Ask Mr. Music by Jerry Osborne

FOR THE WEEK OF MAY 23, 2011

DEAR JERRY: Our local paper (Los Angeles Times) ran a list of the most popular American Idol contestants of all time — the key word here being “popular.”

This particular survey reflects who the voters liked the most, and not directly based on their history of show business success or album sales.

Here is their Top 10:

1. Kelly Clarkson; 2. Carrie Underwood; 3. Jennifer Hudson; 4. David Cook; 5. Adam Lambert; 6. Fantasia Barrino; 7. Constantine Maroulis; 8. Kris Allen; 9. Clay Aiken; 10. Chris Daughtry.

It's interesting having three women at the top, but even more so seeing six of the 10 who were not the winner in their particular season. Only Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Kris Allen actually won.

Now I would like to see the Top 10 based strictly on sales figures, and a comparison of the two lists.
—Lara Torrent, Burbank, Calif.

DEAR LARA: It comes as no shock finding that personal popularity and the capacity to create sales are not always directly proportional. Four names — including one winner (Kris Allen) — in the Times' Top 10 are not among the 10 top album sellers (U.S. sales only). Note that the top two gals on this list are flip-flopped:

1. Carrie Underwood (Season 4): 12.3 million; 2. Kelly Clarkson (Season 1): 10.6 million; 3. Chris Daughtry (Season 5): 6 million; 4. Clay Aiken (Season 2): 4.9 million; 5. Fantasia Barrino (Season 3): 2.8 million; 6. Ruben Studdard (Season 2): 2.5 million; 7. David Cook (Season 7): 1.34 million; 8. Kellie Pickler (Season 5): 1.32 million; 9. Jordin Sparks (Season 6): 1.2 million; 10. Jennifer Hudson (Season 3): 1.15 million.

Neither Daughtry, Aiken, nor Pickler won the competition, yet each outsold the Idol winner for their season, some by a wide margin.

None of the three top vote-getters in Season 5, Taylor Hicks (1), Katharine McPhee (2), and Elliott Yamin (3), are among the Top 10 in sales. Daughtry came in fourth that year, and Pickler sixth.

In Season 2, Ruben Studdard's Idol vote total barely exceeded runner-up Clay Aiken's, but at the cash register, Clay's 4.9 million albums sold is about double Ruben's.

Besides Taylor Hicks, other winners and runners-up whose sales do not yet qualify them for a Top 10 slot are: (Season 7) David Archuleta (2nd); (Season 8) Kris Allen (1st) and Adam Lambert (2nd); (Season 9); Lee DeWyze (1st) and Crystal Bowersox (2nd).

A rare and quirky chart event, involving the Season 4 winner and runner-up, occurred in 2005.

Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice both recorded versions of “Inside Your Heaven,” and the two records made their chart debut one week apart.

On Billboard's Hot 100 Singles for the week of July 9, Carrie's version held the No. 3 position and Bo's was No. 2.

Not since early 1957 (Sonny James and Tab Hunter with “Young Love”) do I recall two different recordings of the same song being in Billboard's Top 3 at the exact same time.


IZ ZAT SO? Countless times over Idol's 10 seasons, we've heard the judges refer to when the contestants “make a record.”

Truth is, very few of them make records. CDs and digital files for downloading, yes, and those are recordings, but they are not records.

Of those who do have their name on an actual record, nearly all are promotional pressings made either for juke boxes or 12-inch disco singles for club play.

Mostly from the singers mentioned above, here are those who can honestly say they made a record:

Clay Aiken: “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (2003); “Invisible” (2004).
Fantasia Barrino: “Truth Is” (2004); “Baby Mama” (2005); “Hood Boy” (2006).
Bo Bice: “Inside Your Heaven” (2005).
Kelly Clarkson: “A Moment Like This” (2002); “Miss Independent” (2003); “Since U Been Gone” (2004); “Behind These Hazel Eyes” (2005); “Because of You” (2005); “Walk Away” (2006).
Justin Guarini: “Unchained Melody” (2003).
Taylor Hicks: “Do I Make You Proud” (2006).
Katharine McPhee: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (2006).
Kellie Pickler: “Don't You Know You're Beautiful” (2008); “Makin' Me Fall in Love Again” (2008).
Jordin Sparks: “Tattoo Remixes” (2007).
Ruben Studdard: “Flying Without Wings” (2003); “Sorry 2004” (2003); “What If” (2004); “What Is Sexy” (2004).
Carrie Underwood: “Inside Your Heaven” (2005).

