Random Music News for Tuesday, November 29, 2016

I’m well into week three of this hideous chest virus. Anyone else come down with the same thing? Weird how most of the afflicted seem to be dudes, too. And now, the music news…

1. Rick Astley–yes, him–is up for Album of the Year. No, I’m not kidding.
2. Punk communities in Canada are creating alliances to deal with opioid abuse.
3. The legal woes surrounding Hamilton’s Harvest Picnic are just getting worse.
4. More vinyl is being sold than is actually being reported. Let’s take a look at the used vinyl market.
5. However, overall sales of new vinyl is still up 28.8% in Canada.
6. On the downside, total album sales are running -21.2% from last year. This will definitely be a losing year.
7. Liam Gallagher’s upcoming solo album is said to sound a lot like the Velvet Underground.
8. For the first time in a long time, three albums sold more than 100,000 copies in a single week in the US: Metallica’s Hardwired (282,000), Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic (194,000) and Miranda Lambert’s Weight of These Wings (122,000).
9. They’re already getting ready for the Prince-has-been-dead-one-year tribute concert.
10. Eric Clapton says he’ll play four more shows and then retire.
11. Kanye is still in the hospital. There’s no indication when he’ll be released.
12. The lyrics to some national anthems are downright weird.