The Year in Music 2005

Once again, music stands at a turning point. As has been the case since the advents of the player piano and the jukebox, technology drives the art in a different direction. Today iTunes, Pro Tools, P2P and ring tones provide the impetus for a new form of music. The song has supplanted the album as the format of our era. Considering that albums are mostly little more than overpriced expressions of self-important excess, that isn't a bad thing. With the exception of the period between Sgt. Pepper's in 1967 and In Utero in 1993, American popular music has been dominated by the song. Now that the historical aberration of the LP has ended, we can return to that remarkable tradition. We can listen to Avril's "My Happy Ending" and not bother with her album. And songs are made by producers, not artists. Much as they did during the reigns of Sam Phillips and Phil Spector, producers have taken artistic control from musicians. This may or may not turn out to be a good development. But nearly everyone will agree that we're ready for a change.

Brian Wilson

[Q] Playboy: Before Smile came out last fall it was referred to as the greatest album never released. How do you think it would have sold had you released it in 1967?

[A] Wilson: It would have influenced people in the business to want to make better music, but it wouldn't have sold at all. It would have been too ahead of its time.

[Q] Playboy: Is it true you once took a crap on your father's dinner plate?

[A] Wilson: My brothers and I cooked it up. Dennis said, "Why don't you shit on a plate and put it on Dad's table?" So I did. My dad came out going, "What the hell is this?" Then—boom! boom!—he beat me up. It was worth it. That was the funniest joke I ever played on anybody.

[Q] Playboy: What's something we don't know about your days as a Beach Boy?

[A] Wilson: I don't like the beach. And I will never, ever try surfing. I'm too afraid I'll get hit in the head with the surfboard.

Slick Rick

[Q] Playboy: How has hip-hop changed since the days of Doug E. Fresh?

[A] Rick: It has become more commercial, a lot more mainstream. It's big business now, and other races have embraced it. In the past, major companies would never have thought of using hip-hop jingles to sell their products.

[Q] Playboy: What kind of music do you listen to at home?

[A] Rick: I like stuff from the 1960s and early 1970s, and old-school reggae. A lot of music from the 1960s and 1970s has more originality and soul. That was before music became more of a business. I guess that was a magical era. That's why James Brown will always be the king of soul for me. Nobody has matched that level of strength musically, as far as I'm concerned. Soul is everlasting.

[Q] Playboy: What new music do you listen to?

[A] Rick: Missy Elliott definitely carries a house hip-hop type of flavor that has strength. But with today's hip-hop, it's hard to find a track you can enjoy dancing to. A lot of people have skills, but you hear few songs in heavy rotation that you are drawn to.

[Q] Playboy: Who would you say are the most underrated hip-hoppers working today?

[A] Rick: Certain members of the Wu-Tang Clan are underrated, like RZA, Raekwon and Ghostface.

[Q] Playboy: The South is hot in hip-hop today. Its music is simpler than the music you make.

[A] Rick: I'm not really familiar with any of that. I'm a New York City person. Unless it has a cute story or something, I'm really not interested. The bounce era isn't for me. I'm of a different era. It's cute for the kids, for the young generation, you know?

Scott Weiland

[Q] Playboy: You're such a tremendous rock frontman. Who are some of your favorite frontmen in rock history?

[A] Weiland: There are five guys who, if I threw them into a cup I would call that cup the holy grail of rock and roll. They're James Brown, David Bowie, Jim Morrison, Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger.

[Q] Playboy: Have you met all five?

[A] Weiland: The only one I haven't met is Bowie. He's probably my greatest icon, not just as a frontman but as a musical artist. He's grown older so gracefully, and he continues to raise the bar. He's a style icon. I've always respected the way he takes fashion to the level of an art form. That's something I try to do. Rock-and-roll clothes are fun, but that's just one aspect of my appreciation of clothing and fashion. My meeting with Jim Morrison was on a psychic level while I was high on opium.

[Q] Playboy: In the "Fall to Pieces" video you re-create some of the lowest moments from when you were hooked on drugs. Was it hard to go back there?

[A] Weiland: Yeah, it was. To do it convincingly I had to reach down inside and pull those feelings back up. I had to go to that lonely, bleak, blank, empty, dark place. It was like being in a pit that you cannot crawl out of. The video could have turned out cheesy, but I think we pulled it off.

[Q] Playboy: Why do you and your band-mates have so much onstage chemistry?

[A] Weiland: Because we've all lived our lives to the hilt. We have each other's back. When you have five ex-junkies in a gang, anything can happen at any time to any one of us. There's tension, energy, angst and sensuality between us. There's danger in the music. That's why people are so attracted to it. There isn't a lot of realness and truth in rock music today. So much of it is canned and controlled.

[Q] Playboy: You have two kids. Do they know their father is a rock star?

[A] Weiland: They do, and they're totally into it. My son, Noah, is four, and he thinks he's in the band. When he comes to our shows we hook him up with a mike, a mike stand and a monitor on the side of the stage. He sings along and dances to the entire show. He even has some of my moves down.

