American Songwriter » Culture

The Greatest Michael Jackson Songs: You Tell Us

Evan Schlansky — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:45:16 +0000

Michael Jackson may be gone, but his music remains.

What are your favorite Michael Jackson songs? What's the greatest Jackson jam to dance to? Besides the hits, are there any good rarities or album tracks worth hunting down?

Tell us your thoughts.

Twitter Thrives, MySpace Takes a Dive

Jamie Younger — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:28:34 +0000

While MySpace and MTV make staff cuts, the marketing research group NPD has released a study that finds that active Twitter users buy 77 percent more music than non-users. Online media giant MySpace, once a thriving destination for bands, is cutting two-thirds of its international staff, more than 300 jobs. Meanwhile, MTV Networks laid off 50 employees last Tuesday. In a statement to the press, MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta said, “ MySpace’s staffing had become too big and cumbersome to be sustainable in current market conditions.” The social networking site plans to review and restructure its offices with London, Berlin and Sydney becoming the “primary regional hubs” for all overseas commerce. “Based on their music-purchasing history, active Twitter users are simply worth more to record labels and music retailers,” says Russ Crupnick, NPD entertainment analyst. Twitter users are also twice as likely to visit MySpace Music than the average Web user. The study states that a third of Twitter users reported buying a CD during the prior three months, while 34 percent had bought music digitally. On the effectiveness of Twitter, Crupnick stated, “ Used properly Twitter has the power to entertain – and to motivate music fans to purchase more new albums, downloads, merchandise, and concert tickets.” - Jamie Younger

Michael Jackson Dies at Age 50

Liz Childers — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:41:49 +0000

Michael Jackson Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, is dead at age 50. Jackson died of a heart attack on June 25 in his home in Los Angeles. Jackson was one of music's true mega-stars; his 1982 album, Thriller, went on to sell more than 40 million copies. The album spawned 7 top 10 hits, including "Thriller," "Billie Jean," and "Beat It." Alan Light, former editor of Vibe and Spin magazines, said, "It's almost impossible to overstate the impact he had on popular music and popular culture. . . . He really defined what the music video could be. He was the ultimate crossover figure, bringing black music and rock-and-roll together." A Los Angeles Fire Department captain told USA Today that paramedics responded to a call at 12:26 PDT. When they arrived at his L.A. home, the pop star had gone into cardiac arrest and was not breathing. He was given CPR and rushed to the UCLA Medical Center. Jackson was set to begin a 50-show schedule at the O2 Arena in London on July 13.

AMERICAN ICONS: Carl Sigman

Paul Zollo — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:57:38 +0000

"Anyone involved with songwriting," Carl Sigman once said, "will testify to the fact that each song, no matter how pure, or from the heart, has its own story, its own peculiar way of getting written."

