29 individuals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last weekend, with 28 of them being men (the only women inducted was Whitney Houston). Courtney E. Smith had, of course, to react to this - "Here’s who I’d like to see from a list of women that should be titled: Are You Fucking Kidding Me, She/They Haven’t Been Inducted or Even Nominated Yet???". It is really a surprise these women aren't in: The Go-Go's, Ella Fitzgerald, Doly Parton, Tina Turner, Carole King, Maria Carey. Not only them, there also needs to be a place for Mary J. Blige, Barbara Streisand, Buffy St. Marie, Björk, Alanis Morrissette, Carly Simon, Cyndi Lauper, Loretta Lynn, Hole, Chaka Khan...

A serious analysis in the Baffler of Spotify and its business model: "Over the past year, Spotify transformed its stated aspirations as a company. It used to see itself as the go-to platform providing 'music for every mood and moment' - not just a music streaming service but one that knows your taste better than you know it yourself. That changed in February 2019, when Spotify announced its acquisitions of Gimlet and Anchor in a letter declaring itself 'Audio First'". Spotify went wider with the content becoming a podcast company as well, but - "in many ways, though, the $50 billion company is treating podcasters similarly to how it has historically treated musicians, with a system that privileges the already moneyed and powerful".

Metal magazine Decibel has published its list of the 40 best albums of 2020. It goes from Dark Fortress on No 40 to Napalm Death at the top. The ful list:

40. Dark Fortress, 'Spectres from the Old World'
39. Fawn Limbs, 'Sleeper Vessels'
38. Exgenesis, 'Solve et Coagula'
37. Megaton Sword, 'Blood Hails Steel – Steel Hails Fire'
36. Oranssi Pazuzu, 'Mestarin Kynsi'
35. Svalbard, 'When I Die, Will I Get Better'
34. Enslaved, 'Utgard'
33. In the Company of Serpents, 'Lux'
32. Xibalba, 'Años En Infierno'
31. Wake, 'Devouring Ruin'
30. Cirith Ungol, 'Forever Black'
29. Proscription, 'Conduit'
28. Celestial Season, 'The Secret Teachings'
27. Midnight, 'Rebirth by Blasphemy'
26. Krallice, 'Mass Cathexis'
25. ACxDC, 'Satan is King'
24. Temple of Void, 'The World That Was'
23. Atramentus, 'Stygian'
22. Tombs, 'Under Sullen Skies'
21. Haunt, 'Flashback'
20. Kirk Windstein, 'Dream in Motion'
19. Pallbearer, 'Forgotten Days'
18. Lamp of Murmuur, 'Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism'
17. Godthrymm, 'Reflections'
16. Dropdead, 'Dropdead'
15. Ripped to Shreds '亂 (Luan)'
14. Vile Creature, 'Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!'
13. Of Feather & Bone, 'Sulfuric Disintegration'
12. Armored Saint, 'Punching the Sky'
11. Incantation, 'Sect of Vile Divinities'
10. Goden, 'Beyond Darkness'
9. Paradise Lost, 'Obsidian'
8. Uada, 'Djinn'
7. Sweven, 'The Eternal Resonance'
6. Necrot, 'Mortal'
5. Spirit Adrift, 'Enlightened in Eternity'
4. Paysage d’Hiver, 'Im Wald'
3. Imperial Triumphant, 'Alphaville'
2. Eternal Champion, 'Ravening Iron'
1. Napalm Death, 'Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism'

The Flaming Lips have announced the "World's First Space Bubble Concert" - the band and the audience will all spend the show in giant plastic bubbles, at Oklahoma City's The Criterion on December 11. There are only 100 tickets available. Tickets are good for three people in each bubble and "All attendees must sign the waiver before attending the show".

English pop-rock star James Arthur was inspired to write 52 songs after doing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in lockdown, as he says to the Evening Standard. Arthur - who struggles with social and health anxiety, as well as various different forms of depression - has a "fear of dying young” and admitted his anxiety heightened amid the coronavirus pandemic, "and then I made music again. I wrote 52 songs - that helped me through”.

