Robbie Daw, writing for Idolator:
Rihanna has now spent more weeks at #1 on the main singles chart than the Beatles. Rihanna’s 14 chart-topping songs have racked up 60 weeks at the upper-most spot on the Hot 100, though it took nine years and 11 months do so. (RiRi’s first #1 was “SOS,” which hit the top in May 2006.) The Beatles amassed 20 chart-topping singles on the Hot 100 over a six year and four month period, between February 1964 and June 1970 — all for a cumulative 59 weeks at #1.
NOFX frontman, Fat Mike, spoke with MediaMikes about recording the band’s new album. It’s looking like a June release.
Our new album is I think our most personable album yet. For me it was like peeling off my skin. The new album which will come out in June is the first album that I wrote and recorded a lot of while I was using drugs. In the past I have always gone into the studio and recorded sober. What I found while working on this album was that I cared more. After I would do a line I became extremely focused on making whatever song I was working on the best it could be.
YouTube have announced they’re bringing 360° video to their live offerings. They’ll be streaming some of the second weekend of Coachella in this new format.
We first launched support for 360-degree videos back in March 2015. From musicians to athletes to brands, creators have done some incredible things with this technology. Now, they’ll be able to do even more to bring fans directly into their world, with 360-degree live streaming. And after years of live streaming Coachella for fans around the world who can’t attend the festival, this year we’re bringing you the festival like never before by live streaming select artist performances in 360 degrees this weekend.
A man in San Fransciso is suing Kanye West and TIDAL for fraudulently claiming that the artist’s new album, The Life of Pablo, would be available exclusively on the service.
“We fully support the right of artists to express themselves freely and creatively, however creative freedom is not a license to mislead the public,” Baker-Rhett’s attorney Jay Edelson wrote in a statement. “We believe that we will be able to prove to a jury that Mr. West and Tidal tricked millions of people into subscribing to their services and that they will ultimately be held accountable for what they did.”
The Lumineers have their first number one album on the Billboard 200. Deftones appear at number two with 71,000 copies sold (69,000 pure album sales).
Chris Stapleton’s Traveller dips 2-3 with 48,000 units (down 34 percent), while Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo descends 1-4 with 47,000 units (down 50 percent). The album fell 95 percent in traditional album sales, falling from a 28,000 start to a little more than 1,000 copies sold. (Much of its first week sales were bolstered by pre-orders not delivered until after the album saw a wide release on April 1. Those pre-orders were sold as part of a ticket/album bundle to his Yeezy 3 fashion show held at Madison Square Garden and screened via a live stream in movie theaters. The remaining sales were from Tidal and West’s official website.)
Axl Rose will be taking over vocal duties for AC/DC on their tour.
AC/DC band members would like to thank Brian Johnson for his contributions and dedication to the band throughout the years. We wish him all the best with his hearing issues and future ventures. As much as we want this tour to end as it started, we understand, respect and support Brian’s decision to stop touring and save his hearing. We are dedicated to fulfilling the remainder of our touring commitments to everyone that has supported us over the years, and are fortunate that Axl Rose has kindly offered his support to help us fulfill this commitment. AC/DC will resume their Rock Or Bust World Tour with Axl Rose joining on vocals. The European stadium tour dates begin on May 7 in Lisbon, Portugal and run through June 12 in Aarhus, Denmark as previously announced (see below for full itinerary). Following this European run of dates with AC/DC, Axl Rose will head out on his Guns N Roses, Not In This Lifetime Summer Stadium Tour. The 10 postponed U.S shows will be rescheduled and announced imminently, also with Axl Rose.
Thrice’s Dustin Kensrue spoke with Fuse about the band’s new album:
I can totally understand anyone being bummed out on their favorite band’s new song or something like that, that’s totally natural and we’ve all been there. But what’s super strange to me is someone going on that band’s website or whatever social media thing and telling them, “C’mon guys, you can do better” or, “This is horrible, why are you…?” I can’t even fathom doing that, personally, and I don’t know if it’s because I grew up right before you could just say whatever you wanted to whoever you wanted. Is it just because of the access, or is there something else going on? Would those people have always not had an understanding of what is kind or polite? It’s just odd. I get not liking it. I don’t get you coming on and bitching about it.
I don’t think fans should be worried.
