On This Day…
1968 – The Monkees’ three quarter of a million dollar feature film, Head, opened in New York City. Instead of being aimed at their target audience of teeny boppers, the film contained a dark theme about the manipulation of the group with walk-on appearances by inappropriate guests and scenes of Vietnam War atrocities. Reviews were harsh and the picture was a box office disaster.
1970 – Aerosmith performed their first ever gig when they played at Nipmuc Regional High School in Mendon, Massachusetts. Sometimes referred to as “The Bad Boys from Boston”, Aerosmith became the best-selling American rock band of all time, having sold more than 150 million albums worldwide. They also hold the record for the most gold and multi-platinum albums by an American group.
2005 – Clear Channel agreed to remove posters with 50 Cent holding a gun in one hand and a microphone in the other in the Los Angeles area after a rally was held in protest, the company also agreed to remove 21 posters in Philadelphia. The posters were plugging the rapper’s forthcoming film ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin.’ “The message could be ‘rob to get rich’ said Bilal Qayyum, a leader of the anti violence group Men United for a Better Philadelphia.
2014 – Taylor Swift’s latest album 1989 debuted at No.1 on America’s Billboard albums chart selling 1.287 million copies in its first week, the largest sales week for an album since Eminem’s The Eminem Show which was released 12 years ago. Swift was now the only act to earn three million-selling weeks with an album. Before 1989, Red sold 1.208 million in it’s first week, while Speak Now clocked up 1.047 million sales.
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Brand New Music
Ellie Goulding | Delirium
Pop albums like Delirium is nothing new to Ellie Goulding who has been doing this for years now. Even when she was doing stuff that was a little more lo-fi, moody and underground, her sensibilities were always a little pop-ish. Now she’s collaborating with Max Martin, Carl Falk, and Peter Svensson and has gone dived face first into a cross-over EDM/Dancefloor/Pop scene. On a track-by-track basis Delirium is insanely produced. Smart and punchy each song is just begging to be remixed. DJs and producers have already obliged.
Floating Points | Elaenia
Crossing genres, Sam Shepherd’s debut album as Floating Points almost sounds improvised. Appearing sometimes like it could have been recorded decades ago, Shepherd brings in prog rock and jazz-fusion influences into his own brand of new-wave music.
Bill Ryder-Jones | West Kirby County Primary
One of the most nuanced and captivating songwriters in the UK today, Bill Ryder-Jones (formerly of The Corals) has released his third LP since going solo in 2008. Colourful, rooted, sometimes muscular and sometimes soft and reserved, this is an exhilarating example of an artist maturing into a truly great songwriter.
