Friday, September 27, 2013

DANNII MINOGUE RELEASES ANOTHER GREATEST HITS ALBUM.....BUT ONLY IN THE UK AND AUSTRALIA

BOO!!! Dannii Minogue, the other white meat Minogue sister, has released another greatest hits album called This Is It: The Very Best Of,  but this time with some rare tracks, remixes and even a duet with Kylie!! Unfortch the album is only out in the UK and Australia. HISS!! If you have any way of getting hold of this little gem, or if you even know who Dannii is (she is HIGHLY underrated, in my opinion) then get it, beyotch! In the meantime, check out the TV promo currently airing for the set over yonder. Looking good, Dannii!! I want.


BRITNEY SPEARS' "WORK BITCH" VIDEO TEASER PROMISES AN ARID, SEXY ROMP

Britney Spears' is heading back onto our pop culture radar with her new "song"  and video, Work Bitch. Is this technically a song? The jury is still out, but it IS growing on me, I'll have to admit. The video looks like it's going to be pretty hot though....both figuratively and literally. Britney in next to nothing in the desert. Voila! Classic Britney, y'all!! Work Bitch debuted on the Hot 100 this week at #12 and will probably climb higher with the release of this video. Work Bitch, indeed!  Watch the all-too-short teaser below and await the video's release. Britney's 8th studio album is scheduled for release December 3rd



MADONNA FRIDAY: LIKE A VIRGIN

In Madonna's vast catalogue of hits there is only one song that truly made her a superstar....Like A Virgin. A few hits came before, and many, many came after, but LAV was what made it VERY clear that Madonna was THE icon of her generation. Released as the first single off of her second album of the same name, Like A Virgin was a phenomenon. It was her very first #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and it stayed there for six weeks. She even opened the first MTV VMAs in a wedding dress atop a cake in one of the most notorious performances of all time. Every girl in America started dressing like Madonna at this point, whether they meant to or not, and that was that. The video, filmed in Venice, Italy, showed Madge roaming around a castle, fraternizing with a lion and writhing on a gondola. She was free, sexy and independent. Madonna has performed LAV on all her tours, frequently changing up the arrangement and playing with the meaning of the song. It doesn't get more iconic than this, folks. Here is the song that cemented Madonna's status as...well....Madonna! Enjoy and have a good Madonna Friday!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN!!

My Madonna-before-Madonna, Olivia Newton John, is turning 65 today! Yes, Sandy is 65. We are all old. I have seriously loved ONJ since I can remember. My step-grandmother had her old albums on vinyl when I was a kid and I would listen to them every time I visited their house.Please Mr. Please, I Honestly Love You, Have You Never Been Mellow, Let Me Be There...the list of 70s country hits is A-MAH-ZING! Then of course you get to Grease!! That movie lead to a complete change in her career and a move toward pop/rock music like A Little More Love (below), Physical, Make a Move On Me, Landslide and songs from the camp-tastic movie Xanada of course; Magic, Suddenly. I'm all aflutter just thinking of them. Olivia is a goddess and anyone who doesn't think so is a pop-culture atheist. There, I said it. My fave ONJ song is A Little More Love, so I am forcing you to listen to it and watch the video below. She's so pretty! Celebrate today by putting on something trashy and completely changing who you are to attract a man that is clearly beneath you. It's what Sandy would do!


80s BAND BERLIN HAS A NEW ALBUM OUT....AND IT'S AWESOME! READ AND LISTEN.

Berlin was a pioneering electro-pop band. It wasn't called "electro-pop" then, it was called New Wave, but they were still what I just said, so calm down, beyotch. They started gaining their initial momentum in 1980 when 19-year old Terri Nunn and the boys released the controversial prototype for all slut songs, Sex (I'm A...) and followed it up with the EP Pleasure Victim (I TOTALLY CAN with that title). The songs that followed rocked the dance floors around the world and lit up a new little channel you might know as MTV (yes, they used to show videos); The Metro, Masquerade, No More Words (my fave). The band found its biggest hit, and eventually its downfall, with a song from the Top Gun Soundtrack, Take My Breath Away. That song, written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock, was a monster hit all over the world, reaching #1 on Billboard Hot 100 and winning an Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. It was also such a powerful love song that it got known lesbians Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis to crave opposite genitals in the movie!! The band was very split on the success of TMBA. Lead singer Terri thought of it as a way to reach a wider audience and wanted to use that to catapult the band to greater success, but the rest of the band resented it as it was not written by them. Eventually the tension and the failure of the follow up album, Count Three & Pray, lead to the dissolution of the band. Terri released some solo work, but never quite found her place in the market. Flash forward to 2000 and the band reunites on VH1's Bands Reunited (what a clever name, huh?) and start touring again. They opened for INXS and did shows around the world. Now it's 2013 and they are back with an awesome electro-pop record that takes them right back to their roots. Animal is made for the clubs. Sure, there are a couple of ballads thrown in for good measure, but the majority of the album is full throttle dance. Terri is in MORE than fine voice and still looking pretty hot as well. Animal available on iTunes HERE and you can listen to the remix of the title track below. Check out the album and maybe click on the links on the songs above and check out some the old songs you know and love by Berlin while you're at it. Enjoy!!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

