Search Results for: sting

“American Idol” Ruben Studdard is lucky he has a healthy ego. Not only is “Idol” runner-up Clay Aiken beating the champ on the Billboard singles charts, but on the fifth stop of the “Idol” summer tour, the spiky-haired crooner proved that he’s winning the battle for the hearts and minds of “Idol” fans across the country. Even before the nine “Idol” finalists took the stage at U.S. Bank Arena Sunday night to perform a nearly two-and-a-half-hour medley of covers, the mere sight of Clay’s face on the two Jumbotron screens flanking the massive neon ballroom set was enough to elicit… Read more »

Simple Plan, the Donnas and Bowling For Soup are among the acts that have contributed songs to the “Freaky Friday” soundtrack, due July 29 on Hollywood Records. The soundtrack features several cover songs: Simple Plan’s remake of the Turtles’ hit “Happy Together,” Bowling For Soup’s rendition of Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time,” pop/rock band Lillix’s cover of the Romantics’ “What I Like About You” and the late Joey Ramone’s version of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” The Donnas offer the previously unreleased track “Backstage.” Other acts on the album include American Hi-Fi, Andrew W.K. and Diffuser. Walt Disney… Read more »

Eminem recently received praise from an unlikely source: Nobel Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney, according to the NME.com. Heaney praised the controversial rapper for his “verbal energy.” When asked if there was someone in popular culture who aroused interest in poetry and lyrics like Bob Dylan and John Lennon, Heaney told the BBC, “There is a guy Eminem. He has created a sense of what is possible. He has sent a voltage around a generation. He has done this not just through his subversive attitude but also his verbal energy.” In related news, Eminem’s ex-wife Kim Mathers was released on… Read more »

Smash Mouth offered up the first public performance of its new single, “You Are My No. 1,” and several other cuts from its upcoming Interscope album, “Get the Picture,” at a concert Saturday near Charlottesville, Va. The set is due Aug. 5. The band’s appearance was the culmination of a three-day event called Camp Jeep 2003. Smash Mouth has promised the single, released to radio last week, to Jeep parent company DaimlerChrysler for use in an upcoming sales campaign, and placed a Jeep in its video for the song. It will be the second time a Smash Mouth tune has… Read more »

Smash Mouth offered up the first public performance of its new single, “You Are My No. 1,” and several other cuts from its upcoming Interscope album, “Get the Picture,” at a concert Saturday near Charlottesville, Va. The set is due Aug. 5. The band’s appearance was the culmination of a three-day event called Camp Jeep 2003. Smash Mouth has promised the single, released to radio last week, to Jeep parent company DaimlerChrysler for use in an upcoming sales campaign, and placed a Jeep in its video for the song. It will be the second time a Smash Mouth tune has… Read more »

A man has been charged with demanding $25,000 from rapper Lil’ Kim to return a necklace that went missing from her luggage at the airport. John Acheson of New Rochelle was charged with attempted grand larceny, attempted grand larceny by extortion and attempted coercion, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement Monday. The 31-year-old was being held Monday pending arraignment, the DA said, and was unavailable for comment. There was no home telephone listing for Acheson, who could face up to four years in prison if convicted. Lil’ Kim, whose real name is Kimberly Jones, was heading to… Read more »

Ozzy crooned, mooned and squirted his water guns, Disturbed bellowed, and Marilyn Manson vamped it up, but Ozzfest has always been just as much about the lesser-known acts, and Sunday’s show was no exception. Though bands like Kilgore, Pushmonkey and the perhaps aptly named No One have proven that Ozzfest exposure alone won’t make you famous, second-stage alumni System of a Down and Slipknot can attest that it certainly doesn’t hurt. Killswitch Engage’s potential spot in the Slipknot category seemed all but assured even before they appeared at Dallas’ Smirnoff Music Centre. Even though it was only the second show… Read more »

MxPx will release Before Everything and After, their first album in three years, on August 19th. The album has been delayed twice before: first because of mastering issues, and a second time while the band changed the sequencing. “It’s Metallica time,” jokes drummer Yuri Ruley about the extended gap between records. “We’ve put out thirteen brand new recordings since our last full release,” frontman Mike Herrera explains. “That’s almost a full album.” The Renaissance EP included nine of those songs, two more new tunes were added to the greatest hits collection Ten Years and Running and two were on a… Read more »

Although the Backstreet Boys won’t be delivering a new album anytime soon, four members of the boy band are preparing solo LPs – making four of the five Boys their own man. “It’s important to point out that the group has not disbanded,” said Brian Littrell’s attorney, Jordan Keller. “They certainly intend to record as a group in the future, they just don’t know when”. Of the four members venturing out on their own, two have had solo projects in the past – Nick Carter released his first solo record, Now or Never, last year, while A.J. McLean had a… Read more »

Party metal evangelist Andrew W.K. will release his second album, The Wolf, on September 9th. The singer settled on the the title after meeting resistance from retailers to the record’s original title, “Blow Your Bone.” W.K. recorded the twelve-track set, the follow-up to his 2000 debut I Get Wet, in New York this winter. “There could be as many as a hundred tracks on each song, all kinds of keyboards,” he said at the time, and he made good on the threat. The songs on The Wolf, even more than Wet’s hedonistic anthems, are stacked with Journey-like layers of soaring… Read more »