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Al Shipley's Posts

corporate rock still sells

The Half-Year In Review: Dave Grohl Owns Alt-Rock Airwaves (What Else Is New?)

AP080712028929.jpg Many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock. To help figure out which is which, here's "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al "GovernmentNames" Shipley examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of rock and roll. This time around, he gives the year's rock charts a midway-mark overview. More »

10:00 AM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Al Shipley
1,051 views, 19 comments

leak of the day

Annie Is Feeling A Little Crazy

annie.jpg ARTIST: Annie
TITLE: "Loco"
WEB DEBUT: June 26, 2008 More »
corporate rock still sells

No, Really, Don't Call It A Comeback: Candlebox Returns, And Other Has-Beens Aren't Far Behind

stannnnd.jpg Many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock. To help figure out which is which, here's "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al "GovernmentNames" Shipley examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of rock and roll. This time around, he takes a look at a couple of old reliables who have re-entered the rock charts. More »

3:00 PM on Thu Jun 26 2008
By Al Shipley
715 views, 11 comments

corporate rock still sells

Clear Channel Gives Your Mersh Rock Correspondent A Considerate Gift

CarolinaLiar-01-big.jpg Many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock. To help figure out which is which, here's "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al "GovernmentNames" Shipley examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of rock and roll. This time around, he celebrates the return of modern-rock radio to his home city of Baltimore with a look at the newest crop of artists to hit the rock charts, and reveals superproducer Max Martin's stealth assault on the corporate-rock airwaves. More »

10:00 AM on Thu Jun 12 2008
By Al Shipley
686 views, 12 comments

Latest by MrStarhead: Ludo have been touring around the Midwest for years and years. They've always been popular with people who are in other bands. You'd go see them in Tulsa, and half the crowd would be Tulsa groups. more »

corporate rock still sells

An Avalanche Of A-List Rock Debuts, Topped By The Freakin' Offspring

hammerhead_single_cover.jpg Many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock. To help figure out which is which, here's "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al "GovernmentNames" Shipley examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of rock and roll. This time around, he observes a few shake-ups on the normally staid Modern Rock and Active Rock charts. More »

10:00 AM on Thu May 22 2008
By Al Shipley
1,353 views, 3 comments

corporate rock still sells

The Flobots Make Modern Rock Radio Safe For Rappin' Whitey Again

61i1Qy7jPTL._SL500_AA280_.jpg Since many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock, welcome to "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al "GovernmentNames" Shipley examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of Billboard's rock charts. This time around, he's surprised to find a track by a hip-hop group making the modern rock radio rounds. More »

10:00 AM on Thu May 1 2008
By Al Shipley
1,918 views, 30 comments

corporate rock still sells

Active Rock Playlists Get Some Disturbing Shakeups

disturbeeeddddd.jpg Since many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock, welcome to "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al "GovernmentNames" Shipley examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of Billboard's rock charts. This time around he looks at the return of nu-metal in the guises of Disturbed and oddly rap-free rap-metal. More »

10:00 AM on Thu Apr 17 2008
By Al Shipley
928 views, 7 comments

corporate rock still sells

Pop-Punk Legends Drop A Stealth Hit On Rock Radio

Project-mersh.jpg

Since many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock, welcome to "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al Shipley (a.k.a. Idolator commenter GovernmentNames) examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of Billboard's rock charts. This time around he discovers a trio of modern rock heroes releasing a hit single under everyone's noses, finally hears a certain blog-buzz band thanks to their rock radio crossover, and tries to figure out what makes one brand of strident political mersh-punk different from another.

Over the last few weeks, Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart has seen a new entry by one of modern rock's biggest mainstays, but it took me a while to figure that out, since said superstars are operating incognito.

