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Pop Rock Nation

Category: News

music-news-from-breakups-to-the-lastest-buzz

  • Not Necessarily the News: RHCP, Timbo & Weezy!!

    *John Frusciante has quit the Red Hot Chili Peppers-AGAIN. The guitarist, who was famoulsy replaced by Dave Navarro briefly in the late Nineties-confirmed the split this week via his MySpace page. There appears to be no drama behind the split, but if you’re like me, you’re wondering how Anthony, Flea and Chad will brave this split. The band became megastars with Frusciante as their guitarist, and the one peak-era album they recorded without him (“One Hot Minute”) is definitely not regarded as their finest work. Critics have lavished tons of praise on Frusciante for his guitar playing and vocal harmonies over the last few years, although his solo albums allegedly require a strong stomach to listen to. Can both sides survive without the other?

    *Supa-producer Tim “Timbaland” Mosley has been quoted as saying that he is quitting hip-hop. Tim was quoted in a recent interview as saying (and I’m paraphrasing here) that his audience is essentially white women these days, and that hip-hop fans are not buying enough records to justify his staying in that genre. Doesn’t that statement sound all kinds of wrong? We can of course start with the fact that Timbo is basically admitting to selling out and abandoning the fans who made him who he is. Because I guarantee those pop artists wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t for the work he did with the likes of Missy Elliott and Aaliyah. I guess he’s gassed up off of that Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado money. However, when you consider the lukewarm commercial reception that his “Shock Value II” has received so far (not to mention the savage critical reception), something tells me that Timbo might be returning to hip-hop a little sooner than he thinks.

    *Finally, take this as a lesson, record companies, of what can happen when you continually fuck with release dates. Lil Wayne’s “Rebirth”, an album whose release has literally been all over the calendar this year, just sprung a major leak. Apparently, some copies had already been shipped to amazon.com and 500 or so people who’d preordered the album were accidentally sent copies of “Rebirth”-although the album is now not scheduled for release until next February. Can you say “collector’s item” ladies and gentlemen? This is the first instance I can remember of an album being pulled after already being pressed and shipped since Prince’s “Black Album” back in 1987. Yes, Jay-Z fans (and Metallica fans), calling an album the “Black Album” is not an original idea. At any rate, expect some of those 500 copies to pop up on eBay VERY soon.

  • First Look: Rihanna’s “Hard”

    If there’s any silver lining in Chris Brown’s chart failure, it’s that Rihanna’s latest album isn’t exactly burning up the charts either.

    As a matter of fact, “Rated R” currently sits at #28 on the national charts. It’s sold a respectable 300,000 copies so far, and will certainly attain Gold status, but when you consider her last album spun off seven hit singles and sold 2 million copies, it’s easy to see that “Rated R” is underperforming a little bit.

    The scent and taste of flop sweat becomes even more palpable when you realize that this album has been out for three weeks and it is already on it’s third video. “Hard” has obviously been selected as the attention-getter. Lyrically and musically, it’s in-your-face and aggressive…and not very good. It’s very slight from a lyrical standpoint, and aside from the label connection, there’s really no reason to use Young Jeezy on this record (except for maybe a little extra “street credibility”?). The video itself is a bit of a clusterfuck. Rihanna has definitely jumped a little too hard on the oversexed train. Electrical tape over her nipples? Probably a bit overboard. Although I had to laugh when a commenter on MTV’s site accused Ri-Ri of biting Lady Gaga’s style. Apparently, this commenter has never heard of Grace Jones.

    At this point, though, I’m kind of tired of both Chris Brown and Rihanna. Granted, I was never a big fan of Chris’s music anyway, so the fact that he’s slowly sinking into oblivion doesn’t bother me too much. However, Rihanna has over time at least revealed herself as being able to put her own stamp on some irresistible pop singles. The desperation she’s been piling on lately is a huge turn-off, though.

    Check out MTV.com’s article about the video here.

