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Woodstock '99 Reconsidered, Taylor Swift Fans Weaponized, Courtney Love, Billie Eilish, Fab Five Freddy...
Matty Karas, curator July 10, 2019
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Good morning there's a new BEYONCÉ song... Fans might have broken a lot of stuff—and worse—at WOODSTOCK '99, but you can't completely blame "BREAK STUFF" band LIMP BIZKIT. That's the crux of host STEVEN HYDEN's argument in the excellent first episode of the RINGER and LUMINARY's eight-part podcast on the infamous 30th anniversary fest, also called "Break Stuff," which dropped the same day that organizers of a theoretical-at-best 50th anniversary version were told "no" for roughly the 50th time. In part 1, Hyden sets out to analyze video of Limp Bizkit's July 1999 performance in Rome, N.Y., "like a nu-metal ZAPRUDER film," with the help of first-hand witnesses (including my old SONICNET colleague BRIAN HIATT, who spent a year investigating the disaster with CHRIS NELSON for a three part series). Hyden proves more sympathetic than others have been to Limp Bizkit and frontman FRED DURST over the years, noting that LB played on Saturday but the worst damage happened on Sunday. And while things did get out of hand Saturday night—Durst had encouraged the festival crowd, unwisely, to "tear s*** up"—the singer also encouraged fans to give a hand to their fallen friends while the band changed the vibe by playing GEORGE MICHAEL's "FAITH." So if you've ever wanted to stop blaming the nookie, now, perhaps, you can. Promoter JOHN SCHER, meanwhile, plays a weird game, calling Durst a "moron" and blaming him for starting a riot while simultaneously blaming the media for blowing the rioting out of proportion, which is just, kinda, choose one... NICKI MINAJ wants to "make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and freedom of expression," she said Tuesday upon withdrawing from a Saudi Arabian music festival, where she had been announced as a headliner a week earlier. The New York-based HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION, which had pressured Minaj and LIAM PAYNE not to play, applauded. No one of note, at least outside Saudi Arabia, complained. And you? If you're OK with an artist boycotting one country for political reasons, are you OK with artists boycotting *any* country for political reasons? Or are artists only allowed to make those decisions some of the time, in certain countries? Just asking... The lack of self-awareness in this SPOTIFY ad campaign is, just, wow. How would you not anticipate, say, this response?... OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE author MICHAEL AZERRAD posted a TIDAL playlist of nearly every song mentioned in his classic indie-rock text. Which is awesome. But genuinely curious to know what the crossover is between Tidal subscribers and MINOR THREAT/MISSION OF BURMA fans... TAYLOR SWIFT headlines AMAZON's PRIME DAY concert, streaming live from New York at 9 pm ET today. If Amazon shipped her masters to her by midnight on Monday, she could have them by the time she takes the stage... RIP JACK RENNER, MICHAEL COLGRASS, JOHNNY KITAGAWA and VIVIAN PERLIS.

Matty Karas, curator

July 10, 2019