Search Results for: european

U.S. shock rocker Marilyn Manson is the target of a criminal inquiry in Switzerland, after a religious group made a formal complaint about his stage act. Zurich District Prosecutor Michael Scherrer told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the artist was under investigation for allegedly breaching Swiss law protecting religion as well as making incitements to violence during a concert in the city in February 2001. Manson – whose real name is Brian Warner – and his band members take their first names from pop culture icons and their surnames from famous serial killers. He also uses the sobriquet “Antichrist… Read more »

The Prince of Darkness is opening up about his dark past. In a candid interview appearing Monday in London’s Daily Mirror, Ozzy Osbourne revealed that he was molested as an 11-year-old schoolboy while growing up in the working-class city of Birmingham, England. “I was sexually abused when I was a kid,” the heavy-metal icon told the Mirror. “Two boys used to wait for me to come after school. Then they would f-k around with me. They didn’t f-k me, but they messed around with me. “They would force me to drop my pants and all that s-t. They felt me… Read more »

What do you get when you put a couple of pop-punk guys together with a few near-legendary dudes from New York’s underground hardcore scene? You get Hazen Street, a hard-edged but catchy, two-singer-fronted band that has become the first act to be signed to Benji and Joel Madden’s D.C. Flag imprint. The signing of Hazen Street is neither a leg up to a buddy band nor an attempt to cash in on a current trend. For the brothers who call Good Charlotte their day job, putting out the new supergroup’s debut is a chance to show some love to the… Read more »

Lots of pop stars who are huge in Europe never succeed in the United States, but judging by Thursday’s MTV Europe Music Awards, Europeans can’t seem to get enough of American idols. Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé Knowles and Christina Aguilera were the big winners at this year’s racy, profanity-laden EMAs, held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Eight of the 12 awards were presented to U.S. residents. Timberlake won three trophies: Best Album for Justified, Best Pop and Best Male. The Neptunes, who produced much of Justified,presented him with the latter, and after they gave him the statue of an “M” on a spring,… Read more »

Splinter, the eagerly-awaited new album from The Offspring, will be released by Columbia Records on Tuesday, December 9. The first single from Splinter, “Hit That,” is the #1 most added track at modern rock and rock formats this week. Splinter is The Offspring’s 7th album and is produced by Brendan O’Brien – who worked with The Offspring on Conspiracy Of One and has helmed projects by Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Rage Against The Machine, Korn, and many others – and features legendary drummer Josh Freese (the Vandals, A Perfect Circle) on each of the album’s 12 tracks. “After seven albums, it… Read more »

Bertelsmann AG and Sony Corp. announced a preliminary plan to merge their music businesses Thursday, setting the stage for a music company that would vie for world primacy with Universal Music Group. A merger of Sony Music Entertainment and Bertelsmann’s BMG, if it comes to pass, would bring together the world’s No. 2 and No. 5 music companies as the industry struggles with losses blamed on music piracy. The new company, to be called Sony BMG, would be equally owned by Sony and Bertelsmann and run by Andrew Lack, chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment. Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, the… Read more »

R.E.M. made unique chart history today with “In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988-2003” debuting at #8 and #16 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, the first time the same album debuts twice in the Top 20 in the same week. Released on October 28th, “In Time” is for sale as both a single compact disc and double CD featuring the same initial piece and a second disc with rarities and b-sides compiled by the band. The albums scanned 75,560 units and 51,163 units respectively with a cumulative total of 126,723 units according to Nielsen Soundscan which would put the… Read more »

International artists are joining MTV in a multimedia campaign to raise awareness of the impact of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The “46664” initiative takes its name from the prisoner number of former South African president Nelson Mandela when he was jailed under the apartheid regime in his country. Mandela is the figurehead of the new campaign. He was in London for the Oct. 21 launch of 46664, which will deliver a concert, CD and DVD and organize a global petition on AIDS. “AIDS today in Africa is claiming more lives than the sum total of all wars, famines… Read more »

For years, both onstage and on “The Osbournes,” we’ve witnessed legendary metal singer Ozzy Osbourne shake, stammer, stutter and shuffle around with a walk that grew increasingly hunched over and motor functions that only seemed to be getting worse. Speculation ran rampant. Were these maladies related to years of drug abuse dating back to the Black Sabbath days? Parkinson’s Disease? Muscular Dystrophy? The answer is, in fact, none of the above. Thanks to a Boston neurological specialist, Ozzy now knows the cause of the “shakes” that have plagued him for decades and with the help of a new medication, he’s… Read more »

What’s going on with *NSYNC these days? The members have spent the past year and a half doing their own projects-the most high-profile being Justin Timberlake’s solo album Justified. Earlier this year, Timberlake said *NSYNC would regroup and make a new album in 2004. However, he recently revealed that any reunion will have to wait until JC Chasez releases his own solo album. “I think we were anticipating JC’s solo record coming out a little bit earlier,” Timberlake said. “But I think he’s planning on releasing it some time around March. You know, I’ve heard a couple of tracks, and… Read more »