This past weekend at London's Hammersmith Apollo, Kanye West went on a rant about selling out. Apparently, he now hates the Grammys, corporations and possibly the new Justin Timberlake song. Ironically, the self proclaimed "Louis Vuitton Don" saw absolutely no conflict of interest in calling out artists who court corporate sponsorship -- timely, considering that his tunes have been licensed this year to sell beer, movies and affordable mid size sedans.

See also:
- With Whitney Houston, the only difference was that everyone knew her name
- Why Nickelback is poised to take Creed down a peg
- Myspace, what in the hell happened?

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Monica Fuentes

Craig Hlavaty

I've had satellite radio in my life since Christmas. Nothing is better than falling asleep on the couch on a Saturday afternoon after a big fat lunch with Willie's Roadhouse playing, waking up every few hours to piss during a Ray Price cut and then falling back to sleep. What I love the most -- besides the Howard Stern stations, since I am eternally fourteen -- are the stations that Sirius/XM devotes to one single artist. It probably helps that I love these artists in the first place.

See also:
- Clear Channel lets Uncle Nasty go from KBPI
- WTF is going on at 103.1 FM, and what the hell happened to our oldies?
- Pot 107.1, the first marijuana-themed (terrestrial) radio station

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Britt Chester

Just look at this view captured during a Big Gigantic show at Red Rocks last year.

Denver is the capital of Colorado. It is located exactly one mile above sea level. Weed is legal here, while riding your bike on the sidewalk is not. Your mom can make more free throws than Andre Iguodala -- these are all facts. The music scene here sucks ass...now, that is an opinion. The difference? One's irrefutable, and the other, well, nobody asked you, random Craigslist dude. Listen, there are plenty of things about the scene that we're not crazy about, but the good far outweighs the bad. If you think it sucks, you're either new here or you're just not paying attention. Here are 25 reasons the Denver music scene rules.

See also:
- The 25 best concerts this winter/spring
- The thirty best concerts of 2012
- The twelve types of Denver musicians

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A few days ago, Angus T. Jones had some sort of crisis of conscious. In a video for a church in Alabama, he urged people to stop watching his show, Two and a Half Men. "Please stop filling your head with filth," he implored. "People say it's just entertainment. The fact that it's entertainment...do some research on the effects of television on your brain, and I promise you, you'll have a decision to make when it comes to television, and especially what you watch on television. It's bad news. I don't know if it means any more coming from me, um, but you might not have heard it otherwise." Actually, Angus, I have heard it otherwise, many years ago, in fact -- only this same sort of sentiment was applied to music, not television.

See also:
- Ten songs that supposedly contain hidden messages
- Rock music has lost its ability to strike fear in 2012

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The Taste of Colorado just announced the latest addition to its lineup, the Pointer Sisters, who will join other outfits already slated to perform, including the Spin Doctors, Burton Cummings of the Guess Who, Lou Gramm and Head East. While the groups on this bill might have been mildly intriguing three decades or more ago (or never, in the case of the Spin Doctors), today they're barely worth the price of admission. And the Taste is free.

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The only difference between Whitney Houston and the guy who pissed himself in his cot and died last night in the Salvation Army shelter is that nobody knew that guy's name," says Jef Otte in this week's video sidebar to his "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" weekly column, After Whitney died, pundits got out the soapboxes in record time." Watch the full video below.

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Today marks the debut of a new weekly video rant from our resident loudmouthed rabble-rouser Jef Otte, who does his level best each week to break your heart. In the video-version of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, monsieur Otte attempts to make a compelling case for why Nickelback is poised to knock Creed from the top spot for the title of Worst Band in the World. Kind of like peeling the wings off a fly if you ask us, but he does make some decent points. Page down to see what the old man has to say, and then feel free to fire back with a take of your own.

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Hot White's Tiana Bernard.

When Hot White broke up last month, it pissed me off. I loved that band. I loved that band too much, probably, considering the trio couldn't care less if anyone ever liked them. In theory, this is how every band should function -- as a unit that makes music whether anyone else is invested or not. Hot White played some higher profile shows during its five-year run, including opening for No Age at the Bluebird and of course, playing a night of the Warlock Pinchers reunion at the Gothic last year. But for the most part, the band worked best on the floor of its natural habitat, Rhinoceropolis, or Blast-O-Mat, or somebody's basement.

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Wilco's got its own label now, Kid Cudi has Wicked Awesome Records, and Odd Future just launched Odd Future Records. Everyone seems to be moving away from the old model, where the majors handled everything, and have opted to do their own thing. Of course, it's all a bit of a misnomer: While all these folks (and plenty others) have started their own labels, it doesn't necessarily mean they're trying to compete.

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This is a rant. It involves rappers and how rappers shouldn't rap over their pre-recorded vocals, a phenomenon we've been seeing more and more lately. It's the equivalent to singing along with a music video on BET turned up so high that the volume is distorted. No matter how lively and enthusiastic the performance might be, you might as well be holding a hair brush in front of your mirror at home in your bedroom.

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