Media Junkie Lounge

MusicMeanMachine asked:

“DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN” - Released 1969. KENNY ROGERS, Kenneth Ray Rogers (born August 21st 1938, in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.) is an American country music singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor and entrepreneur. He has been very successful, charting more than 70 hit singles across various music genres and topping the country and pop album charts for more than 420 individual weeks in the United States alone. Two of his albums, The Gambler and Kenny, are featured in the About.com poll of “The 200 Most Influential Country Albums Ever”. He was voted the “Favorite Singer of All-Time” in a 1986 joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People. He has received hundreds of awards for both his music and charity work. These include AMAs, Grammys, ACMs and CMAs, as well as a lifetime achievement award for a career spanning six decades in 2003. Success in recent years include the 2006 album release, Water & Bridges, an across the board hit, that peaked at #5 in the Billboard Country Albums sales charts, also charting high in the Billboard 200. The first single from the album, “I Can’t Unlove You,” was also a chart hit. Remaining a popular entertainer around the world, the following year he completed a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland telling BBC Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright, his favorite hit of his was “The Gambler”. Kenny Rogers was the fourth of seven children born to Floyd Rogers, a carpenter, and his wife Lucille, a nurse. Rogers graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in Houston. According to the Texas birth records, his middle given name is Ray and he is sometimes credited in his film roles as “Kenneth Ray Rogers.” He has been married five times. His fourth wife was the actress Marianne Gordon Rogers. His current wife is the former Wanda Miller. He has a daughter and four sons, including twins born while Rogers was 65. His career began in the mid 1950s, when he recorded with a doo-wop group called The Scholars who had some success with a single called “Poor Little Doggie”. Rogers was not the lead singer of the group and after two more singles they disbanded when their leader went solo. Now on his own, Kenneth Rogers (as he was billed then) followed the break up with his own single, a minor solo hit called “That Crazy Feeling” (1958). After sales slowed down, Rogers joined a jazz group called The Bobby Doyle Trio, who got a lot of work in clubs thanks to a reasonable fan following and also recorded for Columbia Records. The group disbanded in 1965, and a 1966 jazzy rock single Rogers recorded for Mercury Records, called “Here’s That Rainy Day” failed. Rogers also worked as a producer, writer and session musician for other performers; including country artists Mickey Gilley and Eddie Arnold. In 1966 he joined the New Christy Minstrels as a singer and double bass player. Feeling that the Minstrels were not offering the success they wanted, Rogers and fellow members Mike Settle, Terry Williams and Thelma Camacho left the group. They formed The First Edition in 1967 (later renamed “Kenny Rogers and The First Edition”). They chalked up a string of hits on both the pop and country charts, including “Somethings Burnin”, “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town”, “Reuben James” and “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” In his First Edition days, Rogers had something of a hippie image, with long brown hair, an earring, and pink sunglasses. Known affectionately in retrospect as “Hippie Kenny”, Rogers had a much smoother vocal style than in his later career. When the group split in 1976, Rogers launched his solo career. Rogers soon developed a more middle of the road sound, with a somewhat rough but tuneful voiced style that sold to both pop and country audiences; to date, he has charted more than 60 top 40 hit singles (including upwards of 25 #1’s) and 50 of his albums have charted. His music has also been featured in top selling movie soundtracks, such as Convoy, Urban Cowboy and The Big Lebowski. After leaving The First Edition in 1976, after almost a decade with the group, Rogers signed a solo deal with United Artists. Kenny currently lives in Atlanta. U.S.A

Sylvie Charrier asked:


Do you keep track of the latest billboard hits and memorize the songs? The hip hop music of today is definitely more diverse with many new talents as it has ever been. Some of the top hits are still worthy of dancing to or even singing while in the shower. Much of the upbeat music is gaining popularity all over the world and with such a pop culture influenced world, the music is enough to keep you entertained for a long time.

