Live4MusiC

Ke$ha claims she will "resurrect" rock with her new album.

"People say that rock and roll is dead, and it is my mission and my goal to resurrect it in the form of my pop music," she told MTV News "That's the goal. We'll see what happens."

A foray into the rock world for the pop singer seemed inevitable after a run of rock-related stories through 2011. In May, sheclaimed to be obsessed with rock n' roll, and later joined Alice Cooper on stage for the second time to perform "School's Out."

"I’ve been pretty much in this 70’s rock and roll kick and I want to capture some of the true essence of what rock and roll is, and that’s just irreverence and sexiness and fun and not giving a f--k, so we’ll definitely put a bit of rock and roll in it," she said in May. She added that there may be some collaborations with her rock heroes, though the official tracklisting is yet to be confirmed.

Ke$ha is not the only pop princess to have made steps towards the world of rock. Lady Gaga has also been snapped backstage alongside Iron Maiden, later claiming that the band changed her life. It's almost as if the pop industry saw U2's record-smashing 360 tour revenue and decided to arrange a concerted move towards live rock performances so they can get a slice of the pie.

Cynical? Perhaps, but you might say that the signs are pointing towards a rocking 2012, both on and off the charts. 

- Ultimate-Guitar 

One in eight music fans will decide not to sleep with you if they discover you likeNickelback, suggests a survey.

And they’d actually be LESS turned off if you were into Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga or Katy Perry.

The arena pop-rockers have been named the number-one passion killers in music, ahead of Coldplay, U2 and Creed plus a stack of chart-fodder outfits.

The information was revealed by users ofTastebuds.fm, a website which matches single people according to their musical preferences.

In the survey, over 13% of people said you’d end the night alone if they were to findChad Kroeger and co on your MP3 player. Women were slightly more likely to be turned off than men, with 14% of females naming the Canadians versus 11.8% of males.

Tastebuds boss Aled Parish says: "We were curious to know which bands people would be most horrified to discover when browsing their date’s iPod".

"Although sharing musical tastes with your partner is no the be all and end all, it can certainly help in maintaining a harmonious relationship. And we’ve seen it’s a great conversation starter".

"It’s always best to be honest about your taste in music, but perhaps don’t mention your fondness for Nickelback until you’ve got the wedding ring on your finger".

Top musical turn-offs:

01. Nickelback 13%
02. Justin Bieber 12%
03. Lady Gaga 9%
04. Ke$ha 5%
05. Coldplay 5%
06. U2 4%
07. Creed 4%
08. Katy Perry 4%
09. Lil Wayne 4%
10. Britney Spears 3%

Thanks for the report to RockNewsDesk.com. 

The U2 tour hit Portugal this week, and the band performed “Boy Falls From the Sky,” a song from the upcoming Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark“ that’s titled like a headline from the Daily Bugle , contains some Icarus imagery and (to my ear) feels like a sonic sidekick to their earlier superhero venture, “Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me, Kill Me.” Here’s some YouTube video that might make you seasick.



– Geoff Boucher (Los Angeles Times) 

What’s more important than being rich? Everyone knowing that you’re rich.

New Jersey rocker Bon Jovi is apparently upset that he failed to make it onto the 2010 Forbes magazine top celebrity lists, reports TheSilverTongueOnline.com.

According to a report in the NY Post, "Jon kicked up a huge fuss and got his people to complain. He couldn’t understand why he didn’t make the musicians list since Bon Jovi has been touring nonstop since February. Their contemporaries U2 and Bruce Springsteen were on the list. Even Britney Spears was No. 5, and she hasn’t done anything this year."

A Forbes rep confirmed the report stating, "Forbes estimated each act’s earnings between June 2009 and June 2010 and included revenue streams such as concert dates, merchandise sales, licensing fees, music sales, and publishing royalties. Bon Jovi didn’t tour for eight of those months."

But a rep for Bon Jovi denied the report, calling it "ridiculous" and pointing out that the band took an eight-month break from touring, so there was no expectation that they would rank on this year’s list.

"Next year, different story — their current tour is No. 1 in North America right now and No. 2 worldwide."

U2 was the top earner with an estimated $130 million worldwide. They were followed byAC/DC with $114 million and Beyoncé Knowles with $87 million. Springsteen came in fourth with $70 million.

In other news, Bon Jovi have slammed a former tour manager after he published photos from 1985 of singer Jon Bon Jovi, then 22, in bed with topless women.

Rich Bozzett has used the explicit photos, revealed by TMZ, in a book which he says tells the background story of his life on the road.

In Sex, Drugs And Bon Jovi, Bozzett tells how the pictures were taken with the intention of using them as promo shots. But the band quickly had a change of heart, fearing the photos would damage their image.

Read more at this location. 

U2 singer Bono has undergone emergency back surgery in Munichafter suffering from an injury - with one show on the band's forthcoming tour already postponed.

The frontman went under the knife today (May 21), it was explained in a message on the band's official site,U2.com. A statement from the band regarding how this will affect future gigs has been promised soon.

"Bono has today undergone emergency back surgery for an injury sustained during tour preparation training," the message explained. "He was admitted to a specialist neurosurgery unit in a Munichhospital, and is under the care of neurosurgeon Prof Dr Jorg Tonnand Dr Muller Wohlfahrt. Bono will spend the next few days there, before returning home to recuperate."

