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Bon Jovi says Steve Jobs killed music business
Is Steve Jobs music's savior, or is he the angel of death? Jon Bon Jovi cast his vote in The Sunday Times Magazine; the American rock musician thinks Jobs is "killing" the music industry with iTunes. The massive success of iTunes, says Bon Jovi, has caused the "magical" experience of buying records in a store to disappear. "Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it," the rocker told The Sunday Times Magazine. Bon Jovi says that "in a generation from now people are going to say: 'What happened?' Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business." I am not sure the record industry would completely agree with Bon Jovi's assessment of the situation. Labels and recording artists have sold more than 10 billion songs through Apple's music store since it launched on April 28, 2003. Today, the iTunes Store is the top music vendor in the United States and has proven to be a worthy competitor to the illegal peer-to-peer and music download services that preceded it.
Jon Bon Jovi accuses Steve Jobs of putting a shot through the heart of music
Steve Jobs, according to musical legend Jon Bon Jovi, is "personally responsible for killing the music business." This strident (and economically false) accusation comes from an interview he conducted with Britain's Sunday Times, where he candidly sets out his dismay at this century's move away from music distribution on physical media and toward ubiquitous download portals. Bon Jovi's nostalgia shines through in his detailed account of the "magical" experience of picking up records and enjoying their sweet touch and soothing analog tones -- though we're not sure how he missed out on the fact that CDs, not downloads, were the first to stab a dagger of digital convenience through the hole in his record collection. Still, Bon Jovi thinks Apple's iTunes success is to blame for the loss of our collective innocence and bright-eyed enthusiasm for music. What do you think?
DirecTV premieres The Prince's Trust Rock Gala 2010 in 3D Christmas night
If you happen to find yourself unwrapping a 3D display on December 25th, after you're finished watching the Bulls face the Knicks on ESPN 3D just flip to DirecTV's exclusive n3D channel and you'll find a broadcast of The Prince's Trust Rock Gala 2010 at 8 p.m. A UK charity event that promises "Britain's rock royalty," this year's concert included performances form Queen, Eric Clapton and Phil Collins. Even if you prefer your music stylings with a slightly more American flair, there will also be the broadcast premiere of Bon Jovi's new video "What Do You Got" (already available online via the PlayStation 3.) Check out all the details in the press release after the break and don't worry if you're still living an old school 2D lifestyle, the concert comes to the 101 channel in HD December 31st.
Rock Band Weekly: Bon Jovi, Deftones, New Order, Talking Heads
Next week's Rock Band DLC adds the Bon Jovi Greatest Hits: Rock Band Edition album. The pack includes 12 of the band's chart-toppers, with some previously released tracks re-released for Rock Band 3 with support for Keys, Pro Keys, Pro Drums and harmonies -- you'll also have the option to add Pro Guitar and Bass parts for an extra dollar. (As for why we chose the above Bon Jovi album art for this post, the particular cover and music video always seemed inspired by Ghost in the Shell:SAC's The Laughing Man; available on Netflix instant watch.) There will also be individual songs from Deftones, New Order and Talking Heads available next week. A standalone complex of details on all the tracks can be found after the break.
Sony adds 3D movies, videos to PlayStation Network
While we wait for more 3D on the way on Blu-ray or from Sony's 3D Net channel that will debut next year, add another option to the mix: PlayStation Network. A poster on AVSForum spotted the new category on their PS3 a few days ago, currently offering Monster House for rental at $4.99, while a Bon Jovi video and trailer for the previously mentioned 3D Net are free downloads. Curiously, only stereo audio is currently available on any of them, and the 720p Monster House file is only a 4GB download. The picture quality still seemed relatively sharp and without ghosting, but we'll need to compare it to the Blu-ray to see how much was lost in the transition.%Gallery-106332%
Bon Jovi Greatest Hits album to be released as Rock Band 3 DLC
Bon Jovi's new "Greatest Hits" album will be released November 9. If you'd rather play along with your own feather-haired avatar than merely listen to "It's My Life" on repeat, you'll be able to do so through Rock Band, as the album will be released as DLC soon after the Rock Band 3 launch. "Bon Jovi for us is one of our most requested artists," MTV's Paul DeGooyer told MCV. "We've had a couple of songs on disc" -- as we can attest, with "Livin' On a Prayer" an unusually frequent song in our random selections -- "but we've never done a vertical campaign like this with them." Harmonix confirmed the Bon Jovi DLC in a forum post, with one caveat: "Don't expect a huge multi disc album release though, as the Surgeon General has determined that anything more than 12 tracks of Bon Jovi in a single pack could contain potentially dangerous levels of swoon when downloaded by women, and result in deadly amounts of 'good hair envy' in men." So it won't be the full two-disc "Ultimate Collection" version of the album. [Thanks, MarkHawk]
Bon Jovi wants you to live on prayer, buy Final Fantasy
Seeing as no fewer than three of Bon Jovi's four members are sporting bad cases of Final Fantasy hair, it makes perfect sense that Square would tap the band to promote Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers in Japan. According to Siliconera, ads for the game will begin airing later this month featuring the song "We Weren't Born to Follow." If you recognize the song, it's likely because it made headlines as Bon Jovi's record-setting 100th title that sounds like a douchey high school's senior class motto.
