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Pop Rock Nation

Category: News

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

  • The Year Of The Comeback (With More To Come)

    2007 has been chock full of comebacks and reunions (The Police?? Genesis?? The Spice Girls!!). Now, it looks like two more are headed towards us this fall.

    New Kids On The Block

    The Backstreet Boys (remember them?) have a new single hitting radio at the end of the month. It’s pretty ballsy of BSB to return at a time when they’re essentially the last boy band standing. Also hard to believe that it’s been a decade since they exploded onto American airwaves with “Quit Playing Games With My Heart” and “As Long As You Love Me”. Not sure where they fit in today’s pop environment, not sure how they’ll do as a quartet (Kevin Richardson has split from the band), and REALLY not sure, based on one publicity photo I’ve seen, how their imagery is gonna work. Do the little girls who bought their alGarth Brooksbum ten years ago and are now young women still care? I guess we’ll see!!

    More interesting, in my opinion, is a series of rumors that suggests that Garth Brooks will officially be returning to the scene after a five-year hiatus. A new Garth release is sure to breathe some new life into the music industry-after all, he was the biggest selling artist of the Nineties. I’m sure country radio will welcome him back with open arms, as will any label he decides to sign to…if he chooses to go that route. A couple years back, Garth released a set of B-sides and unreleased tracks via a deal with Wal-Mart, and there are rumors that Garth might be distributing this one himself. Hell, it’s not like he needs the money, right?
    Makes me wonder what other reunions or comebacks could be in the offing…

  • This Year-The Moonmen Bring Sexy Back

    The MTV Video Music Awards are pretty formulaic. To the surprise of no one, Justin Timberlake and Beyonce walked away with the lion’s share of nominations, with seven apiece. Not to say Justin didn’t deserve his…”What Goes Around…” was a pretty damn good video! But nothing about any of the videos B made in the past year really turned my crank, unless you count that “Beautiful Liar” video with Shakira, which was just as good with the sound off, if you catch what I’m throwin’ atcha.

    Last year presented a few surprises because the awards were wholly voted on by the fans, which meant that bands like My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold got face time they may not have gotten otherwise. This year is also fan-voted, so let’s hope that they get creative this year as well. It would be nice to see the multi-nominated Amy Winehouse win some awards, not only because she’s excellent, but because I imagine her salty acceptance speeches would enliven up the show a bit. Hell, Kanye’s good for unpredictability, and while I’m not sure why he’s nominated (didn’t “Stronger” just come out, like, a couple weeks ago?)…I anticipate his performance, and hopeful acceptance speech.

    Looks like they’ve eliminated the genre-specific categories this time around (guess that makes it easier, considering how little videos MTV actually plays nowadays), but if you’re going for a little bit of not-as-mainstream love, there are still some bubbling under acts that got some MTV love (hey, the station still wants to be known as being at least a little edgy amid all the “Laguna Beach” marathons). French band Justice is nominated for their clip “D.A.N.C.E.”, which won the Vid of the Year award at the MTV Europe awards and caused a drunken Kanye to go on an ODB-style tirade. Swedish newcomers Peter Bjorn & John are nominated for Best New Artist for “The Young Folks”. Hey, even Best Group nominees Gym Class Heroes could be considered underdogs.

    Anyway, find the full list of nominees at www.mtv.com.

  • Hip-Hop Clash Of The Titans: 2007 Style!!!

    50 Cent bullets

    Kanye West as an angel

    50 Cent and Kanye West both have new albums coming out on the same day in September (the 11th, which I personally don’t think is the most tasteful day to release an album, but oh well…), and this should be an interesting match up. Of course, 50 is rap’s reigning commercial champ, with 12 million sold of his two albums. Kanye has sold half of that (which is still not shabby at all), but has made up for the sales oversight by winning critical raves that elude 50, as well as picking up a slew of Grammy awards to 50’s big fat zero. While neither artist has songs that are setting airwaves on fire, don’t estimate the power of either performer to generate a controversial pop culture moment that will have people flocking to the stores in droves.
    50’s now on his fourth single from the upcoming “Curtis”, as his label, Interscope, is frantically searching for a sound that will connect with radio listeners. This has got to be an album pre-release record. 4 songs? That’s anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 of the album already floating around a month and change before the release date!! The aforementioned fourth single, “Ayo Technology”, features Justin Timberlake, which should help it’s fortunes somewhat. I wonder how 50’s boss Eminem feels about 50’s use of an artist Em has spent almost his entire career making fun of.
    As for Mr. West, his “Cant Tell Me Nothin’” has stoked interest for it’s unforgettable hillbilly themed video, while second single “Stronger” finds Kanye getting airplay on alternative rock radio for the first time, thanks to the song’s usage of a Daft Punk sample. Both videos can be viewed on Kanye’s website: http://www.kanyewest.com/.