As Heard On...
  • What could be more anticipated: The triumphant return of seminal grunge band Soundgarden or the upcoming multi-hero'd "Avengers" movie? Well, for buffs of both music and movies, there's no need to make an executive decision. The super and the sonic have clashed in Soundgarden's "Live to Rise" video.

    [Related: 'Marvel's The Avengers' on Yahoo! Movies]

    The video combines the simplicity of an intimate band performance with some seriously action-packed scenes from the movie that's hitting theaters May 4. With a ridiculously A-List lineup of stars, including Robert Downy Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo and Chris Evans to name just a few, it's no wonder Soundgarden re-emerged 15 years after their last original recording to write a song just for the Joss Whedon-directed film. With New York City getting destroyed by robots, mutants, aliens, sexy ladies and what have you (can you tell I don't know much about the Marvel world?), Soundgarden's hard-rocking riffs and

    Read More »
  • A lost love duet between the late Kurt Cobain and his wife Courtney Love, intriguingly and grungily titled "Stinking Of You," has surfaced online, thanks to a new rockumentary, Hit So Hard: The Life And Near Death Story Of Patty Schemel, about troubled Hole drummer Patty Schemel and the 1990s Seattle music scene.

    The buzzy clip, taken from the P. David Ebersole-directed film, features Courtney strumming an acoustic guitar with Kurt joining in on vocals, along with home footage of the infamous alt-rock power couple with their then-infant daughter, Frances Bean.

    Read More »
  • Time to break out the record spindles and the traffic cones. It's not often that you find traffic jams around the nation's remaining independent music stores, but the fifth annual Record Store Day is creating such a buzz that it could just be gridlock central at your friendly neighborhood tunes retailer when doors open Saturday morning.

    A few hundred different titles are being released exclusively to 1,700 participating indie record stores on Saturday—most on vinyl, which is suddenly the preferred format of twentysomething music geeks, although you'll find a fair share of actual CD releases in the mix, too.

    Most of the releases are limited editions, pressed in runs of anywhere from 100 to 10,000 copies. That's why you'll see a lot of rock & roll night owls suddenly become early birds to get the most coveted and potentially rare items coming out Saturday.

    Here are 20 instant collectors' items worth making the trip for, before your local outlet runs out (and be warned, not every store will have every title):

    Read More »
  • Jobriath's hyped debut albumBefore there was Lana Del Rey, there was Jobriath, the original cautionary tale of how too much hype, too soon, can derail a promising young musician's career. Back in the early '70s, singer-songwriter turned glam-rock "True Fairy of Rock & Roll" Jobriath was supposed to be The Next Big Thing, but that sadly never happened. Instead, Jobriath ended up dying alone in obscurity, of AIDS, a decade later at New York's Chelsea Hotel.  He was only 37. And until recently, he was known mainly for being one of the biggest commercial failures in music business history.

    Read More »
  • Maybe you were expecting the Hunger Games companion album to bear some similarities to the Twilight soundtracks… aggressive-sounding, and aggressively youth-oriented, no?

    Think again. The track listing for The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 isn't the stuff that movie blockbuster souvenirs are usually made of. Take a look at the artist lineup—chock full of quiet or acoustically based acts like the Civil Wars, Neko Case, the Decemberists, and the Low Anthem--and you might think you've mistakenly been slipped the nominees' list for the Americana Music Awards.

    The "Songs from District 12" albumSure, there are household names too, like Maroon 5, Miranda Lambert, and—not incidentally—the woman Billboard just named as the top musical money-earner of the last year, Taylor Swift, who makes two contributions. But when Arcade Fire is just about the closest thing to an adolescent sensation among the mature-leaning likes of Glen Hansard and the Carolina Chocolate Drops, you might wonder: Is this any way to prop up a teen tentpole?

    Read More »
  • Taking any opportunity to perform, Late Night host Jimmy Fallon got back into his favorite Neil Young costume to cover LMFAO's chart-topping song "Sexy And I Know It", with help from a wiggling Bruce Springsteen. Always a up for a surprise performance, The Boss joined Fallon halfway through the song looking, well, like he's been tanning his cheeks and working out.

    Read More »
  • Follow me on Facebook, Twitter.

    There's no shortage of drama on "Celebrity Apprentice 5" according to Lou Ferrigno, Adam Carolla, Debbie Gibson and Aubrey O'Day, who are among the 18 celebrities competing to win money for the charities of their choice.

    Lou Ferrigno (photo: NBC/Mitchell Haaseth)"Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno said he took the reality show very seriously, especially when it was time to face Donald Trump. "You have some people with a superior attitude. Some people can be abrasive, so I was fighting for my charity in the boardroom," he said. "I didn't take any crap from anybody. So I kinda put them in their places, and I also made some good friends from the show.

    "Ferrigno didn't use his towering physical stature to bully other contestants. "You got to remember the show is a tough mental show," he said. "Because of myself being so honest, I was quite intimidating."

    Read More »
  • [Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage]

    We know three things for certain about the '90s:

    1. Michael Bolton was the era's quintessential singer

    2. The mullet (the "business in front, party in back" hair style) was the quintessential haircut

    3. One man had the quintessential mullet—you guessed it, Michael Bolton!

    So for his birthday 59th birthday on Sunday, February 26, our friends at Snakkle.com found the best musician mullets to pay homage to the "Mullet Maestro" himself, Michael Bolton.

    Read More »
  • Arguably the oddest pair in hip-hop, South African duo Die Antwoord (Afrikaans for "The Answer") appears in fashion designer Alexander Wang's latest video for his T by Alexander Wang line. While it initially comes as a surprise that the edgy-chic young designer would collaborate with the edgy-creep rappers, but in the video they meld seamlessly. The T by Alexander Wang line consists of mostly casuals and basics like sweats and tees, so they're perfect for Die Antwoord to tag up. Fashion videos have become a seasonal staple for all clothing brands, but the clothing takes a back seat to the music in Wang's Spring 2012 video; and as a big music fan of course I love that.

    Read More »
  • The Darkness are back!When it was announced last year that unitarded hair-metal revivalists the Darkness had reunited, rockers everywhere rejoiced. And that air-guitaring-in-the-streets, celebratory spirit has now carried over to THE feelgood Super Bowl commercial of 2012, a 90-second Samsung spot starring the Darkness themselves, in all their catsuit-flaunting, flying-V-wielding, hair-flipping glory. And judging by the crowd reaction here, apparently a lot of fans still believe in a thing called the Darkness.

    Read More »

Pagination

(183 Stories)