The message continued: "Once his condition has been assessed further, a statement will be made regarding the impact on forthcoming tour dates."

A gig scheduled for Salt Lake City on June 3 has been postponed. Following that they are scheduled to play further US and Canadian shows.

The band are then set to headlineGlastonbury on June 25, their only show in Britain this year

- NME 

U2 were the biggest earning act in the US last year, according to a new survey. 

Bono and co made $109million (£71million) from record sales, touring and royalties, according toBillboard's Top 40 Money Makers list.

The rest of the top five was made up by Bruce Springsteen ($57.6million),Madonna ($47.2million), AC/DC($43.6million) and Britney Spears($38.8million).

Coldplay were the biggest earning UK band, raking in $27.3million, while the late Michael Jacksongrossed $17.3million.

It is the fourth edition of the chart-compiler's annual countdown of the highest earners in music.

The organisation's formula for working out the list is "top secret" but is based around money earned from all methods of selling music, along with publishing and touring.

- NME 

The Ultimate Top 10 of the Decade:

1. Celine Dion, $747.9 million

Dion pulled in $522.2 million in concert-ticket sales for the decade. Adding $225.7 million worth of album sales during those same 10 years, she trumped all comers.

2. Kenny Chesney, $742 million

Close behind Dion was this road warrior, who toured hard and promoted records the old-fashioned way year in and year out. His total includes $455.6 million in concert ticket sales and $286.4 million in album revenue.

3. Dave Matthews Band, $737.4 million

Matthews' decade concert total of $529.1 million put him first on the list of top North American live music attractions of the decade, as calculated by the concert-tracking publication Pollstar. The band posted $208.3 million in album sales.

4. The Beatles, $627.3 million

Although the quartet disbanded 30 years before the decade began, the Beatles still managed to generate $392.3 million from sales of 30.2 million albums (using an average of $13 per album). We folded in the individual box office figures racked up by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney ($221.4 million) and Ringo Starr ($13.6 million), given that their concert audiences consist in large part of Beatles fans. The Fab Four also logged the single best-selling album of the decade, the "1" hits collection, with 11.5 million copies. And counting.

5. U2, $609.7 million

The Irish quartet brought in $391 million at the box office and $218.7 million in album sales.

6. Toby Keith, $591.9 million

The second of three country acts in the Top 10, the Oklahoma singer-songwriter logged $273.8 million on the concert trail, $318.1 million from album sales.

7. Bruce Springsteen, $588.3 million

On the road, both with the E Street Band and his various non-E Street tours, the Boss brought in $444.3 million. His album take: $144 million.

8. The Rolling Stones, $569.6 million

The Stones also benefited heavily from touring, earning $426.9 million at the box office in addition to $142.7 million in album sales.

9. Tim McGraw, $550.7 million

Strictly as a solo act, the country singer-songwriter ranks No. 14 on the list. But he toured several times with his wife, Faith Hill, during the decade. California being a community property state, we are awarding him half the revenue those outings generated. So his total includes $322 million in album sales, $133.7 million from his own tours and $95 million for his half of the McGraw-Hill shows.

10. Britney Spears, $494.3 million

Despite a rocky decade personally and professionally, Spears pulled in $195.7 million at the box office and sold $298.6 million worth of albums for the 10-year period.

The decade's top album seller was Eminem, the rapper who posted $419 million from sales of 32.2 million albums, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But because he toured sporadically, he was able to add only $40.8 million to his Ultimate Top 10 total, which places him at No. 14; he is the sole hip-hop artist in the Top 20.

Looking at 2009 alone, the 14th annual Ultimate Top 10 title goes to U2. During the year, the band posted $137.3 million ($123 million box office, $14.3 million albums), a bit better than last year's winner, Madonna, who finished on top with $120.1 million. Springsteen follows U2 with $102 million ($94.5 million box office, $7.5 million in albums).

The year's biggest album seller finished at No. 3 overall: In the wake of his death, Michael Jackson posted total album sales of just under $100 million, without any revenue from the series of comeback concerts he was scheduled to give in London. (Those dates wouldn't have counted toward the Ultimate Top 10 since Pollstar data come from North American concert tour figures.)

Spears ended the year at No. 4, with $82.5 million in concert ticket sales and $7 million in album revenue. The Elton John/Billy Joel tour tallied $88 million at the box office, with no corresponding revenue from albums that finished among the year's top 200 sellers from the duo, placing the piano men at No. 5. John generated an additional $14.2 million during the year from solo performances.

The remainder of the 2009 Ultimate Top 10 shakes out as follows: No. 6: AC/DC with $83.8 million ($77.9 million in concert tickets, $5.9 million in album sales); No. 7: Taylor Swift with $83.2 million ($25.5 million at the box office, $57.7 million in album sales); No. 8: Chesney at $81 million ($71.1 million in concert, $9.9 million in album sales); No. 9: the Jonas Brothers with $77.9 million ($69.8 million in concert revenue, $8.1 million in album sales), and No. 10: the Dave Matthews Band with $69.8 million ($56.9 million in concert tickets, $12.9 million in album sales).

Los Angeles Times