Y! Music Weekly Music News Recap

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1. *NSYNC’s Lance Bass Is *NTo Men – The boy-band star announces he’s gay.
2. George Michael: Careless Tryster – The Wham! man is once again caught cruising in a public park.
3. Lionel Richie’s Daughter Not Exactly Three Times A Lady – Lionel confesses he’s worried about Nicole’s weight.
4. “Deja Vu” All Over Again? – Beyonce fans demand she re-shoot her new video.
5. New Orleans Rappers Pass The Mic – Master P, Romeo, and Silkk The Shocker have lots to say about their post-Katrina ‘hood.
6. Lindsay Lohan Too Hot For Her Own Good – Was L.Lo’s heatstroke was caused by her fire-crotch, as Brandon Davis claims?
7. Best Music Video Ever Is Released – Like kung fu? Cowboys? Laser battles? Unicorns? Then you’re going to love Muse’s “Knights Of Cydonia.”
8. The Artist Formerly Known As Married – Prince is getting divorced for the second time.
9. What A Girl Wants – Christina Aguilera wants you to be in her new video.
10. A Los Lonely Bad Boy? – He may sing “Heaven,” but Los Lonely Boys’ JoJo Garza has been busted for unangelic behavior.

Well, the big not-so-shocking newsflash of the week is that *NSYNC’s Lance Bass, formerly known as The Cute One, will henceforth be known as The Gay One. And by gay, we mean both homosexual and very happy, as he seems thrilled with his decision to come out of the closet. So far, his outing has gone much more smoothly than it did for George “I Want Your Sex” Michael, who unlike Lance was forced to go public after he was caught with his pants down, literally, in a Beverly Hills park. Unfortunately, eight years after that career-killing incident, ole Georgie boy is still looking for love in all the wrong places: This week he was caught by British paparazzi engaging in a little Wham!-bam-thank-you-man in a London park, with what U.K. tabloid News Of The World described as a “pot-bellied, 58-year-old, jobless van driver. (Sheesh–it brings new meaning to George’s song title “Kissing A Fool,” huh?) Apparently when George sang, “I gotta have faith,” that didn’t mean he had to be faith-ful to his longtime, long-suffering boyfriend, Kenny Goss…

Speaking of suffering, some Beyonce fans are so dismayed by the diva’s allegedly underwhelming new video, “Deja Vu,” they’ve started a petition demanding that the clip be entirely re-shot. Citing what they consider to be “erratic, confusing, and alarming” choreography; “unbelievable and ridiculous” costumes; and “unacceptable interactions” and “non-existent sexual chemistry” between Ms. Knowles and her co-starring boyfriend Jay-Z, the 4,000 or so petitioners are begging Beyonce’s record label, Columbia, to go back to the drawing board (or editing room, as it were). Wow, is it really that bad? Watch the video here so you can make an informed decision before you add your own John Hancock to the petition…

OK, it’s time to go, so we’ll leave you with one video that’s getting just as much attention these days, but will surely never be the subject of any petition…unless it’s a petition to give it its own cable channel, so it can be run in a continuous, commercial-free loop for all eternity. That genius video is Muse’s unicorn-filled “Knights Of Cydonia”–which, we’re pleased to report, contains pretty much nothing but alarming choreography and ridiculous costumes. Happy viewing, and do make sure to come back next Friday for more amusing and bemusing music news!

