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Shawn Mendes, Megan Thee Stallion & More to Perform at 2020 American Music Awards
Bad Bunny will team with rising reggaeton star (and fellow Puerto Rico native) Jhay Cortez. Bad Bunny performed “I Like It,” his smash collab with Cardi B and J Balvin, on the AMAs two years ago. These will be the first performances on the show by Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Baby. Lil Baby is set to perform his hit “Emotionally Scarred” live for the first time. The song was the third single from his sophomore album My Turn, which has logged five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. (Only Taylor Swift’s folklore has logged more weeks at No. 1 in 2020.) It’s fitting that the AMAs are highlighting performances by Latin and rap/hip-hop stars. The AMAs this year are increasing their number of Latin categories from one to four and the number of rap/hip-hop categories from three to four. The AMAs...
Spotify Scoops Up Podcast Ad Platform Megaphone in $235M Acquisition
It is little surprise that Spotify is making another big acquisition in the podcast space, following big deals with companies like Gimlet, Anchor and Parcast in the past two years. Since the beginning of 2019, CEO Daniel Ek has referred to audio as the future of the company, envisioning a world where Spotify was less dependent on music — and the content costs of such music — to gain and retain users, listener hours and, ideally, subscribers. In the past two months, Spotify announced a partnership with Chernin Entertainment to provide a pathway for its podcasts to turn into film and TV projects, and, through its Anchor platform, now allows music to be embedded into its shows without further licensing requirements. In late October, the company announced in its third quarter earni...
Racism on the Road: The Oral History of Black Artists Touring in the Segregated South
“We were happy, we were singing, we were joyful, we were away from home for the first time, youngsters on a magical show,” recalls Martha Reeves, lead singer of the girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, who toured through the South as part of Motown’s pioneering tours in the early ’60s. “But being met with the hatred, it was alarming — especially when the bus was shot at.” Below, Billboard presents an oral history of Black touring artists in the ’50s and ’60s, including interviews with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers and one-hit wonders, stars from the Motown and Stax soul labels, and veterans of the Motown Revue and Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars. All remain shocked and angry at the racism they experienced, mostly in the South, but a...
X Get Clips and Pix From Fans for New ‘I Gotta Fever’ Video
X are celebrating their 43-year career in their new video for “I Gotta Fever,” off their latest album Alphabetland. It’s the L.A. band’s first studio release in 27 years and the first with their original line-up in the past 35 years. To make the video as special as the album, the quartet enlisted the help of their fans and included various clips and photos that devotees have sent to X over the years. “This year has been so hard on everyone, not just musicians but fans, too. And our fans have been so loyal and amazing to us for over 40 years, we wanted to include them in this video,” X said in a statement. “We’re grateful every day that we get to make music and tour, we can’t wait to get back out there to see you all!” Billy Zoom emphasizes the gratitude, saying, “The show ha...
Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Gets Remixed by Director Barry Jenkins
Moonlight director Barry Jenkins has given Wilco’s 2002 breakthrough Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album a “Chopped and Screwed Remix” with Houston’s Chopstars, turning the acclaimed LP into the 11-song Yankee Purple Foxtrot. “NOBODY asked for this BUT… in a world where Jeff Tweedy and the boyz was from Houston, TX… @candlestickem, @OGRONC and me present YANKEE PURPLE FOXTROT… Some Americana for the timeline given recent events. The #YeehawAgenda is alive and well,” Jenkins said in a tweet announcing the remix. Previously the director chopped and screwed the soundtracks to his own films Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk and a pair of Grizzly Bear albums (Purple Veckatimest / Painted Ruins (ChoppedNotSlopped)). Guess what? Wilco approves. Jenkins’ next directorial pro...
The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S Bring Spatial Audio to the Forefront of Gaming
With the Microsoft Xbox Series X and Series S releasing today and the Sony PlayStation 5 joining it in less than 48 hours, gamers are preparing to sink hundreds — if not thousands — of hours into the new hardware over the next handful of years. But while most of the headlines will focus on the 4K visuals, significantly increased framerates, and effectively nonexistent loading times, one of the major upgrades for audiophiles out there is the improvement in spatial audio — or 3D sound, as most marketing teams are phrasing it. In layman’s terms, what that means is effectively the next step up in tying sound sources to specific locations and directions. Although you may not get the full experience without a home theater “surround sound” kind of setup or a good pair of headphones (Astro’s new A...
