Closing Ceremonies Were What Brits Feared Opening Ceremonies Would Be
I’ll admit – the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies were pretty good, especially considering they had to follow up Beijing’s insane opener. Danny Boyle did a good job of mixing the humour, music, and history of Great Britain, with a few cool surprises. Who knew Mr. Bean was still alive? I feared the worst for the Opening Ceremonies, but these fears came to life in last night’s pretty average Closing Ceremonies.
For those who missed it, there were no big surprises, few stand out moments, and WAY too much of mediocre pop act Jessie J. We had recordings of Kate Bush, Blur, John Lennon (and a creepy wall built that resembled Lennon), as well as a loop of already played songs by Pet Shop Boys and Madness. Also performing were Emeli Sandé (twice), George Michael (who did Freedom, and an an awful new song that lost the crowd), Elbow, the Kaiser Chiefs, that Ron Weasley twin Ed Sheeran playing a cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (with Nick Mason on drums), Ray Davies from the Kinks, Queen with that awful Jessie J singing, Fatboy Slim DJ’ing in an octopus, a Spice Girls reunion, Beady Eye covering the Noel Gallagher penned Oasis tune Wonderwall, Muse doing Olympic anthem Survival, and everything closed out with The Who. They couldn’t get David Bowie to play during the musical tribute to British fashion (ya, I didn’t get it either) which featured David Bowie’s Fashion. We did get boy (now man) band Take That, minus Robbie Williams. If we could’ve minused the other 4 members, we would’ve been alright.
I lied – there was one stand out moment. Monty Python alumni Eric Idle sung Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, complete with the “life’s a piece of shit” line. He didn’t get the laughs that Mr. Bean did, and I would’ve preferred a Monty Python reunion over a Spice Girls one, but I’ll take it. Now – withdrawal time. I want to watch random sports that I can only watch every 4 years. There just instead enough dressage with moonwalking horses on daytime television to satisfy my cravings.
The Flaming Lips Are Doing a Musical – Of Course They Are!
One of my favourite albums, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, is being turned into a musical by its creators, The Flaming Lips (via NME). The musical will play at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California from November 6 to December 16, and if it’s anything like a Flaming Lips concert, it will be fuckin’ WEIRD great. Producers have said, “Yoshimi is a young Japanese artist facing the battle of her life: the battle for her life. Adrift from her family and lover, Yoshimi journeys alone into a fantastical robot-world where she wages a war with fate. Will her will to survive be powerful enough to master the evil forces that threaten to destroy her?”
So basically, a thrown together plot, ala American Idiot by Green Day, using the band’s appeal to attempt to milk another audience for some more money, amiright? The musical will have music from the Yoshimi album, as well as Soft Bulletin and At War With The Mystics.
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Tag Archives: Take That
Money Makers, Album Sales, and Spotify Streaming Stats for 2012
We have a plethora – yes, a plethora – of random 2012 information, such as money makers, album sales stats, and music streaming info. You might have heard that Adele’s album 21 has rolled past the 10 million sales mark in the US of A, making it the 21st album to do so since Nielsen started
caringcounting in 1991.For 2012 as a whole, overall album sales in the States are down 4%, but digital album sales are up 15% and individual track sales are up 6% (via Hypebot). Everything’s not lost – yet.
Dr. Dre was named the top earning hip hop artist earlier this year, but now he can claim the total for the highest earning musician by Forbes from May 2011 to May 2012 (via Billboard). The Beats by Dre headphone creator / hip hop producer / rapper (Coachella with Hologram Tupac, anyone?) made $110 million in this seemingly random financial period.
Tours are the big bread winners for artists, with U2 being number 1 last year because of it, but falling to number 4 this year. But because of his crazy tour (which you can read about here), Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters grossed $88 million this year, landing him in the number 2 spot. A couple of other UK acts were up high because of tours – Elton John and boy band Take That. The youngest artist on the list is none other than Justin Bieber. Sometimes, I just don’t get music and finances. Check out the Forbes’ Top 25 Highest-Paid Musicians of 2012.
