Random Music News for Saturday, December 24, 2016

Believe it or not, there’s music news even on Christmas Eve.

1. And we have a winner in the annual hysteria to see which song will be #1 at Christmas in the UK. Rather boring, reall.
2. Could listening to Christmas music beat the post-US election blues?
3. Remembering Beatles Christmas shows.
4. Remember when The Beatles sued Donald Trump over the use of their music in his campaign?
5. Wait: Donald Trump offered Sylvester Stallone an arts job? (He turned it down.)
6. Snoop Dogg has this recipe for an extremely dope Christmas.
7. The company that owns Billboard and The Hollywood Report has just bought all the assets of SpinMedia, Stereogum and Vibe. The new entity says it will reach one in three Millennials.
8. Warner Music plans a massive VR initiative next year involving “hundreds” of their artists.
9. Somewhere in this interview, it’s revealed that U2 finished their new album four weeks ago in New York. I’d expect a single in February. But I might be wrong. (Via Larry)
10. Need to review the music of 2016? Here are 37 overlooked albums. (Larry again)
11. Are these the worst Christmas songs of all time?
12. The tour manager of the Pogues and Thin Lizzy has died. (Via Tom)
13. The best way to diagnose a concussion? Test for how a person reacts to sound.
14. Rush: “Toronto’s most inspiring people of 2016.”
15. Deezer apparently has some grand plan to take over the world of music streaming.
16. These might be the best music books of 2016.