Weekend Rock List: Female-Fronted Bands

With one of Rock Daily’s favorite frontwomen blogging her heart out this week, we dedicate this weekend’s Rock List to all those double-x chromosome-fronted bands that rock our stereos. Let us know which band is your favorite, and on Monday, we’ll compile the votes and reveal the Reader’s Rock List. Before you go digging for your copy of Vanity 6, here are our picks: • Blondie • Sleater-Kinney • X-Ray Spex • The Pretenders • Yeah Yeah Yeahs [Photo: Boot/Retna] Related Stories: Debbie Harry Approves Kirsten Dunst for Biopic, Big Boi and Will Smith Plan TV Show, Teenage Girls Once Again Making the Beatles Stars David Byrne, Krist Novoselic, Carrie Brownstein Put the “Rock” In “Rock Writing” Coldplay Gifts Fans With Pretenders Cover, Thom Yorke to Release Remixes, Jay-Z’s “Gangster” Meets the Real “Godfather” and More

Published: 2008-02-22 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock Lists, Rock Daily

Coldplay Gifts Fans With Pretenders Cover, Thom Yorke to Release Remixes, Jay-Z’s “Gangster” Meets the Real “Godfather” and More

With only twelve days to go ’til Christmas, Coldplay has posted an early present on their Web site for their fans: “2000 Miles,” the band’s cover of the Pretenders song. “We love Christmas songs, but every time we try and write one it’s awful,” Chris Martin writes. Maybe Martin could learn a thing or two from the Killers. Thom Yorke will revisit his solo career early next year as he releases three 12′’ singles featuring nine remixes of tracks from his debut album The Eraser. Among the remixers are the Field, Burial, Four Tet and Modeselektor. The seventh annual Ponderosa Stomp is branching out to include conference panels next year. The American music fest will take place April 29th and 30th in New Orleans and feature performances by Ronnie Spector, Roky Erickson and more. To celebrate getting picked up for another season on HBO, or because they’re just overflowing with humor, mock rockers Flight of the Conchords will release a full-length album in April 2008. From Broadway to the Mafia way: After Jay-Z’s American Gangster received the show-tune treatment, now DJ Skee has mashed-up Jigga’s new album with the score from The Godfather.

Published: 2007-12-14 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Afternoon News Roundup

Single Minded: Jack White Duets With Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Lily Allen, Of Montreal and More

Every Tuesday Single Minded highlights new tracks hitting stores (or the Web) this week. On Fridays, come back for rarities, remixes, mash-ups and more. Jack White and Bob Dylan, “Meet Me in the Morning” [Live Duet] It’s genuinely difficult to figure out who this duet benefits more. It’s like God doing a duet with PJ Harvey in an all-you-can-eat burrito bar while The Big Lebowski is playing in the background. Lily Allen, “Don’t Get me Wrong” [Pretenders Cover] Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: young British female singer crosses paths with uber-producer Mark Ronson, crafts an album that’s championed by blogs, becomes tabloid sensation and slowly begins exhibiting erratic behavior. Instead of flaming out in a series of increasingly embarrassing public scuffs involving marital scratching and horse pills, this one toughs it out, stays the course and eventually turns in a charming little cover of a Pretenders song. Oh, America. Always hitching your horse to the wrong cart. Of Montreal, “Friends of Mine” [Zombies Cover] Athens costume-pop band drag a Zombies chestnut into the big, dark Romper Room of the soul. For everyone who ever wondered what a pop song would sound like if it was made out of Nerf. Elvis Costello, “Beautiful” [Christina Aguilera Cover] This version features some kind of clanging electro-percussion and lunar lounge xylophones. Also known as the “Dad, stop embarrassing me!” mix. Wale, “Good Girl” [Cousin Cole Remix] It’s obviously a little ridiculous to post a remix of a song by a semi-obscure D.C. rapper, but we’re still living in the ideal universe, remember? The one where Lily Allen beats Amy Winehouse. In that one, Wale is huge and Shop Boyz are marginal regional celebrities. So enjoy this remix of his number-one single. [Photo: Jim Dyson/Getty Images; Sean Gardner/Getty Images]

Published: 2007-09-29 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Single Minded

Foo Fighters Offer Pre-Sale Tickets With Digital Purchase, Daft Punk Reveal Live-Album Details, Ronnie Wood Says He Broke Up Pete Doherty and Kate Moss

