Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category

Lady Gaga

A songwriter and music producer who claims credit for “creating” Lady Gaga, as well as for coming up with the idea of using a Stevie Nicks riff in Destiny’s Child’s 2001 hit “Bootylicious,” has filed a $35 million suit against the rapidly rising star in a Manhattan state court.

Rob Fusari alleges Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, squeezed him out of her career after he helped her find her now-signature sound, developed her image, co-wrote and produce the songs “Paparazzi” and “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich” (both of which appeared on the singer’s smash debut The Fame) and facilitated her contract with Interscope Records.

The suit is rife with insults, with Fusari calling Gaga – who is also a former girlfriend, by the way – a “scorned woman” and a “young Italian girl ‘guidette.’”

In an apparent attempt to justify the personal nature of the accusations, the producer opens the suit by saying, “All business is personal. When those personal relationships evolve into romantic entanglements, any corresponding business relationship usually follows the same trajectory so that when one crashes they all burn.”

Fusari also alleges in the filing that he’s the one who bestowed the singer’s now-famous name upon her when he sent her a text message using the name “Radio Ga Ga” – a Queen song he says he played whenever she visited his studio – and his phone’s spell check changed “radio” to “lady.”

However, in a 2009 interview with the Associated Press, Gaga said her “realization of Gaga was five years ago, but Gaga’s always been who I am.”

“I was Gaga from the time that I was 19 through my first record deal,” the 23-year-old newly crowned fashion icon continued. “I always dressed like that before people knew me as Lady Gaga. I was always that way … I stuck out like a sore thumb.”

Also contained in the suit is a claim that in 2006 Gaga and her father created a company called Team Love Child with Fusari “for the purpose of exclusively professionally exploiting Germanotta and the songs that Fusari co-wrote and or produced,” with the New Jersey-based producer owning a 20 percent stake in the business.

Although Fusari admits he has received royalty checks for approximately $611,000 for his work, as well as songwriting and production credits on The Fame, he claims he has been denied a 20 percent share of song royalties, 15 percent of merchandising revenue and other monies he’s owed by Lady Gaga.

While Fusari is hardly a household name, an article about the writer/producer in Songwriter Universe Magazine credits him with work on tracks by Destiny’s Child (“No, No, No,” “Winter Paradise” and “Bootylicious”), Will Smith (“Wild Wild West”), Jessica Simpson (“In This Skin”), Whitney Houston (“Love That Man”), Kelly Rowland (“Train on the Tracks”), as well as songs by Gloria Gaynor, Britney Spears, Cathy Dennis, Tom Nichols, Gareth Gates, Billy Crawford and a number of artists on Babyface’s Yab Yum label.

Dave Tomberlin, Lady Gaga’s spokesman, didn’t immediately respond to e-mails sent Thursday by The Associated Press.

Lady Gaga:

Source: Pollstar

Eddy Grant Vs. 2D

Eddy Grant said he is consulting lawyers after claiming there are substantive similarities between Gorillaz’ recent single ‘Stylo’ and his 1983 song ‘Time Warp’.

Speaking to NME.COM, Grant said he feels the keyboard section on his song is the same as the recent release from Damon Albarn and co, and even suggested that the track’s creators were aware of the clash.

“Damon Albarn knows in his heart of hearts – it’s unfortunate that we cant get into people’s hearts – he knows that this is a song that he’s loved, in his club days…I don’t know the guy…but he knows this is a song he loves,” he claimed, although he admitted that he had never met Albarn and had not realised the Blur man was behind Gorillaz until recently.

Ironically, Grant explained that both he and Gorillaz/Albarn share the same publishing company, EMI, and was critical that they had not highlighted the issue to him before the new song’s release.

“It has to go back to the beginning, where it should have started with a phone call from Damon to my publisher. My publisher would have contacted me – the publisher being of course the same EMI that looks after his [music],” he explained.

Grant suggested EMI have consulted a musicologist to compare the two tracks before he had been made aware of ‘Stylo’’s existence.

“In a properly configured relationship I would have gotten a call from EMI to say, ‘Damon wants to use ‘Time Warp’. What arrangement can you guys come to? Would you claim 100 per cent, would you claim 60 per cent, or 70 per cent of whatever it is?’,” he suggested.

“That phone call never came. Instead what happened is somebody went straight to a musicologist, implying that there was some kind of pre-knowledge of some kind of infringement.”

A spokesperson for EMI Publishing told NME.COM: “This is a private matter between Eddy Grant and Gorillaz, and we’re not intending to make any further comment.”

