Pop Music

THUMBS UP Deee-Lite. With "World Clique," this trio helped put the fuback in funky.Robert Plant. The best way to keep the Led Zeppelin spirit alive isn't a reunion, it's more new work like "Manic Nirvana."Lisa Stansfield. Is the best new soul singer of 1990 an Englishwoman? Sure is.Madonna. Pop music's "Woman Most Likely To," and proud of it.Robert Johnson's "The Complete Recordings." Proof that no amount of time can diminish the power of the blues.A Tribe Called Quest. Insightful, inventive and tuneful,"People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm" is a perfect example of positive rap.Living Colour.

The second half of the 1960s ushered in the era of music festivals - culminating with the granddaddy of them all, Woodstock, in August 1969. Other festivals that enjoyed huge attendance that year included pop festivals in Atlanta and Texas, 140,000 attendees each; the notorious Altamont Speedway Festival, 120,000; and the Newport Jazz Festival, 78,000. Lost in the smoky haze of 1960s history is The Laurel Pop Festival held in July 1969, which was attended by 15,000 fans and offered an incredible lineup of some of the biggest pop performers of the year.

Baby Spice, Billie Holiday, Bob Marley and the Beatles are among those honored at the new National Centre for Popular Music in England. Consisting of four stainless steel drums that each contain 32,300 square feet, the museum opened last month in Sheffield, 165 miles north of London.The museum celebrates the impact of popular music through interactive arts, education, technology and culture. The opening temporary exhibit, "Strictly Personal," displays favorite albums selected by music personalities from Alan McGee to Noel Gallagher.

David Correy, a 26-year-old singer from Annapolis, is struggling to find the words to describe the 2006 car accident that occurred after he fell asleep at the wheel. It nearly left him paralyzed. "I've never screamed so loud in my life. I remember crawling out of the car ... " Correy said before trailing off. He clears his throat and apologizes. "It's hard to talk about," he said. "People don't get it yet. Sixty-five staples and three plates in my hip. They thought I wouldn't walk again because my knee was so bent out of place.

Who upset the Apple cart? Nobody's taking credit for spilling Fiona Apple's unreleased (and possibly unfinished) third album all over the Internet, but the action has upped the ante in what's become pop music's biggest art-vs.-commerce dust-up since Wilco vs. Reprise Records and Danger Mouse vs. the Beatles. Now Apple's record company is cracking down, she has clammed up, and fans are still manning the barricades. The New York-bred singer-songwriter - whose first two albums, 1997's Tidal and 1999's When the Pawn ... , made her a commercial and critical success - is a perfect centerpiece for this drama.

ON AND OFF THE AIR:* Take a melodic time-travel trip tonight on Maryland Public Television, with a pair of documentaries on influential pop music groups.At 10 p.m., lead singer Justin Hayward narrates "Moody Blues: Legend of a Band," a history of the group's 20 performing years, which includes 24 songs.And at 11:30, "The Story of the Mamas & The Papas" offers the local angle provided by the late "Mama" Cass Elliott, who hailed from Baltimore and, at the height of the group's popularity, received a home-town ceremonial procession.

"Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music," by Simon Frith. Harvard University Press. 352 pages. $27.95.One of the great terrors of junior high school math was the proof. As none of us particularly cared what, if y equaled 26, x might turn out to be, the notion of supporting those calculations with layers of mind-numbing logic seemed especially perverse. Sensing this, the teachers tried to put our puny efforts into perspective by observing that university-level mathematicians were expected to work lengthy proofs demonstrating that one plus one did, in fact, equal two.Many of us, I suspect, gave up then and there.

Elton John's recent public outburst about the Internet's effect on pop -- he suggested that a five-year cyberspace shutdown might be the only way to renew the music's creativity -- was greeted with eye rolling and the general consensus that he should splurge on an iPod. But his consternation is understandable. The music industry is in tatters; the noise that amateurs once kept to themselves emanates from every corner of cyberspace, and between the money-obsessed mainstream and the hype-addled underground, there's no agreement on what will endure.

One thing New York-based dance-pop duo I Am the World Trade Center had considered recently: a name change. For the past two years, vocalist Amy Dykes and multi-instrumentalist Dan Geller have been touring and recording under that name, attracting fans to the Austin, Texas, spring music festival, South by Southwest, in 2000 and 2001 solely on the uniqueness of it. After Sept. 11, though, Geller says, the pair received a string of e-mails from people not associated with the group demanding they change the name.

By most normal criteria, not much happened in pop music in 1992.That's not to say there wasn't news, of course, because there was. Plenty of it. There was the "Cop Killer" controversy, and the "Sex" book scandal. There was a riot in Montreal preceded by a concert by Guns N' Roses, and a riot in Los Angeles predicted by Ice Cube and Ice-T. There was Sister Souljah. There was Sinead O'Connor.But musically? Forget it. Garth Brooks sold millions more albums, and Boyz II Men broke the Beatles' record for most consecutive weeks at No. 1, but those achievements had less to do with art than commerce.

