Could you help me place this call?

I know a lot about music, but until this past Saturday, I had never heard the song "Operator" by Jim Croce.  For those who don't know, Jim Croce was a singer from 1966 until his death in 1973.  It is a very good song and I still can't believe I had never heard it.

Vinyls

My birthday is coming up (January 3rd) and I asked my parents to get me a record player.  I went down to the basement and brought up my mom's and dad's old records.  I took about 75 out of the 200 my parents still had!  But now I am looking for some more records to add to my collection.  If anyone has any suggestions of records I should buy, please write it in the comments below.  I want to make my collection the best it can be, so thank you if you help me!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful two days. I will be returning to my blog starting tomorrow - the past week or so has been very hectic and I apologize. But for right now, I thought I'd share with you one of the things I received for Christmas. This Beatles book I got has some of the coolest things I have ever seen. This pack came with a DVD, posters of the band, and a bunch of little pieces of paper. The pieces of paper are copies of tickets from concerts of theirs from the 1960s, copies of handwritten set lists, and old gig posters. All of this is inside an amazing book that speaks of the members of The Beatles and tells their journey as the best band of all time.

The Voice

The Voice's third season has come to an end with Cassadee Pope.  Cassadee Pope started her TV debut with her blind audition singing "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia.  In the "Battles" weeks, Cassadee sang "Not Over You", beating out fellow contestant Ryan Jirovec.  The next week, "The Knockouts", Pope sang Maroon 5's "Payphone" and won the knockout against Suzanna Choffel.  "The Live Playoffs" week, Pope advanced with the song "My Happy Ending".  During the week of "Top 12 Perform Live", Cassadee advanced with the song "Behind These Hazel Eyes" and advanced the following week, "Top 10 Perform Live", with "Over You", but the studio version of the song reached the top 10 on iTunes, so she got the iTunes vote times 10.  "Top 8 Perform Live", the same thing happened to Pope with the song "Are You Happy Now?".  And again, in the quarterfinals, Pope got the extra votes with the song "I'm With You" and her second song "Stand".  In the semifinals, Cassadee advanced with "Stupid Boy" along with receiving the extra votes and won the whole competition on December 18 with the song "Over You".

December 17th

1962: Bob Dylan arrived in England for the first time.

1968: The Who played their Xmas party at the Marquee Club in London.

1977: Elvis Costello, performing on "Saturday Night Live", stopped his performance of "Less Than Zero" saying "there's no reason to do this" and began performing "Radio Radio" which he was told not to perform.

1982: 30 years ago, Karen Carpenter made her last live appearance with The Carpenters in Sherman, CA.

2000: Bob the Builder went to Number-one on the UK charts with the theme song, "Can We Fix It".

My personal faves

I absolutely love music videos, especially those from the 1980s.  There's something about videos from the '80s that make you want to laugh, and I don't know what it is.

For example, Love Stinks by the J.Geils Band is hysterical.  The video starts off with a man jumping on a pogo stick while playing two trumpets and continues with many other odd occurrences like  someone cutting a tomato (which they show multiple times) and finishing off the song with a chimpanzee crawling away from a television.

Peter Wolf is probably just a funny guy, considering his song Come As You Are has a music video that is also pretty funny.  The whole video is him hopping through town.  Yes, hopping.

Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is another one.  From her parents yelling at her, to the pizza boxes, this is another video that a lot of people find goofy.

We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister is probably one of the corniest videos I have ever seen.  The father in the beginning is priceless and when the son starts playing guitar, the father flies out the window onto the ground.  And that's only one example.

Van Halen is a great band.  And Hot For Teacher is another video I have added to my list.  Dorky Waldo and the rest of the boys in his class have the hots for their new teacher that year.

Whip It by Devo...I almost have no words for this video.  The band is on a cheesy set holding whips and wearing the pot hats and then there's a cross-eyed woman.  Now tell me that's not odd.

Chevy Chase is a tall guy.  Paul Simon is a short guy.  And in the You Can Call Me Al video for Paul Simon's song, Chevy Chase is "singing" Paul's part and Paul is singing the parts with the low voice.  It's quite funny.

