I don’t TOTALLY hate Katy Perry. You have to know someone to hate them, and I don’t know the woman personally. So there’s that. Otherwise, she just seems like an exploitative whore for fame-kinda like GaGa without the talent. So needless to say, I won’t be picking up Katy’s latest release, “Teenage Dream” today. However, I’m pretty sure a couple hundred thousand folks will, injecting some life into the music industry, which has been running on fumes for most of […]
Chart Stalker! 8/18/10: Change Soon Come
I’ll stand by for a sec and let you try to guess who has this week’s #1 album. Give up? It’s Eminem!! “Recovery” scans another 133,000 units this week and spends it’s 6th non-consecutive week at the top of Billboard’s album chart. “Recovery” also spends it’s 8th consecutive week at the top of Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Album chart. It’s the longest consecutive stay at the top for a rap album in 20 years. Last album to hang around that long? MC […]
Dear Ladies: Time to Make an Adjustment on the Slutometer
When did it become the norm for women in music to be trampy 24/7? Believe me, there is nothing wrong with owning one’s sexuality. But is the concept of being in charge of your sexuality synonymous with acting like a stripper in heat? Over the past decade or so, the role of the woman in pop music has gone from being occasionally titillating to basically playing the role of a ho. Misogynist? Not at all. Work with me here. Name […]
Celebrating a “Summer Day” with Sheryl Crow
While the younger folks jam to Katy Perry’s “California Gurls”, I’ll take Sheryl Crow’s new “Summer Day” as my mid-year anthem, thank you very much. With this soul-spiked slow-burner from her upcoming album “100 Miles from Memphis”, Crow bounces back into my good graces. Not that she’d been totally out of my good graces-she’d just been wallowing in mediocrity and inconsistency over the course of her last two or three albums. Perhaps that was due to a mid-career slump, perhaps […]
Chart Stalker 5/20/10: We've Had Better Weeks
Dubious distinction time: the total that sends Justin Bieber back to #1 on this week’s Billboard album chart is the second lowest since Soundscan began collecting data in spring 1991. In a week especially light for new releases, the Bieb reclaims the top spot with only 60,000 units sold. The only #1 album to have sold less is the “Dreamgirls” soundtrack, which topped the charts with a slightly smaller number a little less than four years ago. Four albums debut […]