We can blame Fergie, or Lenny Kravitz, or Weiland, or the longstanding feud with Axl Rose. Or the fact that the people who aren’t primarily musicians have proven to be much more interesting mentors than people who are. I still think turning next week into a surprise Velvet Revolver audition would be an interesting idea–and one that, if Matt Sorum is to be believed, is very necessary–but the practical side of me knows that I should probably just expect Danny Gokey to sing “Magic Carpet Ride.” [Twitter via thisisareallybadidea] MORE »
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idolator's american idolatry
Not To Be Cynical, But One Has To Wonder What Slash’s Definition Of “Really Cool Songs” Might Mean At This Point
videodrone
The Black Eyed Peas Search For Master Control
The Black Eyed Peas pull what we would have referred to last year as a “Chris Brown” but we will now have to call a “Dreamgirl” or something–turns out “Boom Boom Pow” is an ad for the new HP Touchsmart! MORE »
100 and single
Fergie Power: How the Spun-Off Diva Dragged Her Homeboys to No. 1
Let’s imagine that in 1992, just after Nevermind peaked, Dave Grohl took a break from Nirvana to form Foo Fighters. I mean, why not? Grohl was a gun for hire, at least the sixth drummer to sit in with the band before they finally broke big. And let’s say he scored some of those juicy Foos radio hits right away: “This Is a Call,” “Big Me,” maybe “Monkey Wrench” too.
And then imagine he came back in ’93 to Nirvana in time for In Utero, making them even bigger than they already were—not just reliable album-sellers but the kind of band able to score regular Top 40 radio hits. Grohl would be transformed, from Kurt Cobain’s potent-but-silent sidekick, to coequal band focal point.
It’s a little hard to imagine for all sorts of reasons, not least the fact that Grohl was too respectful of Cobain to form his own project until both Kurt and the band were dead and gone. But the scheduling is also fanciful—who has that kind of time, to get a successful solo career going while keeping up with a best-selling group?
The fact is, it’s exceedingly rare for a successful side project to not only coexist with the original group but bring that stalwart act to new pop-chart heights. In fact, in chart history, it’s only happened three times (really, more like two and a half).
The third of these three acts is this week sitting atop Billboard’s Hot 100, in the form of the Black Eyed Peas*. “Boom Boom Pow” is, oddly, the act’s first No. 1—but it’s gun-for-hire Fergie’s fourth. MORE »
clara peller dept.
MOG Leaps Into Battle, Weaksauce Rhymes In Tow
MOG has been one of those “music 2.0″ sites desperately in need of an identity since its launch a few years ago. First, it was a last.fm-styled playlist watcher that had blogging attached. Then it dabbled in masterminding its own ad network, as well as allowing people who blogged on its site to stream songs from their entries. And now it’s trying to be a “Huffington Post of Music,” which basically means that the site’s apparently not-well-trafficked homepage is cluttered with links to local pages that then link through to blogs that participate in its various networks. A genius way to increase pageviews—although its real ace in the hole, according to TechCrunch, seems to be that “[the site's] entire editoral staff consists of only six people, and its contributing authors aren’t getting paid—they’re just writing about what they love.” (Can someone tell me why it consistently seems that the “brave new world of Music 2.0″ is one where only executives are allowed to make money off digital music?) MORE »
Los Angeles, You Won’t Have Rick Dees To Kick Around Anymore
Rick Dees‘ long-running morning show in Los Angeles is sadly no more. The station that aired the show, KMVN (a.k.a. “Movin 93.9″), switched management over the weekend and will flip to a Spanish-language format on April 15. First, Ryan Seacrest bumps Dees off the air, then this indignity. Sure, he’ll still host his many syndicated chart shows, but shouldn’t the man that brought us “Disco Duck” and Dees’ Sleeze be shown a bit more respect? MORE »
100 and single
Lady GaGa Takes Slow and Steady Route to the Top
“Lady GaGa Scores Hot 100 Milestone,” a Billboard headline trumpeted yesterday upon the release of the new Hot 100.
What could this milestone be? you might ask yourself. Biggest self-aggrandizer since 50 Cent to reach the top slot? Most similar-sounding pair of hits since Rick Astley? Most successful pantsless act?
As it happens, GaGa’s achievement has to do with her Billboard batting average: two chart hits, two No. 1’s. This week, “Poker Face” follows January’s smash “Just Dance” into the top slot. She’s the first act to step up to the plate, swing just twice, and hit two homers since Christina Aguilera’s first pair of hits, “Genie in a Bottle” and “What a Girl Wants,” topped the Hot 100 in 1999–2000.
That’s nice for the Lady and all, but it masks a more notable achievement: her slowness in achieving those hits. The amount of time “Dance” and “Poker” took to reach No. 1 is literally unprecedented in recent chart history.
In a sea of hits that explode up the charts based on faddish bursts of iTunes sales, GaGa’s chart pattern is contrary to everything going on in pop music promotion right now, recalling the more languid runs by songs in the ’70s through the mid-’90s. It’s almost enough to make an old-school chart geek like me root for her. MORE »
reunions
JJ Fad Set To Get Supersonic All Over Again
The Los Angeles hip-hop trio JJ Fad got back into… MORE »
idolator's american idolatry
“American Idol” Goes To Florida For Spring Break (In January)
Last night’s installment in the seemingly endless slog through American Idol’s eighth season of auditions brought us to Jacksonville, Fla. But how to tie this city to Idol’s shiny pop universe? How about rechristening it in honor of Randy Jackson (get it???), and giving the whole evening a PG-rated “Girls Gone Wild” sheen? MORE »
wank mining
Five Reasons Why The So-Called Katy Perry Nude Photo Isn’t Real
I don’t know about you, my morning was brightened when I saw a bunch of blog posts about there reportedly being a Katy Perry nude pic floating around the Internet. “Hasn’t she done this already?” people asked me about the oh-so-annoying singer upon hearing the news. Well, no, she hasn’t, and guess what? She still hasn’t, or at least not in a public way; the pic obviously ain’t real. After the jump, five reasons why, like the Meg White and Fergie sex tapes before it, this somewhat depressing bathroom self-portrait is obviously the operation of someone who thought “hey, I look enough like this popular entertainer to maybe get some semi-anonymous face (and ass) time on the Internet!” and then whipped out her camera. MORE »
