Thousands of master recordings were destroyed in “the biggest disaster in the history of the music business” - a fire at Universal Music Group’s Vault on Universal Studios, the New York Times reports. The fire happened back on June 1, 2008, it was widely reported at the time but mainly from a movies/television angle and […]
Onscreen depiction of homosexuality in Elton John's biopic 'Rocketman' was too much for conservative Pacific nation Samoa so they banned it, Deutsche Welle reports. Samoa's principal censor, Leiataua Niuapu Faaui, said 'Rocketman's' homosexual content clashed with residents' strong Christian beliefs and violated the country's laws, including the 2013 Crimes Act, under which sodomy is punishable […]
BBC has an important article about sexual harassment in music - several fans have been speaking to BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat stories of how "groupie" culture has led to them being sexually abused. Musicians take advantage of fans, especially when they're young. It gets even worse if a fan wants to make a career in […]
American singer-songwriter Bill Callahan has a new record, 'Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest' (out this week), which the Quietus calls "supreme... He finds the cosmic in the straightforward and the straightforward in the cosmic, often within the same sentence. The record is as profound a meditation on the birth, death, love and loss". The album […]
New York City on monday held a renaming ceremony for the corner of Fulton Street and St. James Place in Clinton Hill, which is now known as Christopher ‘Notorious B.I.G.’ Wallace Way. Biggie's street arrives after years of efforts to rename the street; due to the violent nature of his music, the memoriam met resistance […]
DJ Khaled got really angry for not reaching the No. 1 at the USA album sales chart. First he was angry with his publisher for not doing enough to market the album, and then he turned his aim at Billboard Chart for allegedly not counting all of his album sales. Tyler the Creator sold 165,000 […]
Ed Sheeran was the most-played artist on British radio last year, despite not releasing new music, and without an entry in the Top 10 most-played tracks, suggesting his entire catalogue of hits remains on rotation on the radio, BBC reports. It's the third time in four years that he's been the UK's most-played artist. 'Feel […]
Black Pumas were voted Best New Band at the 2019 Austin Music Awards, and "the songs they’ve assembled on their self-titled debut revivify the sound and feel of 70s soul in a surprisingly fresh way", Guardian writes. They have a debut album (out June 20), "so perfectly realised by the standards they’ve set themselves that […]
American riot grrrl punk band Bikini Kill reunited after 20 years, playing a reunion tour. Singer Kathleen Hanna says in a Guardian interview they're back because "we want to be a part of this conversation about what feminism is in this moment”. The issues they were fighting in the 1990s are still issues - "being […]
Bushwick Bill of legendary Houston rap group Geto Boys, has died at the age of 52, All Hip Hop reports. Alongside Scarface and Willie, Bushwick Bill made Geto Boys’ core lineup. Geto Boys’ 1991 album 'We Can’t Be Stopped' featured a graphic photo of Bill in the hospital after losing an eye in a gunshot incident. The […]
M.I.A. on saturday received an M.B.E., or Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, with rapper saying she is accepting it thanks in part to her mother, Rolling Stone reports. M.I.A., or how her mother named her, Mathangi Arulpragasam, is a daughter of Sri Lankan Tamils revealed that her mother helped craft […]
In seems like ancient history, but Guardian's story about smuggling rock'n'roll from the USSR actually says a lot about today's spies and politics, the only difference now being delicacy in spy's methods. The article's hero is Joanna Stingray, who in 1980s visited USSR, found there an underground rock scene, and published, in USA, a compilation […]
Music videos generate the highest return-on-investment for YouTube despite making up only about 5% of all videos uploaded, according to a new analysis. Music and music-related videos had a collective 1.987 trillion views on YouTube in 2018 (an average of 16,937 views per video), representing 20% of all views on the platform. Further on, music videos all […]
In honor of celebrating pride month, Loudwire has compiled a gallery of LGBTQ figures in the rock, pop, and metal community. There are obvious ones like Elton John and Freddie Mercury, and some less known like members of metal bend Cynic or siblings Tegan and Sara (Quin) of the band of the same name.
