Music Gifts

So here we are, Summer is starting to really heat up, so that means people are taking vacations, enjoying the outside weather, and just overall are in a better mood because of it.  Well Billboard.com has decided to release it’s picks for top 30 summer songs of all time.  So what are they?

30. Surfin’ Safari – The Beach Boys – 1962
29. Summertime – Billy Stewart – 1966
28. Wipeout – Fat Boys and the Beach Boys – 1987
27. Cruel Summer – Bananarama – 1983
26. Summertime Blues – Eddie Cochran – 1958
25. A Summer Song - Chad & Jeremy – 1964
24. Suddenly Last Summer – The Motels - 1983
23. Surfer Girl – The Beach Boys – 1963
22. Summer Breeze – Seals & Crofts – 1972
21. School’s Out – Alice Cooper – 1972
20. Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer – Nat King Cole – 1963
19. Summer Love – Justin Timberlake – 2007
18. California Gurls – Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg - 2010
17. Saturday In The Park – Chicago – 1972
16. Summer Girls – LFO – 1999
15. California Girls – The Beach Boys – 1965
14. Summer – War – 1976
13. Under The Boardwalk – The Drifters – 1964
12. Summer Of ‘69 – Bryan Adams – 1985
11. In The Summertime – Mungo Jerry – 1970
10. The Boys Of Summer – Don Henley – 1984
9. Summer Nights – John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John – 1978
8. Surfin’ U.S.A. – The Beach Boys -1963
7. Hot Fun In The Summertime – Sly & The Family Stone – 1969
6. Summertime – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – 1991
5. Endless Summer Nights – Richard Marx – 1988
4. Surf City – Jan & Dean – 1963
3. Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini – Bryan Hyland – 1960
2. Wipe Out – The Surfaris -1962
1. Summer In The City – The Lovin’ Spoonful – 1966

There certainly are a variety of summer hits on that list to surely take someone back or create new memories for. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

The Beach Boys

It’s really hard to believe that today marks the 1 year anniversary of the late King of Pop’s death.  In fact, it’s pretty much still surreal for a lot of fans out there.  People are still doing tributes, dressing up like him, and mourning his death in all kinds of ways.

Even today, they have the area of the cemetery he’s buried in shut down and blocked off to all except members of the deceased families.  It’s just unreal how much support MJ had.  Let’s take a look at what the WashingtonPost.com has to offer on his death and his anniversary:

Hundreds and maybe thousands will gather in Gary, Ind., the Jackson family hometown, to witness the unveiling of a statue to honor the pop icon; his mother Katherine is expected to attend. In Los Angeles fans will gather at Forest Lawn Memorial Park where the King of Pop is entombed. And in Detroit, where it all started, Motown announces today the opening of an exhibit, which will feature photographs from concert performances, television appearances, international tours and the TV cartoon series featuring the Jackson 5.

It’s amazing the trek people will make to show their respect for the later icon.  It’s even more amazing that after time it seems people have let go of the fact that he was simply crazy and have no begun to embrace all that he actually did do right in this world.

Also, not just the regular folk are mourning.  Celebrities are still talking, and still expressing their feelings for Michael.  As noted here from CBS.com:

“I think one of the coolest things he told me was never limit yourself; the fact that if people can whistle your songs — then they can understand it all over the world,” said LL Cool J. “No matter what you want to say about him, his career always mattered. You don’t sell out a hundred shows in England and all over Europe because you are not relevant.”

Christina Aguilera said, “”I remember going to my high school talent show singing ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ and being a huge fan of his album ‘Bad.’ I know all my dancers wouldn’t be behind me dancing if it weren’t for that.”

“For a generation of people, they grew up with his ascension to stardom, people were affected by him when he was a child and they were affected by him as an adult and so we all kind of grew up with him,” said director John Singleton.

“Everybody wanted to be like Michael Jackson. He’s just that perfect,” said Jennifer Lopez.

Aubrey O’Day observed, “He brought something nobody else did.”

“There will never be another Michael Jackson,” said Paris Hilton.

“What we didn’t lose is his legacy and that incredible catalogue and body of work. We didn’t lose any of that. At the press of button, we can still experience the magic,” said LL Cool J. “We may have lost the man, but we didn’t lose the legacy. The legacy is actually bigger than that one human being. That legacy touched millions.”

