Keep up to date with your favourite musicians and hit the right notes with fellow music lovers by reading "Things to note in music," a weekly summary of notable events that happened in the music industry over the week, from charting songs to news and fun historic facts.
News to Note
The Grammy’s Faux Pas
As always, the Grammy’s is known not only as the biggest night for recognition in the music industry but the biggest night for some racy actions and slip ups. The 2017 awards show was no exception to the faux pas and hilarity of some celebrity actions, here is a quick list to share five of the most interesting things that happened in case you missed it.
Adele swore on live T.V. during her tribute to George Michael before she asked to restart.
Metallica had a mic failure during their performance that caused James Hetfield to kick over his mic stand and throw his guitar in frustration.
Rihanna snuck in a flask.
The Grammy house band played “Master of Puppets” by Metallica while Megadeth walked up to accept their first Grammy.
Twenty-One Pilots accepted their award with a scantily clad wardrobe choice.
Rihanna’s bedazzled flask was the #Grammys gift that kept on giving https://t.co/o9uqidti85 pic.twitter.com/TskTVt16Gd
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) February 13, 2017
You can read our Grammy recap story here.
WorldWired Tour
Last week I mentioned Metallica would be making a big announcement earlier this week and well, they did. The Heavy Metal monsters announced their WorldWired Tour and they will even be making a stop in Vancouver on August 14th!
Prince’s works available for streaming
Just in time for the Grammy’s tribute to the ‘Purple One’, Warner Bros. Records officially confirmed that Prince’s musical library that was created with the company would be released for digital download and streaming.
#Prince 💜
— Warner Bros. Records (@wbr) February 13, 2017
Now streaminghttps://t.co/CcMoIIg8Uc
Some of Prince’s biggest and most memorable works are now available such as Purple Rain, 1999 and Dirty Mind.
Heavy Rotation Recommendations
According to my Apple Music, these are the top 3 bands/artists I’ve had on rotation this past week and this is where I will try to convince you to add them to your playlist.
Sturgill Simpson
Anyone who knows me knows that I loathe country music, specifically the music of artists from the new millennium. There is one artist who is slowly but surely changing my mind, and that artist is Sturgill Simpson. Having never heard of him before, seeing him on the Grammy stage blew me away.
With a voice that is as traditional as country comes, but mixed with a totally unique hybrid of southern rock, psychedelia, and a hint of alternative, he takes the dreamy guitar twangs and baritone falsetto of country music to new heights. His latest release, A Sailors Guide to Earth is something I've never heard yet find so familiar.
With whimsical ambiance featured on tracks like “Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)”, 70’s organ and a brass feature of some sort on every track and vocals as warm as apple cider, each song is an upscale production.
Whether it be a soft and quiet lull to sleep like his rendition of Nirvana’s “In Bloom,” or a soul shaking, head banging track like “Brace for Impact," Sturgill Simpson takes you from country, to psychedelic, to the ocean, to space and back again all in just 38 minutes.
The Wild!
Now back to my roots, good ol’ Rock and Roll. The Wild! Is the perfect example of the balls to the wall, face melting, and bone crushing qualities that make this genre as addicting as a drug.
Their new album, Wild at Heart, which just dropped on February 17th is an ode to Classic Hard Rock of the late 70’s and 80’s. I’m talking like make Papa Angus Young proud kind of Rock, and that’s not just because lead singer Dylan Villain somehow manages to sound like Bon Scott and Brian Johnson at the same time.
Tracks like “White Devil” have an electrifying familiarity to the glory days, with thunderous and building drumming, deep breaths in the background that set the tone for an explosive pace change and a surging guitar solo that you only hope will be met by the smashing of said guitar, this track is my top pick for the band’s first full-length record.
Things take a turn for the villainous and the heavy once you reach the point of destruction and mayhem that is “Rattlesnake Shake”. Fingers flying at warp speed with a catchy guitar intro that has your headbanging on command is met by the nerve pinching radness of a quick and electrifying guitar slide before catapulting into one wicked track equipped with even more eye-popping guitar shredding. This song takes you back to the 1980’s and the birth of hair metal.
The entirety of this album is hard, heavy and wretched in the best way. Your neck will ache and your arm will become sore from the constant head banging and devil horns.
The Rolling Stones
To be honest me listening to The Stones is nothing new, and it’s not like you need me telling you to give one of the world's most iconic bands a listen, but they could always use some love.
There really hasn’t been an album or era of this band that I haven't loved, even in their experimental wackiness you can find nuggets of pure musical gold, not to mention they have been seamlessly sewn into the trends of each era, which not many bands have been able to do.
They can go from pure blues to hard rock, from punk to funk and still sound like The Stones.
A few of my favorite albums are the blues-ridden 12 x 5, Out of Our Heads the album that birthed “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, and Tattoo You. Those may be obvious choices to some, but most only know them for their most popular singles. This is where I hope you will take a deeper listen and maybe tell me what your new favorite songs from The Stones is. I also cannot forget to mention Let It Bleed, Some Girls and Emotional Rescue.
All in all The Stones are one of the biggest and greatest bands in the world for a reason and I don’t think they will ever be out of my rotation.
Music History Lesson
On Valentine's Day, Wayne's World celebrated its 25th Anniversary!
The SNL sketch turned blockbuster success has been adored by fans of both cinema and music for two and a half decades now, and we still think a trilogy would be an #excellent idea!
An added tidbit is that thanks to Wayne’s World and the epic “Bohemian Rhapsody” scene, the song became popular in North America and began to creep its way back up in the charts after the loss of his highness, Freddy Mercury.
It’s been a busy week for music buffs, if there was something exciting you know about but wasn't mentioned, let me know! Send an email with all your music ideas to savannah@kelownanow.com
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