Search Results for: against the current

Not even his father could have said it better. “This is diet Ozzfest,” Jack Osbourne quipped backstage at the sold-out KROQ Weenie Roast. Southern California’s authoritative modern rock radio station hosted its 10th annual summer concert extravaganza on Saturday and, yes, it did offer a glimpse of the summer’s most anticipated tours, especially Ozzfest. Ozzy himself could not make the festivities, as his daughter Kelly was performing across the valley at KIIS’ Wango Tango radio show alongside the likes of Celine Dion and past Weenie Roast favorites No Doubt. Why wasn’t Jack there? “We don’t get along,” he clarified. Representing… Read more »

What many Hole fans have assumed for years was made official Thursday (May 23) with a statement from founding members Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson that the band is over. The flamboyant singer and her longtime bandmate announced they will no longer record or tour together as Hole, though they will work together to promote future Hole catalog releases. “I will always treasure the time we played together,” Love said in the statement. “Eric has been an important part of my family for over 10 years and he’ll continue to be a part of my life.” Added Erlandson, “We’re incredibly… Read more »

A legal fight that has pitted file-swapping software companies Kazaa BV and StreamCast Networks against big record labels and movie studios is collapsing as the small companies run out of funds. Netherlands-based Kazaa BV, which created the file-swapping technology underlying Kazaa, Grokster and earlier versions of Morpheus, is conceding defeat-although its founders already appear to have started another near-identical company. Meanwhile, StreamCast is losing a high-powered attorney with a winning track record against the music companies in court. The disintegration of the companies’ legal case will have little immediate affect on the popular Kazaa and Morpheus file-trading networks themselves. But… Read more »

For once, Eminem can breathe easy when he hears that people are rallying to have a rapper’s album banned. The usually lovable Nelly – who is dropping Nellyville on June 25 – has made an enemy of KRS-One, and the Blastmaster is calling for a boycott of the rapper’s album. “Nelly challenged a sovereign power,” KRS said Wednesday of his latest vocal adversary. “The MC part of it, I can slap him around for days. I got joints for days!” The microphone legend is certainly not inhibited, especially when talking of his iconic battle-rhyme dexterity. On “Ova Here,” the incendiary… Read more »

Bad-boy rap artist Eminem has lobbed a four-letter word at Vice President Dick Cheney’s wife on his upcoming album, but the second lady is hardly running away to a secure, undisclosed location. The Detroit-based recording star, a favorite target of Lynne Cheney in her criticism of the recording industry, unleashes the offensive word against her on the “White America” track to his soon-to-be released LP, “The Eminem Show.” She fired back through her spokeswoman, again condemning his lyrics as a “glorification of violence” against women and homosexuals. Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, won three Grammys last… Read more »

Judy McGrath, President, MTV Networks Music Group, today announced that Brian Graden will take on additional programming, production, and development responsibilities for VH1, becoming President Entertainment, MTV and VH1. Graden will report to Judy McGrath in this expanded role at VH1 and will partner with Christina Norman, just named General Manager of VH1. Graden will continue to report to Van Toffler, President, MTV and MTV2 in his continued role at MTV and be based in both Los Angeles and New York. In making this announcement, Judy McGrath said, “Brian is uniquely suited for this role in taking VH1 to the… Read more »

Pink is sick of business managers, lawyers and talking to radio disc jockeys, and you definitely won’t find her singing about chocolate. The themes of her current album, “M!ssundaztood,” find Pink fighting against bad relationships in her strident, sorely independent ways. “To me, it was all about freedom,” she told the Las Vegas Review-Journal of her music. “Life is not always flowers and chocolates, and I figured people could relate to that.” She’s happy, she says, although she’s sick of the politics of music. Pink, 22, broke onto radio and MTV in 2000 with the hit “There You Go.” In… Read more »

Universal Music is in talks with its best-selling rap artist Eminem to deploy copy protection technology on all upcoming CD releases of “The Eminem Show,” marking the biggest move yet to protect its top acts from music piracy, a label official told Reuters Wednesday. Discussions are under way between Universal, a division of French media conglomerate Vivendi Universal, Eminem and his Universal-owned label Interscope Records to make the anticipated top-selling release copy proof, thwarting the industry’s biggest concern – piracy. Universal and Eminem would need to strike an agreement on whether or not to release the security-enhanced CDs in the… Read more »

C. Michael Greene has resigned as the head of the organization that hands out the music industry’s most prestigious award, the Grammys, following an emergency board of trustees vote to remove him from office. Greene resigned Saturday night at an emergency meeting attended by more than three dozen trustees of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Greene, 52, had three years remaining on his contract and will receive a severance package of $8 million, much of which will be covered by insurance and includes his bonus from the CBS Grammy contract. He is… Read more »

Prince and his Paisley Park Enterprises are the subject of a defamation lawsuit filed by his former girlfriend, Charlene Friend, in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday (April 19). The plaintiff, Friend, was “romantically involved” with Prince in 1991, and was the recipient of several gifts from the singer, including a jacket worn by him in a 1991 concert, an audiocassette, a Christmas card, a comic book, and the video Gett Off, according to court papers. Friend claims in the suit that she retained ownership of the items after the couple “discontinued their relationship,” and that Prince had never requested… Read more »