Today’s Music News: Blondie celebrate 40 years, but still need one more hit
by Staff
September 25, 2014
"We still need one more hit," Debbie Harry says of her band Blondie. "I take a lot of vitamins. It helps." The band are celebrating 40 years together with a New York City art exhibit featuring rare memorabilia as well as photos of Harry by Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Leibowitz, and more. (Billboard)
Meanwhile, the band's former hangout CBGB is planning to expand its global brand into restaurants, merch, "themed entertainment" and more. (Billboard) The fact that the club can do so well despite having been closed since 2005 might be welcome news to the proprietors of the 400 Bar, which has now been evicted from its intended new home at the Mall of America. (Local Current)
Monster Energy Drink apparently can't take a hint—even when it's a $1.7 million hint. That's how much the company had to pay to the Beastie Boys earlier this year when it illegally used their music in a promotional video. Now the Beasties are suing the company again, saying that remixes of their music appearing in a promotional video for a Monster-sponsored snowboarding competition were used without authorization. The will of the late Adam Yauch reportedly prohibits the use of any Beastie Boys songs in advertisements. (Pitchfork)
David Byrne's label Luaka Bop is celebrating 25 years with a series of New York events and the release of a two-CD set collecting the works of William Onyeabor, a Nigerian synth-funk artist whom the label has championed. (Pitchfork)
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The good news for AC/DC fans: the Australian rockers are releasing a new album, Rock or Bust. The bad news: it will be the band's first album without founding rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, who is fighting an illness that prevents him from performing with the group. (Rolling Stone)
Here's 30 seconds of the new Pink Floyd album. The Endless River will be released on Nov. 10. (NME)
As part of Conan's weeklong tribute to George Harrison, Paul Simon appeared on the show Tuesday night to perform "Here Comes the Sun."
Barbra Streisand made history by debuting at the top of the Billboard album chart with her new collection Partners: she's the only performer to have topped the album chart in each of the past six decades. (Billboard)
Pornhub, already a presenter of hit music videos for the likes of Coolio, is going deeper—so to speak—into the music business by launching Pornhub Records. A contest is now on for artists to create the new label's theme song. (Billboard) Meanwhile, Restoration Hardware has just released the first album on its new RH Music label, and Mountain Dew's Green Label is going strong.