Click to see the Forbes’ Top 25 Highest-Paid Musicians of 2012
Morning Music Notes – The Jessie J Olympics
Closing Ceremonies Were What Brits Feared Opening Ceremonies Would Be
I’ll admit – the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies were pretty good, especially considering they had to follow up Beijing’s insane opener. Danny Boyle did a good job of mixing the humour, music, and history of Great Britain, with a few cool surprises. Who knew Mr. Bean was still alive? I feared the worst for the Opening Ceremonies, but these fears came to life in last night’s pretty average Closing Ceremonies.
For those who missed it, there were no big surprises, few stand out moments, and WAY too much of mediocre pop act Jessie J. We had recordings of Kate Bush, Blur, John Lennon (and a creepy wall built that resembled Lennon), as well as a loop of already played songs by Pet Shop Boys and Madness. Also performing were Emeli Sandé (twice), George Michael (who did Freedom, and an an awful new song that lost the crowd), Elbow, the Kaiser Chiefs, that Ron Weasley twin Ed Sheeran playing a cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (with Nick Mason on drums), Ray Davies from the Kinks, Queen with that awful Jessie J singing, Fatboy Slim DJ’ing in an octopus, a Spice Girls reunion, Beady Eye covering the Noel Gallagher penned Oasis tune Wonderwall, Muse doing Olympic anthem Survival, and everything closed out with The Who. They couldn’t get David Bowie to play during the musical tribute to British fashion (ya, I didn’t get it either) which featured David Bowie’s Fashion. We did get boy (now man) band Take That, minus Robbie Williams. If we could’ve minused the other 4 members, we would’ve been alright.
I lied – there was one stand out moment. Monty Python alumni Eric Idle sung Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, complete with the “life’s a piece of shit” line. He didn’t get the laughs that Mr. Bean did, and I would’ve preferred a Monty Python reunion over a Spice Girls one, but I’ll take it. Now – withdrawal time. I want to watch random sports that I can only watch every 4 years. There just instead enough dressage with moonwalking horses on daytime television to satisfy my cravings.
The Flaming Lips Are Doing a Musical – Of Course They Are!
One of my favourite albums, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, is being turned into a musical by its creators, The Flaming Lips (via NME). The musical will play at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California from November 6 to December 16, and if it’s anything like a Flaming Lips concert, it will be fuckin’
WEIRDgreat. Producers have said, “Yoshimi is a young Japanese artist facing the battle of her life: the battle for her life. Adrift from her family and lover, Yoshimi journeys alone into a fantastical robot-world where she wages a war with fate. Will her will to survive be powerful enough to master the evil forces that threaten to destroy her?”So basically, a thrown together plot, ala American Idiot by Green Day, using the band’s appeal to attempt to milk another audience for some more money, amiright? The musical will have music from the Yoshimi album, as well as Soft Bulletin and At War With The Mystics.
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Morning Music Notes – The Spice Olympics
Giving the Olympics What They Want, What They Really Really Want
Britain has produced arguably the greatest rock bands of all-time. Then why oh why are they getting the Spice Girls to reunite for the Closing Ceremonies? Oh yeah, ratings! The Spice Girls will reunite for the Summer Olympic Closing Ceremonies, playing 2 songs, and performing for the first time since 2008 (via Telegraph). I guess Posh Spice will be happy to be at the Olympics alongside her husband….oh right, he didn’t make the GB football team.
Also performing at the Closing Ceremonies will be Liam Gallagher and his Beady Eye outfit, performing the classic Oasis song, Wonderwall (via Gigwise). The song is supposedly going to be a reworking of the song, so let’s hope it’s not a reworking in line with that average first Beady Eye album. Interestingly, Noel Gallagher was actually offered the Olympic spot ahead of Beady Eye, but he turned it down. Also performing at The Who (without dead drummer Keith Moon), Kaiser Chiefs, Take That, George Michael, and Emeli Sande.
