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Lady Gaga: Some Kind of Monster

2009-11-17T15:00:00Z

Sex! Fame! Fashion! It’s been a great year for Lady Gaga, who's become the world's most controversial pop star with her sexually charged, dance-inspired electro-rock that's as confrontational as it is catchy. Now she tops it all off with The Fame Monster, which you can hear a week early on Rhapsody with your free trial membership. A-list premieres, however, are just one of many reasons you should give Rhapsody a spin. We've compiled a few others below, from customized radio stations to professionally built playlists in high-def audio, plus views, news and more tunes than you could play in a lifetime -- whether on your PC, your stereo, or our brand new iPhone app. Not a Rhapsody subscriber? Sign up for a free 14-day trial, then crank the latest and greatest from Lady Gaga, including The Fame Monster.

	Gay Pop: See which of your favorite songs are queer anthems		Discover Lady Gaga's full catalog on Rhapsody
	American Synth-Pop, from Lady Gaga on Back		Listen to continious mixes of Lady Gaga and other artists like her
	Glam Goddess, Drag Queen or Hipster Tease: What is Lady Gaga?		Review: Our critics discuss Gaga's The Fame Monster

Rhapsody Reviews: Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster

2009-11-16T23:19:19Z

(In addition to great premieres from your favorite artists, cool radio stations and exciting exclusives, Rhapsody also offers in-depth album reviews written by our team of nationally renowned music critics. Be sure to drop us a note in the comment field to let us know if you agree or disagree with our album assessments, and sign up today for your free Rhapsody trial. Also! This just in: our friends at VH1 are having a smashing contest to win a trip to NYC to see Gaga in concert! Won't you click on by.)

It's a deluxe album as only Gaga could do it: larger than life, over the top and, yes, even monstrous. The Fame Monster is stuffed to the gills with eight -- count 'em, eight -- new tracks. Most don't radically depart from her debut's uber-hipster dance-pop vibe, but they do reinforce Gaga's particular talents -- namely, making somewhat familiar musical ideas a wee bit edgy and a whole lot addictive. The vaguely tropical pop of "Alejandro," with its borderline-telenovela drama, for instance, is positively coated in "La Isla Bonita" and "Fernando" (down to the similar sound of its love object's name). It's so close, it's almost a cover -- and yet, something is slightly off. This is where Gaga lives, right smack in the midst of our comfort zone, where she sets up camp with the goal of screwing it up, just a little bit, just enough so that we feel not quite as certain of where we are. Then there's the Beyonce-featuring "Telephone." Now undoubtedly, this is a calculated collaboration from which both of these artists will benefit. And frankly, nothing about it is shockingly novel. But that's what's kind of interesting. Beyonce's cameo sounds every inch like a Beyonce track -- that's immersed in a track that's every inch Lady Gaga. Despite her relative youth as an artist, Gaga at once manages to pay tribute to those who have gone before her and yet make those influences her own.
]]> That said, things get really interesting when The Fame Monster goes off in different directions. The strongly sung "Speechless" is conceptually similar, taking up and reworking earlier influences and references. This time, however, she gestures toward her glam foremothers, the very queen bitches after whom she named herself (although the track is decidedly more Elton than Bowie). And then there's "Teeth," which finally dips musically into the stylistic pool Gaga's perpetually swimming in: cabaret campiness. What's more, this saucy strut of a song shows off Gaga's not-insignificant vocal prowess. Kermit outfits and full facial masks notwithstanding, the Lady can sing, folks.

Although it provides us with plenty of shiny new jewels be distracted by, The Fame Monster also serves another purpose. It supplies an opportunity to revisit the rest of Gaga's debut -- by which we mean the tracks beyond the ones you can sing in your sleep already. And there's much to admire, from the decadently wasted "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" to the sassy title track to "Brown Eyes," a slow jam as only Gaga can do it -- theatrical, glammily weird and slightly off. The album isn't perfect by any stretch, but at the very least, it demonstrates that Gaga knows what makes for the best pop: something comforting yet just a little challenging and, most of all, with a beat you can dance to.

Who -- or What -- Is Lady Gaga?

2009-11-14T00:03:12Z

(In addition to great premieres from your favorite artists, cool radio stations and exciting exclusives, Rhapsody also offers in-depth reviews, analysis and fun features written by our team of nationally renowned music writers. Be sure to drop us a note in the comment field to let us know if you agree or disagree, and sign up today for your free Rhapsody trial.)

She hit the charts running with brain-numbing dance track after brain-numbing dance track about getting messed up and dancing that are layered with (not-so) hidden messages about bisexuality and S&M. She makes weird, confusing, campily glam/glammily dark videos that live in that who-knew-it-existed land between telenovela and dirty hipster nightclub. She not only doesn't deny rumors that she may be intersexual (old-school translation: a hermaphrodite), she encourages them. And come on, people, she wears outfits made entirely out of stuffed Kermit the Frogs. More than a year after she released her wildly successful debut and as she drops a deluxe version of The Fame that's jam-packed with new tracks, we're left wondering just who -- or perhaps more accurately, what -- Lady Gaga is. In honor of Rhapsody's exclusive early premiere of The Fame Monster, we set out to try to address that question, to dissect the Lady Gaga phenomenon. What we discovered, however, is that -- and this should come as no surprise -- there is not one answer but many.

]]> Lady Gaga Is ... a Hipster Artiste
No need to deny it: the Lady Gaga (she's earned that definite article by now, don't you think?) is a hipster -- of the art-school-attending, dirty-club-frequenting, skinny-jeans-wearing (well, when she wears pants, that is), intentionally-obscure-art-making variety. Just look at her first single. "Just Dance" may not sound like music for the multibelted set, but goodness, that video is way too cool for you. Or us. Or anyone.
See also: Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O

Lady Gaga Is ... Glam
This one is perhaps Gaga's most obvious attribute -- or at least the one she references most explicitly. After all, she named herself after a song by ~~David Bowie~~ Queen and lists the "Queen Bitch," Mr. David Bowie as an influence. And while her music isn't so aesthetically glam as, say, that of Adam Lambert, her general tendency toward over-the-top spectacle is very much in keeping with the likes of T. Rex, Queen, Gary Glitter (minus, you know, the child pornography), et al.

Lady Gaga Is ... Disco
Remember those mind-numbing dance beats? They sound familiar at all? They should: picking up where indier artists like Scissor Sisters and Mika left off, Ms. Gaga has almost single-handedly revived disco fever on the charts, along with its attendant infectious decadence, gay-friendly vibe and single-minded pursuit of a good time and a dance groove, thanks to neu-disco cuts like "Lovegame." And everyone from Pussycat Dolls to Gossip to Shakira has been hit upside the head with her "disco shtick."

Lady Gaga Is ... (Studiously) Derivative
All these very apparent influences, not to mention the undeniable similarities to fellow blonde provocateurs like Christina Aguilera and Debbie Harry, have led many critics and cynics to dismiss Gaga as a derivative Madonna-come-lately who is simply refashioning others' more "original" styles. They're not wrong, but they do miss the point. Gaga makes no bones about her very explicit references: she is an amalgam, a pop-culture collage cobbled together from bits and pieces of both overlapping and disparate decades and divas. What's "original" about her is the way she lines all these influences up in new and unique ways, giving us new and unique ways to look at them (see: the high-heeled, all-white-rubber, all-girl homage to the "Thriller" dance in her video for her latest single, "Bad Romance"). In the process, she throws into question the very notion of "originality" -- and makes us wonder if it ever existed in the first place.

