Ryan Book


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Latest from this author

  • Basement Jaxx Briefly Touring U.S. for First Time in 10 Years

    Basement Jaxx will be bringing its live show to the United States for the first time in nearly ten years but chances to catch the British electronic act in action will be slim. The group will play two DJ sets and three shows featuring the full 12-piece band—in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and New York City.
  • 'The Voice India' Coached by Bollywood Stars Sunidhi Chauhan, Mika, Shaan, More

    Few nations feature music so prominently within all forms of media as India does, so it only makes sense that The Voice is finally getting its own chapter for the world's second largest population. Bollywood stars—Sunidhi Chauhan, Himesh Reshammiya, Mika and Shaan—will serve as the show's first foursome of coaches.
  • 5 Bad Vocalist Solo Debuts, from David Lee Roth to Nearly All of The Beatles

    On this date 30 years ago, Freddie Mercury of Queen released his first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy...and it failed drastically, at least from a commercial standpoint. It seems odd now—when a solo album from Brandon Flowers or other vocalists attached to a big-name band can release an album by themselves and land in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 without breaking a sweat—that one of the liveliest frontmen in rock history couldn't get into the Top 150 of the album sales charts with his first solo release. That said (and despite the cheesy image of Mercury in shades on the album cover), Mr. Bad Guy ain't a bad record. That can't be said about the solo debuts of these other famous vocalists, from The Beatles' members to David Lee Roth.
  • 5 Live Albums Recorded to No Audience: Pink Floyd, Bjork and More Feel for Baltimore Orioles

    The unfortunate riots in Baltimore have led to a bizarre situation at Camden Yards in Baltimore, where the hometown Orioles have been playing the Chicago White Sox in an empty stadium due to the situation outside. It's clearly had an impact on some of the players...White Sox starter Jeff Samardzija was rocked for six runs in the first inning today, perhaps nervous because the whole world wasn't watching him. It made us baseball fans at Music Times if similar things have ever happened in the music world? Not quite, but we did find a number of "live" albums that were recorded with no actual audience in attendance. Check out a few examples, from Pink Floyd to Björk.
  • The Latino Audience and 'Furious 7': Did Romeo Santos Inspire Fans to See Record-Breaking Film?

    Billboard might be stretching things a bit when they suggest that Romeo Santos' 10-second speaking part during Furious 7 had a major impact on Latin American audiences attending the film...but they were certainly on-point in noting the trend. More than 37 percent of the tickets sold to the record-breaking film have been purchased by Latin viewers, compared to 25 percent by Caucasians and 24 percent by African-Americans.
  • Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Drake and More: 7 Stars Attend Prom with Very Lucky High Schoolers

    Justin Bieber and his crew made a stir over the weekend when they appeared at a high school prom in California to surprise the students in attendance. The result was a student body gone mad, resulting in one of the more memorable proms of all time without the pop star actually delivering a single song, reportedly. At least one attendee can tell her future (and possibly current) boyfriend about how she danced with Bieber at prom. Some musical acts have gone far beyond just crashing a prom however, actually attending a dance as someone's date. Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Drake: All have made appearances at high school way after attending high school.
  • The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Amy Winehouse: Documentaries Disapproved by Band and Family

    Amy: The Girl Behind The Name is one of the most anticipated documentaries of the year thus far, set to shed light on the light and mindset of Amy Winehouse, one of the millennium's brightest rising stars before dying of alcohol poisoning during 2011. One party has decided that it doesn't support the content of the film on the eve of its release at the Cannes Film Festival: her family. Father Mitch Winehouse alleges that the film places an undue amount of blame for her lifestyle upon the family, based on interviews with her then-boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil (who himself was notorious for supplying her habits). Lawsuits for slander may be pending. In the meantime, check out five other music documentaries that the starring performers—such as The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Eric Clapton—don't want you to see.
  • Taylor Swift's '1989' Louder Than Classic Metallica, AC/DC and Sex Pistols Records. How?

    When you think of "loud" albums, you probably don't think about Taylor Swift. However a new study from Ian Shepherd, audio engineer and founder of Dynamic Range Day, demonstrates that in fact the pop star's most recent release, '1989,' is among the loudest albums of all time. Among the album it trumps are AC/DC's 'Back In Black,' Metallica's "Black" album, and the Sex Pistols' 'Never Mind The Bollocks.'
  • 75 Years of Al Pacino: The 'Scarface' Actor and Music, from Madonna to Hip-Hop Culture

    A big celebrity birthday today as Al Pacino turns 75 on April 26. Obviously the actor is known for many iconic roles in his Hollywood career—from Michael Corleone in The Godfather franchise, to iconic drug hustler Tony Montana in Scarface, to Satan in The Devil's Advocate—and sometimes he's even played a good guy. One thing that Pacino is less renowned for is his role in music—he's not the kind of guy that starts a band when he's not starring in a blockbuster. Nonetheless, Music Times managed to round up five examples of the actor coming in contact with our subject of choice.
  • Composer Rob Simonsen on 'Age of Adaline,' Working With Roland Emmerich and The Ambience That Connects Them All

    Rob Simonsen has been one of the hottest names among composers you don't know by name...yet. He scored last year's acclaimed Foxcatcher, created the theme song for Apple's iPhone 5 campaign and was named by The Hollywood Reporter as among the "next" film composers to join the A-list. He's recently wrapped up work on the scores for both 'The Age of Adaline' (due in theaters this Friday) as well as Roland Emmerich's forthcoming Stonewall, and he took a few minutes to chat with Music Times about his processes on both.
  • Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction 2015: Green Day, Ringo Starr and Joan Jett Shine Live

    Ringo Starr. Lou Reed. Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. Green Day. Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bill Withers. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. The "5" Royales. And those were just the acts being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday night in Cleveland, not counting the many members of music royalty who made an appearance to both present and perform alongside their mentors and icons.
  • 9 Longest Streaks in Billboard 200 Top 5: Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and More

    Taylor Swift and her album '1989' continued to make history last week as it became only the ninth album to ever spend each of its first 24 weeks in the Top 5 of the Billboard 200. That makes it the country/pop star's most consistent album to date in terms of chart placement. So what other hot acts have gotten to at least 24 weeks? Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and the Backstreet Boys number among them.
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