Friday a Viable Day for Music News

membership ticker

Autocratic forces are ascendant.

Truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against an autocrat’s unrestrained exercise of power. At a time when billionaire owners of corporate media are making accommodations to political leaders, our nonprofit newsroom cannot be bought, bent, or broken. Depend on it, and please stand with us.

Autocratic forces are ascendant in America. But truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against the unrestrained exercise of power. At a time when billionaire owners of corporate media are making accommodations to political leaders, our nonprofit newsroom cannot be bought or broken. Please stand with us.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Johnny Rotten

John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, says some pretty silly stuff. In an interview yesterday on the UK’s Virgin Radio, the Sex Pistols and Public Image Limited frontman called Sting a “soggy old dead carcass,” said that Amy Winehouse doesn’t have “much going on in her head,” and that the music industry is “disgusting.” Actually, wait a minute, this stuff isn’t silly, these are just facts. Where’s the outlandish punk-rock spirit, Johnny? When did you become Tom Brokaw?

Jay-Z‘s new single, “Blue Magic,” gets played on the radio, ends up on the intertubes.

UK combo Keane follows Coldplay‘s lead in the “drum up interest in our new album by announcing it’s influenced by something incongruous that people actually like” sweepstakes, saying rapper Dr. Dre may influence their new album. Drummer Richard Hughes posted on the band’s website that “there’s a lot of interesting stuff coming out of America … I’ve been listening to people like Dr. Dre for a long time… we’re going to try and do something different.”

Possibly my most favoritest headline in the history of news reporting: “Nickelback In No Rush to Make New Album.” You guys just relax, preferrably in a country without recording studios.