Search Results for: pop punk

“It’s our most ambitious album to date,” says Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day’s forthcoming American Idiot, a concept record the trio has dubbed a “punk rock opera.” The sprawling thirteen-song album, due in September, tells the tales of such characters as “Saint Jimmy” and an unnamed female protagonist “Whatzhername” living in a heated political climate. “I wanted to try to find some human relationship throughout it,” Armstrong says. “A lot of it is coming from trying to have a relationship between different people and yourself, but being surrounded by total chaos… I didn’t want to make people feel like… Read more »

As Johnny Rotten once snarled, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” To the dismay of aging punk fans, a British television company announced Monday that the former Sex Pistols singer and angry punk icon – now known by his real name, John Lydonhas agreed to appear in the reality show “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” “I’m gobsmacked,” said Tony Wilson, a British journalist and music entrepreneur who knows Lydon. “I’m shocked, but I have faith… I’m sure he’s doing it for the right reasons.” Other punk fans were appalled. “The announcement made me feel instantly old….… Read more »

Irish punk rock legend Feargal Sharkey will head a survey to examine the state of live music in Britain, which was announced by the government on Tuesday. The number of live bands and appropriate venues has declined over the past few decades, according to the Musicians Union and other critics. Complex licensing laws have also made it hard for small venues to support grassroots live acts. Partially as a result, studio-manufactured pop bands have swamped the music charts, they say. Arts Minister Estelle Morris said the survey will kick-start the Live Music Forum, a new body which will examine new… Read more »

Madonna put some luster back into her lust by smooching Britney. Santana gained a fresh perspective with Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas. Now the bratty, lovable punks of Sum 41 could put Pop on pop radio. Rock legend Iggy Pop recruited Sum 41 for “Little Know It All,” the melodic, rambunctious first single from Skull Ring, due November 4 Iggy took a shine to Sum frontman Deryck Whibley right away when the two parties met at the recommendation of Pop’s A&R man. In addition to admiring Whibley’s talent, Iggy got a kick out of the Canadian rocker’s youthful zeal. “He’s a… Read more »

As Yellowcard’s 2003 Warped Tour commitment winds down (its East Coast-only stint ends Sunday (Aug. 10) in Asbury Park, N.J.), singer/guitarist Ryan Key tells Billboard.com the hardest adjustment for the band has been the repetition of travel. “It’s like ‘Groundhog Day,’ where you just kind of wake up and go outside and you are in another parking lot but next to the same bus you were yesterday,” says Key. “It is kind of like a dream that you never seem to wake up from. It’s cool.” With its Capitol Records debut, “Ocean Avenue,” having debuted this week at No. 99… Read more »

A Florida man has been arrested and charged with murder after DNA linked him to the death of rising punk-rock star Mia Zapata in 1993, police said Saturday. Seattle police said Jesus C. Mezquia, 48, was arrested late Friday in the Miami area. His DNA profile matched a sample taken from the crime scene more than nine years ago, police said. Zapata, the 27-year-old lead singer of The Gits, was last seen alive July 7, 1993, in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Her beaten body was left on a street curb more than a mile away. She had been strangled with… Read more »

Rock ‘n’ roll has turned music fans into rebels. Not only are they pirating tunes on the Internet rather than paying upwards of $20 for a compact disc, they are also increasingly reluctant to fork out for costly concert tickets. A survey of the North American concert industry by trade publication Pollstar showed the top 50 acts sold a combined 10.6 million tickets in the first half of the year, down about three percent from the year-ago period (10.9 million tickets) and off 18 percent from 2000 (12.9 million tickets). The average ticket price for those top 50 tours rose… Read more »

So you’re too young to be sweatin’ to the oldies with Richard Simmons. And with musical tastes that lean closer to the Buzzcocks than Britney, you’ll feel a bit dorky getting your body started with the Pink-inspired Bally Total Fitness Center cardio-workout. The beach season is creeping up faster than you can say “Gabba Gabba Hey,” so what’s a self-respecting rocker who wants to get toned to good tunes gonna do? If said rocker can get their flabby butt to Boston or New York, they can shed their spare tire to the sounds of the Sex Pistols, the Stranglers and… Read more »

The thin line between pop and punk just got thinner. Green Day, Blink-182 and Sum41 have long charmed the “TRL” audience with their pop hooks and eye candy videos, but now there’s a new crop of punk bands going after pop fans a little more directly. OK, a lot more. On Punk Goes Pop, released last month on Fearless Records, several up-and-coming punk bands cover hits from the cream of the pop star crop. Further Seems Forever speeds up ‘NSYNC’s “Bye, Bye, Bye,” Stretch Arm Strong gives Pink’s “Get the Party Started” a hardcore makeover, and the Starting Line turn… Read more »

Swedish punk export The Hives, who have stormed the British singles chart this year, are spreading their infectious thrashy sound to the United States, their label, Burningheart Records, said Friday. Along with retro-punk contemporaries The Strokes and the White Stripes, the Swedish rebels have swept onto the British alternative scene this spring with their apoplectic stage show and shiny white dancing shoes. “An offer came from Warner Brothers and Sire, which we’ve accepted,” Mudda of Burningheart told Reuters. “It’s a distribution, promotion and marketing agreement and they’ll start touring the States in May.” The Hives emerged from the small industrial… Read more »