Foo Fighters Share ‘Meaningful’ Video for ‘Shame Shame’
Days after debuting “Shame Shame” on Saturday Night Live, the Foo Fighters have dropped a powerful video for the new single off their upcoming LP, Medicine at Midnight. [embedded content] Directed by Paola Kudacki, the monochrome video takes Dave Grohl to a barren field as a storm brews. Not only do we see a lot of bleak imagery, Grohl also taps into his modern dance skills with model and dancer Sofia Boutella to depict “an interpretation of a recurring dream that’s haunted Grohl since his childhood days,” says a release. “#ShameShame is a very meaningful song and it’s a very meaningful visual – different than anything we’ve ever done before,” the band tweeted. But that’s not all the band is sharing today. They’ve also announced that they’re doing a livestreamed show at the Roxy on Nov. 14...
How No Need to Argue Turned The Cranberries Into Stars
By the time the Cranberries went into the studio to record their second album No Need to Argue, the Irish alt-pop quartet were already a success. Their previous full-length, 1992’s Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? spent months on the charts in the U.S. and UK, buoyed by radio and MTV airplay of its second single, “Linger,” and landed in the top spot of the albums chart in England and Ireland. The group aided their own cause by touring for nearly two years straight, graduating from small clubs to enormous theaters by the end. But when Argue was finally released in 1994, preceded by the grinding first single “Zombie,” the Cranberries ascended to stardom. It was a dizzying time for the group that came with all the accompanying delights and chaos of any rock star moment. Stil...
Ex-OZZY OSBOURNE Guitarist GUS G. Is Officially Writing New ‘All-Instrumental’ Solo Album
Greek guitar virtuoso Gus G., well known in rock and metal circles for his work as Ozzy Osbourne‘s guitarist and as leader of his own band FIREWIND, has confirmed that he has begun work on a new solo album. On Saturday (November 7), Gus took to his social media to write: “Being on lockdown can be tough, but it has at least allowed me to work on a lot of new music. I’m officially writing a new solo album which looks like it’ll be all instrumental, but I’ve been writing music with and for other people as well. I guess that’s my meditation, my way of dealing with all the madness.” Gus previously discussed a possible new solo LP during an April 2020 interview with U.K.’s “NI Rocks” radio show. At the time, he said: “I’m th...
JACK RUSSELL Undergoes Hip Replacement Surgery: ‘I Feel Like I’m 20 Years Old’
Former GREAT WHITE and current JACK RUSSELL’S GREAT WHITE frontman Jack Russell has told Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station in a new interview that he underwent a major surgery about two weeks ago. “I just had my left hip replaced, which I’ve been needing for years,” he said. “And it’s just great. I’m a whole new man. I feel like I’m 20 years old. I wish I would have done it 10 years ago, when they told me I should have. I just kept putting it off and putting it off. ‘What if it doesn’t work? What if it makes it worse? What if? What if? What if?’ And I finally said the pain was just too outrageous. I said, ‘All right. You’re gonna get rid of the pain?’ And they go, ‘Yeah, cool. We were tel...
ANTHRAX, SUM 41 Members Cover PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.’s ‘Public Image’ (Video)
ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante has teamed up with former TURBONEGRO vocalist Hank Von Hell, SUM 41 guitarist Dave Baksh and bassist Jason “Cone” McCaslin to record a cover version of PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.‘s “Public Image”, filmed while they were in quarantine. Benante uploaded a video of the performance to his YouTube channel, writing in an accompanying message: “When I was younger, I would sometimes go to work with my sister, who was a hairdresser in Manhattan. Below the salon was a record store called Disco Mat that I LOVED. I would spend hours in there and one day, I had a weird experience. I was in there going through records and I saw a man with a long coat and a beret looking through the bins. I knew it was Johnny Rotten because I was a huge SEX PISTO...
TESLA, VIO-LENCE, Ex-FORBIDDEN Members To Perform With Tribute Band RUSTY CHAINS At Fourth Annual Benefit Concert
Dave Rude (TESLA), Phil Demmel (VIO-LENCE, ex-MACHINE HEAD), Craig Locicero (ex-FORBIDDEN) and Steev Esquivel (SKINLAB) are among the guest musicians who will perform with RUSTY CHAINS, the San Francisco Bay Area-based Seattle tribute act that focuses on the unique sound of the Northwest in the late 1980s and early 1990s — bands like SOUNDGARDEN, ALICE IN CHAINS, MOTHER LOVE BONE, SCREAMING TREES and PEARL JAM — at its fourth annual tribute to Chris Cornell. This year’s event will be streamed over at HOWLIVE.tv, and presented/hosted by Soundwaves TV, with 26 songs split over two nights. * Wednesday, November 11 * Thursday, November 12 Says RUSTY CHAINS: “With the tragic and sudden loss of SOUNDGARDEN frontman Chris Cornell to suicide while the band was in the middle of their sp...