I Hope You Kept Your Ticket – The Who to Allow Tickets from 1979 Cancelled Show For Current Tour
In 1979, The Who cancelled a concert in Providence, Rhode Island, breaking Peter Griffin’s heart. The mayor at the time canned the show, after a stampede in Cincinnati tragically killed 11 before the Who’s show. The band will now play Providence for the first time since that cancelled show, and if you still have your ticket from 1979, you can come to the show for free! Hopefully you didn’t hand back your ticket for a refund over 30 years ago (via Spinner). The offer was made on WPRO-AM radio, and told listeners to call if they had original tickets. No one did.
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Morning Music Notes – The Neverending Jubilee
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert Tonight
Queen Elizabeth II just celebrated 60 years of being the Queen with a massive 1000 boat flotilla, the biggest event on the Thames in 350 years, the last being her birthday parade 350 years ago. Yes, she is a robot. Tonight, there will be a massive concert outside of Buckingham Palace featuring performances by Paul McCartney, Elton John, Tom Jones, Kylie Minogue, Annie Lennox, Cliff Richard, and other artists that you likely don’t care about. Everything kicks off around 7:30pm local time, so brush up on your time zone knowledge to figure out when it starts in your area.
Gary Barlow’s Diamond Jubilee Song Hits Number One
Did anyone hear that terrible Diamond Jubilee song, Sing, that Take That singer/dancer Gary Barlow put together? I do feel a bit bad after watching a television special on the making of the song last night, showing Gary travelling the world to villages and meeting some of the musicians in less fortunate circumstances than us who are reading and writing this on computers/phones. That being said, you can’t let your emotions take over your brain, and an average song is just that. Well, monarchy and Take That lovers helped propel the single to number 1 on the UK charts (via NME), continuing to prove that you don’t need talent to be rich and famous.
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Watch! Take That’s Gary Barlow-led Queen’s Jubilee Tribute Song – Sing
The moment we have all been waiting for. And by that, I mean to see what kind of disaster it will be. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is this mean, which means she’s been ruling the United Kingdom with her iron fist for a whopping 60 years. There are all sorts of celebrations and concerts. One of the dude’s from boy band Take That was given the task of coming up with a song to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee. We can only hope that the song is better than the not-so-inspiring title, which is called Sing.
Sing features 230 people and musicians from every Commonwealth state. Prince Harry even appears, as he does his best Liam Gallagher impression and has a tambourine solo. Asked what the Queen thought of the track, NME reports that Barlow said: “She was most interested in the stories of the people we had on there, as it represents her Commonwealth, the thing she’s the most proud of. She was tapping along.”
With the pre-amble given, you can pretty much tell how the sappy song will sound, but watch the video below and be prepared to “sing” along in June with the Queen. I love how Gary Barlow doesn’t have to paddle in the canoe ride he’s on – the perks of being the song writer. And yes, I was Canada’s contribution to the song – I drum on some igloos.
Morning Music Notes – Happy Diamond Jubilee, I Hope You Like Crap
Disaster in the Making? Take That’s Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber to Write Diamond Jubilee Song
The Queen celebrates her 60th year coldly ruining over England this year, in what is known as the diamond jubilee. A bunch of celebrations are being planned, including a Buckingham Palace concert with Paul McCartney, Elton John, and others, as well as a flotilla down the Thames. I don’t know what a flotilla is but it sounds damn tasty! The latest “honour” for the Queen is
lameboy band member, Gary Barlow from Take That, as well as theatre musical legend, Andrew Lloyd Webber, will combine their forces to write a song for the Queen, and it will be documented for BBC1 (via Guardian).Gary: How about we try “baby, baby, baby, don’t leave me”
Andrew: This isn’t a love song for a 13 year old girl. We’re writing a dignified song for the Queen.
Gary: How about we talk about sexting and tweeting? Is there such a thing as sexweeting?
Andrew: BBC – how do I change partners?
To make the documentary more than just an hour of bickering between the 2 musicians, Gary Barlow will travel the world to find out what the Queen means to the people of the Commonwealth. He will then promptly ignore the thoughtful comments, and write some drivel that will hit #1 in the charts. Life is cruel.
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