The music of today is also unfortunately having more of a negative impact on today’s youth with its adult lyrics, sexual references and overall unwholesome background themes. The videos associated with some of the lyrics is not for children’s eyes. However new music like The Fray, Gnarls Barkley and solo artists Rihana and Cassie share unique sounds and instrumentals without the profanity that other pop artists are displaying.

This list gives such a variety of sounds and we discovered that some of the videos are very entertaining and energetic so not every song needs to be censored. It is still wise to preview some of the songs before listening.

Promiscuous-Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado has a unique voice and the music is one that reminds me of the 80’s band Berlin. As I visited this site featuring Nelly Furtado, I was immediately drawn to the CD cover and noticed also how much she looks like Sheena Easton from the early 80’s. I enjoy this upbeat music and know you will too.

Crazy-Gnarls Barkley

When you first hear DJ’s mention the name Gnarls Barkley, you may think they said Charles Barkley, as in the famous NBA legend, but it is actually new music and it is also a band not a solo act. The song “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley shows unique art in the CD cover that actually caught my attention more than the unusual name of the band. It looks like something out of the Andy Warhol collection or even a Picasso painting.

Me & U-Cassie

The CD cover featuring the very athletic looking and talented young diva “Cassie” looks like something the younger crowd would purchase. The hip-hop artist shows off her sleek body frame in her debut title “Looking for Me & U”. Those of us that like up beat hip hot music will appreciate this unique blend of music.

Buttons-Pussycat Dolls

You may not be able to figure out the connection with the music and the CD cover but it is one that draws curiosity out of many of us that like hip hop music. The music has the familiar hip-hop sound flavor that is played at most night clubs but the man in the CD cover does not indicate the music style. It looks like a Euro-style portrait of a man in Moscow, especially with the red art on the cover.

It’s Goin’ Down-Yung Joc

Hip-hop rapper Yung Joc sings the popular “It’s Goin’ Down” track and it does carry a toe-tappin beat with it. The urban-like CD cover depicts this young rappers background and music.

Hips Don’t Lie-Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean

Another CD cover that may very well fool even the most knowledgeable in today’s hip-hop music. The **** model in the cover, possibly modeling as “Eve” holding an apple is nothing like what I had in mind for the featured song “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira. There is even a taste of reggae in the background whom I assume is the featured Wyclef Jean. It is an unusual title for a sound track but it is also an interesting sound from one of many newer hip-hop artists, Shakira.

Unfaithful-Rihanna

The young talent Rihanna and her short sound clip “Unfaithful” sounds a lot like Nelly Furtado’s music. A beautiful model-like pop singer also carries with her a beautiful voice and is definitely music that most of the younger crowd will appreciate.

Ain’t No Other Man-Christina Aguilera

The CD cover illustrates Christina shown in a vintage 1930’s setting next to a phonograph record player and the image may remind the viewers of an old record album cover our Grandparents may have once had. Once you play the short sampler you’ll soon recognize the familiar sounds of this talented hip-hop star who continues to gain popularity on the top 20 charts.

Over My Head-The Fray

This amazing graphic of the Stealth Bomber from the movie “Stealth” is an awesome display of power in a movie that is very much worth renting. A popular hit by one of the newer bands today, The Fray, sing their smash hit “Over my Head”(Cable Car). This CD also features a wide variety of other artists such as the more well known Sly and the Family Stones and David Bowie.

Snap Yo Fingers-Lil Jon Featuring E-40 & Sean Paul of The YoungBloodZ

Rapper Lil Jon plays his latest rif “Snap Yo Fingers” and has back up help from E-40 and Seal Paul of the Youngbloods and the image on the CD cover clearly shows his artistic talent. He almost appears in pain in the image but is clearly showing some serious enthusiasm and high energy.

