Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl has posted an open letter urging metal overlords Metallica to make a “kick-ass” album.
Metallica are in the process of finishing off their new collection, the somewhat belated follow-up to 2003’s ‘St Anger’.
In the letter Grohl, a longtime fan of the trash metal pioneers, declares his love of the band and even admits his fondness of the disappointing ‘St Anger’ album.
He writes: “Hey, it’s Dave! Remember me? Yeah, I’m the guy that’s been listening to your band faithfully since 1983. I bought your first album ‘Kill ‘Em All’ from a mail order catalogue called Under The Rainbow, I think. Actually I can’t remember. It was 1983 for Christsakes! But that album changed my life and I’ve been listening to your albums ever since (even ‘St Anger’!).
“I can’t wait to hear the new shit, and no matter what you guys do I’ll always be first one at the shop waiting to hear it. I’m sure you’ll come out and blow everybody’s fuckin’ minds, because you’re fuckin’ METALLICA!
“Good luck. And don’t release it until it’s kick-ass.
Rumors are going around that Amy Winehouse is about to leave her current label after her next album so she can get her own label up and running. Wino was supposedly influenced to go into the label thing by Alex Haynes, the guy who she was rumored to have an affair with and is also her manager’s assistant. A source told UK’s Sun “For the first time in her career, Amy is beginning to have her head turned by the cash she can make.” The source also says that Wino wants to sign her friends Remi Nicole and Tyler James and have control over her own finances. If this is true, it will likely end in disaster. Amy can barely take care of herself. How will she take care of a business?
Carrie Underwood sings the title track ‘How Great Thou Art’ off of the album ‘How Great Thou Art: Gospel Favorites from the Grand Ole Opry’. The American Idol champ joins legions of country music’s finest on the album which also features the likes of Trace Adkins, Dierks Bentley, The Charlie Daniels Band with Mac Powell, Sara Evans, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless, Loretta Lynn, Ronnie Milsap, Brad Paisley and Ricky Skaggs and the Whites. The album is available in stores now so don’t forget to get your hands on it. Carrie has truly made a name for herself in the industry by being asked to work with such fine talent.
DefJam had a listening session in London on Wednesday wherein most of Mariah Carey’s and Janet Jackson’s new albums were played. Label boss Antonio ‘LA’ Reid was said to be very excited about both of them and even mentioned plans for six singles to come off from Mariah’s ‘That Chick’.
One reviewer gave both albums a 6 out of 10 rating. If you’ve heard Janet’s single ‘Feedback’, the rest of her album is pretty much that but there are also signs of the singer who once sang ‘Let’s Wait a While’ as well as a bit of sleaze. Mariah’s effort was said to be more polished and commercial than Janet’s work and that her lyrics aren’t really up to par.
Janet Jackson is officially back and she is on fire! The youngest Jackson singer is ready to toss her hat back in the ring of the music industry with a new album coming out next year. The lead single has already leaked on the internet and it is hot!
‘Feedback’ is the name of the comeback song and here’s some feedback for her, it’s absolutely great! It’s not retro, it’s not futuristic – it’s just now. It’s current, it’s fresh and it’s fun. It’s a classic ‘Janet’ song. It’s also quite smart of her to lead the album with a dance track too.
Mary J. Blige performed on Thursday night at “CNN Heroes: All Star Tribute”. She sang “Come To Me (Peace)”, a new song from her upcoming studio album entitled “Growing Pains”
It’s been reported that Madonna’s next studio album, her last with new material under Warner Bros., will be released in April of 2008 and will carry the title ‘Licorice’. The disc reportedly features collaboration with Kanye West and Pharell amongst others. There’s no word whether a tour will follow but it doesn’t hurt to pray for it.
However, not long after news broke out, Madonna’s publicist Liz Rosenberg has denied reports that the Queen of Pop’s new album will be called ‘Licorice’ and that it’s coming out in April. Music industry insiders are not buzzing that the disc will be called ‘Give It To Me’.
Pink released an album called ‘Missundazstood’ a couple of years back and now, it looks like there’s been a missundazstanding. A musician named Scratch has filed a lawsuit against the pop punk rocker for a featured performance on her hit CD.
