Search Results for: the dangerous summer

When Britney Spears fell down during a video shoot for “Outrageous” earlier this month, the impact was immediate. Her fall has set off a chain of events that’s resulted in the cancellation of her summer tour – something insiders are estimating will cost her as much as $1 million a week in lost revenue from ticket and merchandise sales. But what of the fall itself? Still pictures from paparazzi showed a play-by-play of the incident but failed to capture the essence of the moment – the onset of injury, the expression on the singer’s face, her puzzled dancers’ reactions as… Read more »

JUST days after the European launch of Apple Computers’ online music store, a chorus of customers are voicing their complaints. The lack of songs from artists on independent record labels – which account for a quarter of the UK market – has left iTunes looking like a poorly-stocked American import store, lacking local talent such as Travis and Franz Ferdinand. “Most Scottish acts are on independent labels,” says Alison Wenham, chairman and chief executive of the Association of Independent Music (AIM), which represents the majority of the UK’s indie labels. “Celtic acts typically start off very strong in their home… Read more »

Swedish rockers the Hives will bring their buzzy brand of garage rock back to the U.S. this summer. The group – frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, guitarists Nicholas Arson and Vigilante Carlstroem, drummer Chris Dangerous and bassist Dr. Matt Destruction – kicks off a thirteen-date tour on July 20th in Washington, D.C. That same day, the Hives will release the as-yet-untitled follow-up to their 2001 breakthrough Veni Vidi Vicious. “It’s a little bit different,” Almqvist told Rolling Stone of the group’s third album. “But the theme of the record is that we have more restraint in the rhythm section – sort… Read more »

Kurt Cobain and his band, Nirvana, spent only three years in the public eye, and they released only three studio albums. But what he accomplished before committing suicide 10 years ago Monday at age 27 – deciding it was “better to burn out than fade away,” as he quoted Neil Young in his suicide note – was remarkable. Beneath this bridge above the muddy banks of the Wishkah River, a troubled young Cobain would come to escape his unhappy home and the persistent gray drizzle of the Washington coast. Among the cracking concrete supports, he would smoke pot and drink… Read more »

In what looks like the first big heavyweight arena tour of the year, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott are joining forces for what promises to be a sizzling, sassy bill. Beyoncé and Keys will co-headline the monthlong springtime trek. According to a schedule provided by Keys’ representatives, the tour starts in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on March 12 and wraps up on April 18 in Oakland, California. Label representatives said some of the dates could change. Talk of the three pop stars getting together has been circulating for the past few weeks. For Alicia and Beyoncé, it’ll be the first… Read more »

From rampaging bikers at the Rolling Stones’ infamous Altamont show in 1969 to deadly stampedes by fans of the Who and Pearl Jam, the most notorious rock concert tragedies have generally been linked to the biggest names in the business. That is, until Great White took the stage of a tiny Rhode Island nightclub Thursday night. The heavy metal “hair” band, which reached the brief apex of its career in the 1980s, will now be forever remembered for a devastating fire that stands in a class by itself as the deadliest episode in the annals of rock ‘n’ roll mayhem.… Read more »

Pelle Almqvist never could understand the connection between loud guitars and being miserable. You’re up on a stage jumping around, making a loud noise with women adoringly gazing at you. What’s not to like? “It’s just such a naturally exciting and fun thing,” said Almqvist, lead singer of the Swedish rock band the Hives. Acts like the Hives, White Stripes, the Strokes and the Vines are leading a new vanguard with a raw, adrenalized sound best described as garage rock. And after a decade dominated by dense, morose grunge or the angry rants of Limp Bizkit and its sound-alikes, rock… Read more »

For certain punks, there was no Bad Religion from 1996 through 2001. During that dark period, co-songwriter Brett Gurewitz split the seminal act he co-created with his pals in high school. He was disenchanted with the band’s major-label deal (at Atlantic), overwhelmed by the sudden hugeness of Epitaph – the label he founded to release Bad Religion records and eventually home to Rancid and the Offspring – and increasingly strung out on smack. The band would release two albums in his absence, both guided solely by the vision of Gurewitz’s estranged collaborator, Greg Graffin. Both records – 1996’s Gray Race… Read more »

Janet Jackson is calling it her “All For You” tour, but the pop diva may have trouble convincing thousands of Canadian fans that it’s all for them. The day before she was due to open her world tour in Vancouver, British Columbia, Jackson and her managers decided to postpone Thursday night’s show until Monday, July 9, blaming the late arrival of stage equipment for the abrupt schedule change. As a result, Jackson’s tour will kick off Saturday, July 7, in Portland, Ore., and a planned July 10 stop in Edmonton, Alberta, will be canceled altogether, organizers said. “This production is… Read more »