The controversial experimental collaboration album by Metallica and Lou Reed, Lulu, was officially released yesterday, and seemingly everyone on the Internet has an opinion on it. In the lead up to the much talked about release, critics waxed lyrical about Lulu with many a no-holds-barred, acerbic commentary surfacing in its wake. Every music critic armed with a blog and dexterous typing hand has weighed in on the collaboration, what it tells us about the music industry, and what ‘quality’ means in a world where the fruits of creative process are both disposable and necessary. Overwhelmingly, opinions have been unfavorable.
VH1 spoke to James Hetfield, Metallica front man about the release, and the artist was optimistic, reiterating how much he, Lou and the band enjoyed creating the album, and specifically how much they love the finished product. He goes on to acknowledge the criticism, saying, “at the end of the day all of this is about us writing music that we enjoy listening to, and if other people enjoy it, that’s awesome, and if they don’t — there’s certainly people out there that don’t as well — then move onto the next thing.”
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Chuck Klosterman Gives A Hilarious Opinion On Lulu, Metallica And Lou Reed’s Collaborative Album
Don’t pretend you weren’t confused when you heard Lou Reed and Metallica would be collaborating on a album. Well, that very strange collaboration is now available for listening, and Chuck Klosterman has some wicked but insightful things to say about the “album that no one wants.” [Grantland]
Kanye West + Saved By The Bell = Awesome
Our vote for the best single-serving Tumblr site of the day goes to Kanyed By The Bell, which combines Yeezy lyrics with still images from the iconic television series. It’s sort of NSFW, but then again, most of the best things are. [Kanyed By The Bell]
Go Behind The Scenes With VOYR at Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne Tour
Speaking of ‘Ye … Launching today, VOYR, for a small fee, offers to take you behind the scenes to see what your favorite artists and celebrities are up to. First up, they’re following Jay-Z and Kayne West‘s Watch The Throne tour to offer insidery exclusives, and it will be interesting to see what comes of the project. [Rolling Stone]
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VH1 is gearing up for our inaugural National Metal Day that will see VH1 Classic host an entire day of metal-only programing. Fear not, though: This day isn’t solely for hardcore headbangers! National Metal Day will see the debut of of several revealing documentaries about the genre, and will celebrate metal’s seminal artists, both past and present. Full press release as follows:
VH1 CLASSIC AMPS UP FOR “NATIONAL METAL DAY” ON 11-11-11
Banger Films’ Groundbreaking 11-Part Documentary Series Metal Evolution Premieres Friday, November 11, 2011 at 10 PM ET/PT
11 Days Of Metal Programming Begins Tuesday, November 1, 2011 On VH1 Classic
NEW YORK, NY – October 24, 2011 – As previously announced, VH1 Classic has proclaimed 11-11-11 as “National Metal Day” and will celebrate with a slew of exclusive metal programming, including three major metal premieres: Behind The Music Remastered at 9 p.m. ET/PT, the exclusive debut of Banger Films’ groundbreaking documentary series, Metal Evolution, at 10 p.m. ET/PT and the ninth season premiere of a VH1 Classic original That Metal Show at 11 p.m. ET/PT.
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Tags: Music, National Metal Day, Metal Evolution, That Metal Show, Dave Mustaine, Brian Johnson, Tracii Guns, Sully Erna, Slash, Black Country Communion, Dream Theater, Queensryche, Mastodon, In Flames, System of a Down, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Deep Purple, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Megadeath, Slipknot, Motley Crue, Anthrax, Alice Cooper, Jimi Hendrix, Twisted Sister, Def Leppard, Rob Zombie, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Marilyn Manson, Linkin Park, Led Zeppelin
Each Friday here on the VH1 Blog, our VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown host Jim Shearer (@jimshearer on Twitter) will be sharing his Shearer’s Spotlight with us. Be sure to tune into the Top 20 Countdown tomorrow morning when it airs on VH1 at 9 a.m. ET/PT.
