• Young Thug, Lil Wayne, Travis Barker and More: Face and Head Tattoos in Music

    Young Thug shocked the world when he revealed that he had gotten an ice cream cone tattooed on his face in tribute to Gucci Mane. "Shocked" might be a bit of a stretch, considering that the rapper has been on a tear of unpredictable behavior since the release of his Barter 6 album. First he tried to cop the name Tha Carter 6 from Lil Wayne (and in an "unrelated" incident, his road manager was just arrested for allegedly shooting at Weezy's tour bus). The he got the "tribute" tattoo. What next? Will he start wearing clocks on chains as a "tribute" to Flava Flav? Anyway, all we have right now is that Young Thug got some fresh ink, and it's on his face. Here are six other prominent musicians that have used their heads as showcases for questionable art installations.

  • Ranking New Wave Vocalist Solo Debuts: Sting, Debbie Harry, David Byrne and More

    On this date 30 years ago, Sting released his first solo album—The Dream of The Blue Turtles—after the inevitable split of the feuding Police. Some band vocalists have the chops to make it on their own, and some don't. Based on how Turtles did, we'd say that the bassist was doing alright, and since then he's been nominated as a solo performer for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...so it seems both fans and critics have taken a liking. You can argue that Sting's solo debut has nothing on Synchronicity, The Police's last album (and tough competition), but it deserved kudos nevertheless. Music Times looked at the first album from a number of other New Wave vocalists and ranked them, from best to "shoulda never left." Check out individual releases from David Byrne, Debbie Harry, Ric Ocasek and more.

  • The Rolling Stones and University Songs: Will Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and NC State Get Tributes?

    The Rolling Stones made every Ohio State Buckeye fan go nuts (pun intended) when the band performed "Hang On Sloopy" at Ohio Stadium in Columbus last night. The band, probably the biggest touring act in the world aside from Paul McCartney, has a host of huge venues hosting it throughout the "Zip Codes" tour. Several of these, like Ohio Stadium, also play host to NCAA football programs throughout the year, so Music Times decided to check out what the official songs of those programs are, just in case the Stones might think about busting them out during forthcoming live performances.

  • Joe Jackson, Murry Wilson, Marvin Gaye Sr. and Other Awful Music Parents

    Today marks the 50th anniversary of The Beach Boys' "Help Me Rhonda" reaching no. 1 on the Billboard charts. Although the song is of course a favorite of Boys fans, it's noted by more engaged followers of the group for its famous recording session. During the recording of the vocals, the father of Brian Wilson and the rest of the Wilson brothers, Murry Wilson, burst into the studio to lambast the group for what he perceived to be a lack of enthusiasm. The reel kept rolling as frontman Brian tried to calm his father down, and now copies of that version are coveted by those in-the-know. Murry was one of the most notorious parents in music history, working on his sons' behalf as a manager and coproducer, but ultimately making their lives worse because of it. He manipulated his children and reportedly hit Brian upside the head with a 2x4, causing the legendary musician to lose his hearing on that side of his head. Needless to say, many have blamed Brian's self-destructive habits and unhealthy obsession with music on Murry's callous handling. Here are five other notorious parents in the music industry.

  • 10 Years of YouTube: Most Watched Music Videos, from Taylor Swift to Justin Bieber

    It's the tenth birthday of YouTube and no media site should be more excited than Music Times. After all, of all the viral material that gets put on the world's busiest video site every day, so much of the service's biggest hitters are music videos. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the site, we've gathered the most popular music video from every year of its existence, starting with Taylor Swift in 2015 and counting down to...who knows? Something throwback for sure.

  • Madonna, Janet Jackson vs Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj; Two Women-Dominated Hot 100s 25 Years apart

    This week during 1990 marked a new high for female musicians everywhere, as all five of the top songs on the Hot 100 were performed by women. That sounds impressive but female performers have been getting their due even more so in recent years: During 2014, the Top 5 of the Hot 100 was held down by women for seven consecutive weeks. Music Times figured it'd be fun to compare the hits of yesteryear to today, having the Top 5 from this week during 1990 face off with September of 2014...Madonna, Taylor Swift, Janet Jackson, Nicki Minaj and more.

  • Taylor Swift's 7 Most Watched Videos ('Bad Blood' is Only No. 16!)

    Taylor Swift fans already know that "Bad Blood," the most recent single from Taylor Swift's 1989, has been tearing up YouTube thanks to a music video starring Kendrick Lamar, Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham, Ellie Goulding and a multitude of others. That sort of hype helped it grab the record for most views in a 24-hour period on VEVO, taking the prize from Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda." Nonetheless, it's still only the no. 16 in terms of total views for Swift music videos. Check out the Top 7 on YouTube as of publication.

  • The Charts and The Gulf War: Mariah Carey, MC Hammer and Aerosmith

    Memorial Day 2015 bears a special significance for two reasons: More importantly, it's the first time in 14 years that the holiday has been celebrated with no American troops involved in a "major ground war," and it's also the 25th anniversary of the first invasion of Iraq during the Gulf War. We at Music Times can do little but throw out our thanks to those who have served and those who currently serve in the United States military, but we wanted to check out what the Billboard charts looked like on both dates, August 2, 1991 and October 7, 2001, the dates when Americans last became embroiled in foreign combat.

  • The Charts and Afghanistan 2001: Alicia Keys, Jay Z and Nickelback

    Memorial Day 2015 bears a special significance for two reasons: More importantly, it's the first time in 14 years that the holiday has been celebrated with no American troops involved in a "major ground war," and it's also the 25th anniversary of the first invasion of Iraq during the Gulf War. We at Music Times can do little but throw out our thanks to those who have served and those who currently serve in the United States military, but we wanted to check out what the Billboard charts looked like on both dates, August 2, 1991 and October 7, 2001, the dates when Americans last became embroiled in foreign combat. It features the rise of Alicia Keys, Jay Z and Nickelback.

  • EDC New York 2015 Review: 10 Best Things From Day 2, Eric Prydz, Tchami, Dixon

    Day two has come to a close and that means Electric Daisy Carnival New York 2015 has ended. There were good times to be had with outstanding production, quality music across four stages and good people. We recapped for you yesterday the 10 best things from day 1; so here are the 10 best things that went down during day 2 (and some the whole festival) at EDC New York.
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