Lyndsey Parker, Yahoo! Music

Y! Music Weekly Music News Recap

Visit Y! Music’s Top Events Page

1. Avril Lavigne’s Happy Ending – The sk8er bride marries Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley.
2. Nothing’s Shocking – Surprise: Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro has split with Carmen Electra.
3. Pamela Anderson Finally Gets A Piece Of The Rock – Pam and Kid Rock’s long-delayed wedding is back on schedule.
4. Jessica Simpson Gets Personal – She’s literally calling out your name in her new personalized downloads.
5. Design Of Two Decades – Janet Jackson seeks an artistic fan to create the cover for her new album, 20 Years Old.
6. Unreleased Dylan Tracks Are Blowin’ The Wind – Samples from Bob’s upcoming new album accidentally end up online.
7. Oops! The Tabloids Did It Again – Apparently reports of Britney and K-Fed’s divorce were greatly exaggerated.
8. And The “World’s Shortest Retirement” Award Goes To… – Jay-Z, who’s reportedly about to release his “comeback” album.
9. Justin Timberlake Releases New Video – And by that, we unfortunately mean his straight-to-video acting debut.
10. Eminem Takes A Bathroom Break – We knew Marshall had a potty mouth, but this is ridiculous!

Hello, and welcome to a special marriage-minded edition of Top Events. First, our congrats go out to punk-pop’s cutest Canadian couple, Avril Lavigne and Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley (or “Avryck,” as they will henceforth be known), who were married this week in a fairytale wedding that included a pouffy Vera Wang gown, pink chiffon bridesmaid dresses, and a romantic first dance to the Goo Goo Dolls‘ “Iris.” Um, chiffon? Vera Wang? Goo Goo Dolls??? That doesn’t sound very punk-rock, Avryck. We were kind of expecting (nay, hoping) you two crazy kids would waltz to the Dead Kennedys‘ “Too Drunk To F–k,” exchange his ‘n’ hers facial piercings in a pagan ceremony, and dress your entire wedding party in custom-ordered Hot Topic formal wear…

You know, maybe we’re just confusing the Avryck nuptials with the 2003 rock ‘n’ roll wedding of guitarist-for-hire/Rock Star: Supernova emcee Dave Navarro and strippercize spokesbody Carmen Electra. This edgy couple started out so very promisingly–sending out save-the-date cards that featured a tasteful David LaChapelle photograph of the PVC-clad bride and groom posing as corpses in a morgue–but sadly, now it’s their marriage that’s DOA. Well, at least their love lasted longer than Carmen’s annulled, alcohol-induced marriage to Dennis Rodman…or Dave’s stint in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for that matter. We wish these two suddenly single celebs much luck with whomever they hook up with next…

And now for some related news–related because a) it’s about marriage and b) it involves Carmen Electra’s former Baywatch castmate Pamela Anderson, who c) also happens to be the former wife of Rock Star’s Tommy Lee. (How’s that for synergy?) Yes, Pamela is finally going to let her on/off/on fiancé Kid Rock make an honest woman out of her, when the Stacked star and Cocky Kid get hitched next week in St. Tropez. And knowing what experience these two lovebirds have in the burgeoning amateur sex-tape field (Pam with Tommy; Kid with, er, Scott Stapp), we simply can’t wait to see the honeymoon footage…

OK, much like Carmen and Dave, we’re about to split–but before we do, we’d like send our well-wishes to another newlywed, Savage Garden’s Darren Hayes, who just tied the knot with his longtime boyfriend. (That story didn’t quite make this week’s Top Events–it surely would have if our list went to 11–but you can read it here.) Congrats, fellas. May you stay truly madly deeply in love forever…or least until next Friday, when we come back with another week’s worth of juicy news. Peace out!

Lyndsey Parker
Yahoo! Music

Buy A Customized MP3 At Yahoo! Music

You can buy a personalized version of the new Jessica Simpson song “A Public Affair” from Yahoo! Music’s Web Site (Music.Yahoo.com) for $1.99, and it’s an MP3. Dear digital consumer, even if you’re not into Jessica Simpson, and you’re not excited about spending $2 for a song, let me tell you, this is a bigger deal than you might think.

As you know, we’ve been publicly trying to convince record labels that they should be selling MP3s for a while now. Our position is simple: DRM doesn’t add any value for the artist, label (who are selling DRM-free music every day — the Compact Disc), or consumer, the only people it adds value to are the technology companies who are interested in locking consumers to a particular technology platform.

