Be the first to comment ABOVE: This silly duet with Michael Jackson probably isn’t the song responsible for McCartney’s big award…
Paul McCartney seems to be re-launching the British Invasion his band first spearheaded all those decades ago. It has just been announced that McCartney has been named the latest winner of the Library of Congress’s prestigious Continue reading »
ABOVE: Peter & Gordon’s 1964 hit, “World Without Love,” was written by a more famous member of the British Invasion. Do you know who?
Over the weekend, the music world bid farewell to 64-year-old Gordon Waller, an often overlooked figure in British pop/folk music history.
In 1964, the virtually unknown British singing duo Peter & Gordon (Peter Asher and Gordon Waller) hit the top of the charts with their its first single, “World Without Love.” It is worth noting that the pair didn’t actually write the melancholy hit song that would become its trademark, it was written by the young musician Asher’s sister Jane was dating at the time: superstar Continue reading »
ABOVE: One of Michael Jackson’s earliest hits, The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” topped the Billboard chart in 1969, when Michael was just 11 years old.
From the ’60s through the ’90s, Michael Jackson was no stranger to the top of the charts. Today, we’re taking a look at some of the King of Pop’s top hits that reached #1 on the Billboard charts.
Surprisingly, “Thriller” never made it to #1, but it did reach #4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
Do you know all of Michael Jackson’s top hits?
Do you remember Michael Jackson’s 1987 duet with Siedah Garrett?
Countdown Michael Jackson’s Top #1 Hits below, then tell us which MJ song is your favorite!
Michael Jackson’s Top 10 Hits Continue reading »
Today is an important day in rock’n'roll history, because it marks the birthday of one of the genre’s most celebrated stars.
Can you guess who it is? Here are a few clues:
1. His first name is James, but millions of screaming fans know him better by his middle name.
2. He owns the publishing rights to every song ever written by Buddy Holly. However, he does not own the rights to his own classic hits.
3. He’s known for his haircut, but his daughter is a popular fashion designer.
4. The Guinness Book of Records declared him the most successful musician/composer in the history of pop music.
Do you know the answer? Check out the Video below for the Answer: Continue reading »
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two surviving members of the Beatles, appeared together onstage yesterday to promote the release of a new “Rock Band” video game that will allow fans to follow in the Beatles’ musical exploits, according to a Reuters report.
McCartney and Starr stopped by the E3 videogame trade conference and received tremendous applause. Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, also appeared at the event.
The game allows players to pretend they’re Beatles by singing in three-part harmonies and physically holding plugged-in versions of musical instruments to play the band’s songs, including “Back in the USSR” and “I Am the Walrus.” This version of Rock Band will be released on September 9, and marks The Beatles first foray into the digital universe.
McCartney and Starr performed together in April at a benefit concert in New York, but appearances together have been rare since The Beatles broke up in 1970.
Paul NergerHundred of friends and fans of late Beatle George Harrison gathered in Los Angeles, California yesterday as Harrison was posthumously awarded a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, according to an Associated Press report.
Those in attendance included Paul McCartney and Tom Petty, as well as Harrison’s widow Olivia and son Dhani. “Thank you very much!” shouted McCartney to the fans as the star was unveiled in front of the landmark Capitol Records building.
The only other surviving Beatle, Ringo Starr, did not attend. But one of Harrison’s friends, Monty Python’s Eric Idle, said he had recently spoken to Starr and that Ringo wanted to know why he hadn’t been awarded a star. Idle said he told Starr that they don’t give stars to drummers.
The Beatles have a star on the Walk of Fame, but the only members of the band with individual stars are John Lennon and now Harrison.
At this point, it is almost impossible to be surprised by news that Amy Winehouse has cancelled another show. The British disaster is tangled up in a new round of legal problems, this time in connection to charges that she assaulted a fan at a party in September.
C’mon Amy, you’re supposed to attack critics, not fans.
Can’t this girl do anything right?
Winehouse had been scheduled to appear at April’s Coachella music festival in California along with big-name acts such as Paul McCartney, the Cure, Morrissey, the Killers, Leonard Cohen, Franz Ferdinand, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and My Bloody Valentine.
Although her representatives have not confirmed details of Winehouse’s cancellation, it is likely that she has been denied a US work visa due to her looming legal problems. The 25-year-old singer is due to appear in court March 17.
