Search Results for: the summer set

VH1 has removed a Mariah Carey-mocking segment of its My Music Awards rebroadcast. According to the network, the editing decision was made because of re-airing time constraints, but the show’s producer and the segment’s writer cite pressure from Carey’s representatives as the reason. The awards show – which took place Sunday, December 2nd, at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium – included writer/comedian (and former Daily Show correspondent) Brian Unger’s “Music 2001: What The Hell Was That?” interludes, in which he lampooned Carey, as well as Michael Jackson, Marlon Brando, Wayne Newton and others. Unger’s Carey cracks targeted a July 19, 2001… Read more »

You’d think that after spending half the year sweltering under masks and heavy jumpsuits, the members of Slipknot would use their time off to cool down. The wild Iowans aren’t exactly known to be sedentary creatures, however. Not only are a few of the guys working on side projects and solo endeavors, but the nine-headed hydra of hard are also on their way to becoming industry moguls. Maggot Recordings, which takes its name from the term of endearment classifying the band’s fans, has signed its first act, Downthesun. The sextet is led by two vocalists, one of whom, Satone Stevens,… Read more »

A group of Phish fans has donated over $170,000 to fund music education for children, including eight new grants this week that benefit low-income, minority, and gifted children from California to Connecticut and Kentucky to Kosovo. The funds will bring new instruments, instructors, curricula, and professional development for teachers to a wide range of settings and musical genres. The funds come from sales of the 928-page Phish Companion and the double-CD Phish tribute Sharin’ in the Groove. Each was produced by the Mockingbird Foundation, an entirely unconventional organization that has no salaries, paid staff, or office, and donates all funds… Read more »

Queensbridge, New York-based rap duo Mobb Deep is set to release its fifth album, Infamy, on December 11. The set is the follow-up to the pair’s platinum-certified 1999 set, Murda Muzik. While the group is excited about the forthcoming release, they have also recently been involved in an ongoing beef with Jay-Z. The conflict rose to a new level during a Summer Jam event in New York when Jay-Z displayed on the big screen a picture of Mobb Deep member Prodigy as an adolescent dressed up in a Michael Jackson outfit while also attacking the rapper’s street credibility in a… Read more »

The hitmaking remix/production team of Barry Harris and Chris Cox, collectively known as Thunderpuss, added an impressive name to their client roster when Madonna tapped them for a megamix of her greatest hits earlier this year. The duo completed a “Thunderpuss GHV2 Megamix” for her, which was released on a promotional-only basis to radio in support of the release of her greatest-hits package, GHV2: Greatest Hits Volume 2. The set, which showcases the pop icon’s work from 1991 through 2001, has sold more than 300,000 copies in its first two weeks of release. Madonna joined a growing list of artists… Read more »

It’s been well over a year since Dr. Dre first announced that a reunited N.W.A., with Snoop Dogg subbing for the late Eazy-E, had begun work on their first album in ten years, Not These Niggaz Again. Four members of the reformed gangsta squad – Dre, Snoop, Ice Cue and MC Ren – shared a bill on last summer’s Up in Smoke Tour, where they sketched beats and rhymes in a mobile recording studio. Last July, Dre said that the group’s lone absentee, DJ Yella, had signed on and that pending some legal issues with Priority Records – such as… Read more »

Britney Spears, a former Mousketeer, is at the center of an aggressive drive into the movie business by a handful of young pop stars molded by the music industry and MTV. Not since the 1960s, when singers like Elvis Presley, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Johnny Cash crooned their way onto movie screens, have studios produced as many star vehicles to showcase the hip-shimmying musical talents of the day’s teen idols. Their holy grail is “The Bodyguard,” starring Whitney Houston, which grossed $122 million and relaunched a pop song that became a perennial hit. The soundtrack is one of the best… Read more »

The world’s big record labels are finally rolling out online subscription services smack in the middle of the holiday season that caps the music industry’s worst year in at least a decade. In coming weeks, music fans – who have for years been pulling everything from Radiohead to Madonna off the Web for free from services like Napster – will be introduced to a new breed of money-for-music services like PressPlay and MusicNet, which have been developed by the major record companies. Several smaller independent firms like FullAudio and Listen.com will soon be launching subscription services too. Industry officials and… Read more »

Socially conscious rap outfit Public Enemy will release a new album in February that will include four remixes produced by fans. During the summer, Chuck D allowed fans to download a capella tracks of “Shut Em Down,” “Public Enemy No. 1,” “B Side Wins Again,” and “By The Time I Get To Arizona,” from his website slamjamz.com, and invited fans to compete for the best remixes, which would be included on the upcoming album. Owen Lake and Ross Farwell of Madison, Wisconsin won for “B Side Wins Again,” Jeronimo Punx of Buenos Aires, Argentina won for “Public Enemy No. 1,”… Read more »

Song-swap service Napster on Friday said it has received another cash infusion from German media giant Bertelsmann AG, which sources familiar with the situation put at about $26 million. “Bertelsmann did commit to a fixed amount of further funding, a portion of which was tied to our recent licensing deal,” a Napster spokeswoman said on Friday, declining to provide specifics. Earlier this week, Bertelsmann said it will use Napster’s new secure song-swap technology for its BeMusic operations as part of a licensing agreement between the two companies. Sources said part of the latest funding was payment for Bertelsmann’s licensing of… Read more »