"Anyone involved with songwriting," Carl Sigman once said, "will testify to the fact that each song, no matter how pure, or from the heart, has its own story, its own peculiar way of getting written." In fact, each of his famous songs-from "Ebb Tide" to "Where Do I Begin?" [The Love Story theme] to "It's All In The Game" came about through an array of accidental and intentional collisions of melody and words, and like all savvy songwriters, he learned how to walk through any creative door that opened before him. "Some cases are more peculiar or paradoxical than others," he said, "but invariably some quirk or twist of luck enters the picture to prod a lyric or melody to its completion." Though he's most famous as a lyricist, he also sometimes wrote his own music as did his lifelong friend, Johnny Mercer. Sammy Cahn, who wrote lyrics only, said that Sigman's catalog was the only in existence he envied, because of his propensity with both music and words. Sigman's songs offer such a considerable arc of stylistic potential that they have been recorded and performed by artists from every aspect of the musical spectrum, including Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell. Born in Brooklyn in 1909, he was more excited by baseball than piano lessons as a kid, but did learn his way around a keyboard. After high school his mom presented him with two career choices-that of a lawyer or a doctor. Since he hated the sight of blood, he went the law route, attending NYU Law School and passing the New York State bar. But he knew then-as did his childhood pal Mercer-that the only career for them was music. It was Carl's wife Terry who joked that music, and not law, was up his (Tin Pan) Alley. Mercer became a successful published songwriter before Sigman did, and generously offered to launch his friend's career by collaborating with him. They wrote a song called "Just Remember" -music by Sigman, words by Mercer-which became a hit in the U.K. Mercer, who got most of his career mileage out of his ability to write lyrics for others-although he could compose music as well-told Carl that writing lyrics for other was the way to go, since more composers needed lyricists than vice versa. It was good advice. His first big hit was for big band impresario Glenn Miller-the song was clever and funny-"Pennsylvania 6-5000," which became a standard. In 1942 he was drafted into the Air Force, and fought in Africa. Awarded the Bronze Star for bravery, he also was awarded with a $25 war bond for writing the song "The All American Soldier," which became the anthem for the 82nd Airborne. After the war his career kicked into high gear, and he wrote a string of hits, such as "Ballerina," "Crazy He Calls Me," "Enjoy Yourself" and "Civilization." He also wrote his first and final Broadway show, Angel In the Wings, which ran for more than a year. He met his future wife Terry then, at the Brill Building in New York, where she worked for Louis Prima. They soon were married and raising three sons, and Carl cooked up some of the most famous and beautiful songs of his career, such as "Answer Me" and "Careless Hands." He collaborated with a legion of great songwriters, including the legendary Duke Ellington, Bob Hilliard and Peter De Rose. But it was one of his most unusual collaborations that created one of his most poignant songs, "It's All In the Game." He wrote the music to existing lyrics written in 1911 by Vice President Charles Gates Dawes. Though countless singers have since recorded it, it became a No. 1 hit first for Tommy Edwards in 1958. As the 1950s dissolved into the 1960s, many songwriters of his ilk felt trumped by the incursion of rock and roll and stopped writing. He didn't. Knowing great singers would always need great songs, he continued to create standards such as "Ebb Tide," a hit in 1953 by Vic Damone, and more famously in 1965 for the Righteous Brothers-with monumental wall-of-sound production by Phil Spector. "Shangri-La," co-written with Matt Malneck and Robert Maxwell, was a hit first for the Four Coins and again in 1969 for The Lettermen. Frank Sinatra recorded 15 of his songs, and Elvis recorded Sigman's "Fool," co-written with James Last. In 1970, long after most of his peers had concluded their era had ended, he wrote the lyrics to Francis Lai's instrumental "Theme from Love Story," which became probably his most famous song, "Where Do I Begin? (Love Story)," the theme to the hit movie Love Story. It became a hit for Andy Williams, and has since been covered by hundreds of artists. But like all great songwriters, Sigman worked hard for his success. His initial lyric for "Where Do I Begin?" was rejected by Paramount because they felt the refrain "Jenny came" was too suggestive. At first, justifiably proud of the fine lyric he crafted, he was angry and felt like refusing to do a rewrite. But the next day he cooled off, and pacing around his living room said to his wife, "Where do I begin?" and the new lyric was launched. He lived to be 91, passing away in 2000, leaving behind a legacy of amazing songs for which he wrote words, music or both. And like the songwriters of many of this world's most beloved songs, his name is unknown to the mainstream public. But they know the songs.

STREET SMARTS: Can Today’s Songwriters Write Songs?

Michael Kosser — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:57:31 +0000

Fifty to 75 years ago, mainstream American songwriting was an excruciatingly precise profession.