We’ve also been saying that DRM has a cost. It’s very expensive for companies like Yahoo! to implement. We’d much rather have our engineers building better personalization, recommendations, playlisting applications, community apps, etc, instead of complex provisioning systems which at the end of the day allow you to burn a CD and take the DRM back off, anyway! And on the consumer end there is certainly some discount built into that $0.99 download for the fact that you can burn a limited number of times, can’t play it on your Squeezebox, can’t DJ it with your DJ software, and can’t make a movie out of it with iMovie? I certainly hope so. Un-DRM’d content is implicitly more valuable to a consumer.

Now put that next to the fact that Emusic carries most everyone aside from the major labels (even big indies like V2 and TVT — White Stripes and Lil’ Jon are available via Emusic), and you see why we’re dying for the rights to offer MP3 downloads for sale to our users.

Which is why we’re so excited about these personalized Jessica Simpson tracks. Not only is it pretty cool to have a version of the song which speaks to me (I was shocked to see they had “Ian”, did they do that for me?), but it’s in MP3 format, which I have no problem paying a little more for (though $1.99 is a premium price because of the PERSONALIZATION, not the DRM, the right price for MP3s is somewhere between $0.99 and there, IMHO).

We hope you see the importance of this, too, and pick up a copy for yourself and/or a loved one, even if you don’t love JS and think that $1.99 is too much to spend on an MP3.

ian c rogers
Yahoo! Music

Y! Music Weekly Music News wrapup

Visit Y! Music’s Top Events Page

1. The Crazy Diamond Shines On No More – Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett dies at age 60.
2. Jessica Simpson Fans Go Public – Their boots are made for dancin’ in the new amateur video for “A Public Affair.”
3. Weezer Take Their Last Breath – Say it ain’t so, Rivers!
4. The Rockin’ Runner-Up Returns – Idol’s Chris Daughtry gets a record deal.
5. CBGB Will Viva In Las Vegas – New York’s hallowed punk-rock nightclub is moving to Sin City.
6. Will The Real Supernova Please Stand Up? – The ’90s band of the same name sues the producers of Tommy Lee’s Rock Star.
7. Johnny Cash Registers On The Charts – The Man In Black’s posthumous new album is the first #1 of his career.
8. Beenie Man Banned From AIDS Benefit Concert – Guess Beenie’s “execute all the gays” lyric didn’t sit too well with protesters. Go figure.
9. Emo Allstars Make Snakes On A Plane Music Video – We included this item just ’cause we like saying “snakes on a plane.” It never gets old!
10. Prince Getts Off The Internet – It’s a sign o’ the times: NPGMusicClub.com is no more.

Well, it’s been a rough week, one filled with not-so-happy endings. First, Rivers Cuomo announced that Weezer had come undone for good. Then Prince, a recent winner of a lifetime-achievement Webby Award, unexpectedly pulled the plug on his website. Then CBGB founder Hilly Kristal confirmed that he was shutting down his legendary rock club and reopening it as a Vegas tourist attraction (an announcement barely audible due to the distinctive rumble of Joey Ramone spinning in his grave). And then Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett–who lived in seclusion for the past four decades, with the exception of one unsettling Syd sighting posted on YouTube–died after battling both cancer and mental illness. Sigh. If only there was some lighter, happier news to report…

No such luck, readers. See, also making headlines this week is allegedly anti-gay dancehall king Beenie Man, whose scheduled appearance at a LIFEbeat AIDS-awareness benefit caused such controversy that the concert had to be cancelled. “AIDS is an epidemic that doesn’t discriminate,” Beenie stated in an attempt to defend himself, not making it abundantly clear whether or not he discriminates. “It’s not a gay or a straight thing, it is a fight for life, and I’m proud to stand with LIFEbeat in the fight against this disease.” But apparently, many concertgoers aren’t proud to stand with Beenie Man…

