The Music Tank

You know, I miss the preview slot we used to have on the Tank, where I could write witty pitch’s on the front page. I could have told you that STF is now legal in North America. You perverts. Also, next week I’ll figure out how to cut the actual song “Stranger Than Fiction” into 2 megs so you can listen to it, or at least a sample.

Alright, I had something on Slick Rick but it’s not nearly as interesting as I originally thought.

SUCCESS STORY

Alright, this wasn’t planned, but I want to share this.

Alright, so you don’t read this to watch a Grand Theft Auto 4 ad. Hey Rockstar, any freebies for that? No? Oh well. Anyway, what I want you to notice is the song. The great, amazing, musical cocaine song. It’s called “Vagabond” by The Greenskeepers. It’s been the biggest music download all summer and been featured at sporting events (NBA, NHL) currently. The band had a link to Rockstar and had sent a few songs to be included in the game and Rockstar chose “Vagabond” after hearing an instrumental version. Kudos to the Greenskeepers!

I’D LIKE TO SEE HOW THIS TURNS OUT

From Reuters:

Kanye West, Method Man, Redman, Common and their record companies were sued last week by late jazz musician Joe Farrell’s daughter, who accused them of using her father’s music without approval.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in New York, names the rappers along with various labels owned by Universal Music Group.

The lawsuit said all the rappers used portions of Farrell’s 1974 musical composition “Upon This Rock” in three separate songs - West in “Gone,” Common in “Chi-City” and Method Man and Redman in their song “Run 4 Cover.”

Firrantello is seeking punitive damages of at least $1 million and asked that no further copies of the songs be made, sold or performed, according to the lawsuit.

It’s the last bit I’d want to know how they’d enforce. You know, not releasing any more copies of the songs, not selling them or performing them.

TAKING THE SUCK TO THE MOVIES

From Billboard:

Shad Moss, aka Bow Wow, is focusing on acting full time. Moss has joined the upcoming fifth season of HBO’s “Entourage” in a recurring role, playing Charlie, a new stand-up comic client of E (Kevin Connolly).

Additionally, he has landed a role opposite Forest Whitaker, rapper Lil Wayne and Isaiah Washington in the Weinstein Co.’s sports drama Patriots, about a high school basketball team in post-Katrina Louisiana.

“After 16 years in the music industry and six successful albums, I’ve decided to shift my energy to something else I’m passionate about, acting,” Moss said. “I’m going to try to be the next Will Smith.”

I hope his acting career blossoms, I do. If it does, he might not come back to music!

RANDOM BITS

There was a picture of Amy Winehouse in diapers earlier last week. I won’t post it. Your welcome.

Micheal Robertson had a story earlier this week which discussed a system in which people could “rent” songs from a program for 10 cents, but wouldn’t be able to listen to the songs except on the download system. Check out the article.

SOMETHING BAD ACTUALLY HAPPENS TO COURTNEY

From TeamSugar:

Courtney Love is reportedly “suicidal” after discovering the ashes of her late husband Kurt Cobain were stolen from her LA home.

Love had kept his ashes in a pink bag shaped like a teddy bear, along with a lock of his hair. His ashes, along with thousands of dollars worth of jewelry were stolen from her home.

She says, “I can’t believe anyone would take Kurt’s ashes from me. I find it disgusting right now I’m suicidal. If I don’t get them back I don’t know what I’ll do. They were all I had left of my husband. I used to take them everywhere with me just so I could feel Kurt was still with me. Now it feels like I have lost him all over again.”

Holy shit! Someone must have Godzilla sized balls to steal Kurt’s ashes. Do you want every Nirvana fan ever trying to assault you for that? In any case, I’m still trying to find some postings to back this up, as most of what Courtney news these days is bullshit.

FOR ONCE, I’LL STAND UP FOR MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

From Music News:

My Chemical Romance have responded to claims that their music somehow inspired a 13 year-old UK girl to commit suicide. Earlier this month an inquest was held where the girl’s parents and a coroner testified that the girl, Hannah Bond, was influenced by her love of emo music, specifically My Chemical Romance.

