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Today’s Music News: Members of Gen X go to way more concerts than millennials or baby boomers

by Staff

August 24, 2015

Billboard's analysis of data from two recent surveys shows that adults currently aged 35 to 54—in other words, members of Generation X—attend way more live music concerts per capita than either younger (millennials) or older (baby boomers) generations. The Gen X age group makes up just 17% of the U.S. population, but 43% of concert attendees. When boomers do attend concerts, though, they're ready to invest serious cash: legacy artists like Paul McCartneythe Rolling Stones, and the Eagles regularly crowd lists of top-grossing tours.

Patti Smith's Aqua Teen Hunger Force fandom is no joke: it was "a dream come true" to write and record a song for the final episode of the Adult Swim cartoon series, she tells Pitchfork. Asked which character she most resembles, the punk legend said she's "like Frylock. Head in the clouds with a touch of the designated driver."

On Sunday night, Raw Power—a one-off Seattle rock supergroup including Mark Arm (Mudhoney), Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Duff McKagan (formerly of Guns N' Roses), and Barrett Martin (formerly of Screaming Trees)—played a set of Stooges covers on the roof of Pike Place Market. Given that last year Mudhoney celebrated their 25th anniversary by playing a show on the Space Needle, Rolling Stone observes that "Mark Arm may be running out of Seattle landmarks to perform at."

Michel'le, a singer who says Dr. Dre abused her when they were engaged, has rejected the hip-hop star's collective apology to the women he's wronged. "I didn't ask for a public apology and I think if he is going to apologize he should do it individually," Michel'le told the BBC. Saying she doubts Dr. Dre's sincerity, Michel'le said, "He's selling a movie." Dee Barnes, on the other hand, is taking a more favorable view of the recent comments by Dr. Dre, who is alleged to have assaulted her at a 1991 party. "Who cares why he apologized?" writes Barnes. "The point is that he did." (Pitchfork)

That would be the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton, which has been the number one movie in America for two weekends straight and has put the group's debut album—which gave the movie its name—back into the top five albums on the Billboard 200. With the album at number four, N.W.A. now have a higher chart position than they've enjoyed at any time since the George H.W. Bush Administration. (Rolling Stone)

Matt Berninger says that his participation in the new group EL VY—with Brent Knopf of Menomena—doesn't mean the National aren't moving forward as a band. The National already have 30 song sketches for their next album, Berninger says, and they're getting together again soon to work on more. (Consequence of Sound)

Morrissey, who famously sang the Smiths' "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want," is pleading again: during his headling set on Sunday at L.A.'s FYF Fest, Morrissey asked Americans not to elect Donald Trump. "Please, I beg you, don't," said Morrissey regarding Americans' support of Trump's Presidential candidacy. (Billboard)

Cee-Lo and Iron Maiden don't have a lot in common, but there is this: they've both recorded songs in tribute to the late Robin Williams. Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson says "Tears of a Clown," his favorite song on the band's forthcoming album, was inspired by Williams. (Billboard)

The Judds ended what they said would be their last tour in 2011. They're now getting back together to play more shows, but they're keeping their word about not touring again: this time out, the shows are all going to be in one place. That would be Las Vegas, where the mother-daughter duo will play nine shows in October. (Rolling Stone)

There's a new trailer for Kill Your Friends, a new movie about the British music industry circa 1997. "The British music industry is on a winning streak," reads the movie's official synopsis. "Britpop bands Blur, Oasis, Radiohead rule the airwaves and Cool Britannia is in full swing. 27-year-old hit chasing A&R man Steven Stelfox (Nicholas Hoult) is slashing and burning his way through the music business, a world where ‘no one knows anything’ and where careers are made and broken by chance and the fickle tastes of the general public." Kill Your Friends will premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival, but no general release date has yet been announced. (Consequence of Sound) Heads-up: the trailer, below, contains some NSFW language and brief nudity.

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This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.