Nate Ruess, the lead singer of the New York power-pop trio Fun., isn't shy about his band's ambitions. "I hope we can sell out Madison Square Garden," Ruess, 30, said. Fun., which plays the Sweetlife Food & Music Festival on Saturday, is off to strong start with "We Are Young," the now-ubiquitous No. 1 hit from the group's second album, "Some Nights. " The song is inescapable, from Top 40 stations to car commercials, WWE promos and, of course, "Glee. " After years of nostalgically drawing from older musical eras for his previous band, the Format, Ruess found inspiration for his smash hit in an unlikely place: rap. "I was so rooted in listening to retro albums and yearning for the past, a time I wasn't even born, that 'Some Nights' was about embracing the future a bit more," he said.

Jon Ehrens is five years younger than his sister Emily. It might not seem too important now that they're both adults, but when you're a kid, that's a big gap. Which is why, even though they came from a musical family, the two never really had much success as a band. But last year, when Ehrens began recording '80s-influenced synth-pop songs as White Life, he realized he needed a female singer. He tried a few people around Baltimore, but none stuck. His parents had suggested Ehrens and Emily collaborate, but he worried about the complications of mixing family and music.

The Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre continues its season with the July offering of "The Marvelous Wonderettes," a nostalgic jukebox look back at the pop music of the 1950s and 1960s. Here we are taken to the 1958 Springfield High School prom, where four graduates get their chance to provide the entertainment at their prom as the singing Marvelous Wonderettes. This was the era when such harmonizing female groups as the Chordettes of "Mr. Sandman" and "Lollipop" fame climbed the 1954 and 1958 charts.

Rye Rye has been on the cusp of rap stardom for some time. About three years ago, the trendy, provocative rapper M.I.A. discovered the Baltimore rapper, whose real name is Ryeisha Berrain, and hooked her up with a major record deal. Last week, Rolling Stone magazine named her an artist to watch. While her long-delayed debut album, "Go! Pop! Bang!" won't be in stores until May, she has just released a a free, 18-track, downloadable mix tape, "Ryeot Powrr, to drum up support for it. The 20-year-old East Baltimore native draws from both pop music and Baltimore Club, and still loves dancing at the Paradox.

CONCERT Beyonce: It took her a while, but the booty-shakin' singer is finally on tour for her 2008 album I Am ... Sasha Fierce. But don't think she hasn't been busy. She's had other things on her plate, like serenading the Obamas and kicking butt in an action thriller. Show starts 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at 1st Mariner. Web: www.baltimorearena.com FILM 'Transformers: : Revenge of the Fallen' : This time, the robots are hardly in disguise. Ever-so-subtle director Michael Bay is rolling out a total of 46 metal men (the original had a measly 14)

Few rock 'n' roll bands openly displayed their internal fissures like Fleetwood Mac - or rode them to greater success. But the hurt feelings and emotional turmoil that were poured onto vinyl for 1977's mega-platinum Rumours, still one of the best-selling records of all-time, are decades behind them now. When the band shows up at 1st Mariner Arena tomorrow night, for one of the last stops in the "Greatest Hits Unleashed" North American tour, don't expect...

Where did the time go? Seems as if it was just yesterday that we were awaiting the end of the world. Now we've all but survived 2000, in spite of these distinguished and dubious events in the world of pop music: Reasons to be cheerful: Napster; the stunning debut of neo-soul queen Jill Scott; positive hip-hop vibes from Jurassic Five; the return, after an eight-year hiatus, of smooth soulstress Sade. If you put out a CD and nobody buys it, does it still make a sound? If it does, then the sound you hear may be Marilyn Manson's "Holy Wood" and the Spice Girls' "Forever" tumbling off the charts.

YOU HAVE TO LISTEN closely to Niela. Her feathery whisper of a voice floats over a hard-edged synthesis of chunky rock, '70s-inspired funk and sleek club beats. A sweet-faced artist with jump-rope dreadlocks, Niela (last name: Magwood) is an independent singer-songwriter-musician determined to make it in Baltimore. In the last three years, she has released two CDs on her own: Jilted and Rift of the Lotus. She and her band will perform at Baltimore's 13th Floor at the Belvedere on Nov. 10. "I think I've done a good job of creating my own sound," she says.

American Idol's two-night finale starts at 8 p.m. Tuesday on WBFF, Channel 45, and the choices couldn't be more distinct. A vote for Adam Lambert or Kris Allen might say as much about us as it does either of them. KRIS ALLEN We all know by now that American Idol is a TV show on the hunt for a future pop star. But notice the order there. Idol is a TV show first and a talent scout second. Adam Lambert may have buzz, but so did washed-up Season 5 winner Taylor Hicks. Remember him? Probably not. Yes, Lambert makes great TV, but can he make great pop music?

POP MUSIC Robyn Hitchcock Whimsical British singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock released his debut nearly 30 years ago. Since then, he has dotted his catalog with challenging, genre-blurring efforts that have garnered a following. His latest album is Goodnight Oslo. Though it offers few surprises, the CD is a solid effort from one of alt-pop's most consistent artists. He performs at 8 tonight at Black Cat, 1811 14th St. N.W. in Washington. Tickets are $20. Call 410-547-7328 or go to ticketmaster.