Lady Gaga Is ... A Drag Queen
In fact, Gaga's penchant for the originality-challenging amalgamation of genres and styles is steeped in another long and storied tradition: drag. The good Lady is intimately familiar with the drag queen's makeup bag of tricks. If "Paparazzi," with its emphasis on "bad" as "good," artifice as art and style that trumps sincerity (not to mention the over-the-top ridiculousness of that hyper-dramatic, super-decked-out, leg-brace dance break), isn't a camp masterpiece, then Oscar Wilde would surely eat his cravat, darling. But Gaga does more than visit the camp grounds. In many senses, she herself is a female drag queen, executing choreography perhaps best described as "Vogue"-esque, lording it over her "love interests"/circuit boys in videos like "LoveGame" and just generally performing an exaggerated and oh honey, so fabulous femininity (see, for instance, her various and sundry B-52s-like wigs in "Eh Eh Nothing Else I Can Say"). Though they may look a bit alike, Gaga ain't no "Dirrrty"-era Xtina. Her style is sexual but it's undoubtedly a very, very queer sexuality.
See also: The Scissor Sisters' self-proclaimed female drag queen, Ana Matronic

Lady Gaga Is ... A Burlesque Queen
Also among Gaga's foremothers is the drag queen's sister in arms (and legs): the burlesque artiste. The Lady herself worked as a stripper and burlesque artist in New York clubs before hitting it big, and her penchant for corsets, bustiers and general pantslessness reflects that personal history. She also picked up some burlesque aesthetics along the way. Gaga teases with the best of the tassel-twirlers, simulating and suggesting sex in the most over-the-top (or on-the-bottom) ways without ever actually giving it up in videos like "Poker Face" (a song that itself calls into question what you think you know about her sexual desires). Moreover, while she is undeniably hot, hers is an unconventional sexiness, a beauty that's very different from, say, Beyonce's Barbie-doll perfection or Britney's easy-on-the-eyes easiness. Finally, like the best of the burlesquers, Ms. Ga's presentation of eroticism is often intentionally hilarious.

Lady Gaga Is ... (Spectacularly) Grotesque
Another of Gaga's burlesque aesthetics is what burlesque historian Robert Allen once called the genre's "horrible prettiness." She exaggerates eroticism and attractiveness, taking them to their extremes in the dingy, decadent sexiness of "Just Dance." She layers conventional notions of beauty with monstrosity in "Bad Romance," a video in which she looks perhaps her most stereotypically pretty but sings in a guttural, almost inhuman growl. She forces us to examine our own social taboos, pushing at the boundaries of normative desire by pairing conventionally feminine seductiveness with suggestions of her alleged/potential penis. Did we mention she wears Kermit the Frog evening gowns?

Lady Gaga Is ... A Pop Gender-Bender
We've offered many answers to the question of just who -- or what -- Lady Gaga is here, but perhaps they can all be summarized with one term: this provocative, undeniably compelling woman is a pop gender-bender. She appeals to our most populist sentiments, soothing us with familiar dance beats, reeling us in with carefully crafted hooks. But once she's got us right where she wants us, the Lady flips the script, upending convention and forcing us to question our most entrenched norms. And we love her for it.

Listen to Gaga in good company on our Pop's Greatest Gender-Benders Playlist.

Playlists: Gaga for Gaga

2009-11-13T22:53:18Z

Oh, Lady Gaga. We love everything about you, from your weird, childlike name to your endless costume changes. You define pop stardom even as you mock it. And you trusted so fiercely in “the Fame” that you made yourself famous by the sheer power of self-belief (and maybe a little hard work). Bravo. Tony Robbins couldn’t have done it better.

But people. Don’t forget that Lady Gags is not just a fashion icon, not just a purveyor of top-class video events, not just a provocative performer. It’s about the music, dears. The music. And so we survey the pop scene Gaga has entered -- and reinvented -- with a bunch of playlists to get you going.

And, of course, you can listen, collect and share all these great tracks with your free Rhapsody trial membership. Sign up today. ]]> Gaga’s Universe: Pop in '09
The Lady’s avalanche of hits, some of 2009’s biggest stunners, plus guest verses she’s thrown down for the likes of N.K.O.T.B. and Kid Cudi, among others. We even include a few tracks she’s penned for other artists.

Blurred Lines and Dance Beats: Pop’s Gender-Benders
Gaga loves a good gender gag. (‘Member that whole thing about whether she was, in fact, male? Shocking. Just shocking.) Tune in to other gender-benders who’ve invaded the pop charts over the years.

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Really, isn’t this what it’s all about? You, a couple of vodka tonics and the dancefloor? Don’t let anything get in your way. Gaga’s just one element in this set of serious neo- and retro-disco dance classics.

Further Listening
Synth Pop: Then and Now
Think Lady Gaga invented that wonderful Euro-trash sound? Think again. Chuck Eddy takes us through a panoply of Synth Pop artists, from Missing Persons to the present.

Close to the Vest: A Gay Pop Sampler
Lady Gaga dedicated her 2009 VMA award to “god and the gays” -- and she owes a serious debt to a community that provided many of her earliest fans. Queer pop, yes!

American Synth-Pop, from Lady Gaga on Back

2009-11-11T20:06:06Z

Ever since the early days of MTV, Flock of Seagulls haircuts, and Spandau Ballet new romanticism, it's been widely accepted that synthesizer pop is a mostly British (or at its weirdest, continental European) phenomenon: "Glitter-disco-synthesizer night school, all that noble savage drum drum drum," the band X ranted in their 1983 anti-Anglo tirade "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts." Americans were just too gritty and guitar-loving for all that silliness, right? Well, not all of them. Lady Gaga is only the latest -- and potentially the biggest -- artist from U.S. shores to re-imagine Anglo/Euro technopop, fashion sense and all. Here's a rundown of electronically inclined Americans who preceded her.]]> your free trial Rhapsody membership. At Rhapsody, we not only have the latest and greatest premiers, we also all the an extensive selection of the catalog material you crave.

Sparks: Ron and Russell Mael only seemed British; really, they were two L.A. brothers who moved to England in the mid-'70s to make some of the archest glam-rock around. But by the time Giorgio Moroder synthesized them starting with 1979's heavenly No. 1 In Heaven, they were back on American shores.

Devo: These flowerpot-topped Ohioans' journey to the future ensured that their new wave jerked back and forth in a robotic fashion even when they were punks, so funking out with synth-beats on 1980's Freedom of Choice was a natural (and quite lucrative) devo-elopment.

Missing Persons and Berlin: Respectively fronted by Dale Bozzio and Terri Nunn, these kinky L.A. outfits both had a smattering of hits in the '80s, and both directly presaged Lady Gaga's look to a probably not-coincidental extent. How to tell them apart: Missing Persons had fishbowl bras; Berlin had a No. 1 single ("Take My Breath Away," 1986.)

Early Madonna: The only act here whose popularity Gaga hasn't eclipsed -- at least not yet. And though Madonna obviously did far more than just synth-pop, she also did "Into the Groove."

Early Ministry: By the late '80s, this Chicago gang got a whole lot louder and angrier, incorporating dub, then industrial and then metal, and paving the way for Nine Inch Nails. But inititally -- on 1983's With Sympathy, especially -- they seemed to be aiming to be the American Depeche Mode.

Information Society: Rarely mentioned now, these commendably rhythmic Minnesota techno-popsters actually had two Top 10 hits in 1988 -- "Walking Away," which went to No. 9, and "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)," which hit No. 3. (Trivia bonus: What Jewish Minneapolis proto-synth-popper had an even bigger hit in 1980? If you guessed Lipps, Inc.'s Steve Greenberg with "Funkytown," you win!)

Book of Love: These shy-sounding late '80s/early '90s kids opened for Depeche Mode; they were on Erasure's label; they covered songs by Mike Oldfield and Swiss post-punks Kleenex/Liliput; they hit the Top 100 once. But they were from Philadelphia! Then they moved to ... New York. (For more hit Philly synth-pop, see Pretty Poison, of 1987's "Catch Me (I'm Falling)" fame.)

Fischerspooner, Peaches, Adult: From New York, Toronto (OK, not the U.S., but close), and Detroit -- early '00s electroclash Americans wishing they were German (or wishing they were Lil' Kim, take your pick). The quasi-decadent fad was a fairly big commercial deal across the Atlantic and mere hipster cult fodder at home. But Gaga was probably taking notes.

3OH!3 and Breathe Carolina: And the synthbeat goes on, in the most emo-misogynist quarters of Colorado, of all places. It's not even worth complaining about. Might as well make like Helen Keller, and talk with your hips.

