The best ideas are the ones that might turn out to be terrible ideas. | | | | St. Vincent offering her Music Man axe to the guitar gods at Governors Ball, New York, June 5, 2015.
(Nicholas Rhodes/Corbis Entertainment/Getty Images) | | | | | | “The best ideas are the ones that might turn out to be terrible ideas.”
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| | rantnrave:// I am not here for my old employer MTV's explanation of why one of the biggest pop songs and videos of the century, "DESPACITO," is all but missing from the nominees for Sunday's VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS. MTV, making like it has no agency in its own marquee awards show, says UNIVERSAL MUSIC LATIN didn't submit it for consideration. (What is this, the OSCARS? Are there rules?) Universal says MTV asked for a submission—after it had announced the nominees. MTV is better than this, isn't it? At its best, the network is a proactive pop-culture programmer, reading, responding to and refracting the culture in (relatively) real-time. LUIS FONSI and DADDY YANKEE's worldwide smash, which became even smashier after JUSTIN BIEBER got on the remix, is the pop song of 2017 not because a label decided it or a TV channel ordained it, but because the universe willed it. Like all great pop hits, it is because it is. And it's the kind of organic phenomenon MTV should long ago have responded to, without having to be asked. The video, made before Bieber came onboard, is in rotation on MTV TRES, but not on the mother channel or MTV2. All of which is that much sadder after reading RACHEL GRACE ALMEIDA's essay on how Daddy Yankee's "GASOLINA"—which did get him on MTV a decade ago—helped make her feel less marginalized, welcome even, as a 12-year-old Latina in SOUTH FLORIDA. "Gasolina" also helped propel reggaeton to the U.S. cultural mainstream, where, 13 years later, it's ruling at radio, YOUTUBE, your local beach and in the air we breathe, but not, strangely, at MTV... I could sit here all day typing out things ST. VINCENT and various friends are quoted as saying in NICK PAUMGARTEN's great NEW YORKER profile of her. Like how producer JACK ANTONOFF told her, "Let's go for the lyrics that people will tattoo on their arms." Or how CARRIE BROWNSTEIN compares her to LORETTA LYNN and JOHNNY CASH, stars who "let you know when you have access to their world. It's a contrivance." Or how she wants her stage show to look like "high-tech TRACY & THE PLASTICS." One of the smartest, most interesting rock stars. Who happens to not be a rock star quite yet... Love this LORDE live session... Almost as much as I love DJ PREMIER's TINY DESK CONCERT... Wait, did JAMES MURPHY just say, twice, that he broke up LCD SOUNDSYSTEM to help sell tickets to that MADISON SQUARE GARDEN show? Um, no, guitarist AL DOYLE swears in a great TWITTER followup... TAYLOR SWIFT tries to eclipse the eclipse... RIP JASON CORSARO... Thoughts and prayers to KEAK DA SNEAK. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| Why isn’t “Despacito,” the most popular clip on YouTube of all time with more than 3 billion views, up for a music video award at this year's VMAs? The implications of its absence are more complex, especially in the era of Trump. | | |
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| He bulldozed the path for reggaeton to enter the mainstream, amplifying and normalizing the marginalised Latinx identity. | | |
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| A new breed of bomb-sniffing canines may detect a suicide bomber within a stadium of 50,000 people. | | |
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| Jerhonda Pace was just 15 when she met her musical idol, R. Kelly, outside his child pornography trial. The alleged underage sexual relationship with him that followed and subsequent payouts mirror decades of allegations against the star. | | |
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| Initially aired on BBC FOUR in 2009, "Keep On Running" tells the story of Island Records over half a century, in celebration of our 50th birthday. | | |
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| Musician Tori Amos discusses the importance of getting your toolbox in order as a songwriter, expanding the sonic architecture of your brain by covering other people's songs, and the important skill of knowing when to shut up and listen to your muses. | | |
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| One of hip-hop's most revered producers brings his songs to life behind the Tiny Desk, with the help of a four-piece band. | | |
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| Andre went on an extended rant on his Twitter account over the weekend, spotlighting what he believes is a disturbing trend in hip-hop. | | |
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| Spotify Ltd. executives have met with U.S. regulators scrutinizing the music company’s plan to skip a traditional share sale and list directly on the New York Stock Exchange, according to people with knowledge of the matter. | | |
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| Watch Melodrama Reimagined at Electric Lady (Vevo x Lorde) by Lorde online at vevo.com. Discover the latest music videos by Lorde on Vevo. | | |
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| The living legend behind "Rockit" and "Watermelon Man" explains how Buddhism affects his music -- and how he once outraced his new boss, Miles Davis. | | |
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| "My Operator" was the affectionate nickname given to the otherwise unsung engineer Sylvan Morris. Also called "The Original Scientist" for his early work in dub, Morris is responsible for the sound of many of the key landmark reggae albums in the mid-70s, including Bob Marley & The Wailers' "Burnin'," "Natty Dread" and "Rastaman Vibration." | | |
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| Author Amani Al-Khatahtbeh explores the problematic way Cardi B uses Arab culture in "Bodak Yellow." | | |
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| Having cycled through a full generation of performers (not to mention audience), how does the grandpa of festival culture compete in the Coachella-sized market it helped create? | | |
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