5+6 similar music magazines

7/30/2019 5+6 Similar Music Magazines

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Similar Music Magazines

Q Magazine

Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the UnitedKingdom.

Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by themusic press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older musicbuyers who were buying CDs then still a new technology. Q was first published inOctober 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthlyproduction and higher standards of photography and printing. In the early years, themagazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was tobe called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name waschanged so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason,

cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent onnewsstands.

Content

The magazine has an extensive review section, featuring: new releases (music),reissues (music), music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radioand television reviews. It uses a star-rating system from one to five stars; indeed, therating an album receives in Q is often added to print and television advertising for thealbum in the UK and Ireland. It also compiles a list of approximately eight albums,which it classes as the best new releases of the last three months. Much of the

magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artists.

Every issue of Q has a different message on the spine. Readers then try to work outwhat the message has to do with the contents of the mag. This practice known asthe "spine line" has since become commonplace among British lifestylemagazines, including Q's sister publication, Empire and the football monthlyFourFourTwo.

Usual features include The Q50, wherein the magazine lists the top 50 essentialtracks of the month; Cash for Questions, in which a famous celeb/band answersquestion sent in by readers who win 25 if their question is printed; Ten

Commandments, wherein a particular singer creates their very own tencommandments by which tolive; and Rewind, in which theytake us back in time through thehistory of music via archiveissues of Q. On March 4, 2007,Q named Elvis Presley thegreatest singer of all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FourFourTwohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FourFourTwo


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NME Magazine

The New Musical Express, popularly known by the initialismNME, is a music publication in the United Kingdom,

published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually

moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper.During the period 1972 to 1976 it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism,then became closely associated with punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsonsand Julie Burchill. An online version of NME, NME.COM, was launched in 1996. It isnow the world's biggest standalone music site, with over 7 million users per month.Mike Williams was named as NME editor on 31 May 2012, taking over from KrissiMurison on 25 June 2012. NME.COM is currently edited by Luke Lewis.

Recent Prints

From the issue of 21 March 1998 onwards, the paper has no longer been printed onnewsprint, and more recently it has shifted to tabloid size: it has full, glossy, colourcovers.

In the early 2000s the NME also attempted somewhat to broaden its coverage again,running cover stories on hip-hop acts such as Jay-Z and Missy Elliott, electronicmusic pioneer Aphex Twin, Popstars winners Hear'say and R&B groups likeDestiny's Child, but as in the 1980s these proved unpopular with much of the paper'sreadership, and were soon dropped. In 2001 the NME reasserted its position as aninfluence in new music and helped to introduce bands including The Strokes, TheVines, and The White Stripes.

In 2002 Conor McNicholas was appointed editor. It focused on new British bandssuch as The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and the Kaiser Chiefs whoemerged as "indie music" continued to grow in commercial success. Later, ArcticMonkeys became the standard-bearers of the post-Libertines crop of indie bands,being both successfully championed by the NME and receiving widespreadcommercial and critical success.

In May 2008 the magazine

received a redesign, aimed at anolder readership with a less poppy,more authoritative tone. The firstissue of the redesign featured afree seven-inch Coldplay vinylsingle. Circulation of the magazinehas fallen continuously since 2003.In the second half of 2011, themagazine's circulation was 23,924,66% down on a 2003 figure of72,442.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popstarshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hear%27sayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conor_McNicholashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conor_McNicholashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hear%27sayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popstars


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Clash Magazine

Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based inthe United Kingdom, and is published 12 times a year.

The magazine alternates between modern bands such as The Horrors, Florence &The Machine and Jamie xx as well as hip-hop artists like DJ Shadow, Kanye Westand Beastie Boys, who have all had cover spots in recent issues. It concentrates onmusic and fashion, and often their effect on surrounding culture, as well as film andtechnology. However they do also have a common theme throughout their reviews ofslandering musicians who don't coincide with their almost extremist views and idealsof music - possibly for comedic value and entertainment for those who read themagazine. The magazine won the Best New Magazine award in 2004 at the PPAMagazine Awards and has won further awards in England and Scotland. Mostnotably, Magazine of the Year at the 2011 Record of the Day Awards.

At the turn of 2011, Clash Magazine took on an entirely new look, ditching theprevious glossy feel and music led design, for an altogether more artistically ledapproach.

