While the increasing likelihood that someone has eschewed new music in favor of retreating into the nostalgic coziness of her iPod has made the idea of a genre-spanning "summer jam" less and less likely through the years, New Yorkers do have a somewhat dubious advantage when it comes to songs of the hottest season: Our lack of reliance on cars, which results in us actually having to hear ambient noise that we haven't picked after endless scouring of file-sharing sites our completely legally acquired musical libraries. Below, seven tracks that you will likely be subjected to should you decide to spend headphone-free time in the city's agora.

1. Flo Rida, "Sugar"

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.


The Sunshine State-repping MC has figured out a way to escape one-hit wonderdom: Egregiously "interpolate" the most annoying hits of the past, and employ singers almost more anonymous-sounding than Flo while doing so. Mr. Rida has followed the success of "Right Round," which rode the hook of Dead Or Alive's "You Spin Me Round" to record sales on iTunes, pretty ingeniously, releasing a track will have sane people everywhere on an as-instant-as-possible hunt for its hook's source material, so as to eradicate it from their brains / answer their synapses' incessant braying of "what was that?" And you thought you'd never have to think of Eiffel 65 again.

2. Kris Allen, "No Boundaries"

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.


Sure, the American Idol coronation song is dreck that newly minted judge Kara DioGuardi probably penned in hopes of finally severing ties with the show, which put her through a season-long hazing that ended in her revealing her ribcage to America on Wednesday night. But the playlists of the adult-contemporary stations that blare into your local Duane Reade are notoriously sclerotic, and new songs have to generally have a non-musical hook—hello, shiny crown sitting on the head of this year's sweetly smiling Idol victor—to even make it onto even the wee hours' playlists. Get ready to climb hurricane mountains and travel nowhere roads every time you need deodorant!

3. Jeremih, "Birthday Sex"

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.


R. Kelly's recent efforts have been subpar—hey, he's distracted—but this track from R & B newcomer Jeremih, which centers on the idea of giving good loving in honor of one's natal anniversary, can certainly, ahem, slide into the "Ignition (Remix)" void.

4. Black Eyed Peas, "Boom Boom Pow"

You are probably already sick of the Black Eyed Peas' minimalistish new single—and its remixes, and its attendant HP-advertisement video, and Pepsi's insistence that lead Pea will.i.am is our generation's Bob Dylan, and Fergie's crazed eyebrows, and that whole dumb hologram thing. But that's the whole point of the Black Eyed Peas, really. In that way, they represent America in 2009 better than any other pop-cultural entity.

5. Cobra Starship feat. Leighton Meester, "Good Girls Go Bad"

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.


Previous efforts by these dayglo-drenched synth-rockers have been too smart for the degraded landscape of late-decade pop by half, but the presence of Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester on this track should at least attract the ears of people waiting for her star vehicle's season-three premiere. (Personally, I prefer her co-star's efforts, but I also thought L7 was better than Roxette back in the day.)

6. Passion Pit, "Sleepyhead"

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.


Sure, it's more likely that you'll hear this in a bar than at your local Fresh-blaring bodega—but then again, it's only been 10 years since LeN's "Steal My Sunshine" ruled the pools, and it sure would be nice for a similarly left-fieldish hit to make an inroad or two into the black pits of yarl that are rock radio's everyday playlists.

7. Cage The Elephant, "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked"

Anyone who has nostalgia for the 1990s to the point where they wish that the decade would "come back" would do well to listen to this effort by Kentucky outfit Cage The Elephant, which sounds kind of like what would happen if the Butthole Surfers' "Pepper" were rewritten by members of Asher Roth's frat. Between this and the double-barrelled reunions of Limp Bizkit and Creed, we might be better off looking toward the future as a rule.

Honorable Mention: Journey, "Don't Stop Believing"

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.


What was that about looking forward? Oh, right. Well, this track was just resurrected by the cast of Glee—and let's face it, it pretty much trumps every other song on this list.

• WATCH VIDEO

Nick Denton Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 7:26 AM

I'm amazed we've managed to keep a lid on this news; that, given your naturally gossipy natures, must be a first! We're spinning off three sites: Idolator, Gridskipper and—this one may be a surprise—Wonkette. There were indeed some rumors about Maura Johnston's music blog late last year; they were true of course. For reasons that I'll explain below, both it and our travel and politics sites have better commercial futures outside Gawker than within. (Excuse the corporate lingo: some of it is unavoidable.) But, first, the facts, which will be hitting the wires later this morning, or as soon as you leak this email. Go ahead!