All in all it’s just amazing the love he will forever have over so many people.

Michael Jackson

Well, as we’ve discovered American Idol picked it’s winner this past week.  Lee DeWyze was the season 9 winner, and as with tradition, the finalists all had to sign their deals this week in order to make any kind of money from their profession.  This article was used from the NYTIMES.com:

It’s an annual tradition with “American Idol”: the finalists are named, a winner is chosen, the public expresses its outrage and questions the fidelity of the voting process, and then the top two performers are signed to record labels. Both Lee DeWyze, who won the show’s ninth season on Wednesday night, and Crystal Bowersox, who came in second (but first in our hearts) are signed to 19 Recordings Limited, the label founded by the “Idol” creator, Simon Fuller. Billboard.com reported that Mr. DeWyze would release his first post-”Idol” album on RCA Records, which also put out albums by the “Idol” contestants Chris Daughtry and Adam Lambert, while Ms. Bowersox will release hers on Jive Records, which is also home to the “Idol” alumni Jordin Sparks, Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta. No release date was given for either album, though Mr. Allen and Mr. Lambert, last year’s “Idol” winner and runner-up, put out their records in November. The debut singles of Mr. DeWyze (a cover of U2’s “Beautiful Day”) and Ms. Bowersox (a cover of Patty Griffin’s “Up to the Mountain”) have been released, though download results for those tracks weren’t immediately available.

Today, the Rolling Stones will be re-releasing one of their most famous albums ‘Exile On Main Street’ including 10 new tracks.  Just recently Keith Richards and Mick Jagger in two different interviews  sat down with the Associated Press and answered some questions regarding the iconic rock-umentary as well as newly mastered album.

AP: How hands on where you with the project?

Jagger: The film was my baby because I thought it was the best kind of thing to do — evoking a period, to make a film about the making of the record. Normally, these kinds of films are corny and they are painted by numbers. … What I wanted to do is I want the viewer to feel like they are really in the period, like they are really stuck in the period. I think in the end we achieved that.

AP: “Exile on Main Street” is considered to be one of the best rock albums of all time. Why add extra tracks and mess with what some think is perfection?

Richards: We had guys searching around in the can, and all of this other stuff came out. We realized we would have finished if we had the time. We were going to put out 18 tracks on “Exile,” so we couldn’t force the record company to put out anymore at gunpoint. They either got left behind because they were not quite finished, so we finished them after 40 years.

Jagger: Four of them are alternate takes of the ones that are already on there. The most hard work for me was finding the six new tracks and finishing them because they were not finished. The were raw and had never been touched whereas the tracks that were out on “Exile,” we took them to L.A. We did vocals. We put other things on them and mixed them. These had not gone through that process. I had to take that 40 years later and do the process. It was fun because after a while, I just said, “If this was done yesterday, what would you do now?” Don’t treat it like it is 40 years ago, the process of it.

AP: Does it trip you out that you are still doing this nearly 40 years later?

Richards: It is weird you go check out what you have done in the past. You try it. You don’t want to go there.

Jagger: It is weird really. When you do these kinds of things, especially when you are younger, you don’t really think of them as a piece for prosperity. You are just doing it for that year because next year there will be another record, so, you don’t really think at the time, “This will hold up, or I’m so proud of it. This will be something I will be looking back on in 40 years.” You don’t think of it. I don’t think people in rock music, especially at that time ever thought like that.

AP: There are so many myths about the time you spent making this album. Was it all sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll?

Jagger: It was very familial because we hadn’t had a lot of children around before. We were just starting to have children. I didn’t have any children at that point, but we started to have children around. Keith had his first son, and some of the other people around us, not necessarily the band, but people who were working on the record, so it is always good to have a few children. If you have one, it is not much fun for that child. It is nice to have a gang. That was really nice. Of course, there was sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, but there was also a good family atmosphere.

Richards: I have been thinking about that. We were on a schedule where I had to write two songs a day, every afternoon. Then I had to get it down to the basement and get it to the guys to play who would hopefully come back with two tracks in the morning. I couldn’t find any time to do porridge (drugs). There were parties going on, but no more than anywhere else. The baby went to bed at the right time. It was the south of France in the summer. There were a lot of people drifting in and out.

