Every generation makes the same claim - that the music of the generation following it is somehow worse. However, nobody's ever put that claim to the test. Until now.

A recent paper (titled "Measuring the Evolution of Contemporary Western Popular Music") performed statistical analysis of 464,411 distinct music recordings (dating from 1955 to 2010 ( Read more... )

News today that the Compact Disc may be on the way out. Industry insiders claim that all of the major labels plan to abandon the format for digital downloads by the end of 2012, a move that probably makes brilliant fiscal sense to them but will pretty much kill HMV among other such chains unless they can evolve very quickly into something else ( Read more... )

Want to keep your kid from going "Emo"? According to a new study, take away their iPod and give them a book or ten. Maybe. the cause-and-effect relationship is not clear, but it does seem that those listening to the most music were over 8 times as likely to be depressed, while those reading the most books were 10 times less likely to be ( Read more... )

So, remember that ice cream parlour that was busted for making ice cream using human milk? Seems they have an even bigger problem now - Lady Gaga is objecting to the name "Baby Gaga" that the ice cream parlour had bestowed on their product, presumably because it's similar to her own name ( Read more... )

Okay, so the Spiderman musical is supposed to open soon, but the reviewers have not been kind so far. Maybe they need something else, instead. Like, say, a Predator musical???

(Warning, profanities in the video, don't listen at work with the speakers cranked up.)

Activision Blizzard has announced that development of Guitar Hero has been discontinued and the business unit disbanded. This leaves Rock Band pretty much as the lone contender in the once-profitable "rhythm game" category.

Music industry sales have been in the doldrums for the better part of a decade, and industry executives have unfailingly blamed The Internet and its rampant pirates. However, a new study suggests that this isn't the case - of the 10,000 most popular files being shared on BitTorrent, music comprised just 2.9%, with porn, non-porn films, and ( Read more... )

Police in the UK are using thermal imaging to look for "hot spots" which could indicate that cannabis is being grown in a residence or other building. Sounds like a good idea, right? Well, maybe not. Seems one of their recent raids turned up a pair of guinea pigs in a garden shed, together with a space heater to keep them warm, and not an ounce ( Read more... )

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Wikipedia has an interesting (and possibly even factual) writeup on the song as well.

It was 35 years ago today that "The Witch of November came stealin'". Today is the 35th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. When I get to someplace that allows me to access Youtube (stupid work firewalls), I'll try to post a video of Gordon Lightfoot's haunting song of the same name.