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This David Bowie Song About Space Was Banned by the BBC Before It Went to No. 1 Years Later
David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” was banned from BBC airplay when it was first released in 1969, days before the Apollo 11 moon landing, over concerns about broadcasting a song depicting a doomed space mission at such a sensitive moment. The ban was lifted once the astronauts returned safely, but the episode did not hinder the…
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“Professional lurker” Todd Howard reappears on internet forums following Bethesda’s Fallout and Elder Scrolls announcements to thank fans for their support
Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard has returned to Reddit after a six-month absence to thank fans, following Bethesda’s unusually candid roadmap update on upcoming Fallout and The Elder Scrolls projects. The announcement came shortly after sweeping layoffs across the wider Xbox division, and confirmed that Bethesda Game Studios will collaborate more closely with other…
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Gears of War Designer Cliff Bleszinski Reveals Struggle With Alcoholism, Discusses the Failure of LawBreakers and Potential Return to Video Game Development
Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski has spoken publicly about his struggle with alcoholism, revealing that drinking undermined his career and contributed to the collapse of his studio, Boss Key Productions. In a wide-ranging interview with 80 Level, the 51-year-old developer said he was a “functioning alcoholic” during his time at Epic Games and later…
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Most Nintendo Employees Found Out About Tears Of The Kingdom When You Did
Former Nintendo of America staff members say the sequel that became The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was kept so tightly confidential that many employees learned of it only when Nintendo publicly teased it in its E3 2019 Direct presentation. The account illustrates the unusually strict secrecy surrounding one of Nintendo’s biggest releases…
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Watch: SHADOWS FALL Celebrates 30th Anniversary With Hometown Concert
Massachusetts metal band Shadows Fall marked their 30th anniversary with a special one-off hometown concert on Saturday 18 July at the MGM Aria Ballroom in Springfield, Massachusetts, joined by fellow Massachusetts acts Unearth and Within The Ruins. The show, the band’s only booked date for the year, spanned a 14-song set covering three decades of…
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10 Most Fun Action Movies of All Time
Collider has published a ranked list of the ten most fun action movies of all time, distinguishing “most fun” from “best” or most critically acclaimed. The author, Jeremy Urquhart, frames the ranking as inherently subjective, noting that what one viewer finds enjoyable may not resonate the same way with another, much as horror films affect…
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Sex, beds and grisly executions: what Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey changed, invented – and left out
Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming adaptation of The Odyssey makes significant changes to Homer’s ancient Greek epic, trimming characters and scenes to fit the sprawling 12,000-line poem into a three-hour film. The Guardian outlines the most notable alterations, from omitted deities and famous encounters to invented plot details, showing how Nolan reshaped the source material for a…
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Born 82 Years Ago Today in Tennessee, the Honey-Voiced Country Crooner With 22 No. 1 Hits to His Name
T.G. Sheppard, born William Neal Browder in Humboldt, Tennessee, on 20 July 1944, is being celebrated on his 82nd birthday for his impact on country music during the country-pop era that preceded Nashville’s neo-traditionalist shift led by artists such as George Strait and Randy Travis. After leaving home at 16 to pursue music in Memphis,…
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The 1971 song that Led Zeppelin refused to perform live
Led Zeppelin’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’, released in 1971 on their fourth album, became one of the band’s most influential recordings but was largely absent from their live set. The song’s studio sound relied heavily on techniques that were difficult to reproduce on stage, illustrating the gap between Led Zeppelin’s ambitious recording methods and the…