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• We’re sure the “I Can Has Cheezbuger” folks love this. To celebrate the band’s release of its first album in about 20 years (years which have been spent, among other things, in “Rugrats” purgatory), the band had a listening party. In a room full of cats. Seems pretty awesome, right? (Hat tip Laughing Squid) source

• As protest songs go, the U2 hit has been very effective. One of the band’s earliest and most-well-known hits, the most affecting lyric in the entire song is “how long, how long must we sing this song … how long, how long …” Today, Bono and company got their answer, as Britain finally acknowledged that Bloody Sunday – a key conflict with Northern Ireland – was the fault of their government. Some pop culture math for you guys:

About the conflict

• 38 number of years since the
  historic incident took place source

• 13 people were killed during the incident; another died months later
• 14 more people were injured (not counting the man who later died)
• 5,000 number of pages in Britain’s latest report on the incident

• » What happened? During a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland, soldiers that were part of the Parachute Regiment opened fire on a number of civilians. The British government  – which initially said in a discredited 1972 report that the victims were armed with weapons and bombs – has long been criticized for the incident, which led to years of conflict and disruption in the region.
• » Today’s findings: In a new analysis, the British government found that the civilians had done nothing wrong, were fired on first, didn’t have any weapons, and weren’t even provoking the soldiers before they fired. Representatives for the soldiers say many things were overlooked, but that hasn’t stopped David Cameron from offering an apology.
• » What happens next? Despite the long passage of time, the soldiers involved in the incident could still be prosecuted for murder or lying to the inquiry, giving the report some real bite.

How long did U2 sing this song?

• 28years since they first played the song live (12/01/1982) source

• 682 number of times they’ve played the tune live
• yes they played the song in Belfast back in 1982
• yes they have dedicated the song to other things

• » Key performance: During a performance in Denver in 1987, Bono spent much of the song railing against Irish-Americans who didn’t understand the nature of the conflict: “I’ve had enough of Irish Americans who haven’t been back to their country in twenty or thirty years come up to me and talk about the resistance, the revolution back home. And the glory of the revolution, and the glory of dyin’ for the revolution. Fuck the revolution! They don’t talk about the glory of killing for the revolution.” (There’s more, be sure to read the full quote.) The brutal ripping of those railing against Northern Ireland, immortalized during “Rattle and Hum,” was so perfect that it led to the band not playing the song for a number of years.
• » Will they sing it again? Good question. Strangely enough, they’ve yet to release a statement regarding the song which literally was their meal ticket for a number of years and did more to draw attention to the incident than any other single entity. Bono must be having an off day. He was recently injured and stuff.

Footnote: A lasting message

• That’s an incident, the most famous incident in Northern Ireland and it’s the strongest way of saying how long? How long do we have to put up with this? I don’t care who’s who – Catholics, Protestants, whatever. You know people are dying every single day through bitterness and hate, and we’re saying why? What’s the point?
• U2 drummer Larry Mullen • Pointing out in a 1983 interview that the message of the song isn’t just limited to Northern Ireland and the events of that day. “Let’s forget the politics, let’s stop shooting each other and sit around the table and talk about it,” he said. Say what you have to about U2, but they’ve certainly lived this message, no matter how rich Bono has gotten and how reflective his shades are. source

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• We’ve played on some of the tracks and been listening to some of the stuff as he’s been working on it. … It’s going to be incredible. It’s going to probably blow people’s minds.
• The National’s Bryce Dessner • Revealing that Sufjan Stevens finally got off his butt and decided to start recording that new album, a whole five years after “Illinois” (and a whole year after we scolded him for keeping fans waiting). It’s not like he’s been quiet, though. He still runs his Asthmatic Kitty label, he’s done Christmas music, he released his “The BQE” art project last year, and he’s been a little too frank in interviews. No word on whether this will be another “state” album. source

• When the corporate industry dies it will be no great loss to the world. So don’t tie yourself to the sinking ship because, believe me, it’s sinking.
• Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke • Discussing the fall of music industry capitalism in a British textbook. He seems to have a good handle on this. He left his big corporate label, EMI, just a couple years before they fell into particularly dire straits. EMI is now the property of private equity firm Terra Firma, and since the 2007 acquisition, they’ve had massive debt and restructuring problems. (via Pitchfork) source

• Modest Mouse is a cool band and all but we think we’re not alone in thinking that this painting of lead singer Isaac Brock currently on Portland Mayor Sam Adams’ wall is more than just a little bizarre. source

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• Youtube just got the avant-garde treatment. MIA has pretty much always been the most out-there pop star in the best way possible, and the cover for her new album “/\/\ /\ Y /\” (that’s “Maya,” for the non-hipsters) looks like it’s going to keep up that trend, putting her behind a wall of Youtube players. See the symbolism? source

• It was the first truly social music service. While Lala took a little while to get its footing, when it finally did, it was nothing short of magical. With Apple’s purchase of the service back in December, we knew this day was coming, but May 31st will still be a sad day for a lot of music fans like us. Here are some reasons we’ll miss Lala but will remain hopeful about its future as part of iTunes.

A quick history of Lala

• 2006 Lala launches as an easy way to trade CDs, similar to Netflix in some ways.
• 2007 Lala adds a free, on-demand way of listening to music. It doesn’t work at all.
• 2008 The company finally nails its most popular form, a 10¢ cloud music model.
• 2009 The company runs out of cash and sells itself to Apple for around $20 million.
• 2010 Apple shuts down the site, possibly to launch a similar iTunes version. NO! *sob*

What Lala had that nobody else did

• Simple, cheap options With songs available for a mere ten cents a piece and completely free to listen to once, it created a low barrier of entry that encouraged new listening habits.
• Easy sharing You could put a Lala embed on your site and share music with other people, legally and free; a number of sites took advantage of this model, from the AV Club to Pitchfork.
• Cloud-based freedom You could put your entire library on the site and listen anywhere. Sadly, Lala never got a chance to do what would’ve really made it a big hit – put it on the iPhone.

Why Lala got away with it

• We said, ‘consumers shouldn’t have to worry about where their files are, they should be able to play their music.’ It’s actually a huge benefit for the labels, because once Lala knows the music that you listen to, it makes perfect sense to say, ‘hey, Wilco has a new album coming out.’
• Lala CEO Bill Nguyen • About the benefits of the cloud music service to record companies. They were able to sell the model to them on the idea that they could provide information that might encourage future purchases. One thing that Nguyen noted is that when people were billed by the service, they bought one out of every five songs, most of which they found through discovery. On Lala, people weren’t simply listening to their collections. They were trying to find new songs. The model worked for eMusic already, but they broadened it.  source

So, what’s next, anyway?

• Well, it could be the next iTunes. Or not. With the service’s recent acquisition by Apple, it’s entirely possible that they’ll take this model and completely make it theirs. Or they might ditch certain parts of it and focus exclusively on the cloud service. Lala was out of money by the end, so they couldn’t see the idea through. But Apple, as you might know, has a ton of money and clout to pull this idea off. Or they could stick with their walled garden approach. We’ll see.

Let’s remember how great it was, guys.

• Post on Twitter about how much you’ll miss the little music locker that could, and we’ll reflect it here. Might as well, right? The tags #riplala or “lala.com” will work just fine. source