Next Wednesday, Sept. 14, the Big 4 Festival will descend upon Yankee Stadium in New York City. The participants will include the “big four” bands (i.e., pillars, staples, torch bearers, etc.) of thrash metal music: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Here are some other acts that could pull off a Big 4 Festival of their own:
1) Big 4 of Millennial Pop: Britney Spears, *NSYNC, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys
This past summer, the Backstreet Boys created some buzz when they toured with their boy-band predecessors, New Kids On The Block, as NKOTBSB; but could you imagine the pandemonium they could create by teaming up with late ‘90s peer/rival, *NSYNC? The reunions alone would sell tickets on this tour: Justin and *NSYNC, Justin and Britney, Britney and Christina, and three old Mouseketeers back together again.
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Tags: Festivals, Jim Shearer, Music, Shearer's Spotlight, Television, The Big 4, Megadeth, Slayer, White Stripes, Anthrax, The Strokes, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Metallica, Kings of Leon, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, TOP 20 VIDEO COUNTDOWN
Rest In Peace, Jerry Leiber
Jerry Leiber, one half of the songwriting team Leiber and Stoller, passed away today of heart failure. He was 78. With Mike Stoller, he wrote six top ten hits for the Coasters, three top tens for the Drifters, three #1 and four other top 20 Elvis Presley singles, and “Stand By Me”; we could go on for some time about the duo’s indispensable contributions to pre-Beatles rock and R&B, their other Billboard chart appearances (the total is over 100, for the record), their production credits (e.g. Stealers Wheel‘s “Stuck In The Middle With You”), their jukebox musical (Smokey Joe’s Cafe), their American Idol theme episode this season, and more, but sadly we can’t offer the tribute Leiber deserves. For more, check out Michaelangelo Matos‘s brisk, informative, and YouTube-embed-packed eulogy at Sound of the City, or seek out the second episode of the 1995 PBS documentary Rock & Roll.
My Morning Jacket Help Neko Case Cover Stevie Nicks
At a tornado relief benefit show in Tuscaloosa on Friday night, Neko Case, backed by My Morning Jacket, took on Stevie Nicks‘s “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (with MMJ frontman Jim James providing the Tom Petty vocals). Hear it at TwentyFourBit.com. [via Spin]
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Tags: Last Lap, Music, Neko Case, Mike Stoller, Jerry Leiber, Leiber & Stoller, Stevie Nicks, The-Dream, Lou Reed, My Morning Jacket, Metallica
Rough Cut Of Britney’s “Gimme More” Video Surfaces
The most notable contrast between this leaked cut and the official video (besides this clip’s inclusion of a sequence in which Britney is topless save for a leather jacket she holds against her chest) is the lack of the post-production wizardry that was applied to make Britney look thinner. We wonder whether that’s why the original is full of dutch angles, while delighting that, for the moment, the YouTube comments about Britney largely avoid body judgments. [Billboard]
30 Seconds To Mars Cover U2 For Unplugged
For their episode of MTV Unplugged (premiering tonight at 8PM ET on MTV.com), 30 Seconds to Mars recruited a gospel choir at the eleventh hour for a take on U2‘s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” MTV shared the video with Entertainment Weekly‘s Music Mix. We can’t help being a teensy bit disappointed that the band didn’t cover Fleetwood Mac, as they had apparently considered, but their U2 cover does the trick anyway. [EW Music Mix]
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Ever since the dawn of the eighties when the music video revolution took place, musicians and directors alike have used the medium to unleash ideas and visions that often start bubbling up from the subconscious. When you think about it, this strategy makes perfect sense; since songs rarely have linear plots and generally only run 3-4 minutes in length, it’s can be a challenge to cram an entire “traditional” story into a music video. So videos tend to work best when they use music and imagery to create a mood that’s dreamlike in nature, rather than telling a story that starts at point A and definitively ends at point B.
