Music in the News

The Dracula kind or the Twilight kind? 

Pete Townshend, guitarist for classic rock band The Who, has called iTunes a “digital vampire” for “bleeding” artists of their profits. The comment came during the inaugural John Peel Lecture for BBC 6 Music. Townshend said that the digital retailer had a duty to provide certain services that record labels and music publishers traditionally provided to artists, such as creative nurturing and editorial guidance. “Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west Internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can’t provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire, like a digital Northern Rock, for its enormous commission?” Townshend didn’t spare illegal downloaders either, saying that if anyone “pretends that something I have created should be available to them free…I wonder what has gone wrong with human morality and social justice.”

Where da mop at?

Rapper DMX was so touched by a Waffle House worker’s fandom that he decided to help him out. The rap star took the employee’s mop and began cleaning up after learning the man was a fan of his. “I was in a good mood and felt that I would do that for him since it was 4 a.m. and [the employee] had been working all night. The minute you get too big to mop a floor or wipe a counter, that’s the exact minute you have fucked up.”

It’ll be like a barrel full of…some type of hominid

Legendary pop band The Monkees will be getting the Broadway treatment next year with a stage musical reminiscent of the ‘60s television series that shot the band to stardom. Though the original band members will not be appearing in the show, many of their hits will, including “I’m A Believer,” “Hey, Hey We’re The Monkees,” and “Daydream Believer.” The show will consist of a cast of 20 in what the show’s producers say is a “madcap Austin Powers-style plot.” Monkee Business will premiere at Manchester Opera House next March. The actual Monkees had been on a reunion tour earlier this year but were forced to end the comeback early due to “business” issues and “internal matters.”

He’s found his way to Planet Home

Shock rock band GWAR lost a comrade in arms last Thursday when lead guitarist Cory Smoot, a.k.a. Flattus Maximus, was found dead in the band’s tour bus. GWAR was on their way to play a show in Edmonton when frontman Dave Brockie found Smoot motionless in his bunk in the band’s tour bus. In a statement released Friday on the band’s website, Brockie expressed his grief to fans, saying, “We have lost a brother, a husband, a son, and one of the most talented musicians that ever slung an ax.” The statement revealed that the band intends to finish the tour as they believe Smoot “would want us to go on and would be pissed if we didn’t.[…] Though it’s hard to believe, I think we all would feel a lot worse if we stopped. For better or worse we have to see this through.” As a sign of respect, Flattus Maximus, the character Smoot played, will be retired and “will never return to this mudball planet again.”

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