The Top 10 Adult-Alternative Artists of the Decade (or Why John Mayer Is God)

2009-11-05T21:07:42Z

Pop music has been knee-deep in the second coming of the soft-rock singer-songwriter for most of this young century. Of course, we no longer call them singer-songwriters; we call them adult-alternative artists. It all started back in 2001 when the double-helix of the new genre, John Mayer and Jack Johnson, dropped their debut full-lengths, Room for Squares and Brushfire Fairytales, respectively. There existed antecedents for sure (Dave Matthews, Tori Amos, Jewel). But it’s Mayer and Johnson who most succinctly sum up what makes an adult-alternative artist different from his or her singer-songwriter ancestors. ]]> Joni, Sweet Baby James, Stevie, Steely Dan, Slowhand and so on. But now that they were feeling all grown up they craved a modern mellow, one that they could claim for their own. And so they embraced the smooth alt-pop then dominating the Billboard, stuff like the Gin Blossoms, G. Love, Jeff Buckley, the Cranberries, Aimee Mann, the Counting Crows, Toad the Wet Sprocket, post-Joshua Tree U2, R.E.M. and, of course, Matthews, Tori and Jewel.

In a nutshell (and yes, I’m oversimplifying things a bit): adult-alternative music represents the synthesis of these two generations of artists. In other words, it’s adult contemporary sexed up with a little MTV-generation pizzazz. Now obviously, this is nothing more than a theory. However, if we were travel in time back to 1994 and sneak into the Mayer family home in Fairfield, Conn., I’ll bet you anything we’d come across copies of both New Miserable Experience and Clapton’s Unplugged in young John’s room just before the police arrested us.

With all that said, it’s now time for our Top 10 (plus) adult-alternative artists of the decade.

But wait, just one more thing...

With your Rhapsody membership, you can listen to our Adult Alternative Revolution playlist that gathers the best material from all these artists. Or you can click through and listen to all the great music from these performers, and you can access their catalog anywhere, anytime. To sign up for your free trial membership, click here.

10. Brandi Carlile
Nobody represents Adult Alternative 2.0 better than Brandi Carlile (plus, she’s cute). Here’s her thing: take your basic adult-alternative chassis and trick it out with edgy ideas learned from Wilco, Ryan Adams, Coldplay and Radiohead. Carlile is easily the artiest, uh, artist on the block.
Listen: The Story

9. Jason Mraz
Mraz is the kid in class who could easily earn A’s across the board, but he’s too much of a wise-ass to try. What does this mean? Well, if you spend some time with his records, you will soon learn the guy loves being cheeky and having fun more than the latest SoundScan figures. Good for him.
Listen: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.

8. Pat Monahan (and Train, too)
What’s cool about Pat Monahan (and Train) is how they’ve injected adult alternative with a little vintage bar-rock sass a la Eddie and the Cruisers. Of course, this means they’re more of a half-breed, but oh well. No one said this is an exact science.
Listen: Last of Seven (Monahan)
Listen: Save Me, San Francisco (Train)

7. KT Tunstall / Colbie Caillat
KT is the bigger talent, but Colbie possesses old-school love (see also: Jewel) for prancing about nature in cotton summer dresses. I say tie.
Listen: Drastic Fantastic (Tunstall)
Listen: Breakthrough (Caillat)

6. Ray LaMontagne
LaMontagne is giving fellow New Englander John Mayer a serious run in the “chicks dig me” race. Women are all over this guy, with his burly beard and blue-eyed love jams. His looking to Stephen Stills' solo albums for inspiration is way gutsy. I like them, too, Ray -- especially Manassas.
Listen: Gossip in the Grain

5. David Gray
Gray has been kicking around since 1993. However, he really came into his own this century. He’s more or less the Jack Johnson of the U.K., only more pugnacious.
Listen: Greatest Hits

4. Rob Thomas / Matchbox Twenty
Technically speaking, Thomas and company are proto-adult alternative, but the dude has made the crucial leap to popular solo artist. He’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Listen: Cradlesong (Thomas)
Listen: Yourself or Someone Like You (Matchbox Twenty)

3. Norah Jones
Three words: simple classic elegance. Plus, she’s sold in excess of 36 million records.
Listen: Not Too Late

2. Jack Johnson
To borrow a sports analogy trick from ESPN cool dude Bill Simmons: Jack Johnson is like the New York Knicks of the mid-1990s, who would’ve won multiple titles, easily, were it not for Jordan’s Bulls. And so Johnson -- who is actually the most listened-to artist in Rhapsody history -- would easily be top dog of the decade were it not for…
Listen: Brushfire Fairytales

1. John Mayer
This dude is beyond humongous. As I’ve said before, he’s our generation’s James Taylor and Eric Clapton combined. And according to fellow Rhapsody freaker Chuck Eddy, he’s also our Peter Frampton. So yeah, he’s basically ... GOD.
Listen: Battle Studies (the new album!)

Honorable mentions and the reasons why they didn't make the cut:

Ben Harper (only if this were the ’90s)
Sara Bareilles (great voice, but KT part deux -- so far)
Damien Rice (too alternative)
The Fray (more into piano rock)
Edwin McCain (too... I don't know)
One Republic (frat pop)
Joshua Radin (more work to be done)
James Morrison (too Jools Holland)
A Fine Frenzy (young and quirky, but loaded with simple classic elegance)
Mat Kearney (decent enough)
Donavon Frankenreiter (too beach bum)
Five for Fighting (use your real name, pal)

John Mayer and the Fraternity of Musically Talented Rock Heartthrobs

2009-11-05T16:46:27Z

In his eight years recording, John Mayer has walked a stylistic tightrope, splitting his time between presenting himself as a sensitive heartthrob (mainly on his solo studio albums) and a serious bluesman (on the live 2005 John Mayer Trio album Try!, for instance). By now, he seems to have found a comfortable middle ground between sex appeal and chops. But he's hardly the first musicianly beefcake to balance such seemingly competing sides. Here, some hunky virtuosos who've come before. ]]> your free trial Rhapsody membership. At Rhapsody, we not only have the latest and greatest premiers, we also all the an extensive selection of the catalog material you crave.

Johnny Burnette: This O.G. rockabilly went from inventing hard rock in his mid-'50s Rock and Roll Trio to Clearasil croons like 1960's Top 10 "You're Sixteen."

Ricky Nelson: With help from deadly guitarist James Burton, Ozzie and Harriet's kid made the toughest rock 'n' roll of any early '60s teen idol -- except when he didn't. Later, in "Garden Party," he sang about how fans' expectations can be demoralizing.

The Beatles: Cute enough for the girls, cool enough for the guys. "Beyond their music itself, their greatest strengths were clarity of image and the way they balanced," Nik Cohn wrote about the archetypal boy band in 1969. "No loose ends left over, and it all made for a comforting sense of completeness."

Michael Nesmith: Maybe not the most adorable Monkee -- Nik Cohn called him the "withdrawn, serious straight man," like George Harrison -- but the one who went on to help concoct country-rock. And he was handsome enough: all four were chosen to be photogenic, after all.

Peter Frampton: By the time his luxurious Farrah Fawcett locks on the front cover helped him break the bank with Frampton Comes Alive! in 1976, most teenyboppers buying didn't have any idea that he had churned out sizzling boogie riffs on five Humble Pie albums.

Rick Derringer: Now known mainly for one immortal '60s pop-rock hit (the McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy") and one equally immortal early '70s one ("Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo"), the longtime session dude also made a bunch of rip-roaring suburban metal records fronting a band sharing his surname in the late '70s. Then he went on to guitar for the WWF and Weird Al. But the close-up-kissable cover of 1975's Spring Fever, where he could almost pass for a young Valerie Bertinelli, is absolute Tiger Beat fodder.

John Taylor: Women who had crushes on him growing up in the '80s then went on to form their own indie bands and will tell you the Chic-and-Clash-inspired bassist was Duran Duran's most accomplished musician. Though maybe not the Power Station's.

Rick Springfield: The Australia-born erstwhile Dr. Noah Drake from General Hospital first hit the U.S. pop charts way back in 1972, and had long established his swoonability by the time "Jessie's Girl" topped the charts in '81. But though his manual dexterity was always an undercurrent, his unjustly slept-on '00s albums have demonstrated irrefutably what a meaty power-pop guitarist the guy is.

Prince: Pretty? Check. Pretty good musician? Okay, he fits.

Kurt Cobain: So does he -- in fact, some insist his guitaring outshined his singing or songwriting. Either way, he proved sometimes walking tightropes has risks.

