Yesterday we took a look back at the biggest fails from the pop music landscape in 2010, but we easily could have included the following 10 album covers. Whether they were bizarre, badly designed or just straight up stupid, these covers were full of fail in their own unique way. Last year’s title belonged to Cobra Starship’s grotesque Hot Mess, and although this year’s winner/loser doesn’t make us gag in the same way the punk-pop band’s tattooed lip did, it’s still a colorfully ridiculous hot mess. Flip through our gallery (in order of “Sorta Terrible” to “Are You Kidding Us?!”), and to balance things out, check back tomorrow to see some of the year’s best album cover art. More »
Last night in Los Angeles, Chris Cornell appeared with Pearl Jam at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles, where they all ran through “Hunger Strike” from the Cornell-plus-Pearl Jam-minus-Vedder Andrew Wood tribute project Temple Of The Dog. It sounded pretty decent (especially given that those big notes at the end are hard to sing), and before you go and snipe “man, if only they’d done ‘Reach Down’ ” may I give you some news about who was in the crowd? Here is a hint: They know Chris pretty well! More »
As savvy consumers of media, we all know that the Internet news world can have a lot of game-of-Telephone tendencies, thanks to the speed at which information can travel and the clicking hordes’ seemingly endless appetite for tidbits of information, no matter how watered-down or thinly sourced. But really, everyone, when the lead singer of Shinedown–you know, that band that has a death grip on radio’s rock charts these days, despite (or maybe thanks to) their aggressive anonymity?–starts spouting off about knowing that there’s a Soundgarden reunion in the works because of talk with “someone specifically in their organization,” you may want to check it out. Sure, there’s evidence that there might be movement on at least 75% of that front, but my first thought when I read Brent Smith’s bit of speculation was “Oh, he’s probably trying to link his band to ‘Outshined’ in peoples’ minds. Kind of weird, but I guess it’ll keep dude’s name in the limelight.” Luckily, one Daily Swarm reader allegedly has Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd on speed dial, and a text basically asking, “WTF?” was sent his way. And Shepherd answered! The text message that might prove everything, or might just attest to the power of Photoshop, after the jump. More »