Monday, November 2, 1998
Make sure you participate in the 4th Annual Chart Magazine Readers' Poll! Click HERE to check out the categories, and submit your picks...the poll appears in the October issue of Chart (with Marilyn Manson on the cover), and the results will be in the upcoming year-end issue!
If you're in a band and have a website you want listed in ChartAttack, go HERE and fill out the form. You've never seen anything like this...we promise!
TODAY'S TOP 4 HEADLINES:
Nettwerk Records once again find themselves on the verge of a
lawsuit, this time involving a Vancouver producer and a young Sarah
McLachlan. Darryl Neudorf, a recording engineer and one-time
drummer for 54-40 is the plaintiff in the case. He is seeking
damages for a number of offences, including copyright infringement, breach
of fiduciary duty and a share in royalties. The debate stems from the 1988
recording sessions for McLachlan's debut album Touch, which Neudorf
was hired to participate in. He claims that his services were secured by
Nettwerk with respect to polishing off Sarah's songwriting ideas, as the
then-19-year-old had not written a complete song alone. However, Neudorf
says that in an attempt to establish Sarah as a capable newcomer in the
industry, he was not given songwriting credit for his role in the final
versions of several songs.
According to standard industry royalty rates, each song on an album
roughly translates into 7 cents in earnings. Neudorf is looking for a share
of the royalties from each of the over 500,000 copies Touch has sold
worldwide since its release. The judge in the case is expected to listen
to McLachlan's very early demos of the songs that eventually appeared on
the album, then listen for the differences in the final versions which
Neudorf worked on and allegedly contributed to. Among the songs in
question are "Vox" (McLachlan's first single and subsequent first
hit), "Steaming" (another single) and "Sad Clown". Nettwerk,
who is named in the suit alongside its owners, the publishing wing and
McLachlan herself are expected to refute his claims by using expert
witnesses in the field of musicology to challenge the weight of his role.
More to follow...
Alanis Morissette, Canada's biggest musical export this side of
Celine Dion, returned home last night to promote the release of her
new album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie via a special
Intimate & Interactive performance live on MuchMusic. The usual
assembly of record industry kids, fans from around the world and screaming
sidewalk-fillers came out on the chilly November night. They were all
there to see the woman who had left us as a badly choreographed
teeny-bopper and returned as conquering hero, having now famously sold
nearly thirty million copies of Jagged Little Pill.
After an hour long preshow, Alanis appeared in the environment and
immediately led her band through four songs from the new album. Wearing a
peasant dress over a pair of jeans, and with her long brown hair all
a-tangle, Alanis looked less the pop-star and more like a cross between
Janis Joplin and an Enviromental Studies major. Flailing her arms as
she sang, and stutter-stepping rather than dancing, Morissette belted out
the tunes with a surprisingly strong voice that never cracked as she wailed
her way up and down the scales. With the help of a remarkably tight
supporting band, songs characterized on the album by low-energy, low-volume
intimacy were rocked up for the live show, with standouts including "Are
You Still Mad", "Would Not Come" and the current single
"Thank U".
Only two numbers from Jagged Little Pill made the setlist
("All I Really Want", and "Ironic"); Alanis seemed determined
not to ride the coat-tails of her previous success, devoting her
performance time to the new stuff instead. As for the "Interactive"
portion of the evening, Alanis seemed at times bored by the (often inane)
questions from the viewing public, at one point answering a question about
"so-called girl power" with as little thought as possible 'I think girl
power, and boy power...it's all just power' or words to that effect. A
strong show regardless, with a surprisingly good performance from Ottawa's
pride and joy. Alanis seems more interested these days in being a loud
version of Ani DiFranco than a loud version of Lisa Loeb. If
smart music fans are willing to forgive her for being so damn popular, they
may be surprised to find that she's actually really quite good. (Story
filed by Chart's Sean K. Robb)
With their current Canadian tour just underway, 54-40 have
announced their plans to release a live greatest hits-style package
exclusively through the band's website. Each show on the "An Evening With
54-40" Tour is being recorded to cull material for this upcoming album,
which fans will be able to order from www.5440.com upon its completion. In a
press release about the live disc, 54-40's manager Allen Moy said
"We felt there was a tremendous opportunity to embrace new technology,
explore new distribution channels and also offer our very dedicated online
community something unique and exclusive from the band." The website is
updated daily, with photos from each show and tour diaries written by the
group, not to mention a comprehensive written and pictorial band history,
lyrics, contests and much more. Check it out, and head over to
ChartAttack's On The Road Again section for a look at
when 54-40 play your town this month!