I apologize to The Flying Lizards, but Money is probably the worst video I have ever seen.  At one part she's dancing horribly and at another she's flying in mid-air.  I just don't understand.

Almost at the end

2012 is coming to an end, so I thought it would be a nice idea to remember some of the singers and musicians who have passed this past year.

• Etta James:  January 25, 1938-January 20, 2012
• Don Cornelius:  September 27, 1936-February 1, 2012
• Whitney Houston:  August 9, 1963-February 11, 2012
• Davy Jones:  December 30, 1945-February 29, 2012
• Earl Scruggs:  January 6, 1924-March 28, 2012
• Levon Helm:  May 26, 1940:  April 19, 2012
• Adam "MCA" Yauch:  August 5, 1964-May 4, 2012
• Donald "Duck" Dunn:  November 24, 1941-May 13, 2012
• Donna Summer:  December 31, 1948-May 17, 2012
• Robin Gibb:  December 22, 1949-May 20, 2012
• Kitty Wells:  August 30, 1919-July 16, 2012

12/12/12

Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Dave Grohl, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Roger Waters, Kanye West, Eddie Vedder, The Who, and Paul McCartney.  These thirteen performers will all be there tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden for the 12/12/12 concert for Sandy Relief.  This concert is being considered the largest event in music history, and it probably is.  So many websites, including YouTube and Hulu, will stream the concert live on their sites for people worldwide to watch along with 34 TV viewings.  Movie theaters in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will also be showing the Sandy Relief concert.  Being from where Sandy hit the hardest, I know first-hand what really happened, so a concert like this is very important.

Music in movies

I realized that I have not yet spoken about the music in movies.  Some movies have fantastic music, while others seem to fall a little short.  Whether it's a musical or not, nothing is better than a movie with some decent tunes.  I created a list of movies with a great soundtrack (in no particular order):

1. Grease
2. Billy Madison
3. GoodFellas
4. Saturday Night Fever
5. Titanic
6. Pulp Fiction

I feel like I don't even need to explain why the Grease soundtrack is amazing.  If you have seen the movie, you probably agree with me that the songs in that movie are timeless.  And if you don't agree, then you're not cool.

Billy Madison is truly one of the funniest movies I have ever seen and the soundtrack just adds on to the fact that the movie is incredible.  You can never go wrong with artists like The Cars, The Ramones, Jackson 5, Billy Squier, E.L.O., and Styx.

GoodFellas is a classic movie about the mob.  The songs included in the movie are perfectly chosen to fit each scene they are in and that is an important factor when it comes to creating a movie.

Saturday Night Fever, according to some, is the BEST movie soundtrack EVER.  Most of the soundtrack contains the Bee Gees, the greatest disco band.  With some KC and the Sunshine Band and The Trammps' "Disco Inferno", the people may not be exaggerating and this may be the best movie soundtrack ever.

Now, I probably should not have put the Titanic on the list, being as though every song is instrumental except for "My Heart Will Go On".  But, "My Heart Will Go On" is simply an absolutely amazing song, so that counts, right?

In parts of the movie Pulp Fiction, you just feel the need to start laughing.  On this soundtrack, they include the scene with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, "Royal with Cheese".  While the songs are good, the dialogue makes the album.

Help me out, please

Music is my passion, in case you have not yet noticed, and I would love to make it into the music industry.  I want to attend the Video Music Awards.  I want to be invited to concerts.  I want to sit inside the recording studio.  And while I've tried to do it alone, I realized that I can't.  I need help, and of course my parents and family are there for support, but there's only so much power they have.  That's why I'm asking you all, my readers, to help me make it somewhere in this business.  I want to see you comment on my posts.  I want you to message me with your ideas on what I should blog about next.  Tell me what you want to see more of on my blog so I can try my best to make it where I want to go and enjoyable for you to read.  Please help me out and I thank you ahead of time.

