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100 and single

Glimmers Of Light: Other Formats' Top 10s Juice Up Sleepy Summer Charts

The singles charts have settled into what we hope will be a momentary midsummer slumber. And that starts with the song in its fourth week at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Idolator's distaste for Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" is well-documented, but I nonetheless have to acknowledge that this blandly titillating dance-pop smash is emerging as the nation's song of this summer, its chart run perfectly timed for the season of moist, exposed flesh.

Perry seems likely to hold the keys to the penthouse for a few more weeks, unless Rihanna's "Take a Bow" regains its bullet at No. 2, or Chris Brown's gradually rising, more enjoyably summery "Forever" (up two slots to No. 4 this week) experiences a left-field surge. Otherwise, it's a wasteland out there.

For those of us seeking good news, however, the simultaneous Top 10 entry of three cool songs on three different flagship Billboard charts—Hot 100, R&B/Hip-Hop, and Country—provide a small dose of encouragement.

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5:00 PM on Fri Jul 18 2008
By Chris Molanphy
163 views, 4 comments

leak of the yesterday

Glen Campbell's Having The Time Of His Life

ARTIST: Glen Campbell
TITLE: Meet Glen Campbell
RELEASE DATE: Aug. 19, 2008
WEB DEBUT: July 17, 2008

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start up the bubble bath

Your Half-Year in Adult Contemporary Report: Nostalgia For 2007 Is Already Kicking In

Most of our readership probably wouldn't claim that they prefer the smooth sounds of adult contemporary to other genres of music. But when life is a little rough and the mood is more white wine than Jagermeister, even the toughest mosh-pit veteran might tune in to the local Lite station. As a counterpoint to Al Shipley's excellent recap of the year so far in rock radio, we present the five most-played songs on Adult Contemporary radio in 2008. More »

1:00 PM on Fri Jul 18 2008
By Dan Gibson
339 views, 16 comments

Latest by R'ock You Like An Iracane: @TheRunningboard7: If I write it, I'll link to it. more »

leak of the yesterday

Is It Too Late To Apologize For Chris Cornell's Solo Career?

ARTIST: Chris Cornell
TITLE: "Long Gone"
WEB DEBUT: July 17, 2008

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rock-critically correct

"Vibe" Jerks Between The Past And The Present

Once again, we present Rock-Critically Correct, a feature in which the most recent issues of Rolling Stone, Blender, Vibe, and Spin are given a once-over by a writer who's contributed to many of those magazines, as well as a few others! In this installment, he looks at the new issue of Vibe: More »

3:00 PM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Anono-Critic
373 views, 3 comments

art?

Metallica Continue To Dig Their Own Grave

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prescriptives

"New York Times" To Madonna: Aging Is No Reason Not To Skank It Up!

Today, The New York Times' style section takes Madonna to task for no longer being a fashion leader, and—better steel yourself for this one—wearing sensible, loose-fitting clothes in her downtime. It's a fairly mystifying piece, mainly because the writer seems to willfully ignore the obvious: Even if it's kinda your job, you can't remain young and ahead of the curve forever, especially when it comes to women's fashion. Madonna may be in peak physical condition and have the money and resources to appear 10 to 15 years younger than she actually is, but there's no way for her to single-handedly reverse our cultural bias against older women. More »

1:30 PM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By matthew perpetua
464 views, 5 comments

Latest by n/a: I think Idolator is spot-on, but I disagree with one small point. I don't think it's the public that's pressuring her. It's utter hubris. She can't let go of the spotlight, so SHE constantly tries to reinvent herself. It's as more »

knights in ads' service

Five Kiss Songs That Could Easily Be Turned Into Jingles

The "writing ad-ready songs for the enjoyment of viewers at home and the delight of network accounting departments" reality show Jingles has had its debut, which was scheduled for later this month, pushed back by CBS, but that isn't stopping the network from letting the world know that Kiss bassist and entrepreneur Gene Simmons is going to be one of the show's judges. (I'm guessing he's going to take the acid-tongued "Simon" spot on the panel.) This caused me to think about how Simmons' body of work could itself be employed for the purposes of selling crap that people don't really don't need, via the time-tested "out of context lyric used to shill for a slightly incongruous product" method that so many ads employ these days. Five possible examples of how you could hear Kiss songs during breaks in Law & Order reruns after the jump. More »

12:45 PM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Maura Johnston
262 views, 5 comments

Latest by mike a: "God Gave Rock & Roll To You" - Cornerstone Festival more »

rumors

"Chinese Democracy" Whispers Finally Get Some New Storylines

Last night I got a tip about a video purporting to be footage of someone who works for Rock Band maker Harmonix talking about Chinese Democracy "off the record" at the E3 conference; during the chat, he made outsized claims like a) the album is not only coming out this year, it's going to be made up of not one, but four (?!) CDs; and b) September's Video Music Awards are going to go the big Axl appearance route again, what with MTV being part of the braintrust behind the game. Whether this is at all true, or merely a disinformation campaign that doubles as a shrewd way for the Harmonix employee to punk the "innocent" interviewer who was clearly not turning off his camera during the Axl-sensitive portion of the interview, is for you to figure out, although I think it's somewhat sweet that YouTube's commenting hordes are calling for the clip to be taken down so the dude can keep his job. Video after the jump. More »

11:30 AM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Maura Johnston
2,955 views, 10 comments