Drive-By Truckers

[Q] Playboy: You've been divorced twice. What's the first album you reach for when things start going south?

[A] Patterson Hood: Shit, I lost about 1,500 records the last time that happened, so I take any of them I can reach. I was on the road when the records were divvied up. I came home to a couple of boxes with my name taped on them. I'm committed to never going there again. If I had to pick an album to get me through a divorce, it would probably be Sister Lovers by Big Star. I tend to turn to Big Star during heartbreak times.

[Q] Playboy: What else are you listening to these days?

[A] Hood: I've been listening to the Faces' boxed set obsessively. It's my favorite. I obviously missed the Faces days, so for me this is like finding the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers for the first time. I'm also still listening to Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose and Tom Waits's Real Gone. Waits just keeps getting better. I also love Kanye West's record. The College Dropout.

[Q] Playboy: On the road, what music starts arguments in the van?

[A] Hood: I have a Todd Rundgren fixation, but I'm not allowed to play his stuff in the van. That applies at home, too. My wife and I have comparable taste in music, but Rundgren is my weird thing that no one I spend time with enjoys. It's not worth playing anything in the van that everyone doesn't like, so we tend to listen to a lot of hip-hop and a lot of Johnny Cash. And soul music. Bobby Womack is big with us. Shana has an Otis Redding mix that we all love. We're all Hall and Oates fans for some reason. That seems to surprise everyone.

[Q] Playboy: For a Southern rock band, you guys listen to a lot of hip-hop.

[A] Hood: True. About a year ago I was listening to a lot of OutKast and Lil Jon. I've liked hip-hop since I was in high school. I used to be a big Grandmaster Flash fan.

[Q] Playboy: Why did Southern hip-hop take so long to break out?

[A] Hood: Music always comes from the South. This was one time it was backward. The give-and-take in hip-hop makes for some of the best stuff. New York hip-hop is hard-edged. Southern hip-hop seems closer to Los Angeles hip-hop. The hot, wet Southern climate makes the grooves lazier or something. Lyrically, it's really its own thing. And no one is better than OutKast. OutKast is the Prince of this era.

[Q] Playboy: You've been playing music with guitarist Mike Cooley for almost 20 years. What's the dumbest fight you two have ever had?

[A] Hood: We once got into a fight and didn't speak to each other for more than a year, but I don't seem to know what it was about. We have weird ways of communicating. We're just now figuring it out. We were always on the verge of breaking up. It took a break for us to figure out we're better off working it out. That time we probably got into a fight about Todd Rundgren or something. Who knows?

[Q] Playboy: Lynyrd Skynyrd or the Allman Brothers?

[A] Hood: Definitely Skynyrd. I'm all about songwriting, and Ronnie Van Zant was an incredible songwriter. The Allman Brothers were better players, but I've never been into the jam band thing. They have an amazing lineup now, though. It's the best it's been since the Duane Allman days. Gregg doesn't seem like he's shooting up or anything.

The Streets

[Q] Playboy: You recorded your first album at your parents' house. What was the hardest part about recording in the kitchen?

[A] Mike Skinner: The hardest thing was having to go to work as well. When you don't have enough money to do music full-time, you need to have a normal job, too. Having two full-time jobs drives you into the ground. I was actually working in the lingerie section of a department store at the time.

[Q] Playboy: Why would you leave that job?

[A] Skinner: Exactly. It was an emotional day.

[Q] Playboy: What are you listening to now?

[A] Skinner: The Dizzee Rascal album is one of my favorites of 2004. I also really like the latest from Snoop. But I don't commit much time to listening to a whole album.

[Q] Playboy: Which do you prefer, beer or brandy?

[A] Skinner: They should be used in combination. Drink a lot of brandy and it really starts fucking with you. Beer is good if you want to add a silly edge to the night, but beer puts you on your back. Plus it makes you fat. I'm post-25, so I have to watch what I eat.

[Q] Playboy: Tell us about the worst hangover you've ever had on tour.

[A] Skinner: We were in New York City, playing the Mercury Lounge. There was a lot more than alcohol involved. Our flight was at two P.M. the next day. We were still going at it when the sun came up, so we didn't bother going to sleep. On the way to the airport I was so sick. We're not used to American vans—they have different suspensions or something. American vans wallow around. I could have killed myself. I managed to sort myself out with a McDonald's at JFK. Fat and sugar are all it takes.

[Q] Playboy: What happened to watching what you eat?

[A] Skinner: Yeah, right? I have to eat less fast food.

Black Eyed Peas

[Q] Playboy: Who came up with the idea of changing "Let's Get Retarded" to "Let's Get It Started"?

[A] Will.I.Am: Me. When we'd do arena gigs, the handicapped section would be next to the stage. I never felt comfortable doing "Let's Get Retarded" in front of the handicapped, so when we played big arenas we would change the song to "Let's Get It Started." The NBA wanted to use a song, and we gave them a version of "Let's Get It Started" to get the championship started.

[Q] Playboy: What sort of music do you listen to at home?