  • Sing Off with Glee

    NBC wanted a singing reality show too so the network dusted off Nick Lachey and decided to reinvent doo-wop and scatting by creating an a capella competition.   This pale imitation of American Idol has a couple of good things going for it and some things positively cringe-worthy.  You’re excused if you missed the flurry of three shows in 3 nights from the same network that brings you prime-time Jay Leno five nights a week.  That’s actually one of the good things.  Someone give me a backbeat and let’s talk about Sing-Off.

    Great Stuff About Sing-Out

    1.  No reality show back stories.     You sing, you mug a little for the camera, you get some judging criticism and you’re off the stage.

    2.  The lightning fast eliminations.   The show started with 8 groups and began cutting mid-show immediately.  That’s a fun concept. I love watching judges cut acts in mid-show.

    3.  Sing-Off is getting tons of song clearances with the winners promises a Sony/Epic contract.  Mind you, no one said anything about promoting that record, but you get a studio, and probably a producer too.

    4.   A couple of the performances have been fun to watch.  A capella isn’t for everyone.  I don’t know if it’s for me, but that’s where the show’s lightning pace helps.

    5.  Watching Shawn Stockman from Boyz II Men in the Simon Cowell role is a treat.  Think some amateur a capella singer is going to argue with Stockman?  And on last night’s show he rocked a bow tie and argyle sweater that still made him look like the coolest guy in the house.

    Not So Great Stuff About Sing-Off

    1.   Ben Folds is my man.  I love Ben Folds.  I have everything — the rarities, the imports, the whole catalog.  He has 100% musical credibility in my eyes. C’mon, he covered Snoop as a tender ballad!  Unfortunately, he’s Randy Jackson on Sing-Off.  I don’t know whether that makes me like Folds less or Jackson more. It’s just weird.

    2.   There are times that the show is trapped in a Glee casting session.  Watching the SoCals do Journey last night was actually pretty darn good until they went straight into Don’t Stop Believin’.    Between the Glee kids, the final episode of The Sopranos and now this, I don’t want to hear this song for another five years.  Amazingly well-crafted song.  Really good album.  Stop playing the song, and Lord, please stop covering the 30 year old track.

    3. The Beelzebubs are a hoot to watch.   They did campy stuff in the Straight No Chaser vein until last night when they did a Who medley (catch it below) that has 3 songs I would pay to download.

    Things I Hate About Sing-Off

    1.  Nicole Sherzinger, the Paula judge, makes Paula Abdul sound like a Rhodes Scholar lecturing on music theory.    Like Paula, Nicole can sing, had a string of hits off an album (although Abdul had bigger hits over a longer period of time), but this is one boring judge.  By the time she offered her opinion a third time, we were yelling at her through the television to shut up.  Alas, she did not.  Money Mike promised us Pussycat Dolls were no more, but I forgot to check if Nicole would continue talking.  Perhaps that’s a New Year’s resolution.

    2.  No one expects Nick Lachey to be Seacrest or Dick Clark.    Maybe next time we roll out Wayne Brady or someone who actually, you know, doesn’t sound like a young John Tesh.

    Bonus Thing I Loved:   Simon and Randy (I mean, Shawn Stockman and Ben Folds) arguing over a cover of Man in the Mirror.  Stockman ripped into the group, told them they were technically sound and missed the emotion of the song, which he happily sang to them.  Folds defended them, told them not to be afraid of the original, and Stockman leaped over the table and beat Folds with a chair calling him a “sissy cracker who makes fun of black people in songs”.    Actually, I made that last up.   What Stockman did was interrupt Folds and chastise the kids again.  He made his point by Slapping. The. Desk. With. Each. Word.    Got it?  Good.   Although I have a Franklin down on Stockman if he and Folds decide to throw hands in the finale.

    The finals are Sunday on NBC.  I do love that lightning fast get-em-outta-here aspect.   Meanwhile, enjoy The Who as sung by a bunch of a capella geeks.  I’m guessing Pete is smiling because it’s pretty darn good.