The Foo Fighters are offering fans who (legally) download their new album Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace before the release date a chance to get concert tickets before the on-sale date. Dave Grohl’s gang has linked up with iTunes for the promotion, which will also include the immediate download of the band’s new single “The Pretender” and a bonus track called “Seda.” Those who preorder the album via Apple’s digital service will be given a password for Ticketmaster.com that would allow them to scoop up Foo tickets before the general public. Daft Punk, fresh off playing the concert of the summer, have revealed the details of their live album Daft Punk Alive 2007, out November 20th. The set will include twenty-seven songs from their hit-filled Paris concerts this summer. A bonus second disc will include five additional songs from the encore. Trying to ward off the worldwide compact-disc struggle, HMV Canada will lower the prices on CDs by 33 percent. The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood admitted that it was he — and not drugs, endless arrests or constant bickering — that was the catalyst for Kate Moss breaking up with Pete Doherty. Says Wood on advising Moss, “Someone had to do it.” MySpace, feeling the pressure from their boss Rupert Murdoch and their competitor Facebook, might finally allow musicians to sell their tunes directly on their music page.

Published: 2007-08-28 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Afternoon News Roundup

Foo Fighters Roar Back Into the Spotlight With New LP, Anniversary Re-Release

According to Rolling Stone’s Austin Scaggs, Foo Fighters were the undeniable highlight of Live Earth London, and though the band was certainly there to raise awareness about global warming, they wisely seized the weekend’s internationally telecast moment to announce to the world that they are back. We’re going to be hearing a lot from the Foos in the next few months: Tomorrow the band will re-release its smash album The Colour and the Shape in honor of the record’s tenth anniversary, and their forthcoming sixth album, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, now has a September 25 release date. Echoes was produced by Gil Norton, and Dave Grohl has described it as a mix between Steely Dan and NoMeansNo. Check out the tracklist after the jump: “The Pretender” “Let It Die” “Erase Replace” “Long Road to Ruin” “Come Alive” “Stranger Things Have Happened” “Cheer Up Boys, Your Makeup Is Running” “Summer’s End” “The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners” “Statues” “But Honestly” “Home”

Published: 2007-07-10 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

EMI Finally Partners With YouTube, Nevada Passes Law Against Misleading Tribute Acts, And More

EMI Music, Google, and YouTube have signed a licensing deal allowing YouTubers “unprecedented” access to EMI’s wealth of audio and video material from artists as varied as David Bowie, Coldplay, and Lily Allen. EMI is the last major label to partner with YouTube. The hold-up seems to have been the development of content identification and filtering technologies on the part of YouTube; the fact that the deal has gone through implies that YouTube has finally worked out the kinks in these systems to EMI’s satisfaction. Let clips of household pets singing “The Jean Genie” emerge! Nevada has passed a law making it illegal for bands to call themselves tribute acts unless they boast at least one former member associated with the original band. Supreme Mary Wilson lobbied for the law after spending millions unsuccessfully suing other acts performing as the group. Today is the 40th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (don’t forget to write your own review of the album here). A collection of academics will be honoring this day by gathering to discuss the albums social and cultural significance. The event, “A Day in the Life - Sgt Pepper at 40,” takes place in the University of Leeds on June 19th. Now that we’ve had time to process those excellent Rhino reissues of the first two Pretenders albums (Pretenders and Pretenders II,) it’s the perfect time for the label to give the same treatment to the band’s second and third albums (Learning to Crawl and Get Close). This latest batch of reissues come packed with the usual fun extras (like demos, live songs, and alternate versions) and will be released June 5th. [via Pitchfork]

Published: 2007-06-01 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Morning News Roundup

Smoking Section: Mark Ronson, Rod Stewart, the Grammys

Two days before he took home three Grammys, including Producer of the Year, Mark Ronson nailed what makes the awards show so boring. “They don’t serve booze in the Staples Center,” he explained from a couch in L.A.’s Roosevelt Hotel, sipping vodka. “At those awards things in Europe, they encourage you to get tanked.” Exactly! But at least the stars have those Grammy parties to get lubed up. Ronson threw a bash of his own, featuring hot protégés like Washington, D.C., rapper Wale and Brooklyn’s Santogold. While Ronson shook up the world last year with his throwback Motown sound, 2008 will see him parlay his love for the Band and Traffic, beginning with an album by Australian soul singer Daniel Merriweather. He also told us he was taking a page from Justin Timberlake’s book: being a nice boy and taking his mom to the Grammys. “I could get caught in a hotel room with Gary Coleman, four hookers and an ounce of blow,” he said, “but since I brought my mom . . . ” Touché! * * * * The following night, Ronson recovered from his hangover to swipe Slash’s empty pack of Gitanes cigarettes at Clive Davis’ ridiculous throwdown at the Beverly Hilton. Foo Fighters kicked off that jam with a version of “The Pretender” that rattled the silverware, and we were stoked to see our old pal Rod Stewart. “I want to make a blues record,” he whispered to us. “You know, Muddy Waters, the old stuff, and I want to be backed by the Black Keys. What do you think about that?” Hell, yeah! “Do you think they know who I am?” Rod asked, so we checked with Keys drummer Patrick Carney. “We just Googled him, so now we do,” Carney told us. “We’re interested as long as we don’t have to wear suits.” Done! * * * * Finally, the Grammys rolled around. Aside from Kanye hooking up with Daft Punk for “Stronger” and

