Tag: "oasis"

This week, we’ve compiled a list of our eight favorite sing-a-long tunes to let the rock star living inside all of you shine. In typical SoundTrax fashion, I’ve done my best to avoid falling into a specific time frame or genre. These are all songs pulled from my personal library that I can’t help but belt out whenever they come on shuffle. While I would probably avoid some of these songs like the plague in my everyday listening, I’ll be honest: There is only so many times you can listen to Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” without feeling the urge to join in on the chorus.

Pivotal scenes from Almost Famous and Risky Business highlight the healing power of a sing-a-long (and how much fun it can be to rock out in your skivvies). The “Tiny Dancer” sing-a-long from Almost Famous is a personal favorite that I feel perfectly illustrates the spontaneity and sheer joy that can come from singing a well-known tune with your buddies.

For those of you who don’t feel comfortable belting out your favorite songs at your local karaoke night, the shower is often the only venue where you can truly express the vocal prowess you have. If you can’t sing, we ask that you don’t let the acoustics of your bathroom fool you: please keep the singing contained to the shower. There’s no need to terrorize the innocent patrons who didn’t realize it was karaoke night at the bar, or your kids sitting in the back seat of the minivan,

So grab your hairbrush, but please refrain from stripping down to a button-up and tighty-whities, and rock out to this playlist of rad sing-a-longs.

SoundTrax: Shower Stall Rock Star from OurStage on 8tracks.

Continue reading ‘SoundTrax: Shower Stall Rock Star’

You didn’t think RR&R would torture you with anything as tedious as another year-end Best-of list, did you? Granted, we do have a piece in the works that will inform you of some excellent albums you might have missed along the way, but that’s as close as we’re willing to get. Instead, this time around we’ll simply take stock of both the magic moments and the missteps that the last twelve months have brought us—works that delivered delight and dismay in equal measure.

Old Punks Never Die

Wire – Red Barked Tree

As the original post-punk outfit, Wire has always lived or died by how well they balanced their arty side with their edgy side. Their discography isn’t without its share of miscalculations in that area, but thirty-four years down the line from their debut album, this one is right on the money.

Gang of Four – Content

The Gang were right on the heels of Wire in first-gen U.K. post-punk, and were just as groundbreaking, but their twenty-first century revitalization has been marred by some dodgy moves. First they re-recorded a batch of their classics on 2005′s Return the Gift, and then they made matters worse with this irksome outing, which is considerably more annoying than the output of the worst third-hand Go4 copyists.

Social Distortion  - Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes

True survivors, old-school SoCal punks Social Distortion have been through every rock & roll tribulation—death, drugs, you name it (How did VH1′s Behind the Music miss these guys?)—but not only are they still going strong, they added some extra bluesy swing and Stonesy swagger to their latest.
Continue reading ‘Riffs, Rants & Rumors: 2011 in the Rearview Mirror’

• Not sure what makes the indie world angrier: Siamese Dream or Billy Corgan’s duckface.
• The Boss is back. Look busy.
• We’re guessing that the Supreme Audiovisual Council of France didn’t like the video for “Baby Got Back” either.
• For once, we agree with will.i.am – none of us wanted this.
• Blake Shelton sleeping through an awards show where he was a winner kind of tells you how exciting the AMA’s are.
• If this project derails into a contest of who can look sillier, we won’t be surprised.
• With hair like that, we sure hope Nicki Minaj’s ideas are, uh… beyond ordinary.
• Honestly, Beyonce, we’re still not sure.
• Sorry, diehard Oasis fans, we have some bad news for you. But we do have some good news for people who revel in the Gallagher family drama.
• Pre-Jonny Radiohead material is like turquoise-colored ice cream. You don’t know if you’ll like it, but it’s so strange-looking that you’ve gotta try it.

• Axl Rose’s solution: blame the guy who isn’t in the band anymore.
• And who said that political movements couldn’t be lucrative?
• For German dudes, Rammstein sure tan well.
• RHCP: “We aren’t changing for you, you’re changing for us.”
• And a new music superpower was born.
• For anybody who can’t get enough 11 in their lives.
• Noel’s not desperate, unless it’s for cash.
• We’re sad too, Peter. We’re sad too.
• Nadine’s obviously too cool for Girls Aloud.

• Three cheers for The Country Evangelists. Wait, that isn’t their name? What a waste.
• Blake must be devastated right now.
• Ironic that a band kind of named after royalty would be the one to speak for the people.
• If Biebs actually goes on Maury and gets out of this fatherhood claim, we think he should do the dance. You know,that dance.
• Liam’s just dangling the Oasis fruit in front of everybody.
• Nicola Roberts probably figured out it’s not a good idea to get into a fight with Madonna after seeing what she did to those poor hydrangeas.
• Consider us genuinely excited to see what 50 Cent can do when he puts his mind to it.
• Time to hunt YouTube for clips of this.