Jordan xx

Thriller

Today is the 30th anniversary of Michael Jackson's album Thriller.  30 years ago, Jackson released the album that would hold seven singles that would all make it to the Top 10:

1. The Girls Is Mine - October 18, 1982
2. Billie Jean - January 3, 1983
3. Beat It - February 14, 1983
4. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - May 8, 1983
5. Human Nature - July 3, 1983
6. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) - September 19, 1983
7. Thriller - January 23, 1984

The album was recorded from April 14 - November 8, 1983 by Epic and was produced by Quincy Jones.  In 1983, it reached the Number-one spot in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, United Kingdom, and the United States.  

The album also featured other famous musicians like David Foster on keyboard, Eddie Van Halen with the guitar solo in "Beat It", and Paul McCartney with vocals in "The Girl Is Mine".

The record was an absolutely amazing one with each song being perfect.  

BRAT

I just saw Cher Lloyd perform...in the first row!!! My school won a contest so we got to see her.
She performed five songs: Superhero, With Ur Love, OMG by Usher, Oath, and Want U Back. To be honest, I cried a lot of the time. She is one of my favorite artists so being able to see her perform from the first row was incredible. After she performed, she answered a couple of questions. She was so sweet!
And to make my night better, I was lucky enough to bring home her set list that was taped to the stage. Cher Lloyd stood on it!!
I would like to thank my school and principal Mrs. Jewell for helping to make this happen, Michael, the student who got our school really involved, iPlay America for letting us hold the concert there, and Cher Lloyd for performing for us.
I was star struck and still am.

Happy 70th Birthday, Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix) the guitar legend was born on this day in 1942. He is considered by a number of people as the greatest electric guitarist ever. But even 42 years after his death his legacy lives on with more than 80 million records sold.

Hendrix was a left-handed man with a right-handed guitar. He had flipped his guitar over, so instead of having the thin string on the bottom, it was on the top so he was able to play with his left hand.

Even though we love listening to his music, it's not only the music we love, but it's the inspiration he left behind. All can agree that Jimi Hendrix is the one we have on our iPods, the one we pretend to play guitar like, and the one we will never forget. Happy birthday, Jimi. You're a legend we will always remember.

The Last Waltz

The Band is definitely an amazing band. This past Thanksgiving was the 36th anniversary of their "The Last Waltz" concert - their final concert as a band before breaking up.
The Band started in 1964 and in 1965 they were hired to be the back-up band for Bob Dylan on his US and world tours. On Thanksgiving Day in 1976, the Band, consisting of Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson, got together at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, CA for one final concert entitled "The Last Waltz" and was described as their "farewell concert appearance".
At 5:00 p.m., the audience of 5,000 was served turkey dinner and at 9:00, the Band started their show, opening with "Up on Cripple Creek". Eleven more of their most famous songs followed including "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".
But the concert wasn't over yet as many other famous performers made appearances. Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Emmylou Harris, Muddy Waters, The Staples, Ringo Starr, Ron Wood, Dr. John, Paul Butterfield, and Ronnie Hawkins were all included in this important night.
After five-hours, The Last Waltz came to an end. Robbie Robertson said, "We knew this was the most powerful musical experience of our days together and a very satisfying and beautiful way to bring it all to a conclusion."

Hey, sexy lady

This is truly amazing.  People do this all the time where they time the lights on their house to a certain song.  This house did this for the hit song "Gangnam Style" by PSY.  Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Give thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!  I am thankful for a lot of things: my family, my friends, my house, my school, and of course music.  There are many classic artists I am thankful for (in no particular order):

1. The Beatles - They revolutionized rock music
2. The Rolling Stones - They ARE rock music
3. Buddy Holly - He created rock music
4. Beethoven - His music changed the way we see some music
5. Michael Jackson - He's the "King of Pop"
6. Elvis Presley - He's the "King"
7. Bruce Springsteen - He's the "Boss"
8. Queen - One of the most relevant bands of all time
9. Elton John - His lyrics are incomparable
10. Led Zeppelin - A lot of singers covered their songs
11. Bob Dylan - Was an idol for a lot of singers
12. Frank Sinatra - He owns New York 

Today in history

On this day, November 19, Carl Perkins recorded "Blue Suede Shoes".  The song was at No.2 in the US and No. 10 in the UK.