Fifty to 75 years ago, mainstream American songwriting was an excruciatingly precise profession. The pop music industry was dominated by songs from Broadway musical comedies. Now just imagine what that meant! It cost a fortune even back then to mount a musical comedy on Broadway. The composer and lyricist had to deal with a host of associates, including the "book writer" (librettist), producer, director, choreographer, arranger, the cast, maybe the investors-you get the picture. Long before the show actually played in front of people, the songwriters reworked songs, added songs and subtracted songs, often according to the needs of their co-workers. Then the show would open "out of town" in places like New Haven or Boston, and the writers were now at the mercy of new players, such as local newspaper critics and local audiences. So in those days a body of show songs involved months of intense planning, writing and rewriting. Oh, I need to add that the composer and lyricist could be each other's toughest critics. Anyway, most shows were not hits. They never made it through the out-of-town tryout. Or they closed quickly on Broadway because the critics and/or the audiences were unkind. Or they struggled for a few weeks or months, then closed. Or maybe they had a fair enough run to make back the investment, but the national public never heard the songs. There were a hundred ways for a Broadway songwriter to get his or her heart broken. Well, you can imagine what the business must have done to the psyches of Broadway songwriters. Yes, there were a handful who were so successful that they could take the failures in stride, but many of the best went out to Hollywood for the painful alternative experience of writing for the movies. At least the paycheck was steady if they liked you well enough. All you had to do was put up with the abuse of tin-eared Hollywood executives while wondering if they would pick up your option so they could abuse you some more. In either case, but especially on Broadway, composers and lyricists fretted over their creations, obsessed over every rhyme, every critical chord or interval. The stakes were so high. On Broadway, people were watching and judging, especially newspaper critics who knew a thousand ways to slice and dice a songwriter for the entertainment of hundreds of thousands of faithful readers. There was no anonymity for the Broadway songwriter. Even the best could find themselves stripped naked the morning after by the tastemakers and their readers. I might add that there were still a large number of Tin Pan Alley songwriters who were trying to write radio hits instead of show hits, but many of them aspired to Broadway or Hollywood prominence because that's where the big money and prestige lay. When rock and roll and country broke big in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the golden age of the Broadway and Hollywood musicals ended. The world of hit songs came to be dominated by professional one-offers who like their Tin Pan Alley predecessors wrote songs to be hits on radio and records. The pop critic had not yet made his mark, so these songwriters got little recognition but then, the song was here today gone tomorrow, or maybe in four months. They did not expect their songs to be standards but at least they had the opportunity to hear their songs as hits on the radio, and the money could be impressive. I don't think those writers fretted over their songs like the Broadway writers did. It was almost as if they felt that nobody would notice the extra polish, so why bother? I believe their successors today work the same way. Write the song, demo it, pitch it, tomorrow is another day and another song. But what about all the artist/writers who have emerged since Chuck Berry, the Kingston Trio, Bob Dylan and The Beatles forged the modern model? Like the Broadway writers, they can try out their new material on live audiences. And like the Broadway writers their product gets critiqued. Like the Broadway writers, they can watch their career crumble if the audiences don't like their songs. I'm sure that some artist/writers are much more painstaking than others, but today's songwriting tends to come from a different place than the output of the Broadway writer. Perhaps because many modern songs scarcely have an existence outside of the sound created in the studio, I believe that today's writers tend to write on the inspiration that gave them the first draft of the song. Perhaps they feel that tinkering too much deprives the song of the electric spontaneity that gave it its birth. So you might say there are two models of songwriting in our tradition, the inspirational and the perspiration-al. And no, I am not here to judge which is superior; one might as well compare the merits of Charles Schultz to those of Thomas Wolfe. I just wish that the two traditions could exist side by side. Because as rock and roll made its mark, it virtually wiped the pop music slate clean of songs written in the Broadway tradition. We lost a great craft, and I'm not sure we'll ever get it back.

“We Are Listening” Launches Annual Songwriting Contest

Evan Schlansky — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:09:29 +0000

Annual songwriting competition awaits your submissions.

From the press release:

LONDON, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- We Are Listening launches its 23rd Singer/Songwriter Awards, the company's flagship international song contest for independent performing artists, songwriters, and lyricists. This year, We Are Listening is offering a greater variety of career-oriented prizes, divided into six music industry sectors: Songwriting, Licensing, Marketing, Production, Post-Production, and Retail Distribution. A total of six winners in 2009 will have a choice of a grand prize from one of the six sectors, including a week-long songwriting retreat in Stockholm, Sweden; network-sized television placement in the US; college radio promotion and administration; a production weekend in London, England; mixing and mastering services; and CD replication and digital distribution. The 26-member panel of judges responsible for the selection process include executives and creative directors at EMI, Universal, and Sony/BMG; producers credited by Sting, Bjork, Dido, and Eric Clapton; songwriters credited by Faith Hill, Lenny Kravitz, Chaka Khan, and Wyclef Jean; and professors at the Songwriting Department at Berklee College of Music.

We Are Listening invites performing artists, songwriters, lyricists, or agents acting on their behalf, to submit their original music by May 1st 2009 to We Are Listening. Registration and entry fee details at: http://www.wearelistening.org/singer.php

ABOUT WE ARE LISTENING

We Are Listening is a London-based artist and content development group with divisions and assets in artist management, music publishing, and online services and destinations for musicians and music fans. The company is also responsible for five online music contests for independent artists: The Singer/Songwriter Awards, Lyric Writer Awards, Breaking the Band, World of Music Awards, and New Music Video Awards. The company was founded in 2004 by Lior Shamir, a member of the management team at MyDrifts.com, and co-founder of Virv.tv, now part of Rayv.com. Visit http://www.wearelistening.org

Scotland Does Its Part to Save Planet’s Fanzines

Christine Smith — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:22:57 +0000

While most libraries, whether public or private, house a periodical section, few are likely to carry the handwritten Xeroxed pamphlets known as "fanzines." While most libraries, whether public or private, house a periodical section, few are likely to carry the handwritten Xeroxed pamphlets known as "fanzines. "This vein of underground journalism has been a small but significant part of popular culture for decades, but is increasingly in danger of going extinct in the information age. With the creation of blogs and e-mail newsletters, some avid fans are turning to the Internet to access a wider audience with more ease and fewer production expenses. A movement to preserve this low-tech art is coming from an unusual source: the National Library of Scotland. While the heyday of the fanzine is usually associated with the punk movement of the late 70s/early 80s, amateur niche-market publications first appeared on the scene in the 1930s. The science fiction of writers like Asimov and Clarke was initially ignored by the general public, encouraging enthusiasts to create their own medium to chronicle the genre. Similar small-scale publications were created by early admirers of jazz, the blues, and rock before these types of music were accepted by mainstream society. With their rich lineage and firsthand accounts of the evolution of contemporary culture, fanzines are beginning to be viewed as legitimate historical artifacts. Chris Atton, a Napier University professor and long-time fanzine aficionado, explains the phenomenon: "The National Library sees fanzines as part of the cultural heritage of this country but 30 years ago if you had handed them a copy of Sniffin' Glue it would have gone straight in the bin, and that comes from the massive change in how popular culture is covered." This scholarly change of heart has spurred the Scots to collect and catalogue these relics of the 20th century before they disappear.