Both the NME and Guardian's Alexis Petridis expect British-Gambian rapper Pa Salieu to be the next UK star. He combines afroswing, dancehall and UK road-rap, in "refreshingly original and inventive" way, very clubby, yet dark. Petridis calls Pa Salieu "Britain’s hottest new rapper", and his debut mixtape "smart, original, raw".

Ticketmaster is working on a system that would allow concerts to resume, and it is based on verifying the vaccination status of attendees before allowing them entrance to shows, or else making sure they've recently tested negative for the virus, Billboard reports. Ticketmaster is working on a smartphone-based system that would allow ticketholders to send proof of having received a vaccine, or having tested negative during a 24-48 hour period, without which they would be denied entrance to events.

Eric Church won the top prize, entertainer of the year, at last night's CMA Awards, while Maren Morris took home three awards, including female vocalist of the year, as well as single and song of the year, both for the first time, for 'The Bones'. Billboard lists all the winners.

Just some great guitar playing by Gwenifer Raymond on 'Hell For Certain'; Hey Colossus euphoric new song 'Medal' found a place on their new double album; Whitney K released an interesting Leonard Cohen-meets-Velvet Underground-sounding song 'Maryland'; Told Slant delivered a new take on indie-rock, with added harp, on 'Family Still'.

Spanish charity Asociacion Musica para Despertar (Music Association for Awakening), which tries to improve the lives of dementia patients with music, has released a video of Alzheimer’s patient Marta Gonzalez, a former prima ballerina, who is transformed as she listens to Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake'. Madam Gonzalez passed away shortly after this video was filmed.

Los Angeles court has rejected an attempt by Britney Spears to have her father removed as conservator of her estate, but didn’t close the door on ousting him at a future date and — per the singer’s request — appointed a financial fiduciary as a co-conservator, LA Times reports. Jamie Spears has been his daughter's legal guardian for 12 years, due to concerns about her mental health. Britney Spears' attorney said in court she fears her father and will not resume her career so long as he has power over it.

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl met "a rock star" - a 10-year-old drummer Nandi Bushell from England. The two had a drum-off battle online this fall, so during this Monday's 40-minute meeting organized by the New York Times, Grohl told Nandi "I feel like I'm meeting a Beatle". During the chat, Dave Grohl invited Bushell to play with the Foo Fighters when they come to England, they exchanged stories of how they first started playing the drums, agreed to write a song together, and had a "jam".

Josh Dun from Twenty One Pilots & Matt McGuire from The Chainsmokers played a drum-off in which they played together songs by Jay-Z/Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, N.E.R.D. and others. Their kits are set up across from each other creating an atmosphere of competition as well as togetherness.

Irish pop-rock singer and songwriter Niall Horan has sold impressive 125,000 tickets for his online concert held at empty Royal Albert Hall in London. These tickets were sold in whopping 151 countries across the globe - which “you’d never come close to on a tour”, producer Ric Salmon told Variety. The data suggest that two-to-three people are watching each stream sold, which would make it 400,000 watching Horan's show. The tickets went for £16 a pop, with all of it going to his crew.

"I just miss it [going on tour and playing live] because it's almost like a physical need. Your body kind of expects it, once you go out there on the road and make contact with everybody. And for this year, having it cut off is kind of weird, which is probably why I'm talking too much" - Keith Richards says in a GQ interview about life in lockdown. He says he spends time in quarantine "writing some songs because I do that anyway. That sort of happens without even trying. Not that they're any good, but, you know, it's what you do". Plans for band's 60th anniversary - "to still actually all be alive".

A ripping metal song sung by a Louisiana alligator, Bernie Sanders impersonator rapping about Vermont, an ode to the mythical "Florida Man" - make up, among 500 other songs, 'Our 500 States Project', a sort-of finish of Sufjan Stevens' 50 states project. It was helmed by Joey Clift, a 36-year-old comedian and television writer, who, in the midst od lockdown in the US, rounded-up 200 contributors. These creatives made an album for each of the 50 states, including new ones for Michigan and Illinois, plus one for the U.S. territories and one for the moon - “there’s a flag up there, so I figured I gotta do it” Clift told Pitchfork. The whole project is on Soundcloud.