Despite the fact that a lot of videos rely on dreamlike imagery, very few, in fact, actually literally take place in dreams themselves. However, after taking in Bon Iver‘s lush video for “Calgary” yesterday, we found ourselves really wanting to explore what other videos also took place in dreams. We admittedly fell down a bit of a YouTube rabbit hole, in a good way, and we wanted to share our results with you. So, without further ado, here is our list of the Top Ten Music Videos That Take Place In Dreams.
10)
The Chemical Brothers, “Let Forever Be”
A woman finds weird reflections of herself as she goes about her day, because it turns out she’s having that dream where she goes about her day—you know, the one where you try to trick your brain into thinking you’re already up. This video visualizes the brain’s process of figuring itself out. Also there are nods to
Busby Berkeley. (NM)
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Tags: Lists, Music, Music Videos, Fatboy Slim, David Lee Roth, Bonnie Tyler, Gorillaz, The Cure, The Chemical Brothers, Foo Fighters, Metallica, Madonna, Genesis
As we all know, the Second Coming foretold in the Book of Revelations is due to arrive September 15, 1829 October 22, 1844 September 11–13, 1988 this Saturday, May 21, 2011, so it’s time to prepare for the Rapture. (No, not that one.) So, unless you get Left Behind, Kirk Cameron style, you have a limited time to listen to music! Which is why we have saved you some time by preparing playlists:
THE LAST FIVE SONGS FOR TRUE BELIEVERS by Nick Minichino
5) “The Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash: In case you forgot what’s about to happen, this song is a handy primer.
4) “The Four Horsemen” by Metallica: The Rapture is going to be rough, so this track from Metallica’s 1983 debut Kill ‘Em All will get you in the right mental state for what’s ahead.
3) “B.I.B.L.E.” by GZA featuring Killah Priest: It’s an acronym for “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth”. Plus, it samples the Ohio Players! Nuff said.
2) “Sinnerman” by Nina Simone: It’s important to feel true remorse for those who will not be saved, and this powerful song will do the trick. Warning: if you feel any schadenfreude, that’s pride—a mortal sin—so be careful before you condemn anybody who won’t be coming with you.
1) “Jesus Is Waiting” by Al Green: Call Me, Green’s sexiest album, ends with this gospel precursor to R. Kelly‘s “Trapped in the Closet,” with the soul star and future reverend performing religious call-and-response with himself, and quipping “Save my soul, and I’ll save some for you.”
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Tags: Lists, Music, Killah Priest, GZA, New Order, Al Green, Nina Simone, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, George Michael, R.E.M., Metallica, Johnny Cash, Britney Spears
Sly Stone has been MIA for decades. The recent reissue of his joyful and profound catalog has people hot on the Family Stone again. The fountain of funk finally connects with a journalist to explain a couple things in Vanity Fair.
Metallica is going to ride the lightning one more time. Lars Ulrich told a journalist that the songs are long and they don’t particularly have anything do with the sound of the band’s last disc, St. Anger. He and the boys are pounding the chests at the Live Earth spectacular this Saturday. We’ll be live blogging the concert during the afternoon. Check a string of Metallica vids on our Classic site.
Morrissey’s tour had to stop for a moment due to a scratchy throat, but the master of misery is back in action. Wonder if he’ll be doing any of these songs?
In Sweden you can name your kids Axl, Bengta or Gudrun, but you can’t name ‘em Metallica. Tax officials recently told a Scandinavian couple that the metal-centric moniker was "inappropriate" for their newborn. (Maybe those tax officials were privy to what went on backstage before the mighty band’s late ’80s tours). Anyway, we’ve just revitalized our VH1 Classic site and just launched our Rock Honors site (hello Ozzy, Heart, ZZ Top, and Genesis) and to celebrate we’re introducing a new franchise called "Blast From the Past" – each week the blog will feed you a classic clip that still stands tall.
To honor the plight of that beautiful Swedish baby, we’ve chosen a little sumpun sumpun called "Enter Sandman." Hetfield’s growl, Lars’ thump – all the ominous bombast is in place. The fitful footage of the kid in bed brought the band to a whole new audience in 1991. Hit "play" after the jump and have a blast.
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