Music News

Records from Bob Dylan, Sex Pistols and Lou Reed are among those inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The 'Like a Rolling Stone' singer's iconic 1975 LP 'Blood on the Tracks' is one of 27 recordings deemed to have sufficient "qualitative or historical importance" to be a new inductee into the Recording Academy's hall, which aims to continue "the tradition of preserving and celebrating timeless recordings".
Sex Pistols' seminal 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols' album and Lou's 1972 single 'Walk on the Wild Side' also earned places in the hall, as did Chic's 1978 hit 'Le Freak', Neil Young's 1972 album 'Harvest', and ABBA's Dancing Queen' from 1978.
Alice Cooper's 'School's Out' from 1972, Otis Redding's 1966 track 'Try A Little Tenderness', Kraftwerk's 'Autobahn; LP and Leonard Cohen' 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' were also selected by a committee for a place in the hall - which preserves recordings at least 25 years old - bringing the total number of honoured records to 987.
Two recordings of 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' - a 1909 version from Fisk Jubilee Singers and Paul Robeson's from 1926 - were chosen for preservation.
President and CEO of The Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, said of the collection: "With recordings dating as early as 1909 through the late '80s, this year's Grammy Hall Of Fame entries not only represent a diverse collection of influential and historically significant recordings but also reflect the changing climate of music through the decades.
"These memorable, inspiring and iconic recordings are proudly added to our growing catalogue - knowing that they have become a part of our musical, social, and cultural history."

2015 Recording Academy Hall of Fame inductees:
'Autobahn' (1974), Kraftwerk
'Big Girls Don't Cry' (1962), The Four Seasons
'Blood on the Tracks (1975), Bob Dylan
'The Bridge' (1962), Sonny Rollins
'Calypso' (1956), Harry Belafonte
'Dancing Queen' (1976), ABBA
'Harvest' (1972), Neil Young
'Honky Tonkin' (1947), Hank Williams and His Drifting Cowboys
'I Fought the Law' (1965), Bobby Fuller Four
'Jitterbug Waltz' (1942), "Fats" Waller, His Rhythm and His Orchestra
'John Prine' (1971), John Prine
'Le Freak' (1978), Chic
'Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols' (1977), Sex Pistols
'Nick of Time' (1989), Bonnie Raitt
'Rescue Me' (1965), Fontella Bass
'San Antonio Rose' (1939), Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
'School's Out' (1972), Alice Cooper
'The Shape of Jazz to Come' (1959), Ornette Coleman
'Sixty Minute Man' (1951), The Dominoes
'Songs of Leonard Cohen' (1967), Leonard Cohen
'Stand!' (1969), Sly and the Family Stone
'Stardust' (1978), Willie Nelson
'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' (1909), Fisk Jubilee Singers
'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' (1926), Paul Robeson
'Tell It Like It Is' (1966), Aaron Neville
'Try a Little Tenderness' (1966), Otis Redding
'Walk on the Wild Side' (1972), Lou Reed

Kasabian's ambition is to headline a gig at Wembley Stadium in London.
The rock band, who formed in 1997 and includes Tom Meighan, Sergio Pizzorno, Chris Edwards and Ian Matthews, played at Glastonbury earlier this year and they now have their sights set on playing at major outdoor stadiums.
Sergio said: "In a stadium, half the people aren't really in the mix because they're sitting down.
"I suppose there's some weird Britpop hangover ingrained in my soul that strives to make outsider music and take it to Wembley."
Speaking to NME, he added that the band are "ready" for the challenge of playing a such big venues, having grown their fanbase over time.
Sergio reflected: "We are ready for Wembley. In fact, that's the next step: Wembley and Murrayfield, and then beyond. It's stadium time. It has to be."
This comes shortly after the band's frontman Tom Meighan said that they "deserve" their success.
He remarked: "Glastonbury was unbelievable, because we deserved that. We're proud pioneers.
"We deserve everything we f***ing get.
"We've worked so hard, me and my best friend [guitarist Serge Pizzorno] here, since we were f***ing babies, when we were 17 and we gave our lives to rock 'n' roll. Not many people can say that can they?"

