Somethin' Bad (But So Good)
Warner Brothers Records is celebrating its 50th year as a label with an album of current artists covering classic cuts from the label’s archives, and while I suppose there’s some appeal to hearing Taking Back Sunday play a Tom Petty track, let’s be real: Who is going to pay for that privilege in the Internet age?
Idolator film-music critic Andy Beta places the videos for “Gimme All Your Lovin’,”: “Sharp Dressed Man,” and “Legs” under his critical microscope: “Under such pressure, these blue-collar boys encounter their fairy godfathers, ZZ Top (who appear like a mirage in the Texas Panhandle landscape), via… More »
ZZ Top! Of course! The trio will celebrate its 40th anniversary by herding into the studio with Rick Rubin later this year, after they wrap up a co-headlining tour with Brooks & Dunn. The band is aiming a sound more “La Grange” than “Sleeping Bag” (aw, can’t they do both?), and Rick Rubin does seem the painfully obvious choice for a high-profile authenticity move. The band has also signed to Rubin’s American Recordings, which heightens the prospect that its forthcoming album will get his full attention, rather than being one of eight projects he watches through a large telescope from inside his ashram. In recent years Rubin has worked with the Dixie Chicks, Linkin Park, Metallica, Weezer, U2, Kanye, Green Day, the dude from Semisonic… is there any respected figure in music that Rubin has yet to work with? I was able to come up with five who would be definite collaboration coups for both sides.
Welcome to our second night of live-blogging the American Idol finale, two hours of spectacle leading up to the crowning of a David as the favorite pop singer of this very phone-equipped nation. I’m watching the TV Guide Channel’s preshow, which has Kimberly Caldwell screaming a lot and Justin Guarini laughing dumbly a bunch and Janice Dickinson saying that she’s in the tank for Archie too. (For that the producers denied Danny Noriega a ticket? Hmph.) Also, apparently Simon Cowell told Justin Guarini that it was a draw while I was on the phone?! Looks like someone saw our poll! Coverage begins after the jump…