[A] Will.I.Am: Bossa nova and samba. And old-school hip-hop. It ain't old school to me. I don't call Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and Special Ed old school. That's when hip-hop was at its purest. Back then it was really about the art form.

[Q] Playboy: Where do you think music will be in five years?

[A] Will.I.Am: The phone company is going to own it. In five or 10 years music will be all about phones. A lot of phone companies already make most of their money from ring tones. But you can't have a ring tone with a good beat on it. That will reinforce melodies and songwriting structure so they can be translated over phones.

[Q] Playboy: Who are some of your favorite songwriters?

[A] Will.I.Am: Antonio Carlos Jobim; Stevie Wonder; Earth, Wind & Fire; Esthero.

[Q] Playboy: Is it a challenge to have such a good-looking woman in the band?

[A] Will.I.Am: Yeah, that's a big challenge because I know she can sing. She's a good songwriter and a great performer. The challenge is how to make it to where people don't see you as just a hot little chick but really see you for what you came in for. You're not a model; you never wanted to be a burlesque artist. You're a fucking great singer. How do you make people notice you for that?

[Q] Playboy: When is your new CD coming out?

[A] Will.I.Am: This spring. It's called Monkey Business.

Sweet Music

Ashanti

Her latest CD is called Concrete Rose for good reason: Ashanti is tough enough to hang with the bad boys of the Inc. Records (formerly Murder Inc.), but her crooning is so sweet it makes your teeth hurt. Four years after she sang the hook on Ja Rule's "Always on Time," we still have that damn song–and her body–stuck in our mind.

Sweet Music

Lindsay Lohan

She's the girl we knew would be a woman soon–but we still weren't quite prepared for the salacious jiggle-bell-rock routine in Mean Girls. Vocal skills aside, Lohan does have one notable song in her stash: "Ultimate," a frothy ode to a male friend who is about to get some benefits. Big ones.

Felix Da Housecat's

Top Five

Funky-Sexy Albums

1 Let's Stay Together–Al Green

2 Saturday Night Fever–The Bee Gees

3 Sign 'O' the Times–Prince

4 Voodoo–D'angelo

5 Kittenz and Thee Glitz–Felix Da Housecat

Sweet Music

Christina Aguilera

Unlike a lot of today's would-be pop music idols, Aguilera dispense with any sort of coyness about sex. Thank God, because we're tired of hypocritical bubble-breasted brats hawking themselves to horny suburban kids by beating around the bush. To those about to be stripped, we salute you.

Tom Morello's

Top Five

Albums of all Time

1 London Calling–The Clash

2 IV–Led Zeppelin

3 Darkness on the Edge of Town–Bruce Springsteen

4 It takes a Nation of Millions to hold us back–Public Enemy

5 The Times they are a Changin'–Bob Dylan

Musicians with Advanced Degrees

Tommy Lee

Scholar

Sex, Drugs and Particle Physics? Before they topped the Charts, these Musicians hit the Books

Dexter Holland, the Offspring

Ph.d. candidate in Molecular Biology, USC

Mira Aroyo, Ladytron

Ph.d. in Genetics Oxford University

Art Garfunkel

Master's in Mathematics, Columbia

Greg Graffin, Bad Religion

Ph.d. in Paleoanthropology, Cornell

Milo Aukerman, Descendents

Ph.d. in Biochemistry, UC San Diego

Tom Scholz, Boston

Master's in Mechanical Engineering, MIT

Sterling Morrison, Velvet Underground

Ph.d. in Medieval Literature, University of Texas

Kris Kristofferson

Master's in English Literature, Oxford University

Rubén Blades

Master's in International Law, Harvard

Sam Beam, Iron and Wine

Master of Fine Arts in Motion Picture and TV, Florida State

Joe Pernice, the Pernice Brothers

Master's in Creative Writing, University of Massachusetts

Tommy Lee

Ph.d. in Carnal Arts, University of Nebraska

Slash's

Top Five

Songs for Sex

1 "Let's get it on"–Marvin Gays

2 "Love to Love you Baby"–Donna Summer

3 "Head Like a Hole"–Nine inch Nails

4 "No Quarter"–Led Zeppelin

5 "California Love"–2 Pac featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman

Sweet Music

Ashlee Simpson

We almost forgive her for her MTV reality show, for her Milli Vanilli routine on SNL and for appearing on 7th Heaven—because, after all, when we were 19 we were playing Tetris in our parents' basement and bribing the neighbor to buy us beer.

Sweet Music

Gwen Stefani

She's not just a girl anymore. Contrary to what she sang in No Doubt's 1996 hit, Stefani has grown into a star. She's a fashion designer. A Scorsese actor. And she even made disco cool again with her solo CD, Love, Angel, Music, Baby. We have one question: When it comes to Playboy, what you waiting for?

Gretchen Wilson's

Top Five

Party Albums

1 You do your Ting–Montgomery Gentry

2 My Honky Tonk History–Travis Tritt

3 Horse of a Different Colour–Big & Rich

4 When the Sun Goes Down–Kenny Chesney

5 Martina–Martina McBride