Search Results for: from first to last

People respond to music in different ways. Some nod their head to the beat. Others like to tear it up in the pit. Then there are those who demonstrate their enthusiasm in their own special way. Linkin Park encountered one such fan at Montreal’s Bell Centre, where they recently played as part of their Meteora World Tour. Guitarist Brad Delson remembers it as if it were yesterday. “There was a 400-pound man who I guess had become so exhilarated with the show that he had taken off all of his clothes and he was dry-humping the floor,” he recalls. “It… Read more »

Beyonce Knowles may be “Crazy in Love,” but she kept her cool Sunday at one of the more sober Grammy Awards shows in memory. She was the night’s big winner, taking home a record-tying five trophies to join recent Grammy queens Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones with the most wins in a single year by a female performer. OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below won Album of the Year, giving the eccentric Atlanta funk/rap group three wins, including Best Urban Alternative Performance and Best Rap Album. British band Coldplay took home the prize for Record of the Year for “Clocks,”… Read more »

Tower Records Inc. is singing a new tune: Chapter 11. The music and entertainment chain on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, burdened by too much debt and hammered by competition from large retailers, and Internet music downloading and piracy. The bankruptcy filings for Tower and its privately held parent, MTS Inc., cap a long period of distress for the money-losing chain of 93 stores, which sources say was unable to find a suitable buyer. MTS, based in West Sacramento, California, said its 3,100 employees, vendors and in-store and online customers will not notice operating changes because of the… Read more »

The Grammy RSVPs are in and it looks like the boobylicious Super Bowl tandem of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake are still on the guest list, but Luther Vandross will be MIA. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the group behind the Grammys, told E! Tuesday that “as of right now, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake are still on the Grammys. “If we took everyone who is controversial off the show, no one would perform.” The remark came in the wake of CBS affiliates asking the network to broadcast Sunday’s Grammy Awards on a slight delay in case… Read more »

Fresh off a stint on the Big Day Out tour of Australia and New Zealand, the Strokes have unveiled plans for a six-week spring outing in the United States, with an excursion to Mexico City. Dates get underway March 9 in Washington, D.C., and are confirmed through April 25 in Minneapolis, although Strokes manager Ryan Gentles told Billboard.com the tour is expected to run through May 19. Support acts have not yet been announced. The New York rock quintet is touring in support of its sophomore RCA album, “Room on Fire,” which debuted in October at No. 5 on The… Read more »

U.S. album sales rose 10.4 percent in the first month of 2004, Nielsen Soundscan reported, welcome news to the music industry after a three-year slump marked by costly litigation, rampant piracy and consolidation. The uptrend began late last year, a development hailed by Sanford Bernstein analyst Michael Nathanson in a recent report. But he said he was hesitant to say declines were over. Other analysts note that comparisons were easy with last year when U.S. album sales fell. But many saw signs the music business – led by big record labels at Time Warner, Bertelsmann AG, EMI Group Plc, Sony… Read more »

Among the latest performances announced for the 46th Annual GRAMMY(R) Awards telecast are Prince, The Black Eyed Peas with Justin Timberlake, and Beyonce; a special segment celebrating the 40th Anniversary of The Beatles’ first U.S. appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” featuring Sting, Dave Matthews, Vince Gill, and Pharrell Williams; and a tribute to late singer/songwriter Warren Zevon with Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, Timothy B. Schmit, Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam and Jorge Calderon, it was announced today by the Recording Academy(R). In addition, Britney Spears, Keith Urban, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, and Joshua Bell will make appearances as presenters. The… Read more »

For the humdrum New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers, putting on a show to match the glitz, glitter and star power of the rest of Super Bowl Sunday was no easy task. Typical of America’s biggest unofficial holiday, the game was only the icing on an over-the-top extravaganza. There was a gleaming new $450 million stadium to show off, a slew of pricey new ads, and Beyonce, Janet Jackson and P. Diddy to share the field. The biggest cliffhanger of the week wasn’t who would win, but whether Janet’s brother, Michael, would show up. He didn’t, but Justin Timberlake did,… Read more »

Youthful grunge-lite band the Calling call their new album Two for two reasons. First, it’s the group’s second record. More important, singer Alex Band and guitarist Aaron Kamin want fans to know the Calling are now, and always have been, a two-man band. That point was questioned in November, when former bassist Billy Mohler and drummer Nate Wood sued the group and its manager for fraud and mismanagement. The pair claimed they were owed significant song royalties and a merchandise percentage, and that they were only paid $26,000 each for two years’ touring, even though they’d been promised much more.… Read more »

You say you want a revolution? Well, you know – we all want to change the world. Except for Chris Colus. He’s the drummer for a reggae-roots-rock band, freshly signed to a major record label, and he’s trying to explain that band’s name, which is O.A.R. – Of A Revolution. “There’s no political motive,” the 25-year-old Rockville, MD native insists. “This is the music we’ve wanted to play, the music we wanted to hear – that’s a revolution for ourselves and our fans.” The “Of A Revolution” name actually comes from “The Wanderer,” a short story singer-guitarist Marc Roberge wrote… Read more »