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Music

The Most Controversial Music Videos of All Time

By Alison Nastasi on

An exhibition opening April 3 at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image will celebrate music videos as an art form at the “forefront of creative technology, its role in pushing the boundaries of innovative production, its important role as an experimental sandbox for filmmakers, and its lasting effects on popular culture globally.” This news got us thinking about the boldest images from music videos — those works that helped break the barriers of censorship and became the most controversial of all time. Click through to see ten music videos (many of them NSFW) that pushed the envelope and made… Read More

Celebrity

Seriously, What the Hell Is Going on With Shia LaBeouf?

By Jason Bailey on

The facts, as we know them, are these: Shia LaBeouf, of the Transformers movies and Indiana Jones and Wall Street sequels that most of us can agree were just terrible, was slated to make his Broadway debut in a revival of Lyle Kessler’s Orphans, opposite Alec Baldwin. Yesterday, just over a week into rehearsals, the producers announced that LaBeouf was leaving the production. The official reason is that old standby, “creative differences,” but as the shit-storm around his exit has increased in intensity, and as we consider some of his other recent choices, it’s become clear that Mr. LaBeouf is either a) at least a little bit out of his mind or b) carefully cultivating the image of someone who is at least a little bit out of his mind. … Read More

Music

A Selection of Great Post-1970s Glam Rock Albums

By Tom Hawking on

We’re super excited about the return of Suede, both because their new single “Barriers” is really great and because, honestly, we’re hoping for some sort of glam re-revival in the year to come — surely it’s time for the return of bands whose ambitions extend beyond bedroom laptoptronica and/or determinedly anonymous we-just-do-what-we-do-and-possibly-have-beards indie? Hey, David Bowie’s surprise album announcement certainly can’t hurt the possibility of a glitter resurgence, either! While we wait, we’ve been digging out our old Suede CDs and also exhuming other examples of glam rock from after the genre’s mid-’70s golden age. Here are some of our favorites — what are yours? … Read More

Pop Culture

Famous Musicians’ Fascinating Self-Portraits

By Tom Hawking on

We were interested to see that a series of self-portraits by David Bowie had sold at auction for £6,500 earlier this week. The self-portraits in question date from the 1990s, a decade during which Bowie’s painting efforts were apparently particularly prolific, but he studied art in high school and has always moonlighted as a painter. He’s not the only one, of course — many musicians also pursue other artistic avenues, from Nick Zinner with his photography to Captain Beefheart and his weird, abstract paintings. We thought it’d be interesting to look at other musical self-portraits, so we’ve pulled together a gallery of such paintings after the jump. They’re rather fascinating insights into how some of our musicians see themselves — so if you’ve ever wanted to see Paul Simonon as a skeleton, or Nick Cave’s, um, equipment, then click on through. … Read More

Music

10 MP3s You Need to Download for Free This Week: Nite Jewel, Beth Orton

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, which means another installment of our regular roundup of downloadable MP3 goodness from around the web. This week there’s Nite Jewel and Nicholas Krgovich covering Frank Ocean, the return of Beth Orton, a cranking new track from The Soft Moon, singles club downloads for Com Truise and Dirty Beaches, How to Dress Well channeling Janet Jackson, and various other free stuff awaiting your delectation. In other words, there’s plenty of interesting sounds awaiting you after the jump, and since they won’t cost a penny or land you an RIAA lawsuit, as your attorneys we advise you to start downloading immediately. … Read More

Music

Awesome Photos of Goth Icons Then and Now

By Tom Hawking on

This week sees the release of Anastasis, the first album in 16 years from goth icons and 4AD mainstays Dead Can Dance. This is pretty exciting news for those of us who enjoyed the duo’s signature spookily atmospheric sound the first time round, even if in all honesty the new album doesn’t quite reach the heights that Dead Can Dance scaled in the ’80s and early ’90s. Still, we’re glad to see them back, and apart from how little their sound has changed, the other thing we couldn’t help noticing how little their appearance has changed. This got us thinking about what some of our other favorite goth and goth-related icons might look like these days — after all, there are few genres to which aesthetics are so important. We got to searching for some pictures, and the results are after the jump. … Read More

Music

10 of the Grossest Music Videos Ever Made [NSFW]

By Tom Hawking on

It’s been quite a year for the Flaming Lips — they’ve released something pretty much every month, including a 24-hour song and an EP in a gummy bear skull. And, of course, they’ve managed to thoroughly piss off Erykah Badu by releasing an unapproved cut of the video for “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face.” The video understandably caused quite a stir, given that it involved Badu’s sister Nayrok sitting stark naked in bathtubs full of glitter, blood, and a substance that looked like it was supposed to be semen. After Badu went public with her concerns about the video, it was expunged from the Internet — so with the album from which the song is taken, namely The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, finally getting a proper release this week — we thought we’d round up some other, um, challenging videos for your viewing pleasure. Like most Flaming Lips videos, these are all pretty NSFW, but as far as we’re aware, they were made with the full consent of all involved. … Read More

Music

5 Albums to Stream for Free This Week: Brian Jonestown Massacre, Marilyn Manson

By Tom Hawking on

Welcome to another edition of our regular Monday stream-a-thon, wherein we hunt down the best and/or most notable records streaming for free over the Internet. This week, we urge you to separate the new Brian Jonestown Massacre album from images of Anton Newcombe kicking fans in the head, and also serve up fine doses of Monday morning angst from Light Asylum and Marilyn Manson. Elsewhere, there’s ’70s faux-nostalgia from Royal Headache and the new record by Sheffield poet laureate Richard Hawley. Click through and listen to your heart’s content! … Read More

Music

Marilyn Manson and Johnny Depp's Cover of "You're So Vain" Is Actually Pretty Great

By Judy Berman on

Marilyn Manson and Johnny Depp have a lot in common: They’re both long-haired, 40-something cultural icons with bad boy reputations, dark aesthetics, and strong connections to the Willy Wonka mythos. So, why wouldn’t the erstwhile Antichrist Superstar call up Depp and ask him to guest on a cover of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”? Love him or hate him, Manson is always good for a well-executed goth-industrial rendition of a classic pop song (“Personal Jesus,” “Tainted Love,” and of course “Sweet Dreams”) — and this, a bonus track on the forthcoming Born Villain, is no different. To be entirely honest, Depp’s contribution is barely audible, but the lyric “clouds in my coffee” has never sounded so deliciously aggro. … Read More

Celebrity

10 of the Most Unlikely Couples in the Music Industry

By Emily Temple on

We recently heard a rumor that Lana Del Rey and Marilyn Manson are dating. Gasp! Whether or not it’s true, we’ve decided to take the opportunity to look back at the weirdest and most unlikely couples in the music industry. Though we know our understanding of celebrities is limited — we see them as figures crafted by marketing teams and stylists, and their appearances might not totally match their true natures — they do seem to have a knack for twisting themselves into seemingly bizarre romantic pairings, whether for media attention, true love, or just boredom, we’ll never know. Click through to see ten of the most unlikely celebrity couples with at least one musical member, at let us know if we’ve missed the one that shocks you most in the comments. … Read More