We’re pretty sure that nobody was going to Coachella just to see Winehouse’s scary skeleton wobble around the stage in high-heels and a higher wig anyway. It has been so long since the singer has actually made music, we’re not sure anybody even cares anymore.
Complete Coachella 2009 lineup and ticket info, here.
Paul McCartney is a fireman. Or, at least he’s part of the two-man band, the Fireman.
An odd pairing, the Fireman finds McCartney teamed up with Youth, a producer/performer best-known for his time as a member of punk/industrial noise-outfit Killing Joke.
But is it really as weird as it seems? Or is it the best work of McCartney’s post-Beatles career?
While the duo seems like an odd match on paper, on record the collaborations have resulted in what is easily the most exciting (and, unfortunately, most overlooked) output of McCartney’s post-Beatles career.
The third and latest offering from the Fireman, Electric Arguments, announces itself as a free-flowing exercise in sonic experimentation from the get-go—even the title, culled from an Allen Ginsberg work, alludes to the album’s wandering vibe. Continue reading »
Ron FroehlichJohn Lennon has been dead and buried for over 20 years, but the poor man still isn’t getting any peace.
As if having John Lennon quotes plastered on bumper stickers and his songs butchered by every frat boy with an acoustic guitar isn’t humiliating enough, the late-Beatle is now being paraded around in television ads for laptop computers.
Thanks, Yoko.
On the plus side, the ads are for a charitable organization that provides laptop computers to some of the world’s neediest kids, so some of this atrocity is almost forgivable. Still, there’s something very creepy about seeing and hearing a digitally manipulated film of Lennon talking about laptops, especially since computers were still rather uncommon at the time of his death in 1980.
If Yoko Ono stops here with the selling of Lennon, fans might forgive her. Let’s just hope this series of faux-Lennon commercials doesn’t expand to include commercials for electric cars and vegan food, or special performances during half-time at the superbowl.
Then again, this type of post-mortem digital resurrection could hold interesting, or horrifying, possibilities for Lennon’s music. What if this process were used to record his un-released songs with a digital Lennon clone/ voice impersonator? Same thing for Buddy Holly, Kurt Cobain, Jeff Buckley, Elvis and all of the other dead singers who fans still want to hear more from.
Actually, that’s a really horrifying idea and we hope it never ever happens.
Do you think the Lennon laptop commercial is cool or creepy?
Leave a comment and tell us what you think!
According to numerous reports released earlier today, it looks like the divorce settlement between Madonna and soon-to-be-ex-husband Guy Ritchie has been finalized, and the grand total is likely to make even Heather Mills (ex-Paul McCartney) a little, uh, green with envy.
In the settlement announced today, Ritchie is set to rake in a hefty $76 million from Madonna. That’s nearly twice the amount Mills was awarded in her then-record-setting settlement with McCartney.
Of course, this is rather like pocket change to a woman estimated to be worth around half a billion dollars.
So, the question now is: Is Guy Ritchie getting enough of Madonna’s money?
Aside from the broken hearts and broken family, and the fact that it looks very likely that she was in love with another (baseball-playing) man during their marriage, is $76 million dollars enough compensation for someone who had to endure Madonna for nearly eight years?
Seriously, she might be the most obnoxious celebrity on the planet, aside from Carrot Top and those idiots from the Hills. The fake British accent, the top hats, the frighteningly toned 50-year-old skeleton, er, body. Maybe Ritchie suffered even more than anyone realizes.
Here’s a quick rundown of how much this settlement is worth, have a look and tell us if this would be enough for you to tolerate the Material Girl for eight whole years.
Madonna and Guy Ritchie Divorce Settlement breakdown:
Total settlement: $76 million
If Richie were being paid a salary for his 8 years with Madge, here’s what it would’ve been:
Eight Year Total: $76,000,000
Yearly: $9,500,000
Monthly: $791,667
Weekly: $197,917
Daily: $28,274
Hourly: $1,178
Each minute: $19.63
Each second: $0.33
Hmm… only 33 cents per second? So, we’d get paid $80.52 to listen to all 4:04 of awful Madonna songs like Madonna and Justin Timberlake fre e”4 Minutes” download? Hmm…doesn’t really seem worth it…
If you actually like Madonna, go get some legal free Madonna music downloads here—she can afford it.
Is the Madonna/Guy Ritchie divorce settlement fair?
Please leave a comment and tell us what you think!