• Might want to work on that, Bono, less you end up in the pit of irrelevance. (See: the 90′s.)
• Anybody else get the feeling Paul Stanley is trying to get autotuned vocals in completely the wrong way?
• Mark Hoppus’ analogy kind of makes Blink-182 sound like the best housewife ever.
• If Johnny Marr accepted payment in Noel Gallagher’s narcissism, he’d be a rich man.
• We can hear James Brown’s ghost singing “The Payback” in the background to this.
• If Pink Floyd taught anyone anything, it’s that you shouldn’t be held responsible for drug-induced stupors. Guess this jury didn’t get that.
• Radio’s response: Wait, who’s Gym Class Heroes? Oh, those guys in that Fall Out Boy song? Been a while.
• Lana Del Rey squashing any ideas that she’s an indie artist.
• Michael Stipe wants to be an artiste, not an artist.

• At least she didn’t shoot the sheriff or whatever they have in the UK.
• Consider us one of the lucky ones to be at this year’s iHeartRadio Festival. Please try not to be jealous.
• But what if the world is ending as we know it? What will we do without R.E.M.?
• This is like that romantic comedy with Adam Sandler but with teenage pop idols, not funny, and much grosser.
• Oh, of course, Oasis would be the last greatest rock ‘n’ roll band. If we were Noel Gallagher, that would totally makes sense.
• Speaking of Gallaghers, look who wants to be the next Liam.
• She & Him, you know it’s still fall, right?
• Taylor Swift: the next Ben and Jerry’s flavor. You heard it here first.
• The new INXS singer already has one thing going for him: he’s not J.D. Fortune.

• We get the feeling Peter Hook is mad he didn’t get a Google front page video.
• This would probably be the best wedding ever. Not sure about the honeymoon though.
• And we stand by telling you to shut up, dude.
• Only Noel Gallagher would have the gall to call Shakespeare gibberish.
• Finally, we get to know the story behind Bono’s shades.
• Proof that the can is a go-to source for inspiration.
• Friendly Fires and SBTKRT, oh this should be good.
• So that makes Lonely Island his baguette…?

“Take back Vanessa Redgrave
Take back Joe Piscopo
Take back Eddie Murphy
Give ‘em all some place to go”

— Tom Petty, “Jammin’ Me” (1987)

“Fuck Tom Petty!”—Eddie Murphy

Oh, those crazy stars! What will they say next? And will they ever learn? What a tangled web they weave when they start to take pot shots at each other.

Celebrity feuds have existed since before the dawn of the pop charts. Eminem owes much of his early notoriety to cutting down to size the likes of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, ‘N Sync and Moby in videos and on record. Meanwhile, off the record (though always totally for attribution), Katy Perry has never met a fellow chart-topper she wouldn’t slag off.

But lately, stars keep colliding and disturbing the peace in the music galaxy. Liam Gallagher just filed suit against his brother Noel over the latter’s claim that Liam pulled out of a high-profile Oasis gig in 2009 due to a hangover and over comments Noel made blaming Liam for the demise of the band. But then brothers in arms have engaged in verbal—and occasionally, physical— combat since the heyday of the Kinks, which featured the dueling Davies, Ray and Dave. Chris and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes, William and Jim Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain, and Kings of Leon‘s Followill brothers have the battle scars to prove it.

Continue reading ‘Sound And Vision: Celebrity Feuds — Pop Is a Battlefield, World War II’

There’s something about the first song on ANY album. It sets a tone, gives you an idea of what you’re in for. But the first song on an artist’s first album is often something special. It doesn’t have to be, of course, but it’s an opportunity for a musical manifesto that some artists have really taken advantage of. Sometimes it’s instantly obvious that the track is destined to be a classic, most times the song isn’t even the best song in the artist’s catalog yet has that special feeling and then sometimes it’s only in retrospect that we can see what a statement it was and how the artist’s subsequent career bore that out. I’m sure I will think of others that should be on this list, but here are some of my favorites and, by implication, yours (if you have taste, which you do, because you’re reading this).

13. Foo Fighters – “This Is A Call” from Foo Fighters

The first post-Nirvana sounds from Dave Grohl were not mind-blowingly incongruous with his old band, but it was still exciting to hear something so solid and confident from that camp in those sad days when criminals like Silverchair and Bush attempted to fill the Cobain void.

Continue reading ‘The EditoriaList: Thirteen Greatest First Tracks On Debut Albums’