All right, on to a much more fun topic…the new season of Rock Star: Supernova is here, just in time to fill the void left after the finale of VH1’s Supergroup! Yes, whether it’s some eyeliner-smeared Jim Morrison wannabe trying to sing the Police’s “Roxanne” and falling about five octaves short of Sting’s vocal range, or some pretty boy suffering the wrath of Gilby Clarke for daring to cover Duran Duran, we here at Top Events cannot get enough of this show. But not everyone, it seems, is such a fan: The guys from a ’90s indie-rock trio called Supernova are particularly unamused, even going so far as to file a trademark-infringement complaint in court. So, which Supernova will prevail? We’ll just have to stay tuned…

OK, it’s time to go, but come back next Friday for more head-scratching, head-spinning headlines. Until then, goodnight, and good music.

Lyndsey Parker
Yahoo! Music

LAUNCHcast in Firefox? Virtually!

I converted to the Firefox browser a while ago, but I still need to keep an IE icon handy for some sites – including listening to Yahoo! Music LAUNCHcast. We all know a version of LC that works with Firefox will be an important evolution of the service… but I’ve always been a little impatient when it comes to evolution.

Along comes IE Tab – an extension for Firefox that allows a user (that’s you!) to actually load an instance of Internet Explorer right in a Firefox tab. The extension is a mere 163K, though it requires that IE be installed on your machine, of course. The cool part here is that you can specify certain URLs that always use IE – and for things like the LAUNCHcast web player, it can open just the pop-up player in IE. So I visit music.yahoo.com in Firefox, click a LAUNCHcast station, and the pop-up player that opens is automatically an instance of IE – and LC plays beautifully.

When configuring IE Tab, I added http://radio.launch.yahoo.com/ to the list of URLs that automatically use IE Tab.

We still need to come up with a Firefox version – but for those who have IE installed, but still prefer to use Firefox, this is a nice solution. And, if you want to use it to listen to Chill Out — the station I program for Yahoo! Music — then that’s even cooler.

IE Tab: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/

Cheers!,

Mick O
http://360.yahoo.com/emayoh

This Week in Playlisting

There has been a lot of action this past week in the world of playlisting. Andrew Gilstrap of Popmatters offers song advice for increasing your friends tolerance for country music with his article entitled Sneaking in the Twang. The Guardian selects the Top 10 Songs About London, but leaves out the top choice of most music aficionados, “London Calling” by The Clash. Also, be sure to check out the Top 50 London Songs in YME. The Onion A.V. Club lists 12 Delightfully Odd Concept Albums, with the Louvin Brothers‘ Satan Is Real topping the list. Robin Hilton, the producer of NPR’s All Songs Considered, selects her Top 10 Living Songwriters. The New York Post lists the Top Summer Songs from the last 50 years. Keira Knightley, currently starring in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dean Man’s Chest, has revealed a personal playlist crafted specifically to help her get through pre-menstrual symptoms. And Greg Stepanich of the Palm Beach Post creates a Fourth of July playlist made up of compositions by American composers.

In other news, a new Yahoo Music Unlimited specific playlist blog was launched this week by Simon Carless. The blog is YMU Playa and is yet another place to visit when you’re longing to discover, or learn something new about music. Add it to your feed reader along with The Rugs Don’t Work and the Yahoo Radish and you can easily browse playlists daily in search of those that spark your interest. It’s exciting stuff, we are witnessing the beginnings of a community that offers so much more than the per-track download model does. I hope you’ll become part of it, if not as a participant than as an active listener. Remember, you can always kick around playlist ideas over at the YMU Playlisters group.

This week I wanted to examine the “Label Playlist”, that is, a playlist that pulls songs from albums which have been released by an independent record label. Of course, you could do this with major labels as well, but they’re certainly not as fun, or as well defined. Many independent labels have a particular sound they are looking for in new acts. This means that label-centric playlists not only give you an overview of the music released by a record company, but can have excellent continuity as well. Below are some links to YMU playlists organized by label.

