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Ongoing History of New Music
The 100 Greatest Rock Moments of the Millennium So Far - Part 3: (80-71)
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- [00:00]
Alan Cross
Hey, it's Alan and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing history of new music, early and ad free on Amazon Music included with Prime.
- [00:09]
Nadia
Welcome to Nadia Yada island, next on.
- [00:13]
Anthony Delaney
Metro's Nadia Yada island podcast. I almost fainted when the four new bombshells arrived. Four free Samsung Galaxy A16 5G phones at Metro. No way. And finding out the fourth line is free. Thanks. God Heated.
- [00:27]
Alan Cross
That's wild.
- [00:28]
Anthony Delaney
Join Metro and get four free Samsung 5G phones only at Metro. Metro plus tax. Bring four numbers and an ID and sign up for any Metro Flex plan. Not available currently at T Mobile or available with Metro in the past 180.
- [00:38]
Alan Cross
Days the great 20th century philosopher Ferris Bueller once said, life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. I think of this wisdom a lot, especially when someone starts talking about, say, I don't know, the music of the 1990s. My instinctive reaction is always the same. Yeah, the 90s, that was like 10 years ago, right? Well, obviously not. Nirvana's Nevermind still lives, but that record is over 30 years old. All the legendary grunge artists are in their 50s and 60s, if not dead, but so much of the music of that era is always in the air, so it's not like it's ever had a chance to become forgotten. I was in an airport recently, a big public space serving people of all ages and of all backgrounds from around the world, and man in a Box from Alice in Chains was playing on the pa. And then there are all those moments in the grocery store where I hear music playing and think to myself, when did supermarket music get so cool? The truth is that this music is a lot older than my brain wants to believe, and even though it still sounds fresh, at least to my ears, so much has happened since those records first came out. So yeah, life does move pretty fast, and it seems that it's moving faster with each passing day. And yeah, we do need to stop and look around once in a while. Because, let's face it, we're missing a lot of stuff. Now that we're 25 years deep into the 21st century, I feel the need to look around a lot more, if for no other reason, to remember and to keep track of everything that we've seen and heard in music. What have we missed? What have we forgotten? And if we're not acquainted with how we got to where we are today, how we got here, how can we possibly be ready for what might be coming next. This is episode three of a series I call the 100 Greatest Rock Moments of the Millennium so far. Let's see how many of these things you remember. This is the ongoing History of New Music Podcast with Alan Cross hello again, I'm Alan Cross, and this is the third chunk of great moments in rock that we've experienced over the last quarter century. A time in human history when things blow past us so fast that we're on to the next thing before we've adequately digested and understood what just happened. We're taking these moments, events, people and things ten at a time. And again, this is my list. If you were to compile your own, you might come up with a bunch of different things in a completely different order. But that's part of the fun. Let's compare. What do we remember and what do we consider important? Number 80 on my list is this huge increase in the number of copyright infringement cases when it comes to music. First, though, a definition. An accusation of copyright infringement with a song often involves a track that allegedly copies, imitates, or otherwise uses substantial elements from a previously released piece of music. That infringement is usually completely unintentional. Look, there are only so many notes in the western scale. There is a finite number of ways those notes can be put together in a way that's pleasing to the ear. And with over 75 years of rock and roll, there's bound to be some accidental repetition. How, for example, is today's 17 year old supposed to know every melody of every song ever recorded anywhere in the world? It's impossible. Good melodies and clever song constructions are going to be independently discovered and rediscovered over and over and over again. Now, there are some important exceptions that we need to know about. Song titles cannot be copyrighted. Chord progressions cannot be copyrighted because they form the building blocks of music composition, and beats and rhythms can't be copyrighted for the same reason, although some people continue to try adjudicating a Copyright infringement is very complex. In fact, if you go back to the ongoing history podcast library, you'll find several shows entitled Unfortunate Sonic Coincidences, which take a very close look at this legal phenomenon. Such lawsuits are not exclusive to the last 25 years. In fact, the issue of copyright is something that creators have fought for for at least 600 years. There were plenty of court cases in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, but in the 2000s the number of such accusations has exploded. Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Led Zeppelin, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and dozens more have all been wrapped up in these controversies. But the most egregious example for me has to be the successful prosecution of Robin Thicke and Farrell Williams over the song Blurred Lines. They were taken to court by the estate of Marvin Gaye, claiming that the Gaye song Got to Give it up was infringed upon. Now, it's not like the two songs shared a lot of notes or melodic passages, but the jury believed it was enough that the two songs felt alike. And they did on purpose. Blurred Lines was conceived as an homage to Got to Give it up, no problem. Because you can't copyright a feel a vibe, can you? Well, it turns out that you can. And the jury awarded the estate of Marvin Gaye $5.3 million. This ruling sent a chill through songwriters everywhere. Wait a second. If I'm influenced by artist X and it turns out that my music reflects my influences through how things feel, the song that I've written, how it feels, does that mean I can be sued? Well, yeah, it can in the US anyway. Since that case was settled in 2015, ambulance chasing lawyers have come out of the woodwork looking for examples where a contemporary song sounds like it has some similarities, even tiny ones, to a song released 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. Once they identify the aggrieved party, the lawyers make a phone call. Lets take artist Y to court and force them to settle for big dollars. Most of these cases are settled quietly, but others become giant courtroom dramas. Let me Highlight1. In 2018, music publishers for Radiohead claimed that the Lana Del Rey song Get Free copied elements from their song creep, released in 1993. Radiohead now gets a songwriting credit on Lana Del Rey's Get Free. Now there's a twist. Radiohead was sued by the Hollies over Creep because of certain melodic similarities to the 1974 song the Air that I Breathe. And Radiohead ended up giving songwriting credits to the composers of that song. So they get a piece of the royalties of Creep. And by the way, one of the composers of that the Air that I Breathe is the father of Albert Hammond Jr. Of the Strokes. So he and his songwriting partner Michael Hazelwood got dragged into this. It's really, really weird. Some of the lawsuits are frivolous and nutty, yet if a copyright lawyer sees an opportunity, you can bet that they're gonna go for it.
- [07:38]
Nadia
But I'm a creep.
- [07:44]
Alan Cross
I'm a murder.
- [07:48]
Nadia
What the hell? I turn here.
- [07:53]
Alan Cross
Rock moment 80 of the millennium. So far, the copyright infringement lawsuit craze something that shows no signs of abating. Number 79 on the list is Tool finally delivering an album. They'd gone so long between records that it was a running joke. 10,000 Days was released on May 2, 2006. And to put that into perspective, that was still more than a year before the iPhone was introduced. Pluto was still considered a planet, and YouTube was still an independent startup owned by a couple of tech nerds. We would not see another 2 album for 13 years, 3 months and 29 days. Why? Legal problems. Mostly. Fights with one label and then another, followed by suits and countersuits that also involved insurance companies. It was a huge mess. In fact, I devote an entire ongoing history show to the issue. You can get that as a podcast in the archives. And once all the legal issues were settled, a new album had to be written and recorded. And of course, Tool will not be rushed. Finally though, on August 30, 2019, like I said, 13 years, three months and 29 days after the last record, Tool delivered Fear Inoculum, a 7 song, 79 minute CD and a 9 song 84 minute vinyl release. Oh, and a 10 song 87 minute digital version. It also came in a variety of different packaging. It immediately rocketed to number one in Canada, the us, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Portugal. The only countries where it didn't reach the top 10 were Japan and the Czech Republic. It took just a month to sell a million copies in the U.S. plus it received two Grammy nominations, winning best medal performance for this track called Tempest. I'd love to play you the whole thing, but it runs almost 16 minutes. We don't have that kind of time, but I can give you a taste. Tool and Tempest from their long, long, long awaited Fear inoculum album in 2019. And that's item number 79 on our greatest rock moments of the millennium. So far I've slotted the debut of Apple's streaming music service, Apple Music as moment number 78. Now, anybody who follows Apple knows that whenever there's a technological advance or trend, Apple likes to hang back to see how things shake out with their competition. First, let them make all the mistakes. Let them learn how their products and services work and how they don't work. Apple then figures out how those products