Published: 2008-03-03 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Smoking Section, Grammy Awards

Coldplay Posted Christmas Song for Fans

As a Christmas gift the English band posted a cover of The Pretender's classic on their official site.

Published: 2007-12-14 Provider: Aceshowbiz

Beyonce to Perform at the Grammys!

Just in...BEYONCE KNOWLES will perform at the Grammy Awards, it was announced today. Regardless of a possible picket line due to the writers strike, the award-winning singer and actress has pledged to attend the event and perform on stage.And Beyonce isn't the only artist to make a commitment to this year's Grammys. The FOO FIGHTERS previously confirmed they will participate in the annual show. The band will play an orchestral version of the Grammy-nominated song "The Pretender" as part of the annual "My Grammy Moment" contest. "We're participating in 'My Grammy Moment' because it creates opportunities. Opportunities to write, compose, play and study music -- skills that absolutely need to be passed on to generations to come," DAVE GROHL of the Foo Fighters tells ET. "And thanks to 'My Grammy Moment,' a musician from that next generation is going to get the chance to audition on YouTube to play with us at the Grammys as part of our orchestra."

Published: 2008-01-17 Provider: Entertainment Tonight

You Spin Me Round: The Foo Fighters Are Back

Following a blistering set at last weekend's Live Earth concert at Wembley Stadium in London, the Foo Fighters announced plans for a sixth studio album titled, Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace. The disc, produced by Gil Norton, will be released September 25. Foo Fighter founder Dave Grohl thinks fans will love it, saying the band expanded their "signature sound" further than before. "So the album that we're making sounds like a Foo Fighters album, but it's definitely moving in a few different directions. It's cool man, I love it." Although the band declined to release the running order, NME recently revealed the tracks from Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace: 'The Pretender' 'Let It Die' 'Erase/Replace' 'Long Road To Ruin' 'Come Alive' 'Stranger Things Have Happened' 'Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)' 'Summers End' 'Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners' 'Statues' 'But, Honestly' 'Home' You Spin Me Round continues, plus this week's free MP3, after the jump.

Published: 2007-07-10 Provider: A Socialite's Life

Chrissie Hynde Unveils New PETA Advert

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 31: Singer Chrissie Hynde unveils a new graphic PETA advert showing a lamb subjected to the mulesing process against a tagline 'Mulesing: Shear Cruelty', at Circular Quay on January 31, 2007 in Sydney, Australia. The event is the latest effort in PETA?s global campaign against mulesing and live-sheep exports, of which Hynde - currently on a national tour of Australia with her band the Pretenders - is an objector. Mulesing is a process whereby chunks of skin and flesh from lambs? backsides are shorn to prevent flystrike. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Published: 2007-01-31 Provider: ViewImages Keywords: Australia, Sydney, Circular Quay, Show, Modern, Design, Advertisement, Singer, Lamb, Processing, Arts Culture and Entertainment, Chrissie Hynde

Chrissie Hynde Unveils New PETA Advert

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 31: Singer Chrissie Hynde unveils a new graphic PETA advert showing a lamb subjected to the mulesing process against a tagline 'Mulesing: Shear Cruelty', at Circular Quay on January 31, 2007 in Sydney, Australia. The event is the latest effort in PETA?s global campaign against mulesing and live-sheep exports, of which Hynde - currently on a national tour of Australia with her band the Pretenders - is an objector. Mulesing is a process whereby chunks of skin and flesh from lambs? backsides are shorn to prevent flystrike. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Published: 2007-01-31 Provider: ViewImages Keywords: Australia, Sydney, Circular Quay, Show, Modern, Design, Advertisement, Singer, Lamb, Processing, Arts Culture and Entertainment, Chrissie Hynde