Jerry Osborne answers as many questions as possible through this column.  Write Jerry at: Box 255, Port Townsend, WA 98368  E-mail: jpo@olympus.net   Visit his Web site: www.jerryosborne.com.

All values quoted in this column are for near-mint condition.

Copyright 2011 Osborne Enterprises- Reprinted By Exclusive Permission

REO Speedwagon's 30-Year Anniversary of Multi-Platinum #1 Breakthrough Hit Hi Infidelity Brings Re-Release With Double-CD Package Due Out July 19, 2011

Anniversary Package To Include Previously-Unreleased Demos of Nine Songs and Liner Notes From Frontman Kevin Cronin

NEW YORK, May 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The year 1981 marks the debut of the groundbreaking MTV Networks and, simultaneously, as MTV was hitting the airwaves, REO Speedwagon held the #1 album spot with their multi-platinum Hi Infidelity, making an impression that has also come to last decades. Now, marking its 30th Anniversary, the highest-selling rock LP of 1981 is being commemorated with HI INFIDELITY: 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION, with special, never-before-released demos and more. The double-CD set will be released at all physical and digital retail outlets on July 19th through Epic/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.

Hi Infidelity was a career-changing album for REO Speedwagon, achieving a staggering number of accolades, chart positions and sales, among them:

•Highest-selling rock LP of 1981

•Has sold close to 10 million copies in the US

•February 21, 1981; the album hit #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart and remained at #1 for 15 weeks straight; taking over John Lennon & Yoko Ono's "Double Fantasy," which previously held the spot for eight weeks

•Remained on Billboard 200 album chart for 101 weeks, unprecedented for an American rock band at the time

•Album certified RIAA Gold and Platinum on February 2, 1981; since been 10x Platinum certified

•Single "Keep on Loving You," certified RIAA gold on March 4th, replaced Eddie Rabbitt's "I Love a Rainy Night" at #1 on Billboard Hot 100 on March 21, 1981

•March 21st, 1981, the first week of Billboard's then new "Top Tracks" chart (now known as the Mainstream Rock Chart) boasted four songs from Hi Infidelity: "Keep on Loving You" and "Take It On the Run," which both hit the top 10; and "Don't Let Him Go"(#11) and "Tough Guys" (#25); "Out of Season," joined those four a week later

•"Take It On the Run" was the 9th music video ever to be played on MTV


HI INFIDELITY: 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION will pair the original album with a second CD of previously unreleased 'Crystal Demos' of nine of the album's 10 songs. Additionally, the album packaging will include new liner notes by lead singer Kevin Cronin, as well as original lead guitarist Gary Richrath. Cronin's essay takes the reader on a trip behind the curtain to the roots of many of the songs: "I remember writing the verses to piano, after sleepwalking into my home studio around 4:00 a.m.... A long simmering response to the bullies of my youth came in the form of 'Tough Guys'... Bruce wrote and sang 'Someone Tonight,' which is one of the gems from the Crystal Demos... 'I wish You Were There' [was] a little gospel thing that I had written in the house where I grew up in suburban Chicago."

Originally formed in Champaign, Illinois, REO Speedwagon is still led today by keyboardist Neal Doughty (founding member since 1967), Kevin Cronin (who has fronted the band since 1972 on lead vocals and guitar), and bassist Bruce Hall (who joined in 1977) – along with lead guitarist Dave Amato (member since 1989) and drummer Bryan Hitt (since 1990). Together, REO continues to define the essence of two enduring genres, arena rock on the performance side, and classic rock on the audio and video side. Summer tour dates begin at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre on June 4th and take the band through more than 40 shows where they'll showcase the best of Hi Infidelity with the live performances that audiences have grown to love over the last three decades and continue to sell out time and time again.