and services should work. That's their philosophy. Streaming had been around for more than a decade before Apple jumped into the arena, even though they'd already had a lot of experience with offering music through itunes. But finally, on June 30, 2015, a full nine years and three months after Spotify went online, Apple Music was in business. Millions of songs for subscribers and no free tier. You want Apple Music, you gotta pay. Not everyone got it right away. On launch day it was available in 100 countries, but today the platform offers access to somewhere around 202 million songs to people in 167 countries. It pays out slightly more per stream to artists than Spotify, and it comes with at least three 24 hour live radio stations. Spotify still has more monthly users, but the majority of them don't pay. They put up with ads in a hobbled interface. The bitrate on Apple Music can be set to offer lossless streams, which means higher quality audio. And Apple Music has something called spatial audio which can provide an interesting immersive musical experience. And select tracks are offered in Dolby Atmos at no cost. Is it the best streaming music service? It's impossible to really make that judgment because everyone has different needs when it comes to listening to music. All I can tell you is that I use it and the music sounds better than most of the other options. At last check, the most listened to artists on Apple Music are Drake at number three, Ed Sheeran in second spot and Taylor Swift at number one. The most popular alt rock related artist, Imagine dragons at number 17. Apple's streaming debut, the debut of Apple Music on June 30, 2015. That's number 78 on our list of the 100 biggest moments in rock of the millennium so far. Number 77 is tangential to that. It's the decline of the importance of the album and the rise of the playlist. Playlists continue to disrupt and revolutionize music consumption. Instead of listening to a whole album featuring a collection of carefully crafted songs sequenced in a deliberate fashion, people are showing a distinct preference for big singles and popular songs from multiple artists on a single playlist. It's a modern spin on the old school cassette mixtape, except now artists are making music to get them onto playlists. Critics will say that listening to singles doesn't require the same attention span as listening to albums. This is in line with everything in life these days. Collectively, we're always impatient and only want the best stuff, or at least the stuff we like and the stuff that we find immediately interesting. The idea of multiple songs from an album marinating in our minds until we eventually like them all is a habit that's quickly disappearing. Artists agonize over sequencing, that is the order in which songs come up on an album to get the right flow and mood. Playlists allow us to mess with sequencing. This is especially disruptive when it comes to concept albums where Songs are designed to be listened to in a very specific order. Does that mean the concept album is in trouble? Could be. Speaking of artists, have you ever wondered why so many singles are released ahead of the album itself? 4, 5, 6 singles may precede release day. Why? Because artists want a steady procession of new material for playlists leading up to when the album comes out. There are good things though. A lesser known artist has a better chance of breaking through the algorithms with a single hot song rather than a full album. And the album is certainly not dead. The vinyl resurrection has ensured that people keep buying albums. Collectors want physical manifestations of music and albums. Vinyl or CDs are the most treasured and you can actually have the best of both worlds. You can buy the album with its artwork, lyric sheets, liner notes and all the rest of it and listen to a playlist featuring that album or that artist. This obliterates the need for a turntable. You can collect the Vinyl, collect the CDs, put them on the shelf and not listen to them and still stream the contents. But make no mistake, there is an accelerating shift towards playlist based listening. But when we really want to get invested in an artist, we continue our love affair with albums. It's just a different way of looking at that particular piece of plastic. What's the most popular song on Spotify rock playlists? Queen in Bohemian Rhapsody, this is second, the Killers and Mr. Brightside. We'll talk more about that song as we get a little higher on the list. Next up on our 100 Rock Moments of the Millennium so far, a brazen assassination of an artist on stage.
- [15:42]
Maddy Pelling
After Dark Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal is a podcast that delves into the dark side of history. Expect murder and conspiracy, ghosts and witches. I'm Anthony Delaney. And I'm Maddy Pelling. We're historians and the hosts of After Dark From History Hit, where every Monday and Thursday we enter the shadows of the past, discover the secrets of the darker side of history on After Dark From History Hit wherever you get your podcasts.
