exploremusic

The annual Rock in India festival has been one of the biggest rock events in India since it kicked off in 2008. That first year saw Megadeth and Machine Head headlining, and last year Iron Maiden received top billing. Those are some hard acts to follow, I guess, and the pressure may have led organizers to a bit of temporary insanity because Rock in India 2010 will be headlined by the Backstreet Boys.

Some critics and many fans were less than thrilled to hear the news of the shift to a somewhat more mainstream/commercial lineup, but organizers are sticking to their guns, releasing statements like "There has been a long-standing request from many music fans to our website that they would like to see mainstream music and also classic rock… Rock in India is a ‘music’ festival and the headliners have already been announced" on the official Rock in India site.

Something else I want to make a point to avoid is the planned stage adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s "American Psycho" novel. Yes, it’s going to be a musical. "Spring Awakening" composer Duncan Sheik is reportedly writing the music and the lyrics.

Sheik poses the question, "what could be more subversive fun than murderous bankers breaking into song?" I don’t know, maybe the "American Psycho" movie that took itself seriously? Especially that scene with Jared Leto … you know the one. It’s the subversive one.

Oh, and Sweeney Todd was subversive fun, I guess. As far as killers breaking into song being subversive fun goes … I’d give it about a "6," and it invented the genre.

More, and hopefully the last, regarding that "Pants On The Ground" song… A studio version of the track was sent to radio. The singer, one-time American Idol auditioner General Larry Platt, was reportedly not happy about this because he wasn’t involved in the decision, or something. Apparently, it’s created a bit of a rift between Platt and his manager.

Did he think they were gonna go with a different lead single???

That was my first thought, but upon further consideration I’ve decided it was a bad idea to send out the final version of the track before it’s available to buy. I don’t see interest in hearing "Pants On The Ground" lasting long enough for anything big, like an album, to come out. If they had recorded the track and released it immediately for $0.10 a pop, they would have made more money than they can now expect to make.

Unless GLP can come up with a strong follow-up, of course. Haha.

You know, it is a small, but dedicated group of artists and industry professionals that work to produce albums in the niche genre called "gag gifts."