Green Day, Ringo Starr and Lou Reed are among the artists who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year.
The 'Basket Case' hitmakers will be enshrined at the 30th annual induction ceremony at Cleveland's Public Hall in Ohio on April 18, 2015 and frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, 42, admitted he "had to go for a walk" when he first heard the news.
He told Rolling Stone magazine: "We're in incredible company and I'm still trying to make sense of this. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has always held something special for me because my heroes were in there. This is a great time for us to sort of reflect and look back with gratitude."
The hall also announced on Tuesday (16.12.14) that it will also honour Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and 'Ain't No Sunshine' hitmaker Bill Withers, who hasn't released new music in nearly three decades.
The late poet of the New York underground Lou Reed, who died in October 2013 due to complications from a liver transplant, is already in the hall as a member of the Velvet Underground, but will be inducted again.
Other posthumous inductees will include Blues guitarist Paul Butterfield, who died from an accidental overdose in 1987, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, who died in a helicopter crash in 1990.
Meanwhile, drummer Ringo will be the fourth former Beatle enshrined as an individual and will receive a special award for musical excellence.
The former gospel group "5" Royals will also be inducted in the early influence category.
The inductees were chosen by a vote of more than 700 artists, historians and music industry representatives.
Artists only become eligible 25 years after the release of their first album or single.
Public tickets to the event go on sale Thursday (18.12.14) and the hall will open a new exhibit dedicated to the 2015 inductees.

The Who have postponed the final shows of their 'Who Hits 50' UK tour because Roger Daltrey has a throat infection.
The legendary British group, who were due to perform two sell out concerts at The O2 Arena in London this week, have announced they've rescheduled the dates for next year after the 70-year-old rocker was "ordered to rest his voice."
A spokesperson for the group said: "On medical advice singer Roger Daltrey has been ordered to rest his voice due to a throat infection. The band and their management wish to sincerely apologise to all ticket holders for the inconvenience and disappointment this has caused."
The group's December 17 concert has been moved to March 22, 2015, while their December 18 date has been moved to March 23, 2015.
All original tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled dates.
The rockers released 'Be Lucky' - their first new song in eight years - earlier this year, and Roger recently confirmed they're working on new material.
He said: "It's 50 years on and we have passed the audition. We've done one song and we are going to do a whole album. It's exciting."
The London-born singer, who founded the iconic group, also admitted being in the band is very different these days.
He said: "It's not as rock and roll, it could never be as rock and roll because we are older.
"There's drugs but they are just different - it's now all Imodium and those types."

Lady Gaga is trying to find the basis for "the torture of the artist".
The 28-year-old singer has been enjoying some time off after finishing her 'ArtRave: The Artpop Ball' world and has been getting philosophical about what the source of her internal angst is.
Gaga has deduced it comes from her constantly looking forward to the next scene in her life.
In a post on her Instagram and Twitter accounts, she wrote: "My life feels like a movie in slow motion. And as I try to live in the moment and be mindful I realise I'm writing the script to the next scene. Is this the source of the torture of the artist? We must be inspired by nature and yet we are constantly synthesizing it so do we ever live it? Or are we always writing it's next great fantasy?"
Gaga believes all artists could be trying to "play God" by creating their own world.
She added: "Are we playing God? Because certainly it would be foolish to think one could create something more beautiful than nature itself."
When she hasn't been philosophising, the pop superstar has been spending her festive break decorating her Christmas tree, doing yoga and cooking meals for her and her boyfriend Taylor Kinney.
Gaga has also recorded and released the classic Christmas song 'Winter Wonderland' with Tony Bennett - who she collaborated with on their hit album 'Cheek To Cheek'.

