Search Results for: pop will eat itself

Newly installed VH1 toppers Brian Graden and Christina Norman are moving quickly to put their stamp on the struggling music cable network, greenlighting an aggressive fall slate of series and specials aimed at building on the channel’s still-strong retro music brand. VH1 is also beefing up its “Movies That Rock” franchise, snagging the broadcast premiere of the Oscar-winning “Moulin Rouge” and several other theatricals. And rather than simply repurposing other networks’ music specials, Graden wants VH1 to sign A-level talent for original concert specials. The flurry of activity comes barely three months after Graden was named entertainment president of the… Read more »

Rush drummer-lyricist Neil Peart hasn’t been giving interviews to promote the Canadian trio’s new album, Vapor Trails, because he doesn’t want to talk about the deaths of his wife and daughter, which sent the band into a five-year hiatus. However, he has issued a three-page statement via Universal Records Canada in which he talks about the record. Of the title, Peart writes: “A unifying theme sometimes appears in the collected songs and suggests an overall title, like Counterparts or Power Windows; other times a particular song seems emblematic, like Test For Echo or Roll The Bones. Neither approach seemed right… Read more »

“Let’s just say the doctors know more about me than I know about me,” Lance Bass told reporters convened for a press conference at Moscow’s Savoy Hotel. For the last four months, the ‘NSYNC star has endured a battery of physical examinations in the pursuit of becoming the next civilian in space. On Friday (May 31), he announced that he’d finally passed the medical component of qualifying for a seat on a Russian rocket mission this fall. “With such a thorough physical, you’re going to find things that you might need to take care of,” Bass said, explaining an outpatient… Read more »

The Detroit Electronic Music Festival drew more than 1 million people in each of its first two years. This year, organizers are emphasizing a wider variety of performers – and wondering why techno, which is hugely popular in Europe, is less well-received in the United States. The lineup of nearly 70 performers represents a blend of urban music, and includes Parliament Funkadelic’s George Clinton and the Los Angeles-based hip-hop trio Dilated Peoples. The three-day festival starts Saturday. “What we’re seeing now is a combination between hip-hop music and electronic music, and I think the Detroit festival is capitalizing on that,”… Read more »

The people who tried to take away your VCR are at it again. Hollywood has always dreamed of a “well-mannered marketplace” where the only technologies that you can buy are those that do not disrupt its business. Acting through legislators who dance to Hollywood’s tune, the movie studios are racing to lock away the flexible, general-purpose technology that has given us a century of unparalelled prosperity and innovation. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed the “Content Protection Status Report” with the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, laying out its plan to remake the technology world to suit its… Read more »

Even a fortune teller couldn’t have predicted the diverse range of guest talent that will appear on Third Eye Blind’s third album, Crystal Baller, which the band hopes will be ready for release by October. Of the 12 or so songs on the record – the group currently has 26 nearly completed tunes from which to choose – at least three will feature cameos. Limp Bizkit main man Fred Durst co-wrote and will play guitar on “Misfits,” party-meister Andrew W.K. will provide back-up vocals on “Messed Up Kid” and Kimya Dawson from the Moldy Peaches will sing on “Self Righteous.”… Read more »

Elvis Costello and his band, the Imposters, were nearing the end of a rousing, rocking set at a Manhattan club when the audience’s attention began to wander. As he started his final encore, the chilling tale of a jilted sociopath, “I Want You,” loud conversations and laughter could be heard from the Bowery Ballroom bar. Costello didn’t say anything, or even look annoyed. Instead, a malice-filled reading of the song did the work for him. The music quieted to a whisperlike level as Costello stepped away from the microphone to shout the line, “Did you call my name out as… Read more »

Quarashi, the radical hip-hop/punk quartet that’s smashing the musical stereotypes of the group’s native Iceland, embark on the band’s first major American tour as part of the hotly-anticipated Van’s Warped Tour ’02, kicking at the Idaho Center in Boise on June 21 (full itinerary follows). Picked as one of Spin’s “Bands to Watch in 2002,” Quarashi is currently enjoying the breakout success of “Stick ‘Em Up,” the first single to be released from the group’s debut U.S. album Jinx. A #1 Most Added record at Alternative Radio, “Stick ‘Em Up” can be seen and heard scorching the airwaves on MTV… Read more »

Hollywood legend Robert de Niro and British rock giants Queen have promised “We Will Rock You” when their futuristic new musical packed with the band’s greatest hits opens in London this week. De Niro teamed up with Queen’s surviving band members and British comedian Ben Elton to produce the $10.7 million show named after one of the supergroup’s best known anthems and set in a futuristic world where musical instruments are banned. “I think it is going to be terrific,” De Niro told reporters in the run-up to Tuesday’s premiere in London’s West End. The star, best known for his… Read more »

Songstress Sheryl Crow is on track to be the highest debut performance when the latest pop album charts are released Wednesday, challenging reigning Universal Music labelmate Ashanti for the top spot. But Crow’s latest effort, “C’mon C’mon,” her first studio release since the platinum “Globe Sessions” four years ago, also leads a sizable roster of artists bowing this month that have had a rocky history with the rapidly consolidating major-label system. Crow herself was one of several artists to question her future with Universal Music after the label giant acquired her alma mater, A&M Records. While the star and her… Read more »