• 10 Super Bowl Halftime Show Stages: Ranking the Platforms of Madonna, Beyoncé, Bruno Mars and More

    The Super Bowl Halftime Show often benefits from a great performance onstage. Sometimes. But knowing the much of the audio is prerecorded kind of takes some of the fun out of it. That's why more often than not our final verdict on the big game's big entertainment (especially in recent years) had revolved more around the stage-show than the music itself. Nothing is more important to a stage-show than a stage. Music Times went back and checked out the last ten Super Bowl performers and more importantly, what they were playing on, and ranked them accordingly (including Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Madonna and more). This isn't a ranking of the performances, but of the platform that held it.
  • 7 Songs You Didn't Know Jeff Lynne Helped Write: Sam Smith, George Harrison and...The Pussycat Dolls?

    Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" was one of the biggest songs of 2014 and this week's big news was that Tom Petty would receive a songwriting credit for the song due to its similarities to his own "I Won't Back Down," a coincidence that Petty referred to as a "musical accident no more no less." Although Petty has appeared in all of the headlines, an equal amount of the songwriting credit was also awarded to Jeff Lynne, the frontman for the Electric Light Orchestra, who has been behind the scenes on many a track. Check out a list of Lynne's other surprise songwriting credits, not counting work with band's he's a part of, including the Traveling Wilburys.
  • 5 AC/DC Replacement Drummers for Phil Rudd: Jason Bonham, Steven Adler, Chris Cester and More

    The unstoppable rock 'n' roll force that is AC/DC has been having a rough go at things lately. They unfortunately parted ways with founding member Malcolm Young, who served as the steady rhythm guitarist on 14 albums before leaving to receive treatment for dementia in September. Another crucial piece of the hard rock puzzle, drummer Phil Rudd, had to take a break in order to deal with some bizarre legal issues. Now with AC/DC riding high on the success of Rock or Bust, they will no doubt be looking for a replacement until either Rudd is cleared or locked up. Steven Adler, Jason Bonham and Chris Cester are all suitable substitutes.
  • 6 Film Directors and Operas They've Helmed: Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Werner Herzog and More

    Yesterday Music Times reported that Woody Allen would be reprising his role as the director for Gianni Schicci, an opera by Puccini, and that Placido Domingo would star in the lead role to open the Los Angeles Opera's 2015-'16 season. Allen is far from the first director to be a fan of opera but he is one of the few who have bucked up and attempted to direct their own renditions of orchestral classics. Here are six other big names to try their hand at the theatre, including Roman Polanski and Julie Taymor among others.
  • Ernie Banks Remembered: 5 Famous Musical Figures Big on The Chicago Cubs...Eddie Vedder, Jimmy Buffett and More

    Ernie Banks, an MLB Hall of Famer and longtime face of the Chicago Cubs organization, died last week at the age of 83. He was an amazing shortstop, winning gold gloves and home run titles and MVP awards during his career, but perhaps he will be best known as representing the Cubs organization better than any other player. The team has been notorious for its inability to secure a World Series title, having not won since 1907 and not even making the big series since 1945. Yet its fans remain some of the friendliest in baseball. Check out five music stars who have also kept their tempers in check while supporting the Cubs over the years.
  • 5 Great Rock Docs Focusing on UK Acts and The '70s: David Bowie's 'Cracked Actor,' 'The Kids Are Alright' and More

    David Bowie has had several documentaries made about his legendary and varied career but none have come close to the original: Cracked Era, which debuted on the BBC during 1975 and caught the vocalist following the release of Diamond Dogs and his preparation for the tour in support of the album. More relevantly, it caught Bowie at the peak of his addiction to cocaine and gave viewers a look at the paranoia and mental exhaustion it caused him. Bowie was far from the only British musician from that era to be captured on film. Here are five other documentaries (some mad during the decade and some made later looking back) that give viewers a new understanding of that period in UK music history.
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