Did Steve Jobs and Apple's iTunes give music a bad name? Yes, if you ask Jon Bon Jovi. "Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business," said Bon Jovi in an interview with UK's The Sunday Times. "Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album," he reminisced. Bon Jovi thinks listeners will eventually share his nostalgic views and long for the time when they got lost in reading the liner notes for Slippery When Wet while spinning "Wanted Dead Or Alive." "I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am," he said. "And you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: 'What happened?'" Jobs has yet to publicly respond to JBJ's allegations, but in the meantime you can purchase all the Bon Jovi songs your heart desires at the iTunes Store.
On March 10 Biebermania invaded the home of the Fab Four: Liverpool, England. In town for a Friday night concert, TWIM favorite Justin Bieber drew a crowd of frenzied females outside his hotel, causing police to respond to try and control the Bieber bedlam, a scene harkening back to the Beatles' travels in the '60s. "This is crazy," Bieber tweeted. "There are like thousands of people out there. Love everybody but gonna try and get some sleep. Please dont scream. lol." We think it's safe to say Liverpool loves the Bieb, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stamp collectors looking to add a little Latin music spice to their collections are in luck. The United States Postal Service issued a Latin Music Legend commemorative stamp this past Wednesday featuring Latin music giants Celia Cruz, Carlos Gardel, Carmen Miranda, Tito Puente, and Selena. The set is designed to represent the Latin music styles of Tejano, tango, samba, Latin jazz, and salsa, and is, of course, muy caliente.
What is it about snorting the ashes of dead loved ones? First Keith Richards claimed to have drawn of a bit of his dead dad's ashes through a straw. Now it turns out that Courtney Love may have wanted to use the same method to "be one" with her then recently deceased husband Kurt Cobain. In his new book Everyone Loves You When You're Dead, author Neil Strauss details an interview during which the Hole rocker exclaimed, "Say hi to Kurt," while reportedly pulling out the Nirvana star's powdery remains. She then offered Strauss the opportunity to snort a little Cobain with her, which he reportedly declined, killing Love's enthusiasm for the idea as well. Hmmm…where was his teen spirit?
To support the recent earthquake- and tsunami-stricken country of Japan, the Fame Monster Lady Gaga is putting her bad romance to good use with a specially designed We Pray For Japan prayer bracelet. Fans and supporters alike can show their support around their wrist by purchasing a bracelet for $5. All proceeds will go to support Japan tsunami relief. G-g-get yours today.
Is it a parody? A parody of a parody? A hit? All of the above? The latter seems to be the correct answer. Tween artist Rebecca Black's "Friday" has been viewed more than 13 million times on YouTube, and critics seem divided on whether it's a whip-smart take on 21st century pop, a parody of tween hits or an embarrassingly bad video viewed primarily for its train-wreck value. Much has been made of the seemingly banal lyrics ("Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday/Today it is Friday, Friday/We-we-we so excited/We gonna have a ball today/Tomorrow is Saturday/And Sunday comes afterwards"), which seem to recount the days of the week for the calendar-impaired. But Rolling Stone's Matthew Perpetua feels there may be some brilliant thinking behind all this. "There's something else going on here, something that makes 'Friday' uniquely compelling," he wrote at RollingStone.com. "When you see this video, you immediately notice everything that it does 'wrong,' but it actually gets a lot of things about pop music right, if just by accident…. If the video was intended to be a parody of teen pop convention, it would be on par with some of the best "SNL" Digital Shorts by Lonely Island. And thus [the video] forces its audience to reckon with a particular formula for pop music." What do you think? Is "Friday" a sly wink at the state of tween pop, or is it just tween pop taken to an "anyone can do this" aesthetic? Let us know below.
What have our favorite stars been up to this past week? Time for a look at the TWIM Twittertable. katyperry: Slept over 10 hours...I feel like a zombie..Time to get on that elliptical! Should I juice or CHEAT & have a STARBUCKS?! keshasuxx: SYDNEY WENT OFFFFFFFF hot damn. christophertin: Thnx? :) RT @kpeatt 'Baba Yetu' is like crack. genesimmons: Puerto Rico. Fans went nuts at the KISS show. Tomorrow, Houston Stadium with 75,000 fans. Writing songs with the band today. avrillavigne: I'm doing @jimmykimmellive tonight!.... Well not literally hahahha ... Singing "What The Hell"... So check it out!
Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" remains No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the "Glee" cast version of "Loser Like Me" is tops on the iTunes singles chart.
Any news we've missed? Comment below.
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