Elvis Costello has been named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to music, which he, at first, decided not to accept, but then, after a conversation with his mother, changed his mind and accepted it, Spin reports. Costello's music has often been critical of British imperialism and politics […]
American singer Dr John has died at the age of 77 - the New Orleans musician was famous for blending black and white musical styles (blues, pop, jazz, boogie woogie, rock and roll), with a hoodoo-infused stage persona and gravelly bayou drawl. Alexis Petridis says Dr. John will be remembered "as visionary artist who took […]
Consequence of Sound covered pop punk with a selection of 100 best bands in the genre. Green Day is at No. 1. Surprised? Of course not. The fun lies in exploring the remaining 99...
Maryland rapper Chad Focus was given an American Express credit card for business expenses by his company - he was working as Search Engine Optimization Specialist, but he allegedly embezzled over $4 million from the unnamed company to fund his music career. Focus - while working as SEOS people knew him as Chad Arrington - […]
There's Tyler, the Creator, Solange, Better Oblivion Community Center, Lizzo, Broken Social Scene, Future, Justin Townes Earle, Say Anything, Toro Y Moi... Songs, albums, Vulture's choice.
Dan Snaith of Caribou fame will put out a new EP this summer with his project Daphni, and is leading off with its title track, 'Sizzling'. Here, he uses Paradise’s 1981 song 'Sizzlin' Hot' and spins it into a balmy dance track, Stereogum says. Check it out below.
Chicago journalist Jim DeRogatis published a new book 'Soulless' about R. Kelly and his, to put it mildly, problematic relationship with girls. He details not just the accusations of sexual abuse, but Kelly's complex history of out-of-court settlements, the music industry's complicity in his actions, and law enforcement's failure to bring him to justice, BBC […]
18 Minidiscs billed as the entire 'OK Computer' sessions have leaked online, as a user on the Radiohead subreddit points out. Fans in that community created a Google Doc indexing what’s included on each of the discs, Exclaim reports. Among others, there's a previously unreleased version of 'Lift', a song Radiohead refused to publish, fearing it was a 'Creep'-like hit that […]
New Black Mirror episode 'Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too', with Miley Cyrus dropped on Netflix, with pop/country princess singing a reworked version of Nine Inch Nails‘ 'Head Like A Hole'. iNews reports that showrunner Charlie Brooker wrote new, peppier lyrics “Hey there, whoah-ho, I’m on a roll / Riding so high, achieving my goals / I’m […]
Miley Cyrus has responded angrily online after a fan in Barcelona grabbed her by the neck before trying to kiss her, People reports. On Twitter Cyrus wrote: "She can be wearing what she wants. She can be a virgin. She can be sleeping with five different people. She can be with her husband. She can […]
Rihanna has been named the world’s richest female musician by Forbes magazine - her wealth is estimated at $600m (£472m), coming from her music career, her fashion and beauty lines. Forbes’s list of the top five richest female musicians finds Madonna in second place ($570m), Céline Dion in third ($450m), Beyoncé and Barbra Streisand tying […]
Psychedelic rock legend and 13th Floor Elevators frontman Roky Erickson died last week, and Chelsea Wolfe is one of many who paid a tribute to him. She shared a haunting acoustic cover of 'Night of the Vampire'.
'Western Stars' is Bruce Springsteen's first solo album in 14 years, and PopMatters had the chance to listen to it prior to it's release (June 14): "The primary influences are the borrowed elements of country, folk, and baroque pop that interlaced in the late 1960s and early 1970s rock... 'Western Stars' will take its place among […]
“If you’re a sensual being, all of your senses need stimulation. A lot of it was based around pleasure… let’s face it” - Kylie Minogue is heard to say in new documentary 'Mystify' about Michael Hutchence, troubled INXS star, coming to BBC2, NME reports. Docu-movie examines the story of the Australian music icon, the events […]
Pixies have a new album, 'Beneath the Eyrie', it comes out on September 13th, and it's where “tales of witches, Daniel Boone, misfits and other characters fit utterly into the band’s inherent weirdness”, Consequence of Sound reports. The album’s title is a reference to an eagles nest outside their recording studio. Before the album comes […]
Boy band BTS have made history on Saturday by becoming the first South Korean group to headline Wembley Stadium, in front of 60,000 screaming fans (CBS). BTS in London paid tribute to Freddie Mercury - singer Jin led the crowd in a version of the Queen frontman's "ay-oh" chant, with his band-mate naming other bands […]
