Popular Music (genre)

They conduct classical, but they love pop and rock too

2013-01-05 05:00:00

Ever wonder what longhairs listen to when they let their hair down? Once upon a time, when conductors were regarded as remote intellectual titans, no one would have thought to ask. Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony, once described...

Portland Cello Project records complete 'Song Reader' by Beck

2013-01-03 15:45:00

As Times pop music critic Randall Roberts wrote earlier this week, much of the fun of Beck's new "Song Reader" project -- 20 songs released not as recordings, but as old-fashioned sheet music -- is beholding the variety of interpretations it's inspired....

Pop musicians' (final?) tweets for the apocalypse

2012-12-21 05:00:00

Here's how end-of-the-world projections, based on the Mayan calendar, are being greeted in some quarters of the pop music world on Twitter. Pop & Hiss has decided to include two end-of-the-world tweets from Weird Al Yankovic because 1) he had the...

Faces to Watch 2013: Haim, Earl Sweatshirt and more

2012-12-28 13:18:00

Potential breakouts in the pop music world for 2013? Times pop music staffers throw the spotlight on another member of the hip-hop collective Odd Future that gave us Frank Ocean this year, along with a trio of pop-rock singing siblings from the San...

Rare artist interviews now streaming at Library of Congress site

2012-11-28 12:26:00

Want to hear Mick Jagger talk about the Beatles? Tony Bennett laud the genius of Louis Armstrong? B.B. King express his blues over the future of the blues? Audio interviews with those and dozens more of the biggest names in rock, pop, jazz, blues,...

Review: No Doubt's confident return at the Gibson Amphitheatre

2012-11-25 15:07:00

In the mid-1990s, a curious sound infiltrated mainstream pop music: ska, the swingin’, pre-reggae dance style born in 1960s Jamaica. It was an odd turn at the tail end of the grunge era, and mirrored the rise of the late '70s British groups the...

Madonna, Springsteen, Roger Waters were tops on tour in 2012

2012-12-28 17:39:00

Madonna was queen of the world in 2012, at least as far as touring pop music performers, delivering the highest-grossing concert tour of the year and raking in nearly $300 million at the box office worldwide, according to Pollstar, the concert-industry...

Taylor Swift tops 2012 'Celebs Gone Good' list

2012-12-26 14:38:00

Taylor Swift tops a year-end ranking of celebrity philanthropists tallied by DoSomething.org, an organization that rallies teens to get involved in social change. The 23-year-old pop-country singer and songwriter was cited on DoSomething’s “...

Los Angeles bands swing into an old-school music revival

2012-12-09 06:00:00

A nine-piece band replete with tuba, washboard, accordion, fiddle, mandolin, trumpet and guitar joyously pumped out early 20th century standards such as "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," Muddy Waters' deep blues and original tunes that would...

Riffing on the highs and lows of the sonic landscape

2012-12-02 09:00:00

The quirky violist known as Ljova, an ingratiating fixture on the New York new music scene, has just released a recording called "Melting River." You can purchase and download it for as little as $2 on the artist-friendly website Bandcamp as either an...

'Gangnam Style' by Psy gets opera style treatment

2012-12-24 08:00:00

With more than 1 billion YouTube hits, "Gangnam Style" by the Korean singer Psy is the most popular music video of the year. It has been imitated, parodied and re-purposed by fans around the world. It has been remixed in many different musical styles,...

Balancing family and rock 'n' roll attitudes in Redd Kross

2012-12-31 09:36:00

The holidays are for spending time with family. That doesn’t necessarily mean they have to be your own. After all, brothers Steven and Jeff McDonald of L.A. rock institutions Redd Kross, who will headline a New Year’s Eve concert tonight...

Billy Crystal, right, and Miley Ray Cyrus are seen on stage at the "Idol Gives Back" fundraising special of "American Idol" in Los Angeles on April 6, 2008.

2013-05-10 09:16:00

Singer and actress Miley Cyrus arrives at the "Idol Gives Back" fundraising special of "American Idol" in Los Angeles on April 6, 2008.

2013-05-10 09:16:00

Miley Ray Cyrus performs at the "Idol Gives Back" fundraising special of "American Idol" in Los Angeles on April 6, 2008.

2013-05-10 09:16:00