Brad Paisley and Keith Urban: This pair of lady-killing cowpokes can both tear it up guitarwise, and they've both spent their careers trying to figure out how many hot solos per album they can get away with. Urban's latest album is all love songs, but Paisley actually managed a mostly instrumental set called Play last year. No shock that he's also done a CMT Crossroads episode with none other than ... John Mayer.

Playlist Insanity: John Mayer and the Adult Alternative Revolution

2009-11-05T16:16:12Z

John Mayer is 32. In just eight short years he has positioned himself as this generation's James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Eric Clapton combined. Think about it: he's loved for both his sensitive confessionals and virtuoso, pop-blues guitar skills. To soak up the full scope of Mayer's artistry, explore the bundle of playlists Rhapsody has prepared in anticipation of his new album, Battle Studies. Not only do we feature his music, but we also shine a light on the adult-alternative genre that Mayer has helped innovate.
]]> free trial Rhapsody membership so that you can create and save your own playlists using our high-quality audio, and share them with your friends via Twitter/Facebook.

The Hits of John Mayer
Because Mayer has yet to give his fans a greatest-hits collection, we've taken the liberty of producing one for him. Deep cuts need not apply, folks. This playlist is nothing but solid gold: "Your Body Is a Wonderland," "Who Says," "No Such Thing," "Waiting on the World to Change," "Say" and so many more.

He's the Man - John Mayer Live
Much like one of his great influences, Dave Matthews, Mayer sports two hats: 1) hit-single juggernaut and 2) master live performer. The guy might be a hunky pop star who makes the ladies swoon when chatting with Ellen, but he also spends months on the road, where he plays sweaty, epic performances night after night.

John Mayer Collabs
Mr. Mayer sure gets around. His collaborations in the last few years have been all over the map, including blues icons, hip-hop artists, country stars, R&B divas and even teen idols. Here are a dozen examples of his wide-ranging reach.

Further Listening:

John Mayer and the Adult-Alternative Revolution
John Mayer didn't invent adult alternative, but there can be no doubt that he's one of the chief architects of an entire generation of hip singer-songwriters, artists like Colbie Caillat, Gavin DeGraw, Jason Mraz, Kate Voegele and Brett Dennen.

Adult Alternative - Influences and Antecedents
Want to know what your favorite adult-alternative artist was listening to when he or she was growing up? Chances are you'll find it on this killer playlist packed with classic hits both old and modern.

If you're an "I want the music NOW" kind of person, then do check out our playlist sampler.

Music Goes to the Movies

2009-11-03T18:12:08Z

Any star is an unknowable quantity, one from whom we expect distance but crave intimacy -- it’s the paradox that drives the star-making industry. With our pop stars, we literally can’t get enough: we flock to flawed films, hungry for a glimpse of the “true” person behind the persona. We’ve watched Bette Midler channel Janis Joplin (sort of) in “The Rose,” Elvis remain himself even when he should be acting (just about any film), U2’s self-aggrandizing at the dawn of its career in “Rattle and Hum,” Madonna playing herself in both fiction (“Desperately Seeking Susan”) and documentary (“Truth or Dare”). The latest in line? Michael Jackson, who’s drawn a flood of viewers to the posthumously released rehearsal doc “This Is It,” which topped the box office last weekend.

]]>

“This Is It”’s closest corollary may be “loudQUIETloud,” the 2006 rehearsal pic that saw the Pixies reuniting to play a few shows. But compared to strictly controlled sheen of “This Is It,” “loudQUIETloud” was practically a therapy session on tape. We witness repeated instances of Frank Black’s petulance; we watch as Kim Deal emerges from her post-recovery haze to rediscover her always-considerable talent as a singer, performer and songwriter. The transcendent live shows punctuate but do not dominate the film.

“This Is It” is all about the live show. You get the feeling that so much work (and let’s be honest, money) went into the creation of the concert’s sets, costumes, and short films that the producers just couldn’t let all that effort go to waste. Every production for every song is filmed in excruciating detail.

“This Is It” also spends an awful lot of energy bricking up the Michael Jackson citadel -- we see the tour dancers crying over their good luck at being chosen, we see people radio-ing ahead as MJ arrives on the scene, flanked by bodyguards. A succession of talking heads declaims his importance throughout. We nod our heads as MJ micromanages his staff, vocalizing a bassline here, a keyboard riff there, while the crew kowtows in return, calling him “sir” repeatedly. This is what we expect. But it feels, somehow, forced. The man at the center of this adulation was incredibly fragile, and he looks it, a thin reed of a person speaking in falsetto. As a viewer, you find yourself wondering, what goes on in the mind behind that still, sculpted face and those frighteningly precise dance moves? We know the myth; we want more.

Near the end of the film, Kenny Ortega teases MJ lightly. We’ve seen Jackson micromanage, complain, approve, give his benediction to the vast crew, but this is his most revealing moment. He struggles to enjoy the teasing and fire out an appropriate response. Yet he looks as if he wants to jump out of his skin, as if the person who’s been the center of all attention is suddenly a third wheel. He has no idea what to say, how to respond; you can almost see the gears turning in his head. What would a normal human do in this situation?

At that moment, the distance between MJ and his fans collapses. He’s just a gawky teenager, too self-conscious to let go and be one of the guys. His outsized talent has been fed steroids since childhood; the rest of him is starved and stunted. Most of “This Is It” focuses on those steroid-fed musical homeruns, mustering pop culture’s full arsenal (Light shows! Fireworks! Dancers!) to stun us into submission. But in that moment, the man we’ve all craved to know more about showed us himself, briefly and involuntarily. The film ably pays tribute to Jackson the entertainer, but that vulnerable moment may be the best glimpse we’ll ever get of Jackson the man.

Coup De Stereo: Hall & Oates Rule

2009-10-23T16:55:00Z

I've been seeing Hall & Oates references all over the place during the past few years. At the start of the decade, their soft-rocking 1970s period came back into vogue, and now, at the end of the decade, it's their synth-y 1980s hits (and videos) that have made a big comeback. These days practically every indie rocker around (including Josh Rouse and Ben Gibbard of Death Cab) cite the duo as a major influence.

As a child of the 1970s and '80s, I can say that Daryl Hall and John Oates ruled the airwaves during both decades. I can't remember a time when their '70s hits like "She's Gone" and "Rich Girl" weren't omnipresent. Later, at the start of the 1980s, when Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" first came out, I kept thinking it was the Hall & Oates tune "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" starting up (Jackson and Quincy Jones lifted the song's kick-ass bassline intro and tempo and fit it into their song to give it extra juice).

Hall and Oates are still recording and touring, but they wisely spend a lot of time on their own projects (Hall seems to be the more driven of the two). The duo have now released a surprisingly rich box set, Do What You Want, Be What You Are, which offers a complete portrait of their career.

I interviewed Daryl Hall the other day about the box set, his Philly soul roots and his truly entertaining internet TV show, Live From Daryl's House. Hall gave thoughtful, B.S.-free answers and took it in stride that a fleet of work trucks pulled up right outside the Rhapsody offices and jackhammered the city streets to dust for the duration of our conversation. Click here to read the interview and to play a selection of music from the most successful duo in pop history.

]]> What was the music that informed you growing up?
I grew up in Pottstown, just outside of Philadelphia. It was a very industrial town, but with farms in the middle of the factories. It was a very racially mixed community with music literally in the street -- gospel music, doo-wop, soul, R&B. It was all there. I used to ride my bike down to the river and hear all of this music just happening everywhere. Plus, my parents were musicians. Classical music, jazz... all of that informed me.

Is it true that Hall & Oates came together because of a gangland shooting?
Yeah, it was a typical Philadelphia scene. Both of us were involved in the early genesis of the Philly soul scene ... street-corner R&B, basically. Both John and I had records out ... separately, with different groups. Both our groups were part of a battle of the bands-type show. Right in the middle of it all, there was some kind of shooting in the audience. Actually at the time, it wasn't that unusual. We both ran out of there separately and ducked into the elevator for cover.

So you walked out of the elevator and Hall & Oates was born?
No, we were both just out of high school and starting our first semester at Temple University. We ended up sharing an apartment -- that's how it started. We didn't have any plans to work together. John was doing his own projects and had a solid foundation in folk music. I was involved pretty directly in the Philly soul scene, working with people like Gamble & Huff [Rhapsody note: Gamble & Huff went on do for 1970s soul what Motown did during the '60s]. But we were literally sharing a kitchen, so that's really how our friendship started. Then, after college, we decided to work together.