The publication is based around the larger Clash brand, which extends to live eventsaround the country and festival partnerships/parties (such as RockNess,Snowbombing, SXSW), and the website ClashMusic.com. 2011 saw Clash partnerLevi's and Spotify to bring Primal Scream to London's Electric Brixton for one of theirfinal shows with the former Stone Roses member, Mani.

In September 2008, the magazine received a grant of 230,000 from the Scottishgovernment, to develop its online presence.

History

Clash magazine was bred out of long running free listings magazine Vibe based inDundee, Scotland. Re-launching as Clash Magazine in 2004 it won Best NewMagazine award at the PPA Magazine Awards and Music Magazine of the YearRecord of the Day Awards 2005 and 2011.


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Top of the Pops Magazine

Top of the Pops magazine is a monthly

publication published by BBC Magazines.It features chart information, star gossip,fashion and beauty advice, quizzes, songlyrics and posters. It is a supplementary

magazine for the TV show Top of the Pops.

The magazine was launched in February 1995, and is famous for giving girl groupThe Spice Girls their nicknames.Alongside a revamp of the TV show, it wasoriginally marketed as the missing link between Smash Hits and NME, but its formatwas gradually changed, with less music content and a demographic shift to younggirls. It is still in publication despite the cancellation of the TV show.

The title has had several editors over the years, including Peter Lorraine, CorinnaSchaffer and Rosalie Snaith, and contributing editors including Adam Tanswell. Itscurrent editor is Peter Hart.

Features

Oops, Shameful Celeb Slip UpsThe magazine picks the funniest celebritypictures and associates them with a witty quote.

Your OopsReaders send in the most shameful stories. Gossip 2 GoThe month's hottest celebrity gossip. The Wonderful World Of The Wanted-A page written by The Wanted. Don't MissThe magazine picks some of the hottest films, TV programmes

and games, plus the latest single reviews by a random celebrity. Top Of The ShopsThe magazine picks out some of the hottest bargains,

where you can buy them, and their price. Real LifeThe magazine draws our attention to situations that happen in the

real world. The SurgeryOriginally called Star Therapy, this was hosted by a random

celebrity who tries to sort out readers' problems. Along with the name change,the section is now hosted by BBC Radio 1's Aled and BBC Slink's Dr Mel.

Your LettersHosted by Dick and Dom who take a look at some of ourreaders' gossipabout stars,clothes or just reallife situations.

One Directionpage with yourquestions andtheir answers, 1Dfan of the month.


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Institutions

Bauer Media Group

Type Private (KG)Industry Publishing, BroadcastingFounded 1875Headquarters Hamburg, Germany

Area served Europe, USA, China, RussiaRevenue / Turnover 2.129 BillionEuro (2010)Employees 6,400Subsidiaries Bauer Radio

Box Television (50% stake)Website www.bauermedia.com

Bauer Media Group is a multinational media company headquartered in Hamburg,Germany which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Since the company wasfounded in 1875, it has been privately owned and under management by the Bauer

family. It was formerly called Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to HBV andusually shortened to H. Bauer.

Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amounts to 38 millionmagazines a week

History

Bauer Verlagsgruppe has been managed by four generations of the Bauer family.Originally a small printing house, The Bauer Publishing Group has grown into aworldwide publishing and media company. The Bauer Publishing Group comprises

282 magazines worldwide in 15 countries, as well as TV and radio stations. Bauerstarted in the UK with the launch of Bella magazine in 1987 and as H BauerPublishing became Britain's third largest publisher. Bauer further expanded in the UKwith the purchase of Emap Consumer Media and Emap Radio in 2008 to becomethe UK's biggest publishing group.

The group acquired Australia's largest magazine publisher, Australian ConsolidatedPress from private equity paymasters, CVC in 2012, increasing the companys valueto more than 2 billion.

The company trades as H Bauer Publishing - MD David Goodchild, and BauerConsumer Media - CE Paul Keenan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro


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Bauer Media Brands

Q Magazine

Q started out as a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.

Originally it was to be called Cue (named after the act of cueing a record to play), butthe name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth felt the music press of the time ignored ageneration of older music buyers who were buying CDs then still a newtechnology from artists such as Paul Simon, Level 42, and Dire Straits. Modeledafter Rolling Stone, Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from much ofthe other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photographyand printing, with an emphasis on style.