It was also revealed that the girl had a history of self-harm, her father said that Bond had hurt herself before and claimed that it was an emo initiation ceremony.

The coroner testified, “the emo overtones concerning death and associating it with glamour I find very disturbing.” The girl reportedly told online friends of her plans to hang herself and live on in the afterlife as a member of “The Black Parade” - the title of a My Chemical Romance album.

The band has responded to this story with this statement: “We have recently learned of the suicide and tragic loss of Hannah Bond. We’d like to send our condolences to her family during this time of mourning. Our hearts and thoughts are with them. My Chemical Romance are and always have been vocally anti-violence and anti-suicide. As a band, we have always made it one of our missions through our actions to provide comfort, support, and solace to our fans.”

While I find the term “emo overtones” pretty funny, there’s nothing funny about teenaged suicide. That being said, I have this to say:

Dear Parents,

STOP BLAMING THE MUSIC IF YOU CAN’T RAISE YOUR DAMN KIDS PROPERLY

Sincerely,

-BlackMage

Seriously. If I took everything music said seriously, I’d be out raising hell with my girlfriend’s parents to Danzig, worshiping the Devil to Slayer and and doing hard drugs to Queens of the Stone Age.

HANG IT UP ALREADY

From Billboard:

With their summer tour selling out, the reunited New Kids On The Block have announced a September 8th release date for a new album, which will be released by Interscope. The group performed the first single “Summertime” on the “Today” show last month.

“We were driven by the music,” group member Joey McIntyre says of their reunion. “Donnie [Wahlberg] and I both live in L.A., and we have had conversations about the offers we’ve gotten in the past. This time around, Donnie was the loudest and pushed the hardest in terms of getting going on the music. His excitement was really infectious.”

“Our first goal was always just to make a great album,” says Wahlberg. “We wanted to work with the best, and have a great team in place so we could make an album that counted.”

“Our friends’ kids are listening to the tracks, and they are excited,” says group member Jordan Knight. “We don’t come across as old guys on the record, and songs like “Summertime” have a great, ’80s vibe that can be enjoyed by everyone.”

They’re back to Step by Step all over your ass! Have I used that joke already? Aw, fuck it.

MORE RANDOM BITS

The R. Kelly trial is moving along and I could give a fuck less. There’s too much to follow there. R. Kelly, my advice to stop touching the youngins and you’ll be fine.

50 Cent’s Long Island home, worth 2.4 million dollars, burned down. Yet, I don’t feel sad at all.

I wanted to post this after the Courtney post, but I fucked up my flow. Converse is selling a Kurt Cobain sneaker. To quote a friend of mine, “Converse is trying to solve the energy situation by making Kurt spin in his grave”.

I HAVE NO TITLE FOR THIS, EXCEPT POSSIBLY “FUCK YOU PRINCE”

After word spread that Prince covered Radiohead’s “Creep” at the Coachella festival, fans naturally turned to YouTube to check it out. Everyone was quickly denied — even Radiohead.

All videos of Prince’s unique rendition of Radiohead’s early hit were quickly taken down, leaving only a message that his label, NPG Records, had removed the clips, claiming a copyright violation. But the posted videos were shot by fans and, obviously, the song isn’t Prince’s.

In a recent interview, Thom Yorke said he heard about Prince’s performance from a text message and thought it was “hilarious.” Yorke laughed when his bandmate, guitarist Ed O’Brien, said the blocking had prevented even him from seeing Prince’s version of their song.

“Really? He’s blocked it?” asked Yorke, who figured it was their song to block or not. “Surely we should block it. Hang on a moment.” Yorke added, “Well, tell him to unblock it. It’s our … song.”

That bit was from your friends and mine at AP. What the hell is Prince doing? Possibly something that would boost some interest in him and he blocks it? Well, I guess we’re boosting interesting in him talking about this. Quick, stop reading this part of STF!

Man, I used the F-bomb a fair bit in this post. If I offended you, I don’t apologize. Deal with, you hyper sensitive noob.

I’m out!