There’s another charity single out this week, along with Band Aid 30’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and it comes from Oxfam International. “#OxfamSong” is a music video created by AV remixers Eclectic Method that puts the spotlight on poverty in the UK.
Today, the 85 richest people on the planet have as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest – that’s half the world’s population. We think that’s wrong. To help turn up the volume on poverty, Oxfam International recorded festival goers and celebrities, including Simon Pegg, Eliza Doolittle and Foals, making a song and dance about poverty. The support was incredible with 18,000 people taking part across the UK.
It’s that time again, folks. Today SXSW announced through second round of Showcasing Artists for the 2015 SXSW Music Festival!
This round includes acts spanning a wide breadth of styles from all over the world. This March at SXSW Music, you can experience the ’60s psych-pop sounds of Dutch singer-songwriter Jacco Gardner, UK post-punk legends Gang of Four, the US debut of Cuban hip-hop duo Los Aldeanos, Berlin-based Cómeme DJ Matias Aguayo and Hyperdub producer Ikonika. Also included on this list are Twin Shadow and ’90s shoegaze legends Swervedriver, which were announced earlier this month.
Stay on top of the hundreds of acts already announced for next year’s event with SXSWfm. Free apps are available for iPhone and Android. SXSWfm also aired an exclusive preview of round two artists on Monday; the show is available to stream here until Tuesday, December 2.
Browse the full list of second round artists below; you can see the full list of announced artistshere. Don’t miss the diversity of music at SXSW 2015 – register before prices increase this Friday, November 21!
Originally inspired by a police brutality incident witnessed by Renaldo “Obie” Benson, “What’s Goin’ On” was composed by Benson, Al Cleveland and Gaye and produced by Gaye himself. Bassist James Jamerson was pulled into the session after Gaye located him playing with a band at a local bar. Respected Motown arranger and conductor David Van De Pitte said later to Ben Edmonds that Jamerson “always kept a bottle of [the Greek spirit] Metaxa in his bass case. He could really put that stuff away, and then sit down and still be able to play. His tolerance was incredible. It took a hell a lot to get him smashed.” The night Jamerson entered the studio to record the bass lines to the song, Jamerson couldn’t sit properly in his seat and, according to one of the members of the Funk Brothers, laid on the floor playing his bass riffs.
The single was produced by Smokey Robinson, and written by Robinson, and fellow Miracles members Ronald White, Pete Moore, and Marv Tarplin. One of the driving forces behind this awesome song was the innovative bass playing of James Jamerson. Here’s the isolated bass and drum tracks to the great Marvin Gaye’s hit “Ain’t That Peculiar,” which reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1965.
Deep Purple’s Highway Star was born on a tour bus going to Portsmouth in 1971 when a reporter asked the band how they wrote songs. To demonstrate, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore grabbed an acoustic guitar and began playing a riff consisting of a single “G” repeated over and over, while vocalist Ian Gillan improvised lyrics over the top. The song was refined and was performed that same night. First appearing on the 1972 LP Machine Head, the track remains one of the band’s staples in live concerts, and was the set opener even before it was released on any album.
In a recorded interview with MuchMusic USA, vocalist Layne Staley stated that the lyrics for “Man in the Box” are about censorship in the mass media, and “I was really stoned when I wrote it. OK, then.
In 1992, Alice in Chains appeared in the Cameron Crowe film Singles, performing as a “bar band”. The band also contributed the song “Would?” to the film’s soundtrack, whose video received an award for Best Video from a Film at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards. So, here’s “Would?”
Written by Lindsey Buckingham, it was the lead single from Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album Rumours. It peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group’s first top-ten hit in the U.S.
If you don’t love Rumours, you’ve probably never broken up with someone.
“Break On Through (To the Other Side)” appears as track one on the band’s debut album. Elektra Records’ censors objected to the drug use implied by the repeated line “she gets high”. The original album version and all reissues until the 1990s have the word “high” deleted, with Jim Morrison singing “she gets” four times before a final wail. Live versions and more recent remastered releases have the full line restored. Regardless, classic rock radio stations and most compilations continue to use the censored version, as it is the version most familiar to listeners.
When siblings Richard and Karen Carpenter released their debut album in 1969, nobody could predict the enormous success they would achieve throughout the next decade. With Karen’s angelic voice and Richard’s stellar arrangements, The Carpenters became a musical force to be reckoned with. Their popularity spread from the U.S. to Europe, Japan, Australia and beyond. Even after 25 years after Karen’s death, they are one of the most recognizable pop duos in music history, and deservedly so.
Their version of The Beatles’ “Ticket To Ride” peaked at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 during a 12 week stay, and reached number 19 on the Adult Contemporary chart. At the time of its initial release in 1969 under the album title Offering, (with a completely different cover photo) it was a commercial failure and the record label only released this cover as a single. After the Carpenters’ subsequent breakthrough, however, the album was reissued internationally under the name Ticket to Ride and sold better – but not much.
