Legendary British visual artist and record cover designer Storm Thorgerson died yesterday at the age of 69. Although most famously linked to Pink Floyd, for whom he designed the covers of platinum chart-busters like Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Thorgerson created a truly remarkable number of iconic album covers in over his multi-decade career, both on his on and as a member of the design group, Hipgnosis.
It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to see Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Dave Grohl, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Eddie Vedder, Roger Waters, Kanye West, The Who, Paul McCartney and – just added! – The Rolling Stones perform in one night. But next Wednesday December 12th at 7:30pm EST, 121212 – The Concert For Sandy Relief will be broadcast from New York City’s Madison Square Garden to over one billion people in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, and you shouldn’t miss it!
Performing together on 12.12.12 to raise awareness for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, these world-renowned, A-list artists will all help The Robin Hood Foundtation raise funds to rebuild communities and lives of those affected by the disastrous storm. Here at @VH1, we’ll be live-streaming the 5-hour long concert at 121212concert.vh1.com, so bookmark the page and feel free to donate what you can as you catch the historical night right here alongside us. If you can’t find an internet connection, tune-in to VH1 Classic or Palladia to watch the show over good old-fashion television airwaves!
It’s been an extravaganza of 2012 London Olympics highlights from the exposed boob controversy to Samuel L. Jackson’s awesome live tweets of the events. There’s never a dull moment. Equally exciting is the lineup for the A Symphony Of British Music televised concert and the performers for the closing ceremony on August 12. Our very own You Oughta Know artist Ed Sheeran recently told BBC he was playing at the closing ceremony with Pink Floyd. “I’m playing the closing ceremony — which I think is kinda cool right? A lot of people think that I’m doing a song with The Who, but I’m not — I’m doing a song with Pink Floyd. I’m doing “Wish You Were Here,” he told BBC. Well apparently Pink Floyd didn’t get that memo. Read more…
The 2012 Summer Olympics officially kicked off with an opening ceremony conceived by the Academy Award winning British film director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire,
Trainspotting, 28 Days Later). One of the sections of tonight’s broadcast bore the unusual name Frankie And June Say Thanks Tim, a love story that contained what NBC’s Matt Lauer described as “a tribute to the best British musical acts of the last 40 years.” Well, although Boyle and his musical supervisors managed to include a decent selection of bands that could be considered canon-worthy, we’d like to call your attention to this (quite undefinitive!) list of 29 highly respected bands that got royally snubbed (in alpha order*):
Adele
Black Sabbath
Coldplay
Culture Club
The Cure
Def Leppard
Depeche Mode
Dire Straits
Duran Duran
Elton John (!!!)
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I was 5-years-old when The Wall came out in 1979. Of course, I was far too young to grasp any of the deeply adult themes of loneliness, alienation and distrust of institutional power that dominate Pink Floyd‘s masterwork, but that didn’t stop my fellow first graders and I from chanting “We don’t need no education!” and “Hey, teacher, leave us kids alone!” while we walked to elementary school in the mornings. Some musical statements are just universal in that regard, I suppose. Yet, for whatever reason, I was never much of a Floyd fan growing up. Sure, I was familiar with a great deal of their catalog —if you grew up in the 70s or 80s had access to a car and FM radio, how could you not be?— but for whatever reason, my musical attention during my formative years was drawn primarily towards hip-hop and more accessible, distinctly American classic rock staples (Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, Eddie Money).
I bring up this confession (of sorts) because I went into Saturday night’s Roger Waters presents The Wall: Live concert at Yankee Stadium without a deep level of knowledge about either the album or the production. I purchased The Wall on iTunes just last week, and only had time to give it one end-to-end listen (which just so happened to be my first time doing so) before hopping on the 4 Train from my home in Brooklyn and making the trek up to 161st Street in the heart of the Bronx. Aside from cursory glances at a few reviews of recent dates on the stadium leg of this particular tour, I went into the evening with an open mind, fully prepared to be blown away. Well, suffice to say, that mission was accomplished. Quite literally, in fact.
Today may indeed be Earth Day, but the date 4/20 means something else entirely to people who are proud owners of medical marijuana prescriptions (and maybe a few of you lawbreakers out there, too). April 20 is an unofficial national holiday for weed enthusiasts, and since we know that a few of you out there partake in the occasional puff puff pass session, we thought we’d take some time to update the list we created back in 2008 of Dope Tracks: The 20 Best Songs About Weed. That list focused exclusively on the rap community’s obsession with Mary Jane, so we thought we’d branch out a bit and put together a brand new Spotify playlist for you that incorporates the sticky-ickiest songs from not just the hip-hop universe, but also from classic rock, reggae, and folk music. So, without further ado, we present to you this brand new collection we’re calling Dope Tracks: The Top 25 Songs About Weed.
We’ve got our complete guide as to why we selected these songs for you below.
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Now, this is one for the books! Pink Floyd has hit yet another milestone with Dark Side of The Moon, which has just completed its 800th week on the Billboard 200!! Translation: That is 15 years and 5 months on the chart, which is more than any other band/artist in U.S. history by a LONG shot.
The iconic album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, in two sessions, between May 1972 and January 1973 and spent 741 consecutive weeks on the chart, from its release in 1973 up until 1988. It charted again in 2009 and has appeared periodically since. This brand new (and likely untouchable) milestone sounds to us like the perfect excuse to break out your old copy of the Wizard Of Oz, crank up the hi-fi with DSOTM, eat some brownies (Ed. Note – Whatever ingredients you choose to include in your brownie recipe is totally cool by us!), and enjoy one of the greatest albums ever recorded.
Just in case you’re curious, here is a list of the Top 10 longest-charting albums in Billboard 200 history:
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If you’re a Pink Floyd fan, then VH1 Classic has a treat for you — you can enter our sweeps for a chance to win tickets to The Wall tour. All you have to do is head to VH1 Classic’s Facebook page and click “Like” in order to go into the draw to win tickets to The Wall tour at Yankee Stadium in New York. There’s lots of other prizes to give away too, including 15 prize packs with Pink Floyd Immersion, Experience, or Discovery box sets, so hurry and enter the draw to win.
Visit VH1 Classic‘s Facebook page and “Like” for your chance to go into the draw!
[Photo: Getty Images]
Dave Grohl has been all over music news lately for his contributions to Nevermind, the Nirvana album that was released twenty years ago this week. So we took a certain bizarre delight in seeing his Foo Fighters on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon yesterday, backing Roger Waters of Pink Floyd for a rendition of “In The Flesh.” We’re not sure whether the collaboration is simply a useful reminder of Grohl’s self-proclaimed rock stalwart status?indicating that despite the generational shift that Nirvana seemed to indicate, the band fits quite snugly in the rock canon?or a nose-thumbing at that very idea, but intentionally or otherwise, the performance was a total riff on nostalgia. And it sounded great! Plus it’s always nice to see that we and Questlove agree that Pat Smear is the best.
If that wasn’t enough riffing, the episode also featured a “karaoke” segment, in which Jimmy Fallon and guest Joseph Gordon-Levitt showcased their impressions of David Bowie and Axl Rose, respectively. Check out their takes on Foster The People, Kelly Clarkson, and Lady Gaga after the jump.
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VH1 Presents Mixtape Festival: Train, NKOTB, TLC, The Script + more! Tickets on sale now at MixtapeFestival.com!
