Search Results for: The Offspring

Watch out, BET.

Not such a rapper’s delight, this. Kanye West, Common, Method Man and Redman, along with their respective Universal Music Group record companies, were sued Thursday by the daughter of late jazz musician Joe Farrell for sampling his music sans permission. Adding further unoriginal insult to copycat injury, each of the rappers used snippets from the same tune, Farrell’s 1974 composition “Upon This Rock.” The lawsuit, filed by scorned offspring Kathleen Firantello, claims West sampled the tune in 2005 on Late Registration’s “Gone,” Common in “Chi-City,” a bonus track on his 2005 album Be, and Method Man and Redman in their… Read more »

Luke stands on his seat and strums wildly on his copycat rock guitar. Isabel and Jasper pogo and body slam with the best of them in the mosh pit. Potential crowd surfers and stage divers are held back by minders. The gig is in south London, the star is “Mr Ray,” and the audience are mostly between three and four years old. This is “Kindie” — a combination of kids’ and “indie” or independent music and a genre which is taking hold of British pre-schoolers and bidding to oust the grinding of “The Wheels on the Bus” from the family… Read more »

During the past couple of years, some of the Christian music community’s best-loved groups have chosen to call it quits, including Audio Adrenaline, Petra, 4HIM, Watermark and Out of Eden. On the other hand, 2006 saw some veteran acts deliver some of the best music of their careers, including Phillips, Craig & Dean with “Top of My Lungs” and the Newsboys with “Go.” “I enjoy traveling and our fans. I appreciate them,” Newsboys frontman Peter Furler says. “Being around 20 years, we’ve got fans that were in their teens and now they have their own teenagers . . . Just… Read more »

Ruben Garay, the webmaster of World of Britney (worldofbritney.com) and arguably her biggest devotee, has announced plans to shut down the six-year-old site in the wake of the “Toxic” singer’s recent run of questionable behavior. “As Britney keeps losing her identity and credibility within fans and industry people, so is [World of Britney],” Garay writes. “I believe Britney is unfortunately done (for me at least). No matter what anyone thinks or how they may disagree, it’s very hard to maintain the respect needed to keep things going.” The Web shrine, which bears the motto “Dream, Create, Deliver, Inspire” and has… Read more »

Instead of fries, how about a little Beyonce or Bruce Springsteen to go with your Big Mac? In the latest blend of e-music with the food-and-beverage industry, Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp. is working out a deal to promote the upcoming launch of its download music service through fast-food chain McDonald’s Corp., the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday. According to the newspaper, McDonald’s is expected to commit about $30 million in advertising to the partnership in exchange for unspecified discounts to license some songs from Sony’s new download service, Sony Connect. Those songs would then be offered to McDonald’s… Read more »

Lots of pop stars who are huge in Europe never succeed in the United States, but judging by Thursday’s MTV Europe Music Awards, Europeans can’t seem to get enough of American idols. Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé Knowles and Christina Aguilera were the big winners at this year’s racy, profanity-laden EMAs, held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Eight of the 12 awards were presented to U.S. residents. Timberlake won three trophies: Best Album for Justified, Best Pop and Best Male. The Neptunes, who produced much of Justified,presented him with the latter, and after they gave him the statue of an “M” on a spring,… Read more »