Listen to Johnny Rotten, Radio DJ, from 1977

Dangerous Minds dug up an aircheck of a 20 year-old Johnny Rotten doing a radio show for Capital Radio in 1977.  Fascinating.

Jack White to Give People a Chance to RECORD Vinyl on Record Store Day (Plus a Newsletter Contest!)

With Record Store Day coming up on Saturday, this year's official ambassador, Jack White, is determined to be more than just a ceremonial figurehead.  He plans to get out there and actually help people make some vinyl records.

The Third Man Recording Booth--actually a refurbished 1947 device called a Voice-O-Graph--has been installed in the Third Man store in Nashville.  Visitors will be able to step inside and record a two-minute song or spoken message and have it transferred to vinyl.  (Shades of Elvis recording those songs for his mother!)

Here's an ad for the machine (click on the image to embiggen).

Andrew Lloyd Webber Turning School of Rock into a Musical

Yes, the Phantom of the Opera man has grabbed the rights for School of Rock and plans to turn it into a stage production.  No clue when this will premiere or who may star in the production.

The original--the film with Jack Black--was scored by Craig Wedren of Shudder to Think, an indie pop band who recorded for Fugazi's Dischord label out of DC.

That's right: a story that legitimately ties together Andrew Lloyd Webber and Fugazi.

(Via AntiMusic)

You Know How Your Hearing Sucks After a Loud Concert? That's a GOOD Thing

You know the feeling I'm talking about:  it's like your hearing the world underwater. Everything is all muted and dull and you promise yourself that you'll never, ever go to another show without hearing protection. But then three days later, your hearing is back to normal (or so it seems) and you do it all over again.

Turns out that this sort of hearing loss is actually a good thing.  It's a way for your ears to protect themselves after being exposed to some kind of sonic shock.

The Mail Online reports on some new research from Australia:

Scientists at the University of New South Wales in Australia believe that short-term hearing loss after being exposed to loud noise may be the body's way of coping.

However, they warn that this defence mechanism cannot help against a sustained high frequency assault on the ears - such as that caused by listening to loud music through headphones.

Click to read more ...

Another Music-and-Medicine Story: Live Music Soothes Premature Babies

Okay, so you have to be careful with what kind of live music.  Taking a premie to a Tool show is probably out of the question.  But a little gentle acoustic Beatles?  That works.  From the New York Times:

Even the Beatles would have had trouble recognizing their peppy song in the lullaby that Andrea Zalkin sang to the tiny, fragile baby clutched to her chest in the neonatal unit. But there was something unintentionally poignant in the title she chose for her son: “Eight Days a Week” is more time than can fit on the calendar. Ms. Zalkin’s baby, Hudson, born 13 weeks early, has had too little time.

As she sang, monitors showed Hudson’s heartbeat slowing and his oxygen saturation increasing. Effects like that were among the findings of a new study on the use of music as medicine.

Continue reading.