It was one of the surprise announcements of this TV season, that Britney Spears would appear on How I Met Your Mother on CBS. Letterman? Sure, but a sitcom? Despite her experience with guest starring on Will & Grace, it seemed like a strange move at this point in the singer’s career. That was until the episode garnered very favorable reviews from critics and fans alike.
Here’s the thing about American Idol: it isn’t great and they take advantage of the artists, but pretty much everyone who has launched a career from it owes it everything. It’s a sad realization for many, but most American Idol contestants would have gotten nowhere without the show’s ubiquitous PR behind them. That includes last season’s runner-up Blake Lewis. This appearance on a radio show, while sprinkled with some truth, just makes him seem like such a prima donna for someone who hasn’t really accomplished all that much. It’s akin to being snobby at a monster truck rally.
It isn’t nice to laugh at crazy people. That’s why it’s very important someone figure out exactly what rapper, and sometimes actor, DMX is exactly. A recent interview with XXL Mag made a turn for the weird side when DMX admitted he had no idea who Barack Obama was.
Looking for that certain something for that special music nerd in your life? Do they already have every conceivable piece of music listening equipment known to man? Perhaps, but do they have 10.5" reels from the original analog recordings?
Sure, it may sound like an April Fools’ headline, but remember this is several days early and this story very, very true. In a genius stroke of marketing, Dr. Pepper has offered a free can of Dr. Pepper to everyone in the United States if Guns N’ Roses will just release their long-awaited album Chinese Democracy sometime in 2008. Nothing like whiny hair metal and syrupy soda to bring democracy to the Communists!
Rickrolling, the act of misdirecting someone to a video of Rick Astley singing his 80s pop hit Never Gonna Give You Up, is one of those goofy things that only becomes popular via the Internet. Without the Net, would anyone even be talking about Astley now or could his music really see a resurgance in popularity? Doubtful. Still, the British popster seems to take his revived fame in stride. (more…)
Remember the good old days, when it actually took some modicum of talent to be successful at music? That no longer seems to be the case thanks to American Idol and MySpace. Josiah Leming, one of this season’s rejects who didn’t even manage to make it to the top 24, has apparently signed a record deal with Warner Brothers. (more…)
Is this really brain feeding news? No, of course not. The fact that Miley Cyrus has filed papers to officially change her name to, well, Miley Cyrus is hardly the biggest news of the day. Still, it gets at a bigger issue.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with Miss Cyrus from an outward perspective. She seems to be fairly grounded and has a father, Billy Ray, who has been through all this instant fame stuff before. Still, there’s something a little weird about her officially changing her name to Miley Ray Cyrus, even if it was from the horrid Destiny Hope Cyrus (really Billy Ray?). (more…)
Blender magazine has named the war on the Internet, and the failure of record companies to capitalize on Internet growth as the biggest “screw-up” in music business history. Well, there is some truth there, but far too often it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and toss hand grenades at an entire industry. Did the music industry go a little nuts? Yes, but they were also witnessing the widespread theft of their product.
Few people would defend six figure lawsuits against a single mother who downloaded a handful of tracks. Still, one can hardly blame the music industry for their intial “blinders on” attitude. One can’t imagine Wal-Mart would be too pleased if people en masse began piklfering from their music department. A screw-up that it didn’t instantly come up with the idea of an iTunes like music service? Sure, but hardly one most companies wouldn’t have made, too. (more…)
American Idol may be the number one show in America, but that doesn’t mean it’s flawless. In fact, among the major reality series, it may suffer from the most flaws. So why only limit this list to five? Because, otherwise you might be reading for days.
Ryan Seacrest as host
Sure, it’s hard to find an affable host for anything these days. Even top notch comedians bomb at the Oscars. Still, Ryan Seacrest is no incredibly grating on most of America’s nerves that there has got to be a better choice. Perhaps go with the original plan which was to bring a former contestant back to, at the very least, co-host the show? There’s no sense in alienating most of your audience right from the cold opening. Seacrest out. (more…)
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