A wee bit early in the year, Rough Trade has announced their 2020 Albums of the Year list, with Hazel English on spot No. 20, and Sault at the top. This year's best album is 'Untitled (Black Is)' because it "delivers equal parts grace and charge, manoeuvring through disparate sub-genres to create a magnificent medley of exaltation. Rarely has there been an artistic statement this stirring, this staggering, this powerful".

Full list:
20. Hazel English - 'Wake Up!'
19. Working Men’s Club - 'Working Men’s Club'
18. Oklou - 'Glamour'
17. Thurston Moore - 'By The Fire'
16. Tom Misch + Yussef Dayes - 'What Kinda Music'
15. Caribou - 'Suddenly'
14. Idles - 'Ultra Mono'
13. Osees - 'Protean Threat'
12. Waxahatchee - 'Saint Cloud'
11. Cornershop - 'England Is A Garden'
10. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - 'Sideways to New Italy'
9. Porridge Radio - 'Every Bad'
8. bdrmm - 'Bedroom'
7. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - 'Viscerals'
6. Dream Wife - 'So When You Gonna'
5. Jarv Is - 'Beyond The Pale'
4. Laura Marling - 'Song For Our Daughter'
3. Rina Sawayama - 'Sawayama'
2. Phoebe Bridgers - 'Punisher'
1. SAULT - 'Untitled (Black Is)'

Brian Eno has debuted his first-ever music video - for 'Decline and Fall' from his upcoming compilation, 'Film Music 1976-2020'. 'Decline and Fall' originally appeared in a chilling Brazilian serial killer biopic 'O Nome da Morte' ('A Man Called Death'), by Henrique Goldman, who directed the video. The clip cautions against the evils of greed using two overlapping narratives - one focuses on mankind’s destruction of the Earth for capitalist gain (deforestation, wildfires), while the other follows an assassin who kills for money.

Whatever new music comes out, it’s viewed as the devil’s music. I remember when Elvis came out everybody said he was Satan. And then in the ‘60s and ‘70s he became America’s national treasure. It happens with every new wave of music. Like metal, obviously. The Christians were going mental when Sabbath came about. And then when rap came about, people were up in arms about that and certain words that rappers were using" - Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler says in a Kerrang interview. The thing is he doesn't really like 'WAP', but he, it seems so, defends Cardi B's right to write such a song: "I have to say, though, that Cardi B pisses me off with that WAP song. It’s disgusting! But there you go... Then again, I’m 71. A bloody old goat!”.

Guardian goes through the history of cabin-in-the-woods album: Big Thief singer Adrianne Lenker recorded her latest solo album 'Songs' while holed up in a forest in Massachusetts during lockdown; 13 years ago Justin Vernon was going through heartbreak and self-doubt while holed up in a cabin in Wisconsin where he made his debut 'For Emma, Forever Ago'. Similarly, 'Cross Road Blues' by Robert Johnson was cut in 1936 in the blues singer’s hotel room in San Antonio. Daniel Johnston’s 'Songs of Pain' cassette album was recorded in his parents’ basement in West Virginia in 1981. Bruce Springsteen recorded 'Nebraska' at his home on a humble four-track over the course of three days in 1982...

Jack Johnson's song 'Upside Down' got millions of new listens when it was used in a TikTok video about TV-purchase scam. Simple Plan’s 'I’m Just a Kid' suddenly powered its way to a platinum certification 15 years after its debut when it was used in a huge TikTok Trend. The same abrupt re-explosion happened with L’Trimm’s 1988 'Cars With the Boom', and of course with Lizzo’s 2017 'Truth Hurts', Rolling Stone says looking at the power of the Chinese social network.

K-pop band BTS has clinched four trophies at this year's MTV Europe Music Awards, including the coveted Best Song prize with its latest hit 'Dynamite' and Best Virtual Live for its concert that was held online amid the new coronavirus pandemic. They also won Best Group and Biggest Fan, Variety reports. Lady Gaga was voted best artist, DJ Khaled won best video for the song 'Popstar', first-time EMA winner Yungblud took home the best push prize, while British group Little Mix won best pop.

