Jay-Z Responds To Noel's Opinion That Having Rappers At Glastonbury Is "Wrong"

As we mentioned, Jay-Z's playing overseas festivals this summer ... like, for another instance, headlining Glastonbury. Noel Gallagher, for one, doesn't think a hip-hop artist should be playing the top Saturday night slot because it screws with the history and roots of the UK festival. Plus, "It's wrong." Jay-Z responded in an interview with Bizarre. Via The Sun:

"We don't play guitars, Noel, but hip-hop has put in its work like any other form of music."

Jay -- who had a 2003 hit with "99 Problems" -- sees his slot at the famous festival as rap's next logical step.

The operative phrase here is "a hit," not "his only hit." That's the thing Noel, Jay-Z 's continued to be relevant, while you should be happy to get any festival spots, continuing to do no more than standing on the shoulders of your past accomplishment. Jay continued.

 

CONTINUE READING JAY-Z RESPONDS TO NOEL'S OPINION THAT HAVING RAPPERS AT GLASTONBURY IS "WRONG"...

Posted at 10:21 AM in Where's The Beef?
Tags: Jay-Z | Noel Gallagher | Oasis

Comments (59) latest by coco rubio

Kim Deal: "You Know, Malkmus Is Being A Bit Of A Bitch..."

'90s alt-rock fight! As prematurely mentioned, we dig the new Breeders album, Mountain Battles. We also like aspects of Real Emotional Trash, though we still say it runs on (and on). Which is sorta what Kim Deal's saying about the mouth of our favorite late-night Fox News Channel guest in the new issue of Time Out. It starts with this question from the interviewer:

TONY: Did the success of that song ["Cannonball'] cause any jealousy among your indie-rock peers?

 

CONTINUE READING KIM DEAL: "YOU KNOW, MALKMUS IS BEING A BIT OF A BITCH..."...

Posted at 1:01 PM in Where's The Beef?
Tags: Kim Deal | Pavement | Stephen Malkmus | The Breeders

Comments (45) latest by J to the D

Art Brut Also Pissed At EMI

EMI's on anything but terra firma these days and as we've seen this past year, and now you can add Art Brut to the list of rock stars going public with their tales of label incompetence. The label has Art Brut on its back after releasing a new single for "Pump Up The Volume" without telling the band (or Christian Slater). Instead of keg standing in protest, Eddie Argos posted a complaint at Brut's site:

Attention, the Internet!! It seems Art Brut have accidentally released a single. Yes, the rumours are true. But how could this happen, you may ask? Why were we not informed? Why was it not available in my local record shack, thrust pride of place along side the latest View recording? Well, my friends, pick up any thread of incompetence and it will usually lead you to a record company. That's right, it seems EMI have decided to release Pump Up the Volume without informing either the band or myself, making any kind of wide scale promotion rather difficult. Adding to this curious new marketing stratagem of discouraging sales, EMI have chosen to make the song available via download only. So no luck in the record shacks either.

Hope they realize they're in a phone commercial. Keep your bands informed, music biz! Speaking of audio/visual material, there's a video for the tune. As Argos notes:

CONTINUE READING ART BRUT ALSO PISSED AT EMI...

Posted at 12:34 PM in Video, Where's The Beef?
Tags: Art Brut

Comments (2) latest by its just a phase

Morrissey: "I Apologise ... For Speaking To NME"

Last week Moz and the New Music Express began to relive their good ol' conflict of '92, which then boiled down to the mag alleging Stephen Patrick had racist tendencies in his lyrics after a show in Finsbury Park in which he wrapped himself in the Union Jack. The two parties didn't speak for ten years, and now after a four-year truce, NME, under new editorial leadership, again levied a charge of racism after a direct interview in which the editorial staff deemed Moz's anti-immigration statements to be inappropriate ("Bigmouth Strikes Again ... Oh Dear Not Again," went the headlne). Morrissey issued a legal letter seeking from NME Editor Conor McNichols an apology (for Conor's characterization of M as someone "who wouldn't want [a black person] living next door to him"), a promise not to print similarly defamatory verbiage, damages, and standard reimbursement of attorney's fees.

Well, the off-page dialogue just got deeper. Much. Morrissey pens a lengthy and scathing rebuttal which discusses the state of NME today, its fall from journalistic grace, the "new NME"'s agenda against him and the reasons for it (ranging from its general editorial angle to Moz's continued declination of the Godlike Genius Award + Celebratory Concert package), and a discussion of the facts and circumstances of his interview (including making interviewer Tim Jonze and his "accept(ing) every answer I gave him with a schoolgirl giggle" sound like a perfect case study of how not to be when meeting Moz). Some highlights:

CONTINUE READING MORRISSEY: "I APOLOGISE ... FOR SPEAKING TO NME"...

Posted at 9:26 AM in Where's The Beef?
Tags: Morrissey

Comments (12) latest by Wick

Moz Vs. NME

Bona drag, man, Morrissey and NME are in the midst of a scuffle. This week's issue of the magazine includes an interview with Moz in which statements he makes about immigration are characterized as racist. Viva hate! For his part, or at least his rep's part, Steven Patrick feels he's being misrepresented. Adding an interesting twist, the guy who wrote the article contacted M's peeps to say he was distancing himself from the piece, even asking to have his name removed from it, because the NME editors heavily rewrote the text and he didn't agree with the tenor of the shifts. November went and spawned a monster this time! The exchange between Morrissey's guy Merck Mercuriadis and NME editor Conor McNicholas conjures the start of a juicy epistolary novel ... or at least a tabloid-y epistolary short story. Via True To You:

Hi Merck.

I need to drop you a line about the Morrissey piece running in NME this week. It's going to be much stronger than we'd originally discussed.