AP: Do you think the Stones have another iconic album in them?

Jagger: Well, you always hope so. You are always proud of the new things you do. You always think, “What I wrote last week is just as good as anything on ‘Exile on Main Street.’” That is what I think. The thing about records like “Exile” is that they require a big pattern, like an old English table. It requires some time.

AP: Knowing what you now know, what advice would you give to the young you of 40 years ago?

Richards: Don’t do this at home.

The Rolling Stones, all grown up.

I’m a huge Pink Floyd fan, I mean a huge fan.  So when I heard that Roger Waters is going to go on tour in celebration of “The Wall”  being 30 years old, I made it my absolute mission to get tickets to any show near my area.  However, with “The Wall,” being older than I am, Waters is still trying to make and produce new music to keep his name current.

He’s stated as saying he has tons of new music.  He just doesn’t have the ability to corroborate with anyone right now to get it out.  As you can see from the AP article below, he’s got more on his plate than the average person.

AP: There had been talk about bringing “The Wall” to Broadway. Is that still going to happen?

Waters: That’s still very much in the cards. I have been working on and off for the last year or so with an English writer named Lee Hall, who has become greatly celebrated over here and in London, because he wrote “Billy Elliot,” which is one of the most successful musicals out there at the moment. … Lee’s become a close friend of mine, and I’m touching wood but we think we’ve finally found a director that we want to work with, so that’s another project that’s in the pipeline. We’re on the fourth or fifth version of the book, and trying to write some laughs into it. My one disappointment with the original rock ‘n’ roll show that we did, and to some extent with the movie as well, there weren’t just not many laughs in it. … Humor is a very important part of my life, so part of the reason for wanting to do a production on Broadway is to express the funny side of the characters.

AP: Green Day’s “American Idiot” is in the vein of “The Wall.” Do you plan to check out the Broadway play version?

Waters: It would be remiss of me not to check it out. I don’t know the work very well. I am not a very good audience. … My taste in music is very broad, but it’s not very much popular music that I listen to. But when I got this invitation, I did check out some bits of Green Day, and you know, there’s some very strong melodies in there.

AP: What were your inspirations for “The Wall“?

Waters: My early manhood was troubled by all kinds of feelings of inferiority, and inconsequence, I was that guy at parties who only ever dressed in black and stood in the corner and scowled at people. Very often those attempts by the young to be cool are just because they’re absolutely scared. I certainly was. The writing of “The Wall” was part of a process that I used to free myself from some of those neuroses, and some of those fears. Fear is a very pernicious element in many of our lives … (It) is in lots of ways similar to the fear that is engendered in nations and ideologies. … We build up these defenses and the fear that we establish about other, anybody that’s not us.

AP: What is your impression on the political divide in the United States?

Waters: The United states is very insular and parochial, and resists the idea of seeing yourselves they way others see you, the way you’re seem in Europe, and the resistance is enormous, I think, to taking a straight forward look at this stuff. … Obviously many, many American citizens are aware of these problems in society and how deeply important they are. … I remember my mother, who traveled here before the second World War, used to say to me, ‘Americans are so friendly, and so generous,” but she also said, “And so naive.” But I think there’s a huge well of wanting to do good and wanting to help, but it is subverted by the power of commerce.

AP: It’s always asked of you, so we will ask it again — any chance of another Pink Floyd reunion?

Waters: David (Gilmour) is completely disinterested in anything like that. After Live 8, I could have probably gone for doing some more stuff, but he’s not interested, so it is what it is.

It’s really disheartening to see that David Gilmour isn’t interested in doing anything else Pink Floyd related.  It’s probably the one band I’d love to see do a show, and I’d probably give anything to see them live.  I remember watching the Live 8 concert and being totally in awe of their music.

Regardless, his “The Wall 30th Anniversary” tour information can be found here: http://www.roger-waters.com/

Roger Waters

Famous Rock-N-Roll music Photographer Jim Marshall has died at the age of 74.  He passed away over night in what appears to be natural causes.  He was most famous for photographing many legends including the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin at work and in repose.

