music – News Stories About music - Page 42

Feb 8, 2009 12:54 PM CST

Whitney Grooves at A-List Grammy Gala

Paul McCartney, Kanye West also at Clive Davis tribute

(Newser) - Whitney Houston emerged from seclusion to headline the star-studded Pre-Grammy Gala last night, and didn’t disappoint, Edna Gundersen writes in USA Today. The diva belted out a “short but lively medley” that included I Will Always Love You and I’m Every Woman. But she wasn’t the...

'Vulnerable' Simpson
Loses It Onstage

Feb 6, 2009 1:57 PM CST

'Vulnerable' Simpson Loses It Onstage

(Newser) - Sympathetic fans helped Jessica Simpson through a strained performance last night during which she flubbed lines, restarted songs, and wept visibly, the Grand Rapids Press reports. The singer has been plagued by media reports that boyfriend Tony Romo is cheating and snide remarks about her reported weight gain. “You...

Etta 'Just Kidding'
About Beyoncé Diss

Feb 6, 2009 9:07 AM CST

Etta 'Just Kidding' About Beyoncé Diss

'Big-eared' prez 'might not ever like me,' James laments

(Newser) - Etta James was just trying to be funny when she vowed to whup Beyoncé’s ass for singing "her song" at the inauguration, the Daily News reports. “I've always had that comedian kind of attitude,” James said, insisting she only kept up the insults because her...

Etta James
Disses
Beyonce,
Obama

Feb 5, 2009 8:32 AM CST

Etta James Disses Beyonce, Obama

Singing legend claims pop star stole her song at inauguration

(Newser) - Etta James has a message for “the great Beyoncé”: She’s “gonna get her ass whupped.” The legendary singer was none too pleased that Beyoncé performed her signature tune, “At Last,” at an inaugural ball, the Daily News reports. James—whom Beyoncé portrayed in...

'American Pie'
Singer Recalls
His Hero:
Buddy Holly

commentary

Feb 3, 2009 5:23 PM CST

'American Pie' Singer Recalls His Hero: Buddy Holly

No rock act can top Buddy Holly: Don McLean

(Newser) - Don McLean is forever linked to Buddy Holly because of his "American Pie" tribute, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Fifty years after Holly's untimely death, McLean calls his song about the "day the music died" the proudest accomplishment of his career. "Long before I...

Fierce? Nah,
She's Just
Too Good

music review

Feb 2, 2009 5:51 PM CST

Fierce? Nah, She's Just Too Good

(Newser) - Beyoncé’s new album, I Am…Sasha Fierce, “is something of a mess," Sasha Frere-Jones writes in the New Yorker. Musically, Beyoncé belongs in the "Genius Lounge," but her fierce alter-ego only emerges on the record to offer tame advice. "The wild...

This Season's Idols Leaked Online

Feb 2, 2009 10:20 AM CST

This Season's Idols Leaked Online

List of 36 contestants revealed, some never seen in auditions

(Newser) - Warning to American Idol fans: If you don’t like spoilers, be careful what you search for. A list of the contestants who will perform on the new season has been leaked by fan sites, the New York Post reports. The list includes some surprise contestants whose auditions weren’t...

For a Good Time Buy 867-5309

Feb 1, 2009 12:56 PM CST

For a Good Time Buy 867-5309

New Jersey DJ will sell you Jenny's iconic number—if you're ready for 40 calls a day

(Newser) - Tommy Tutone fans, you’re in luck: Now you can finally make Jenny yours—or at least have her number. The New Jersey DJ who shared a phone number with the title of the 1982 hit song, "867-5309," is now selling the famous digits on eBay. “It’...

Kind of Blue
Still the Gold
Standard at 50

glossies

Jan 31, 2009 5:27 PM CST

Kind of Blue Still the Gold Standard at 50

Topselling jazz album helped redefine American music

(Newser) - Fifty years to the day since its debut, Miles Davis’ signature album Kind of Blue remains beautiful and inviting—"like meeting an old friend," Malcolm Jones writes in Newsweek. The record helped jazz earn its title as America’s classical music and remains the bestselling jazz album ever....

Cleared for Landing:
Lily Allen's US Return

Jan 31, 2009 2:36 PM CST

Cleared for Landing: Lily Allen's US Return

After visa snags, UK import tackles US for the second time

(Newser) - After being grounded by US immigration officials just as her 2007 album was set to take off, the UK’s Lily Allen is taking a second shot at conquering America with a new album, reports the Wall Street Journal. Despite her visa travails, Allen's debut sold a respectable 500,000...