In the lawsuit, Kyle ‘Scratch’ Jones claims that he is on Pink’s track ‘Respect’ but wasn’t paid for it. According to the suit, Scratch says he discussed payment with Pink but they never came to an agreement. He’s also claiming that his work was used on her DVD ‘Live in Europe’. He’s seeking $717,600 in damages.
A rep for Pink has released a statement regarding the matter saying “There’s nothing to say on this matter, as it is an unjustified lawsuit.”
It’s always annoying when a rapper says that he’s retired then comes back only to retire again and then come back again. But in Jay-Z’s case, no one should care as long as he’s number 1.
The rapper may have flashed two fingers when he passed paparazzi on his way to TRL on Monday. But as of the middle of the week, he hit number 1. As it was projected by music insiders last week, his American Gangster-inspired album took the top spot on the Billboard charts and knocked the Eagles down a notch.
Congratulations to Jay-Z. This is his 10th #1 album!
50 Cent has promised that should his rival Kanye West beat him in record sales for their newest albums, he would retire. But the rapper is finding more and more loopholes after finding out that Kanye did beat him. First, he said that he beat Kanye in the UK charts and now this.
It seems that 50 doesn’t believe in retirement as he is quoted in saying “I don’t know if it’s possible for a rapper to retire, rappers are like fighters. They condition themselves to be the best. All rappers think they’re the best. And they are just waiting for everyone else to recognise they are the best. You’ll see them come back and back.” He just can’t admit that he got beaten.
Emo dudes vary the heartbreak guitars with string ballads and a faux show tune for years, say anything leader Max Bemis has had to deal with bipolar disorder, but judging by his band’s third album, he’s got something else to gripe about — namely, bad, bad love. Loosely based on one of Bemis’ own relationships, the album mostly sticks to serrated emo but ranges from big, string-laden ballads (”Plea”) to a faux show tune (”That Is Why”). When Bemis is on –shuffling between a touching Latinate melody and an ace, bloodletting chorus on “Hangover Song,” delivering the sugar-rush pop of “Shiksa (Girlfriend)” –his songs are tuneful and invigorating. “Retarded in Love” is sort of like a Springer episode: You don’t want to watch someone fall apart before your eyes, but you don’t want to look away, either. Lyrics about his love interest, a “slender slave with sluttish, sleepy eyes,” should have stayed in Bemis’ journal. Still, it’s hard not root for him — if he could only handle ladies with the same ease with which he turns out good melodies, he’d be all right.
Reggae covers and dub-wise improvising are regular features of Gov’t Mule’s marathon shows. Mighty High focuses on that heavy Jamaica in singer-guitarist Warren Haynes’ modern-Dixie redesign of classic British blues rock. Actually, there is as much Free as Lee Perry in the opening detonation of “I’m a Ram” — from Al Green’s 1971 album Gets Next to You — while drummer Matt Abts’ New Orleans backbeat under the Band’s “Shape I’m In” affirms the mix of Crescent City and funky Kingston in the original. The Rolling Stones’ “Play With Fire” is overstuffed with weed-whacked production, and the suite of dub versions in the second half of the album could use more jolting drama. But the closing remix of “I’m a Ram,” titled “Plasticine Era,” is a hip minefield of wah-wah-guitar bark, snare-drum crack and singsong bravado by Jamaican vocalist Willi Williams, whose 1978 single “Armagideon Time” is a Mule cover waiting to happen.
Radiohead isn’t signed to any major record label right now but in the end, it works out for the best. The band decided to release their album via the internet and letting fans pay whatever they wanted for it.
On average, more than 6 out of 10 people who downloaded their new album ‘In Rainbows’ downloaded it for free. Of the people that decided to pay even just a bit for it, the average price paid was around $6. Close to 1.2 million people downloaded the album and if you’re quick with the numbers, that’s a total of $2.736 million.
It may not be as much had they released the album normally but when you take away the money they would have to fork over to a record label, they’d probably make even less than that. It’s a very smart move on their part.
Keith Sweat, the celebrated master of the slow jam, unwraps his first-ever holiday music collection, proving there’s no one better qualified to deliver a Yuletide disc titled A Christmas Of Love. The R&B and soul superstar’s new album of newly recorded contemporary Christmas songs will be available November 20 at all retail outlets and online.