Lo Recordings Sampler – This compilation comes to us courtesy of YMU Playa. It features songs by artists on the somewhat obscure electronica label Lo Recordings out of the UK. From down-tempo haze to full-out electronic assaults, this is an ultra-hip list.

Matador Records Sampler – Matador Records has a reputation for signing artistically significant indie bands to it’s roster. On top of the label’s commitment to releasing quality records, they also have an indie-friendly reputation for their anti-corporate culture.

SST Sampler – Ian Rogers put together this playlist of songs by artists on the legendary punk label SST, co-founded and run by Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn.

Hush Records Sampler – Hush Records features mostly mellow, acoustic-based indie bands. Some of my favorite Hush artists include Corrina Repp, Reclinerland, and Super XX Man. They also have at least two Decemberists albums available.

Barsuk Records Sampler – Barsuk Records (pronounced bar SOOK) is Russian for “Badger” and this small Seattle label has helped launched some bands who are becoming (became?) household names, including Death Cab For Cutie and Rilo Kiley.

Sub Pop Box Set – The Seattle based Sub Pop set their place in history with the release of the debut album Bleach by Nirvana and their involvement with the birth of Grunge. Since that time they have released a diverse mix of indie, grunge, alternative and retro music.

There are still heaps of independent labels that need public playlists published. Won’t you build one for your favorite independent?

Finally, I leave you with some further playlist ideas from the past week.

Jethro Tull Family Tree

Play The All Music Guide lists 21 musicians who have, at some point in their career, been part of the renaissance rock unit Jethro Tull. This playlist selects songs by bands that are connected to Jethro Tull through at least one member. It contains a mix of celtic folk, classic rock and progressive rock, just as one would expect, but not as much flute as you would find on the typical Tull record. If this playlist was a visual medium, you would also notice a reduction in man tights and codpieces. So count yourself lucky. Band family trees are a great way to become familiar with the connections between groups through common members. And many times they can turn you on to an artist you were not familiar with, especially if you’re a fan of the band being traced. For example, most won’t be surprised by the Jethro Tull connection to Ian Anderson’s solo material, Fairport Convention and Pentangle, but Black Sabbath, Whitesnake and The Proclaimers? Yes, it’s true, and you can dig further by clicking on a band member’s name at the end of this article. Be sure to check out our other Band Family Tree playlists or create your own with the help of allmusic.com or bandtoband.com.

Ode To Chicago

Play Chi-town has played second fiddle to New York City since it was incorporated in 1837. This number two spot on the “greatest cities in America” list has earned it the nickname ”Second City”, in addition to numerous other labels. The metropolis is a ganglion of American culture and it’s musical heritage could spin off piles of fine playlists. For this one however, we focus on songs that pay homage to the city in some way. Of course, the list contains no-brainers like “Sweet Home Chicago” by Robert Johnson, “My Kind Of Town” by Frank Sinatra and “The Night Chicago Died” by Paper Lace, but also contains lesser-known odes from scads of musical genres. Sufjan Stevens kicks off this playlist with “Chicago” from my favorite album of 2005, Illinois, which is the second effort in his audacious attempt to create on full-length album for each of the 50 states. (Also, see Michigan). Other artists in the list include Ryan Adams, Wilco, Jim Croce, Merle Haggard, Smashing Pumpkins and more. Continue with this article to see the complete list with links to each artist.