Gorillaz:

Check out the video of “Stylo” and “Time Warp”  and tell us if you think there is a lot of similarities:

“Stylo” by Gorillaz:

“Time Warp” by Eddy Grant:

Source: NME

Mark Owen

Take That star Mark Owen has checked into rehab - just days after he admitted cheating on his now wife for five years.

In a very public confession on Wednesday (March 10) Owen admitted to The Sun newspaper that he was “deeply sorry” to have cheated with several women during his relationship with Emma Ferguson, the mother of his two children. He and Ferguson married in a lavish ceremony in the Scottish Highlands last winter.

The boyband member, who was previously thought to be squeaky clean, also said he had fought issues with alcohol for the last 10 years.

“I carried on drinking through my relationship with Emma and it got to the point where she asked me to stop,” he said.

“I’ve never liked drinking during the day but once the kids went to bed, I’d get the bottle open and off I went.

“I have been a prat. I wasn’t thinking - I don’t think logically when I’m drunk. I’m not the person I want to be when I’m drunk. I can be a nightmare to live with.”

A spokesman for the 38-year-old said: “I can confirm Mark checked into a private clinic on Friday (March 12).”

Take That:

Source: NME

The Stooges

Just as the veteran soap actress believed she might never win a Daytime Emmy, the godfather of punk was certain his groundbreaking band The Stooges wouldn’t ever earn a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Well, as it turns out, Lucci got her gold statue on the 19th try. And Iggy and the boys finally are getting their shot to search and destroy at Monday’s induction ceremony, on their eighth attempt.

“At least I won’t be nominated anymore,” Pop said, laughing.

He believed The Stooges never would get into the Rock Hall “right up until the day before somebody called me.”

“I kept telling the guys over and over: ‘We’re not gonna get in, guys.’ Yeah. I was absolutely sure of that,” Pop said in an interview.

It’s hard to say exactly what turned the tide in voter sentiment, but Pop points to three possibilities: the band’s long streak of Rock Hall futility, the January 2009 death of founding member Ron Asheton and … Madonna.

The Stooges honored their fellow Michigan native by performing rocking versions of two of her hits – “Burning Up” and “Ray of Light” – on the night of the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Pop says the gig helped provide some much-needed exposure for a band that wasn’t really heard from for 30 years – the result of numerous band breakups and lineup changes that current members blame on drugs and fights over money.

“I thought, ‘Well, some of the people there will see that we don’t have horns. We’re not gonna breathe fire on the tables or anything,’“ he said. “I knew the thing would be televised, and 15 to 20 percent of the viewers wouldn’t be able to differentiate. If they see you on TV, they’ll think you’ve been inducted anyway.”

Whatever the reason, the guys will be on stage at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, but this time they’ll be performing their own tunes.

They selected “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “Search and Destroy,” two songs Stooges guitarist James Williamson says are “the most representative” of the band’s work.

The latter was on the 1973 album Raw Power, which rates No. 125 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The magazine called it a “proto-punk-rock classic” that featured a certain “hellbent ferocity.”

Fans love and critics appreciate “Search and Destroy” for its searing guitar riff and signature Iggy Pop lyrics. It kicks off with the singer’s guttural snarl: “I’m a street-walkin’ cheetah with a heart full of napalm.”

The song also served as the soundtrack for a Nike ad that memorably featured athletes bleeding and vomiting during competition. The song more recently popped up in an episode of ABC’s “Lost” – it was blasted through a record player while a distraught Sawyer (Josh Holloway) drowned his sorrows following the death of his girlfriend.

Pop, whose solo effort “Lust For Life” also has enjoyed a second life in movies and commercials, sees the usage as an alternate means of exposing people to the music.

“(The Stooges) didn’t get the radio airplay,” he said. “We were shut out of the goodies of the industry.”

When he hears “Search and Destroy” and other songs from the “Raw Power” era, Pop says the music doesn’t sound dated to him.

“Every usage again and again I notice that, and I also notice that the stuff always sounds kind of rippin’,” he said of the album, which is being re-released next month.

After that comes a host of European dates for the band, which currently consists of Williamson (guitar), Ron Asheton’s brother, Scott “Rock Action” Asheton (drums), and former Minutemen member Mike Watt (bass).

Back on lead vocals is the inimitable Pop, who Williamson says simply is “one of the best there ever was.”

“The thing that Iggy did that was all his own was to confront the audience – not just act out on stage like a Mick Jagger does or something like that – but Iggy got in your face,” the guitarist said. “He got out in the audience and was right there with you. And nobody else had ever done that before. He was fearless about that.”

