For the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Wired compiled 50 songs that hopefully capture the evolution and impact of the music.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is honoring the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop with a new book titled, 'Hip-Hop Is History.'
Long before Jack Black starred in the 2003 movie School of Rock, the Blue Bear School of Music in San Francisco was teaching rock, pop, and blues to young students. Now, the “original school of rock” is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a performance of the David Bowie classic “Suffragette City” by Black and the current Blue Bear teen student band. Founded in 1971, the Blue Bear School of Music has welcomed roughly 40,000 students over its 50-year history. The nonprofit organization offers both paid and free classes for aspiring musicians of all ages. “A good friend of mine (Paul Cummins) told me about Blue Bear and the incredible work they’ve been doing,” said Black. “I jumped at the chance to celebrate their 50th anniversary by jamming some Bowie with their teen all-star band. So fun...
All Things Must Pass, the landmark triple-album recorded by George Harrison after the dissolution of The Beatles, is set to receive an expansive 50th anniversary edition. It’s out August 6th, and as a preview of things to come, the late songwriter’s estate has shared the previously unreleased track “Run of the Mill (Take 36)”. The actual date of the 50th anniversary was November 27th of 2020, and Harrison’s team celebrated with a new audio mix for “All Things Must Pass”. Now, they’ve gone through and fleshed out the full two-hour collection. This new edition was executive produced by George’s son Dhani Harrison, with product production from David Zonshine and mixing by Grammy-winning engineer Paul Hicks. Together they set out to make the album “sound brighter, fuller and better t...
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-23T16:05:57+00:00“>April 23, 2021 | 12:05pm ET “We’re playin’ on a level that most will never see.” William Forsythe’s Sheriff Wydell says that in the 2005 movie The Devil’s Rejects. It could just as easily be attributed to Keith Richards, circa 1971. From 1968-1972, The Rolling Stones were on an iconic, career-defining run that arguably surpasses that of any of their British Invasion-era peers and tops any four-album stretch by every other rock band. But this creative surge came with an encroaching darkness. Co-founder Brian Jones was a creative and personal liability. He was pushed out, then found dead in his swimming pool. Jagger and Richards skipped his funeral. Related Video...
Queen were hoping to bring a massive concert experience around the world in celebration of their 50th anniversary, but the pandemic has put a damper on those plans. Instead, they’ll bring tiny concert experiences from throughout their history into fans’ homes with the Queen: Rock Tour mobile game. Coming from Universal Music Group and Gameloft, Queen: Rock Tour is a rhythm game much like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, except in this mobile version all the rocking out is done with your fingertips. Players can tour 10 famed international venues and tap along to 20 of Queen’s iconic songs, including “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Will Rock You”, “Radio Ga Ga”, “We Are the Champions”, and more. You can also change the look of the band, choosing from over 40 instantly recognizable costumes worn ...
Consequence Podcast Network and Sony’s The Opus is back for Season 12, which examines the enduring legacy of Janis Joplin’s posthumous final album, Pearl. Also, after you read this article, scroll below to enter our exclusive Janis Joplin giveaway or score some original Opus swag. — Pearl never stood a chance at being just an album. That was assured when Janis Joplin was found dead in her hotel room of an accidental heroin overdose during the sessions that would lead to her second and final solo record. At that point, Pearl, which came out a little over three months later, could never simply be the latest measure of the brilliant blues singer as a recording artist. It became part of the myth of Janis Joplin — an idea that’s only grown bolder and more complex over the decades. To many fans,...
Consequence Podcast Network and Sony’s The Opus is back for Season 11 with a new host and a new classic album to explore. Click here to listen as host Jill Hopkins (The Moth Chicago, Making Beyoncé podcast) conjures the enduring legacy of Santana’s landmark Abraxas. Also, after you read this article, scroll below to enter our exclusive Santana giveaway or score some original Opus swag. — The story of Carlos Santana and the band that bears his name has been one of near-constant evolution. Critics and fans have attempted to tame Santana’s catalog over the years by sorting the group’s 25 studio albums by era, style, or lineup. That’s not a totally fruitless exercise. Nobody, for instance, will mistake the frenetic jam session that is Santana’s seminal 1969 debut for, say, the earthy jazz-fusi...
Very few were originally sold on The Man Who Sold the World, whether talking about David Bowie’s now-admired third album or the title track nestled near the back of that same recording. After a debut album of boyish, quirky pop juvenilia and a follow-up known mostly for the novelty of the future Starman’s first foray into outer space (“Space Oddity”), The Man Who Sold the World saw the English songwriter shift towards a harder brand of rock alongside producer Tony Visconti and future Spiders from Mars guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer Mick Woodmansey. Still, the departure gained Bowie little notice, and the title song itself did little to stand out at the time on the single-less album. It wouldn’t be until Bowie’s success two records later as Ziggy Stardust that critics and fans alike bega...
Neil Young has finally shared the details for the 50th anniversary edition of his seminal album After the Gold Rush. It’s due out later this year, and on top of its 11 original tracks, the release comes with two versions of the B-side “Wonderin’”. After the Gold Rush was initially released back on September 19th, 1970, kicking off Young’s beloved and insurmountably influential ’70s catalog. The album was remastered and re-released back in 2009, so outside of the new “Wonderin’” variants, this reissue is more focused on the commemorative packaging. The deluxe vinyl box set edition comes with special artwork, a litho print of its cover, and a 7-inch picture sleeve of both versions of “Wonderin’”. The first was recorded in 1970 and originally released in The Archives Vol. 1:...
Comedy and music go hand in hand. Always. Mel Brooks knows how essential this is. He used to be a drummer, after all. Back in his teenage years, he was a student of the great drummer Buddy Rich. There’s a fundamental rhythm to comedy that oftentimes gets overlooked. If the timing of the musicality is off, then the comedy falls flat. That’s why, in so many of Brooks’ films, you will see elements of music. Whether the characters themselves are breaking out into song, or he has composed a title song, or the dialogue itself is particularly snappy and hits you over the head before you even realize what the hell just happened, it’s all in the same family. You cannot have good comedy without some form of music being present. That’s why Mel Brooks is, in some ways, as much a musician as he is a co...
David Bowie, photo by Michael J. Weller On November 6th, Parlophone Records will mark the 50th anniversary of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World by reissuing the album under its original title and with its original artwork. Bowie originally sought to call his third studio album Metrobolist, a homage to Fritz Lang’s 1927 film of the same name. However, for its US release, Mercury Records retitled the album as The Man Who Sold the World without Bowie’s consultation. The forthcoming reissue will be released under the name of Metrobolist and with artwork from Mike Weller, the artist who created the album’s original animated artwork. The cover’s gate-fold sleeve also features unseen images from Keith MacMillan’s “dress” shoot at Haddon Hall that later covered...