MADONNA FINALLY REVEALS HER SECRET PROJECT REVOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

WARNING: THE VIDEO POSTED BELOW CONTAINS VIOLENCE AND DISTURBING
IMAGERY. Madonna has been teasing a "secretprojectrevolution" for months on social media and now we have the full seventeen-minute film that, in Madonna's words is, "an online global initiative to further freedom of expression … to respond, address and pretext persecution around the world." Madonna worked with famed photographer Steven Klein and Vice Media to produce this in conjunction with Art for Freedom. The film, shot in stunning black and white, starts with Madonna behind bars and moves to her going on  a violent shooting rampage accompanied by canned applause.  It addresses apathy, intolerance, desperation, poverty, discrimination and bigotry and our responsibility as human beings, and artists,  to help and change. There are several amazing dancers that perform during the spoken word. There are audio clips of Madonna talking taken from her MDNA World Tour and snippets of her singing My Country, 'Tis of Thee. It's a truly beautiful video with a great message. SecretProjectRevolution can be seen in it's entirety below. You can join the revolution by clicking HERE. Watch Madonna's interview with Vice HERE. And, as always, it must be noted that Madonna looks FIERCE!!!! OH! Also watch Madonna singing a live cover of Elliot Smith's Between the Bars at the premiere party last night HERE

HUMPDAY SEXY SONG: CHANGE - LISA STANSFIELD

Sexy, sultry voiced Lisa Stansfield made a splash for the first time in the US back in 1989 with her worldwide smash  All Around the World, but perhaps her sexiest song and came in 1991 with Change. The song sounds like Sade and Barry White had a baby and it didn't turn out fat. Yay! It is pure R&B pop, oozing with sex and Lisa's voice is like boy butter AND she's never looked better, IMO. So listen to Change, your Humpday Sexy Song and keep your hands where your boss can see them.


 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

THE #1 SONG 13 YEARS AGO TODAY WAS.....

....Music by Madonna. Madonna was high on her upward career momentum from Ray of Light when she
released follow up album and single Music in 2000. Released in late August 2000, the song was a return to old school, dance Madonna and was embraced by fans (re: gays) immediately and raced up the charts, becoming her 12th #1 song and a staple of her concert performances ever since. Music also reached #1 in 25 countries total. So there. In the video Madonna and close friends Niki Harris and Debi Mazar are rolling in a limo driven by Ali G. (Sacha Baron Cohen) on their way to a strip club and drinking champagne. There is an animated section of the song that was added because Madonna was several months pregnant with her second child, Rocco, at the time and couldn't do any stunts. Of course, there was controversy surrounding the use of strippers and porn stars, but Madonna was just proving a point by doing what the boys were doing in their videos, so suck it! Music spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and infinity in my heart and bootie. Enjoy the early 2000's with Madonna and make the people come together.

