Rock
Top 50 Albums of 2020
As we return from Thanksgiving and head into December, our Annual Report will spend the next few weeks looking back upon the strange year that was 2020 and the music, film, and television that came with it. We begin today with our Top 50 Albums of 2020. You’ve heard it from me dozens of times already: 2020 has not been a normal year. And by that, I mean absolutely nothing has been normal. The music world hasn’t been immune, of course. I’ve spent more time cancelling flights and accommodations and trying to get tickets refunded than I actually did watching live music this year. Instragram became a concert venue, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions had no performances, and livestreams (which are pre-taped) seem to be the often-underwhelming future of live music at least for the forseea...
Miley Cyrus’ Plastic Hearts Lovingly Mashes Up Rawk Influences: Review
The Lowdown: For her post-divorce album, Plastic Hearts, Miley Cyrus deploys big synth energy in full ’80s-rawk drag. Over six uneven albums, Cyrus has dabbled across pop genres, but she’s always held a penchant for the era and attitude of mainstream glam, new wave, and hair rock, dropping covers of Joan Jett and Blondie in live sets and covering Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” as early as 2010’s Can’t Be Tamed. Now 28 years old, Cyrus leans fully into these influences, enlisting heroes like Stevie Nicks to have a blast with her while ripping themselves off. Even without her current incarnation’s spunky sneer and platinum shag, Cyrus still has teeth, though this algorithmic “rock” can filter out her bite at times. Still, this might be Cyrus’ most successful pastiche yet. [embedded...
Van Morrison and Eric Clapton Tease New Anti-Lockdown Song ‘Stand and Deliver’
“I’m not telling people what to do or think, the government is doing a great job of that already,” the 75-year-old singer said in a statement announcing the protest anthems. “It’s about freedom of choice, I believe people should have the right to think for themselves.” Morrison has been campaigning for a re-opening of performance venues at full capacity, with the statement noting that he “feels strongly” that the ongoing lockdown presents an existential threat to the future of live music venues. The U.K. has allowed some socially distanced gigs since Aug. 1, but, as in the U.S., there have been few other shows since the pandemic caused a worldwide lockdown in March. Proceeds from “Stand and Deliver” will benefit Morrison’s Lockdown Financial Hardsh...
From Miley Cyrus to Taylor Swift, What’s Your Favorite New Music Release This Week? Vote!
Thanksgiving is officially in the rearview and that means one thing: the holiday season has officially begun, and from albums by Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift to a new single by Jennifer Lopez, Billboard wants to know which new release you have on repeat as you dig into the leftovers. Are you loving Cyrus’ rock-fueled seventh studio album Plastic Hearts or Bad Bunny‘s surprise third studio set El Último Tour Del Mundo? How many times have you streamed the live interpretations of Swift’s Folklore tracks in between rewatching her Long Pond Studio Sessions concert special on Disney+? You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful peo...
Liam Gallagher Releases New Solo Single “All You’re Dreaming Of”: Stream
Liam Gallagher has gifted fans a brand new single called “All You’re Dreaming Of”. Making his first original music of 2020, the song is a collaboration between Gallagher, songwriter Simon Aldred, and producer Andrew Wyatt. In keeping with the spirit of the season, the former Oasis singer says it has a “bit of a Christmassy vibe to it” and adds, “I thought it sounded like a Bing Crosby vibe.” Take a listen below. A special vinyl edition of “All You’re Dreaming Of” will also be released on December 18th, and new proceeds will benefit Action for Children. Next Friday, December 4th, Gallagher will perform “All You’re Dreaming Of” for the first time on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Gallagher released his sophomore solo album, Why Me? Why Not., in September 2019. [embedded content...
Powderfinger Share ‘Unreleased,’ First New Album In a Decade: Stream It Now
Its 10 tracks were rediscovered March 2019 during meetings with producer Nick DiDia to select outtakes for the 20-year anniversary reissue of their classic Odyssey Number Five. “Some of the songs were always earmarked for a release at some stage, and they were purposely not used as b-sides as we thought they were too good,” frontman Bernard Fanning explains. “I feel like this is how we ended up looking through our old material, where we discovered other unreleased gems.” The release caps off an unusually busy year for the Brisbane band. During the national lockdown, Powderfinger reformed for One Night Lonely, a special virtual concert which raised more than A$500,000 for music industry charity Support Act and mental wellbeing support service Beyond Blue. Later, in September,...
