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In early 1984, when Epic Records executives presented their slate of upcoming releases at the convention in Hawaii of parent company CBS Records they couldn’t resist playing up the success they were experiencing. So between the pitches for new albums, Epic inserted stock footage of semi trucks and a voice-over that thunderously announced, “There goes another load of Michael Jackson’s Thriller albums!” Trucks weren’t really leaving the warehouse every few minutes, but Thriller was still shattering expectations more than a year after its November 30, 1982, release. Epic was selling more than 1 million copies per month in the United… Read more »

“American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert has told Rolling Stone magazine he is gay, answering a question that followed the singer for months since he gained millions of fans on the No. 1 U.S. TV talent show. “I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay,” Lambert told the music magazine in excerpts from an interview that were released on Tuesday. “I’m proud of my sexuality,” he added. “I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.” The issue with Lambert on the cover hits newsstands this Friday, with the full interview inside. During his… Read more »

Kanye West is back in the lab, and there’s only word to describe his new rhymes: “awes-mazing” (that’s supposedly a cross between awesome and amazing). “I kill that rap sh–, that’s what I do,” West said of his upcoming opus. “Lyrics right now, they’re awes-mazing. They’re basically untouchable. I’m about to take it to a whole ‘nother level. I’d be scared if I was not me.” Kanye said he is always making an album, because he comes up with lyrics just by having conversations with people. He still does not write his rhymes down and has not in six years.… Read more »

As Internet reports suggested, Pearl Jam was indeed recording a Target commercial under the direction of Cameron Crowe last week at Seattle’s Showbox theater. But there is more to the story than an exclusive retail relationship. It has been known that Pearl Jam is no longer under contract after 18 years of recording for Sony-affiliated labels, and there has been a good deal of speculation about who would release the rock act’s next album. Kelly Curtis, who has managed Pearl Jam since its inception, conducted a wide-ranging interview Sunday night, confirming that the band’s next album — rumored to be… Read more »

It is one if its biggest songs, the one that put it on the map and got it to where it is today. But on its new album, Paramore is looking to put “Misery Business” behind it. Looking back, lead singer Hayley Wiliams said that the song provided a much needed catharsis. That release, she said, paved the way for Paramore to complete work on its new album. “‘Misery Business’ was a big step for me, because it was sort of an embarrassing, vengeful emotion, and I just felt really bratty. And it was good for me to get out,”… Read more »

Green Day is continuing their march to an inevitable Number One album, setting up rock-opera shop at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom on May 18th for the East Coast live debut of 21st Century Breakdown. The band’s Bay Area guerilla gigs in April all featured the record in its entirety. But at the Bowery, Green Day played a pocket-jukebox edition of the album, starting with the opening title track and the first single, “Know Your Enemy.” Then the new six-piece band – with singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool assisted on guitars, keyboards and extra… Read more »

“As individuals, we’re misfits,” says Fergie, the sultry female singer of the Black Eyed Peas “Together, we’re like one big misfit. People are always questioning who the hell we are.” It is the day after the group’s May 6th performance, on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Chilling out in a small, sparsely furnished room at Center Staging in Burbank, California, she and fellow members of the multiracial group resemble a live version of a United Colors of Benetton ad. Fergie is dressed in black-and-white capri-length leggings set off by a hot pink shirt and a sharp pair of black ankle-strapped heels… Read more »

Kanye West and his Caps Lock button were back in action on the rapper’s blog yesterday in a post about the role of celebrity photographers. Just days after pleading not guilty to charges of assaulting a TMZ photographer, West applauded the skills of one paparazzo and compared some of music’s biggest names with superstars of another era in an effort to prove a point. Kanye was inspired by a candid photo of Rihanna, the muse of his new 808s & Heartbreak video “Paranoid,” as she was stepping into a yellow cab in New York City. “ Yo why can’t all… Read more »

No matter who is crowned the next American Idol on Wednesday night, season eight has already been one for the books. After a wild five months that has included emotional breakdowns from near-finalists, a comedian/singer who almost crashed the top 13 with his over-the-top shtick, the first top 13, a wild card round, a judges’ save and some serious bickering in the expanded judging panel, you’d think that whatever happens on the finale would be anticlimactic. But thanks to the surprise exit of early favorite Danny Gokey last week, tonight’s sing-off between Kris Allen and Adam Lambert has injected some… Read more »