Search Results for: from first to last

In between bites of a Cobb salad at New York’s Tribeca Grand Hotel, Gwen Stefani is explaining why No Doubt is going on tour for the first time in five years without a new album to promote. “Honestly, it’s procrastination,” she says with a sigh. “My plan was to get pregnant and write a record, but instead of writing, I just ate all the time.” Stefani laughs as she pops a tomato in her mouth. “Writing is always really hard for me – I hate it and hate it and then I do it, and I’m happy it’s done,” she… Read more »

The 2006 suicide of Megan Meier, which came after the girl was harassed online, spurred a flurry of new state laws aimed at cracking down on “cyber-bullying.” Now some members of Congress are pushing for a federal law against the practice. The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act was first introduced last year. But it died in committee. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., introduced the measure again last month and says she believes she has enough support to make the bill law. “Schoolyard bullies – at least when you went home for the day, you could escape that,” Sanchez… Read more »

The early word on Green Day‘s 21st Century Breakdown is that the album somehow marks a seismic shift for the band, and with its windmilled guitars, climbing musical interludes and piano-driven ballads, it’s not difficult to see why. “Oh yeah, that’s ground zero for us,” frontman Billie Joe Armstrong smiled. “Coming from Gilman Street, we saw the most creative people I’ve ever seen in my life. There was a band called Schlong, and they did ‘West Side Story,’ and they called it ‘Punk Side Story.’ And then there’s bands like NoMeansNo, [who made] a record like Wrong that’s completely insane.… Read more »

Las Vegas rock band the Killers, in the middle of a world tour to promote their third album, plan to release a live DVD later this year. “We’re working on some ideas for what will be our first DVD,” drummer Ronnie Vannucci said. “We’ve been kind of hounded about it for a while, and haven’t really thought we were due for it yet, but I think it’s time. I think we’re approaching the moment of DVD mass hysteria.” That’s not all the band is currently working on. In addition to tinkering around with songwriting ideas for its next Christmas single,… Read more »

A month and a half after their eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, is released, Green Day will hit the road for their first tour in three years, according to the band’s reps. The North American trek kicks off July 3rd in Seattle and heads to Canada. The 38-date journey wraps August 25th in Los Angeles. The band hasn’t announced any venues yet, but when Rolling Stone first listened to Breakdown, we reported the band was looking to book indoor arenas rather than amphitheatres. Rolling Stone’s David Fricke reported from one of the band’s warm-up gigs in California last week,… Read more »

NEW YORK —  Green Day will appear at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on May 18, just three days after the release of the band’s hotly anticipated eighth studio album, “21st Century Breakdown,” MTV reports. The small club show is a rarity for the band, whose last album, 2004’s “American Idiot” sold more than 12 million copies. But the group has done some guerilla-style gigs in its hometown of San Francisco this past week, including a show at the 500-capacity DNA Lounge According to the New York Times’ ArtsBeat blog, the band played “21st Century Breakdown” in its entirety before running… Read more »

Yahoo Inc. is partnering with other online music providers as the Internet giant tries a fresh approach to getting an edge in the evolving digital music business. The new version of Yahoo Music unveiled on Monday, aggregates paid and free music services available on the Internet, allowing Yahoo users to access and interact with the services directly from the Yahoo site. Yahoo has struck commercial relationships with digital music retailers like Apple Inc.’s, collecting a fee for every referral, the company said. The move comes a little over a year after Yahoo announced it was shuttering its own paid-music service,… Read more »

LILONGWE, Malawi — Wealthy, famous, fabulous at 50 – but not a mother of four. Pop star extraordinaire Madonna lost a bid Friday to adopt a second child from Malawi rejected by a judge who said she would not bend the country’s strict residency rules even for a wealthy celebrity. The decision came as a surprise since Malawi’s child welfare minister came out Thursday in support of the singer’s application to adopt 3-year-old Chifundo “Mercy” James. And it was a rare setback for the material girl who has projected an image of being able to attain whatever she sets her… Read more »

Lady GaGa has become the first artist in nearly 10 years to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with her first two singles, a feat not even Madonna has accomplished. “Poker Face” knocked Flo Rida’s “Right Round” out of the top spot, after spending six weeks at number one. GaGa previously led the chart for three weeks in January with “Just Dance.” The last artist to splash onto the scene with a pair of number-one hits was Christina Aguilera, who debuted with “Genie in a Bottle” in 1999 and “What a Girl Wants” in 2000. GaGa already has… Read more »

Over the last few decades, a veteran music act’s best shot at platinum magic usually consisted of pairing up with younger hitmakers (a la Santana) or covering treasured classics (like Rod Stewart. These days, another kind of vehicle has become a path to best-selling success – teaming up with box store chains. Garth Brooks ‘ started the trend in earnest back in 2005, with an exclusive Wal-Mart deal, and the Eagles and AC/DC had multiplatinum-plus success over the last two years by exclusively selling new CDs at Wal-Mart. Guns ‘N Roses sold about a million copies with a special Best… Read more »