“MANIC MONDAY MUSIC NEWS” By Scott Rossi featured by birthday girl, Chelsea Alexandra O’Rourke!
March 17, 2014 Monday Edition. Find out what’s happening in the world of Rock & Roll, Alternative Rock, Hip Hop, EDM, and Top 40 music every Manic Monday right here on our blog! Have you heard any music news?
TOP 40/POP NEWS: Pharrell’s New Album, G I R L, Stands at Number 2 on the Album Charts.
Apparently, albums are down 15 percent in sales, and tracks are down 11 percent compared to last year.
The latest release by Pharrell Williams was a new play that started with Justin Timberlake’s release last fall when he released his album, not on a Tuesday when most new music comes out, but on a Monday, March 3rd, “the day after his shimmying-with-Meryl-and-Lupita Academy Awards performance”. It created a whole domino effect because rap star Rick Ross and others also released their new albums on the same day. Thanks to Pharrell’s hit, “Happy”, his new album stands at number two on the chart, though it sold only 112,000 copies. Rapper Rick Ross beat Pharrell to Number One, selling 179,000 copies of Mastermind.
Yours truly, Scott Rossi, had no clue Pharrell’s new album has already been released so as I write this I plan to go out and buy it!
Read more…On the Charts: Pharrell, Rick Ross Post Big Opening Weeks
ROCK “N” ROLL NEWS: Mick Jagger and Martin Scorcese Prep Final Touches on New HBO Series Inspired by the Music Industry.
Olivia Wilde is the latest actress to sign on for one of the main roles in the music-focused drama series, which Martin Scorcese and rocker, Mick Jagger have been working on for HBO in recent years. The untitled show has yet to get the green light from the network, but the word is that the producers, “are gearing up to work on its hour-long pilot, written by Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street, The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire) and Breaking Bad producer George Mastras, this summer with Scorsese in the director’s chair. Wilde, who was recently in Her, Rush and Tron: Legacy, will portray the wife of the lead role, played by Bobby Cannavale (Blue Jasmine, Boardwalk Empire), a down-on-his-luck record exec in search of a new sound.”
The new series has its setting in New York City during the late seventies, right as punk and disco were beginning to take form. Cannavale’s character, Richie Finestra, “is caught in the middle of the changing times in what Deadline describes as ‘the drug- and sex-fueled music business’ as he tries to rejuvenate his label with some fresh blood. Faced with a life-altering decision, Finestra suffers a crisis of character.”
Apparently, Mick Jagger conceived the show at first as a feature film. The TV version of the story has been in the works since 2010.
““Jagger and Scorsese previously collaborated on the concert film Shine a Light, which came out in 2008. Scorsese told, “Rolling Stone”, at the time about the first time he heard the Stones. “It was 1965,” he said. “I was driving on the Long Island Expressway in a Volkswagen, and suddenly out of this mono speaker came the opening guitar licks of Keith Richards and ‘Satisfaction.’ And the impression of Mick Jagger’s voice, then the lyrics and the driving, relentless nature of the song. It’s like a motor. I had to go back and find their other music.” Read more..Mick Jagger, Martin Scorsese Enlist Olivia Wilde for 1970s HBO Show.
ALTERNATIVE NEWS: Former Nirvana Bass Player Plays Accordion on Cover of Lorde’s “Royals”.
The newest pop star queen, Lorde, has been honored twice these past several weeks, by covers of her song, “Royals”, by none other than Bruce Springsteen, when he was in her home country of New Zealand on tour, and now most recently by Krist Novoselic, former Bass player for Nirvana, only this time on accordion.
When Springsteen played he improvised on the lyric, “I’m in love with being Queen Bee”, to “I’m in love with being King Bee”. Lorde even made a comment saying the cover made her “teary”.
Now Novoselic was, “performing with a small ensemble. He managed to turn the song into a very chill music experience. According to the YouTube poster who uploaded the video, the performance took place at Republic in Takoma Park, Md. this past Sunday. The Nirvana member performed with the Cowards Choir and made the appearance in support of the Fair Vote campaign.”
Apparently Novoselic has dedicated much of his time to playing the accordion, and even played the instrument on Foo Fighters’ 2011 track “I Should Have Known”. Also, in 2012, he told Rolling Stone magazine, “that he had spent much of the previous year learning how to play the Doors’ “Light My Fire” on an accordion that Kurt Cobain had given him.