REVIEW: CHER - CLOSER TO THE TRUTH

NO ONE CAN JUDGE CHER!!! I would like to start this review with that simple statement FACT. Cher is a living legend, a diva, a goddess and an American treasure. Cher is the leading cause of gay freak-outs in the world. Cher is Cher. Back with her 26th studio album, Closer To The Truth, Cher is in full dance diva mode. With a little help from Paul Oakendfeld, Timbaland (among others) on production and Pink and Bonnie McKee (among others) on songwriting, Cher has managed to once again put together a great album full of up-to-date music with that special Cher twist. (It's hard to write a single sentence in a blog about Cher without writing her name, obvi). This Cher album is in its highest gear on club bangers like first single Woman's World, album stand out Take It Like a Man (featuring Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears) and the anthemic My Love.  Cher enlists Pink's songwriting talents on stomper I Walk Alone, which comes with not only beats but banjo! Cher and a banjo. Enough said. Of course, it wouldn't be a Cher album without some good old fashioned emoting, so our lady does not disappoint with ballads like the soaring, guitar heavy Sirens,  second single I Hope You Find It and another Pink offering Lie To Me, which also features her vocals. Guys, c'mon. This is Cher. CHER! Get out there and listen to this album or I will remove your face. She's been in it to win it for all of her 67 years and you owe her. Watch the video for Woman's World below and get ready cuz CHER IS GOING ON TOUR IN 2014 WITH HER DRESSED TO KILL TOUR!!!!  CHER.

Monday, September 23, 2013

HAPPY MONDAY SONG: SUDDENLY MONDAY - MELANIE C.

Did you guys see the Emmys last night? If so, you are probably still sad. It was the most depressing awards show of ALL TIME!! There was an "In Memoriam" every 10 minutes and Carrie Underwood sang Yesterday by the Beatles as a tribute The Beatles, television in general, and JFK's assassination . What? Why? Elton John also sang a tribute to Liberace that had exactly zero things to do with Liberace and Neil Patrick Harris seemed to be aggressively trying to never be asked to host anything ever again. Sad face. If you were fresh out of fucks to give about The Emmys, then you won't NEED this Happy Monday Song, but you might enjoy it anyway. Melancie C, a.k.a. Sporty Spice, recorded  Suddenly Monday for her 1999 debut solo album Northern Star, but it was never released as a single. A throwback to those glittery songs of the 60s like Happy Together or God Only Knows, this song ALWAYS puts a smile on my face. There was no video for Suddenly Monday, but that's okay, just listen to it and make your Monday a better place, y'all.

Friday, September 20, 2013

MADONNA FRIDAY: JUSTIFY MY LOVE: MDNA TOUR VIDEO

Here is 55 year old Madonna looking better than any of us have the possibility of looking on our best day ever. To be fair, she was only 54 when she made this video, so...... Madonna's MDNA Tour was, of course, the top grossing tour of 2012 and the second highest grossing tour by a female artist of all time, behind her own Sticky & Sweet Tour, and yours wasn't. It was crazy good, y'all. I saw it at Yankee Stadium and it blew my wad mind. Here is little video interlude that she showed while taking one of her few, short breaks from dancing her ass off on stage. Justify My Love, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the song (a.k.a. soulless Cretans) is Madge's #1 song from 1990 and it appeared on her first greatest hits album The Immaculate Collection. Fun fact: that album is the only reason why I know how to spell "immaculate". Of course the video is legendary; banned by MTV for sexual content and the first video single ever released. Here she is, 22 years later, updating that performance and looking damn good while doing it. The MDNA World Tour is now available on iTunes in both video and audio format. Get it! Happy Madonna Friday!!!


Thursday, September 19, 2013

NEW SOLANGE VIDEO: LOVERS IN THE PARKING LOT

It's fashion, darlings! Unlike Beyonce, who consistently wears curtains as a fashion statement, Solange, her younger sister, has established herself as quite the ultra-cool, young fashionista. With the third single and video from her craze-mazing EP, True, (Losing You blew my mind back in October 2012 and my fave Looks Good With Trouble in May 2013) Solange works it in a pawn shop after hours in various cool-as-shit outfits and perfects the chasse to the tune of her new single Lovers In The Parking Lot. How everyone in the world doesn't own this EP is beyond me. C'MON, FOLKS! Get onboard the Solange train. Watch the video, buy the album, be cool like me. It's that simple.

NEW SCARY SPICE! YEP, YOU READ THAT RIGHT...AND IT'S PRETTY GOOD, Y'ALL!

Has your life felt spice-less lately? Well, get ready for a jolt of old-school girl power goodness. Mel B, aka Melanie Brown, aka Melanie B, aka Scary Spice is back with a brand new, pulsating single, For Once In My Life. You guys, it's good!! With a beat that would make Chris Brown happy (get it...beat...Chris Brown) and campy-ass video (she strips and kisses her clone) that features her ample jugs throughout, Scary has a hit a club hit on her hands. Best of all, unlike a lot of pop divas these days (I won't mention any names...cough, cough...Britney) the song has actual lyrics AND a melody. Good for you, Spice Girl. I can't find any info on whether or not Brown's third album is on the way. Her first album, the excellent Hot came out in 2000, and the follow up, L.A. State of Mind, came out in 2005. Anyhoozers, watch Melanie shake her melons for three-and-a-half minutes below and dance around like it's 1998. Oh, and she's on America's Got Talent because...well....everyone else has been, so why not?

