Search Results for: hard rock

Gotta hand it to Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz and company: The hardworking, blue-collar Midwestern pop-punkers-with-an-emo-attitude have gotten ever savvier and, dare I say, more mature with their songwriting and song-arranging. Consequently, “Folie a Deux,” (French for “madness shared by two”) may be one of the year’s most surprising albums. A tactfully produced (Neil Avron/Pharell Williams) affair that steers the Chicago-area band more toward the pop mainstream without sacrificing Fall Out Boy’s anthemic brashness, the band’s fifth album represents the zenith of its seven-year career. Some tracks — “I Don’t Care” with its “Spirit in the Sky” guitars and the zippy… Read more »

When Wal-Mart sold 784,000 copies of AC/DC’s ” Black Ice ” during the album’s first week in stores, many label executives believed that more superstars would release albums exclusively through big-box retailers. And when Best Buy experienced disappointing sales of Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy,” some of those same executives thought, well, maybe not. “Chinese Democracy” (Interscope), the rock act’s first album of all-new material in 17 years, sold 261,000 units in its first week of availability, according to Nielsen SoundScan That included sales at Best Buy, exclusive digital retailer iTunes and other stores selling import versions of the album.… Read more »

It was another brush-with-an-icon moment for the Killers : back in May of this year, joining Duran Duran – the first name in ’80s fashionista Britpop  – onstage, aptly in Las Vegas, to perform the vets’ chestnut “Planet Earth.” Brandon Flowers, resplendent as ever in a tux, looked like a young James Bond. And you know he had to have been stirred, if not a little bit shaken. There are no more unabashed Anglophiles among U.S. pop-rockers than the Killers. From day one, they have made that clear: They took their name from a New Order video, they’ve covered Joy… Read more »

The pressure had been building up behind the scenes for longer than most music fans realized. But when the teen-pop explosion burst onto the charts in early 1999 it felt like the music world had been blindsided overnight by a flood of squeaky-clean acts who would dominate the charts for years to come. And in some cases, those ripples are still being felt today. It’s hard to believe it now, but over the course of a few months between late 1998 and early 1999, radio and MTV were inundated with the debuts and breakthroughs from Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, ‘NSYNC,… Read more »

Quietdrive’s sophomore release Deliverance debuted last week at #1 on Billboard‘s Alternative New Artist Chart, beating out other releases by We The Kings, The Secret Machines, Ludo, Mayday Parade, Ra Ra Riot and Black Kids, among others. Deliverance is currently streaming in its entirety exclusively on Purevolume. Head over to www.purevolume.com/quietdrive to listen to the album now. Tour stalwarts hailing from Minneapolis, Quietdrive feels completely at home on the road which is where they’ll be spending most of their time promoting Deliverance. It’s the life they’ve dreamed of and it’s the life they can’t give up. Having played well over… Read more »

Could the return of Phish spark a revitalization of the jam-band scene? After splitting in 2004 with a muddy sendoff at its Coventry, Vermont, festival, Phish will re-school in the spring for a three-night run at one of its favorite venues, the Hampton (Virginia) Coliseum. The prospect of the March 6-8 shows has been greeted with unbridled glee by loyal Phish-heads. According to the band's Web site, there will be additional tour dates for guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, keyboardist Page McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman throughout 2009. To what extent the band will tour remains a mystery. Chip… Read more »

Start the countdown clock on MTV’s countdown era: “Total Request Live” will soon shut down after 10 years on the air. The music video show will conclude in a two-hour special on a Saturday afternoon in November, Dave Sirulnick, executive producer of “TRL,” said Monday. He stressed that the show wasn’t ending for good, but felt now was the right time to give it a break after an unprecedented run on the cable music channel. “We want to close this era of `TRL’ in a big celebratory way, and 10 is a great number,” Sirulnick said. “And 10 is the… Read more »

With his spiky mohawk, cluttered canvas of tattooed skin and punk rock pedigree stretching back to childhood, Travis Barker isn’t exactly pleading to be taken seriously as a hip-hop head. A former drummer for the multi-platinum-selling power pop trio Blink-182 who also has done turns behind the kit for rock outfits including the Aquabats, +44 and Box Car Racer, he boasts impeccable Warped Tour credentials and critical props as one of modern rock’s most exciting, exacting percussion players. But a funny thing happened when Barker posted a video of himself on YouTube last September drumming thunderously in time with Southern… Read more »

The biggest metalcore band in the land happens to be a Christian sextet that, for a second time, is primed to crash into the upper echelons of the Billboard  200. Underoath will on Tuesday release its fourth album, “Lost in the Sound of Separation.” It’s the follow-up to 2006’s  “Define the Great Line,” which debuted at No. 2 without any significant radio play or mainstream push; it has sold 366,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Instead of the typical avenues of exposure, the Florida band has relied on a fierce, two-pronged model of touring and  Internet… Read more »

Madonna kicks off her “Sticky & Sweet” world tour at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on Saturday, the latest test of her enduring appeal just a week after her 50th birthday. The “queen of pop” will be hoping to eclipse her last trot across the globe in 2006. “Confessions” became the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist, with ticket sales of $195 million. “Sticky & Sweet,” featuring hits that span nearly 30 years in pop music including her latest album “Hard Candy,” includes 49 dates and is due to wrap up in Sao Paulo on December 18. As of Thursday, roughly… Read more »