Search Results for: paul mccartney

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 »

The publishing rights to most of the Beatles’ biggest hits are owned by one entity, a joint venture between the late Michael Jackson and the music arm of Sony Corp called Sony/ATV. Sony/ATV also owns the rights to songs written by Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Taylor Swift and, oh yes, the Jonas Brothers. But Sony/ATV does not handle the recordings of Beatles songs. Two other companies do that, so whether you’ll ever download “Come Together” off of iTunes has nothing to do with M.J.’s death. Jackson was, according to reports, mired in some truly epic financial drama. Even the value… Read more »

Pink has attacked Kanye West for his views on fur. The songstress says she was at Stella McCartney’s Paris fashion show in January sitting alongside the vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Paul McCartney when the rapper, also sitting in the same area, started complaining that more of the clothes needed fur. “Kanye West is the person p*ssing me off right now,” she said. “He just wouldn’t shut up about how he loved fur. I mean, he’s saying this to me, the PETA guy and Paul McCartney! I was just so grossed out by… Read more »

There’s a certain serendipity to Paramore’s opening slot on the upcoming and much-anticipated No Doubt return tour. Fans of the latter might remember the video for “Don’t Speak,” where No Doubt’s three male members look daggers at bejeweled frontwoman Gwen Stefani as they’re cropped out of a magazine shoot. A similar thing might have happened over the last two years to Paramore. The young Tennessee pop-punk quintet vaulted into the charts on the strength of such buoyant singles as “Misery Business,” the “Twilight” soundtrack cut “Decode” and their platinum-selling 2007 sophomore album “Riot!” But Paramore’s ochre-haired spitfire singer, 20-year-old Hayley… Read more »

For Taking Back Sunday, New Again is more than an album title, it’s a declaration. “We kicked around a bunch of different titles, but that one always remained the top of the list, and that’s because it really does feel like a new band,” vocalist Adam Lazzara said. Taking Back Sunday is not turning their collective back on what is already a storied past. The rejuvenated group is looking clearly to the here and now. “Leading up to this record we took the biggest break that we’ve taken since we started touring just to kind of learn how to be… Read more »

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder is hitting the road in June, lining up solo shows in six southern and eastern cities as well as three concerts in Hawaii. The 14-date trek starts June 8th in Albany, New York, and hits theaters in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Nashville, Memphis and Atlanta before wrapping up with shows in Maui and Honolulu from June 29th through July 2nd. Liam Finn, who was the opening act on Vedder’s inaugural solo tour last year, will return in that slot. Vedder performed alongside former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at a charity show in New York last… Read more »

This year’s transformation of the annual Grammy Awards nominations announcement into a full-blown prime-time TV special could help provide a badly needed boost in sales at a difficult time for the music industry. But the December 3 “Grammy Nominations Concert Live!” telecast on CBS fell short of being a ratings winner. The one-hour show finished fourth in its 9 p.m. time slot, averaging 7 million viewers, behind NBC’s “Life” with 8.1 million, Fox’s “Secret Millionaire” with 8.1 million and ABC’s “Private Practice” with 7.8 million, according to Nielsen Media Research The audience for the nominations special was also less than… Read more »

He had one of the biggest opening sales weeks of 2008, and now, Lil Wayne is the year’s most-nominated Grammy contender. Wayne and his latest LP, “Tha Carter III,” lead the pack with a total of eight nominations, while one of the year’s other biggest sellers, Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends,” garnered seven nods. Jay-Z, Ne-Yo and Kanye West each earned six nods, while Alison Krauss, John Mayer, Robert Plant, Radiohead and Jazmine Sullivan received five each. Adele is up for four – including Best New Artist – as are Lupe Fiasco and T.I. The… Read more »

LONDON —  A 97-year-old document that contains clues to the identity of Eleanor Rigby, the subject of one of the Beatles’ best-loved songs, sold for 115,000 pounds ($177,000) at auction on The total fell well short of high estimates of around 500,000 pounds for the piece of Beatles memorabilia. The money will go to the seller Annie Mawson and her charity the Sunbeams Music Trust (www.sunbeamsmusic.org), which uses music to help people with special needs. The manuscript is a salary register from Liverpool City Hospital and features the name and signature of E. Rigby, a scullery maid who has signed… Read more »

Coldplay sold 125,000 copies of its new album on the first day of release in Britain, a solid tally industry experts say should be music to the band’s ears and those of its ailing record label EMI. “Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends” now looks “certain” to top Sunday’s album chart, according to The Official Charts Company which tracks record sales, even though it was released on Thursday rather than at the start of the week. “Coldplay are an international act … and these sales figures in the UK are the first indication of how the album… Read more »