The Hives and Cyndi Lauper team up for the Holidays

Dec. 21, 2008

The Hives and Cyndi Lauper Team Up for Holidays
Swedish rockers and American ‘80s-redux singer Cyndi Lauper - an unexpected combination of musicians, to be sure - have just collaborated on a Christmas song that’s available for purchase in the UK, and as a download in the U.S. The Hives said they “knew they had to record” the tune with the zany but talented songstress, the result being the wacky and festive track “A Christmas Duel,” set to be a holiday treat for fans of both artists...
Coldplay have issued a statement addressing old-school guitarist Joe Satriani’s claim that the Brit band stole part of his song “If I Could Fly” to use as the main melody line in Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” hit track. Coldplay’s statement read in part, “With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani... if there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him...” If the two songs shared some sort of musical complexity, the claim might have merit; but Satriani, who has already filed a copyright infringement suit in a Los Angeles court, may instead want to start planning his lawsuits against the likes of David Bowie, Lucinda Williams, Neil Young, Jewel, Pearl Jam, and Elvis, since they have all also used the very common C-D-G-Em chord progression. And for those of you all up in arms about the “audio comparison” video on YouTube, keep in mind that the video’s editor isn’t mentioning that he changed the key and tempo of the Coldplay song so that it would better “match up” with the Satriani song. Apparantly some woefully past-their-prime rockers will do anything to make a quick buck, with time that could’ve been better spent creating new music of their own...
It’s not quite underwater basketweaving, but those willing to put the study time in will soon be able to snag an actual university degree in something almost as, er, useful; USC (The University of Southern California) has announced that it will be the first major U.S. university to offer a bachelor’s degree in Popular Music. Enrollees in the program will be required to study music theory, songwriting, and history, as well as entertainment law and record promotions. And one of your study pals might be a Red Hot Chili Pepper - RHCP’s bass player Flea is already one of USC’s undergrads...
Speaking of Flea, he and Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr are among the collaborators on RHCP guitarist John Frusciante’s new album, The Empyrean, which is due in stores January 20. Also on the Frusciante disc will be appearances from the New Dimension Singers and The Sonus Quartet. Meanwhile, the Chili Peppers themselves are on a “hiatus of unknown length,” although obviously the bandmates are busily working on various side projects...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
If you wanna go somewhere unique for New Year’s Eve, how about Scotland, where you can watch Glasvegas and Paulo Nutini take the stage at Edinburgh’s yearly Hogmanay New Year’s bash? Get your passes now at
www.edinburghshogmanay.org...

MINI BUZZ:
Keane have announced that they’ll be adding a second night to their big O2 Arena show in London; in addition to their show February 12, 2009, they’ve added the 13th due to ticket demand...
Kings of Leon are finding that their fans want to hear them live, too - they’ve already sold 85,000 tickets for the UK arena shows they’ve got scheduled for next summer...
The Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee, recently named its latest inductees - among them this time around were Buddy Holly’s band The Crickets, and the Memphis Horns...
UK classic band The Faces are now set for an official reuniting, as all the original members (with the exception, of course, of late bass player Ronnie Lane), including Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, have staged a rehearsal and are eyeing a full reformation of the band...
The Killers have released two songs from their Day and Age album as Guitar Hero downloads; the GH pack will include “Human” and “Losing Touch” as well as their earlier hit, “Mr. Brightside”...
Singer-songwriter Duffy has been writing tunes while on tour in support of her debut disc, Rockferry, and has already given some trial stage time to new tracks “Rain in Your Parade” and “Fool For You”...
And hoping for trial time on your CD or MP3 player are this week’s new releases... ON CD: Jay-Z’s Blueprint III... Soulja Boy’s isouljaboytellem... Wolfgang’s Villians... The Magnificents’ Year of Explorers... Welcome Wagon’s Welcome Wagon... The Decemberists’ Always the Bridesmaid: A Singles Series - Volume 3... ON DVD: The Moody Blues’ Lovely to See You Tonight... Chuck Rainey’s The Legendary Bass of Chuck Rainey... and David Bowie: The Ziggy Stardust Years... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your fave musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com