More »

11:00 AM on Mon Mar 31 2008
By Al Shipley
1,969 views, 11 comments

Latest by f1sh3r: wow puddle of mudd is still around? more »

corporate rock still sells

Rock Radio Takes A Number One That Leaves A Puddle

6ef76cb3-37a1-4d2e-92a2-b69e1bd8f532.jpg Since many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock, welcome to "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al Shipley (a.k.a. Idolator commenter GovernmentNames) examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of Billboard's rock charts. This time around he experiences some emo-related schadenfreude, ponders the question of crossover ballads, and takes a look at a band you probably know nothing about but that's topped the mainstream rock chart as many times as some Napster-hating metal heroes. More »

11:45 AM on Fri Mar 14 2008
By Al Shipley
1,013 views, 11 comments

Latest by rogerniner: @pantycrickets: You just defined absolutely everything that is wrong with mainstream rock music today. more »

Whoops

Dru Hill Set Record For Shortest Reunion In History


I channel surf back and forth between a few local Baltimore stations during my morning commute every day, but obviously this morning I made a mistake by not listening to 92Q. For the first time in years, hometown R&B heroes Dru Hill appeared on the air together to announce a reunion of all four original members, including onetime solo star Sisqo. But not ten minutes into the interview, Woody Rock started to explain that he feels he's been "called by God on an assignment," and Sisqo, in disbelief, asks, "the group, right?" Once it becomes clear that Woody doesn't mean the group, Sisqo very reasonably retorts "dude, you could've told us this yesterday" and storms out, followed by a physical altercation between Woody and Nokio. I'm torn between feeling incredibly embarrassed for Baltimore right now that these guys are possibly the biggest stars we can claim as our own, and too entertained by this footage not to share it. [YouTube]

6:35 PM on Thu Mar 6 2008
By Al Shipley
2,622 views, 13 comments

Latest by wev567: Dru Who? more »

upcoming releases

All Clive Wants For Christmas Is The New Whitney

Hey! Remember that Whitney Houston comeback album that Clive Davis announced in 2004? And again in 2007? Well... start lining up in front of the record store now, because she's completed four songs! And there are four more in the pipeline, which may or may not be a bunch of Akon demos that Whitney herself hasn't touched yet. Clive says "We're not going to compromise who she is to fit into today's hip-hop radio market," which is a shame, because that's the only market where EPs are coming back in style. [Billboard]

4:40 PM on Thu Mar 6 2008
By Al Shipley
93 views, 1 comment

Latest by MrStarhead: Sigh... the Whitney rumors remind me of the Layne Staley rumors from 10 years ago. more »

hey there, delilah, this is your future

Peggy Sue Got Served With Court Papers

PeggySue_Coral_sample_9-61885.jpg Because trashy tell-all memoirs hadn't been invented yet on the day the music died, the namesake of Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" is just now getting around to publishing a book full of scandalous revelations about him. And his widow, Maria Elena Holly, has already sent a cease-and-desist order to Peggy Sue Gerron, whose book Whatever Happened To Peggy Sue? alleges, among other things, that Buddy planned to leave his wife for her. Strangely, Mrs. Holly had no such objections when the Kids In The Hall revealed the ugly truth about the circumstances of her husband's death. [Fishbowl NY]

3:50 PM on Thu Mar 6 2008
By Al Shipley
190 views, Comment

videodrone

Izzy Stradlin Keeps Shuffling Along His Own Path


Right now, Axl Rose is somewhere out there, polishing off the 37th rough mix of Chinese Democracy and getting ready to hit "delete" and start all over again. Meanwhile Izzy Stradlin, who left Guns N' Roses in 1991, has since released eight solo albums. 1992's Izzy Stradlin & The JuJu Hounds, was the only one released soon enough to have benefited from the afterglow of his GNR departure in such a way that it made a blip on the pop-culture radar, and his last three albums have been digital-only releases. Still, that first album and its single "Shuffle It All" remain longtime favorites of mine, and if Izzy keeps quietly releasing collections of Stonesy licks directly to iTunes for the rest of his life, I'll consider that a more noble pursuit than if he'd joined up with Velvet Revolver.[YouTube]