The Q music brand has expanded to Radio and Television, with Q Radio and Q TVbeing music entertainment that specializes in indie, rock and alternative. Q also

holds annual music awards in the UK, known as Q Awards. Since they began in1990, the Q Awards have become one of Britain's biggest and best publicized musicawards, helped in no small part by the often boisterous behaviour of the celebritieswho attend the event.

In spring 2010, Bauer caused controversy with its attempt to unilaterally impose anew contract on all photographers and writers, which takes away their copyright andoff-loads liability for libel or copyright infringement from the publisher onto thecontributor. 200 photographers and writers from Q and Bauer's other musicmagazines, Kerrang! and MOJO were reported as refusing to work under the newterms.

Kerrang!

Kerrang! is a brand that specializes in Rock Music. It originally began as a magazineand in 2004 Kerrang Radio was launched. A Kerrang TV channel also exists and asof 2005, all of its programme content is music videos, the majority of which is openscheduled, for text requests from their playlist.

IPC Media

Parent Company Time Inc.Founded 1958Country of Origin United KingdomHeadquarters Location LondonWebsite www.ipcmedia.com

This is about a British publishing company. For the American publisher affiliated withthe Communist Party USA, see International Publishers.


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IPC Media (formerly International Publishing Corporation),a wholly owned subsidiaryof Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom,with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.

History

Origins

The British magazine publishing industry in the mid-1950s was dominated by ahandful of companies, principally the Associated Newspapers (founded by LordHarmsworth in 1890), Odhams Press Ltd, George Newnes Publishers, C. ArthurPearson, and the Hulton Press, which fought each other for market share in a highlycompetitive marketplace.

Fleetway

In 1958 Cecil Harmsworth King, chairman of a newspaper group which included theDaily Mirrorand the Sunday Pictorial(now theSunday Mirror), together withprovincial chain West of England Newspapers, made an offer for AmalgamatedPress. The offer was accepted, and in January 1959 he was appointed its chairman.Within a few months he changed its name to Fleetway Publications, Ltd. after thename of its headquarters, Fleetway House in London's Farringdon Street

Shortly thereafter, Odhams Press absorbed both George Newnes and the HultonPress. King saw an opportunity in this to rationalise the overcrowded women'smagazine market, in which Fleetway and Newnes were the major competitors, andmade a bid for Odhams on behalf of Fleetway that was too attractive to ignore.Fleetway took over Odhams in March 1961

International Publishing Corporation

In consequence, King controlled publishing interests which included two nationaldaily and two national Sunday newspapers (the newspaper interests being informallytagged The Mirror Group), along with almost one hundred consumer magazines,more than two hundred trade and technical periodicals, and various book publishinginterests. This included the combined business interests of Fleetway, Odhams, andNewnes.

All of the companies involved had been acquired without any significant change inmanagement, save for the appointment of Mirror Group directors as chairmen. In1963 all the companies were combined by the creation of a parent (or "holding")company called the International Publishing Corporation (known informally asIPC). All of the existing companies would continue to exist, but as IPC subsidiaries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Harmsworth_Kinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Mirrorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Mirrorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Mirrorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Mirrorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Harmsworth_King


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Pop music

Stylistic origins

Traditional pop Rhythm and blues Jazz

Folk Doo-wop Dance Classical Rock and roll

Cultural origins 1950s, United Kingdom and United States

Typical

instruments

Vocals Synthesizer Drum machine

Sequencer Sampler Bass guitar

Drums Keyboards Acoustic guitar

Piano Occasional use of various otherinstruments

Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular") is agenre of popular music which originated in its modern form in the 1950s, derivingfrom rock and roll.The terms popular music and pop music are often usedinterchangeably, even though the former is a description of music which is popular(and can include any style), whilst the latter is a specific genre containing qualities ofmass appeal.

As a genre, pop music is very eclectic, often borrowing elements from other stylesincluding urban, dance, rock, Latin and country nonetheless, there are core elementswhich define pop. Such include generally short-to-medium length songs, written in abasic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as the common employmentof repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks.

