HOT: Co-Opting the Vinyl Revival
One of The Flaming Lips’ offerings for this year’s Record Store Day was a limited edition 7-inch with beer pressed into the vinyl. Those who scored one of the 100 copies could conceivably consume the liquid, but it seems like a lot of work for a very small, questionable payoff. For an easier and more delicious edible record product, Kellogg’s tried to tap into the vinyl craze by teaming up with Simon Cowell protégés PRETTYMUCH, pressing copies of the boy band’s single “Hello” that are kinda playable and fully edible, made with the company’s Chocolate Frosted Flakes. Proclaiming it “the first record to ever be made out of actual cereal,” it was created with a 3D-printed mold and has a cornflakes core coated with chocolate. So it’s basically a giant cookie with which young PRETTYMUCH fans can ruin their older siblings’ or parents’ turntable needles. Available only at something called “Kellogg’s NYC Café” and, for RSD, at a single Chicago indie record store, the group also made a “Hello” music video with Tony the Tiger that will almost certainly haunt the members for the rest of their lives.
WARM: Naming Rights
Members of a Greek Black Metal band were reportedly arrested while on tour in Eastern Europe, allegedly on terrorism charges related to the “Satanic” connotations of the band’s name, Rotting Christ. The musicians were released by Georgian authorities after 12 hours after a local promoter enlisted help from journalists, lawyers and activists. This isn’t the first time the group’s moniker has caused problems — in 2016, following religious protests of their shows in South Africa, Rotting Christ agreed to change its name for the appearances, sadly playing as “Χ Ξ Σ” and not something fun like “Cuddly Christ” or “Juicy Jesus.”
COLD: Shania’s PR Balancing Act
Country singer Shania Twain is in the midst of a comeback attempt, but efforts to reclaim her superstar status hit a speed-bump after she told an interviewer that if she could have voted in the U.S. presidential election (she’s Canadian), she would have voted for Donald Trump because he was “honest” and “transparent.” The quote put Twain in the middle of a precarious PR nightmare befitting a crossover star — if she didn’t say anything, she’d risk being reverse Dixie Chicked by left-leaning fans, but apologizing too forcefully would anger her right-wing base. Twain played it safe, apolo-tweeting that she was caught off guard by the question, has “limited understanding” of U.S. politics and didn’t necessarily mean to suggest she supported Trump.