12:05 PM on Thu Mar 6 2008
By Al Shipley
265 views, 7 comments

Latest by Charlie Kerfelds Jetsons Tee: @ColdBloodedBMC: I actually believe Duff played bass on EVERY track, barring one or two at most... I know for certain that Taz Bentley (ex Reverend Horton Heat) played drums on every track. Rick Richards (ex Georgia Satellites) did some great guitar more »

Radio ad revenue was down two percent from the previous year in 2007, with fourth-quarter revenue down a whopping five percent from the same frame in 2006, according to figures released by the Radio Advertising Bureau yesterday. Off-air advertising—particularly that on station's Internet presences—posting some of the only significant growth, so RAB President Jeff Haley is putting a positive spin on affairs by throwing around phrases like "360-degree integration opportunity" and "a seamless audio experience across numerous platforms." In other words, forget about making the stations better; just make sure they have really cool Web sites. [FMQB] MORE »

3 comments

akon

Akon Just Kon't Come Up With Any New Ideas

akonpocket.jpg Just as Kanye West took one good album concept and kept rubber-stamping all subsequent releases with increasingly nonsensical titles following the same theme (seriously, how does a dropout graduate?), Akon is following up his somewhat cleverly titled 2006 album Konvicted with Acquitted in May, and has already planned to title the album after that Double Jeopardy. We can't wait for him to show his romantic side with Konjugal Visit in 2010. [MTV]

6:10 PM on Tue Mar 4 2008
By Al Shipley
193 views, 6 comments

Extended Player Hater

Are EPs Extending The Buzz Of New Artists, Or Giving Them The Short End Of The Stick?


In the high-risk, low-reward business of trying to introduce new artists into a slumping marketplace, hip hop labels have a lot of coping mechanisms at their disposal. The most common approach, of releasing single after single until one does well enough to assure decent first-week album sales, is still as popular as ever—as is the method of simply dumping the album in stores with a nonexistent promotional budget and then blaming its failure on the artist. But more and more over the past couple years, a third way to screw both the artist and the consumer has emerged as an alternative: EPs. More »

5:10 PM on Tue Mar 4 2008
By Al Shipley
652 views, 7 comments

Latest by Captain Wrong: Seriously. Most hip hop albums would make much better EPs. However, I'm sure the majors are going to keep using them as dumping grounds for remixes and crap and charge as much as possible. 5 (quality) songs for 5 bucks more »

hey what's that song

Brendan Benson Doesn't Know If An iPod Chart Bump Is What He's Looking For


The latest indie rocker to be plucked out of relative obscurity to soundtrack an Apple commercial is Brendan Benson, whose "What I'm Looking For" can be heard in a spot for the iPod Touch that debuted last Wednesday during American Idol. The effect of these ads on a song's popularity is well-documented, having most recently made an overnight chart star out of Yael Naïm. But it's unlikely to have as much of an impact on the more established Benson. More »

3:15 PM on Tue Mar 4 2008
By Al Shipley
1,330 views, 10 comments

Latest by comehomenow: Awe, I love Benson. Lapalco is my fav of his. Haven't seen this commercial yet, but hopefully it will catch on. It does seem a little ill-timed, with a new Raconteurs album in the works. Hmm... more »

New York City has blocked the sale of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the storied South Bronx address known as the birthplace of hip-hop, which was declared a historical landmark by the state last year. The city's decision, however, has been attributed to financial reasons, rather than out of deference to the legacy of the parties held there by DJ Kool Herc in 1973. "It's not just about 1520, it's about all affordable housing," says Kool Herc, who is still not suing Jay-Z. [NYT] MORE »

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MrStarhead on Jan 15, 2008

I thought you might be interested in this for your Corporate Rock column: Atlanta's 99x is going off the air in two weeks and most of the DJs were fired over the weekend. It's supposedly staying on as an online / HD station. http://www.accessatlanta.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/accessatlanta/radiotalk/entries/2008/01/11/111_leslie_fram.html Whatever happens, it's a huge blow for modern rock in the Southeast, as 99x was the "tastemaker" station for a long time.

mike.q on Oct 17, 2007

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1549573/20070109/nas.jhtml


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