The album’s nine songs spotlight the Harlem-born singer’s signature mix of smooth vocals coupled with warm, supple groove. Sweat puts his unmistakable mark on the classic “The Christmas Song,” as well as “Under The Tree,” “Once A Year” and “It’s Christmas Again”– a trio of songs Sweat cowrote. With “Point Of Christmas,” the religious artist pays tribute to the “reason for the season.”
He has sold more than 14 million records and garnered five #1 R&B albums, 15 Top 10 R&B singles, six #1 hits, four Top 5 pop singles, three multi-platinum and three platinum albums, two platinum and three gold singles, widespread critical acclaim and a rabid international following. Today, Sweat hosts his own syndicated radio show, The Sweat Hotel, in 19 markets.
It’s big, bold and brassy just like Christina Aguilera herself. “Candyman” takes us back to 40’s USO shows featuring the Andrews Sisters and a crowd ready to jitterbug. Primarily due to possessing some of the strongest vocal chops in the music business, Christina Aguilera pulls it all off with no hint of karaoke or parody.
The entire song amounts to a sexual double entendre. As stated elsewhere on the album Back to Basics, she is “still dirty.” The “Candyman” of the title is identified as “a one stop shop who makes my cherry pop!” Fortunately, the energy in the song is so focused on dancing and hooks that the sexual content comes off sounding more like a wink than a wallow.
We will be watching the pop radio response to “Candyman.” Christina Aguilera’s songs are so big in sound and approach that they sometimes are difficult to slot comfortably in with a contemporary pop playlist. Songs like “Hurt” are produced in showstopper mode leaving them difficult to program as radio music meant to be in the background. However, “Candyman” will impact the charts and Christina Aguilera continues to demonstrate she is one of the top female artists in the business.
Meet the new king. Not the same as the old King.Garth Brooks, who edged out Elvis Presley in 1999 for the title of best-selling solo artist of all time, only to lose it five years later, reclaimed the crown from the King Monday, according to the tab keepers at the Recording Industry Association of America. Ok, now I will admit that Garth Brooks has definitely made his mark in country music, and he’s won every kind of award there is…and once upon a time I drooled everytime I saw his face… but dethrone Elvis??? GET SERIOUS, PEOPLE!!! NO ONE, least of ALL Garth Brooks, could ever dethrone Elvis! I don’t care if he sold a million copies of cd’s every day for the rest of his life…he’ll NEVER come CLOSE to Elvis on ANY level. My advice to the writers of these kinds of articles… PLEASE choose your words more carefully!! Stats are for real but yet could be misleading. Garth could be great but certainly not the greatest and still not greater than that man called Elvis.
This week, Dwight Yoakam releases Dwight Sings Buck, a tribute to his idol that recalls Buck Owens’ very own excellent songbook albums, 1961’s Buck Owens Sings Harlan Howard and 1963’s Buck Owens Sings Tommy Collins. Sings Harlan Howard arrived early in Buck’s career: it was only his second album, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that his classic sound hasn’t quite gelled yet — he’s relying heavily on steel guitar and fiddle instead of electric guitars, bringing this closer to the vibe of barroom country. Part of the reason this doesn’t quite sound like classic Buck is that he was still getting the Buckaroos off the ground. His right-hand man Don Rich was aboard, yet he’s only on three cuts, playing fiddle (plus a lead acoustic guitar), not his trademark electric guitar, which doesn’t give this album the twangy snap of Buck’s best-known hits, yet it’s possible to hear that sound beginning to take shape here.Dwight’s new offering, do exactly what a songbook album should do: they’re affectionate tributes but they’re thoroughly entertaining in their own right. Plus, they perform a valuable service in turning listeners onto music they may have missed. It’s hard to imagine any Dwight fan that hasn’t listened to a bit of Buck, but after hearing Dwight Sings Buck, they might want to dig deeper into Owens’ catalog and they could bypass those hits comps and start with either of these albums. There might be some hits you’d miss, but you’d get the greatness of the man. Then, after you’re done, you can follow Buck’s lead and dig into Harlan Howard (his lone 1965 LP, All Time Favorite Country Songwriter, a boast that was largely true) and Tommy Collins (start with 2005’s The Capitol Collection), another pursuit that is thoroughly rewarding
Billed as the first Santana compilation to span his entire career, it is true that Ultimate Santana does indeed run the gamut from 1969’s “Evil Ways” to 2002’s “Game of Love,” but if you think that means it handles all phases of his career equally, you’d be sadly mistaken. Essentially, this 18-track set plays like a collection of highlights from his Supernatural-era comebacks, spiked with a couple of classic rock oldies — because that’s what it really is.
