North West looked miserable in Kanye West’s new video
On Thursday, Kanye shared the music video for Only One, his Paul McCartney-featuring minimal ballad about parenthood. Basically, it looks like a grainy home movie documenting a father out on a soggy country walk with his toddler daughter. But while there’s sweet sentiment throughout much of the video, North West does gives the occasional glance at her dad that screams, “Dad. Dad, seriously. Why isn’t my hood on? There is drizzle on my little head, dad. Could yo– oh great, yeah, just stick a camera in my face. That’s lovely.”
Taylor Swift wants to slowly claim the English language
Late last year, Tay-tay applied to trademark several phrases featured on her album 1989. The requests are now being reviewed by the US Patent and Trademark Office, so if you had plans to print off 5,000 t-shirts emblazoned with “This sick beat”, “Cause we never go out of style” or even “Nice to meet you. Where you been?” then you’d better hop to it before her request is approved.
Tom Petty was credited with co-writing Sam Smith’s Stay With Me
The quietly cutthroat world of music publishing surfaced this week. Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne’s publishers reckoned Smith’s hit single Stay With Me sounded similar to Petty’s I Won’t Back Down – released three years before Smith was born, on Petty and the Heartkbreakers’ debut. Apparently, there are no hard feelings between both acts. Which is … mildly disappointing.
Kenny G claimed he played a part in creating Starbucks’ frappuccino
The long-haired sax player and Starbucks investor spoke to Bloomberg about suggesting a sweet, blended drink for the coffee monolith’s menu in its early days. In Kenny’s own words: “I think that part of the reason [Starbucks] did the frappuccino was people like me giving them that kind of feedback. I’d like to think I was partially responsible for that.” Seems legit.
Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler got a little lairy in a bar fight
Just when you thought the Black Sabbath guys might be settling down into post-retirement age, Butler reportedly kicked off in a California saloon on Tuesday night. The 65-year old bassist and lyricist spent the night in jail after a verbal fight was said to turn physical in a Death Valley national park bar. Not to worry, though – after a “detox” Butler was back out in the world.
Thx for your messages & support following the unfortunate altercation that occurred.
— Geezer Butler (@GZRMusic) January 29, 2015
Debrett’s deemed white men the most influential in music
The self-dubbed “steward of … aristocratic heritage” and “arbiter of society etiquette” published its annual list of its 500 most influential Brits. In the music world, the posh purveyors of manners figured a list of almost exclusively white males deserved recognition (shout out to Zayn Malik from One Direction bucking the overall demographic trend). Music critic Caroline Sullivan offered up an alternative list, if you’re not convinced.
Tom DeLonge left Blink-182, then he didn’t – then he did?
Fans of the dirty-minded pop-punk trio will have to finally hang up their backwards-facing baseball caps and pack away their chain wallets: it’s (probably) over. Singer and guitarist Tom DeLonge appeared to have quit the band, then denied leaving before drummer Travis Barker and bassist Mark Hoppus announced his denial was “disingenuous” – he was definitely out. My only question: might DeLonge be sitting on a sofa somewhere now with an acoustic guitar, quietly cry-singing “that’s about the time they walked away from me”?
blink-182 life. For life.
— |\/|@r|{ )(0%ü$ (@markhoppus) January 26, 2015
LA grunge band L7 decided to reform for some festival dates
The scuzzy-sounding four-piece announced plans to get their original line-up back together and play a handful of festivals this year. The band are set to share more dates, as and when they’re booked, according to a recent Facebook post. No word yet on whether singer and guitarist Donita Sparks is likely to shed her jeans again while playing Pretend We’re Dead, as she famously did on TV program The Word in 1992 (below). But anything’s possible.
Jeff Bridges released an album that might put you to sleep
That’s not a snidely worded description: Bridges really has recorded an album of ambient, mostly spoken word field recordings designed to help people chill the hell out. Let his ramblings wash over you like a warm tide, on this 15-song album, made in collaboration with website design service Squarespace. It’s corporate, but it’s also interesting – an unlikely description for a Jeff Bridges project.
Sly Stone made about £3.3m in damages
Sly and the Family Stone’s funk pioneer cashed in about $5m from a lawsuit that he’d filed against his former attorney and manager in 2010. The main lesson that all musicians should take on board is to read the fine print when it comes to signing contracts and maintain as much of a hold on their intellectual property as possible. See: Taylor Swift’s careful trademark game above. That woman gets it.
