03/11/2008
Music News: Madonna Inducted Into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, Plus Duffy, David Archuleta, Ferras
Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.
Along with John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen and the Dave Clarke Five, Madonna was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame last night. When all was said and done, Justin Timberlake threw out a barrage of sexual innuendos and even a few jabs at Britney Spears ("The world is full of Madonna wannabes -- I might have dated a couple.") in his intro, Iggy Pop performed "Burning Up" and "Ray Of Light" and Madge herself laced a recounting of 25 years in the biz with several F bombs.
Justin's story about Madonna making him drop his pants and giving him a shot in the rear when he got sick while working on her new album Hard Candy (due out April 29) is one of the highlights making the rounds in the news reports of the event.
YouTuber MadonaGlamxxx posted the above clips along with the second part of Madonna's speech and Iggy Pop's performance, which ends with him meeting up with her in the kitchen of the venue to walk to the press room.
Madonna also paid tribute to Liz Rosenberg, who has been her publicist for her entire career: "Does anybody understand the insanity of being my publicist for the last 25 years? I think Liz was smoking a joint when I first met her. Yeah. I walked into her office and she very politely stubbed it out in the ashtray. I don't think she knew I thought she was smoking a joint, but it was a little bit obvious. Anyway, we hit it off right away. She was my kind of girl -- tough, irreverent and funny -- and we've had a long and amazing chunk of time together. After dealing with all the nutcases she's had to deal with and putting out all the fires she's had to put out, it's kind of amazing that she's not shooting up heroin."
Interestingly, one person not mentioned at all by the 49-year-old singer in her speech was her husband, Guy Ritchie, who was not present at the induction ceremony.
In other news, the apparent single cover artwork for "4 Minutes To Save The World" (or maybe just "4 Minutes") has been revealed.
British blue-eyed soul singer Duffy, whose single "Mercy" has held the #1 position on the U.K. pop chart for the past month, finally makes it to these shores. Sure, she's coming in on the heels of Amy Winehouse, but the song's slinky "Yeah, yeah, yeah..." refrain is practically the antithesis of the boozy "No, no, no!" in Amy's "Rehab." At the very least, check out "Mercy" since it's the free download of the week on iTunes. Her full album Rockferry, also currently #1 in England, gets a stateside release in April.
While reporting on a burgeoning backlash against him, the Los Angeles Times writes a valentine to 17-year-old American Idol contestant David Archuleta (pictured right): "His enormous, obvious-even-to-the-tone-deaf vocal gifts have at times made him look like nothing so much as that beloved of show-biz trope, the competition-crushing prodigy: Think Tom Hulce as Mozart in Amadeus."
Despite rumors, Apple not quite ready to take a bite out of The Beatles.
R.E.M.'s Accelerate to hit Facebook a week ahead of its release date.
THE WEEK'S NEW RELEASES:
Last month I posted a clip of 25-year-old singer/songwriter Ferras performing his song "Hollywood's Not America" on The Today Show. Truth be told, his album Aliens & Rainbows, out today, contains far better material. If you don't want to take chance on the whole thing (though it's only $7.99 on iTunes), check out the early-Elton John and Bowie-esque title track, along with the power pop numbers "My Beautiful Lie" and "Something About You."
Randy Jackson's Music Club, Volume One also surfaces today. It contains Paula Abdul's current single, "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow."
Snoop Dogg's ninth studio album, the 21-track Ego Trippin', was reported to originally contain collaborations with Bono, Mick Jagger and Madonna. None of those made it on the set.
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 3:50 PM EST by Robbie in American Idol, Amy Winehouse, Apple, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Michael Stipe, Music, Music Recommendations | Permalink
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Holy crap. I like Archuleta as much as the next guy, but did I just read a comparison to Mozart?
Sure they may have specified the film Amadeus, but its still Mozart we're talking about here.
Posted by: Wes | Mar 11, 2008 4:34:28 PM
Wow, that is the most hideous font I've ever seen on the Madonna/Justin single, truly ugly.
She seemed frazzled and weird at this thing, I dunno. Hilarious, her saying she gave her demo tape to a guy and they both took tabs of Ecstasy and danced the night away.. talking of Liz's joints.. poor Lourdes!