“Lorde is currently touring in support of her debut album Pure Heroine, which recently surpassed one million copies in sales. She kicked off the North American leg in Austin earlier this month.” Read more…Watch Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic Play Lorde’s ‘Royals’ on Accordion.
EDM NEWS: Sonny Moore, Also Known as, Skrillex, Featured on the Newest Cover of Rolling Stone.
Sonny Moore, the sub-bass scientist and superstar dubstep-importer better known as Skrillex, invited Rolling Stone towards the end of last year to his Los Angeles studio. He had a surprise in store that he wanted to reveal to them, that he was putting the finishing touches on a secret album. The real news was that this upcoming release would be the EDM titan’s first full-length release. He would call the album, Recess, and Moore’s approach as he worked, was that he was “taking my sound and expanding on it, but being more playful, taking it to different places. I never made pure club music early on. All the first Skrillex releases were hard to mix into, the b.p.m. was changing, there’s no count-ins, things aren’t on 8-bar measures, so like, now I’m back to that point again.”
Recess will be released on March 18th of this week. Rolling Stone will mark the occasion with Skrillex’s first cover story, written by contributing editor Jonah Weiner (on stands Friday). Read more… How Skrillex Took Over the Globe: Inside Rolling Stone’s New Issue.
HIP HOP NEWS: Rolling Stone Magazine Responds to Drake’s Criticism.
Rolling Stone Magazine interviewed Hip Hop artist, Drake for its proposed cover story on their magazine, and tragically Phillip Seymour Hoffman died that week, bringing about an unexpected change for the subject of their next cover story. They immediately jumped on the Hoffman story and notified Drank they would not be putting him on the cover of their magazine.
Promises were made between Drake and Rolling Stone and as often happens with Rolling Stone admitting is often the case when unexpected deaths happen in music or American Culture in general, the cover of their magazine is subject to unexpected change when they are faced with such sudden unplanned stories. A rep for the magazine cited Lou Reed and Whitney Houston as examples.
On February 13, Drake criticized Rolling Stone, “complaining via Twitter that the magazine had taken his cover story away from him”.
Since the release of the article in that issue, Drake took to Twitter, and tweeted that, “the press is evil.”
He added, “I’m done doing interviews for magazines,” Drake tweeted. “I just want to give my music to the people. That’s the only way my message gets across accurately.” Rolling Stone Responds to Drake.
“There’s a fine line between having more fun than any teenager alive and completely melting down.” Find out why Justin Bieber Just Won’t Behave: Inside Rolling Stone’s New Issue.
New Music Releases: Recess by Skrillex!
Noted March Birthdays this week in Music!!
March 16: Wolfgang Van Halen (US multi-musician; son of Eddie Van Halen), Flavor Flav [US rapper, vocals, producer; Public Enemy], Nancy Wilson [US singer, guitarist; Heart].
March 17: Billy Corgan [US guitarist, singer-songwriter; Zwan/Smashing Pumpkins], Bobby Whitlock [singer,keyboards,songwriter; Derek-the Dominos/ sessions/own band], John Sebastian [US vocals, harmonica, guitar; Lovin Spoonful/ Mugwumps], Paul Kantner [US guitarist; Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship], Nat “King” Cole [US singer, piano].
March 18: Adam Levine (US lead singer, guitar; Maroon 5), Queen Latifah/Dana Owens [US rapper], Jerry Cantrell [US guitarist, vocals, producer; Alice In Chains], Vanessa Williams [African-American singer], Wilson Pickett (US R&B, soul singer).
March 19: Ricky Wilson (US guitarist; The B-52’s), Ruth Pointer (US singer; the eldest of The Pointer Sisters).
March 20: Jimmie Vaughan [US vocalist, guitar; Fabulous Thunderbirds, SRV’s brother], Lee “Scratch” Perry (Jamaican Reggae artist).
March 21: Eddie Money [US singer, saxophone, keyboards], Solomon Burke (US rhythm & blues singer), Son House (US blues singer, guitarist), Johann Sebastian Bach (German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, violinist).
Every Monday look forward to the “Manic Monday Music News”, run by yours truly, Scott Rossi! Music is the Universal language which brings the world together, something we can all agree on, so I will always try to find some cool weekly news for you to hear about, here on our Blog.
Thanks! Scott Rossi & DeeJay Shelly!!!