- [16:14]
Alan Cross
This is the third chapter of a ten part series on the most important rock moments of the 21st century so far. And number 76 was unbelievably tragic and shocking. On December 8, 2004, ex Pantera guitarist Dime Beg Darrell was playing with his band Damageplan in Columbus, Ohio at a place called alrosa villa. About 400 people were there. Their set began at around 10:20 that night. That's when Nathan Gale, a 6 foot 3, 250 pound ex Marine who had been Discharged because of a schizophrenia diagnosis and wearing a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey jersey, rushed the stage and shot Dimebag Darrell with a 9 millimeter semiautomatic pistol. Darrell was shot in the head three times at point blank range. The right cheek, the left ear and the back of the head. He never had a chance. Damage Plant's head of security tackled Gail, but he was also shot to death. A fan who had come to the rescue of both men was also shot. And then a club employee who went after Gale as he was reloading was shot and killed too. Three other people, all members of Damage Plant's road crew, all suffered non fatal gunshot wounds. Three minutes after the shooting started, Gale was taken down by a cop responding to a 911 call. Gale was killed with one shot to the face with a 12 gauge shotgun. Gale's gun still had a half full magazine and had another 30 rounds in his pocket. So things could have been much, much worse. This remains the only American mass shooting event to involve a rock show. One story that got repeated was that Gale was upset that Darryl had quit Pantera. Another was that Daryl had stolen lyrics he had written. And another still said that Gale believed that Darryl was trying to steal his identity again. Gail seemed to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia. Whatever the motivation, the assassination of Dimebag Darrell resulted in all kinds of new security protocols for concerts. Dimebag Darrell and Pantera remain revered in the halls of metal history. This is from their 1993 album A Vulgar Display of Power. It's walk I've got more friends like.
- [18:22]
Nadia
You what do I do? Is there no stack what it takes who I am, Where I been below you can't be something you're not.
- [18:37]
Alan Cross
The assassination of Dimebag Darrel. Our 76th wild rock moment of the 21st century so far. We're now at number 75 and that's Dave Grohl's stage. Oopsie. On June 12, 2015, the Foo Fighters were playing Gothenburg, Sweden, when just a few songs into the set, Dave Grohl just fell off the stage. He wasn't looking where he was going and he dropped at least 10ft onto a hard concrete surface. And from the ground he announced, I think I just broke my leg. After some medical assistance backstage, he went back on stage with his leg immobilized and sitting in a chair. The Foos finished the show and fans were impressed. The leg was broken badly enough to require surgery, and a string of shows on that summer tour had to be canceled. Now, personally, I had tickets to the Wembley Stadium show, which was scheduled a few Days after the accident in Sweden, I couldn't cancel my plane ticket, so I went to London and did some record shopping. Thanks, Dave. The Foo Fighters did return to the stage later that summer with Dave sitting in his Dave of Thrones, a special over the top throne made of guitar necks and equipped with lights. Pretty legendary stuff. What could have been a disastrous tour of nothing definitely turned into something. Dave Grohl, his broken leg, and the Dave of Thrones recovery. That's number 75 on our list. Number 74 is going to surprise some people. Here's a question. Trent Reznor holds the record for the song with the most number of weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Is that true or is that false? That is, believe it or not, 100% true. No one, not Madonna, not Justin Bieber, Prince, the Weeknd, or even the Beatles have had a song at the top of the chart longer than Trent Reznor. This, however, requires some explanation. In 2018, a failing rapper named Montero Lamar Hill was about to give up on a career in music. He dropped out of college, moved in with his sister, and was completely discouraged. But then he thought he'd give it one more shot. Looking online, he anonymously bought some beats created by a Dutch record producer named Young keo. He paid $30 for this file, these beats. Montero rapped over the beats and released it independently on SoundCloud and iTunes. It just so happened that there was a meme in the country music world at the time called the Yeehaw Challenge, and Montero's song got swept up in it. Within a few weeks, it was on the Billboard charts in Rising. That got Montero a deal with Columbia Records, and he