Duke Ellington Gets His 25 Cents Worth

Ted Spangler — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:07:14 +0000

At a news conference held yesterday at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, the mint revealed the District of Columbia quarter, which features famous DC resident, Duke Ellington.

After releasing the final state quarter in November, the U.S. mint is now in the process of issuing six new quarter designs, one to honor the District of Columbia and five to honor U.S.territories. At a news conference held yesterday at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, the mint revealed the District of Columbia quarter, which features famous DC resident, Duke Ellington.

Ellington, born in DC in 1899, is famous for his role in the swing era of jazz. An original composer of over 3,000 songs including “Satin Doll," "Perdido," "Don't Get Around Much Any More," “Take the A Train” and "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing," Ellington won thirteen Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize during his extensive musical career.

District residents voted for the DC quarter design, selecting Ellington instead of the other offered choices of Frederick Douglass and Benjamin Banneker. Ellington’s appearance marks the first time that an African-American has appeared by himself on a circulating US coin. Situated below the composer’s picture, positioned in front of a piano, is the district’s motto “Justice for all.” Residents actually voted for the phrase “taxation without representation,” but the mint rejected the selection for fear of stirring controversy.

Already in circulation since January 26, U.S. mint director Ed Moy noted, “When Americans look at this coin, they will remember the man and his art, as well as the place where both were born and nurtured -- the District of Columbia.”

Remembering Lennon and Ono’s “Bed-Ins”

Christine Smith — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:44:57 +0000

This year marks the 40th anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "bed-ins." Putting their psychedelic spin on the form of nonviolent protest known as "sit-ins," the pair spent a week in bed at an Amsterdam hotel in March 1969, giving a repeat performance a few months later in Montreal.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "bed-ins." Putting their psychedelic spin on the form of nonviolent protest known as "sit-ins," the pair spent a week in bed at an Amsterdam hotel in March 1969, giving a repeat performance a few months later in Montreal. To commemorate these events, Yoko has posted a request on imaginepeace.com, requesting that any fans staging tribute reenactments send in documentation of their versions for publication on the website. Though the main object of the 1969 protests was the Vietnam war, Lennon and Ono bed-ins called for an end to all war. Each day, the couple invited members of the press to visit their hotel suite during the hours of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. to discuss world peace with them. As the culmination of the second bed-in, John and Yoko invited such personalities as Tommy Smothers and Timothy Leary to record the song "Give Peace a Chance" in their hotel room. Dismissed by some as a mere publicity stunt, the concept nevertheless continues to influence pop culture, appearing in song lyrics, music videos, and even comedy sketches. Other notable artists have held their own bed-ins during the last couple of decades, including lead singer of Green Day Billie Joe Armstrong and his wife.

DJ Hero Game Announced

Brittney McKenna — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:14:19 +0000

Capitalizing on the hugely successful industry of video games such as Blizzard Activision's Guitar Hero and MTV Games' Rock Band, Activision just confirmed their intention to release a similar game that puts players in the position of DJ. Capitalizing on the hugely successful industry of video games such as Blizzard Activision's Guitar Hero and MTV Games' Rock Band, Activision just confirmed their intention to release a similar game that puts players in the position of DJ. DJ Hero, the title announced this week by Blizzard Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, has been in the works and the topic of video game rumor mills for quite some time now. Guitar Hero director Brian Bright hinted at the possibility of such a game at a party in October. This latest installment in the Hero series will be similar to its interactive predecessors in that it will incorporate a lifelike turntable that players will use in place of a standard controller. "We have the product called DJ Hero that's coming out later this year which is a turntable that you can actually play competitively and spin discs and mix songs," Kotick said. Early critics of the game cite its lack of difference from Konami's Beatmania, which also uses a turntable-inspired controller. Those involved with the project, however, promise that both the controls and the music (rumored to be centered around mashups) used will be more original and innovative than Konami's effort. No release date has been confirmed, but Activision seems optimistic that the game will be out later this year.