Search Results for: madonna

The only person who gets to poke fun at Eminem is…himself? That’s the word from Weird Al Yankovic who, despite gaining permission from the rap superstar to parody his hit “Lose Yourself” in a tune called “Couch Potato,” couldn’t convince his Em-inence to let Yankovic do the same in a music video. One would think the hip-hopster would stand up and oblige a comedian who’s made a career out of satirizing the likes of Michael Jackson (“Eat It,” “I’m Fat,”), Madonna (“Like a Surgeon”), Nirvana (“Smells Like Nirvana”) and Coolio (“Amish Paradise”), but the answer was an unequivocal no. While… Read more »

AOL Time Warner and Bertelsmann are in talks to merge their music companies, a published report today said. The Wall Street Journal said if the two were to combine, the new venture would rival industry leader Vivendi Universal, with a roster including Madonna and Christina Aguilera. The report notes that an actual merger agreement is far from certain. Sources said the media giants are discussing a transaction that would have each company owning half of the new entity.

Nearly two years after it sued Napster into submission, the recording industry has discovered it’s not enough to try to beat Internet music purveyors whose digital distribution techniques allow copyright violations. It also has to join them. To discourage piracy, the multibillion-dollar industry has in recent months moved beyond lawsuits against file-swapping services. It has employed hacker tactics to flood such sites with bogus files and even taken to suing students who created mini-Napsters on college networks. At the same time, however, the music labels have finally embraced the very online distribution model many had long resisted, one that analysts… Read more »

Sire Records, the label that introduced the world to Madonna, Talking Heads and the Ramones, is being resurrected and will officially rejoin the Warner Bros. Records family of labels. Label founder Seymour Stein’s first signing under the new deal is the Von Bondies. Also on the Sire roster are Morcheeba, Guster, the Distillers, Hot Hot Heat, Less Than Jake and the Hives (through a joint venture with Burning Heart/Epitaph). When Roger Ames was named chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group in 1999, Ames’ London Records was merged with Sire Records to create London-Sire. That label closed its doors in… Read more »

Clad in skimpy tank tops, teenage pop stars Lena and Yulia giggle and clasp hands on a Russian television talk show as their hit music video is played for a studio audience. The camera pans over the audience, lingering on a Russian Orthodox priest who grimaces and crosses himself when the video shows the girls kissing. The pop duo Tatu – Russian slang for “This girl (loves) that girl” – has long been causing a sensation at home. But now that the teenagers are also climbing charts around the world, their scanty schoolgirl uniforms, flirtations with lesbianism and in-your-face sexuality… Read more »

If the variety of producers she’s working with is any indication, Britney Spears’ next record will be her most adventurous yet. Sure, mainstays Rodney Jerkins and the Neptunes are again logging time with the pop princess, but she has also recorded with Ashanti producer 7 Aurelius and the Matrix, the production team behind Avril Lavigne’s hit singles. And don’t forget Fred Durst. Both 7, who also worked on the latest Tupac album, and the Matrix have done three tracks with Spears and are hoping to do more. “I’m doing something for her, something really ridiculous. [A] record I’m going to… Read more »

Celebrity photographer Herb Ritts, who directed videos for Madonna, ‘NSYNC, Britney Spears and others, died Thursday morning of complications from pneumonia. He was 50. In March, Ritts worked with Shakira on the video for “Underneath Your Clothes,” and last year he was responsible for the desolate apartment visuals in ‘NSYNC’s heartbroken “Gone,” the saucy bounce of Jennifer Lopez’s “Ain’t It Funny” and the sandy, sexy beach scenery in Britney’s “Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know.” Two of Ritts’ other well-known videos similarly boasted a skillful blend of sand and sex appeal – Madonna’s “Cherish” and Chris Isaak’s breakthrough… Read more »

The soft drink’s slogan may be the “Joy of Pepsi,” but there’s no joy for Britney Spears, whose contract has not been renewed by the cola giant. Pepsi has now signed on Destiny’s Child star Beyonce Knowles for commercials. Pepsi announced it signed Knowles for her star power in both music and movies. This summer, she made her film debut in Austin Powers In Goldmember and will appear in the upcoming movie The Fighting Temptations. The Destiny’s Child frontwoman will appear in two TV commercials for the cola company as part of a new campaign that also will include radio… Read more »

Kelly Osbourne proved she’s every bit her father’s daughter at her first full-fledged concert on Tuesday. Any questions about her authenticity – that recording her album, Shut Up, was simply the easiest way to boost her celebrity – were wiped away soon after she emerged beneath a giant pink neon sign that read “Kelly Osbourne,” visibly moved at the enthusiastic applause. Unlike her previous live performances – at a radio-sponsored festival and a “Tonight Show” gig – on Tuesday the crowd was all hers (the “I love you, Kelly” cries might have given it away), and she grabbed the reins… Read more »

“The Osbournes” becomes a reality show in the bleakest sense this season, as Ozzy and the kids cope with matriarch Sharon Osbourne’s colon cancer. Yet as the second batch of episodes begins Tuesday, MTV also is trying to maintain the wackiness that made the series the network’s biggest hit. The heavy-metal rocker, his wife and two of their three children are very different people than they were when they opened their home to us a year ago – and opened the floodgates to a slew of copycats. They still spew plenty of profanities for the censors to bleep out. And… Read more »