• 8 Artists with At Least 8 No. 1 Albums: Ranking The Octopping Albums from Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Jay Z and More

    Fifty years ago on this day Elvis Presley released Roustabout, a soundtrack for the film of the same title, starring the performer. It was his eighth no. 1 album, an extension of his record for most albums atop the Billboard 200 by one artist (which would soon be surpassed for good by The Beatles). Interestingly enough, only eight acts have had at least eight albums top the American charts. We at Music Times decided to find out each of those acts' no. 8 no. 1 and measure them up against each other.

  • Deer Tick Cover 'Meet the Beatles!' at Brooklyn Bowl with Taylor Goldsmith, Tommy Stinson [WATCH]

    The rambunctious boys of Deer Tick decided to celebrate their 10th anniversary in style, forgoing a straightforward celebration and opting for shows where they play covers by their favorite artists. The band kicked things off the day after Christmas with NRBQ's "Tiddlywinks" followed by Lou Reed's "Transformer." They used the midpoint of their Brooklyn Bowl residency to pay homage to The Beatles by playing the group's second record, "Meet the Beatles!," with the help of Tommy Stinson of The Replacements, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and James Felice of The Felice Brothers. "Rolling Stone" reviewed the gig, which had John McCauley screaming on classics like "It Won't Be Long" and "Till There Was You." Goldsmith joined in on "Don't Bother Me," Felice busted out the accordion on "Little Child," and Stinson hit the stage for what had to be a rowdy version of "I Wanna Be Your Man." Check out some of the videos below.

  • Paul McCartney Calls College Courses on Beatles 'Ridiculous Yet Flattering'

    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.

  • Ringo Starr's New Album is Finished, Beatles Drummer Hints at Spring Tour [WATCH]

    Ringo Starr announced that his new LP, which is currently untitled, is complete. The former Beatle posted a video update to his website recently to let fans know what to expect in 2015. Starr will be a busy guy next year since he's going to be inducted as a solo artist into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Joan Jett, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Green Day.

  • Taylor Swift Continues Reign on 'Billboard' 200 with '1989'; Nicki Minaj's 'Pinkprint' Hits No. 2

    Taylor Swift's "1989" moved back into the No. 1 spot on the "Billboard" 200, bringing its total, nonconsecutive weeks at the top to six. It sold 375,000 copies last week, bringing the total for the year to 3.34 million. The record is on pace to overtake the "Frozen" soundtrack, which sold 3.46 million so far. Nicki Minaj's "The Pinkprint" sits comfortably at the No. 2 spot, "Billboard" notes. Swift is tied with Mariah Carey for total weeks at No. 1 with 30. Only one other woman has them beat with 46: Whitney Houston. The Beatles are still in first for all artists with 132 weeks at No. 1. Pentatonix has the No. 3 spot with "That's Christmas to Me." Minaj was able to crack the top 10 recently, and D'Angelo's new "Black Messiah" hit No. 5. "The Pinkprint" did not perform as well as the artist's previous effort "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded." The former sold 244,000 in its first week while the latter hit 253,000 — it also debuted at No. 1.

  • The Replacements Share New Song "Poke Me in My Cage" - A 24-Minute Jazz Instrumental [LISTEN]

    The first song to surface from The Replacements' reunion is exactly what you would expect it to be - a 24-minute jazz improvisation. "Poke Me in My Cage" has the boys jamming with no end in sight, riffing and stomping like the early days. They've hinted at a new album, but there is no official word on whether this one is the start of a fresh project, Pitchfork notes. We'll have to wait and see.