Surprising basically no one after it took in a pile of money, Deadpool 2 has be confirmed.
During a panel at CinemaCon today, 20th Century Fox exec Stacey Snider confirmed that Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller would both be returning for Deadpool’s upcoming sequel. When news of the sequel arrived just after Deadpool was released earlier this year, it already seemed very likely that Reynolds and Miller would come back, but now it’s officially official. Snider also said that in addition to Miller, the entire creative team would be returning.
All dinosaurs feared the T-Rex!
Alexandra Pollard, writing for The Guardian, looks at the myth that a band needs to have male fans to gain credibility in the music scene. I enjoyed the entire piece, but this really stuck out to me:
As a reviews editor, I’ve lost count of the number of times writers have – while bemoaning a gig’s drawbacks – referred derisively to the amount of “teenage girls” in the crowd. It’s as if that phrase itself is a code that needs no further explanation, no elaboration as to why a young woman’s fully paid-up presence at the gig is, unquestionably, a bad thing. It isn’t. Their judgments are just as legitimate, their enthusiasm just as credible, even if their screams are a little louder. And if you think their taste is indiscriminate, you’d be wise to remember that for every One Direction, there’s a thousand other bands who tried and failed to gain even a fraction of their success.
I remember making comments just like that in the past and it was ridiculous and stupid. We talk a little bit more about looking back on our past selves and why we think the term “guilty pleasure” is outdated in this week’s podcast.
Brian Barrett, writing for Wired, with a behind the scenes look at Netflix:
The instant Daredevil premiered, Netflix greeted its users with eight header image variations of Matt Murdock and friends, shown to customers in eight identically sized chunks. Netflix immediately began tracking which top shots inspired the most streaming.
By now, those eight images will have given way to the best-performing two or three. After 35 days, one of those will become the default. The rest will vanish. This happens now for every Netflix original show. It’s survival of the clickest, all around the world.
James Cameron is apparently developing four Avatar sequels, the first coming Christmas of 2018.
The filmmaker discussed the many ways in which he is expanding the world — a theme park with Disney in in the works, and his company has signed a deal with Dark Horse Comics for graphic novel spin-offs — but the movies themselves are obviously the biggest component. The Avatar sequels have been a moving target since he first announced he was working on them, and Cameron has since assembled what amounts to a screenwriting superteam to break the story for the various films. As it stands, the second film in the series will be coming out in the holiday season of 2018, with the subsequent films arriving in 2020, 2022, and 2023.
Grimes talked with Rolling Stone about new music in the works, sexism in the music industry, and how rock music could work in 2016.
I personally really love [British bands] like Bring Me the Horizon and Foals. There’s definitely a future in rock, but it will probably be more fusion-oriented, like rock that uses 808s. Twenty One Pilots is kind of like that – it’s sort of rock, but the sound is hip-hop. You know all those songs on [the Smashing Pumpkins’] Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness that almost sound like Lorde or something? I feel like that vibe has not been explored.
Cynthia Littleton, writing for Variety, on a TV series in the work inspired by Bob Dylan songs:
Lionsgate TV is closing in on a deal with Amazon for an hourlong drama series inspired by characters and themes from Bob Dylan’s vast archive of songs.
“Time Out of Mind” will be spearheaded by writer-director Josh Wakely, who managed to secure the wide-ranging rights deal for Dylan’s song catalog. The project, which is in the early stage of development, will be produced through Wakely’s Sydney-based Grace production banner.
Channing Tatum, Julianne Moore, and Halle Berry have all been announced for the upcoming Kingsman sequel, Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle.
Dan Ozzi, writing for Noisey, talks with Latterman about their upcoming two reunion shows and catching up on what the members have been up to. It’s a great read.
Something I’ll experience so often on RVIVR tours is that people will come up to me and say, “I wish I saw Latterman!” And I’ll be like, “Yeah we played here.” And they’d be like, “Really? When?” And I’d say, “In 2001 at Trashcan Books.” And they’re like, “What’s that?” And I’m like, “I don’t know, the anarchist space?” And they’re like, “Oh that’s not around anymore. My older sister worked there, but I was ten years old.” RVIVR, in the beginning, we pissed a lot of people off. People were very, very angry at us about wanting to be inclusive of queer people, wanting to be inclusive of women, of trans people. To the point where people would come to RVIVR shows just to mess with us.