Stereogum

Over the past few days, Ed Sheeran has kicked off a lot of conversations about the Band Aid charity Christmas single “Do They Know It's Christmas?” Sheeran participated in a 30th-anniversary remake of the single in 2014. Yesterady, Band Aid released a megamix of past versions, and Sheeran wrote that the megamix used his voice without his permission: “Had I had the choice I would have respectfully declined the use of my vocals. A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed.” In response, promoter Harvey Goldsmith dismissed the “busybodies and woke do-gooders” making an issue out of it. Sheeran hasn't had more to say about that, but he does have a new Christmas song of his own.

Patti Smith is a great artist with no shortage of admirers, and many of those admirers will gather at New York’s Carnegie Hall for an all-star tribute concert next March. The show marks the 50th anniversary of Smith’s all-time classic debut album Horses, and it’s fun to think about that record being celebrated at Carnegie Hall.

2024 has already been a pivotal year for Good Morning's Stefan Blair and Liam Parson. The Australian “soft rock band” released their seventh project (an ambitious double LP aptly titled Good Morning Seven ), opened for Waxahatchee and Frankie Cosmos in the US, and celebrated a decade together as a duo. Despite these career highs, in retrospect, there was an air of cynicism and practicality-induced worry underlying the album's rollout.

Manchester's annual Outbreak Fest focuses on hardcore, but it's expanded in recent years to expand tons of non-hardcore stuff that hardcore kids might like. This year, for instance, headliners included Have Heart, Basement, American Football, Soccer Mommy, and Action Bronson. Next year, the festival returns to Manchester's BEC Arena, and it looks like it will be awesome.

Sleaford Mods and Hot Chip, two UK acts with vastly different approaches, have teamed up for a new two-song benefit single that they recorded together at London's famed Abbey Road studios. Those two collaborations, “Nom Nom Nom” and “Cat Burglar,” are out together on a new 7″ that raises money for

New Zealand jangle-pop legend Martin Phillipps died unexpectedly in July at age 61. Before his passing, he had a 40-year run as the founding guitarist and only consistent member of the Chills, who put out seven studio albums between 1987 and 2021. Today, Fire Records have announced the posthumous Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs , a collection of 20 songs from the band's early years revisited.

In 2021, the R&B star Trey Songz was accused of sexual misconduct after his 37th birthday party in Las Vegas. Trey, whose real name is Tremaine Neverson, reportedly brought a group of women to his hotel room at the Cosmopolitan after celebrating his birthday at Drai's Nightclub and one of those women accused him of rape. Las Vegas authorities elected not to file charges, but now Neverson is being ordered to pay $11 million to the husband of one of the women, a Maryland Capitol police officer who was reportedly beaten by Neverson and his security guards.

Drake is taking even more legal action against his own record label, with a second courthouse filing less than 24 hours after the first.

Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan and comedian Bill Burr are both pale, bald famous guys with the same first name. They both like pro wrestling, and they both seem to have strong opinions about cancel culture. Up until now, I would've thought that these were the only things those two men had in common. But Corgan thinks that they might share something else — that they might, in fact, have the same dad.

Imagine an alternate universe in which Glen Matlock played bass for Oasis. Apparently, the Sex Pistols member was offered the opportunity, but that lineup never came to fruition. He wasn't ever too broken up about missing out on that, though, because he thinks Oasis are “boring.” And now Liam Gallagher has someone new with whom to mard.