A venue in Alabama is asking its (no doubt confused) local populace right now if it would like to attend this Friday’s show by Scott Stapp and his merry band of post-grungers for the low price of three-quarters of a dollar. And yes, that’s with the Ticketmaster surcharges. (Although you’ll have to plunk down an extra $2.50 if you want the convenience of printing your ticket at home.) MORE »
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burning questions
Would You Go See Creed If You Only Had To Pay 75 Cents For The Privilege?
burning questions
Alicia Keys Wants To Know: Which Element Of The Periodic Table Best Represents “Freedom”?
Alicia Keys’ forthcoming album, which comes out Dec. 1, has one of those silly titles that have become so commonplace this year: It’s called The Element Of Freedom, even if its lead single sounds like it hasn’t really broken free of the template established by her 2007 monster single “No One.” But no matter! This is a fine time to ask what element from the periodic table you think best represents the concept of freedom. My pick is neon, because you can’t have bright blinking signs advertising American flags and beers without it. Other peoples’ choices, after the jump! MORE »
burning questions
What Is The Craziest Cover Song You’ve Ever Dreamt Up?
Last night I had a dream that I was trapped in a hotel that was subsidizing its rates with advertising in the lobby. Among the commercials was an extended spot for the Insane Clown Posse in which they a) announced that they were recruiting for their own personal police force and b) covered, quite faithfully and with great gusto, the Arcade Fire’s “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out).” This dream—which, I should add, was not the result of a Faygo-and-Molson pre-bedtime cocktail—made me wonder if any of you out there have had similar moments in which cover versions that are odd even for this genre-crossing moment in pop music have sprung from your subconscious. To get your mind rolling, I’ve placed a very special cover after the jump! MORE »
burning questions
How Will Music Blogs Deal With The FTC’s New Disclosure Guidelines?
Here’s an interesting conundrum for anyone out there who writes about music on the old Interwebs: The Federal Trade Commission just announced that beginning Dec. 1, bloggers will have to disclose whether or not they received payments or free goods in exchange for reviewing products—if they don’t, they could be fined up to $11,000. So how will this affect music blogs, which pretty much depend on a stream of free things (low-cost items like concert tickets and CDs and MP3s, mostly) to keep up with what’s going on in their little world? MORE »
burning questions
The Huffington Post Wants To Know: How Does Adam Duritz Pull Such Hot Chicks?
The answer is, of course, simple: The Counting Crows singer looks so good as an ill-advised tattoo that’ll need to be lasered off immediately after the inevitable breakup. (The other answer involves me banging my head against the table at which I am sitting and bemoaning the gallery-of-hot-girls-as-news trend, even though that ship has long sailed.) [HuffPo] MORE »
burning questions
Is Susan Boyle’s Rolling Stones Cover Going To Save The Music Industry?
Given that I’m a little more interested in the weird Photoshop job that inserted the Simon Cowell-elevated singer Susan Boyle into the above tableau than her cover of “Wild Horses,” which was released yesterday via (sigh) Perez Hilton’s site, I’m going to say that this is a push. Preorder-related excitement aside, is a cover of one of the most covered Rolling Stones songs going to kick-start the record-buying impulse among a country of people who are increasingly averse to that sort of thing? I guess her appearance on tomorrow night’s America’s Got Talent finale will give us a hint. For now, a stream is after the jump. MORE »
the nimbus of her fame
Will Oprah Save The Music Business?
I’ve long wondered if an “Oprah’s Music Club”—an analogue to her beloved-by-publishers Book Club, in which the talk-show host gives a tome her blessing, causing it to actually be stocked in stores in anticipation of sales going sky-high—would be a boon for the music business, particularly in this time of faltering sales and eternally delayed projects. Well, the new season of her signature show bows next week, and its first few episodes will certainly be a test of whether or not she can make her audience feel like buying music once again. MORE »
burning questions
Will You Go Crazy If You Don’t Avoid That U2 Ad Tonight?
Since everyone’s feeling contentious today, here’s an argument for the ages: Which wore out its welcome more quickly, the Coldplay iTunes ad from last summer, or the U2 Blackberry ad that’s running on TV now? My vote is for the U2 ad, for two reasons: First, it seems to be on TV all the time, and second, its opening line about generations always, always makes me think back to Fury In The Slaughterhouse’s 1993 alt-rock also-ran “Every Generation Has Its Own Disease,” a song that haunted my freshman year of college and still reminds me of the worst parts of the rise of Q101-approved rock. In case you’ve somehow missed one (or both) of the spots, they’re after the jump! MORE »
burning questions
If You Buy A “Kanye Is A Whiny Bitch” Shirt With Your Own Money, And Subsequently Wear It, Doesn’t That Kind Of Make You A Whiny Bitch Who Also Spends Money On Stupid Things?
I mean, I was always taught that whining about whining just added up to a hell of a lot more whine noise out there. But you can feel free to disagree, and you can certainly spend the $25 or so this shirt will cost you! Just remember that at the end of the day, someone has to win this argument, and whether it’s the T-shirt’s maker Fresh Jive (for getting your cash) or Kanye himself (for at least mattering enough to be on a shirt), it certainly will not be you. [in4mants via broken cool] MORE »
burning questions
Be Honest: Would An “Interactive” Booklet Be A Make-Or-Break Point As Far As Buying An Album?
The delightful beverage pictured at left is in honor of Apple’s code-named “Cocktail” project, which is reportedly the company’s attempt to work with labels in order to galvanize album sales at the iTunes Store. “Cocktail”-ized albums will be packaged with extras that are being referred to by your lazier reporters as “interactive,” even though any chance of “interacting” with these fairly standard add-ons begins and ends at iTunes’ PLAY and STOP buttons: ringtones, videos, “enhanced” artwork. Will the promise of downloading a music video with your album make your wallet open more quickly than it might have originally? Let’s open the polls up! MORE »
