Jack White’s Third Man Records is teasing a July 30 announcement about “making vinyl history.” A video shows a gold record in space — the record being one issued by the label in 2009, featuring the remixed voices of Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking. White has talked about his desire to send a record player up on a balloon so as to have “the first vinyl record played in outer space.” Is this finally going to happen? Will Balloon Boy have anything to do with it? Is Jack going to play in space? Stay tuned.
The smallest Discman ever made…was smaller than a CD
A look back at one of the most collectable portable CD players – the Sony D-88 from 1988, the smallest Discman ever made. It was a portable CD player that was too narrow to fit a CD inside. Wait…What?
Watch Rare Live Footage From David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs Tour In 1974
Thanks to Nacho Video, the YouTuber who created a tremendous upload of the rarely-seen David Bowie “Diamond Dogs” tour from 1974.
He writes, “I have been asked many times to create some videos for Bowie’s ‘74 tour. There is very little material available, but I have gathered all the footage that’s out there, I think. Among the Super 8 stuff there are some possibilities, tho’ a lot of labor will be required. In the meantime, I’ve taken the obvious easy road of first working on the footage from the wonderful 1974 Alan Yentob BBC documentary, Cracked Actor. The in concert materiel it contains is really well filmed, as one would expect from the BBC. Unfortunately, it contains no complete song. Therefore some imagination and technology is required. Here, I am more or less retreading what others have tried before, but not at this quality.”
The Temptations “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” Instrumental Track Will Blow Your Mind
Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone written by Motown songwriters Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong as a single for Motown act The Undisputed Truth in 1971, is still one of the greatest of all time. Later that year, Whitfield, who also produced the song, took the track and remade it as a 12-minute record for The Temptations. This version of “Papa” was released as a single in early 1972, and peaked at number 63 on the pop charts and number 24 on the R&B charts.
Beginning with an extended instrumental introduction (3:53 in length), each of the song’s three verses is separated by extended musical passages, in which Whitfield brings various instrumental textures in and out of the mix. A solo plucked bass guitar part, backed by hi-hat cymbals drumming, establishes the musical theme, a simple three-note figure; the bass is gradually joined by other instruments, including a blues guitar, wah-wah guitar, Wurlitzer Electric Piano notes, handclaps, horns, and strings; all are tied together by the ever-present bass guitar line and repeating hi-hat rhythm. A very unusual thing about this song is that it uses only one chord throughout the entire song — B-flat minor.
https://youtu.be/mYEynE6aa7Y
Sneak Preview: James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke with The First Lady, Michelle Obama
Tonight, James Corden visits The White House for a very special Carpool Karaoke with The First Lady Michelle Obama.
Browse Jeff Buckley’s Personal Record Collection And Listen Via Spotify
A new website allows fans to take a virtual tour of the record collection of the late Jeff Buckley. Users can scroll through a collection of records representing actual vinyl and CDs owned by Buckley, and listen to the music on Spotify. You can’t say Jeff didn’t have great taste.
Michael J. Fox joins Coldplay for ‘Back to the Future’ songs
This past weekend in New Jersey, Michael J. Fox joined Coldplay onstage for two songs performed by Fox’s character Marty McFly in Back to the Future: Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” and The Penguins’ “Earth Angel.” In a video shown before the songs, Chris Martin’s son asked his dad to play a song from their shared favorite movie, so he picked up the phone and made it happen.
Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard on growing up in her family’s junkyard
We lived down a long gravel driveway, and you’re driving through these woods and then you cross a bridge over a creek. And then you keep going up this hill, and on either side of you it just starts filling in with junk cars, newer cars, boats, motorcycles, a shop. It’s all around you. And then you get to the top of the hill and that’s where, um… we grew up in a little trailer, but it was really nice.
My mom was really good at making our home — no matter what our situation was — always felt like a home, always felt really nice. And I played with our animals. We had a lot of different kinds of animals. I grew up on a farm in a sense, but it was always a junkyard. So it was a really interesting way to grow up, because I would be playing on all of these stacked-up cars, which is super-dangerous, but then I’d also go run around the woods with my dog, and go play in the creek. … The way I think of it is, you’re surrounded by the junkyard. Think of it like a hurricane, and you’re in the eye of it. The little patch of grass that has the animals and the little trailer and then the rest was, to me, was like a labyrinth. It was an amusement park.
Drake Becomes 4th Artist In History With #1 Billboard Album AND Single For 10 Weeks
Drake is just the fourth artist to boast an album that has led the Billboard 200 for a least 10 weeks while a single from that set has ruled the Hot 100 also for at least 10 weeks.
Here’s the exclusive club, including one such album, by Santana, that generated two songs that led the Hot 100 for at least 10 weeks each; Drake, meanwhile, is the first solo male to make the list (as Santana is a band, fronted by Carlos Santana):
Drake
Album: Views, 10 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200, beginning May 21, 2016
Song: “One Dance” (featuring WizKid and Kyla), 10 weeks at No. 1 on Hot 100, beginning May 21, 2016
Adele
Album: 25, 10 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200, beginning Dec. 12, 2015
Song: “Hello,” 10 weeks at No. 1 on Hot 100, beginning Nov. 14, 2015
Santana
Album: Supernatural, 12 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200, beginning Oct. 30, 1999
Songs: “Smooth” (featuring Rob Thomas), 12 weeks at No. 1 on Hot 100, beginning Oct. 23, 1999
“Maria Maria” (featuring The Product G&B), 10 weeks at No. 1 on Hot 100, beginning April 8, 2000
Whitney Houston
Album: The Bodyguard (soundtrack), 20 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200, beginning Dec. 12, 1992
Song: “I Will Always Love You,” 10 weeks at No. 1 on Hot 100, beginning Nov. 28, 1992
Billy Squier’s “Rock Me Tonite” video is even better without the music
Billy Squier’s Rock Me Tonite is so 80s, it’s brilliant. The song is Squier’s highest charting U.S. single, peaking at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hitting the Top 10 on the Cash Box singles chart. It also returned him to #1 on the Top Rock Tracks chart in August 1984. Despite its major success, the single is sometimes associated with the end of Squier’s career as a singles artist due to the music video, which was maligned by fans and critics alike. Squier’s concert ticket sales immediately suffered, and he later fired his managers. He has accused Ortega of deceiving him and altering his original concept, which Ortega denies.
Not sure how much can be blamed over a music video, but there you go. I hope he received massive checks due to the hundreds of artists who sampled his The Big Beat single.
It’s even better when you remove the music (although the song is pretty good, too).
…and the original…