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

MILEY CYRUS VAULTS 21 SPOT TO TAKE HER FIRST #1 WITH WRECKING BALL

Woot! Miley Cyrus had ridden that date-raped piece of hardware in her new video Wrecking Ball straight to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her naked object-ophile video (which I like, for the record) has been seen over 120 MILLION times since its release only nine days ago and,  for better or worse, since youtube views are now counted on the Hot 100, Miley is on top, bitches!! I personally really like the song and think it deserves props. Miley's album, Bangerz (I can't with the "z") is due October 8th. Here is Miley rubbing where her bathing suit covers all over a giant testicle because why? SHE CAN!! Deal with it.


KATY PERRY RELEASES NEW SINGLE, DARK HORSE, CHOSEN BY FANS

If you click the link below you can listen to the next offering by Katy Perry,  her second single from the forthcoming album Prism, out October 22nd. The single, Dark Horse, was previewed and picked by fans to become Katy's next radio chart topper (probably). Juciy J guests on the track and it is completely different from lead single, the IMO underwhelming Roar, and more in the style of previous hit E.T. Let's hope the video is better too! Anyhoo, click the link below and enjoy Dark Horse. Click below!!

DHKP by kingknights

LADY GAGA SINGING TITLE SONG FROM "ARTPOP" AT iTUNES FESTIVAL

Depending on who you talk to, Lady Gaga's iTunes Festival performance was either amazing or a total self-indulgent mess. I am somewhere in the middle. Since the first time I saw Gaga perform at the tiny, intimate space at Terminal 5 just a couple of months after her first #1 single, my only complaint about her concerts is her LONG LONG LONG-ASS monologues between songs. I like a little banter, but C'MON, GURL! Give me a song at least every hour on the hour. Ha. I love her though, don't get me wrong. Her performance kicked off the iTunes festival with no old hits but 8 brand new songs from her upcoming ARTPOP album, and the songs themselves sound pretty promising.....not super commercial, but promising. Gaga changed on stage several times (taking her sweet ass time), wore her own hair for a while (a short black bob, BTWs) and sang songs about sex, love, drugs and being yourself. This song in particular, the title track, really caught my ear balls. It's got a Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, industrial kind of feel to it and I think it'll be a hit. Check out ARTPOP below and, if you are curious, go HERE to check out Gaga's full festival performance. There's even an app for that!!!

Friday, September 13, 2013

ICONA POP'S NEW VIDEO CELEBRATES DRAG BALL CULTURE! WATCH "ALL NIGHT"

Icona Pop are not ready to rest on the monster success of I Love It, their long-time-coming smash hit. They are back with All Night, and  are enlisting the help of the drag elite for their video. If you have ever seen the amazing documentary Paris is Burning (if you're gay and you haven't, shame on you! It's on Netlix) then you are familiar with the hard work and glamour that goes along with these lovely creatures in the world of drag ball culture. This is a nice little tribute to them. By the way, the guy who is speaking on the couch in the beginning is named Jose Xtranaganza, or as he's identified at the end of the video Father Jose, and he was one of Madonna main dancers during her Vogue/Blond Ambition Tour era and helped her learn to vogue. See him  HERE!!!! Watch and love.

JIMMY KIMMEL TRICKS THE FASHION ELITE INTO LYING! WATCH AND LAUGH.

HA!! I love when people are forced to talk about something they know nothing about....especially when it's completely made up!! Jimmy Kimmel sent his crew to New York Fashion Week with a bunch of made up designer names and fooled the in-the-know folks to talk....well....lie about them. Hilarity ensues. My favorite is the guy talking about Asian style when asked about the collection by Purina Chow. GOLD!!! I actually get it. You are at an event in your industry and someone sticks a camera in your face and asks you a question. You can't say, "DUH, I don't know," so you L-I-E! Still........ Watch and laugh, peeps.

  

Thursday, September 12, 2013

HELP SAVE MY FRIEND'S LIFE! SHE NEEDS YOUR HELP.

