Archive for December 28th, 2009
Bono, Damien Rice, Swell Season Busk For Charity in Dublin
December 28th, 2009
Passersby on Grafton Street in Dublin got a surprise on Christmas Eve when a pack of buskers performing on the sidewalk turned out to be Bono, the Swell Season’s Glen Hansard, Damien Rice and singer-songwriter Mundy. The U2 frontman and his Irish pals came together to raise money for Simon Community, an organization that serves Ireland’s homeless population. Grafton Street has seen its share of noteworthy performances — the road also featured heavily in the ...
Readers’ Rock List: Best Music Videos of the Decade
December 28th, 2009
Fresh off Rolling Stone’s look at the Best of the 2000s, we asked our readers for the decade’s best music video. Their answer: The Man in Black. Johnny Cash’s dark retelling of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” and its accompanying Mark Romanek-directed video was voted Number One by our readers, edging out vids from Beyoncé, Queens of the Stone Age and RS‘ Number One Song of the 2000s. Watch Cash above and the rest of the ...
2004 Flashback: Arcade Fire, Kanye and the Year’s Best Albums
December 28th, 2009
The Arcade Fire arrived with Funeral, Gwen Stefani went solo, Green Day shocked with their American Idiot rock opera, Kanye West conquered hip-hop and the Killers whipped us up in their Hot Fuss. As we look back at the decade’s top songs and albums and the best LPs and tracks of 2009, check out what the RS editors were raving about in 2004:
• The Year in Albums: The Top 50 Records of 2004
Previously:
• The 50 ...
Spike Lee Reveals Video for Michael Jackson’s “This Is It”
December 28th, 2009
The music video for Michael Jackson’s “This Is It,” directed by Spike Lee, has premiered on Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks Website. Rather than using concert footage from the film of the same title, Lee digs out archival footage of Jackson’s childhood and classic King of Pop moments along with a montage of fan tributes to the singer. Lee’s mini-documentary begins in Gary, Indiana, where the Jackson family started out, and charts Michael’s ...
Big Brother and the Holding Company Guitarist James Gurley Dead at 69
December 28th, 2009
Photo: Temme/Getty Images
James Gurley, a guitarist for Big Brother and the Holding Company who featured prominently on Janis Joplin’s early hits, passed away last week following a heart attack just two days shy of his 70th birthday, Variety reports. The band’s Cheap Thrills was named as one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. That LP boasts the hits “Piece of My Heart,” “Summertime,” “Combination of the Two” and “Ball and Chain,” and ...
“X Factor” Winner Beats Rage For U.K.’s New Year’s Number One
December 28th, 2009
Photo: Mockford/FilmMagic
Just a week after losing the competition for the U.K.’s Christmas Number One single to Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name,” The X Factor winner Joe McElderry exacted a small measure of revenge against the Los Angeles rockers as his song “The Climb” beat out “Killing” for the distinction of New Year’s Number One single. McElderry was able to defeat the grassroots Facebook campaign that helped lock up the Christmas Number One ...
Live Paul McCartney Tracks Coming to “Rock Band”
December 28th, 2009
Photo: Ufberg/WireImage.com
Paul McCartney became a video game avatar earlier this year with his Fab Four bandmates in The Beatles: Rock Band, but until now the series has been devoid of any solo Macca material. That will change on January 5th, when three tracks from McCartney’s live Good Evening, New York City will be added to the Rock Band and LEGO Rock Band marketplace as downloadable content. The “New York Pack 01″ will feature “Band on ...
Trent Reznor Promises New Nine Inch Nails Material in 2010
December 28th, 2009
Photo: Buckner/Getty Images for Rebel Waltz
Trent Reznor dropped a little pre-Christmas present to fans on the Nine Inch Nails Website, promising that the new year will bring new music from his new studio-only project. “2010 has a number of things planned including new material from Nine Inch Nails and something else that isn’t Nine Inch Nails,” Reznor wrote. “I am in a state of rediscovery and reinvention that feels unfamiliar, unsure and exactly what I ...
News Ticker: John Mellencamp, Gene Simmons, Pussycat Dolls
December 28th, 2009
Photo: Holden/WireImage.com; Ufberg/WireImage.com
John Mellencamp’s long-in-the-works collaboration with author Stephen King, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, is shaping up into a three-disc set including the novel’s full text. According to the Fire Wire (via TwentyFourBit), Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Neko Case and boxer Joe Frazier appear on the recording.
Gene Simmons is being sued by a couple who claim the Kiss bassist assaulted them at Los Angeles’ Grove shopping center after they filmed ...