The Beatles, in 1962, played gigs at three different venues.  They started off with a show during lunch at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.  Soon after, the band traveled Smethwick Baths Ballroom in the Midlands and later at the Adelphi Ballroom, West Bromwich in Staffordshire.

In 2001, Mick Jagger released his solo album Goddess In The Doorway.  On the first day of sales, 954 copies were sold.

In 2006, a guitar played by George Harrison was set at £100,000 at an auction in London.  The guitar was used in The Beatles' first album Please Please Me.

"Nobody's Business"? Ummm, try again.

So, there is something that has been bothering me for a few days now and that is how on Rihanna's new album Unapologetic she sings a duet with ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown, called "Nobody's Business".

Let's rewind a little under four years.  There were charges against Chris Brown because he supposedly beat up then-girlfriend Rihanna.  Now I congratulate Rihanna for being able to forgive Chris for what he did to her, honestly.  And I understand how they don't want the media in their personal business about how they might be together again, but aren't they making it everybody's business by creating a song "Nobody's Business"?

They say in the song, "Always be my boy, I'll always be your girl.  Nobody's business, ain't nobody's business" and to me those two lines make it okay for me to "make it my business".  I think that if you don't want people in your business, you either quit Hollywood or you stop singing about your love lives.

I could go on forever about this song, but I think I have made my point clear.  I like Rihanna so I didn't want to take it too far.  I just had to get that off of my chest.

Hot 100

I love putting together playlists, so at least once a week I will be posting a playlist that has something to do with what's going on that week.  Since nothing huge has happened this week, today's playlist will be number-one singles from the past that spent the most time at number-one starting with 1960 and ending with 1988 (sources: Wikipedia; Billboard Hot 100).

1960:  Theme from "A Summer Place" - Percy Faith (9 weeks)
1962:  Sherry - The Four Seasons (5 weeks)
1964:  I Want To Hold Your Hand - The Beatles (7 weeks)
1966:  Ballad of the Green Berets - SSgt Barry Sadler (5 weeks)
1968:  Hey Jude - The Beatles (9 weeks)
1970:  Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel (6 weeks)
1972:  The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack (6 weeks)
1974:  Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks (3 weeks)
1976:  Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright) - Rod Stewart (7 weeks)
1978:  Night Fever - Bee Gees (8 weeks)
1980:  Call Me - Blondie (6 weeks)
1982:  I Love Rock 'n' Roll - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (7 weeks)
1984:  Jump - Van Halen (5 weeks)
1986:  That's What Friends Are For - Dionne and Friends (4 weeks)
1988:  Roll With It - Steve Winwood (4 weeks)

Take Me Home

Directioners are said to be psychotic fans who sit on tumblr all day and all night writing fan-fiction and reblogging pictures of the five Brits. It's all accurate. I am, and I will probably lose some viewers for this, a hardcore Directioner. I spend my time constantly tweeting to Harry, Louis, Zayn, Liam, and Niall while waiting for them to acknowledge my existence. Starting weeks ago, I made sure my mom knew exactly which album to get me and I chose the standard album because I love the cover. The band's sophomore album has the same sound as their first release, Up All Night, although the lyrics sound a little more mature. In other words, some parts of some of the songs are naughty and to be honest, I'm not really complaining. The album contains singles "Live While We're Young" and "Little Things" and their next single "Kiss You". The standard CD contains 13 tracks, the deluxe 17, and the Target exclusive 18. You probably think I am saying this album is great because I love One Direction, but I wouldn't tell you it's amazing if I didn't think so. Loving them doesn't mean the album has to be good, but this release really is.

A Piece of Me

I made this video two months ago and had sent it in to music producer/songwriter Savan Kotecha when he asked for girls to send in videos of themselves singing because he was planning on putting together a girl group.  I unfortunately did not make the cut, but I plan on making more videos and uploading them to YouTube to try and become noticed by someone famous.  My biggest dream is to be a singer so if that could happen to me, I would be beyond thrilled.

