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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Pop Rock Nation

  • The Album As We Know It: Going Bye-Bye??

    Over at Popdose, my current favorite music site, DW Dunphy prophesizes the end of the album as we know it. In a sense, he says the music industry could very well go back to its’ Sixties model, where artists were signed to “singles” contracts (with singles being the primary income source for the label), and albums were generally an afterthought.

    The industry’s boom period of roughly 1995-2002 coincided with the death of the commercial single, an industry move that I think is reason #1 for the situation it’s in today. iTunes is popular now not only because it allows people to purchase music without leaving the comfort of their own home (because, lets’ face it, we’re some lazy motherfuckers), but because you don’t have to spend $12.99 on a piece of shit masquerading as an album. The public went along with the “no single” gambit for a short time-it’s how “artists” like Lou Bega, Aqua and Chumbawamba went on to sell millions of records, but the public eventually wised up (and technology helped) and we’re back to what music has always been to the casual fan (and I’m pretty solid in my belief that 75% of music buyers are “casual”)-a question of whether they like a song, not an album or even necessarily an artist.

    Does this mean the album as we know it will die? I’m not too sure about that. I’m positive the industry will move towards signing more artists to single deals in the future, but there’s no way that bands like Radiohead, U2, The White Stripes, Kanye West, Dave Matthews Band, Linkin Park…artists who generally make cohesive statements will follow suit, nor will most of the kids influenced by these acts who are just starting out. There’ll be a changing of the guard, to a degree, but I don’t think the album will ever vanish nor will major labels completely stop signing artists to album deals (although they’ll hopefully be a little more discriminating going forward!!)…

    Here’s the original Popdose article here: http://popdose.com/dw-dunphy-on-the-end-of-the-album/

    (As a sidenote: I am slowly getting settled in a new locale, and we’ll be ramping the entries up here at the Musichelpweb blog, so stay tuned and keep checking often!!)

  • Vital Idol: Jason Castro Wrecks The Beatles!~

    I think FOX should give Jason Castro his own show. The premise would be that he be given two classic songs to perform in front of a live studio audience. The goal would be to see how badly he would wreck those classic songs. The louder the crowd growns, the more money he gets. It would be car crash television at it’s best. I would call it Jason Castro Wrecks The Beatles~!. And yes, that’s a tilde bang.

    After last night’s performances, if Jason Castro is still on the show next week, we might as well just give him the title. I was all for Sanjaya doing as well as possible because he entertained me. But Sanjaya was out of there midway through the season. Jason Castro doesn’t entertain me. His terrible singing, terrible facial expressions, pubic hair on his lip styled mustache, and Bill and Ted laugh all kill me. Bah! Let’s get on with this. Jason Castro, I quit you!

    Ok, enough with the Castro hate. He’s just a kid. I know.

    It’s showtime folks … (that was for Eddy Zucko)

    – Boseph Bice and Maroon 5 are scheduled to perform tonight. I wonder if Adam Levine still looks like a waif model.

    – Ryno brings out Big Dave Archuleta and Big Dave is as safe as Rickey Henderson stealing second base.

    – Predictably, David Cook is also safe and that leaves us with Syesha and Jason Castro in the bottom two.

    – I know I promised to not talk about the lame segment On The Air With American Idol, but one of the callers asked what the biggest challenge has been thus far and Castro said, “The brain being dead.” Unintentional comedy at it’s finest!

    – By the way, the answer is yes, Adam Levine looks like a waif model. I’ve seen better shoulders on a wire hanger and those arms are the size of pipe cleaners. Thankfully, he can sing.

    – I think Boseph Bice still hates me for turning on him after being a big fan for all of season four. And then, on finale night, I threw him under the bus and gave my allegiance to Carrie “Tony Romo Is A Virgin” Underwood. He just performed his new single and I think he gave me the stank eye.

    – Jason Castro just said that someone told him that he shot the tambourine man yesterday. At the very least, this dude is hilarious tonight.

    – More and more each week, Syesha is looking like a dead ringer for Ashley Banks. Where’s Carlton?

    Where Is This Man?