* IDOLATOR is going to Buzznet, a music-focused web and social network. Buzznet recently acquired Idolator's chief rival, Stereogum, and received a big investment from Universal Music Group. * GRIDSKIPPER isn't going far: it's being taken over by Curbed, the network founded by Lockhart Steele, in which Gawker Media is a shareholder. * WONKETTE is being spun off to the managing editor, Ken Layne, former founder of one of the web's very first news sites, Tabloid.net. The title will become part of the Blogads network of political sites, which includes Daily Kos, among others.

Why these three sites? To be blunt: they each had their editorial successes; but someone else will have better luck selling the advertising than we did.

Music audiences are fragmented across genres; Maura's Idolator gave Stereogum a good run, but a group with a whole array of music sites will command more attention from record labels than we could. In the case of Gridskipper, our urban travel guide, we could never match Curbed in attention to city-specific content and advertising. As for Wonkette: political advertisers are a strange breed; they don't come through the same agencies our sales people deal with.

I'm relieved we've found pretty decent homes for the three sites, and most of their writers, but we're gutted to lose them. Idolator's Pop Critic's Poll was a tremendous coup—and Patric's bleeding-heart logo for the site was one of my favorites. Gridskipper is so far the most sophisticated travel blog: it entirely deserved its inclusion in Time's list of the 50 coolest websites.

And Wonkette is one of the brands with which the company is most associated; people will be shocked that we would ever part with it. The political site has won an array of Bloggies and other awards; it introduced the word ass-fucking into the dictionary of political abuse; the founding editor's slippers are even on display in the new media museum in Washington, DC. And Ken and his team have brought a new liveliness to the site this election season—validated by the record traffic of the last three months.

So why not wait, at least till the election? Well, since the end of last year, we've been expecting a downturn. Scratch that: since the middle of 2006, when we sold off Screenhead, shuttered Sploid and declared we were "hunkering down", we've been waiting for the internet bubble to burst. No, really, this time. And, even if not, better safe than sorry; and better too early than too late.

Everybody says that the internet is special; that advertising is still moving away from print and TV; and Gawker sites are still growing in traffic by about 90% a year, way faster than the web as a whole. But it would be naive to think that we can merely power through an advertising recession. We need to concentrate our energies, and the time of Chris Batty's sales group, on the sites with the greatest potential for audience and advertising.

The dozen sites that remain represent some 97% or our 228m pageviews per month, and an even higher proportion of our growth and advertising revenue. (Key facts are below, in case anyone asks.) We'll be able to devote more attention to breakouts such as Jezebel and io9, as well as established titles such as Gizmodo and Kotaku, which are becoming utterly dominant in their domains. And, then, once this recession is done with, and we come up from the bunker to survey the internet wasteland around us, we can decide on what new territories we want to colonize.

Both Noah and I are around to answer any questions. On email, IM, or phone. I'm 917-XXX-XXXX and Noah is on 917-XXX-XXXX.

Regards

Nick

————————————————————————————————————————

GAWKER MEDIA KEY FACTS
* A dozen sites, Gizmodo first launched in August 2002, most recent,
io9, in January 2008
* Gawker, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, Jalopnik, Deadspin, Defamer,
Jezebel, Valleywag, io9, Consumerist, Fleshbot
* A record 18 "Bloggie" nominations in 2008, way more than any other
blog collective (one of those was for Idolator)
* Audience of 29.7m unique visitors a month for the whole network, up
82% at annualized rate (http://www.quantcast.com/p-d4P3FpSypJrlA)
* Each individual site has at least 1m uniques or, in the case of io9, soon will
* Pageviews of 227m in March — 219m if you take out the three sites
being spun out — up 89% on a year earlier (Sitemeter)
* For those who measure these things, Gawker is the web's leading
independent blog group

QUESTION?

