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Music Choice, the world’s largest provider of commercial-free digital music via cable, satellite and the Internet, today announced that, the Cranberries and Queensryche are the featured artists for the October concert series. Music Choice’s concert series is a cable-exclusive program, reaching 25 million households across the country. Every month, the show delivers a fresh array of varied musical formats from an eclectic mix of artists viewers won’t find on other channels. The concert series features a variety of artists in a 60-minute show with live performances and interview segments. Music Choice also airs “Street Team,” a reality based show that… Read more »

A decade ago, Tori Amos made a musical breakthrough with an autobiographical tale of rape called “Me and a Gun.” On her new album, Strange Little Girls, she again addresses the subject of female victimization – this time by turning Eminem’s fantasy about killing his wife inside-out. She does so without changing the lyrics to “’97 Bonnie & Clyde,” but by adopting the voice of his dead wife in the trunk of the car, just before her body is thrown in Lake Michigan. “‘Bonnie & Clyde’ is a song that depicts domestic violence very accurately, right on the money,” Amos… Read more »

A complete retrospective on the life and music of 26-time Grammy winner Quincy Jones is set for release October 16. The main feature will be the four-CD set titled Q: The Musical Biography Of Quincy Jones from Rhino Records; additionally, Doubleday is releasing Q: The Autobiography Of Quincy Jones, a book penned by Jones with help from friends and family. The boxed set, which retails for $59.98, covers all aspects of Jones’s five-decade career, which spans from big band to jazz, pop to blues, soundtracks and film scores to R&B and hip-hop. The first disc covers work Jones did as… Read more »

Beyonce Knowles of the glittery vocal trio Destiny’s Child is no dummy. She knows that as wrenching as it was to go through the acrimonious departure of two co-founding bandmates, the attendant furor sparked welcome publicity for the group. In fact, since the spring of 2000, the reconstituted Destiny’s Child, comprising Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, has become a dominant pop music force. Three multi-platinum albums and a string of hits – “Say My Name,” “Jumpin’, Jumpin’,” “Survivor” and the “Charlie’s Angels” film theme – have kept the threesome at the top of the charts and made them a… Read more »

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, the principal members of Tears For Fears, have put aside 10 years of bad blood in favor of collaborating together again. The duo separated in 1990 after friction described by Orzabal to LAUNCH as “a boil that was lanced finally, and it was pretty bloody.” But the necessity to keep in touch due to ongoing Tears For Fears business concerns, coupled with mellowing with age by both artists, recently reunited the pair. Orzabal tells LAUNCH, “It was very strange, very strange, indeed. But at the same time you think, ‘Well what the hell am I… Read more »

Showing no signs of fatigue or question marks about making a show revolve around material from her last two albums, Madonna started her final stop on the Drowned World Tour Sunday with a mesmerizing and confident performance that puts to shame any singer who thinks she might have a shot at Ms. Ciccone’s pop throne. Madonna frames blocks of songs in various settings, using mix-and-match motifs that yield differing results. In the end, she emerges triumphant – a reminder of why her star has never dimmed. Hundred-minute show closes on “Holiday,” Madonna’s first top 40 single from way back in… Read more »

Rob Thomas’ pre-Matchbox Twenty recordings are finally seeing the light of day, thanks to a former bandmate who spent a half a decade trying to put “the nail in the group’s coffin.” Don’t Play With Matches, the only studio album by Tabitha’s Secret (which featured Matchbox Twenty bassist Brian Yale and drummer Paul Doucette as well as Thomas), is due for October 9 release. Guitarist Jay Stanley – who, along with guitarist John Goff, parted ways with the band in 1995 – fought a five-year legal battle to get the album released. “It’s about putting the past behind me, putting… Read more »

The Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal record label shut down Friday, citing “mounting debts, decreasing assets and exceedingly harsh industry conditions.” Home to highly praised rockers At the Drive-In and Luscious Jackson – both of whom have broken up – Grand Royal was one of the most popular artist-owned labels of the last decade. “This is one of the most difficult decisions we’ve ever had to make,” Beastie Boy Mike D, who took over operations as his bandmates got involved in other projects, said in a statement. “Over the years the Grand Royal family had grown to include some of the… Read more »

If one point was driven convincingly home at this all-day modern rock festival, it’s that southern California has a lot of really great bands treading the boards these days. Six of the best of the bunch (which also includes Stone Temple Pilots, No Doubt, 311 and even Blink-182) headlined this charity gathering, sponsored by L.A.’s KROQ-FM, and Levi’s – and each band’s strong performance lived up to the considerable preshow hype. The post-Sublime reggae-dub bunch Long Beach Dub Allstars kicked off the action on the bigger of two stages around 4 p.m. with 30 minutes of laid-back tracks from their… Read more »

By the close of business Wednesday, concert promoters across the country will know how many Internet-savvy baby boomers are hungry for the music of a generational hero, Bob Dylan. Dylan, whose “Love & Theft” album will be released Sept. 11, is taking a page from mega-sellers such as the Backstreet Boys and U2: a limited number of tickets for 32 North American concerts will go on sale Wednesday for fans who follow his activities on the Web site http://www.BobDylan.com. Although Dylan has toured relentlessly since the release four years ago of the album “Time Out of Mind,” which won three… Read more »