    – Ryno tells Syesha that she’s in the top three, which means that Big Rube is celebrating Jason Castro home.

    – Jason Castro says he’s relieved because next week the top three perform three songs each and he wouldn’t know what to do having to memorize three songs. You can’t knock the guy’s honesty. And this week, he entertained me.

    Seacrest out!

  • Chart Chat 5/4/08: Madonna, Jesse McCartney, Static Major And More!!


    Hey folks:

    Courtesy of the good folks at Billboard magazine, I bring you (drumroll…) this week’s Top 20 singles and albums!!

    We’ll start with the albums chart:

    1) “E=MC2” Mariah Carey
    2) “Spirit” Leona Lewis
    3) “Flight of the Concords” Flight of the Concords
    4) “Bittersweet World” Ashlee Simpson
    5) “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold” Atmosphere
    6) “Now That’s What I Call Music 27” Various Artists
    7) “Juno” Soundtrack
    8) “Troubadour” George Strait
    9) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
    10) “Prayer of a Common Man” Phil Vassar
    11) “Best of Both Worlds Concert” Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus
    12) “Alvin & The Chipmunks” Soundtrack
    13) “Sunset Man” James Otto
    14) “Sleep Through The Static” Jack Johnson
    15) “Trilla” Rick Ross
    16) “Lady Antebellum” Lady Antebellum
    17) “Accelerate” R.E.M.
    18) “The Black Swan” Story of the Year
    19) “Call Me Irresponsible” Michael Buble
    20) “Jordin Sparks” Jordin Sparks

    Top 20 Singles:

    1) “Bleeding Love” Leona Lewis
    2) “Lollipop” Lil’ Wayne feat. Static Major
    3) “No Air” Jordin Sparks/Chris Brown
    4) “4 Minutes” Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake
    5) “Love in This Club” Usher feat. Young Jeezy
    6) “Sexy Can I” Ray J. feat. Yung Berg
    7) “Touch My Body” Mariah Carey
    8) “Love Song” Sara Bareilles
    9) “Forever” Chris Brown
    10) “With You” Chris Brown
    11) “Low” Flo-Rida feat. T-Pain
    12) “See You Again” Miley Cyrus
    13) “Say” John Mayer
    14) “Leavin’” Jesse McCartney
    15) “Damaged” Danity Kane
    16) “Don’t Stop The Music” Rihanna
    17) “Stop & Stare” OneRepublic
    18) “The Boss” Rick Ross feat. T-Pain
    19) “Pocketful of Sunshine” Natasha Bedingfield
    20) “What You Got” Colby O’ Donis feat. Akon

    *Nope, I don’t know who Colby O’ Donis is either. But…his song features Akon, so I also really don’t care who he is. But here’s his video in case you’re interested.

    *Chris Brown has three songs in this week’s Top 10. Is it safe to say Chris Breezy is going to be the 2008 version of T-Pain?

    *One thing I neglected to mention last week (and thanks to Joel Whitburn’s Chart Beat Chat column for making me aware of this), is that Static Major, who guests on Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop” (down 1 spot to #2 this week), is the seventh artist to hit #1 on the singles chart posthumously, following Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Jim Croce, The Notorious B.I.G. and Soulja Slim. Static, who was better known as a songwriter (Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody?” and “Try Again”) was also 1/3 of the singing group Playa, who had a hit with “Cheers 2 U” a decade or so ago.

    *Jesse McCartney becomes the latest former boy-bander to achieve chart salvation. Not only is he new in the Top 20 with “Leavin”‘” (which auomatically becomes his highest charting single), but he also has a co-write on the #1 single, Leona Lewis’s “Bleeding Love”. Not bad for the kid who was the lead singer of D-list boy band Dream Street.

    *Latest annoying song to finally get the chart boot: “Apologize” by Timbaland & OneRepublic.

    *How weird was it to see Madonna on “106 & Park” this week? Particularly in light of her work with Justin Timberlake, who has unofficially been banned from the network in light of his participation in “Nipplegate”?

    *Finally, a big shout to the duo of Atmosphere, who score one of the surprise debuts of the year (with one of the best album titles of the year, too!!). Definitely a good look for indie/backpacker rap!!