WHY IS IT ALWAYS ONE BLACK PERSON IN SHIT THAT WHITE PEOPLE WRITE? (CARTOONS, MOVIES, T.V., COMMERCIALS, & ADVERTISING)

EXAMPLES

CARTOONS: CHARLIE BROWN, SUPERFRIENDS (JUSTIC LEAGUE), G.I. JOE, STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, UM UM UM, KEEP ON UMIN' CAUSE IT AIN'T NO MORE.

MOVIES: STRIPES, REVENGE OF THE NERDS, POLICE ACADEMY (ACTUALLY HAD 3 BLACKS, HOLYSHIT!), PREDATOR, ROCKY (3 BLACKS, HOLYSHIT!), AEON FLUX, STAR WARS, SUPERMAN, THE SHINING, GOODFELLAS, PULP FICITION, FROM DUSK TO DAWN, GRINDHOUSE, MATRIX, 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND, DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE GUARDIAN, THE DEPARTED, CHILDREN OF MEN, DAWN OF THE DEAD, 28 DAYS LATER, APOCALYPSE NOW, PLATOON, WILD HOGS, OFFICER & A GENTLEMAN, X-MEN, SPIDERMAN, FANTASTIC 4

T.V.: FACTS OF LIFE, SILVERSPOONS, A-TEAM, KNIGHT RIDER (MY BAD THAT WAS A BLACK CAR), 21 JUMPSTREET, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, MAD T.V., JAY LENO, SEINFELD, KING OF QUEENS, 2 _ MEN, LAW & ORDER, MY NAME IS EARL, CSI, EVERY NEWS CHANNEL/SHOW, LITTLE RASCALS, THE SUITE LIFE OF ZACH & CODY, THE NAKED BROTHERS.

COMMERCIALS: LINCOLN TECH SCHOOL, APEX, DRAKE, PIZZA HUT (USES QUEEN LATIFAH'S VOICE, BUT I NEVER SEE A BLACK), WHITE CASTLES, HOTELS.COM, BLOCKBUSTER (GOT A BLACK CARTOON CHARACTER), CLAIROL, U.S. ARMY, U.S. AIR FORCE, ING. DIRECT, HYUNDAI, WASHINGTON MUTUAL.

PRINT ADVERTISEMENT: VICTORIA'S SECRET (STAY WITH ONE BLACK CHIC), JC PENNEY, MACY'S, NAUTICA, POLO, TOMMY HILFIGER. ALL OF THESE LISTED ABOVE ONLY HAVE ONE OR 2, IF WE'RE LUCKY, BLACK PEOPLE IN IT.

WHY IS THAT? BECAUSE THAT'S HOW WHITE PEOPLE LOOK AT US. THEY ONLY PUT THE ONE OR TWO BLACKS IN, SO WHEN WE CONFRONT THEM ABOUT BEING RACIST FOR NOT HIRING MORE BLACKS THEY CAN SAY "THAT'S NOT TRUE, LOOK THERE'S A BLACK RIGHT THERE, LOOK AND A BLACK THERE!" NOWADAY'S WHAT THESE COMPANIES/MAJOR CORPORATIONS DO, AND THAT IS CREATE AN ENTIRE BLACK CAMPAIGN. SO, YOU WILL SEE AN "ALL BLACK" LINCOLN NAVIGATOR COMMERCIAL OR AN "ALL BLACK" MCDONALD'S COMMERCIAL, AN "ALL BLACK" COLLGATE TOOTHPASTE , NIKE, SUNNY DELIGHT, ETC, ETC.....

WHY CAN'T WE BE IN THE REGULAR COMMERCIALS? BECAUSE THE REGULAR AD'S BEING RUN COMES ON AT PRIME TIME & ON EVERY CHANNEL OR OUTLET. THE "ALL BLACK" VERSIONS ONLY COME ON DURING "ALL BLACK" T.V. SHOWS OR ON "ALL BLACK" CHANNELS / OUTLETS. ALSO, THE "ALL BLACK" PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS ARE ONLY SEEN IN "ALL BLACK" NEIGHBORHOODS OR IN "ALL BLACK" MAGAZINES SUCH AS: EBONY, JET, XXL, ETC, ETC.....

