Search Results for: decade

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 »

You can’t get the question right. You’re fumbling for the right words but all you can hear are the lyrics to “Age of Consent” over and over and over again in your brain… It’s almost too easy to toss the word “influential” in front of a band to hype up its place in the pop-music pantheon. Few acts deserve it, and the word is so damn relative. But the culture mill spits out thousands of new bands each year and inevitably even the most wanly creative gets the “influential” stamp if it can hang in there long enough. So, then… Read more »

Los Angeles – California pop-punk trio Blink-182, famed for its practical jokes and disdain for clothing, has gone on “indefinite hiatus,” with no plans to work together again, its Geffen Records label said Tuesday. Singer-guitarist Tom DeLonge, singer-bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker want to “spend some time enjoying the fruits of their labors with loved ones” after a decade of working together nonstop, the statement added. “While there is no set plan for the band to begin working together again, no one knows what tomorrow may bring,” it said. San Diego-based Blink-182, cast in the same mold as… Read more »

Classic-rock fan George Petersen doesn’t need another copy of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” or Cream’s “Disraeli Gears.” He has spent the past four decades buying and re-buying his favorite music in a succession of new formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassette, compact disc, Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio. Enough is enough. The basement is full. “We as consumers have been trained by the music industry to go out and buy a new piece of plastic every few years,” said the 51-year-old Petersen, editorial director of Mix, a San Francisco-based magazine that covers professional sound recording. “Why do we keep buying… Read more »