Williamson remembers one show in which Pop egged on the wrong guy – a biker – and got punched in the face.

“I think that was a turning point for the band,” Williamson said. “That was pretty much the beginning of the end.”

Pop went on to a successful solo career, the Ashetons joined other bands and Williamson spent the past 30 years in the business world.

But Ron Asheton’s death and the Rock Hall induction have brought them back together, more than 40 years since they exploded out of Ann Arbor, Mich., with a unique, primal sound that paved the way for the punk, grunge and garage rock movements that sprang up in their wake.

Pop says he and Williamson have been kicking around song ideas, and he’s also looking over some demos the Asheton brothers recorded prior to Ron’s death.

“We’re just kind of seeing where that goes – whether we’ll sneak out a single on the Internet or an EP or try to make a whole album. We’re not sure,” Pop said.

Before all of that gets going, though, the guys will be introduced by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and enter the Rock Hall alongside fellow inductees ABBA, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff and The Hollies.

“I am the world’s forgotten boy,” Pop screeches in “Search and Destroy.”

The Stooges:

Source: Pollstar

Lady Gaga in "Telephone"

Nine-minute video proves huge internet hit

Lady GaGa and Beyonce’s video for ‘Telephone’ has clocked up half a million views in the 12 hours since it was premiered at 11:30pm (GMT) last night.

‘Telephone’ features on Lady GaGa’s ‘The Fame Monster’ album and is released as a single in the UK on Monday (March 15).

Lady Gaga:

Beyoncé:

Watch the video for the song by clicking below:

Source: NME

Metallica

It was an evening of chaos as hundreds of Metallic fans without tickets attempted to crash the band’s concert at Bogota’s Simon Bolivar Park.

Bogota’s Regulatory Center of Emergency Services said four policemen and four civilians were hospitalized for injuries and that one youth was stabbed, according to Web site Colombia Reports.

Arrest numbers vary, but Colombia Reports said 130 people were busted while raw Associated Press footage posted on YouTube cites 168.

Colombia Reports also said Radio Santa Fe reported that there were posts on Facebook before the concert inciting fans to crash the event.

There is also an indication that local police might have thought something was up before the gig took place. On the day of the show Colombia Reports posted an item saying “security measures are set to be as heavy as the music,” and that authorities would be “closing the streets around the park and preventing the entry of under 14s, pregnant women, those under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and those carrying weapons.”

Other security measures included approximately 1,500 police positioned around the park, four tanks and several police trucks.

Metallica:

Source: Pollstar

Rock Band III soon in your living room!

Rock Band 3 is set to be released this winter, the video game’s makers have confirmed.

A message on the official Facebook page for the game, Facebook.com/rockband, explained that developers Harmonix were working on the next installment of the music simulation game, claiming they were set to “revolutionise” the music game genre.

“Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season!” the message read. “The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionise the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Stay tuned for more details!”

Further information on the game is yet to be released, including what new artists and tracks will feature.

Rock Band 2 was released in 2008, while The Beatles: Rock Band, which was endorsed by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono, was released in September last year.

Source: NME

DMX

DMX was arrested on Tuesday (March 9) for regularly using illegal drugs throughout the last nine months – violating his probation rules, it has been revealed.

The rapper, real name Earl Simmons, was on probation for throwing a tray at a detention officer in jail in Phoenix last year. He was serving time for drug and theft offences and animal abuse.

Now it has been revealed that Simmons was not complying with the terms of his probation by admitting to taking cocaine, reports Billboard. He is facing five counts of violating probation.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said, “We would hope that he is finally sent to prison. We’ve arrested him five times already. How many times do you have to violate the law?”

DMX:

Source: NME

Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips’ frontman Wayne Coyne says he wants to recruit Justin Timberlake to feature in a new film he is making.

Coyne told Billboard that he is hard at work on the new film, which will be his first foray into movies since completing 2008’s ‘Christmas On Mars’.

Like that film, the new project will mostly be shot with Coyne’s bandmates, friends and family in Oklahoma City, though the frontman has also spoken about Timberlake’s planned cameo appearance.

“I’m going to try to get real actors too,” he said. “I’m in the process of begging Justin Timberlake to be part of it; if I’m lucky I’ll be able to wear him down in another year.”

Coyne’s last cinematic project took seven years to finish, and he is unclear whether the new film will be as arduous. “I think everybody would be relieved if it all got done in six weeks and we could say, ‘Look at that!’ But because I get to do it with people I love and it’s my art, I don’t care how long it takes!”

The Flaming Lips are currently gearing up to release their version of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ album on CD this May.

Flaming Lips:

Source: NME