A Canadian band called Battery who cut their chops as a
Metallica tribute band have been selected by their heroes to open
all five shows on the upcoming Garage Inc. North American tour. The
concerts are being held in smaller venues than fans are used to seeing
Metallica perform in. Battery will play Metallica originals during their
opening slot set, after which Metallica will play nothing but other
people's songs (Garage Inc. is a 2-CD set of covers). According to
the members of Battery themselves, they were contacted during a stop in
Alabama last month and informed that Metallica had specifically asked for
them to join the tour. There was some initial confusion, because Battery
also go by the name of Disaster Area, the forum for their original
songs. They assumed that Metallica were looking for Disaster Area to open
the tour, but were quickly apprised of the tour's purpose as a night for
Metallica to hammer out some of their fave covers, and thereby thought it
would be fun to have another band provide the audience with Metallica
originals. The dates for the Garage Inc. tour are as follows:
- November 17 Toronto, ON
- November 19 Chicago, IL
- November 20 Detroit, MI
- November 23 Philadelphia, PA
- November 24 New York City, NY
Tickets for the Toronto show will go on sale Wedensday, November 4 at
noon from all Ticketmaster outlets for $45.00 (tax included). The gig is
at The Warehouse, which is a serious step down capacity-wise from their
summer appearance at the Molson Amphitheatre. There is a four ticket per
person limit, and a random wristband policy is in effect. Garage
Inc. hits stores November 24.
NINETEEN WHEELS, BEN FOLDS FIVE, AGENTS OF GODD ROOTS, LUCINDA
WILLIAMS ONLINE
Tonight on JamTV, Nineteen
Wheels (8:00pm) and Agents Of Good Roots (9:00pm) shows are
broadcast, and a backstage interview with Ben Folds Five airs
betwixt (8:35pm). Over on www.liveconcerts.com, a live
Lucinda Williams show airs at 9:30pm. All times are EST.
k.d. lang, SUZANNE VEGA, BEASTIE BOYS, RADIOHEAD, 54-40, DEPECHE
MODE, JOHN MELLENCAMP, WORLD PARTY ON THE TUBE
Today's TV listings, for your VCR-programming pleasure:
- k.d. lang -Profiles (3:00pm, Bravo)
- Suzanne Vega - Saturday Night Live (3:00pm, Comedy Network)
- Beastie Boys - Spotlight (7:00pm/11:30pm, MuchMusic)
- Radiohead - Eurokeennes Live (9:00pm, Much)
- 54-40 - Open Mike With Mike Bullard (10:00pm, Comedy; 12:30am CTV)
- Depeche Mode - David Letterman (11:35pm, CBS)
- John Mellencamp - Jay Leno (11:35pm, NBC)
- World Party - Saturday Night Live (midnight, Comedy)
All times are EST. For the ultimate guide to music on television, check
out Rock on TV.
D.A.M.N. is compiled by Mike McCann most of the time.
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Mike McCann is a DJ, writer and music fanatic who climbed the ladder from college radio to a major label weasel, and now has come to rest happily at Chart. He loves Depeche Mode, The Wonder Stuff, Monty Python, calamari, and he's awfully fond of the Stretcha, too. He's also been known to mangle great songs live with understanding bands who keep letting him get up to sing 'em...stupid bastards.
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"They should fuck off - and whoever signed them should get shot as well."
-- Jungle star Goldie speaks his mind about labelmates Rammstein, who have been criticized for their use of Nazi imagery in a new video. (as quoted in New Musical Express)
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