You came out of the gate with really strong albums, but it took you a while to break big.
We had our tough, gritty moments, but we just kept working. The industry was different then. You had some time to develop. The reviews were actually pretty good, but critics didn't sell records. We were doin' well as a regional thing at first, but overall, people at the label didn't get us. They had trouble understanding our mix of music. Soul? Rock? Pop? How do you label us? So, we sidestepped them and went straight for the audience and forged a bond.

You guys pretty much put out an album a year ... for years. Plus, you toured constantly. Today, bands put out an album every four years and then go on tour for two years straight.
We found a way to balance touring and songwriting and recording. It's all hard work, but it has to be fun and we strive to keep it fresh. It's the same with performing. I often try and create songs that have a structure you can play with, so you can sing them differently from one night to the next.

Your early records started out closer to soulful folk-rock and became more rock 'n' roll as the decade went on.

We learned so much in the studio in the early years. I loved working with Arif Mardin, who was just so wonderful [Rhapsody note: This beloved Atlantic Records producer helped break Aretha Franklin and many other huge acts]. He really helped us and taught us and recognized our Philly soul side. Then, later in the '70s, we started working with producers who were pretty autocratic. Now, that was hard because I'm pretty autocratic [laughs]. I like to be in control of our records ... they're our records. So, we were bumping heads. It was our will versus somebody else's will. Mixed in with that were these L.A. session guys -- and you can hear it on the records. At least I could. There became this tension for us about living in New York and working in Los Angeles.

Then, with 1980's Voices, and the hits "You Make My Dreams" and "Kiss On My List," this tense New Wave sound appears and it's mixed with soul and rock.

Yeah, we started recording in New York City with our band. The L.A. guys were behind the times -- there was something unusual happening in New York and London, and they didn't get it. It was an exciting period, but they were pretending it wasn't happening. You can't help being influenced by the music around you, yet we had a unique take on all of it. It all sounded like us. And a lot of new people started responding to it.

Your music from that period is just sampled so much now. "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" alone has been sampled in almost 100 hip-hop songs.
The first time I heard our music sampled was with De La Soul. I just thought it was great. I still do.

In addition to hip-hop, you have all these new indie rock bands and soul artists who are citing you as an influence.
I started hearing all of these new people, all from very different backgrounds, who were referencing me. It's what gave me the idea to put the show Live From Daryl's House together. Why don't we put all of these artists with different backgrounds and different musical strands together and turn it into action ... into music?

The show does a good job of showing how musicians put everything aside and bond over music. One episode will have you singing with Smokey Robinson, who influenced you and wanted you to sign with Motown, and the next time out it's someone like Nick Lowe or a cult artist like Chuck Prophet.
It's strange. Because of the Internet, because of technology, music is everywhere now. It's in everybody's life all the time. But it has become more specialized. The mass media are playing fewer songs and fewer new songs and ignoring so much. But the people who like music ... they really like music ... they seek it out. They don't expect to like what is just given to them. So, a show like Daryl's House is about breaking expectations.

Your voice still sounds like it did in 1975 ... how do you do it?
[Laughs] Ask Tony Bennett. If you're a good singer, you're a good singer. Period.

...................................................................................................................................

The Box Set: Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall & John Oates

Hall & Oates ruled the airwaves during the 1970s and '80s, racking up a slew of hits that have never left the pop landscape. Stereotyped more by their music videos than their actual records, they combined a foundation in Philly soul with folk-pop, rock and New Wave. This box set paints a complete portrait of the duo, including the hits, key album tracks, rarities and concert material. The experimental early years offer unexpected riches, while their streamlined '80s material can still jump start any party. This plays like a master class in quality pop.
   -- Nick Dedina, Rhapsody

The box set's title comes from one of the duo's all-time greatest songs. Click here to see Hall & Oates performing the classic ballad in their 1970s glory (as a bonus, you get Hall in his Thin Denim Duke period). To watch the duo perform it in a "feelin' it" Ray Charles style, check out this modern rendition. They still got it.

The Essential Early Album: Abandoned Luncheonette

The duo's second album from 1973 is a blue-eyed soul delight with fragments of genius. The LP fuses together laid-back folk, analog synths and Philly-style soul harmonies. The big hit here is "She's Gone," but check out the knockout opening track, "When The Morning Comes," as well as "Had I Known You Better Then." -- Jon Pruett, Rhapsody

The Popular Breakthrough: Daryl Hall & John Oates

Hall & Oates delved even deeper into Philly soul with this 1975 album. Opener "Camellia" has one of their best choruses; "Alone Too Long" reaches "She's Gone"-like heights of Chi-Lite worship; and the rocker "Gino (the Manager)" is flat-out weird and great. Then there's "Sara Smile," which is hands down one of the finest love songs ever written. -- Mike McGuirk, Rhapsody

The New Wave Rebirth: Private Eyes

Self-produced during the most prolific and successful period of their career, Hall & Oates' Private Eyes scored two No. 1 hits in 1981. Their blue-eyed soul is given a scruffy, New Wavish update on album cuts like "Did It in a Minute" and "Friday Let Me Down," while drum machines and analog synths counter uptown saxophone on perfectly crafted, signature songs like "I Can't Go for That" and the title track. Thanks to its unblemished pop luster and the millennial music scene's fashionable retroism, Private Eyes is like a sonic wormhole connecting then to now. -- Jonathan Zwickel, Rhapsody

Here's a playlist of Hall & Oates cuts from the 1970s


Here's a playlist of the duo's 1980s music

single-phile: Gleeking Out

2009-10-21T04:48:58Z

single-phile: the latest singles, dissected and discussed

You might not think an hour-long musical comedy series featuring flimsy (and, really, one-dimensional) plots about a misfit high school glee club would be so ... addictive. But all it took was one listen to Glee's dramatically over-the-top, heavily harmonized, show-choir-iffic cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," and we were hooked. And we're not alone: the show itself is doing fairly well (though it's not quite a smash hit yet), but what's even more fascinating is that the songs featured in each episode, which Fox has been releasing as singles, are actually becoming hits in and of themselves. Almost every one has made it into the Top 100, and "Don't Stop Believin'," "Somebody to Love," "Halo/Walking on Sunshine" and "It's My Life/Confessions, Pt II" have cracked the Top 40. These are pop songs masquerading as show tunes. They are show choir covers, people. It's kinda ... weird, no? We decided to devote this week's single-phile to figuring out what it is about the Glee singles that makes us so, well, gleeful. Here are our top 10 reasons why we think everyone is Gleeking out, complete with quintessential representatives from the show and other examples.

]]> 1. Music taken out of context.
Boy oh boy, do we love to hear a song uprooted from its normal environs and plunked down in what seems like a completely incongruous genre or style. Hip-hop is at least partially built on this conceit: some of the best efforts in hip-hop sampling often are also some of the wackiest (see Jay-Z's Annie-biting "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)"). So when a group of earnest, clean-cut young show-choir singers cover Amy Winehouse's decadent, despondent "Rehab," it feels deliciously out of context.
See also: The Gourds, "Gin and Juice" (we have an extra-special place in our hearts for covers of hip-hop tracks by dorky white people or in geeky white genres)

2. Overstating the context.
Even as Glee yanks pop songs into new and funnily foreign realms, another huge part of its appeal is its overstatement of a song's lyrics. So when Rachel sings Rihanna's "'Take a Bow," she aims it at the heartbreaking Finn and does it with an overwrought expression -- and we eat it up. It's like a gazillion embarrassingly earnest teen movies all rolled into one hyperdramatic musical number. What's not to love?
See also: Hairspray, which builds a pitch-perfect recreation of '60s teen culture at least partially out of its pitch-perfect '60s musical style

3. You can't not look at it.
You know when you see someone completely wipe out in a public setting and you feel cringingly humiliated for them, but at the same time, you can't look away? Glee lives for those moments -- it creates them, exacerbates them and just keeps shoving them in our eager faces. There is nothing that's not embarrassing about these dorky kids doing a hypersexual performance of Salt-n-Pepa's "Push It" at a school assembly. Nothing. But just try to look away.
See also: Most of American Idol

