The hot topic in rap this year has been the use of the word ‘Nigga’. After turning a blind eye to gangsta rappers using the word since, um, forever, the industry has suddenly decided to take offense. Is that a delayed reaction or what?
Onstage this week, the rapper Nas claimed that his next album will be called Nigga. From a marketing point of view, making such a controversial claim is bound to draw attention. Shame his record company didn’t agree, isn’t it?
Rumour has it that the venerable members of Led Zeppelin might record some new material in the wake of their November reunion show.
Here’s what Jimmy Page apparently said to a Canadian newspaper:
The veteran rock band’s guitarist Jimmy Page said he would be “really surprised if there wasn’t”.
“We’re musicians - as we’re playing we’ll probably be coming up with all manner of things,” he told Canadian newspaper The Winnipeg Sun.
“That will be fun. Let’s do the O2 show, shall we? And then we’ll speak to you afterwards,” added the musician.
I don’t doubt that they’ll probably jam a little, but new Led Zeppelin material is highly unlikely - for a number of reasons:
What? Two posts in one night? I’m really spoiling you guys this evening!
I got word today that my fellow Northern Irish blogger, CyberScribe, has nominated Unreality Music for an independent blog award with Media Guardian. Thanks dude!
CyberScribe has nominated us in the Independent Blog Category. If you’re a fan of what you’ve been reading here at Unreality Music, I’d personally appreciate it if you’d go on over and vote for us. And tell your friends to vote as well!
We’ve got some new features coming up in the very near future. I can’t reveal too much right now, but I will say that Unreality Music is moving forward nicely from my original plan back in March this year. More about that in a future post. Now, go and vote!
The announcement that No Doubt is reforming is good news on two counts: 1) that we’ll be hearing some new music from one of my favorite bands, and 2) that Gwen will stop releasing her awful solo singles. Let’s face it, quality control was lacking on The Sweet Escape…
No Doubt are apparently working on their sixth album, which will be a follow-up to 2001’s Rock Steady. Yes, its been six years!
Lots of big talk on the Chris Moyles Show this morning about the forthcoming release of a covers album to celebrate 40 years of Radio 1.
The concept is brilliant: a contemporary artist or act will record a song from one of the 40 years Radio 1 has been on air. You’ve got Girls Aloud covering Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag, Klaxons covering Blackstreet’s No Diggity. I’m finding myself already wondering how some of these renditions are going to sound!
Here’s the entire song list (as found over on MusicSlut):
You’d have to be blind lately to have missed the tabloid coverage over Amy Winehouse and her self-destructive behaviour.
I’m not sure what to make of it all: is Winehouse simply tabloid target of the month, of is there something deeper going on here? Part of the attraction of Amy Winehouse - both as a tabloid ‘character’ and a singer/songwriter - is her emotional turmoil. The heavy makeup and towering beehive seem to accentuate her bizarre persona.
However, the tabloids seem to take exceptional glee in watching Winehouse self-destruct - look at the cutting incident during an interview with Spin magazine. But if you look at the video of that footage, both Amy and her husband Blake seem to be laughing off the whole thing. So is the whole thing being blown out of all proportion? I think maybe so.
Maybe it’s that Amy’s style conjures up memories of an era where pop stars regularly became overwhelmed by fame and it was commonplace to find overdosed celebrities dead in their beds the next morning. But we’re living in a far more media-savvy generation. Is Amy:
I’m not pretending to know what the answers are in this case, but I do worry about this constant hounding of and artist by the same press that frequently decry the death of their “Princess Of Hearts” at the hands of the paparazzi. What do you think?
If you’re a fan of Linkin Park, check out this post over on Hometracked. It neatly dissects the structure of some popular Linkin Park songs and shows how they follow a simple but effective formula:
- Quiet intro: Each song has a relatively quiet two-measure intro.
- The instrumental kicker: The full band come in together on the down-beat, and play two or four high energy measures, usually instrumental.
- Quiet verse: The song eases off for a verse or two, heightening the dynamic contrast between the song’s sections.
- Heavy chorus: Usually the same chords established in the kicker, with Chester screaming over top for added emotion.
On one hand, you could interpret this as a criticism of Linkin Park’s music, that they’re “doing a Status Quo” and releasing the same song over and over again. Different chords and lyrics, but essentially the same idea each time.
I’ve thought about this quite a bit, and it’s hard to criticise the artist. Surely a lot of it boils down to simple musical style? The music of any band is the result of the chemistry between the players, their influences and their ability to express themselves. So, doesn’t it stand to reason that some tunes will carry a familiar musical ’signature’?
The article notes:
On one hand, the band and their producers deserve kudos for finding and exploiting a successful formula. They’re in the entertainment business, after all, and appealing to fans is any entertainer’s number one job.
Again, I disagree. Perhaps I’m too optimistic here, but I hope that Linkin Park (or any other mega-band) don’t set out to write songs based on a formula. As for the songs sounding the same, I imagine that to be more of an unconscious thing. Maybe the band aren’t even aware of the similarity, or if they are, they consider it part of their musical style.
I hope it’s not a cynical ploy on the part of the music industry to repackage the same song and sell it again and again to a remarkably loyal fanbase. The fact of the matter is, I love those Linkin Park songs, and I’m a sucker for that particular formula.
In a truly inventive piece of journalism, Mojo have managed to weave Prince’s decision to give away his album for free with the closure of Fopp stores nationwide.
Prince’s decision to give his new album, Planet Earth, with a forthcoming edition of the Mail On Sunday has drawn widespread criticism from the British music industry as a whole, with Paul Quirk, chairman of The Entertainment Retailers Association, declaring it “an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career. The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores.”
Ooh, handbags at dawn from the record store guy! I especially loved the “insult to all those record stores” line. Come on Paul, it’s not as if those record stores were selling Prince records for the good of their health! I’m sure those poor record stores made a few pounds out of their sales of Prince records. What a disingenuous thing to say.
From what I read elsewhere, the decision to close Fopp has more to do with the growing download market and declining sales of physical product. Fopp weren’t alone, as HMV have been feeling the pinch too.
So, Mojo, it wasn’t Prince who dunnit, in the kitchen with a free album in a conservative Sunday paper. Better look at some of the other suspects: music downloads, online retailers like Amazon, and the decline in quality of music generally.
On a personal note, I discovered a Fopp store in London before Christmas, and I really enjoyed shopping there. The stock wasn’t the usual mainstream garbage you can buy everywhere else, and they seemed to have thought about the types of products they were offering. It’s a genuine shame that they’ve been forced to close. But not for Prince presumably.
I was reading over on NME that Macartney’s latest album may not chart well in the top 40 because of his decision to sell Memory Almost Full through Starbucks.
The reason? Although Starbucks have some 533 stores throughout the UK, they’re not registered with the Official Chart Company. Naturally, there’s a good chance that sales through Starbucks might not count towards his chart position.
Social music site Last.fm has been bought by US media giant CBS Corporation for $280m (£140m), the largest-ever UK Web 2.0 acquisition.
Last.fm founding member Martin Stiksel said it was an “exciting opportunity”.
He continued:
“This move will really support us to get every track ever recorded and every music video ever made onto Last.fm.
“With a strong partner like CBS, this is now within our reach.”
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