became one of the best known pop stars of the late 2010s. If you haven't figured it out by now, Montero Lamar Hill is the real name of Lil Nas X and the song is Old Town Road. Okay, so where does Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails come in? We need to go back to Young Keough. He stumbled upon a track called 34 Ghosts 4, an instrumental from the 2008 Nine Inch Nails album Ghosts 1 4. He manipulated it slightly and then threw it up for sale on his online store, which is where Lil Nas X found it. When Old Town Road started gaining some serious traction, permission was needed from Trent to use that sample, otherwise there would be a massive copyright infringement situation. Trent listened to Old Town Road and declared it to be unbelievably catchy. So he said, yeah, go ahead and use it. But I need a songwriting credit, which is very reasonable. So if you look at the publishing credits, the songwriting credits for Old Town Road, you'll see that the writers are listed as Montero Hill, Kyo Arukima, the real name of Young Keough, plus Trent Reznor and his songwriting partner Atticus Ross. At last count, the song has sold 18 million copies worldwide, played millions of times on the radio around the world, and has been viewed about a billion and a half times on YouTube. Oh, and streamed cumulatively more than 3 billion times. And Trenton Reznor, he's just sitting at home cashing the checks. Here's a snippet of the instrumental, the original thing that started it all. This is 34 Ghosts 4 by 9 inch nails. Moving to number 73 on our list of the greatest rock moments of the millennium so far is a global telecast of a live benefit concert on July 2, 2005. It was called Live 8, and it was a sequel to Live Aid in 1985. Once again, Bob Geldof was behind things. He believed the world needed another jolt to raise awareness about global poverty and famine, with a focus on Africa. This time, Live8 took place in 11 cities around the world. London, Cornwall, Philadelphia, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Moscow, and Barrie, Ontario. Dozens and dozens of artists and celebrities appeared. U2 AudiosLife, Green Day, Roxy Music, James Brown, Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates, Brad Pitt, David Beckham, Ricky Gervais, Coldplay, Madonna, R.E.M. the Killer, Sting, the Cure, Linkin Park, Sarah McLachlan, Will Smith, and Duran Duran and a whole bunch of others. And one of the biggest attractions was a reunion of Pink Floyd, only something that Bob Geldof could have engineered. No fewer than 27 acts and MCs played at the Canadian show that included Jet, Motley Crue, Neil Young, Our Lady Peace, Sam Roberts, Tom Cochran, Deep Purple, Barenaked Ladies, Blue Rodeo, Snoop Dogg, Sam Roberts, Simple Plan, Dan Aykroyd, and of course, the tragically hit don't tell me.
- [24:42]
Nadia
What the poet McGuire thousand layers of your mind don't tell me what the poets are given in your long grasses over time.
- [24:55]
Alan Cross
Work out the massive Live 8 concert event on July 2, 2005. Number 73 on our list of the biggest moments in rock so far this century. Two more for this episode, and I'm afraid we have to talk about another tragic death. Next, we have a couple more items for this installment of the greatest rock moments of the 21st century so far. And at number 72, I've listed the death of Sinead O'Connor. At one point, she was one of the most formidable singers in the world. Her first two albums, The lion and the Cobra from 1987 and I Do Not Want what I haven't got from 1990, are stone cold classics. No one had a voice and perspective like the young Sinead O'Connor. But her life wasn't easy. She insisted on doing things her way, not just with her career and in public, but in her private life as well. There were failed relationships, estranged children, her complex views on religion, mental health issues, suicide attempts, an addiction to cannabis and the loss of a son to suicide. So lots of drama and trauma. In early 2023, she was working on what was going to be another album and she moved to London. But on July 26, she was found dead in her flat. She was only 56. We didn't hear about her cause of death for months, but it was ultimately determined to be from natural causes, specifically from copd, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease from years and years of smoking. She had also been suffering from asthma and had a low grade respiratory infection at the time of her death. So same thing as Amy Winehouse, minus the alcohol. Her passing was worldwide news and her memorial was attended by thousands, including Bono and the President of Ireland. Such a talent and such a loss.
- [26:45]
Nadia
This is the last day of our acquaintance.