Samantha Gilmartin asked:


The Association of Independent Music (AIM) is holding a special event to celebrate 50 years of successful independent music which will include a gig, a five part television series, a one off auction on ebay and the release of a double CD full of “independent” covers. Artists including The Prodigy, The Charlatans and Maximo Park have all given their backing to the cause and plan to donate songs for the album. Songs to be covered include Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, PIL’s Public Image and Ghost Town by The Specials.

Independents Day marks the anniversary of Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall’s indie label, Island Records. The Jamaican-born label signed giants U2 before selling to Polygram in 1989, a trend which many independent labels followed. Creation and Factory records disappeared in the 1990’s whilst others folded through a calamity of errors from over expansion to cashflow problems.

Independent music is responsible for more than 25% of the UK’s music scene and is claimed to have pioneered the music industry for many years. Alison Wenham, Chairman for AIM stated that [independents] had been “at the forefront of every single new musical movement over the years.”

For proof of this, just take a look at every popular music scene over the last 50 years: There was the DIY punk scene in the seventies, the indie guitar sounds from New Order in the eighties and the massive dance music boom in the nineties.

Today, we are seeing the independent label make a comeback. Domino Records have given us two recent chart toppers; Scottish band, Franz Ferdinand and northerners, Arctic Monkeys. The internet has provided a new platform with which to promote this music. Sites such as Myspace, Youtube and Facebook all promote bands young and old, signed and unsigned for general consumption. These social networking sites have allowed users to access new music much easier than ever before with some 40% of users embedding music within their pages.

Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research added “Social networks are fundamentally changing the way we discover music… the dynamics of democratisation, word of mouth recommendation and instant purchase challenge the established order and offer huge opportunities to forward thinking business.”

Local label, Signature Tune is making the most of these sites and one of their bands, Lakes is reaping the benefits of using an independent label. Scott Byatt, the band’s drummer said “As a band on an independent label, advances in communication and technology mean we can communicate with bands and promoters the world over helping us network and get shows with ease… Our CDs can be bought in many high street stores and our tracks can be downloaded from iTunes, once again without the help of a major.”

Radiohead were perhaps the first big band to see the change in direction and act upon it. After the end of their contract with music giants EMI, the band went solo with the release of their latest album, In Rainbows. The album was released as a digital download in October 2007, allowing customers to pay as much, or as little as they liked for it. The group took ownership of their own songs and released ten tracks online more than one month before the tangible album was released in the shops.

Front man for the band, Thom Yorke noted the growing number of pirate copies of their music being appearing online and in an interview with Wired he said, “every record for the last four - including my solo record - has been leaked. So the idea was like, we’ll leak it then.” Yorke’s attempt to beat the pirates seem to have worked. On average, the electronic download sold for 4 GBP. Not bad considering you could download it for free if you were feeling too tight to pay.

The return to indie worked wonders for Radiohead. Although the downloads from the website, inrabows were not counted in the album charts, the band did manage to create enough hype and speculation around the release of their album that when the CD actually hit the shops, it reached number one in the UK album chart, the United World Chart and the US Billboard 200.

Other groups may do well to take note of this action when considering future releases. Of the music industry, and in particular their ex record label, Yorke added “What we would like is the old EMI back again, the nice genteel arms manufacturers who treated music [as] a nice side project who weren’t too bothered about the shareholders. Ah well, not much chance of that.”

Au contraire, EMI boss, Guy Hands is keen to seize upon the opportunities presented by smaller, independent labels. These labels have always maintained a stronger working relationship with their artists and are much more keen to try their hands at new promotional techniques. With the renaissance of DIY music and bands creating music for music’s sake, independent labels cannot be ignored. EMI declared that they are planning on working like a larger version of the indie label, with many smaller labels working under their umbrella.

So they may be more willing to try new techniques, but the problem of shareholders still remains. Wenham continues, “If you have shareholders to please, inevitably it becomes about making music from the music.” Indie music is very much about the music and as long as the shareholders give the smaller labels a wide berth, we should continue to see more impressive acts pushing the scene forward.