Having lived with Morrissey's comments from the second interview and discussed with the editorial team we're running a piece where the comments aren't ducked and NME's position is made very clear.

While Morrissey is obviously entirely entitled to his point of view we're not beholden to re-print them without comment. And given that his views are not those that we'd normally expect to come from someone in the very liberal world of rock'n'roll, we're not able to either support them or print them without comment.

Obviously no-one is accusing Morrissey of racism - that would be mad given what Morrissey says - but we do say that the language Morrissey uses is very unhelpful at a time of great tensions. I am - as I say in the magazine - fully confident that Morrissey's comments are simply the result of a man in his 50s looking back nostalgically on the England of his youth, but his reasoning for that change is unreasonably skewed towards immigration and as a title we think that's wrong. I think he's simply naive and doesn't understand the atmosphere here. I don't think he wishes anyone any harm but I don't think he understand the climate or the possible interpretation of his comments either.

The feature is, I believe, a fair and balanced piece. It's not sensationalist but it doesn't ignore the story either. I have been particularly careful to include all the key moments where Morrissey mitigates his position or makes a strong commitment against racism. The reaction of both you and Morrissey has been very much on my mind when making decisions surrounding this piece.

As you know, I wish I'd never fond myself in this position making these very difficult decisions. I have, to be honest, found the whole experience very depressing. I don't have a reputation of running pieces such as this because it's not in my nature. I am also a huge Morrissey fan, my gold disc for 'You Are The Quarry' is still one of my proudest possessions and still takes pride of place in my living room. And while I'm sure Morrissey didn't sign off each of the discs and its recipient, I felt it was a measure of where I'd got the NME to with him. What I'm trying to make clear is that I never wanted to be in this place but as editor I've simply not had another option.

I'm not going to try and second-guess your reaction but I can imagine it won't be great - another depressing factor given how much I've genuinely enjoyed working with you over the last few weeks. During this whole difficult process you never been anything other than balanced and reasonable - far more than most other managers I've worked with! - and I've really appreciated that. I wanted you to get a heads-up in advance of publication. Hopefully we'll speak soon.

Conor."

Merk's two cents and one more bad Morrissey pun after the jump.

CONTINUE READING MOZ VS. NME...

Posted at 10:15 AM in Where's The Beef?
Tags: Morrissey

Comments (13) latest by jkleve

The Romantics Vs. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80s

This summer Guitar Hero rocked the '80s, eliciting raves from fake-fret fanboys alongside workmanlike sessions of procrastination around the nation. But if you were waiting for some post-holiday sales before buying your copy, you might wanna scrap that plan and pick it up ASAP, 'cause the Romantics are looking for a temporary injunction

According to an AP report, the band, whose "What I Like About You" appears in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80s' "Return Of The Shred" section, have filed suit against game maker Activision Inc., claiming GH infringes upon their Romantic rights by containing a soundalike version of the band's Budweiser-soaked jam. They're seeking unspecified damages, and an injunction to remove the game from store shelves.

Before the IP attorneys in the house have a conniption, know that copyrights aren't at issue; as they did for each of the other 30 some odd songs on the tracklist, Activision secured permission to record a cover of the tune for the game. Rather, "they say by creating an imitation so much like the Romantics' original, the California-based company infringed on the group's rights to its own likeness."

Exhibits A and B after the jump.

CONTINUE READING THE ROMANTICS VS. GUITAR HERO ENCORE: ROCKS THE 80S...

Posted at 2:24 PM in Video, Where's The Beef?
Tags: Guitar Hero | The Romantics

Comments (10) latest by rgr_moore

Lily Allen, Oasis, Gene Simmons Blast "Radiohead Model"

As we already knew, not everyone's into Radiohead's it's-really-up-to-you approach to In Rainbows. But now Lily Allen's got something to say about it. Via Channel 4:

Lily Allen has branded Radiohead "arrogant" for giving fans the chance to download their new album, 'In Rainbows', for free. The singer reportedly said that she thinks it is unfair for the millionaires to devalue recorded music and survive on touring money when new artists can't. "It's arrogant for them to give their music away for free - they've got millions of pounds. It sends a weird message to younger bands who haven't done as well," WENN reports Lily as saying. "You don't choose how to pay for eggs. Why should it be different for music?"

Interesting MySpace's biggest phenom would disagree with the download approach. (Ah, we don't mean to be contrary, Lily -- maybe we're just bummed that those Agent Provocateur rumors end up being just that, rumors. Ahem.)

Actually, we do see her point -- and have had similar discussions with various working musicians we know -- but it's sillier and more sour fun when dorks like Liam Gallagher and Gene "I Will Market My Shit" Simmons step into the dialog box, too.

CONTINUE READING LILY ALLEN, OASIS, GENE SIMMONS BLAST "RADIOHEAD MODEL"...

Posted at 11:19 AM in Where's The Beef?
Tags: Gene Simmons | Kiss | Lily Allen | Oasis | Radiohead

Comments (48) latest by craig

New Disorder

Been following the drama? News had flung far and wide about the demise of new wave stalwarts New Order when Peter Hook took to the press to say the fat lady had grabbed her synth and sung -- until Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris rebutted with something to the effect of "Well, Hook is gone, but New Order lives on." Acrimony ensues!

Peter's decided to cast the next stone in a respectable, private forum. And so we turn to Hook's MySpace blog (via NME):

never assume anything! This group has SPLIT UP! you are no more new order than i am! you may have two thirds but dont assume you have the rights to do anything NEW ordery cos you dont ive still got a third! But am open to negotiation.

...

See you in court! love hookyx

Such a bizarre love triangle. More on the impending New Order court orders as they come.

Posted at 11:27 AM in Where's The Beef?
Tags: New Order

Comments (8) latest by maya lucia