Latest by Lax Danja House: The 4 CDs thing has been rumoured for a long time. Axl claimed 3 at one point a few years ago, but I guess an extra decade = an extra disc in his world. I doubt it'd be released as more »

corporate rock still sells

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

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
848 views, 17 comments

whodunits

Kanye West Ghost-Blogging Controversy May Result In Another Broken MacBook Air Pretty Soon

Is Kanye West really behind all of the design porn and crazy rants that make up his blog? A few skeptics have had the gall to ask that question over the past 24 hours, and the realization that the caps-lock-happy MC may employ a "ghost blogger" from time to time lit up the message boards and led to Kanye posting the above photo, which I guess is supposed to be actual photodocumentary evidence that yes, he does in fact write his own entries. (Or at least he has the "new entry" page bookmarked on his MacBook Air.) A timeline of how this all came to be after the jump. More »

5:30 PM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,907 views, 9 comments

Latest by n/a: KAYNE WEST DOESN'T CARE ABOUT GHOST BLOGGERS more »

who charted

The Album Charts Are Starting To Feel A Little Comfortable

For another week, Lil Wayne and Coldplay make up the album charts' 1-2 punch, with Tha Carter III taking the top spot (125,000 copies sold) and Coldplay serving as Wayne's best men (113,000 sold). According to Hits, Nas' untitled album is set to break this log jam next week, but I'll believe it when I see it. More »

4:30 PM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Maura Johnston
481 views, 3 comments

art?

Carolina Liar Gives Fans Of Its Music Yet Another Rorschach Test

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listening station

The Academy Is... Not Wasting Much Time (Or Many Words)

It's probably no surprise that the forthcoming album by bandom faves The Academy Is..., Fast Times At Barrington High, is one of the more anticipated late-summer releases around these parts. The band released "About A Girl" to its MySpace page earlier this week, and between this and that new Alphabeat single and the fact that there's more music from both Ne-Yo and Lloyd on the horizon, I'm starting to think that maybe our summer jam tournament of last month needs some sort of late-season sequel. (This time, it counts!) "About A Girl" is a cute, anthemic breakup track that's clearly trying to pick up where Jimmy Eat World left off with its run of singles from its self-titled album, and its charms are working well enough to give me a hellish case of senioritis on this summery day. [MySpace]

12:00 PM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Maura Johnston
179 views, 8 comments

Latest by n/a: @Maura Johnston: agreed. but i'm a sucker for a wierd off-kilter cover. more »

ain't talkin' 'bout nuts

Meet The Guy Who Tried To Fool Canada Into Thinking He Was David Lee Roth

The guy who got pulled over while driving under the influence of nuts and tried to explain away his crimes by waving around his scarves claiming he was David Lee Roth has been unmasked: His name's David Kuntz, and he's a musician who's been tooling around Ontario for a number of years. According to the Globe & Mail, Kuntz celebrated slipping through the fingers of the law last month by "[breezing] into a Brantford bar with a few women in hospital scrubs on his arm.... between sips of orange juice mixed with ginger ale and cranberry juice, [he] climbed onstage with a local band and belted out a few bars of 'Ice Cream Man,' an early Van Halen tune." Sounds like the opening to the "Just A Gigolo" video, no? But as it turns out, people do know about the part Kuntz has been playing for years. More »

10:00 AM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Maura Johnston
875 views, 8 comments

Latest by okiedoke: But he's wearing Bono's glasses and etherial smile. If this guy can sing (or clean public restrooms), send him to Guy Hands. more »

who will knock herbie hancock off his throne?

Let's Try To Predict The Grammys (Part Two)

Earlier this month, we examined LA Times blogger Todd Martens' attempt to predict the nominees for the Best New Artist Grammy ahead of the Sept. 30 cutoff point for next year's awards. Martens decided to take on the Album of the Year category this week, giving me (and you!) even more to post about and puzzle over. More »

2:45 PM on Tue Jul 15 2008
By Dan Gibson
631 views, 11 comments

pointless compilation curating

The "Pretend To Be A Musician" Game Expansion Pack Of My Dreams

I got a little excited yesterday by the news of Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl" being included in the next iteration of Rock Band, even if the idea of reissuing a song via video game is probably something my 1993 self would have sneered at. But I'm all about embracing the new millennium these days (or at least tryingto), so I came up with an expansion pack that draws on the Kill Rock Stars catalog of that era. It has a slight focus on the three fantastic "Kill Rock Stars"-themed compilations that the label put out in the mid-'90s, because all of those albums are 100% fire. (And yes, the first track on it is kind of absurd, given that the band in question wasn't exactly the greatest live act. But that's part of the fun, no?) My list is after the jump; I invite you to take a moment or two out of your All-Star Parade watching to create an expansion pack of your own, around whatever theme you'd like. More »

2:00 PM on Tue Jul 15 2008
By Maura Johnston
452 views, 21 comments

Latest by mike a: Although I do wonder what David "How To Play Guitar" Fair thinks of Rock Band. I'd guess he disapproves. more »

the last word

The Hold Steady Keep The Faith

From time to time, we round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. This time around, we look at the critical reaction to the Hold Steady's Stay Positive, which hits stores today. More »

10:00 AM on Tue Jul 15 2008
By Maura Johnston
789 views, 25 comments

Glimmers Of Light: Other Formats' Top 10s Juice Up Sleepy Summer Charts

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