Best Brouhahas Over Albums

(NEWSER) - Forty years ago today, the Beatles walked out of No. 3 Abbey Road and shot one of the most famous album covers of all time. Seemingly fraught with symbolism and precision, the image was actually a rush job, the BBC reports. Photographer Iain Macmillan “was given about 15 minutes,” says a friend. “He stood on a stepladder while a policeman held up traffic, the band walked back and forth a few times, and that was that.” More»

'I feel real phoney when my name is Bill... or was that Phil' and more

(NEWSER) - Great music can inspire, but even the greats have thought up some atrocious lyrics. NME mines these gems:

• "What else could I say? Everyone is gay." (Nirvana, All Apologies)
• "I met a girl. She asked me my name. I told her what it was." (Razorlight, Somewhere Else)
• "Give me some milk—or else go home." (Bob Dylan, Ballad of a Thin Man)
• "Can't forget to stay real. To me it's like breathing." (Jennifer Lopez, Jenny From The Block)

Beatles, meanwhile, maintain dominance with big week

(NEWSER) - Jay-Z and the Beatles lit up the charts this week, Billboard reports. Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 sold 476,000 copies, easily capturing the top spot for the week, and giving the rapper his 11th No. 1 album. That nabs him the record, previously held by Elvis, for the solo act with the most No. 1s ever. The Beatles, meanwhile, sold a whopping 626,000 albums this week, a huge leap from just 21,000 the week before. More»

CDs showcase Fab Four as they were meant to be heard

(NEWSER) - The Beatles just got better: every one of their original albums and a batch of collected singles has been remastered, boosting the quality to the level “the Beatles themselves would have heard and intended,” writes Matt Hurwitz in the Washington Post. The stereo CDs remind us that the Beatles were a “rock band”: these recordings pack a punch not heard on the older discs. More»

Add some Marley, Beach Boys to the Disney playlist

(NEWSER) - Parents, don’t let Disney's catalog of saccharine tunes ruin any more of your road trips. There are songs that can bridge the generation gap, Lindsay Armstrong writes on Babble:

• Jackson Five’s “ABC”: School the kids on the alphabet and pop music—all at once.
• Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself": If it’s good enough for the Muppets, it’s good enough for your brood.
• Simon and Garfunkel’s “Me and Julio": The kids will love characters like “Mama Pajama” and “Rosie, the Queen of Corona.”