To Be Young Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High: Ryan Adams Readies Full-album Cover of Taylor Swift's 1989 & Smiths-indebted "Bad Blood" (PAX-AM)

Jacksonville's very own genre-blending Alt. Country superstar Ryan Adams is in fact, no stranger to recording full-length cover albums; Adams reportedly recorded, and ultimately scrapped, a stripped down 4-track revision of The Strokes' critically-acclaimed debut Is This It? (2001). But for whatever reasons, Adams' "Blues cover version" has rather discouragingly still only been heard by members of his former backing band, The Cardinals. Ryan Adams' second attempt (or third, if you count his unheard Vampire Weekend album), at a full-length cover album: a self-described Smiths-indebted version of Taylor Swift's recent career-redefining 1989 has been very well-documented through his own personal social media accounts. "Ryan's music helped shape my song-writing. This is surreal and dream-like. Countdown to [Ryan Adams' 1989] @TheRyanAdams," @taylorswift13 frantically Tweeted Thursday afternoon, upon the sudden announcement of Ryan Adams' 1989... which will seemingly be rush-released to digital retailers as early as this upcoming Monday, September 21st. However, I myself, find it slightly disturbing that Swift very well could have been 'influenced' by Adams' coming-of-age Heartbreaker deep cut, "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)." Anyone else share the same sort of semi-awesome sentiment or is it just me!?

Although he unleashed snippets and fragments of various 1989 songs throughout the just wrapped August-September recording sessions, Ryan Adams let loose his full-length version of "Bad Blood" Thursday afternoon on long-time friend and supporter Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show. "'Bad Blood" #1989 What a song. Damn," misterryanadams wrote on Instagram about five weeks ago, accompanying a brief unmastered snippet of Swift's Kendrick Lamar-featuring single. "Badass tunes, Taylor. We're sandblasting them and they're holding steady," Adams continued; alluding to tunes he's tediously stripped own and re-recorded along with La Sera guitarist Todd Wisenbaker, bassist Charlie Stavish, drummer Nate Lotz, Bright Eyes keyboardist Nate Walcott, and added string arrangements. Ryan Adams' own home-grown label PAX-AM will release 1989 this upcoming Monday, September 21st, although it's currently available for pre-order on Apple Music and iTunes; those who purchase 1989 this weekend, will receive an instant download of "Bad Blood" and Adams assures eager crate-diggin' fans like myself that 1989 "CD + vinyl [are] coming soon." Even though we've only heard one track thus far, Ryan Adams' 1989 is poised to be one of his strongest comprehensive pieces of work since his Spider-Man-referencing Lost Highway effort, Easy Tiger (2007) based solely on his past covers repertoire: nearly flawless renditions of everything from Iron Maiden's 1986 single "Wasted Years" to Vampire Weekend's jangly Surf-Rock jam "A-Punk."

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of...

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra...

Liberty Bell Cracked In 1/2: Ween - "Freedom of '76" (Gene Ween's Final Send-Off)

Chocolate & Cheese (1994) was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I was in some sort of BMG Music Club , where you'd buy 5 CD's and then get 10 for "FREE." It was all sent through mail order and you picked the titles from some special booklet. I'm almost positive that Chocolate & Cheese's side boob-baring album cover was what initially drew me in... mind you, I was 12-15 and the zany Ween logo/middle finger CD graphic really didn't hurt either. Honestly, I forget how I really felt about it @ the time, but a few years later, my older cousin Josh told me that Ween were this BIG college "jam band." CKY did some sort pf 93.3 radio takeover to promote their new album and played "Freedom of '76" late that night on air. Needless to say, I re-visited Chocolate & Cheese @ about 20-something this go 'round and I fucking loved it! Ween were really weird, yet talented... almost too talented. I can vaguel...

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