Black Eyed Peas Perform Futuristic Sci-Fi Spectacle at Super Bowl Halftime Show

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Whether you loved it or loathed it, one thing that cannot be denied about the Black Eyed Peas’ performance at last night’s Super Bowl halftime special: It was pretty much the ultimate expression of Black Eyed Peas-ness.

Their show was like a big weird glob of sledgehammer hooks, awkward rapping, huge club beats and relentless optimism.

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Gang of Four returns, in good form

During a pause between songs at the Theatre of Living Arts on Saturday night, Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill invited the audience to join him after the show for a discussion of the U.S. Constitution. He was kidding, but if any band’s performance might dovetail with a study group, it would be the one.

Formed in Leeds, England, in the late 1970s, Gang of Four was one of a handful of punk bands as articulate as it was angry. Instead of singing love songs, the band sang songs about love songs, or, more frequently, about the ravages of late 20th-century capitalism and the dehumanizing nature of work.

Steeped in Marxist aesthetics, the band’s music was dialectic, pitting opposites against each other.

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Moore ‘died Of Heart Attack’

Guitar legend Gary Moore died of a suspected heart attack, according to a preliminary postmortem examination.
Forensic experts believe the former Thin Lizzy star died from natural causes on Sunday, while on holiday in Spain with his girlfriend.

They will now conduct further tests on tissue samples before releasing a final report.

A Spanish police spokesperson says, “Mr Moore died of natural causes and his death is not in any way suspicious.

“An investigating magistrate has opened a standard inquiry to determine the exact cause of death.”

  

Elton John, Lonely at the Top: Rolling Stone’s 1976 Cover Story

Photograph by David Nutter Tweet

Elton John walked shyly into the corner room of his sprawling suite on the tenth floor of the Sherry-Nether-land Hotel in New York, delivered a bone-crushing handshake and assumed the middle of a white sofa. He rarely does interviews and when his eyes, behind blue-tinted glasses, look away, they reveal his discomfort.

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Linkin Park heats up a cold Philly night

The only thing more bracing than the cold snap outside the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night was the sound of cold steel inside it.

Linkin Park – last and best of alterna-metal’s rap-rock wave – have been doing what they do for 15 years now. They know what makes their audience gleeful. While beardo instrumentalist Mike Shinoda raps in a flat, masculine monotone, buzzed-to-the-scalp singer Chester Bennington screeches. They trade vocal lines. The band rages with the machines – the roar of clean, crunching, overprocessed guitars and racing beats.

If that were all Linkin Park did, they’d still be overwhelmingly awesome. Monday, they nailed their usual to the wall.

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