Clarkson Soars to Top of Charts

Jan 29, 2009 8:22 AM CST

Clarkson Soars to Top of Charts

New single rocketed from 97th spot in Hot 100

(Newser) - Kelly Clarkson’s new single has jumped from No. 97 to No. 1 , breaking the record held by Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” for the largest leap to the top spot, Billboard reports. “My Life Would Suck Without You” sold 280,000 digital downloads in one week and is climbing...

Tonight Marks Reinvention
for Franz Ferdinand

NEW RELEASE

Jan 27, 2009 11:08 AM CST

Tonight Marks Reinvention for Franz Ferdinand

Disco-charged album offers 'brand new start' for Scottish band

(Newser) - Franz Ferdinand’s third album, Tonight, is a “wholesale reinvention of their sound,” writes Andy Langer in Esquire. Establishing riffs rooted in bass rather than their trademark guitar sound, the quartet’s effort—out now—treads where few have dared, says Langer. “The Achilles heel of...

Babies Ready
to Rock at Birth

Jan 27, 2009 8:33 AM CST

Babies Ready to Rock at Birth

Infants can perceive rhythmic regularity

(Newser) - Babies are born ready to get in the groove, a new study suggests. Researchers played repetitive rock beats for infants, and when “metrically-unimportant” aspects of the music were absent, the babies’ auditory activity didn’t change much. But if there was a shift in the rhythm—for instance, if...

What Makes Joel the
Worst Singer Ever?

OPINION

Jan 24, 2009 3:33 PM CST

What Makes Joel the Worst Singer Ever?

Contempt, phoniness drives 'really bad art'

(Newser) - Billy Joel serves up his own brand of schlock-rock, but why is it so uniquely bad? Critic Ron Rosenbaum easily pans the piano man—"anodyne, sappy, superficial, derivative, fraudulently rebellious"—but what he hates most is the “unearned contempt" in Joel's tunes. It's usually for “the...

Grammys Should
Turn Up the Volume

OPINION

Jan 23, 2009 11:10 AM CST

Grammys Should Turn Up the Volume

Oscars get much more attention

(Newser) - Academy Award nominations are all over the news, but people seem to have forgotten about the Grammys. “I didn't even know the Grammys still existed,” writes Dan Abramson on the Huffington Post, but “not only do the Grammy Awards still exist, they might even be coming up....

Time to Retire the Crotch Shots, Madge

OPINION

Jan 22, 2009 11:31 AM CST

Time to Retire the Crotch Shots, Madge

'Trussed chicken' poses reveal diva's pathetic desperation

(Newser) - More than gloves came off for Madonna during her divorce, and it seems no amount of pleading can stop the 50-year-old’s “forced erotica,” Jan Moir writes in the Daily Mail. Madge’s crotch shots for her new Hard Candy album are “the death rattle of a...

Noisy Teens Sentenced to Manilow Sessions

Jan 21, 2009 3:59 AM CST

Noisy Teens Sentenced to Manilow Sessions

'Music misery' sentences used to bring noisemakers in line

(Newser) - Call it cruel and unusual punishment—or at least unusual. When a Colorado judge sentences teenagers guilty of blasting car stereos too loud in Fort Lupton, he often imposes a session of enforced "musical misery," the Los Angeles Times reports. That means a Friday night in his courtroom...

95% of Music
Downloads
Illegal: Industry

Jan 19, 2009 3:06 PM CST

95% of Music Downloads Illegal: Industry

40B tracks shared illegally, group claims

(Newser) - Nearly all—95%—of music downloads globally are illegal, at least according to the industry, Techdirt reports. The numbers come from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and indicate that even a 25% increase in online music purchases last year couldn’t overcome the effects of piracy. According to...

Phoenix
Rises as
Rapper
Joaquin

Jan 17, 2009 6:52 PM CST

Phoenix Rises as Rapper Joaquin

(Newser) - Retired actor and ex-Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix hit a Vegas stage last night in his new incarnation—as a rapper, People reports. "This is me saying this is who I am. This is my story," Phoenix said before performing at LAVO in The Palazzo. Brother-in-law Casey Affleck recorded...

Courtney Love Knocks Jews
... in Jewish Magazine

Jan 16, 2009 3:03 PM CST

Courtney Love Knocks Jews ... in Jewish Magazine

Singer utters a few colorful words on girl bands, actors and parenting, too

(Newser) - Courtney Love says she’s sober, but her recent anti-Semitic remarks in a Jewish magazine might give some observers pause, the New York Post reports. “Every time you buy a Nirvana record, part of that money is not going to Kurt’s child, or to me, it’s going...