South-African experimental pop artist Desire Marea performed a virtual concert with a host of first time collaborators. They performed gorgeous live renditions from Desire Marea's this year debut 'Desire', making them mesmerizing, jazzy, and atmospheric.

"Hard, kinetic, enthralling piece of writing, the kind that rap rarely gives us anymore" - Stereogum wrote about King Von's raps, ending with "it’s been a long time since a rap storyteller showed this much promise". Unfortunately, he won't have a chance to prove it - King Von was murdered at his album-release party in Atlanta on Friday, CNN reported. King Von is at least the 16th hip-hop artist murdered in 2020 in the US.

Music Journalism Insider chose six best documentaries about dancing. There are; 'Madonna: Truth or Dare' (1991) about her extravagant Blond Ambition tour; 'Strike A Pose' (2016) tells the story of the dancers from the 'Madonna...' docu, it casts an entirely different light on the former story; 'I'm Tryna Tell Ya' (2014) about Chicago dancers who started out as producers; 'The Summer of Rave 1989' (2006) about times of happiness and euphoria (and some drugs); 'Cunningham' (2019) about influential and somewhat radical choreographer Merce Cunningham; 'Only When I Dance' (2010) about Rio de Janerio teenagers whos only way out of poverty is ballet.

“As a piece of engineering, it’s really impressive” - an electronic musician and academic dr Matthew Yee-Kin says to the Guardian about audio deepfakes - “they break down an audio signal into a set of lexemes of music – a dictionary if you like – at three different layers of time, giving you a set of core fragments that is sufficient to reconstruct the music that was fed in". The G in convinced, rightly so, deepfake music is set to have wide-ranging ramifications for the music industry - any company that wouldn't want to pay the market rate for using an established artist’s music, they could create their own imitation. And big companies are getting into it: Google is working on it within their Magenta Project; startup Amper Music is producing custom, AI-generated music for media content; Spotify employed François Pachet, former head of Sony Music’s computer science lab, in its AI research group...

Iggy Pop gave a great speech on Nine Inch Nails' Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, describing NIN's music as "a focused and relentless process of emotional destruction which paints a portrait of pain, pressure, and dissatisfaction", CoS reports. He then described how seeing NIN live (1995 in LA's Forum with David Bowie) felt - "Trent held the center of the room just by being a kind of dark spot, hunched behind the mic. I had seen the same thing accomplished in different ways by T. Rex at Wembley, Nirvana at the Pyramid Club, and Bob Dylan in 1965. This is the mark of a master artist – simply to connect”. Trent Reznor said that “as an artist I think the most significant accomplishment or feeling is realizing that something you created from a fragile and intimate place has reached out, resonated, and affected someone else", adding “the journey is far from over"

Ariana Grande has climbed the Billboard 200 chart for the fifth time with her latest release 'Positions', with 174,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 5. 'Positions' is Grande’s third No. 1 album in less than two years and three months -- the fastest accumulation of three No. 1 proper studio albums ever by a woman. Grande has also done the chart double in the U.K., where 'Positions' and its title track rule the charts. Grande has also done the chart double in the U.K., where 'Positions' and its title track rule the charts, UK Official Charts reports.

Bones Hillman, longtime bass player with seminal Australian rock outfit Midnight Oil, died at the age of 62 after a battle with cancer, Ultimate Classic Rock reports. “He was the bassist with the beautiful voice, the band member with the wicked sense of humour, and our brilliant musical comrade” - reads a statement from Midnight Oil. He passed away Saturday Nov. 9, the same day the Australian Albums Chart was published, featuring Midnight Oil's 'The Makarrata Project' as the new No. 1.

"Lyric Jones uses her art as a balm to soothe the sting of systemic oppression and finds confidence in her ability to rap anyone under the table" - Pitchfork wrote in the review of California rapper's breakthrough project 'Closer Than They Appear'. Here - "her sincerity and musical range are her greatest weapons".