Archive for February, 2010
Rewind: The Week in Rock Daily
February 26th, 2010
Photo: Getty
The Rolling Stones stunned us with news they’ll include 10 never-before-heard tracks on their May 18th Exile on Main Street reissue. Says Keith Richards, “They still had that great basement sound.”
INXS revealed they’ve recruited the Killers’ Brandon Flowers and Ben Harper to help reinterpret their songs for a new disc. Ironically, Ray Davies also asked Flowers, along with Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, to contribute to his new Kinks covers project.
Slash told ...
Weekend Rock List: ’80s Hip-Hop Songs
February 26th, 2010
Newcleus-Jam On ItDIAZ | MySpace Video
Newcleus’ Robert “Chilly B” Crafton — who features in the electro classic “Jam On It,” above — passed away this Tuesday, February 23rd following a stroke, Newcleus’ MySpace page solemnly writes (via Pitchfork). He was 47. As “Jam On It” is one of our favorite jams, this week’s Rock List looks back at Newcleus and other icons of ’80s hip-hop. All styles, genres and subgenres are fair game, as long ...
Flashback: Remembering Johnny Cash on His Birthday
February 26th, 2010
When news broke that Johnny Cash’s “Guess Things Happen That Way” was the 10 billionth download on iTunes, Cash’s daughter Rosanne remarked on Twitter that the honor was the perfect birthday present to her father, whose 78th birthday would have been today. Earlier this week, Cash’s final album of posthumous recordings, American VI: Ain’t No Grave hit stores, and today we’re paying tribute to the Man in Black by looking back at his remarkable ...
Billy Joel Dismisses Rumors He Yanked Tour With Elton John
February 26th, 2010
Photo: Flanigan/FilmMagic“There was never a tour booked this summer!” says Billy Joel, responding to Internet claims that he pulled the plug on a summer tour with Elton John. He continues, “Obviously, this has the smell of a really juicy story: ‘Why did they cancel? Did Billy and Elton have a fight? What’s going on?’ The truth is, there’s nothing going on. I had made up my mind a long time ago that I wasn’t going ...
Is Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” About David Geffen?
February 26th, 2010
Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty
For nearly four decades, the identity of the subject of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” has remained an official mystery while fans speculated that icons like Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger and the singer’s ex-husband James Taylor were the egocentric man. But now Simon has reportedly offered up a major clue thanks to a newly recorded version of “You’re So Vain” — she’d previously told Uncut that the vain man’s name would ...
Sirius XM Posts First Profits Since Merger, But Will Stern Stay?
February 26th, 2010
For the first time since their 2008 merger, Sirius XM radio are in the black with a $14.2 million profit in the fourth quarter of 2009, the New York Times reports. That might not sound like much — it equates to less than penny gain per stock share — but considering Sirius XM lost $245 million in the year following the merger, the profit represents a financial shift for the company. Sirius XM were helped ...
Watch the Strokes’ Hammond Jr. in the Studio With the Postelles
February 26th, 2010
On Tuesday, the Postelles will unleash a four-track EP called White Night, which features production by the Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr. and a remix by Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor. Like the Strokes, the band’s members met in high school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side but soon adopted a downtown musical mentality that captured Hammond’s ear. “They found a cool sound reminiscent of the late Fifties, early Sixties that I really liked, but they had their ...
“The Runaways” Soundtrack: Stewart and Fanning, Plus Stooges, Bowie and More
February 26th, 2010
The Runaways biopic, starring Twilight’s Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, melted the snow at its Sundance premiere and hits theaters across the U.S. on March 19th. While fans have gotten a few sneak peeks at the film via its teaser trailers, Rolling Stone now has your exclusive on what songs will feature on the film’s punk rock soundtrack. Since this is a film about the Runaways, the group’s catalog features heavily on the disc, and ...
Prince Gives New “Cause and Effect” to Minnesota Public Radio
February 26th, 2010
Photo: Winter/Getty
/*
A new Prince song called “Cause and Effect” debuted this morning on Minnesota public radio, with Prince personally offering the Twin Cities’ the Current 89.3 the world premiere of the song as a gesture in support of independent radio. Stylistically, “Cause and Effect” seems to find the middle ground between Prince’s guitar rock album Lotusflow3r and its funked-up companion disc MPLSound, but with some elements of surf rock and his old school rave-ups like ...
Travis Barker Carries on Spirit of DJ AM Team-Up With A-Trak
February 26th, 2010
Photo: Mazur/WireImageNearly three years ago, Alain Macklovitch, better known as DJ A-Trak, was holed up in a Los Angeles studio rehearsing with his longtime touring partner Kanye West for the hip-hop mogul’s Graduation tour. On a break, he bumped into DJ AM, who “told me he was working on some stuff for Travis Barker,” A-Trak recalls. AM and Barker, it turns out, were priming material for a drums and vinyl-scratching duo that would become known ...