Prince (Musician)

Did Daft Punk "Get Lucky" with Pharrell, or vice versa? Examining Pharrell's ten greatest misses

Before it was even released, "Get Lucky," the first single from Daft Punk's forthcoming album "Random Access Memories," set the world on fire. From the fan edits of the track to the sixty second commercial from Saturday Night Live to the album teaser from Coachella, "Get Lucky" generated more than t ... More >>

The ten best concerts this weekend: Oct. 26-28

Welcome to the weekend, amigos! Ah, yes, we finally made it. Is it just us, or has this seemed like the longest week ever? Ah, maybe it's just the weather. Whatever the case, it's in the rearview now, and it's time to blow off some steam. Drinks are on the horizon and there's a full slate of great m ... More >>

The five biggest hip-hop name changes

See also: - Snoop Dogg at Comfort Dental Amphitheatre, 8/17/12 - Review: Snoop Dogg at Snowball, 3/3/12 - Review: Snoop Dogg at the Fillmore, 3/2/12 Artists do what they can to control their image, from their songs to their videos to their Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. They hire publicists. The ... More >>

Comedian Christopher Titus on Dana Carvey, Sarah Palin and Killer Klowns

Christopher Titus cut his teeth in comedy clubs in the '80s after having an epiphany as a teenager when he fell into a bonfire. But it wasn't until the late '90s when Titus -- whose comedy focuses on his upbringing in a highly dysfunctional family -- that Titus began to get more widespread traction. ... More >>

Beastie Boys Check Your Head turns twenty

See Also: • Prince's Sign of the Times turns 25 • Velvet Underground & Nico turns 45 • More Today in History posts When the '80s became the '90s, everyone stepped up their game. Rap matured lyrically and became more sophisticated sonically, while rock became more intelligent and emotionally r ... More >>

Review: Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO at Larimer Lounge, 4/8/12

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE @ LARIMER LOUNGE | 4/8/12 It would be a tough to pinpoint a specific climax of this show, but a true high point of feeling for the band -- and probably the crowd -- came with the last number of the set when Kawabata Makoto used some kind of white, plastic object that looked lik ... More >>

Review: Blues Traveler and Ruthie Foster at Boulder Theater, 2/26/12

BLUES TRAVELER / RUTHIE FOSTER @ BOULDER THEATER | 2.26.12 Apart from the band's annual Fourth of July show at Red Rocks, it's tough to imagine a better local setting for a Blues Traveler show than the eTown radio concert series on the Boulder Theatre stage. The intimate feel of the venue, the conv ... More >>

The best national music releases of 2011

Doomsday countdown, day two: Kim Miller jumps off the deep end and never comes back

When Christ returns, it's going to be weird.​In late December 1999, while the artist then known as the artist formerly known as Prince was preparing to party, and while the rest of the world was shoveling canned goods into their bunkers in preparation for the would-be-apocalypse of Y2K, Kim Mi ... More >>

Review: Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All at the Ogden Theatre, 10/9/11

ODD FUTURE at OGDEN THEATRE | 10/9/11Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All does not give a fuck. Clearly. These cats are out to pillage, plunder and wreak mass hysteria and mayhem. Judging from the crowd's frenzied reaction at the Ogden last night, which included some kids flinging themselves from the ... More >>

YouTube sensation Dred Scott playing at Lannie's tomorrow

​Last June, we wrote about Dred Scott, who was homeless and performing R&B covers on 16th Street Mall, and Tyler Ward helped spread the word about Scott through his featured artist series on YouTube as well as helping getting Scott an EP on iTunes. Scott's cover of Prince's "Purple Rain" has h ... More >>

Katy Perry's "Kathy" the latest rockstar alter-ego

Is that you, Katy Perry?​It's no secret Katy Perry has a wicked sense of comedic timing. Remember when her Sesame Street appearance didn't air and she donned a skin-tight Elmo t-shirt and bounced around on Saturday Night Live as Maureen the sixteen-year-old who just hit puberty (and hard)? No ... More >>

The Deftones at the Ogden Theatre, with Funeral Party and the Dillinger Escape Plan, 4/22/11

Aaron ThackerayChino Moreno of the Deftones up close and personal. See more photos from last night. THE DEFTONES With Funeral Party and Dillinger Escape Plan 04.22.11 | Ogden Theatre See the photo slideshow Funeral Party got the evening started, and after enduring its set -- one in which ear plug ... More >>

Infamous Stringdusters at the Fox, 3/18/11

Jamie VanBuhlerGreensky Bluegrass has built a loyal Colorado following​ INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS With Greensky Bluegrass 03.18.11 | Fox Theatre Greensky Bluegrass and the Infamous Stringdusters concluded their two-night Colorado run last night at the Fox. Greensky kicked things off with a nine ... More >>

What's killing the music industry? Auto-Tune? The Internet? American Idol? All of the above?