One of my friends and one of the most compassionate, beautiful souls you will every meet, Andrea Sloan, of Austin, Texas is in the fight of her life against ovarian cancer and needs your help to obtain compassionate use of a drug that is available, FDA approved and her doctor wants her to have. The problem? The company, BioMarin, is not giving her permission to use it. Please watch the story below, join her FaceBook page  HERE , her twitter account HERE and tweet #BMN673 to support her effort to obtain this lifesaving drug. She is an attorney who provides PRO BONO work to women who are the victims of domestic violence though the Texas Advocacy Project. I mean, come one!! This woman is EVERYTHING! She loves horses, she loves Bon Jovi. Good lord, what else do you need to know? HELP HER!!!!!! Please, help her. Sign the petition HERE!!!!!!


REVIEW: GOLDFRAPP - TALES OF US

Goldfrapp is one of the best groups EVS!!! No doubt. If you don't agree, you can't hear music. It's not at the right frequency for your ear holes. On their sixth album, Tales of Us, Alison and Will  create an album that is a tapestry of sound and emotion, weaving tales and evoking emotion that is pure beauty. Leaving behind the 80s synth pop of their last effort, 2010's amazing Head First, Goldfrapp head straight into orchestral territory with full force. From the opening (and really only detectable) synth of Jo, Goldfrapp paints an aural landscape that tells the story of ten people, one whom is a Stranger.. It's not clear on all the tracks if the songs were inspired by the actual person to which the title refers, but some of the songs are based on people and events, like the amazing closing track Clay, which was inspired by a real letter written by a WWII soldier to his dead same-sex lover. (sigh and cry) Annabel is based on a novel of the same name by Kathleen Winter about a little girl born in the body of a boy. Simone tells the story of a woman who catches her lover in bed with her daughter. ESCANDALO!! As usual, the lyrics to the songs of Goldfrapp belie the music. The videos released so far for the sumptuous Drew and the mesmerizing Annabel are directed by Alison's partner Lisa Gunning and are perfect depictions of the songs. (Watch below) The songs are all pretty mellow, building wonderfully in most cases. Those looking for the beats Goldfrapp provides on other albums, like Head First or Supernature, will not have a lot to hang their raver glasses on her, but Thea pounds along at a pretty good pace if your looking to add to your "molly" mix from this album. Tales of Us can most readily be compared to their fucking BRILLIANT 2008 effort Seventh Tree (one of my favorite albums of all time) and their game-changing 2000 debut Felt Mountain. I just saw Goldfrapp perform this album on Tuesday  night (September 10th) at The Beacon in NYC and it was so great I didn't even get up to pee in the middle of it........and I pee A LOT. So if that's not a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is, y'all! Tales of Us is available on iTunes now and for the super fans you can pre-order the box set which will include a digital copy, a CD, a vinyl copy, a book and a DVD of video clips for every song which hits in November. Anyhoo, watch the videos below and blow your load mind. Enjoy and buy this album...like...yesterday.
Goldfrapp - Drew from Mute on Vimeo.

Goldfrapp - Annabel from Mute on Vimeo.

LEAVE MILEY ALONE: IN DEFENSE OF THE WRECKING BALL VIDEO

Seriously, folks. Yes, Miley Cyrus is naked in her new video for the excellent new single Wrecking Ball. Everyone point at the whore and faint. That's sarcasm. I get it. Miley was Hannah Montana (which I coudln't with) a few years ago and now she's not. SHE'S A WOMAN! Does everyone have Alzheimer's by the way? Have we completely forgotten that Janet Jackson was naked in her Everytime video in 1998? Alanis Morissette in her Thank U video in 1998? (big year for nudity) Britney Spears in her Womanizer video in 2008? And of course countless videos by men have featured naked women. Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines being a recent example of rape-iness.. Don't get me started on why Miley took the heat for the VMA performance while Robin got off (pun intended) scot-free. IMO this video does the nudity in a very artistic way and Miley looks great! She is expressing herself and growing up, just like every artist before her. Let's let Miley leave her Disney past (Disney has) and move on with her freakin' life, folks. In the meantime, everybody kiss a cross and watch the video below if your pure heart and eyes can handle it. I am totes obsessed with this song, BTW.

I'M BACK!

After many months away, I have finally re-ignited (if you will) my passion for pop culture! New albums coming soon, controversial artists and sassiness, in general, abound. So look out, world! Here I come!!! (cricket........cricket.........cricket)