It contains no less than ten superstar duets, including new numbers with Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger (the streamlined and smoothed “Into the Night,” which has little of Kroeger’s trademark growly histrionics) and Jennifer Lopez and Baby Bash (”This Boy’s Fire,” a dance number where Santana seems incidental), plus a version of “The Game of Love” with Tina Turner (don’t worry, the lighter, brighter, superior Michelle Branch version is here too)
In other words, this is certainly not a hits disc for the fan of his earliest music, or his most adventurous music either; it’s for the pop fans won over by his latter-day comeback, and for those listeners, it’s the hits disc they’d want — but for everybody else, it’s better to seek out other compilations or original albums, because those paint a better picture of what Santana was all about than this crisp, clean collection of lifestyle pop.
Jennifer Lopez is pissing off her record label because she is way too expensive to take care of and doesn’t really make any money for the label. “She costs too much money and doesn’t sell enough,” says a source. “Her last album cover alone cost $60,000 in hair and makeup, lighting, photographers, re-touching, etc. The video budget was in the neighborhood of $300,000.” Since she’s married with Anthony, her carrier is down, she sell all in Spanish, a flop with “como ama una mujer”, flops with Latinos film….. She can really thank P Diddy!!! She is and always has been a mediocre singer. I admire a husband that would encourage his successful wife to step out of her comfort zone and take on new challenges, weather she succeeds or not. She hasn’t changed with the times. The consumer wants an artist to evolve. Her “Brave” album would have done well in the late ’90s, but not anymore. Just doesn’t cut it.
Just because it took them 13 years to deliver a studio sequel to their 1994 live album Hell Freezes Over, don’t say that it took the Eagles a long time to cash in on their reunion. They started cashing in almost immediately, driving up ticket prices into the stratosphere as they played gigs on a semi-regular basis well into the new millennium.
Fans were satisfied by the oldies and the band kept raking in the dough, so they could take their time making a new album. And did they ever take their time — the gap between 2007’s Long Road Out of Eden, their first album since 1979’s The Long Run, was nearly as long as that between their 1980 breakup and 1994 reunion. Far from indulging in a saturation campaign for this long-awaited record, the Eagles released the double-disc Long Road Out of Eden with surgical precision, indulging in few interviews and bypassing conventional retail outlets in favor of an exclusive release with Wal-Mart, who were not only the biggest retailer in America but where a good chunk of the band’s contemporary audience — equal parts aging classic rockers and country listeners — shopped
Lil Wayne hasn’t released a major-label album in two years, an awful long time in today’s here-today, gone-tomorrow rap market, yet in that time he’s ascended to the top of his field, to the point where his next album, Tha Carter III, is among the industry’s most eagerly awaited. His stock has risen partly because of his innumerable guest features, but more so because of the steady stream of mixtapes he’s released — one after the other, month after month, none of them available at your local big-box retailer. In an age where the Internet is seen by some in the music industry as a threat to be contained with lawsuits and other forms of deterrence, Lil Wayne is one of an increasing number of artists who are using the Internet to their advantage, feeding his fan base all the music it can download and, in the process, inspiring a dedicated following.
Like recent mixtapes by Jay-Z, Kanye West, and 50 Cent, these Lil Wayne mixes circulate freely on the Internet and are promotional in nature, intended to drum up interest for forthcoming commercial releases.
Foxy Brown has landed herself in jail for a year. But that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have the right to rock out.
The legally embattled rapper is dropping a new album entitled ‘Brooklyn’s Don Diva’ next month. It’s her first release since 2001’s ‘Broken Silence’. And the first single off of it is tight! You just have to love ‘Lights Go Out’. It has to be one of the hottest songs in hip hop right now and Foxy just kills it.