As Cronin writes, "Hi Infidelity was a major life changer for all of us. On our eleventh album, we went from being the perennial Midwestern underdog, to at last hitting the global big time. Suddenly, the world was listening, and watching... But the truth is, it all still boiled down to the music, the songs, some inspired performances, and a great deal of good fortune. We were a tight knit, dedicated group of individuals, with a dream, a purpose, and no doubt that we would pull it all off."

HI INFIDELITY: 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION by REO SPEEDWAGON (Epic/Legacy 88697 69579 2, originally issued November 1980, as Epic 36844)

Disc One – Selections: 1. Don't Let Him Go 2. Keep On Loving You 3. Follow My Heart 4. In Your Letter 5. Take It On The Run 6. Tough Guys 7. Out Of Season 8. Shakin' It Loose 9. Someone Tonight 10. I Wish You Were There.

Disc Two: The Crystal Demos – Selections: 1. Someone Tonight 2. Tough Guys 3. In Your Letter 4. Follow My Heart 5. Take It On The Run 6. Don't Let Him Go 7. Keep On Loving You 8. Shakin' It Loose (Instrumental) 9. I Wish You Were There. (All tracks previously unreleased.)

"The heavens, our emotions, the music business, and REO fans all over the world, were all perfectly aligned. There was a common sense of purpose, of longing and loss, within the band members' collective psyche, that erupted with a burst of creativity, and resulted in the music of Hi Infidelity."

– from the liner notes written by Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon

"Kevin and I go way back, having met right about the time I joined Styx. There was probably no one more keenly aware of their chart positions than we were for all those weeks back in 1981. Most exciting days indeed!" – Tommy Shaw of Styx

www.reospeedwagon.com , www.legacyrecordings.com

SOURCE Legacy Recordings

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

i spend my time searching for vinyl related stories and came across one of the most indepth and fascinating posts about record collecting and i thought i would share it with you. i contacted jim and he gave me the ok to post part of his post, please take the time to visit his site and read the rest - i know you will love it!

All About Record Collecting

by Jim

I spent most of my middle and high school years sorting through stacks of old records at various Atlanta record stores, working the floor at record shows, pouring over Goldmine magazine and burning up transatlantic phone lines with calls to record shops in the UK.

I was what you’d call a record collector, although I wasn’t much of one in the greater scheme of things. There are record collectors out there who have tens of thousands of albums filling their basements and garages, like John Cusack in High Fidelity. But I was never one of them. I kept my collection small, filling it with records I loved as well as records to “flip”. In fact, flipping records is how my love affair with Madonna started. Like most teenage guys in the 80s, I thought that she was super-hot, but I didn’t much care for her music. But I noticed that her records sold quickly and expensively, so I started buying the occasional Madonna picture disc just to flip it into a rare Cure record I wanted.

Although vinyl collecting almost died, it’s going through a renaissance of sorts lately. Many independent record stores are reporting that vinyl is now outselling CDs, although this has as much to do with people who used to buy CDs now using iTunes as it does people buying more vinyl records. Still, vinyl sales are up, and because of this, I thought I’d dust off this old post and spruce it up some.

By using the following guide, you should be able to suss out the value of most any disc, be it a CD you bought a year ago or a box full of your parents’ old vinyl records you found cleaning out the attic. And given the rise of the Internet – specifically, auction sites like eBay and online memorabilia retailers like GEMM – you can quickly sell those discs (if you choose) as never before.

Read the rest of this great post at jimcofer.com

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100 Worst Album Covers of All Time

here we go again, another list of album covers to make you cringe. some i have seen before (over and over again in someone's list of bad album covers), but there are some new ones on this list. for shits and giggles, check it out at sandiegoreader.com



















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Kim Kardashian Calls Her Lawyers Over Album Cover

Kim Kardashian has threatened two music producers with legal action after they used an image of her naked body on their album cover without permission. The reality star noticed that the photograph on the cover of Terrace Martin and Devi Dev's album was from her nude spread in fashion bible W Magazine according to a TMZ report. The album, Terrace Martin & Devi Dev Present: The Sex EP, used a close-up of Kardashian's bare breasts from the magazine spread.