YES PEOPLE IN THE CORPORATE WORLD, FROM HOLLYWOOD TO INGLEWOOD RACISM IS ALIVE, KICKING AND AS STRONG AS EVER. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT INSTEAD OF BEING OVERT, NOW THEY'RE BEING COVERT. 'THEY TOOK THE CHAINS OFF OUR FEET AND PUT EM ON OUR BRAINS"........................SO, GROWING UP I COULDN'T HELP BUT NOTICE ALL OF THESE THINGS AND SEEING HOW SERIOUS THE PROBLEM IS, MADE ME STOP READING THE FICTION. I THEN STARTED RESEARCHING THE ORIGIN OF ALL THE BULLSHIT. I BEGIN READING ONLY FACTUAL BOOKS ON HISTORY, SCIENCE, CULTURES, POLITICS AND OTHER REAL ISSUES. I BEGAN QUESTIONING PEOPLE AND THEIR BELIEFS/BELIEF SYSTEMS.

As AOL Music reports, Shakira and de la Rua, who've since broken up, apparently recorded the on-yacht sex session with a third party, Spanish pop star Alejandro Sanz. Were that true, that would make this as-yet-unreleased tape way pornier than your standard celebrity sex tapes. But the story only gets more sordid once we learn the route this tape has taken into the public spotlight. Apparently, two of Sanz' ex-employees are under prosecution for stealing the yacht which may or may not be stamped with Shakira's threesome, um, evidence. Admittedly, we're no Sam Donaldson (or even Chris Hansen), but we're pretty sure this joyously means that all contents found on the yacht will eventually be presented to the court. And considering the way Hollywood sex scandals tend to dissolve, those contents will eventually be posted on this site. As soon as possible. We promise.

• ALEJANDRO SANZ, SHAKIRA AND BOYFRIEND IN SEX TAPE SCANDAL [AOL Music]

And now for the Kremlinology: Karin Gilford, head of Yahoo Entertainment, seems like the big winner here. Amy Iorio, the widely disliked executive whose team launched women's site Shine, loses out. Moore's mostly winnowing the number of direct reports he has — which should give him more time to call old pals in Redmond. And Rogers? Got out while the getting was good.

No, this is about the twisted dynamics of the music industry. Selling unprotected MP3s is all the rage now, even though label executives have insisted for years on copy-protected formats, like the kind Apple sells through iTunes. Forget Jobs's propaganda about Apple wanting to "free" music from copy protection. He doesn't care one bit about the digital-rights management software, or DRM, that record labels insist on. And he knows that most consumers don't care about the issue. He just wants to sell iPods, and his customers just want to buy them.

What Jobs does care about is other music stores having something Apple doesn't. The labels have been favoring competitors like Amazon.com with licenses for MP3 files — because they now fear Apple more than they fear piracy. And Jobs knows that DRM doesn't work to stop piracy, anyway. But what it does do is lock music to devices, because hardware manufacturers can't risk breaking the DMCA's circumvention provisions.

So Apple needs a new hook to win the labels back. Selling subscription music would allow Apple to lock down its music once more. According to reports of the proposals Apple and the labels are considering, iPod buyers would pay anywhere from $20 to $100 to get all the music they can download. Ah, but they'd have to download it from iTunes, onto an iPod.

Bundling music would give Apple a huge edge over the competition. Nokia's also proposing an all-you-can-hear music plan. But for all of Nokia's talk about cell phones replacing MP3 players, only 7 percent of cell-phone owners listen to music on their handsets. Amazon.com could try a subscription plan, but it's hard to see how it would make money, since it doesn't have the iPod's hefty profit margins.

Jobs comes out on top, again. Apple sells more iPods by giving the record labels what they want — copy protection and revenue — without having to share the iPod's profits. The compliant tech press corps will hail his plan as genius, forgetting he ever said anything about consumers wanting to own their music. The losers here are the musicians. Apple and the labels will divvy up subscription revenues, and the artists' cut will likely be smaller than what they'd make off of by-the-song sales. But since when has anyone asked their opinion about how to run the music business?

(Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)

While the coastal aesthete in us is particularly fond of the night-vision effect and slow-motion instant replay, the old-school redneck we've suppressed over the years can relate to Nelson-San's pure, unchecked animus. This would never fly at the Troubador.