​The music industry has been marked for death for a long time now, but amazingly, nobody has managed to come up with a concrete reason as to why. Sure, it's easy to assign blame, but the real reason the music is dying is still a mystery to most people in the industry. Thankfully, plenty of sta ... More >>

Of Montreal at the Ogden Theatre, 10/24/10

Tom MurphyOf Montreal's Kevin Barnes ​ OF MONTREAL With Janelle Monae 10.24.10 | Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO After seeing her perform on Saturday night, it's no wonder why Janelle Monae was picked by Erykah Badu to open her most recent tour. Monae isn't just a great soul singer, her songwritin ... More >>

Observations from the 2010 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen: José Andrés, Jacques Pépin, getting porked, scrambled egg mousse, Alex Seidel and a smoking gun

Lori Midson Jacques Pépin, Jean-Claude Szurdak and José Andrés​Thus ends four days of liver damage, debauchery, hangovers, embarrassments and a swollen stomach. The 2010 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen officially came to a close yesterday, and while the weekend isn't without its fuzzy moments, ... More >>

Erykah Badu offers a window seat to her soul at the Fillmore

​ Erykah Badu • Janelle Monae 06.16.10 | Fillmore Auditorium Before Erykah Badu's set, a DJ was spinning and doing live mixes of pop hits of yesteryear, stopping or slowing down the music every now and then to let the crowd enthusiastically fill in the blanks. During "Poison" by Bell Biv D ... More >>

We Are the World 2010: List of performers seems a little underwhelming -- the idea is to get people to buy the song, right?

Our friends over at CNN just posted a partial list of performers appearing on the "We Are the World" remake. From the looks of it, we put more thought into this whole thing than the organizers did. Okay, sure, there were a handful of bona fied stars that took part -- and we're assuming they've be ... More >>

Beckstra! Beckstra! Have you heard about Beck's record club?

​All right, have y'all heard about this one yet? Beck's record club? Just stumbled upon this one ourselves. Evidently, El Guero Loco and his cronies -- an ever shifting lineup which includes Nigel Godrich, Devendra Banhart, Ben Goldwasser and Andrew Van Wyngarden from MGMT, Andrew Stockdale from W ... More >>

Welcome Back, Heller

An old favorite becomes a new club night.

When Rock 'n' Roll meets Hollywood: Ten Awful Decisions

​ Taking Woodstock is in theaters Friday. Maybe it will be really good, or maybe taking a stand-up comedian and sticking him in a semi-dramatic movie about Woodstock that doesn't feature any -- any! -- musical performances is a terrible idea. Still, rock 'n' roll and Hollywood have been ugly, ... More >>

Black Kids' Reggie Youngblood is a product of his contradictions

From Akon to Usher, today's R&B is a shadow of its former self

Leave the Light on for Me

Mister Lonely

Harmony Korine creates a Neverland for celeb impersonators in the singular and sincere Mister Lonely.

Q&A with Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson of the Roots

D Note

You'd think I'd hate this place. But you'd be wrong.

Motet City Soundtrack

The Motet has no problem finding fans everywhere it plays.

Westword Music Showcase 2006

Be there or be square!

Peter Knobel, Phone Home

Interesting developments in a developer's background.

Sound Bites

Westword Music Showcase 2005

Trend-Spotting

In a scandal-ridden election year, the year's top ten music stories were all about winning the popular vote.

On the Down-Low

Shovel away all that Usher, Prince and Lil Jon you've been jamming and dig this year's buried black-music treasures.

Fingered Prince

You can't keep a good con man down.

Magda

Friday, May 28, Two AM, 303-830-9324

Sodom and Milwaukee

For Dennis and Jimmy Flemion of the Frogs, whoring out for The Man is enough to make you croak.

Prince of Darkness

Having moved away from Palace, Will Oldham breaks down as Bonnie Prince Billy.

Bite Me

Star Trek

Off Limits

Space case

Why Spy?

The DPD has a binge-and-purge problem.

Discmania

Backbeat writers revisit their favorite albums of the year.

More Songs of the Century

Part two of a pre-millennial trek through a hundred years of pop music.

Reelin' in the Summer

Quiz Show

Before you declare yourself a Grammy expert, let Backbeat test your skills.

YOUNG, GIFTED AND BROWN

SLICE OF LIFE

HUMP DAY