4. Taking pop's big shots down a peg.
Call us heartless, cynical a-holes, but we sure do love to see our idols brought crashing back down to earth, no? In fact, sometimes it seems like the more we love them, the more we want to see the wind taken out of their sails. Glee understands this sick and twisted desire and is more than happy to deliver a blow to, say, Kanye's ego by having a dorky white Spanish teacher with a perm execute a spot-on cover of "Gold Digger."
See also: Weird Al's entire oeuvre; Eminem (though he could stand to take himself down a peg or two)

5. Camp -- and the importance of being earnest.
Truth be told, we could practically boil most of this list down to one word: camp. Glee is, in many, ways, built of pure, flamboyant, over-the-top tongue-in-cheekiness. But irony alone and all the time can start to feel cold and alienating. It's best served with a side of warmth and earnestness. It's this combination that makes Glee's "Don't Stop Believin'" so compelling: It pulls you in with its silly, even slightly mocking campiness, but it keeps you riveted with its heart.
See also: Rufus Wainwright (especially the video for "April Fool's"); Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Yma Sumac

6. Musicals, period.
Musical theater has been a part of pop music since, well, pop music existed. But we go through stages where show tunes and Broadway babies play a bigger role in the Top 40 than they do at other times. After Mamma Mia and, hello, High School Musical, we can say pretty safely that America is in the midst of a serious musical theater revival. At its most basic, Glee is musical theater pure and simple, but sometimes the show also makes its debt to show tunes explicit, like when Rachel sang "On My Own" from Les Miserables.
See also: Kristin Chenoweth; Camp Rock

7. Great karaoke material.
There's a recipe for the best karaoke song: you want something that's familiar (maybe even a guilty pleasure), meaningful to you and your audience, maybe a little dramatic -- and, of course, something with plenty of vocal acrobatics (whether you can pull them off or not). A huge part of Glee's appeal comes from the songs they pick to sing: passionate but comforting, compelling, culturally meaningful. Songs we all love (or could). Songs we love to sing along with.
Quintessential Gleek Moment: Mercedes' powerhouse cover of Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust Your Windows"; guest Kristin Chenoweth and teacher Will's karaoke duet of "Alone"
See also: Journey; Heart; Aretha

8. Sounds like a candy shop.
The best pop songs are often like little bits of candy: sweet. Perfectly assembled. Nice to look at. Delicious. If nothing else, Glee offers us a wide range of pretty, delectable bites (and bytes) -- tooth-aching confections that leave you wanting more.
Quintessential Gleek Moment: The girls' sunny mash-up of "Halo" and "Walking on Sunshine"
See also: Britney Spears. Rihanna. Robbie Williams. Madonna's Hard Candy

9. Covers, period.
America loves nothing if not a good cover song. Covers have long been an integral part of pop music, whether it's Elvis doing Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog," Whitney Houston doing Chaka Kahn's "I'm Every Woman" or Glee's "Acafellas" doing Color Me Badd's "I Wanna Sex You Up."
See also: Covers and Curious Similarities playlist

10. America hearts underdogs.
Indeed we do, and Glee is chock full of them: the quirky-crazy, OCD guidance counselor; fierce, lonely Rachel; the entire motley crew of misfits that is the Glee club. And then there are the musical underdogs: the show almost singlehandedly revived Journey's career this summer (or at least did a better job of it than the band itself has). We want to see them overcome their obstacles, rise up from the ashes and, most of all, win -- especially if they sound good doing it.
Quintessential Gleek Moment: "Somebody to Love"

Listen to all these Glee tracks and more on our Gleek Out playlist!

Concentric Pleasures: Basement Jaxx, Massive Attack, Fennesz

2009-10-13T08:02:41Z

The fall release schedule has kicked in, in earnest, and the electronic-music world is humming like an overheated Theremin. From Basement Jaxx' cyborg pop to the nether reaches of the underground, here's a selection of recent records that don't require a PhD in electronic subgenres to appreciate.

]]> Basement Jaxx, Scars
The Jaxx are back, and as always, they're sounding weird -- in a good way. Despite protestations that Scars would mark a return to their club roots, this is brain-scrambling future pop. The sitars-'n'-filter-disco rush of "Raindrops" is an obvious crowdpleaser in vintage Jaxx mode, while "Scars," featuring Kelis, sounds like a 21st-century rendition of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. And while I've never been entirely convinced by Santigold's carefully styled cool, I can't help but fall for her on "Saga," which takes direction straight from the hyperkinetic playbook of two-tone veterans the Selecter.

Massive Attack, Splitting the Atom
Perhaps spurred by Portishead's unexpected 2008 comeback, Massive Attack return from several years of virtual inactivity sounding unexpectedly inspired. The organ-drenched "Splitting" features the honeyed voice of Horace Andy and sounds something like Stereolab chopped 'n' screwed; "Pray for Rain" pairs TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe with waterlogged pianos, rolling toms and the kind of brooding bass that's always been Massive Attack's forte. "Psyche (Flash Treatment)," featuring Martina Topley-Bird, evokes a little of Fever Ray's bleepy melancholy, while Fever Ray co-producers Van Rivers and the Subliminal Kid put a techno tinge on "Bulletproof Love," fronted by Elbow's Guy Garvey. The EP is a teaser for a new Massive Attack album due out in February. If that's got you salivating, get a load of this news: Massive Attack's Daddy G has said that the group is also planning a dub version of the album, akin to 1995's Mad Professor-mixed No Protection, in collaboration with none other than U.K. avant-dubstepper Burial. (Then again, given what came of Burial's long-promised, never-delivered DJ Kicks mix, we'll believe it when we see it.)

Cortney Tidwell, Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up Remixes
Nashville's Cortney Tidwell was responsible for one of 2007's cult faves in the form of "Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up," an ethereal, guitars-'n'-glitches ballad graced by her spooky, heartbroken croon; Ewan Pearson was responsible for spinning its golden filaments into the year's unlikeliest dancefloor anthem. Now, the recently revived R&S label has reissued the single with additional remixes, and it's just as essential as before. In addition to Pearson's original "Objects in Space" remixes (in vocal, instrumental and radio versions), there's a delirious drums-and-voice workout from minimal technician Sei A. But the most stunning selection is Pearson's "All This Has Happened Before" mix, which turns Tidwell's vocals, along with M83-caliber guitars and synths, into a beatless, nine-minute swoon.

Loscil, Strathcona Variations
Ambient fanatics, rejoice. Three years after his masterful album Plume, Vancouver's Loscil is finally back with another slab of infinite bliss-out. Only three tracks long, the EP -- released on Ghostly, rather than Loscil's longtime home base, Kranky -- may be short, but man, is it sweet, suggesting Arvo P�rt as interpreted by Fennesz or Klimek. Rinse, repeat and drift off.

Sparklehorse + Fennesz, In the Fishtank 15
Finally, speaking of Fennesz, the Viennese ambient maestro expands his list of unlikely partnerships -- which includes Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jim O'Rourke and Pita -- with In the Fishtank 15, a collaboration with the Americana-tinged Sparklehorse. Tremolo-treated vocals bubble up like fish hiccups while battered electric guitar lines corrode beneath layers of digital effects. They couldn't have chosen a better title for this curious, captivating set of underwater meditations.

But They're Really Big in Europe...