- [27:02]
Alan Cross
The Death of Sinead O'Connor, number 72 on our list. Here's number 71, the last thing we'll talk about on this episode, and that is the opening of the Sphere in Las Vegas. This has to be the most extraordinary live performance venue ever built. At least so far. Here are some numbers. The Sphere was built by MSG, the company that runs Madison Square Garden, for around US$2.3 billion. It was designed by an architectural firm called populous. Construction required five years. It's 366ft tall and 516ft wide, making it the largest spherical structure in the world. The exterior is covered with about 1.2 million LED pucks, each containing 48 diodes that can reproduce millions of colors and can be programmed for detailed high speed visuals. It's so bright that at night it can be seen from space. The interior is dominated by a 560,000 square foot 16K by 16K video display that covers about 270 degrees in front of a grandstand that holds about 18,000 people. That is the highest resolution screen on the planet. For audio, it uses 163,000 speakers so that no matter where you are in the building, it sounds great. It also has haptic seating which means that the seats can mimic vibrations coordinated whatever is happening on the screen or on the stage. The air handling systems not only mean that the atmosphere stays fresh no matter how many people are inside, but can also imitate wind blowing. It opened for business on September 29, 2023, with the first of 40 shows by U2. Over the following months, their special sphere show, called U2UV, was seen by 663,000 people and the box office gross was an incredible US$245 million. I saw one of those gigs and I was totally blown away. I'd never ever seen or heard anything like it. The clearest video, the clearest sound, and the most amazing immersive concert experience ever. The Sphere is inevitably going to redefine the idea of an artist residency at the end of 2024. Phish, Dead and Co. And the Eagles have also played there, and many others have checked it out, curious to see if they have what it takes to put on a Sphere show. As of January 1, 2025, there were plans to build a second sphere, this time in Abu Dhabi. There were plans to put one in London, but the city determined that it would be too much of a distraction and refused permission. Once the Abu Dhabi one is up and running, don't be surprised if a few more are built in world capitals over the coming decade. Trust me, if there's a band you love playing the Sphere, go see them. It's worth it. Here's a clip from one of those U2 gigs.
- [29:53]
Nadia
Always be My head is somewhere in between. Give me one more chance.
- [30:08]
Alan Cross
The opening of the Sphere in Las Vegas with U2. Number 71 on this list of the greatest rock moments of the 21st century so far. Let's review episode three of this ten part series on the greatest rock moments of the millennium so far. Number 80 is the rise in copyright infringement lawsuits. Some serious, some frivolous, all very concerning. 79 was the arrival of a new Tool album after a gap of almost 14 years. 78 was the introduction of Apple Music, the company's streaming music platform. And then at 77 we explored the rise of the playlist and the diminishment of the album. For 76, we covered the onstage assassination of guitarist Dimebag Darrell. Dave Grohl's broken leg was good for position 75, followed by the strange Nine Inch Nails Lil Nas X connection. At 74 we talked about Live 8 in 2005 as 73. Sinead Oconnors unexpected death was 72, and at 71 it's U2 opening the sphere in Las Vegas. On chapter four of this series, we'll look at how everyone can now be famous online thanks to technology, the end of big chain record stores, the second life of heritage bands, and how CDs did themselves no favor with one ill advised technical move. If you missed the first three chapters of this series, they're all available as free podcasts. You can download them wherever you like. Meanwhile, you might be interested in my other podcast, Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry. If it has to do with True Crimes and the world of music, I cover it. More information can always be found at my website, ajournalofmusicalthings.com it comes with a free daily newsletter. We can meet up on any of the social media platforms and if you have any comments or questions, drop me a line through AlanLancross CA. See you next time for part four of the 100 Greatest Rock Moments of the Millennium so Far. Technical productions by Rob Johnston. I'm Alan Cross.
- [31:55]
Anthony Delaney
Home Network is here. I love it. Discover the best shows and your favorite trusted experts all under one roof.
- [32:02]
Nadia
Are you kidding me?
- [32:04]
Anthony Delaney
Every Thursday watch watch heartwarming programs like an all new Extreme Makeover home edition at 8. We are so lucky to be a part of this. And Honest Renovations starring Jessica Alba and Lizzie Mathis at 9. Changing these homes we can change families. There's no place like it. Home Network Stream on Stack TV.