• Britney Spears may have gotten schooled on the U.S. charts by the Eagles, but she has secured the number-one spot in Europe, Canada and Ireland and even set a new record for digital sales in the States. Spears has officially sold more digital albums in her first week of release than any other female artist, and Blackout is still at the top of the iTunes chart [UPDATE: She was just dethroned by Angels & Airwaves]. At least that’s something to keep her spirits up when Kevin Federline hauls her back to court.

• Nominees for November 29th’s first J.A.M. awards, where Jam Master Jay’s foundation will honor artists with “outstanding efforts in promoting social justice, arts and music,” have been revealed and include Nelly, Kanye West and Wyclef Jean.

• Festivals 2008 Update: Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park is hoping to curate a “multi-day, multi-stage outdoor concert festival for Summer 2008″ and is working with the producers of Austin City Limits to achieve that goal. The Stagecoach Country Music Festival will take place May 3-4th and feature the Judds’ first performance since 2000 in addition to Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw and Big & Rich. That weekend will also host emo extravaganza the Bamboozle, which will announce its first acts this afternoon at 5 PM. Next year’s Coachella will take place April 25th-27th with artist announcements expected next year, Billboard reports.

• Fans are calling the Sex Pistols‘ first reunion show in London last night “dire” and “shoddy” (and the band reportedly started their set thirty minutes late). The gigs are the band’s first in four years, excluding a small warm-up performance at an L.A. club last month.

• The Smoking Gun has unearthed another iconic rock star mugshot, this one of a vampire-esque David Bowie following his 1976 arrest for felony pot possession in upstate New York.

Music, Concerts, Recordings | No Comments »

• Amy Winehouse and her husband Blake Fielder-Civil were arrested yesterday in Norway for possession of seven grams of Cannabis. After paying a 500 Euro fine, Winehouse was released this morning and is scheduled to continue touring the country.

• The opening act on Korn’s “Bitch! We Have a Problem” tour left the bill after one of its members got into a fight with Korn guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer, who sustained injuries. The band, Droid, is also signed to Shaffer’s label Emotional Syphon.

• Napster 4.0 has eliminated downloads from its service (and is phasing out its desktop client), instead making online libraries and playlists available. The service has also have added an automix Pandora-like feature which plays users songs based on their listening tastes.

• Hugh Hefner has reportedly offered the cover of Playboy to Britney Spears — if she can knock off the antics. “I hope her personal life gets back on track,” said Hef. “If that happens, we’ll be happy to have her in the magazine.” Spears got off to a great start by running over a paparazzi photographer’s foot yesterday.

• Looks like Beanie Sigel didn’t make off with a rental car in his Philly hometown after all. The B.I.G. wannabe paid late fees for his overdue Altima and charges were dropped.

Music, Concerts, People | No Comments »

• The Eagles are opening up L.A.’s Nokia Theater (the site of next month’s American Music Awards) with a six-night stand that starts October 18th. The band is also reportedly close to signing a deal with the NFL to be halftime performers at the 2008 Super Bowl. And if you can’t wait for the October 30th release of their first album in over ten years, Long Road Out of Eden, then you’re in luck: Amazon.co.uk is offering “How Long” as its first free digital download. One catch, though — you need to be a U.K. resident with a U.K. IP address.

• Kanye West tells MTV News that like Will.i.am, he’s working on new material for Michael Jackson, explaining, “If I like a person’s outlet or what a person brings to the table then I’ll speak to them.”

• Justin Timberlake has become the first male solo artist this decade to have six Top 40 hits from one album, Billboard reports, following the entry of his most recent single, “Until the End of Time,” on the Top 40 this week. Michael Jackson was the last male artist to achieve this success, with seven singles from Dangerous.

• Though Radiohead have remained quiet about sales figures for In Rainbows, Gigwise reports the band has sold 1.2 million copies of the album via their name-your-own-price scheme. But the group’s management maintains that the idea was merely a promotional stunt to boost sales of the physical CD.

• Rumor Denial Department: Bobby Brown says he did not have a heart attack and MC Hammer insists he is not dead.

Music, Concerts, Recordings | No Comments »

“It’s been a while since we’ve played a small club like this,” said Kid Rock last night backstage at New York’s Fillmore, the very intimate venue where he celebrated the release of Rock N Roll Jesus, “I’m glad it worked out.” Work out it did, thanks to Rock’s arsenal of rap, rock and country: The highlights included a torrid version of the new album’s title track, and “Half Your Age,” a charmingly spiteful track aimed at Rock’s ex, Pam Anderson (the closing line is about how his new girlfriend is “half your age and twice as hot”). He introduced “Age” by mentioning Anderson’s frequent appearances in certain celebrity magazines: “US Weekly is entertaining, but I have a feeling this song is gonna stick around for a lot longer than a week.”

Music, Concerts, Recordings | No Comments »

• In 1977, the Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen” was prohibited from claiming its rightful spot atop the U.K. singles charts over fears it would spoil something called the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebration. To rectify this, Slash and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, with a little coaxing from the NME, have joined the campaign to make the 30th anniversary release of the track the number one single for this week. The single is available both on special-edition 7’’ vinyl and on digital music outlets.

• Facebook, in its tireless campaign to dethrone MySpace as the social-networking king, is rumored to soon be launching either an iTunes-backed artist platform or its own digital music service that will challenge both Rupert Murdoch’s and Steve Jobs’ musical domains.

• ABBA will re-release their fifth album, simply titled The Album, as a two-CD, one-DVD set on November 26th. The reissue will feature the remastered album, live performances, interviews and 1978 TV commercials promoting the album.

• Canadian crooner Bryan Adams will do his part to broker peace in the Middle East when he performs in both the West Bank and Israel next week on behalf of the One Voice peace movement. Because if there’s one thing Israelis and Palestinians can see eye-to-eye on, it’s a love for the song “Summer of ’69.”

• System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, who recently sat down with us in his home studio, will release a series of videos to complement every song on his new solo album Elect the Dead. Tankian will also unleash Elect the Dead: The Short Films on October 22nd.

Music, Concerts, Recordings | No Comments »

• It turns out fans can’t exactly pay whatever they want for Radiohead’s new album; LimeWire Music Blog discovered the maximum accepted payment is 99£ (or $205.61) after an employee attempted to purchase In Rainbows for $500.

• A two-disc DVD of Eric Clapton’s second Crossroads Guitar Festival will be available November 20th, Billboard reports. The set will feature performances from the July 28th show by Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Steve WinwoodJeff Beck and — including Clapton and Winwood’s first onstage duet in twenty-five years — on thirty-eight tracks.

• Because clearing a Beatles sample took a bit longer than expected, Wu-Tang Clan’s upcoming The 8 Diagrams has been pushed back to a December 4th release; the disc will, however, include the first-ever legal sample of a Fab Four track (”While My Guitar Gently Weeps”).

• Garth Brooks has announced his first show since 1998 — a Kansas City, MO performance on November 14th that is reportedly a thank you to Wal-Mart for its support of his music. The show comes eight days after Brooks releases The Ultimate Hits, a CD/DVD retrospective.

• Jay-Z has unveiled the tracklist for his upcoming movie-inspired LP American Gangster.

Music, Concerts, Recordings | No Comments »