Jim Marshall took some of the most famous shots of artists around, and was the only photographer allowed backstage at The Beatles final concert.  He was huge in the Rock and Roll music movement, and his images spoke in loud volumes themselves.  According to his professional Web site http://www.marshallphoto.com:

Marshall had more than 500 album covers to his credit. The San Francisco resident was best-known for his iconic images from the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where he photographed Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar ablaze, and 1969’s Woodstock, where as an official photographer he captured The Who tearing up the stage at sunrise.Marshall also was the only photographer granted backstage access at what turned out to be the final Beatles concert, at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in 1966. Good timing and his rapport with musicians also helped him catch Johnny Cash memorably “flipping the bird” at a 1969 performance at San Quentin Prison.

Marshall, always seemed to be at the right place, at the right time.  His images will more than likely last forever, and you can check out some below taken from MarshallPhoto.com:

Beatles Concert

Jimi Hendrix Lighting Guitar On Fire

Jim Morrison Smoking

The American Idol finalists have been revealed for the 2010 season.  I’m not huge on the show, but obviously 11 million+ people are, so it’s more than worthy to post here for everyone to see.

Did Benami
Crystal Bowersox
Lacey Brown
Michelle Delamor
Lee Dewyze
Katelyn Epperly
Andrew Garcia
Tyler Grady
Todrick Hall
Aaron Kelly
Casey James
Alex Lambert
Michael Lynche
Siobhan Magnus
Paige Miles
Joe Munoz
John Park
Ashley Rodriguez
Lilly Scott
Jermaine Sellers
Katie Stevens
Tim Urban
Haeley Vaughn
Janell Wheeler

I also heard that someone was actually kicked off the show recently, more than likely for having a prior recording contract.  I thought that didn’t matter because that Irish chick last year had a contract prior to Idol also.  Like I said, I’m not big on the show, but its worth mentioning for the sheer popularity of it.

————–

Moving on to another largely successful news story.  Aerosmith is planning it’s summer European tour.  Which I had thought that Aerosmith had recently broke up when Steven Tyler left the band, but now he’s back?  That certainly was a quick argument, because he’s back, and without “Steven,” Aerosmith just simply isn’t Aerosmith.  Here’s a snippet from the Billboard.com article describing what’s happening with Aerosmith and their summer ideas:

“There’s no Aerosmith without Steven Tyler,” notes Download promoter Andy Copping of Live Nation U.K. “There’s no point in entertaining anything other than (with) Steven Tyler.” Copping adds that an Aerosmith without Tyler “was never part of the conversation” with the group’s representatives.

The group has also been offered tour dates in South America, but nothing has been announced yet. No North American shows have been mentioned, and there’s also no word on if and when Aerosmith plans to resume work on the new album it was recording in Brendan O’Brien, which was sidelined by Tyler and Perry’s health issues.

Tyler has been in rehab since late December for an addiction to painkillers. Perry has been touring with his Joe Perry Project to support his latest album, “Have Guitar, Will Travel,” while drummer Joey Kramer has been promoting his autobiography, “Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top.” Guitarist Brad Whitford is gearing up for an Experience Hendrix tour that starts March 4 in Santa Barbara, Calif.

So all is well in good in the land of Rock and Roll is seems.  About the only thing that’s frustrating with Aerosmith is that it feels like they break up once every year or so and get back together for a “strong” return.  It’s just them trying to add to a hype that doesn’t even need to get bigger.  They will still sell-out stadiums regardless.

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith

So news came out today that Michael Jackson will have a never before seen rendition of Earth Song will be broadcast alongside tributes by Celine Dion, Smokey Robinson, Jennifer Hudson and Usher.  The version he recorded was set to be used for his “This Is It” tour before he suddenly passed away.

The producer of the Grammies Ken Ehrlich said:

“To try and imitate him, to try and represent him, it just didn’t feel to me like it was something we should do,” explained Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich. “You just don’t ever necessarily want to see anybody but Michael doing [songs like] Beat It or Billie Jean. This felt to us like it was really a way of representing him. It’s like a tip of the hat.”

