andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

He can remix a song before the original band has finished recording it.

High Score:  Music in Video Games

Dah-dah-dah doo dah-da – duh.  If you totally called that as the beginning of the Mario theme, then you’re one step ahead of this article.  If you didn’t, prepare to be schooled baby.

Music has always been a part of video games, with a few minor exceptions (Pong, anyone?).  From the classic themes of the Mario franchise to the epic scores of Halo and Metal Gear Solid, music has provided a strong influence on the tone and theme of the game in question.  By the way, Guitar Hero doesn’t count. READ MORE »

Serj Tankian, lead singer of System Of A Down, will spread his wings and fly solo on Oct. 23 as he releases his very own album entitled “Elect The Dead.”

The Lebanese-born musician has composed music on the solo album that embraces some of the same hard-hitting System Of A Down style sounds, but also experiments with softer, more acoustic music as well.

Tankian impressively played most of the instruments by himself, but opera vocalist Ani Maldjian makes a contribution to the album, in addition members of System Of A Down, and a few other guest musicians as well.

His first singles to be released will be “Empty Walls” and “The Unthinking Majority.”

It’s not easy to convince rockers System of a Down to allow for their music to be used in films.

They had never agreed to license any tracks from their library of music before director D.J. Caruso approached them about using a song in the teen thriller “Disturbia,” out in theatres Friday.

Their criteria? They had to like the movie.

“I had to show them the movie one day at a private screening,” Caruso told andPOP this week. “They saw it, loved it, saw the place for the song and they OK’d it.”

While filming “Disturbia,” Caruso saw a sequence where he said that their Grammy-nominated song “Lonely Day” would be appropriate.

“I listen to a lot of different music and every once in a while there’s a song that seems to fit perfectly in a sequence and that was the song.”

He played the song for Shia LaBeouf, who stars as the troubled teen, and who happens to list System of a Down as his favourite band.

System of a Down also agreed to let the song be used in the trailer for “Disturbia.”

“They really anchored the soundtrack and that’s a big part of the movie. It just worked naturally so I’m glad they saw that it did.”

Read more about “Disturbia” in andPOP’s interview with D.J. Caruso.

System of a Down?s Daron Malakian will be tackling a side-project called Scars on Broadway after the band?s summer tour.

“I haven’t decided if I’m going to make it a revolving door of musicians or one solid band,” said the guitarist-songwriter, according to RollingStone.com, “but it all revolves around my writing.”

SOAD released two chart-topping albums in 2005, ?Mezmerize? and ?Hypnotize.? The band is about to film a video for ?Lonely Day? and will tour this summer.

The band plans to take some time off afterwards, and Malakian will use that opportunity to launch his side-project.

?We all want to take a little bit of a break,” he said. “But I don’t want to sit around, so I’m going to make an album.”

Malakian stresses that this does not mean the band is breaking up. “Serj did Serart,” he said, referring to SOAD vocalist Serj Tankian’s side-project in 2003. “We’re always doing things outside of System that come back to System in a positive way.”

Christmas is coming early to Los Angeles? KROQ this year, with the rock radio station kicking off their 16th annual ?Almost Acoustic Christmas? concert festival on Dec. 10.

The lineup for the first night has been announced and features System of a Down, Nine Inch Nails, Thrice, Fall Out Boy, Korn, Avenged Sevenfold and Rise Against, according to MTV.com.

Night two details will be released later.

Proceeds from the event will benefit several local charities, including Hollygrove, which provides shelter, education and services for abused and neglected children.

Tickets go on sale Nov. 14.

The festival will take place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif.

In 1999, KROQ released a compilation album, ?The Best Of KROQ?s Acoustic Christmas,? featuring highlights from past concerts. Last year’s edition included Jimmy Eat World, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, the Shins, Green Day and many others.

Nominations for this year’s Kerrang! Awards were unveiled Tuesday, with System Of A Down and Green Day leading the pack with five nods each.

The two bands will go head-to-head in several categories, including best single, best album and best band on the planet, reports the BBC.

The nominations were announced at the Kerrang! Day Of Rock held at the Virgin Megastore in London. Five up-and-coming bands ? Bullet For My Valentine, InMe, Towers Of London, Nine Black Alps and The Mascara Story ? performed and gave autographs throughout the day to kick off the celebrations for the music magazine awards.

U.S. acts dominated the list of nominees, with Foo Fighters and My Chemical Romance, alongside Finnish band HIM, also vying for the best band on the planet title.

Up for best British band are Placebo, Cradle Of Filth, and Welsh acts Feeder, Stereophonics and Funeral For A Friend. FFAF has previously won the best British newcomer award.

The Kerrang! awards, now in their 12th year, celebrate the best in rock music. Seven of the awards are voted for by readers of Kerrang! magazine and users of the website Kerrang.com. Best video is voted for by viewers of Kerrang! TV, and a few special awards are decided by the Kerrang! team.

Public voting ends Aug. 22.

The winners will be announced Aug. 25 at a London ceremony hosted by ex-Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable and actress-turned-rock-musician Juliette Lewis.

Last year?s Kerrang! Awards saw Metallica winning the best band on the planet title. British band The Darkness emerged victorious as well, winning two awards for the second year running, including best live band.

A new icon award was also introduced last year, with the surviving founding members of ?60s band MC5 receiving the honour.

Here is the full list of nominations for the 2005 Kerrang! Awards:

Best British Newcomer:
Bullet For My Valentine
Fightstar
Towers Of London
Nine Black Alps
THE GA* GA*S

Best International Newcomer:
Trivium
Eighteen Visions
Emanuel
Lordi
Still Remains

Best Single:
Green Day ‘American Idiot’
System Of A Down ‘Bring Your Own Bomb’
My Chemical Romance ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)…’
Foo Fighters ‘Best of You’
Nightwish ‘Nemo’

Best Video:
My Chemical Romance ‘Helena’
Green Day ‘Holiday’
System of A Down ‘Bring Your Own Bomb’
Good Charlotte ‘Chronicles of Life and Death’
Weezer ‘Beverly Hills’

Best Album:
Green Day ‘American Idiot’
System Of A Down ‘Mezmerize’
My Chemical Romance ‘Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge’
Foo Fighters ‘In Your Honour’
Trivium ‘Ascendancy’

Best Live Band:
Rammstein
Green Day
System Of A Down
Slipknot
Avenged Sevenfold

Best British Band:
Feeder
Stereophonics
Funeral For A Friend
Placebo
Cradle Of Filth

Best Band On The Planet:
Green Day
My Chemical Romance
System Of A Down
HIM
Foo Fighters