Smashing Pumpkins Return With Double Album ‘CYR’: Stream It Now
Cut in Chicago and produced by Corgan, CYR features fellow founding members James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin alongside longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder. CYR represents, at least “symbolically,” the “makings of a dissociative life, which best as we can tell is modern life: as presented through a variety of sources; past, present, and future,” explains Corgan. With the new LP, “you get 20 pieces of fractured ideology, neither here nor there but that’s sort of the point,” he continues. “To ape that which in the post-technology age is not so easily defined and pinned down, but can be shown in a lithe, restless melody”. The two-time Grammy winners have more on the way. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Mellon Collie, the Chicago alternative rock legends recently anno...
Best Moments of the 94th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Below, Billboard rounded up all the must-see moments from this year’s truly one-of-a-kind Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The Welcome Return of Broadway Eight months after the shutdown on the Great White Way, the Thanksgiving Day Parade saw the welcome return of numerous Broadway shows for a handful of pre-taped special performances. Filmed in Manhattan’s Theater District, the cast of Hamilton kicked things off with a joyful rendition of “The Schuyler Sisters,” while the company of Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of The Temptations delivered a show-stopping medley of “My Girl” and “Get Ready.” Alanis Morissette‘s legacy also took center stage with an emotional performance of “You’ll Learn” by the ...
Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Cardi B & More Celebrate Thanksgiving 2020
Cardi encouraged her fans to “enjoy your family & friends and the turkey legs” during the holiday, while Bieber summed up his Thanksgiving message in three concise words: “Thankful. Grateful. Blessed.” Midler, meanwhile, took time to recognize the healthcare professionals and frontline workers dedicated to fighting COVID-19. “We bow our heads in thanks to the doctors, the nurses, the frontline workers, everyone across the nation who has worked so hard to save lives, under the most terrible conditions imaginable. Consider yourselves not just loved, but revered,” the iconic singer tweeted. See more musicians celebrating Thanksgiving on social media below. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dati...
Stone Gossard and Mason Jennings on Forming Painted Shield and Pearl Jam Slowing Down
Kyle Meredith With… Stone Gossard and Mason Jennings Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard and singer-songwriter Mason Jennings have teamed up as Painted Shield and sit down with Kyle Meredith to talk about their self-titled debut album. Together, they discuss how they teamed up and recruited Matt Chamberlain, Brittany Davis, and John Congleton. Gossard tells us of opening his vault of demos for the music while Jennings describes working in a band for the first time and writing lyrics about time as escapism. Gossard’s Loosegroove Records was also resurrected for the project, and Gossard details plans for the label to release a final Brad album and a pre...
Radiohead, Elbow Members Call for Better Streaming Royalties at Opening of UK Parliament Probe
Garvey and Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien were among a group of four artists and two industry analysts that provided evidence on the first day of the inquiry, which is anticipated to stretch for several months and will call upon executives at major labels and streaming platforms to answer questions. The Parliament probe — which so far is being done with witnesses testifying virtually, as the U.K. is in lockdown — is also addressing a lack of transparency in record contracts and opaque accounting practices, safe harbor provisions and the European Copyright Directive, which will hold online user-generated services like YouTube liable for unlicensed content. The inquiry comes at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has decimated income from touring, focusing artists’ attenti...
Phoebe Bridgers Reacts to 4 Grammy Nominations, Reveals Plans to ‘Level Up’ Her Skeleton Outfit
Bridgers, who released her acclaimed second album, Punisher, on Dead Oceans in June, earned four nominations: best new artist, best alternative album, and best rock song and best rock performance for the melodic and impassioned single “Kyoto.” While she asserts “there’s not enough nominations for the amount of very incredible music in the world,” she’s excited to see artists she loves, like Chika and Megan Thee Stallion, also in this year’s best new artist class. “I feel like [Megan] turned positivity into being punk rock, you know?” she says of the latter. “If the intersection of nihilism and optimism is ‘f— everything,’ she’s the optimism side.” Bridgers also recalls how Conor Oberst’s former tour manager used to say: “Bright Eyes, best new artist 15 years running” (the band was, i...