She instructed her lawyers to send a cease and desist letter to the two producers demanding they swap the picture, stating, "We cannot imagine why you thought you had the right to use this photograph without permission."

The photograph was later changed to another woman's body. The producers claimed that they did not know they had originally used Kardashian's image. Yeah right......








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The Menzingers announce vinyl release

Mightier Than Sword Records and Shop Radio Cast is releasing The Menzingers' debut album 'A Lesson in the Abuse of Information Technology' on vinyl for the first time this June.

The first pressing for 1000 records :

100 180g Vinyl on Black
450 Solid White (Exclusive MTS Color)
450 Solid Army Green (Exclusive Shop Radio Cast Color)

You can pre-order this release through the Mightier Than Sword website on Friday, May 27th. The official release date for the vinyl is Tuesday, June 28th.

Formed in 2006, The Menzingers are a Scranton, PA-based punk band whose second full-length, 'Chamberlain Waits' made it onto multiple 2010 "Best Of" lists, and who announced their signing to Epitaph Records earlier this month. "A Lesson in the Abuse of Information Technology" was originally released on Go-Kart Records in 2007 but never available on vinyl until now.

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Silverchair Go into ‘Indefinite Hibernation’

here is what the band posted on their facebook page:

We formed Silverchair nearly 20 years ago when we were just 12 years old. Today we stand by the same rules now as we did back then ... if the band stops being fun and if it's no longer fulfilling creatively, then we need to stop.

Therefore after much soul searching we wanted to let you know that we're putting Silverchair into "indefinite hibernation" and we've decided to each do our own thing for the foreseeable future.

Read what else they have to say at facebook.com

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GRIMEY'S BEST SELLERS 5/16 - 5/22, 2011

Top 25 Vinyl:

1. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
2. Ty Segall - I Can't Feel It 7"
3. Queens Of The Stone Age - Queens Of The Stone Age
4. Tyler The Creator - Goblin
5. Bake Sale - As Predicted 7"
6. Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
7. Natural Child - 1971
8. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
9. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
10. The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
11. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
12. KORT - Invariable Heartache
13. The Antlers - Burst Apart
14. Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
15. Hank Williams III - Hillbilly Joker
16. Cy Barkley & The Wayoutsiders - Rock Together
17. Kleenex / Lilliput - Kleenex & Lilliput
18. Iron & Wine / Low Anthem - Daytrotter Sessions
19. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
20. Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
21. Booker T. Jones - The Road To Memphis
22. TV On The Radio - Nine Types Of Light
23. Lonely Island - Turtleneck & Chain
24. My Morning Jacket - At Dawn
25. Whiskeytown - Pneumonia

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and in music history for today:

In 1965, blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, Sonny Boy Williamson died in his sleep. Van Morrison, Aerosmith, The Who, The Animals, Yardbirds and Moody Blues all covered his songs. According to the Led Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods, touring the UK in the 60's, Sonny Boy set his hotel room on fire while trying to cook a rabbit in a coffee percolator.

The Rolling Stones released "Jumpin' Jack Flash" in 1968.

The Hollies recorded "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" in 1969 (with Elton John on piano).



In 1973, Carole King played a concert in New York's Central Park, which attracted an audience of 100,000.

In 1978, the Who performed a concert in London to be filmed for their documentary movie on the band's history, 'The Kids Are Alright.' This proved to be Keith Moon's last performance with the band before his death on September 7th.

Dio released the album "Holy Diver" in 1983.

In 1995, the earliest known recording of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, from 1961, was sold at Christies in London for $85,425.

In 1996, Bradley Nowell (Sublime) was found dead in his San Francisco motel room of a drug overdose at the age of 26. what a shame.....



In 1997, a report showed that Elvis Presley was now the world’s bestselling posthumous entertainer with worldwide sales of over one billion, over 480 active fanclubs and an estimated 250,000 U.K. fans who still buy his records.

In 2009, a former member of Wilco, died at his home in Illinois at the age of 45. Jay Bennett worked as a sound engineer and played instruments for the band between 1994 and 2001

birthdays today include Lauryn Hill of The Fugees (1975), Klaus Meine of the Scorpions (1958), country vet Tom T. Hall (75) and musician Paul Weller (1958); among others.