New Music Friday: Steven Tyler Kicks It Country, Macklemore Privilege, And Megadeth Thrash
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It feels like we've lost more than we've gained so far in music this year. As the industry continues to thaw for a 2016 start, the songs of David Bowie and The Eagles' Glenn Frey have been in heavy rotation for the most unfortunate of reasons. It seems we've been too busy celebrating the lives of icons passed for anything new and exciting to grab our ears.
Even Winter Storm Jonas has us listening to a band that broke up two years ago.
Perhaps we are starting to turn a corner though. Today's New Music Friday features a full slate of releases, and a few major new singles to set us straight for '16.
Steven Tyler – "Red, White, And You"
First up, it's a country-fried Steven Tyler.
We got our first taste of the Aerosmith frontman's newfound favorite genre last summer with "Love Is Your Name", in which Tyler dipped his toe into Nashville. On "Red, White, And You" he goes all in - hanging out "in the Georgia night", loving America, and enjoying the "bad girls rockin' them cut off jeans". It's a bit basic, but cut off jeans can make a man do crazy things.
You can expect a full album of country crooning later this year from Tyler. You should not expect the other members of Aerosmith to be buying it though. Reports are that the band is unhappy because Tyler's moonlighting has derailed tour plans, telling Rolling Stone last year that they feel "abandoned". Tyler's response, "don't squat with your spurs on". That's a real quote, not something Woody from Toy Story says when you pull his string. Because Steven Tyler is country now. Kakakakakoooow.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – "White Privilege II"
Remember last year when Macklemore was buying mopeds and "throwing fish to a player" on the incredibly infectious "Downtown"? Well, things have gotten serious.
Serious and self-examining is the duo's latest single "White Privilege II". The nearly nine minute tune is more of a musical about the current climate of race and how a successful white rapper fits in. Here you'll find Macklemore attending a "Black Lives Matter" protest and contemplating his role in the movement before the refrain, "blood in the streets, no justice no peace". He goes on to rap about cultural appropriation, how he's "exploited and stolen the music", telling himself "the culture was never yours to make better. You're Miley, you're Elvis, You're Iggy Azalea."
Iggy disagrees.
@lggysBae he shouldnt have spent the last 3 yrs having friendly convos and taking pictures together at events etc if those were his feelings
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) January 22, 2016
From there the song unravels, but with purpose as they showcase different aspects of today's conversation on white privilege. Know that these are not his first verses on the subject. The first "White Privilege" appeared on his 2005 album The Language Of My World, in which he says, "claimed a culture that wasn't mine, the way of an American. Hip hop is gentrified and where will all the people live?"
In 2013, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis did something impactful and beautiful with their song "Same Love". There they packed an important message on gay rights into a great, easy-to-use pop song with a lot of heart. Success! Here the vehicle is much more complex and clunky, just like the topic itself.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis will play two shows at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby this weekend. Their album This Unruly Mess I've Made is out February 26th.
Megadeth – Dystopia
The biggest full album release of the week belongs to Megadeth. One of the big four of thrash metal, Dave Mustaine and company return with their fifteenth studio album and a new batch of politics to sink their teeth into. "The Messiah or mass murder, no controlling who comes through the door" he sings on the album's kickoff track "The Threat Is Real".
This imagined dystopia has some real world political talking points you may have heard elsewhere. Putting that aside, musically speaking Megadeth is very much in fighting shape – chugging and aggressive in a fashion you could stack up against their best efforts. Megadeth comes to Philadelphia at Electric Factory on March 20th.
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Also out today is new music from R&B singer Tank, indie-pop from Brooklyn-based Chairlift, and explosive rock from Savages with their latest Adore Life.