Annie Mac Presents 2012

I have an intense love for London.  I will admit that I am obsessed with British singers/bands, movies, and TV shows.  One Direction, Cher Lloyd, Little Mix, and Nick Grimshaw all hold places in my life.  BBC Radio 1 DJ, Annie Mac, is the most recent person added to my list.  Annie Mac is an Irish DJ who hosts a radio show on BBC Radio 1 in the UK every Friday and Sunday evening.  Every year since 2008, Annie Mac has released an album including all of her favorite tracks from that year.  The release contains two CDs which include club hits and radio hits with artists like Steve Aoki, Knife Party, Florence and the Machine, Drake, and Frank Ocean.  Although I haven't had a chance to purchase the album quite yet, (I absolutely plan to) I have listened to some of the songs on YouTube and I think these CDs were very well put together.  If you would like to purchase this album - it is available worldwide - you can go to anniemacpresents.com.

New York Groove

I am back!!!  Hurricane Sandy has passed, but she has definitely left her mark.  New Jersey is in ruins and so are parts of New York, but everyone's helping each other out.  The Jersey Shore can't really be called "The Jersey Shore" anymore...it's all gone.  If you would like to help, text: REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 or go to www.redcross.org.  Whatever you do is very much appreciated and we thank you.

Apologies

I'm so sorry I haven't been blogging this week. I haven't had power because of the hurricane. I'm posting this from my phone, but I can't do complete posts from the iPhone. Hope to be back bogging soon!!

I Can't Take This

Okay, so my power is back from the hurricane but my Internet is down. We called Verizon and they said it won't be fixed until probably Thursday so my blogging will be happening, but it will be short and sweet. Sorry everyone and please keep checking for updates.

Jordan

Sandy's Comin'

So, here in the NY/NJ area, the hurricane is about to hit really hard.  I have no school today!  So, I thought it would be in (almost) everybody's best interest that I create a "storm" playlist.  So here are songs to get you ready for the hurricane:

1. Rock You Like A Hurricane - Scorpion
2. Sandy - Grease
3. Singing In The Rain - Singing In The Rain (Gene Kelly)
4. Umbrella - Rihanna ft. Jay-Z
5. Rock The Boat - Hues Corporation
6. It's Raining Men - Weather Girls
7. Storms - Fleetwood Mac
8. It Never Rains In Southern California - Albert Hammond
9. Rainy Days and Mondays - Carpenters
10. Have You Ever Seen The Rain? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Spooktacular

Halloween is a beloved holiday throughout the world.  Children running through the streets and sidewalks with their cute Dorothy and firefighter costumes on demanding candy from everyone just really makes so many happy.  And because Halloween is rapidly approaching, I thought I would create a playlist of the perfect Halloween songs (in no particular order).  Enjoy!

1. Welcome to My Nightmare - Alice Cooper
2. Disturbia - Rihanna
3. I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow
4. Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
5. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
6. Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
7. Ghostbusters - Ray Parker, Jr.
8. Thriller - Michael Jackson
9. Boris the Spider - The Who
10. This is Halloween - The Citizens of Halloween
11. Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
12. I Put A Spell On You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
13. Time Warp - Rocky Horror Picture Show
14. Bark At The Moon - Ozzy Osbourne
15. Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran
16. Halloween Theme - John Carpenter
17. Monster - Lady Gaga

Jump to the Rhythm

Jordan Pruitt was signed to a record label when she was just 14. The now 21-year-old was just recently on The Voice but was voted off. She is currently signed to Jonas Records and is set to release her third album some time this year. I am going to say that I have been a huge fan of hers for a very long time, especially since we have the same first name. Her first major single, Outside Looking In, was released in 2006 and her voice in that song sounds flawless. Her voice in every song is flawless, actually. She is one of those singers whose songs I love to belt out to in my house. Since I am a big fan of hers, when she followed me on Twitter, I screamed and cried. If you don't know who she is, please check her out! You won't regret it!!!

