hit songs and occasional writer of songs and liner notes. “He is one of my greatest heroes,” Sire Records founder Seymour Stein says. “Jerry is a consummate record man… Read more »