So-called "pure pop" music, such as power pop, features all these elements, using

electric guitars, drums and bass for instrumentation; in the case of such music, themain goal is usually that of being pleasurable to listen to, rather than having muchartistic depth. Pop music is generally thought of as a genre which is commerciallyrecorded and desires to have a mass audience appeal.


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Origin of the term

The term "pop song" is first recorded as being used in 1926, in the sense of a pieceof music "having popular appeal"Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in thehistory of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music

industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music.

According to Grove Music Online, the term "pop music" "originated in Britain in themid-1950s as a description for rock and roll and the new youth music styles that itinfluenced The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pop's "earlier meaningmeant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pophas had the special meaning of non-classical music, usually in the form of songs,performed by such artists as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, ABBA, etc." GroveMusic Online also states that "... in the early 1960s [the term] pop music competedterminologically with Beat music [in England], while in the USA its coverageoverlapped (as it still does) with that of rock and roll." Chambers' Dictionary

mentions the contemporary usage of the term "pop art"; Grove Music Online statesthat the "term pop music ... seems to have been a spin-off from the terms pop artand pop culture, coined slightly earlier and referring to a whole range of new, oftenAmerican, media-culture products".

From about 1967 the term was increasingly used in opposition to the term rockmusic, a division that gave generic significance to both terms. Whereas rock aspiredto authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of popular music, pop was morecommercial, ephemeral and accessible.According to Simon Frith pop music isproduced "as a matter of enterprise not art", is "designed to appeal to everyone" and"doesn't come from any particular place or mark off any particular taste". It is "notdriven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward ... and, inmusical terms, it is essentially conservative". It is, "provided from on high (by recordcompanies, radio programmers and concert promoters) rather than being made frombelow. Pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced andpackaged".


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Influences and development

MTV helped give rise to pop stars such as MichaelJackson and Madonna. Jackson (pictured) has beengiven the honorific titled of "King of Pop" for his

contributions to the genre.

Throughout its development, pop music has absorbedinfluences from most other genres of popular music. Earlypop music drew on the sentimental ballad for its form,gained its use of vocal harmonies from gospel and soulmusic, instrumentation from jazz, country, and rockmusic, orchestration from classical music, tempo fromdance music, backing from electronic music, rhythmicelements from hip-hop music, and has recentlyappropriated spoken passages from rap.

It has also made use of technological innovation. In the 1940s improved microphonedesign allowed a more intimate singing styleand ten or twenty years laterinexpensive and more durable 45 r.p.m. records for singles "revolutionized themanner in which pop has been disseminated" and helped to move pop music to arecord/radio/film star system. Another technological change was the widespreadavailability of television in the 1950s; with televised performances, "pop stars had tohave a visual presence". In the 1960s, the introduction of inexpensive, portabletransistor radios meant that teenagers could listen to music outside of the home.

Multi-track recording (from the 1960s); and digital sampling (from the 1980s) havealso been utilized as methods for the creation and elaboration of pop music.By theearly 1980s, the promotion of pop music had been greatly affected by the rise ofMusic Television channels like MTV, which "favoured those artists such as MichaelJackson and Madonna who had a strong visual appeal".

Pop music has been dominated by the American and (from the mid-1960s) Britishmusic industries, whose influence has made pop music something of an internationalmonoculture, but most regions and countries have their own form of pop music,sometimes producing local versions of wider trends, and lending them localcharacteristics. Some of these trends (for example Europop) have had a significantimpact of the development of the genre.

According to Grove Music Online, "Western-derived pop styles, whether coexistingwith or marginalizing distinctively local genres have spread throughout the world andhave come to constitute stylistic common denominators in global commercial musiccultures". Some non-Western countries, such as Japan, have developed a thrivingpop music industry, most of which is devoted to Western-style pop, has for severalyears has produced a greater quantity of music of everywhere except the USA. Thespread of Western-style pop music has been interpreted variously as representingprocesses of Americanization, homogenization, modernization, creativeappropriation, cultural imperialism, and/or a more general process of globalization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europophttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europop