Too bad she can’t do any promotion for it. Maybe she can arrange a live satellite feed of her performing the song from jail.
Twenty-two-year-old Trey Songz is an underrated young R&B talent with lackluster first-album sales, despite an armful of quality singles. The launch single from his sophomore self-titled effort, “Can’t Help but Wait,” exposes his maturity and hunger to achieve the notoriety he deserves. With magnificent production from the European duo with soul, StarGate, and co-writing sorcery from Johnta Austin, Songz pours out his emotions for a woman that he is trying to convince to leave an abusive relationship—and if you pay close attention, there also are a couple of clues on how to give a lady the respect she deserves.
This time around, there should be no reason why Songz need “Wait” to find the level of fame he deserves. Oh yes till his fame shoots up and he becomes a household name you can at least support this rising star by purchasing or listening to his singles, come on let support the talent in this country.
Here’s the new single called “Just Fine”, which is the lead single from the upcoming album of Mary J. Blige entitled “Growing Pains” due out on November 27th.
Check this song out!!!
They would have to pay ME to buy that garbage. I’ve never spent one cent on Britney and I never will. She represents everything that is wrong with the music industry. Crappy music created by a corporation trying to make money off of teeny boppers. It worked for a while, but those days are over. This album is going to bomb horribly. She needs a year off. Leave the spotlight, spend time doing something that has nothing to do with the career. She can make her comeback after a year-long retirement. Leave LA, spend time with friends and family, and no more ‘handlers. ‘When she comes back, everyone will have missed her, she’ll enter a new phase of her career, and she’ll stop having to try so hard. Mariah Carey went nuts because she was overworked, being a popstar and paying dozens of people to keep the train rolling. Britney is doing the same thing, with her panties off, at the expense of her kids.
Mariah Carey has just pushed back the release of her new album until February which has her rabid and impatient fans quite upset. Everyone thought that her new record was coming out this November.
A fan wrote to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and was pretty vocal about being upset about the release being pushed back. She says that maybe, instead of whoring it up all over LA clubs, she should work on new material.
Mariah has been ‘whoring it up’ with basket ball player Rick Fox. A basket ball player and not a music producer who can actually do something to help Mariah with her career.
Pop star Madonna is close to leaving her long-time Warner Bros. Records label for a wide-ranging $US120 million deal with concert promotion firm Live Nation. Madonna would receive a mix of cash and stock in exchange for allowing Live Nation to distribute three studio albums, promote concert tours, sell merchandise and license her name. Like 120 million dollars is I think way too much that the company is dishing out for a 49 year old singer who doesn’t tour much. I think Live Nation shall find hard and very tough to recover their investment and though she is a world reowned artist and her name is very popular but still given the positives of the brand name ‘Madonna’ it will be tough going. She is over the years becoming very predictable with her music and only some nice videos that come out help her sell the album.
Record sales of hip hop artists seem to be on the decline within the last year. Except maybe if the artist’s name happens to be Kanye West. Record sales of country artists is another story though.
Last week, Reba McEntire pushed Kanye off the top spot when her ‘Duets’ album came out at #1. This week, country trio Rascal Flatts is at #1 when their new album ‘Still Feels Good’ sold 547,000 units which easilty put them on top of the Billboard 200 mountain. Their latest release makes it the third straight #1 album for the band.
How many times has Michael Jackson made a comeback? Maybe Britney should take notes. But then again, maybe not.
The king of pop is on the cover of the October 2007 issue of L’UOMO Vogue magazine. His photo shoot was headed by photographer Bruce Weber.
The magazine shoot is reportedly part of a deal Michael struck with designer Roberto Cavalli. Details of the deal says that Michael would do the photo shoot for Cavalli and in return, the famous designer would make clothing for Michael for his new look to support the release of his new album.
A music video that is. Emmy Rossum has just released her video for ‘Slow Me Down’, her first single off of her upcoming ambient pop album which is due out on October 23. If you want to know what that means, well, if you like Imogen Heap, Frou Frou and Sia, you are definitely going to love Emmy.
Emmy talked a little about her video at the Teen Choice Awards last month. She went on the record about how the video was shot and it’s connection to the song saying “We were shooting at different speeds because the song’s about the pace of life and to create the blur of the world and how overwhelming that can be.”