  • Paul McCartney, Lenny Kravitz, Ringo Starr, More Tweet on Joe Cocker's Death

    Soulful rock icon Joe Cocker died yesterday, Dec. 22, at the age of 70. The singer had been battling lung cancer. Tributes began flooding in from Cocker's contemporaries: Paul McCartney, The Doobie Brothers and Ringo Starr all paid their respects on Twitter. Some of today's artists like Lupe Fiasco, Lady Antebellum and Lenny Kravitz also showed love for the legendary performer. McCartney recalled Cocker's brilliance on The Beatles's "With a Little Help from My Friends," which the singer recorded in the late 1960s and eventually became the theme song for "The Wonder Years": "It's really sad to hear about Joe's passing. He was a lovely northern lad who I loved a lot and like many people I loved his singing. I was especially pleased when he decided to cover 'With a Little Help from My Friends' and I remember him and Denny Cordell coming round to the studio in Saville Row and playing me what they'd recorded and it was just mind blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful to him for doing that."

  • Kevin Gates Shares "I Don't Get Tired" Music Video Featuring August Alsina [WATCH]

    Louisiana rapper Kevin Gates has shared the music video for his latest single, "I Don't Get Tired" featuring August Alsina, which you can check out here. The Jon J.-directed clip incorporates footage of Gates on tour in between shots of him rapping in an auto-repair shop and outside of a convenience store. August Alsina, who provides the chorus hook, appears in some of the live performance footage, but doesn't appear alongside Gates in the scenes shot specifically for the video.

  • The Seven Most Expensive Guitars Ever: Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and More Bring in Millions

    Ten years ago on this date, a red Gibson SG was sold at auction for $570,000 at auction in New York City. As you can imagine, there was a story behind the value: George Harrison had used it during the recording of The Beatles' Revolver and John Lennon later sued the guitar while recording The White Album. Remarkably, that's far from the most that's ever been paid for a guitar at auction. In fact, seven six-strings have brought in more.

  • Paul McCartney Talks Ringo Starr's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Honor on 'The Tonight Show' [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.

  • Ludacris Shares New Track 'In My Life' Featuring John Legend From Upcoming 'Burning Bridges' EP [LISTEN]

    After previewing his new song "In My Life" through a series of Instagram clips on Monday (December 8), Ludacris has unveiled the entire song, which you can check out below. The song, which is thankfully not a Beatles cover, features some lush, jazzy production, with John Legend providing the soulful hook, and though it's not as silly and outrageous as Ludacris's previous hits, it does show some remarkably maturity from the 37-year-old Atlanta rapper.

  • John Lennon: Remembering the Singer with 10 Inspiring Quotes [PHOTOS]

    John Lennon had established himself as a superb solo artist by the time 1980 rolled around. The Beatles disbanded a full decade earlier, and Lennon had found a way to captivate listeners without his writing partner Paul McCartney. He released five LPs in the '70s, including his debut, "John Lennon/The Plastic Ono Band" and his masterpiece "Imagine." There was a five-year hole in his recording career from 1975-80, but in November 1980 Lennon came back with "Double Fantasy." It was the former Beatle's final album. Lennon was shot by Mark David Chapman 34 years ago today, Dec. 8. It is a loss that still perplexes fans and admirers to this day. Even the singer's killer has awakened from his delusional haze, telling the parole board in July, "I am sorry for being such an idiot and choosing the wrong way for glory." This year's anniversary is not a milestone. It is not a nice, rounded-off number like 30 or 35, both of which are far less important than 25 and 50. But while Lennon's death left a void in popular music, it also robbed the world of a truly beautiful mind that never hesitated to comment on the state of the world. He did not just say, "War is bad," he opted for the positive and tried to spark a movement from that: "Give peace a chance." So, yes, 34 means little. But it is difficult to look at 2014 and not think about what kind of wisdom Lennon could offer if he were still with us. What would he tell us about unrest stemming from the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases that we are missing? What insights could he offer on gay marriage rights? And do not forget the NFL. There is no shortage of moral problems and quandaries in today's social media society. Would Lennon even bother with Twitter? We will never know the specific answers to those questions. Thankfully, Lennon spoke his mind often during his 40-year stay on Earth, and those snippets of wisdom remain a guiding light for fans of peace, creativity and love.
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