American Music Awards

So many people love watching award shows.  The upcoming American Music Awards on November 18, you may want to tune in if you like Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Christina Aguilera,  and/or Linkin Park.  Officials released today that those four will be performing at the 40th annual AMAs.  Nicki Minaj is up for four awards, Taylor Swift is up for favorite female country artist, and Linkin Park is a nominee for alternative artist.  Tune in on ABC on November 18.

Red

Taylor Swift's new album Red is now available!  In previous posts, I have touched upon the fact that her fourth album is not as country as Tay has made herself appear.  
The record has sixteen tracks including "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble.".  It is currently Number One in Music on amazon.com.
For those of you who didn't like Taylor Swift because of her country music, I actually recommend this album to you because it isn't country.  Her lyrics are kind of the same as those on her previous albums, so if you are one who likes her for the lyrics, that didn't really change.  
So, ladies and gentlemen, I recommend purchasing this new album if you are looking for something new to listen to, or even if you don't like her.

New Ten

The iTunes "Top 10" charts have changed quite a lot in the past week:

1. Gangnam Style - PSY
2. Die Young - Ke$ha
3. Locked Out of Heaven - Bruno Mars
4. One More Night - Maroon 5
5. I Knew You Were Trouble. - Taylor Swift
6. Some Nights - Fun.
7. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift
8. Diamonds - Rihanna
9. I Cry - Flo Rida
10. State of Grace - Taylor Swift

I'm just going to take a minute to talk about the new songs that have made it onto the charts.

Now, I don't want to sound picky or anything, but that new Bruno Mars song...not a huge fan.  I loved when Bruno Mars released "Just The Way You Are" and "Marry You".  That was a great song.  But I disliked every song after that more and more.  I don't want my opinion to shape yours, so if you like Bruno Mars you may very well like his new song "Locked Out of Heaven" and if you don't like him, just listen to the song and see what you think.  I'd love to hear your opinion on the song.

"I Cry" by Flo Rida sounds just like "Club Can't Handle Me".  The beat sounds like a party beat and the lyrics sound like party lyrics...if that makes sense.

And last but not least, another song from Taylor Swift's new album Red called "State of Grace" and yes, it still has that pop star sound instead of country star sound.

Little Mixer

Being the huge fan of England that I am, Little Mix is definitely on my "favorite bands" list.  In 2011, Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock auditioned for X Factor UK as solo artists. When none of them made it past bootcamp, singer-songwriter Tulisa Contostavlos put the girls together as a group and they made it on to the live shows.  The girls, ages 19-21, won the eighth season of the show, being the first group to win X Factor.  "DNA" is the second single off their new album DNA (available in the UK November 19) following their previous hit single, "Wings".  Yesterday, Little Mix's music video for their new song was released on youtube.com/LittleMixVEVO and vevo.com.  Here it is!

Electric Light Orchestra

It has arrived! My parents bought ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra" from Amazon. The album contains different and new versions of certain songs, and knowing how talented ELO is, the new versions should not be a fail.

Rihanna on Vogue Cover

(source of photo: billboard.com)

Music icon Rihanna lands on the cover of Vogue's November 2012 issue.  The 24-year-old star speaks about everything in her spread, from Chris Brown to her music.  She looks very different from her April 2011 cover of Vogue, in which she had long red hair.  The magazine hits newsstands at the end of the month.  Her new album "Unapologetic" comes out November 19.

It's Only Rock 'N' Roll

(photo: vanityfair.tumblr.com)

The Rolling Stones are back!  They announced earlier today that they would be performing four concerts in the UK and US for their 50th anniversary.  The first two concerts will be November 25 and 29 at the O2 in London and December 13 and 15 at the Prudential Center in New Jersey.  They have reunited to perform live for the first time in five years.  Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Charlie Watts will all be there to perform.  If you really love the Rolling Stones and don't live anywhere near New Jersey or London, the Dec. 15 concert will later be available on pay per view.

Stand Behind the Music

I am in love with British singer/songwriter Cher Lloyd.  She was on season 7 of the X Factor and placed fourth on the show.  She soon after was signed by Simon Cowell because of her talent.  I got her album the first week it came out, the beginning of this month, and I love every song.  Most of her songs involve her rapping, but the raps are not at all offensive in any way.  My current favorite song is "Behind the Music", hence the picture above.  I highly recommend buying her album!!