2009-10-01T21:15:44Z

The last couple weeks saw the release of two new albums that will be a HUGE deal in Europe -- and will probably hardly make a ripple in the United States. The Boy Who Knew Too Much and La Roux are the efforts of, respectively, a major European pop star (Mika) and a seriously buzzed-about British dance-pop outfit (La Roux) who, in the U.S., are simply indie acts with something of a cult following. So what makes a band "big" in Europe, but not here? We set out to examine the subtle nuances that sometimes distinguish the delicate continental palate from our more, well, palatable American tastes. What we came up with was not one answer, but a series of reasons/differences/aesthetic problems.]]>
The Kylie Minogue Problem
Quintessential Case: Well, Kylie Minogue, but this is pretty much where La Roux lives
Try Listening Like a European: Minogue's "Slow," La Roux's "Quicksand"
An icy-hot singer who purrs beguiling hooks over a dance beat that soothes you into submission/shaking it? In theory, there is no reason why this should not be a recipe for serious success in the U.S. After all, Madonna and Britney have made careers out of it. Maybe Minogue is too clubby, maybe La Roux's beat is too cold and numbing, maybe Robyn is too hip. Whatever the reason, we seem to prefer our dance divas to be domestic (though nearly all these ladies generally find friendlier crowds in gay clubs).
See also: Robyn, Little Boots, Aqua, September

Spice Girls Saturation Level Reached
Quintessential Case: Girls Aloud
Put On Your Euro Ears: "Something Kinda Ooooh"
Americans knows a thing or two about girl groups, and we loved us some Spice Girls. We bought the baby-doll hair clips, we dutifully learned every word to "Wannabe," we watched Spice World. OK, maybe not that. But you get the point. Once we lost our taste for Spice, however, it's like we said, "OK, that's it. No more British girl groups for us," slamming the door in the faces of myriad all-female megastar acts from across the pond that followed.
See also: All Saints, Sugababes, Atomic Kitten, Liberty X (OK, not technically a girl group)

The Boy Band Bermuda Triangle
Quintessential Case: Take That
Put On Your European Listening Ears: "Whatever You Do to Me"
What goes better with girl groups than boy bands? Nothing -- unless they're British. Maybe we're biased, but when you've got boy bands like Boyz II Men and 'NSync at home, the rather anemic, choreography-challenged Brit versions really pale in comparison. Though we maintain that America is missing out on Robbie Williams. Sometimes, anyway.
See also: Boyzone, Ronan Keating, Westlife, maybe even Il Divo

Definite Article Bands, Circa 2002
Quintessential Case: The Libertines
Listen Like It's 2002: "Don't Look Back Into the Sun"
Remember back around the millennium when every other new band seemed to be a garage rock outfit called The [insert plural noun here] (e.g., the Strokes, the White Stripes, the Killers)? Well, Europe (and the U.K. in particular) really took that idea and ran with it long after Drew Barrymore dumped Fab Moretti for the "I'm a Mac" guy. Some of the bands they've kept in business are ours (see: the Von Bondies), but they've got their own garage rock assembly line going, too. Some of it's made some inroads in indie circles, but in large part, we just can't be bothered with Pete Doherty's shenanigans. We're busy with Kanye's.
See also: The Vines, the Datsuns, the Mooney Suzuki, the Hives, the Raveonettes, the Kills

The Hoff Phenomenon
Quintessential Case: See above
Put On Your European Listening Ears: "Do the Limbo Dance (Remix 2006)"
America has something of an inferiority complex when it comes to Europe, which all too often just seems so much chicer, cooler, more in-the-know than we. But sometimes, the continent's tastes just defy all logic (or at least any kind of logic Americans can fathom), leaving us scratching our heads at those upon whom it chooses to bestow celebrity and (dare we say it) respect. Enter David Hasselhoff, talent show judge, friend to talking cars everywhere, lifeguard extraordinaire and HUGE in Germany.
See also: Jerry Lewis

Glam
Quintessential Case(s): T. Rex, Suzi Quatro
Listen Like a European: Quatro's "The Wild One," T. Rex's "20th Century Boy"
Sometimes entire genres just don't take stateside. Something about the combination of extravagant makeup, flamboyant attitudes and hard rock didn't gel with American audiences -- that is, until we renamed it hair metal in the '80s. Always a bit more experimental with the juxtaposition of gender transgression and rock (see also The '70s Are Over, below), Europe embraced fabulous super-freaks like T. Rex and America's own Suzi Quatro (who gender-bent for the other team) that never got beyond one-hit wonder in the U.S.
See also: Slade, Gary Glitter, even Bowie, really

Weird Prog Rock/Scandinavian Death Metal That Would Be Niche Stuff Here But Is, Like, a HUGE Deal in Europe
Quintessential Case(s): Marillion, Mayhem
Put On Your Euro Ears: "Kayleigh"
Hi, Europe? Let us get this straight. So, what you're saying is, this stuff is almost, like, pop music there, right? Like, they win Eurovision contests and stuff? And you play them on the regular radio, not like only in the basement of some angsty suburban kid in a black T-shirt? And you ... don't make jokes about it? Ye-eaah, we don't get it.
See also: Marduk, Fish

Americans Don't Understand Hip-Hop with a British Accent
Quintessential Case: Grime/Dubstep
Listen Like a Geezer: Dizzee Rascal's "Fix Up, Look Sharp"
Maybe it's a proprietary thing -- after all, hip-hop was invented by Americans. Maybe it's the product of our limited world view. Maybe we just don't get the slang ("fit"? "cheeky"? And guys, it's wit, not wiv. Oy!). Or maybe it's just that that accent throws the whole freaking meter off. Whatever the reason, hip-hop with a British accent just does not translate into American, even if Jay-Z is promoting it.
See also: The Streets, Lady Sovereign, Wiley

Arctic Monkeys
Quintessential Case: Oasis
Listen Like a Brit: Arctic Monkeys' "My Propeller"
Look, United Kingdom. Stop trying to make Arctic Monkeys happen for us, OK? Like we told you about Oasis, we Just. Don't. Care.
See also: Klaxons, Blur, Pulp

The '70s Are Over (aka Campy Figures of Ambiguous Sexuality for Whom Freddie Mercury and Elton John are Major Influences Jes' Don't Sit Right with Red-Blooded 'Mericans)
Quintessential Case: Mika
Listen Like They Do in Italy: "We Are Golden"
Look, we're not bigots or anything, OK? We accepted Elton (after he watered down his camp and added a big side of Clay-mate-friendly cheese) and ABBA (after we turned them into a sanitized, Disney-style High School Musical). Mika may be a pop star of Britney-esque proportions even in somewhat conservative Italy, and Beth Ditto of Gossip may be a Kate-Moss-befriending megastar in the U.K. But here in the good ol' US of A, we like our men to be men, our women to be women, and our pop idols to be on the straight and narrow. You know, like Adam Lambert. And Prince. And Justin Timberlake.
See also: Scissor Sisters, Sliimy, Pop Levi, Boney M, Robbie Williams
Exceptions: Elton John, ABBA, George Michael

European Finishing School
Quintessential Case: Kings of Leon
Put on Your European Listening Ears: You know "Use Somebody," but check out "The Bucket"
Sometimes, even artists who are as American as they come just can't hit the ground running here. Take Kings of Leon, a bunch of Southern-bred, classic rock-playing sons of a preacher man. Maybe they were just a bit too on the nose? At any rate, we shipped 'em off to Europe, where they hit it big before returning to a, uh, Kings' welcome stateside.
See also: Jerry Lee Lewis, Josephine Baker, possibly Gossip (if they play their cards right)

All the Single Ladies

2009-09-29T18:16:43Z

With the release of Paramore's new album, Twilight's Kristen Stewart rocking her best Joan Jett for an upcoming bio-pic and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O leading an all-star cast of indie rockers on the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack, it's really not a bad time to be a chick in a rock band. But of course, all chicks fronting rock bands face the age-old question at some point: To go solo or not to go solo? It's a question Paramore's Hayley Williams had to quash when rumors swirled this summer over a possible solo move when she contributed a track to the Jennifer's Body soundtrack. She's stayed adamant that Paramore is going nowhere, but this got us thinking -- as tempting as it is to reach for the brass ring, is going solo always a good idea? We lined up a few examples Ms. Williams might want to consider for future reference. (And please to be remembering: if you dig Paramore, solo projects, Wild Things, or all of the above, then get on the jet with a Rhapsody subscription -- try it for free right here, right now.) ]]>

Jefferson Airplane vs. Grace Slick

Though she'd recorded these tracks previously with the Great Society, it wasn't until Slick joined Jefferson Airplane that "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" helped define the San Francisco Haight-Ashbury acid rock scene. Solo Slick, on the other hand, never quite discovered terra firma. In the '80s, her solo albums committed various synthesizer crimes. She eventually reunited with the band for 1989's Jefferson Airplane. In 1996, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Side note: Though Jefferson Starship/Starship were more commercially successful than Jefferson Airplane, they are banned from competition based on illegal use of "We Built This City."

