The Last Vegas Top ITunes Rock Singles of the Year List

Below is the press release from Guitar Center in regards to The Last Vegas and their contests for musicians. I haven’t listened to The Last Vegas since seeing them open for Crue, but with all the buzz they’ve gotten this year, I think I need to check them out.

December 14, 2009 - Guitar Center, the world's largest music retailer, announced that its On-Stage winner, The Last Vegas, topped iTunes critics' 2009 "Rock Singles of the Year List" with their hit single "I'm Bad" (Eleven Seven Music). Recently, Guitar Center partnered with Mötley Crüe, the world's most notorious rock band, on its undiscovered music program Guitar Center On-Stage through which one band, The Last Vegas, received an opening slot on Mötley's Crüe's 2009 U.S. tour, $25,000 cash, $20,000 in exclusive gear from Gibson Guitar, management from Tenth Street Entertainment, and a recording deal from Eleven Seven Music, Mötley's Crüe's management and record label. Due in part to Guitar Center's commitment to the support of aspiring artists, the band has risen to the top of the most popular digital music store in the world's annual "best-of" list in just one year. The chart topping single can be purchased at http://tinyurl.com/ImBadiTunes and its music video can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/ImBadYouTube.

"We cannot thank Guitar Center enough for kick-starting our careers with its On-Stage program," said Chad Cherry, lead singer of The Last Vegas. "From the moment we won their extremely generous prize and were hand-selected by Mötley Crüe to open for them on tour, our lives have been sent into a whirlwind of rock and roll. Look at us now; we're sitting on top of the iTunes charts and it all started with Guitar Center."

The Last Vegas has been dubbed "Best Discovery" by SPIN and, since winning Guitar Center On-Stage, has built an impressive touring history throughout arenas, clubs and theaters in 2009, side-by-side with renowned acts like Buckcherry, Hinder, Theory of a Deadman and Papa Roach.

Guitar Center On-Stage is just one of many Guitar Center initiatives created to foster growth and success within the music community, including its annual King of the Blues and Drum-Off competitions, among others. Guitar Center's King of the Blues is a nationwide amateur guitar skills competition with the goal of finding the next great undiscovered blues guitar player. Drum-Off is an annual drumming competition that, now in its 21st year, has been a launching pad for many drummers, including Cora Coleman-Dunham and Tony Royster Jr, two Drum-Off winners who have gone on to become highly acclaimed professional drummers (with Prince and Jay Z respectively).

"Guitar Center prides itself on helping musicians pursue and accomplish their dreams and The Last Vegas are the perfect Cinderella story," said Norman Hajjar, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer for Guitar Center. "The Last Vegas has gone above and beyond the achievements we had hoped for when we started the Guitar Center On-Stage program and we can't wait to see where they're headed."

About Guitar Center
Guitar Center is the world's largest retailer of guitars, amplifiers, percussion instruments, keyboards and pro-audio and recording equipment. Our retail store subsidiary presently operates 214 Guitar Center stores across the U.S. We are also the largest direct response retailer of musical instruments in the United States through our wholly owned subsidiary, Musician's Friend, Inc., and its catalog and Web site, www.musiciansfriend.com. In addition, our Music & Arts division operates more than 100 stores specializing in band instruments for sale and rental, serving teachers, band directors, college professors and students. More information on Guitar Center can be found by visiting the Company's Web site at http://www.guitarcenter.com/.

A Singles Driven Society (or Death To The Entire Album)

The recent re-release of all the brilliant Beatles’ albums have gotten me thinking lately about entire albums. Full length albums are not appreciated like they used to be. I can remember not being able to wait for the full length record to arrive. My friends and I would hear about a new release coming out from one of our favorite bands and we would mark the date on the calendar. We’d run to the mall or the record store, or wherever cassettes were sold and be one of the first kids on our block to have the latest release from whatever band. To own the new album on the day it came out was a big thrill.

Times have changed. Nowadays, kids can just download an album from the internet (legally or illegally, that’s another post for another day), pop it in their IPods, and be done with it. The rush of owning and smelling and cherishing a new release is gone. The instant gratification society has killed the enjoyment of a brand new album that took months to put together.

The bands of today are picking up on this fact as well. Radiohead has recently mentioned that they are done making albums. They will only record singles and release them as they see fit. Smashing Pumpkins have made news recently by stating they will release their new album one single at a time as the songs are finished. While it brings a whole new wave of marketability, it means certain death for full length albums the way we used to enjoy them.

When my parents were teenagers, rock and roll started out this way. Singles were huge and full length albums were rare. 45s sold like hot cakes, but only the real superb bands (i.e. The Beatles) could sell a full length album. It was a thing of beauty that was reserved only for the best.

And this knowledge is what forced bands to craft amazing works of art. Think Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon, or Meatloaf’s Bat Out Of Hell. These artists knew that they had to fight for sales, thus they worked their asses off to only give their best. Now with the insanity of the instantaneous internet, bands are churning out mediocre songs at best and launching them on ITunes. It’s a shame and it destroys the full album experience.

Entire albums are almost unknown to my daughter. She knows the few I buy for her, but even then, she only listens to a few select songs and moves on. There is no sitting and playing the entire disc from start to finish. “No one does that,” she once told me. I still do that, but it wasn’t worth the debate. Sometimes there is no changing a 12 year old mind.

So, could this be the end of the entire album? Are the newer bands going to move in the direction of singles focus? When the dinosaurs like Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones have passed on, will the new crop focus solely on singles? Would you even care?

I definitely don’t want to see music move in this direction, as I love nothing more than a new release of an entire album. I like to hold it in my hands, smell the manufacturing plastic, feel that small rush as I rip open the packaging and pop the CD in my car (or home) stereo. I don’t ever want that feeling to end. Perhaps I am being just a tad too nostalgic. Would you miss albums if they were gone, or are you happy ringing in the new singles driven society? Share your thoughts.

Comments are open. Feel free to post some.