She was self-deprecating about former hairstyles, but mmmmm girl, WHAT was that hairstyle all about? She looked like a 1940's superheroine, Mary marvel gone bad!
I still love her. Nice of her to give industry shout-outs, esp. Seymour Stein.
Posted by: Arun | Mar 11, 2008 4:38:48 PM
I like Archuleta, I don't think he's robotic or too polished. Hernandez I think has an okay voice and probably would have just fallen into the shadows of the other guys if it weren't for the stripper coverage.
Posted by: daveynyc | Mar 11, 2008 4:52:32 PM
Damn that little David Archuleta
I had to read the article and ten of course ook fo the you tube vid of "O Holy night" they mentioned
Damn that little David Archuleta
I am an avowed atheist and jesus is just a myth, but the kid brought tears to my eyes with his "O holy night"
:-)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xIg5D7aAtic
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Mar 11, 2008 4:56:57 PM
The LA Times quoted me but instead of calling me by name, they called me "an MTV blogger". Humph!
But, they got it mixed up – while I did at one point question David's incessant “aw-shucks, who me?” persona, my ‘Archu-D2’ reference was describing David-as-unstoppable-little-machine. Not his aforementioned modesty. Someone's about to write the editor...
Here's my article:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1582786/20080305/index.jhtml
Posted by: jeffreychrist | Mar 11, 2008 5:31:53 PM
Wow, Iggy performing Ray of Light... that'd be amazing !!
Posted by: A.J. | Mar 11, 2008 6:21:28 PM
it redefined awful, aj. seriously.
Posted by: brad | Mar 11, 2008 6:24:08 PM
Why does everyone focus on Madonna when it comes to the induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She is the least talented of any of the inductees. All show. I heard her once on a show singing 'a cappella'; believe me when I say this, she needs all the synthesizers she can afford.
Posted by: CB | Mar 11, 2008 6:54:35 PM
Madonna was great last night. Her speech was so heartfelt and genuine. Having Iggy Pop perform for her was genius.
Loved that Chanel number she was wearing. Only she could pull off a little (transparent) black dress, and be chic.
Posted by: michael | Mar 11, 2008 7:58:49 PM
HER QUEST TO BE YOUNG IS OVERTAKING HER QUEST TO BE ORIGINAL...
Posted by: alan brickman | Mar 11, 2008 10:59:59 PM
The Madge font looks like Helvetica Rounded (or a derivative) which is usually fine when used with care. But care seems to have been the first thing they ditched for that cover design.
Posted by: John C | Mar 11, 2008 11:28:52 PM
*sigh* Oh Justin, you are such a classy, charming boy. First skirting responsibilty in nipple-gate and now taking shots at your pathetic ex-sweetie. Way to kick a girl when shes passed out on the floor.
Posted by: Toto | Mar 12, 2008 1:37:27 AM
Iggy was just awful....no voice at all, yech. And people think Madonna can't sing!! Oh, Mick Jagger also....not a singing voice.
Posted by: Nikko | Mar 12, 2008 4:04:43 AM
I love Madonna. love to listen her song and often share with friends , espcially those bisexual at (bimingle.com) Her styles are always evolving and being re-invented. It's how she keeps in the spotlight and how she markets herself.
Posted by: sandraon87 | Mar 12, 2008 5:06:25 AM
I was not surprised that Madge didn't mention Guy Ritchie or her children specifically in her speech, but she did thank her "family" which could be her father, brothers and sisters, as well as her husband and children. Guy and the tykes had little to do with her be inducted in the Hall of Fame. He's directed one video, that's about it. Whom I was surprised she didn't thank was Jellybean Benitez and Stephen Bray, who both helped her out big time in her early career, and it would have been cool if she gave a special shout-out to her "fag fans".. and you know we are legion... but the gal can't be expected to thank everyone... her speech was awesome and clearly heartfelt... I didn't think she'd make it without crying at the beginning. Congrats, Madge... WE LOVE YOU!
Posted by: GraphicJack | Mar 12, 2008 10:20:25 AM