Beauty and a Beat

How can anybody forget about "Bieber Fever"?  His first two albums were very good.  They had a teen-pop sound to them, but the Biebs is growing up.  His most recent album, Believe, which was released this past June, has a very different sound.  He's going for a little bit of a rap/hip-hop sound this time around with featured artists Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, Big Sean, and Drake.  But the one I will be focusing on for now is Nicki Minaj.  Nicki Minaj is one of the biggest female rappers of the current time and has several hits like "Starships" and "Super Bass".  On Bieber's album, she sings with him "Beauty and a Beat", written by famous song-writers Max Martin, Anton Zaslavski, Justin Bieber, Savan Kotecha, and Nicki Minaj (source: wikipedia.com).  The music video for the song was released on October 12 on vevo.com and youtube.com/JustinBieberVEVO.  Here's a look:

Tell me what you think of Bieber's new song compared to his previous songs!

Top 10. It's a good start.

We'll start off this blog with the top singles of the moment.  There's no doubt that certain singers and bands make it to the top of the charts because they have crazy and obsessed fans (I'm not going to lie, I am one of them) but the songs are usually then loved by a lot of other people (most of the time).  Here are the latest chart toppers (source: iTunes):

1.  I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift
2.  Gangnam Style - PSY
3.  Skyfall - ADELE
4.  One More Night - Maroon 5
5.  Some Night - Fun.
6.  Die Young - Ke$ha
7.  We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift
8.  Diamonds - Rihanna
9.  Too Close - Alex Clare
10.  Live While We're Young - One Direction

I've never been a huge country fan, but I do have to say that I do like the sound of Taylor Swift's new album.  "I Knew You Were Trouble" does not really have a country sound to it.  It sounds more like pop which probably explains why I like it.  I have been hearing a lot of people complaining about Tay's new album because it's not country,  but if the music is good, just enjoy it for what it is!

"Gangnam Style" is the perfect party song with a great beat and if you really want to know the song, learn the dance moves.  And no, I do not understand anything he is saying except for "hey sexy lady" but honestly, it's not a song you necessarily want to sing-along to, just dance along to.

"Skyfall" is the song Adele sings for the new James Bond movie, Skyfall.  The song definitely sounds like Adele and does in fact sound like a James Bond song.  Let's think back to "Goldfinger".  Shirley Bassey's voice was perfect for the song, and this is exactly what the new James Bond song is.  Adele fits the "James Bond" voice very well.

If you like Maroon 5, you may or may not agree that "One More Night" has a little bit of a different sound than their previous work.  Of course it still sounds like a Maroon 5 song, but the sound is a tiny bit different.

Fun.'s new song is very similar to their previous hit single, "We Are Young".  The instrumentals in the number-five song, "Some Night" sound similar and I have to say, this song is not that bad.

Ke$ha is back!  For those who love Ke$ha, you should absolutely like the new song, "Die Young" as it has the same sound as the songs from her previous two albums.  Her theme is definitely the same...party, party, party.

"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" also has the "poppy" sound that "I Knew You Were Trouble" has.  Are you getting rid of your country ties for good, Taylor?

Rihanna's "Diamonds" has more lyrics than dance breaks than her previous singles, which is why this song is not at all that bad.  I'm not saying "We Found Love" and "Where Have You Been" were bad songs, because they weren't, but they, to me, didn't really sound like Rihanna.  It sounds a little bit like the classic Rihanna from 2007.

To be completely honest, I do not really know who Alex Clare is.  The new song, "Too Close", for those who are unaware, is featured in the "Internet Explorer" commercial.  If you still don't know what I'm speaking about, if you are a fan of Neon Trees or Florence + The Machine, this song is for you.

And last but not least, One Direction's new song, "Live While We're Young" from their sophomore album, Take Me Home.  LWWY is just as catchy and upbeat as the British band's first single, "What Makes You Beautiful".  Whether you like 1D or not, this song is bound to get you happy and dancing.