Search Results for: decade

Rock ‘n’ roll has turned music fans into rebels. Not only are they pirating tunes on the Internet rather than paying upwards of $20 for a compact disc, they are also increasingly reluctant to fork out for costly concert tickets. A survey of the North American concert industry by trade publication Pollstar showed the top 50 acts sold a combined 10.6 million tickets in the first half of the year, down about three percent from the year-ago period (10.9 million tickets) and off 18 percent from 2000 (12.9 million tickets). The average ticket price for those top 50 tours rose… Read more »

Pelle Almqvist never could understand the connection between loud guitars and being miserable. You’re up on a stage jumping around, making a loud noise with women adoringly gazing at you. What’s not to like? “It’s just such a naturally exciting and fun thing,” said Almqvist, lead singer of the Swedish rock band the Hives. Acts like the Hives, White Stripes, the Strokes and the Vines are leading a new vanguard with a raw, adrenalized sound best described as garage rock. And after a decade dominated by dense, morose grunge or the angry rants of Limp Bizkit and its sound-alikes, rock… Read more »

The rock world’s top 20 female icons are celebrated in a photographic exhibition opening at Britain’s National Portrait Gallery Monday. The exhibition, “She Bop,” was inspired by former music journalist Lucy O’Brien’s book “She Bop II: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop and Soul.” Exhibits range from rocker Chrissie Hynde to soul diva Dusty Springfield and disco queen Madonna ( news – web sites). “Female artists haven’t been given the recognition that they’ve deserved and I felt there was a whole history of women to be written to chart how big a part women have played in popular… Read more »

They get mocked as the Strolling Bones but the Rolling Stones don’t give a damn – they are still rocking just as hard as they did 40 years ago on Day One. That was July 12, 1962 when the founder members launched into a chorus of “Kansas City” at London’s Marquee Club. Their fee for the night was 25 pounds. Now, four decades on, the elder statesmen of rock are ready to “Start Me Up” all over again with a round-the-world tour that will put yet more millions in their coffers. The Dinosaurs of Rock are in no danger of… Read more »

Timothy White, Billboard editor in chief since 1991, died suddenly of an apparent heart attack June 27, just as the magazine was going to press. He was 50. Timothy collapsed in an elevator in the Billboard offices at 770 Broadway in New York and was rushed to St. Vincent’s Hospital, where he succumbed. Timothy is survived by his wife Judy Garlan, his 10-year-old twins Christopher and Alexander, and seven siblings. Born on Jan. 25, 1952, in Paterson, N.J., to John Alexander and Gloria White, Timothy had a boundless passion for music and its creators that filled the pages of Billboard.… Read more »

The two surviving members of The Who decided Friday to resume their scheduled three-month U.S. tour despite the sudden death of bassist John Entwistle, their bandmate of nearly four decades. “The band decided to recommence the tour beginning at the Hollywood Bowl (a Monday night show),” according to a message posted on guitarist Pete Townshend’s Web site. The first show will serve as “a tribute to John Entwistle,” the band said in a separate statement. Pino Palladino, a British session player who has worked on Townshend’s solo projects, will fill in for Entwhistle, the Web site said. The band intends… Read more »

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 »

When Paul McCartney first got married, tears from lovelorn Beatles fans who pined for “the cute one” could’ve rivaled the Thames. Still, 30 years later, McCartney’s marriage to Heather Mills left nary a dry eye in the castle. The 59-year-old former Beatle wed Mills, 34, just after 5 p.m. Tuesday (June 11) in Glaslough, Ireland, according to Reuters. The private ceremony took place at St. Salvator’s Church on the 1,000-acre estate of Castle Leslie, a 17th century castle that now functions as 14-room luxury hotel near the Northern Irish border. Following the ceremony a grand reception was thrown for the… Read more »

No wonder pop fans are singing the blues. Radio sounds like a broken record. CD prices are heading off the charts. Labels are out of tune with the digital age. New acts fail to strike a chord with listeners. It’s time to face the music. The $14 billion recording industry, struggling through its first sales slump in a decade, faces challenges on several fronts, not the least of which is a tarnished image in the eyes and ears of fans who feel ripped off by greedy, tone-deaf bean counters. In 2001, album sales dropped 2.8% compared with 2000, the first… Read more »

It’s a long way from the stage of Madison Square Garden to an HIV clinic in South Africa, or from the thunderous roar of an adoring audience to the buttoned-down halls of the U.S. Senate. For most people, perhaps, but not for Bono. Rock and politics have been strange bedfellows for decades, from folkie Pete Seeger’s civil rights work in the ’60s to Frank Zappa’s censorship battles in the ’80s and Rage Against the Machine’s anti-sweatshop agitation in the ’90s. But whether it’s peace in Ireland or restructuring third-world debt, few rock stars have been able to devote as much… Read more »