• 4/20: The Beatles, Louis Armstrong and Fabolous: History's Most Notable Marijuana Arrests

    Few industries have been as supportive of the 4/20 holiday as the music business, considering how often our performers (and fans) seem to enjoy the subtle joys of marijuana. If you were around for Record Store Day during 2013, you may have witnessed just how early music fans will both line up and light up. Arrests for marijuana possession are almost a non-news item at this point: Rap performers Migos and Nelly have both been incarcerated for that (and a few other charges) in the last few weeks. The reason why those stories fail to shock us? Although the Reagan administration has been criticized for its "war on drugs," it focused on much more potent drugs while society has eased off on its fear of pot. Some states even allow it to be bought, sold and smoked legally. Here are five cases of musicians who served as martyrs for the cause before we as a society began to relax, including The Beatles, Louis Armstrong and Fabolous.

  • Beatles' 5 Best Years at The Grammys: Battles with Frank Sinatra and A Surprising Peak Point

    The Beatles were kind of a big deal, as their countless hits and no. 1 singles can attest to, but their shelf wasn't nearly as full of Grammys as you might think. The group "only" managed to snag nine of the most vaunted awards in music across its entire career (compared to 27 for Allison Krauss). April 13 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Grammy ceremony where the band won a trophy and Music Times is marking the occasion by counting down the five years in which the greatest band in popular music history managed to land a win, going from "fewest wins" to most (ties will be broken by taking the "winning percentage" based on nominations).

  • The Beatles, Michael Jackson and More Musicians with Space Objects Named After Them

    The Beatles received an interesting honor on this date 25 years ago, as each member-John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr-received the honor of having four newly discovered asteroids named after them. It's not a rare honor-as Mental Floss explains, there are literally hundreds of asteroids and "minor planets" in our galaxy, and although they don't necessarily need to be named after anything, we're a sentimental species. That's how individuals such as The Beatles, Michael Jackson and Phil Spector ended up with astronomical objects named after them.

  • Hilarious Video Uses Faulty Logic to Justify Migos Better Than The Beatles. Watch and Be Illuminated.

    Several acts, including Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones, have been the subjects of misguided attempts to prove that an act exists that was of greater musical influence during the 20th Century than The Beatles. Maybe if you have a high-minded listener you can make the argument for Miles Davis. One act that probably didn't come to mind, unless you're Complex: Migos. The publication has come up with a short video giving ten reasons why the Atlanta hip-hop trio is a better act than the skiffle superstars.

  • 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.

  • Paul McCartney Calls College Courses on The Beatles 'Ridiculous Yet Flattering,' Urges People to Listen, Not Study

    Colleges across the country offer a variety of courses that focus on specific genres of music or musicians who had an enormous impact on history. The Beatles are one of those acts that can be studied at different campuses across the world. Paul McCartney has mixed feelings about this. He revealed in a Q&A recently that John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and himself never actually studied the music they loved. They just listened and played what felt right to them."For me it's ridiculous, and yet very flattering," McCartney said when asked how he felt about Beatles courses. "Ridiculous because we [The Beatles] never studied anything, we just loved our popular music: Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, etc. And it wasn't a case of 'studying' it. I think for us, we'd have felt it would have ruined it to study it."The band members studied by listening to the music: That was all they needed."We wanted to make our own minds up just by listening to it. So our study was listening. But to be told — as I was years ago now — that The Beatles were in my kid's history books? That was like, 'What?! Unbelievable, man!' Can you imagine when we were at school, finding yourself in a history book?" he added.

  • John Lennon or Paul McCartney? Metallica, Arctic Monkeys, Fall Out Boy and More Choose in Mini Documentary [WATCH]

    On paper, it's a simple question -- John Lennon or Paul McCartney? For "Lennon or McCartney: A Beatles Documentary," Scared Goose Productions compiled answers from actors and musicians and it's actually much more complex. Aaron Bruno of AWOLNATION may have put it best when he said, "Well, that's like saying, 'Who do you like more, your mom or your dad?'" The video is jam-packed with celebrities and members of Metallica, Arctic Monkeys and Fall Out Boy, and they all weigh in on the question.

  • Paul McCartney Talks Ringo Starr's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Honor on 'The Tonight Show' While Jimmy Fallon Does Impressions [WATCH]

    Ringo Starr was recently announced as one of the members of 2015's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class. He is the last Beatle to be inducted into the institution as a solo act. Paul McCartney, who was inducted as a solo act in 1999, had the pleasure of breaking the news to his bandmate, "Rolling Stone" reports. Macca also stopped by "The Tonight Show" to talk about his pal's recent honor. Jimmy Fallon took it as a chance to try all his Beatles impressions."I was talking to a friend and he said 'Brian Epstein is getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.' I said 'That's great, because he's the Beatles manager,'" McCartney says in the video below. "He says, 'Yeah, but Ringo's not in yet.' I said, 'Whoa. Wait a minute. We can't have that ...' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you got to put Ringo in. He's very famous."Starr's 2015 classmates include Green Day, Lou Reed, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Bill Withers.McCartney also told Fallon that his favorite solo tracks by his former drummer are "Back Off Boogaloo" and "It Don't Come Easy" — he seems like he is about to say "Photograph" before Fallon cuts him off. Fallon jumped at the opportunity to show off his impressions of the Fab Four, nailing Starr, McCartney and John Lennon before fumbling through George Harrison.

  • The Beatles Christmas Records: Ranking The Yearly Mess from John, Paul, George and Ringo 1963-1969

    Pearl Jam wasn't the first band to send out yearly Christmas exclusives to its fan club. The Beatles had jumped on that train nearly 30 years earlier. The difference of course is that Pearl Jam's fans could expect some new musical recordings, covers if nothing else, while the biggest band in history took the yearly task of crafting a Christmas album about as seriously as Stephen Colbert takes investigative reporting. The results tended to be a mess...occasionally a curious mess, but a mess nonetheless. Music Times has waded through the seven Beatles Christmas flexi-discs and made a modest attempt at ranking them.
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