Search Results for: decade

One sunny afternoon not long ago, Dick Copaken sat in a booth at Daniel, one of those hushed, exclusive restaurants on Manhattan’s Upper East Side where the waiters glide spectrally fro table to table. He was wearing a starched button-down shirt and a blue blazer. Every strand of his thinning hair was in place, and he spoke calmly and slowly, his large pink Charlie Brow head bobbing along evenly as he did. Copaken spent many years as a partner at the white-shoe Washington, D.C., firm Covington & Burling, and he has a lawyer’s gravitas. One of his bes friends calls… Read more »

You’d think that by this point – 15 years into their career – people would know that SoCal punkers Guttermouth are all about the tongue-in-cheek fun. They are called “Guttermouth” after all. But that isn’t the case. Every time the band try to joke about anything it backfires. From issues with former record labels to lead singer Mark Adkins being deported out of Canada after a much-publicized exposure issue in Saskatoon years ago and now a to-do with the majority of left-wing punk rock bands and their anti-Bush stance, Guttermouth can’t win. It’s a situation made more perplexing by the… Read more »

Bucking trends has always been the main ethic of punk rock. Way back in the ‘70s when bands were releasing bloated, self-indulgent albums, punk music came swooshing in like a bandit and cut through the cheese like a razorblade. Aggressive, short and punchy, punk rock proved just how lame rock was getting. To that effect, New York old school hardcore heroes The Casualties are on the same page. These days, many ethical singers of dubious ability are honkifying themselves in order to get more purchase in the North American music market. Not The Casualties, though. They’re stepping back into their… Read more »

New York – Radio’s playlist liberation movement hatched in late 2001 at a birthday party in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A radio was blasting when Howard Kroeger, director of operations and programing for CHUM Broadcasting’s Winnipeg stations, arrived at his friend’s 40th-birthday bash. It was a competitor’s classic rock station, and Kroeger used the occasion to conduct an informal focus group among the partygoers, most in their mid- to late 30s. Whenever Boston, the Cars, Meatloaf, Supertramp or some other ’70s staple came on, it got an overwhelming thumbs-up from the Molson-enhanced crowd. But there was a noticeable lack of enthusiasm when… Read more »

New York power-pop combo Fountains of Wayne will give fans a musical travelogue of their near-decade together with the release of Out-of-State Plates. Due on June 28, the double-disc set contains a whopping 26 non-album tracks recorded at various stages during the band’s career. Intended to appeal to both die-hard fans and newbies snared by the hit “Stacy’s Mom,” the set is a motherlode of rarities and unreleased tracks; there are also five covers and two brand-new songs. The title might seem to continue the automotive theme that the band used on its last two albums, 1999’s Utopia Parkway and… Read more »

New York – Few musicians can boast the level of success that Billy Idol attained in the ’80s and early ’90s. Unfortunately, the “live hard and die young” punk rock ethos doesn’t come with a middle-age survival guide. “When you’re young you never think you’ll be a 50-year-old rocking out with the young bands,” Idol told The Associated Press. That’s exactly what Idol, 49, hopes to be doing next year. The pop-punk patriarch has just released “Devil’s Playground,” his first full-length album since 1993’s unremarkable “Cyberpunk.” With five million-sellers already under his belt, Idol hopes “Playground” will return him to… Read more »

If you thought digging deep in your wallet for some pricey U2 tickets guaranteed admittance to a career-spanning, greatest hits-style show – well, it may not be in the cards. The Irish superstars have been hiding out in Vancouver’s GM Place, rehearsing and readying to embark on their upcoming tour, but a fan website managed to get ahold of one of the band’s practice setlists and it’s largely composed of new material. Despite having more than two decades of musical goodness to draw from, the U2 rehearsal set heavily favoured their newer material. Of the 21 songs, seven came from… Read more »

The annual three-ring circus that is Ozzfest has become a perennial summer celebration of all things loud and abrasive over the last decade – and this summer’s lineup will not disappoint. Black Sabbath and British metal stalwarts Iron Maiden – who will be playing material exclusively from their first four albums – will share headlining duties, and they’ll be joined for the 26-city ride by Rob Zombie and a host of young metal bands, starting on July 15. Along with Sabbath, Maiden and Zombie, the main stage will also include Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and Ozzfest regulars Zakk Wylde’s Black… Read more »

New York – Rappers 50 Cent and former protege The Game are calling a truce. The Game has a foundation, Black Wall Street, which empowers the community through business development. 50 Cent said he’s launching a new foundation, G-Unity, to help people overcome obstacles. The two will donate to the Harlem Boys Choir and Compton Unified School District Music Program. “I realized that if I’m going to be effective at that, I have to overcome some of my own. Game and I need to set an example in the community,” 50 Cent said in a statement. It comes a week… Read more »

New York – There are several good reasons why Motley Crue didn’t play the halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl, and most of them were on display as the reunited ’80s rockers assaulted Madison Square Garden for the first time in 21 years. Having reigned as the Bad Boys of Rock ‘n’ Roll for most of the decade, the California quartet saw their decadence crown snatched away in the late ’80s by Axl Rose and Guns ‘N’ Roses. Motley’s own fortunes ebbed, the victim of substance abuse, supermodel divorces (drummer Tommy Lee managed to lose both Pamela Anderson and… Read more »