Fleetwood Mac vs. Stevie Nicks

While the trembling rhythm of "Edge of Seventeen" is certainly catchy and her duet with Tom Petty on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" difficult to resist, solo Stevie, like solo Slick, got a bit stuck in '80s trendville (ahem, "Stand Back"). And the Mac's Rumours was such a high-water mark, it was almost pointless to try to outdo it. Like Slick, Nicks reunited with Fleetwood Mac, which lead to the mega-selling The Dance, and the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Blondie vs. Debbie Harry

You can't deny the timelessness of 1978's Parallel Lines, with tracks like "One Way or Another," "Hanging on the Telephone" and "Heart of Glass." Blondie helped put punk, new wave and the CBGB's crowd on the mainstream map. Debbie solo, on the other hand, didn't quite have the beat, though 1981's Kookoo is a noble effort. Like Slick and Nicks, Harry has continually gone back to her first love: Blondie, also a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

No Doubt vs. Gwen Stefani

This battle is a toughie. When No Doubt released one of the dumbest songs of 2002, "Hella Good," their mojo was clearly flagging. Sure enough, a year later Gwen released her solo debut, which ditched the ska-rock in favor of straight up dance-pop. Though she's seen plenty of success on her own, none of her solo work packs the punch that No Doubt's does. And, like those before her, she's back on top ... touring with her band.

Hole vs. Courtney Love

Love her or despise her, Courtney Love was a key player in the early '90s grunge scene. With her band Hole, she was making her mark even before her relationship with Kurt Cobain overshadowed everything. Still, Hole's Live Through This stands as one of the great albums of the grunge era. It wasn't until after the band dissolved that Love tried her hand at a solo career, releasing her debut America's Sweetheart in 2004. The album was a commercial flop. So while this rock battle is still up in the air (Love has a follow-up set to release in 2010), Hole's work has Love's pretty much pinned.

So does this mean going solo is a bad idea? Definitely not. Prime example: Bjork, whose former group the Sugarcubes could never compete with the Icelandic oddball's influential work. With Bjork setting the precedent (and Hayley Williams possibly on her way?), here are a few other rock chicks we think could help break the going-solo curse:

Metric's Emily Haines (who already has one solid solo disc), Evanescence's Amy Lee, The Duke Spirit's Liela Moss, Noisettes' Shingai Shoniwa, The Kills/The Dead Weather's Alison Mosshart, Gossip's Beth Ditto, Black Mountain/Lightning Dust's Amber Webber, Flyleaf's Lacey Mosley and Karen O (sans the Kids).

single-phile: Mariah's High Notes -- and Low Notes. A Scientific-y Study

2009-09-29T02:45:34Z

single-phile: the latest singles, dissected and discussed

Mariah Carey is famous for (at least) two things: Her exquisite vocal high notes -- and her rather disastrous personal low notes. (Now, if that statement doesn't perfectly sum up the often sad complexities of pop stardom, we don't know what does!) Anyway, as we were gearing up for la diva ultima's 12th album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (which does feature a goodly number of those skyscrapers), we started wondering how (or if) these two markers of Mariah-dom correlated with each other. And so for this week's single-phile, we conducted this highly scientific study, comparing the most heavens-scraping single from each of her albums with what was going on in Mariah's personal or professional life at the time to see if her high notes suggest reaching for the top or hitting bottom.

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HYPOTHESIS
Mariah Carey's soaring vocal high notes are in some way related to her personal and professional low notes.

FINDINGS/CASE STUDIES
Single: "Someday"
Year: 1990
Album: Mariah Carey
Musical High Notes Indicator (on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being either her highest note or an insane number of high notes): 7. She only really hits one super-high note, running up to the top of the musical Empire State Building just as the song ends. But oy, what a run!
Personal/Professional Life (on a similar scale of 1 to 10): 9. This is the beginning. Mariah hits the ground running with her chart-topping debut and a fistful of No. 1s. She also becomes involved romantically with label head Tommy Mottola, which, we're guessing, at the time was a good thing.

Single: "Emotions"
Year: 1991
Album: Emotions
Musical High Notes Indicator: 10. This is it, people. The piece de resistance. The song that introduced us to Mariah's incredible capabilities (not to mention the legend of her five-octave range, which is more like four and a half, but still).
Personal/Professional Life: 10. Highly respected superstardom? Check. (Almost) overcome stage fright? Check. Impending marriage to a high-powered record exec? Check. Life's looking pretty for Ms. Mariah at this point.

Single: "Dreamlover"
Year: 1993
Album: Music Box
Musical High Notes Indicator: 9. This is the track on which we get intimately acquainted with Mariah's impressive and rare whistle range, which introduces her poppiest (read: not-so-Whitney-esque) single yet. Even better, we get introduced to her pretty, real head voice.
Personal/Professional Life: This is a tricky one to compute. On one hand, Mariah was by now Mariah. On the other hand, she'd just married Mottola, whom she would later describe as extremely controlling. For the most part, though, we're guessing things were looking up, up, up.

Single: "Fantasy"
Year: 1995
Album: Daydream
Musical High Note Indicator: 7. A good deal of sirening and a nice, high general belting range, although it's starting to lose its novelty at this point.
Personal/Professional Life: By now, the diva's getting crazy good reviews and setting chart records ("Fantasy," for instance, was the second single ever to debut at No. 1 -- and the first by a female artist). The Tom Tom Club-sampling, hip-hop-dipping "Fantasy" itself is also one of Mariah's greatest tunes. But things with Mottola, whom she'd divorce two years later, aren't so good.

Single: "Butterfly"
Year: 1997
Album: Butterfly
Musical High Note Indicator: 5. Mariah's most hip-hop-steeped album to date is also the album on which she stops singing so much as just kind of breathing into the microphone. That said, her voice is still a powerful instrument: even in its new wispy incarnation, it still does some pretty interesting high-wire tricks. And there are bits of the ever-present whistling.
Personal/Professional Life: 2-9. OK, yes, that's a ridiculously wide range. But she separates from Mottola this year, so ... is breaking up always hard to do, or is it a positive thing when it's a break into independence from an unhappy marriage?

Single: "Heartbreaker"
Year: 2000
Album: Rainbow
Musical High Note Indicator: 6. Not much skyscraping happening here, but Mariah's sounding less ... gossamer-voiced and fragile than before. Some nice, high belting.
Personal/Professional Life: 6. Rainbow is her best-selling album to date, but it's also the product of a good deal of struggle with her label, particularly after her divorce.

Single: "Bringin' on the Heartache"
Year: 2002
Album: Charmbracelet
Musical High Note Indicator: 3. With the exception of some really nice, strong sirening at the end, this track -- hell, this whole album -- is woefully lacking in Mariah's trademark heavenly ranges.
Personal/Professional Life: 3. The stuff of Mariah drama legend: Glitter. Popsicles. Crazy town. This is not Mariah's happy place, and Charmbracelet was definitely not her good luck charm.

Single: "We Belong Together"
Year: 2005
Album: The Emancipation of Mimi
Musical High Note Indicator: 7. The newly christened Mimi has emancipated her high, strong belt, if not the whistle tones of yore. And it sounds good.
Personal/Professional Life: 8. Well, let's see. She's emancipated herself. So that's probably pretty good.

Single: "I Stay in Love"
Year: 2008
Album: E=MC2
Musical High Note Indicator: 8. She stays out of the dogs-only ranges but lays plenty of soaring belts on her human fans. They don't call her Mimi for nothing (that one's for the La Boheme fans in the house).
Personal/Professional Life: 9. In a somewhat shocking, slightly weird move, Mariah marries Nick Cannon. Wedded bliss looks good on her.

Single: "I Want to Know What Love Is"
Year: 2009
Album: Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
Musical High Note Indicator: 9. On an album full of mid-range, mid-tempo sleepers, this Foreigner cover almost -- almost -- sounds like the old, celestial-voiced angel of yore.
Personal/Professional Life: 8. Well, she's still married. And still mostly seems happy. Call us cynics, but maybe a little too happy? We'll just have to see how this goes.

RESULTS Forgive us for wimping out, but the results are inconclusive -- or at least, varied. The whistle range seems to accompany nearly all life events, even the Charmbracelet/Glitter/popsicle era. On the other hand, nice, strong, high-range belting does seem to be in direct correlation with Mimi's happiness, be it emancipatory or matrimonial. One thing we know for sure: Mariah's high notes tend to make us, well, high, so here's hoping she's able to keep doing whatever it is she does to stay afloat.