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Popular Pop Artists Of 2012

Ed Sheeran

Flame-haired singer/songwriter, beatboxer, andguitarist Ed Sheeran's eclectic blend of acousticpop, folk, and hip-hop has been championed byeveryone from the underground grime scene toAmerican Oscar winners. Born in Halifax, WestYorkshire, England in 1991, Sheeran releasedhis first EP, The Orange Room, while still at

school, and his first two albums, his self-titled debut and Want Some, by the age of16. After moving to London to gain more live experience, his performance of the self-penned "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" on YouTube channel SB.tv gained half amillion viewers and attracted the attention of actor/R&B star Jamie Foxx, who invited

him to appear on his Los Angeles Sirius radio show. Securing a deal with EltonJohn's management company, he supported Example on his U.K. tour and, aftersigning with Atlantic Records, he became only the third artist to score a Top 75album purely on download sales, when his No.5 Collaborations Project, a star-studded seven-track EP featuring Wiley, JME, and Devlin, charted at number 47 in2011. That same year he released his debut studio album, +. In 2012, Sheeranreturned with the EP Slumdon Bridge.

The Script

A self-described "Celtic soul" trio, the Script werefounded by guitarist Marc Sheehan and vocalistDanny O'Donoghue in 2001. The two musicianshad previously performed together in Mytown, anIrish-based boy band that enjoyed moderatesuccess at home but failed to generateinternational acclaim. After the group disbanded,Sheehan and O'Donoghue spent several years

in Los Angeles, where they worked as producers alongside the likes of Teddy Riley,the Neptunes, and Rodney Jerkins. They later relocated to Dublin and recruited Glen

Power as their drummer, trading promising careers in production for a blend ofcontemporary R&B and polished, anthemic pop/rock.

Forging a unique sound based on a diverse list of influences (including U2, theNeptunes, Timbaland, and Van Morrison), the Script saw their debut single, "WeCry," receive heavy airplay in both Ireland and Britain, as well as a nod from theinfluential BBC Radio DJ Jo Whiley. After signing with Phonogenic Records, thegroup relocated to London and scheduled both a debut album and an appearance atthe Glastonbury Festival for summer 2008. The album proved to be a meteoricsuccess, topping the charts in multiple countries and establishing the Script as2008's most popular newcomer. The buzz carried through to 2009, when Paul

McCartney and U2 both enlisted the band to open several sold-out shows. ~Katherine Fulton & Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide.


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Rihanna

Rihanna established her dance-pop credentials in

summer 2005 with her debut smash hit, "Pon deReplay," and continued to demonstrate such hitpotential in subsequent years (e.g., "S.O.S." in2006; "Umbrella" in 2007; "Disturbia" in 2008).However, it was the singer's third album, Good Girl

Gone Bad that made her a full-fledged international pop star with a regular presenceatop the charts. Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael,Barbados, she exhibited a certain star quality as a young child, often winning beautyand talent contests. Because she lived on the fairly remote island of Barbados in theWest Indies, however, she never foresaw the sort of stardom that would later befallher.

That stardom came courtesy of a fateful meeting with Evan Rogers. The New Yorkerwas vacationing in Barbados with his wife, a native of the island, when he wasintroduced to Rihanna. Rogers had spent years producing pop hits for suchsuperstars as *NSYNC, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, LauraPausini, and Rod Stewart, and he offered the talented Rihanna a chance to record.Along with Rogers' production partner, Carl Sturken (the other half of SyndicatedRhythm Productions), Rihanna recorded several demos that sparked the interest ofthe Carter Administration -- that is, the newly appointed Def Jam president Shawn"Jay-Z" Carter. This led to an audition, and Rihanna both received and accepted anon-the-spot offer to sign with Def Jam.

Come summer 2005, Def Jam timely rolled out "Pon de Replay," the lively leadoffsingle from Music of the Sun. Produced almost entirely by Rogers and Sturken, thesong synthesized Caribbean rhythms with urban-pop songwriting. "Pon de Replay"caught fire almost immediately, climbing all the way to number two on The BillboardHot 100 and contesting the half-summer reign of Mariah Carey's "We BelongTogether" atop the chart. The debut album spawned one other hit, "If It's Lovin' ThatYou Want," which also broke the Top 40. Rihanna's follow-up effort, A Girl Like Me,saw even greater success and spawned three sizeable singles: a chart-topper("S.O.S.") and two Top Ten hits ("Unfaithful," "Break It Off").