• Paula Nelson Kicking Ass at the Saxon Pub [YouTube]

Take, for example, her three most provocative covers up to this point, 1983's Like A Virgin, 1992's Erotica, and 2005's Confessions:

We happen to think the lacy dress on Virgin is just begging to be lifted up, even if we can't even see the hem. And the close-up shot of Madonna's cherry-lined lips and false eyelashes on Erotica is somehow sexier when drawn in such exaggerated effect, like a page from Playboy coming to life. And then there's her last effort, the leotarded Confessions, which portrays her a disco-happy blonde redhead so enraptured with the music that she doesn't even have time to turn towards the camera. Judging from these three album covers alone, we think Madge is far sexier when she keeps it in her pants.

[Photo Credits: People, Absolute Madonna]

• MADONNA'S HARD CANDY ALBUM COVER REVEALED! [People]

THE THREE SIX MAFIA STRIP CLUB TOUR SCHEDULE, SO IF YOU ARE ON EVEN A CRAPPY LITTLE LOCAL PAPER AROUND HERE YOU BETTER START BRAINSTORMING QUICK, FELLA:

Tennesse 3/17, 3/18, 3/19

Jackson, MS
3/20

Birmingham, AL
3/21

Atlanta, GA
3/22, 3/32, 3/24

Tucson, AZ
3/29

San Antonio, TX
3/30

Texas
3/31, 4/1, 4/2, 4/3, 4/4

Chicago
4/10, 4/11

Lake Forest, Il
4/12

Detroit, MI
4/13

St. Louis, MO
4/14

For starters, the bashful, 17-year-old demi-Honduran seemed more nervous than usual in his introductory video package—not the energized nerves of a confident performer that might lead him to erupt into spontaneous choruses of "Flashdance... What a Feeling," but rather the white-knuckle distress of someone walking into a final matriculation unprepared. His admission that he is almost completely illiterate to the Lennon/McCartney songbook did not reassure us, either, particularly from a performer whose angelic interpretation of "Imagine" was what was credited with securing his coveted spot on the Big Stage in the first place.

And there he stood—a tiny, twittering uvula hanging at the back of a giant, flashing orifice. Put aside for a moment the fact that the song he chose, "We Can Work It Out," was in every way beyond his technical means. Ignore too the disconcerting lip-moistening between every verse, and the auto-show-model arm gestures. The Chosen One had committed the cardinal Idol no-no, failing to heed the one admonishment drilled into our heads repeatedly by Idol's Wayne Brady-hosted, ghetto follow-up: He forgot the lyrics, and in doing so, went in the span of one verse from Messiah to Sanjaya.

• americanidol.com

Luckily, Paula Classic™ was back to form last night, as slurrily effusive as ever: Enjoy every facet of her soft-focus existence in this montage by Defamer videocronologist Molly McAleer. We really have no idea what combination of ingestants is causing Abdul to hallucinate so strongly, she again envisioned the moth and cantaloupe oracle that visited her in Season 5. And frankly, we don't care. Hey Paula: Welcome back, old friend. Paula? No seriously, Paula? Does anyone have a hand mirror?!

• americanidol.com

The story of John Shop Records - it started in a basement, with a few guys playing around on a keyboard and a drum machine. Till one day another producer by the name of Ricky came in and did a full sweep of setting up the shop. By this time a lot of hype or buzz was going around the Bronx of this music base. Attracting some of Reggae's best -Tony Kelly and John Forte to name a few recorded and produced music with them too. It was a vibe everybody felt once you were around it. It drew you in like a magnet it was just hot! This place was set up to hopefully record any artist best hit. It was in 2002 two brothers made it official. Working with talents such as Yami Bolo, Sizzla, Bounty Killer, Buju Banton, Future Troubles, Major Damage, Zumjay and the list goes on and the rest is history. The story I am telling is the short one... and for those who know know. John Shop made the music and they made the party. Please stay tune some of your favourite tunes will soon be available on this page for purchase.

Interestingly, Whitaker nearly broke away from Idol tradition of sucking it up for one last performance (we're still waiting for the contestant who's forced to sing "I'm Walking on Sunshine" through an open spigot of tears), telling Ryan Seacrest that there was no way in hell she'd be able to perform for 32 million of her closest friends so soon after seeing her career hopes snuffed. With the support of her Idol friends, however, she eventually overcame, and America will not soon forget her stirring rendition of (checking website again) "Hopelessly Devoted to You."

• American Idol Season 7 Contestants