With the collaboration of artists set to perform while the video is playing, it should be a good event NOT to miss.  I’m sure it’s going to be talked about heavily as it’s been trending on Twitter for quite sometime now.  Here’s a little bit about the song “Earth Song:”

Earth Song originally appeared on Jackson’s 1995 album HIStory. It is an orchestral ballad, bombastic and eco-friendly, and Jackson planned to make it a highlight of his London residency. “The song was so important to him,” Ehrlich said. Jackson shot a new, 3D music video to accompany the song, but didn’t get the chance to screen it before an audience. Although an excerpt of the footage appears in the posthumous Jackson documentary, This Is It, the Grammy broadcast on 31 January will mark the video’s full debut.

Jackson himself does not appear in the clip. “[The video] starts out with some beautiful images of the world and our environment, and Michael’s child-like love for animals, birds and dolphins,” Ehrlich said. “It introduces a little girl, a beautiful little girl who at one point in the film basically goes to sleep, and when she wakes up – she’s in a forest and it’s very pastoral – and when she wakes up, all of a sudden it’s all changed and it’s bad. The environment is being affected and trees are being cut down.”

To fully appreciate the Earth Song footage, viewers will have to wear 3D glasses. These will be distributed to the Staples Center’s audience and through Target shops in the US.

Sounds like it could be entertaining.  It’s also going to be a good tribute to the King of Pop, because even if he was a little crazy, Michael had heaps and heaps of musical talent.

Michael Jackson - This Is It

Myspace, the ever growing entertainment mogul that it is, looks to enlarge it’s reach by growing into the United Kingom’s music industry.  This is both good and bad for the once mega social media giant.  It’s been rivaled by facebook and was finally beat by them as king of social media networks, so now Myspace is reeling and looking to re-invent themselves to stay relevant.

A quote from the Yahoo article is as follows, detailing what Myspace aims to do in grabbing a piece of the pie in the music industry:

MySpace Music is already up and running in the United States, and aims to combine music content in the form of songs, videos, artist profiles, playlists and charts with social networking allowing fans to share their discoveries online.

Access to the site is free, but News Corp-owned MySpace aims to make money through advertising and by taking a share of sales of concert tickets and merchandise, reflecting broader diversification in the struggling music business.

Users can also purchase and download songs and albums on Apple’s iTunes digital store.

“This is indicative of the direction we want to go,” said Courtney Holt, president of MySpace Music.

“We want to be a social content and media platform and we believe heavily in the socialization of content as core to our future strategy,” he told Reuters in London.

“It’s not about just a passive listening experience. We want you to be active, we want you to go places, we want you to search for music. Music lives in places that require you to work to find it. We know our audience is hungry for discovery.”

The website is a joint venture with the four major record companies — Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music Group and EMI Music — and features catalogues from independent labels and unsigned bands.

As long as it stays free then wonderful.  I personally haven’t been on Myspace in 2+ years, as Facebook is the only relevant thing I use aside from Twitter.  So here’s to Myspace again finding their niche and being innovators of music and social networking/media.

Myspace Logo

of the music world.  Not to mention she’s drop dead gorgeous.  Carrie Underwood, winner of American Idol, mega country star has added a new album to her list of success.  Her album titled “Play On” is expected to top the charts at Number 1 on the pop section, and take a predicted drop on the country album.  However, it’s being regarded as a huge music success and this can do nothing but add more popularity to the hot ticket in town.

The former “American Idol” champ’s last album, 2007’s “Carnival Ride,” topped the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 527,000 copies; it has gone on to sell 2.98 million copies in the United States, according to Nielson SoundScan.The new album’s lead single, “Cowboy Casanova,” peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.

Inaugural “American Idol” champ Kelly Clarkson, the only other success story from the TV talent show, topped the Billboard 200 in March with “All I Ever Wanted,” which sold 255,000 copies in its first week.

“Play On” will lead a cavalcade of new albums in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 next week, with the soundtrack to Fox TV’s “Glee” likely as the next-best debut. The album may sell over 100,000 copies in its first week.

Also, as a final note, I must mention  http://www.albertsgifts.com is having a wonderful sale – spend $25 or more and recieve free shipping(ground only).  So head on over and check out all the music gifts!