Rihanna's third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), continued her success whilesignaling a change of direction. Whereas her past two albums had been imbalanced-- often weighed down by faceless balladry and canned Caribbean-isms -- Good GirlGone Bad was a first-rate dance-pop album, stacked with several chart-toppingsingles and boasting collaborations with Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, Timbaland, and StarGate.The lead single, "Umbrella," shot to number one, as did "Take a Bow" and"Disturbia." Its success turned Rihanna into one of the planet's biggest pop stars.Rated R (2009) was released in the wake of a physical altercation with romanticinterest Chris Brown, who pled guilty to felony assault. The album's lead single,"Russian Roulette" -- written with Ne-Yo -- was one of the year's most controversial

singles. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide.


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Maroon 5

A mix of polished pop/rock and neo-soulsex appeal made Maroon 5 one of themost popular bands of the 2000s, with

such radio-ready songs as "This Love,""She Will Be Loved," and "Makes MeWonder" all topping the charts worldwide .Previously, bandmates Adam Levine(vocals/guitar), Jesse Carmichael(keyboards), Mickey Madden (bass), and

Ryan Dusick (drums) had spent the latter half of the '90s playing in the modern rockoutfit Kara's Flowers, releasing their debut album for Reprise Records while stillattending high school. The record tanked, however, and Kara's Flowers foundthemselves dropped from the Reprise roster. After briefly attending college, thebandmates regrouped as Maroon 5, added former Square guitarist James Valentine

to the lineup, and embraced a more R&B-influenced sound. Several years later, thequintet had officially risen to the forefront of popular music with the multi-platinumreleases of Songs About Jane and It Won't Be Soon Before Long.

Songs About Jane propelled the band into the mainstream, but the album was not animmediate hit. Octone Records had signed the newly christened Maroon 5 in 2001,and the debut album Jane received a lukewarm response upon its in June 2002."Harder to Breathe" became a radio staple 17 months later and was soon followedby the omnipresent "This Love," whose steamy video (featuring frontman Levine anda barely clothed girlfriend) effectively wooed the TV-watching crowds at MTV. SongsAbout Jane finally entered the Billboard Top Ten in August 2004, more than twoyears after the album's release, and subsequent singles like "She Will Be Loved" and"Sunday Morning" helped the album move over 2.7 million copies by year's end.

Maroon 5 toured exhaustively in support of Jane's slow-developing success, issuingtwo stopgap recordings -- 2004's 1.22.03.Acoustic and 2005's Live Friday the 13th --while canvassing the world alongside the Rolling Stones and John Mayer. Theirschedule was especially trying on percussionist Dusick, who sustained wrist andshoulder injuries and was often unable to play. By fall 2006, Dusick had beenofficially replaced by Matt Flynn (the former drummer for Gavin DeGraw), and therevised band released its sophomore effort in May 2007. It Won't Be Soon Before

Long proved to be less popular than its predecessor (which had sold more than fourmillion copies in the U.S. alone), but it still enjoyed double-platinum certification whilespinning off the chart-topping single "Makes Me Wonder." Maroon 5 had cementedtheir status as pop/rock heavyweights, and they now had the powerful connections toprove it. Released in late 2008, Call and Response: The Remix Album reinterpretedthe band's catalog with remixes by such influential figures as Mary J. Blige, MarkRonson, and Pharrell Williams. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide.


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Beyonc

One of the most recognizable characters in modern-dayR&B, Beyonc first rose to fame as the siren-voicedcenterpiece of Destiny's Child before embarking on a

multi-platinum solo career in 2001. Booming record sales,Grammy awards, movie roles, and a romance withrapper/CEO Jay-Z combined to heighten her profile in the2000s, making the singer a virtual mainstay in theentertainment world. While some media outlets derisivelychampioned Paris Hilton as "the next Marilyn Monroe,"Beyonc was a much better contender for the role, herglittering pop culture persona only matched by hersuccess onscreen and on record.

Born in Houston in September 1981, Beyonc Giselle Knowles began performing at

age seven, winning upwards of 30 local competitions for her dancing and vocalabilities. She also joined her cousin Kelly Rowland and classmates LaTaviaRoberson and LeToya Luckett in forming an adolescent vocal group. MathewKnowles, Beyonc's father and Rowland's legal guardian, signed on to be the girls'manager, eventually quitting his full-time job to focus on their efforts. This situationwould ultimately lead to the creation of one of the most popular female R&B groupsof all time -- Destiny's Child.