Jazz Standards From The 1930s

Play The 1930’s were years marked by worldwide suffering caused by the great depression. About two months before the clock struck midnight on January 1, 1930, black Thursday happened. The great Wall Street crash of ‘29 ushered in an economic depression that would last most of the decade and the Dow Jones Industrial Average would not return to it’s pre-crash levels for 25 years. The 30’s were a time of pain and hardship and a period that would see nations march into yet another world war. However, one of the cultural benefits was the amount of great music produced in the 10 years between 1929 and 1940. Music experienced a boom during the 1930’s, in part, because musicians could draw on the creative energy created by hard times and partly because audiences were hungry to escape the dim realities of life. This energy between artist and audience sparked a creative explosion that gave us some of the most memorable songs ever written. This playlist contains 95 of these classic standards as performed by a diverse cross-section of jazz artists that span the last 75 years. From early jazz pioneers like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, to golden age legends like Coltrane and Monk, to classic crooners like Sinatra, Bennett and Mel Torme, to modern day torch singers like Norah Jones and Diana Krall. This 6+ hour playlist provides an excellent overview of not only the music of the 1930’s, but a glimpse into how these timeless tracks have been interpreted over the years.

Robert Burke
Yahoo Radish

Y! Music Weekly Music News Recap

Visit Y! Music’s Top Events Page

1. Lil’ Kim Busts Loose – The Queen Bee flies free after an early parole.
2. Nick & Jessica Newlydivorced – With papers now filed, the ex-Lacheys are officially back on the market.
3. Bono Demands “Answers” – The U2 mouthpiece wants you to tell him how to make poverty history.
4. Eminem Carries The Burden Of Proof – Shady launches a fundraising website for the family of his slain D12 crony.
5. Ozzy Osbourne Feels The Heat – Flames scorch the metal man’s mansion.
6. Dallas Does Dubai – Grammy-winning producer Dallas Austin is arrested on drug charges in the Middle East.
7. Ne-Yo Blasts K-Fed – Apparently Britney’s hubby makes the R&B singer so sick.
8. The Bitch Is Back – This time, cantankerous rocker Elton John is mad about the World Cup.
9. Never Can Say Goodbye – Michael Jackson’s many rambling answering-machine messages are played in open court.
10. Pete Doherty Gathers No Moss – She may have dumped him, but Babyshambles’ tabloid-baiting trainwreck of a singer says he’ll always love Kate.

Hello all, and welcome back to another installment of Top Events after what was hopefully a very enjoyable 4th of July. We know one person who certainly enjoyed her Independence Day: Lil’ Kim, who’s just been sprung from prison two months early for good behavior. (That has to be the first time the words “Lil’ Kim” and “good behavior” have ever appeared in the same sentence, by the way.) “She has accepted responsibility and handled herself in an exemplary manner,” said attorney L. Londell McMillan of his high-profile/maintenance client, making it glaringly obvious that neither he nor Kim’s parole officers ever watched her Countdown To Lockdown reality show on BET. Anyhoo, the notorious K.I.M. will still have to spend the next 30 days under house arrest, but surely she’ll do so in true Belle Mafia style, rocking the blingiest home-surveillance ankle bracelet Harry Winston has to offer. So welcome back, Kimmie. We missed ya so much we even put together a “Locked Up” Video Special to celebrate your triumphant return…

Speaking of freedom, onetime Newlyweds Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey filed their final walking papers this week–leaving them free to date the Adam Levines, Jared Letos, and Miss Kentuckys of the world out in the open, for all the paparazzi to see. And perhaps not coincidentally, oft-arrested, oft-inebriated, oft-incarcerated Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty is also suddenly single again, after his latest split from on/off gal pal Kate Moss.

Now, for the purpose of avoiding a nasty libel lawsuit, we want to state for the record that Pete Doherty and Jessica Simpson are NOT romantically involved. But for totally self-serving purposes, we do wholeheartedly encourage these two tabloid targets to shack up, pronto, as such a union would pretty much guarantee tons of juicy Top Events fodder for countless columns to come. And it most definitely would make for an awesome reality show, too (suggested title: Simpsonshambles). So we recommend Jessica get her well-manicured hands on this hot eligible bachelor before Kate comes to her senses and takes him back…

All right, time to wrap up, but do come back next Friday for more head-scratching, head-spinning headlines. Until then, goodnight, and good music.

Lyndsey Parker
Yahoo! Music