Let’s imagine that in 1992, just after Nevermind peaked, Dave Grohl took a break from Nirvana to form Foo Fighters. I mean, why not? Grohl was a gun for hire, at least the sixth drummer to sit in with the band before they finally broke big. And let’s say he scored some of those juicy Foos radio hits right away: “This Is a Call,” “Big Me,” maybe “Monkey Wrench” too.
And then imagine he came back in ’93 to Nirvana in time for In Utero, making them even bigger than they already were—not just reliable album-sellers but the kind of band able to score regular Top 40 radio hits. Grohl would be transformed, from Kurt Cobain’s potent-but-silent sidekick, to coequal band focal point.
It’s a little hard to imagine for all sorts of reasons, not least the fact that Grohl was too respectful of Cobain to form his own project until both Kurt and the band were dead and gone. But the scheduling is also fanciful—who has that kind of time, to get a successful solo career going while keeping up with a best-selling group?
The fact is, it’s exceedingly rare for a successful side project to not only coexist with the original group but bring that stalwart act to new pop-chart heights. In fact, in chart history, it’s only happened three times (really, more like two and a half).
The third of these three acts is this week sitting atop Billboard‘s Hot 100, in the form of the Black Eyed Peas*. “Boom Boom Pow” is, oddly, the act’s first No. 1—but it’s gun-for-hire Fergie’s fourth. More »
Fall Out Boy have had to move Tuesday night’s concert scheduled for the Mizner Amphitheater in Boca Raton, Fla., to a nearby shed because the city is worried about the “security challenges” that might result from the band playing. (That loud thud you just heard was every wannabe comedian on the Internet cracking the same joke.) More »
Jarvis Cocker’s second solo album Further Complications comes out next month, and the first track to make its way out to the Internet is “Angela,” a bit of raucous rock with lyrics that are just naughty enough to inspire you to shake your ass while seated at your desk. (You might want to get up first, so as to not spill your coffee.) More »
The new format has inspired me to experiment with our content-delivery techniques a bit. Join me after the jump for a rundown of headlines on John Mellencamp’s kid, Sean Combs’ career and name changes, and Paste‘s continued experimentation with the whole “getting people to pay for things to read” idea! More »
Earlier this week, the Chicago Tribune‘s Greg Kot asked a few Chicago-area musicians about how they were fighting through the tough economy. Some formed cover bands (Led Zeppelin 2… ha!) and went out with stripped-down outfits on the road. Part of me is a little “yeah, duh” about musicians having second jobs, and in the story, Katie Tuten, co-owner of Chicago club the Hideout, notes: “People who play music are better able to handle whatever the economy throws at them because they’re always on a tight budget.” That is very true. We asked a few musicians to offer up what they are doing to recession-proof themselves. More »
Perhaps hoping to assert her Québecois status even further, singer Céline Dion is interested in being part of a group that would buy the 24-time NHL champions the Montreal Canadiens, who are currently fighting their way through the first round of the NHL playoffs against their blood rivals from Boston. It’s unsure whether or not this would mean that she would be the only person to sing “O Canada” before games, but it definitely would mean that Montreal might have a regional sports network coming to town! More »
The four men behind Swedish file-swapping hub The Pirate Bay have been found guilty of violating copyright law, and they’ve been sentenced to one year in jail and fined 30 million kronor, which comes out to about $3.6 million. The hubristic guys running the site have not only compared themselves to Daniel from The Karate Kid, they’ve stated once again that they will ultimately win because they are on the side of righteousness–and besides, they’re just facilitating file-swapping. But is that really the case? More »
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