Bon Jovi turned down inclusion in Guitar Hero 5, supports Love
Even though his songs have landed in music games far and wide, Jon Bon Jovi said in a recent interview that he turned down Activision's offer to be included as a playable character in Guitar Hero 5. "They [Activision] wanted me to be on that game and I just passed," Bon Jovi told the BBC. "To hear someone else's voice coming out of a cartoon version of me? I don't know," he added, siding with Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love, and others tied to the Nirvana estate, against the use of Cobain's likeness in GH5. Bon Jovi explained that no one at Activision "even broached the subject with me that I would be singing other people's stuff ... I don't know how I would have reacted to that." In the meantime, Activision has retorted that Love did evidently sign a contract -- but according to Bon Jovi's statements, it appears as though she may have not reacted to the fine print.
Bon Jovi and others confirmed for Rock Band 2
Soft rock god and midget Bon Jovi is amongst the latest group of artists confirmed to appear in Rock Band 2. Game Informer magazine identified seven new tracks from the instrument fest, finally confirming what we all suspected: that the "leaked" video from earlier in the week was a fake. One piece of speculation that doesn't look fake is an earlier list of rumored tracks, many of which match up to the latest official batch. And here they are, along with their YouTube links: "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi "Rock 'n Me" by Steve Miller Band "Testify" by Rage Against The Machine "White Wedding Pt. 1" by Billy Idol "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett "Almost Easy" by Avenged Sevenfold "I Was Wrong" by Social Distortion Game Informer also reveals that the drum kit has been tweaked (to incorporate expansion slots for cymbals, velocity-sensitive pads, and a sturdier, reinforced drum pedal), and that Harmonix will release a deluxe drum kit which can double up as real electronic drums when you're not playing the game. There will also be quieter buttons on the guitar, a "less squishy" strum bar, and a mode that lets players listen to their performances. Hopefully all of this applies to the Wii version!Hold your lighter aloft and sway past the break for a full list of Rock Band 2's confirmed (and rumored) tracklist to date.
Rumor: Rock Band 2 setlist reportedly discovered by two sources
We've been chomping at the bit for any details about the complete setlist for Harmonix's upcoming sequel to last year's well-received rockstar simulator, Rock Band. We've learned of a few new tracks from a slip-up on G4 and a tip from an anonymous playtester, but even these substantial leaks only make up a drop in Rock Band 2's 80-song bucket. Luckily, two sources who claim to know the near-complete list of tunes included in the title recently posted their findings -- though their own sources don't exactly inspire confidence in the accuracy of their supposed setlists.Though their information evolved entirely from hearsay, there's quite a bit of overlap between the two lists, lending some amount of legitimacy to this rumor. Some of these overlapping tracks include Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer", The Presidents of the United States of America's "Lump", Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" (Qu'est-ce que c'est?), and a long overdue "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello. We've got both lists after the jump -- with a couple of weeks between us and E3, we'll be discovering the correctitude of these tracks soon enough.
NBC may air Rockstar Curling -- but will it be in HD?
Top Gear not exactly down your alley? Fret not, as NBC has reportedly secured exclusive rights to launch ten episodes of "a proposed television show called Rockstar Curling." No need to wipe the dust off your specs -- the network actually is eying certain celebs (Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen were named in particular) in hopes of rounding one up to get involved -- possibly as a host -- in the show. Apparently, the winning contestant could eventually end up with a berth in the US championships, and perhaps a shot in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. As riveting as the idea of curling in and of itself is, here's to hoping this surefire blockbuster eventually gets broadcast in high-def.[Image courtesy of tawayama]