Nile Rodgers says The Beatles changed his life.
The 62-year-old musician has revealed the Beatles track 'A Day in the Life' was the first song he played on the guitar, and prompted him to take up a career in music.
He said: "The first song I ever learned to play was a Beatles song called 'A Day In The Life'. That changed the whole course of my entire career."
The star - who is best known for his tracks with Chic including 'Everybody Dance' and 'Le Freak' - also revealed he still doesn't feel fully confident in his musical ability, despite having so much success during his extensive career, and typically assumes people won't like his songs.
He said: "I don't go into a project assuming that it's going to be a hit. I go into a project assuming it's going to be a failure and then do everything in my power to try and help people hear the music."
The Grammy Award winner has worked with Avicii, Disclosure and Sam Smith in the past few years, as well as contributing to the worldwide hit 'Get Lucky' by Daft Punk, but said he's very selective about who he works with because he wants to be able to learn things from his collaborators.
Speaking about the type of artists he chooses to work with, he told Popjustice.com: "People that I admire, respect and people that I believe that I'm going to learn from. I always go into a situation feeling highly confident I am going to teach them something and it really doesn't matter whether its Placido Domingo or Avicii, I believe that if I don't have something to offer you, why do you use me?
"If I can't give you something new then why do you need me? I always believe in working with somebody who is going to teach me something."

Beyoncé is being sued by a Hungarian singer for allegedly using a sample from her song for her hit 'Drunk In Love'.
Monika Miczura, also known as Mitsou, has reportedly served a lawsuit to the R&B superstar for sampling her 1995 track 'Bajba Bajba Pelem' on a version of her single, without getting permission.
The lawsuit says: "Mitsou's voice was sampled and digitally manipulated without her permission.
"[The sampling is used] to evoke foreign eroticism alongside the sexually intense lyrics performed by Beyoncé and Jay Z in 'Drunk in Love.'"
The Grammy-nominated track - which also features Beyoncé's husband Jay Z rapping - features on the singer's self-titled fifth studio album which was released last year, and despite being available for the last 12 months, the angry musician wants damages and has requested for the song to be banned until her voice is removed.
Later in the lawsuit, the Hungarian Roma singer's lawyers explain how her voice has been illegally used throughout a considerable portion of the track.
It reads: "In the video, Mitsou's solo vocal introduction follows 57 seconds of a cinematic, intimate scene of beach at night. Following Mitsou's stirring featured solo vocal introduction, Mitsou's voice continues to sing as Beyoncé begins to sing.
"All together, Mitsou's vocals are featured for over one-and-a-half minutes of the five-and-one-half minute song. Mitsou has never signed any documents that would permit anyone to use her voice for advertising or trade purposes."
The news comes just a week after a lawsuit against Jay Z was thrown out of court, following TufAmerica's claims the 45-year-old rapper had used an uncleared single word sample from Eddie Bo's 1969 song 'Hook & Sling Part 1' in his 2009 hit 'Run This Town'.

Britney Spears has teamed up with Iggy Azalea.
The 'Toxic' hitmaker - who is currently in the middle of her two-year residency show 'Britney: Piece of Me' at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas - will release the "undeniably great" track with the Aussie-born star early next year.
Iggy, 24, confirmed the news to the Daily Star newspaper: "We have a song which is going to be her first single coming out next year. It's undeniably great. It's a really fun track."
Britney - who is currently working on her ninth studio album - has previously expressed her desire to work with the 'Fancy' singer, as well as 'Roar' hitmaker Katy Perry.
She said: "I would love [to work with] Katy Perry, I would love to do something with her. And Iggy."
The currently unnamed track will be the 33-year-old's singer's first offering since the release of her eighth studio album 'Britney Jean' which, despite spawning the hit singles 'Alien' and 'Work Bitch', became her lowest-selling record of all time.
She also hinted that fans should expect a change of direction with the new record, steering away from her trademark pop sound, saying: "I want to do something very artsy fartsy, something I've never done before.
"Even if it's just take a left lane and go for a little bit of rock or rock-pop. Just do something that's kind of out there and different."

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