Readers of Rolling Stone magazine have voted Starship’s “We Built This City” the worst song of the 1980s by a huge margin. The online poll asked readers of the mag to rank the most noxious music of the decade that brought us leg warmers and Sony Walkmans, among other things.
In another case of “Why didn’t I think of that?”, a Belgian record label that goes by the name of SonicAngel, identifies future stars by tracking trends on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Not only that, they also allow fans to invest in the artists’ success, with a six monthly return on their initial investment. Brilliant.
Soulful UK songstress, Adele is heading in to the studio to record the theme for the upcoming 23rd Bond film, according to reports from music industry insiders (read: pizza, flowers, and cocaine delivery people).
A new book by a former Los Angeles Police Department Detective, called Murder Rap, was released today. It alleges that Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy aka Diddy commissioned both the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. The lyrics to “Every Breath You Take (I’ll Be Watching You)” make a little more sense now.
In the spirit of not taking ourselves too seriously, please enjoy this new music video by The Brothers Streep, in which they take a gentle stab at a few big South African musical acts. You can catch the Brothers Streep live on their own show, every Friday on 2oceansVibe Radio. Click here, for details.
R.E.M. has decided to unplug their instruments for good, concluding a career spanning some 30 years and having achieved record sales that topped the 30 million mark. The band made the announcement via a statement on their website yesterday and dished out praise and thanks to all their loyal fans for the years of support.
Look, it’s nice to know Apple isn’t the only company that knows how to create buzz by accidentally leaking information. Ji Lee, Facebook’s creative director, tweeted about Facebook Music, which is set to launch tomorrow. The post was quickly deleted, but not before the Internet had time to get all excited about it.
Nelson Mandela is a more visible world leader than Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama and the Pope. This is according to the Reputation Institute, which has done a perception assessment of 54 individuals currently considered to be global leaders. Not bad for a man who retired from presidency in the 1990s.
This column is really a tribute to Durban’s Number One, East Coast Radio. Thanks to those DJs and their music selection committee, I got the joke when Jay-Z and Mr. Hudson sang Forever Young. I was belting out the tunes like all the white 30-somethings when the Wedding DJs played at Oppikoppi this year. I threw out the question of the greatest one-hit wonders of all time on Twitter yesterday afternoon, and the responses were varied and colourful. This is not a compilation of the five most chosen songs. This is not a democracy. This is my list.
Interscope is one of the biggest record labels globally, with artists such as 50 Cent, Dr Dre, Black Eyed Peas, and Die Antwoord. But it would seem they are peddling in more than just music. They have just been implicated in a drug-trafficking bust. Apparently their offices were used as “a transit point for cases filled with cocaine and cash.”
That’s right, Jax himself has taken to Youtube to beg, no literally plead with young South Africans to collaborate with him on a musical project, and he’s not alone…
I learned something new about the world the day Freddie Mercury died. Firstly, that there was a new way to die, and its name was AIDS. Secondly, that one of my heroes was, in fact, gay. As a young teenager I had never given either topic much thought. Queen rocked and that’s all that really […]
Do you know what day today is? Google knows what day today is – which is why their latest animated doodle pays tribute to the legendary Freddie Mercury, who would have turned 65 today, had he not made an early exit. Click through to take a look. Please insert your favourite Queen song title here.
Foo Fighters don’t actually have to promote anything to get people to shell out cash for their upcoming North America tour, but because they had a fat wad of cash to spend on advertising and some guy in marketing wouldn’t stop saying the word ‘viral,’ they’ve put this video together for you. Take a look.
The Chinese government, in a not-unusual display of authoritarian petulance, has banned the download of over a hundred music titles from popular online music sites in China.
OK Go did a rendition of the theme song from The Muppet Show in their Green Album. Now they’ve made a video; it’s sort of like all of their other music videos, except it features Muppets. I don’t like suggesting that something going viral is a foregone conclusion, but this thing going viral is a foregone conclusion.
Meet Karmin, a duo from Boston in the States who are doing things to RnB tracks that make the original artists sweat in their Ice Creams. Take a listen below! I’m prepared to bet you’ve never heard Chris Brown’s ‘Look At Me Now’ done this way before.
Bon Iver does nice music, and Bon Iver does nice music videos. It’s Friday, it’s raining, you really ought to be at the bar by now anyway, so take a look at their latest offering. Be prepared for big ol’ Icelandic vistas, volcanic terrain, and some kid doing stuff that may or may not pertain to the song lyrics.
In news certain to make the Kloof Street set spit up their Vida all over their vintage Converse, Katy Perry has become the second artist in music history to send five singles from an album to the number one spot in the US.
The love-hate relationship between former Oasis frontmen Liam and Noel Gallager has been entertaining us since the 90s. Now Liam has taken his apparently rampant distaste for Noel one step further and has brought a law suit against him for lying about the reasons for the band’s split. And he wants a public apology too.
Barney’s in New York has announced that this year’s festive spectacular will feature a month-long holiday installation from the Empress of Weird, Lady Gaga. Get ready for some Christmas fear…
Anne Hathaway decided she should show off one of her hidden talents to Conan O’Brien on his show: rapping. She was on the show to chat about her latest film, One Day, but of course she will also feature as Catwoman in the next installment of Batman. The “Paparazzi” rap proves that Hathaway is not just a pretty face.
As I stood there, mouth slightly ajar, listening to Bittereinder spew out lyrics of defiance and love at Oppikoppi, it suddenly hit me that what I truly loved about this eccentric band was its fearsome Afrikaans-ness. This was an unapologetic and proud Afrikaans band. What’s more, Bittereinder aren’t idiotic about it. They’re angry without being bitter, and they are proud without being supremacist about it. You don’t get that very often. And it got me thinking about the “roots” of the band that followed.
This year was my first Oppikoppi. I went as press, but I had a lot of fun. I can’t believe what I’ve been missing all these years. I know you’re dying to know, so these were the best performances that I saw: Bittereinder, Michelle Shocked, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, Not My Dog, and Mr Cat and the Jackal.
Sinatra. Ol’ Blue Eyes. The Chairman of the Board. It’s hard to know where to start with Frank Sinatra. There’s the young Frank of the 1940’s, the Oscar winning movie star, The Rat Pack years, with his old pals Sammy Davis, Dean Martin and the boys. Then there’s the manic depression, the equal rights activist […]
Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on when it comes to pirating music, you have to respect the guys from Blink-182. For their latest single, they used several unauthorized fan clips that appeared on YouTube to make a music video for their latest single.
You’re going to want to watch this. OK Go have put out a new experimental music video for their new track, All Is Not Lost. You remember that one video with the treadmills? Or with the Rube Goldberg machine? Yeah, this is better than that.
A California taxidermist has preserved Lady Gaga’s now-famous meat dress she wore at the 2010 MTV Music Awards. The dress is now on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Dirty Skirts long awaited third album, Lost In The Fall, is finally hitting the streets, with the first launch party happening this Saturday 23rd July at Zula Bar, Cape Town. Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria will be after that. 2oceansvibe has personally had a taste of the new album and we can categorically state that […]
James Stewart plays at Cafe Roux on Friday, 22 July. Joined by the seasoned and versatile Morne & Maresa, this trio will journey through some really, really good songs! Listen at www.jamesonline.co.za. This is a night for life-lovers, friends, family, good times, good wine and fantastic food. Paul, Bern & Lindi Le Roux REALLY know […]