Destiny's Child gained momentum throughout the 1990s, appearing on Star Searchin 1992 (under the name Girl's Tyme) and weathering several lineup changes beforesigning to Columbia Records in 1997. Four studio albums later, the group hasofficially become the best-selling female group of all time, with such smash hits as"Jumpin' Jumpin'," "Bills, Bills, Bills," "Say My Name," and "Survivor" bolstering thegirls' momentum despite a continued string of lawsuits from former membersRoberson and Luckett (who contested Mathew Knowles' management, claiming hewithheld profits and unjustly favored his daughter and niece). In 2001, Beyonc,Rowland, and replacement member Michelle Williams allowed themselves a breakfrom the group to pursue individual solo careers. Before landing several movie roles,Beyonc became the first African-American female artist and second woman ever towin the annual ASCAP Pop Songwriter of the Year Award. An appearance in theMTV drama Carmen: A Hip Hopera quickly followed, but it was her role as Foxxy

Cleopatra in 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember that established Beyonc as atrue Hollywood star.

While her inclusion on the movie's soundtrack failed to chart nationally, Beyonc'sfull-length solo debut, 2003's Dangerously in Love, reached multi-platinum status.Featuring collaborations with Sean Paul, Missy Elliott, OutKast's Big Boi, andromantic interest Jay-Z, the album spawned a total of four Top Ten singles andgarnered the singer five Grammys. Destiny's Child reconvened the following year torelease Destiny Fulfilled; upon completing the resulting tour, the group issued onefinal album, a greatest-hits compilation entitled #1's, and subsequently disbanded.Beyonc turned her full attention to her burgeoning solo career, releasing the

sophomore effort B'day in September 2006 and, three months later, turning in anaward-winning performance for the movie musical Dreamgirls. The singer then


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embarked on the Beyonc Experience concert tour, releasing a live DVD inNovember 2007.

The following year proved to be another busy one as Beyonc Knowles landed therole of Etta James in Cadillac Records, a musical biopic that explored the heyday of

Chicago's Chess Records. Shooting commenced in February 2008, with Beyoncalso serving as co-executive producer. One month before the film's Decemberrelease, the singer released her third studio album, I Am Sasha Fierce. The double-disc effort emphasized her two distinct personalities, allowing Beyonc to exploreboth mainstream sounds and traditional R&B. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide.

McFly

Similar to fellow British pop act Busted,

London-based McFly came togetherand quickly won over the youth masseswith their boyish charm and lively talesof adolescence. However, while Bustedshared commonalities with the punk-edged accessibility of acts like blink-182and Simple Plan, McFly owed a bit

more musically to bands like the Beach Boys. Naming themselves after Michael J.Fox's character from the Back to the Future series, the guys -- Danny Jones(guitar/vocals), Tom Fletcher (guitar/vocals), Dougie Poynter (bass/vocals), andHarry Judd (drums) -- released Room on the Third Floor in the fall of 2004 onUniversal. The album went straight to number one in the U.K., an achievement thatlanded them in The Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest band to everdo so. It produced a slew of Top Five hits as well, including "Five Colours in HerHair," "Obviously," "That Girl," and "Room on the Third Floor," the first two of whichpeaked at number one on the U.K. charts.

McFly started off 2005 with a Best Pop Award win at the Brits, and later in the yearreleased the charity single "All About You," which also contained a B-side cover ofCarole King's "You've Got a Friend." The proceeds from the single benefited Africancommunities affected by HIV/AIDS, and as a result, the band spent some time early

in the year visiting with some of these villages in Uganda. McFly issued their follow-up record, Wonderland, in the U.K. in August 2005; filmed during a show inManchester, the subsequent Wonderland Tour 2005 DVD appeared that fall. Thebandmembers next surfaced with roles as themselves in the spring 2006 LindsayLohan teen movie Just My Luck. A record of the same name, though not the movie'ssoundtrack, was released that May in the United States, which contained tracks fromtheir other albums. The full-length Motion in the Ocean followed that fall. One of itssingles, "Please, Please," caused an initial stir among gossip columns and bloggersas it was apparently written by members of McFly (everyone but Judd, that is) aboutJudd's alleged romantic relationship with Lindsay Lohan on the film's set. ~ CoreyApar, All Music Guide.


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