The Spin
20Ranking
on Pop
Culture
Since 1998

BRIT JOSS STONE SINGS OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN

1 THEME SONG With her help, he’ll win over conservative voters in the great state of England

^{2 THE ELECTION IS LOOMING} So, is LiLo really a lesbian?

^{3 50 CENT INVESTS IN PLATINUM MINE} Might be the only platinum he’ll see this year

CANADA LAUNCHES HOMEGROWN PORN

4 CHANNEL “Yeah! Take it, please! You like that, eh?

Because if you don’t, we can do something else.”

₅ CHRIS MARTIN ADMITS HE’S A FAN OF MILEY CYRUS _{You know how I know you’re gay?}

MARK RONSON SIDES WITH JAY-Z IN NOEL

6 GALLAGHER FEUD Seriously, though, is his sister really dating LiLo?

^{7 HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 AND SAW V One is a parade} of yucky torture scenes; the other is a horror movie

DR. DRE INTRODUCES AFTERMATH COGNAC AND

8 SPARKLING VODKA One sip and you’ll realize why he titled his new album Detox

Say “Ahhh”: Mastodon’s Brent Hinds and Troy Sanders; Carr (below)

Susan and the Banshees
Meet the woman who teaches singers how to scream

As anyone who’s ever listened to Drowning Pool or Flyleaf can attest, screaming doesn’t seem like it takes much skill. But according to vocal instructor Susan Carr, the woman behind the new DVD The Art of Screaming ( theartofscreaming.com), emitting a bloodcurdling wail is harder than it sounds. “I’ve been studying screaming for years,” explains Carr, “and I hear a lot of singers who might not last if they don’t get some help.” And no, she won’t name names.

But for three decades, smarter vocalists have come to Carr, ⁵⁴, to learn the safe way to scream. A longtime resident of Seattle, she started teaching the first wave of the city’s punk shouters in the early ’⁸⁰s (“Sore throat? Small range?” read the ad she placed in an alt weekly), but things blew up during the grunge era, when labels and managers began sending singers her way as a means of protecting their investments. Without proper training, “a touring singer is always going to risk ruining their voice,” says Carr, whose Seattle students included Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley (“a quick learner”) and Sunny Day Real Estate’s Jeremy Enigk (“a beautiful screamer”). And unlike

actual schooling, studying screaming doesn’t carry any nerdy stigma. “Back in the punk days, taking voice lessons might have seemed lame,” says Minus the Bear’s Jake Snider, a former student of Carr’s. “But I was sick of losing my voice. Now I never do.” Mastodon’s Troy Sanders was also eager to learn. “Singing ²⁵⁰ shows a year is brutal. I wanted any help I could get,” he says, before happily adding, “Warner Bros. paid for the lessons.”

But what exactly is the art of screaming? Funda-
mentally, the idea is to generate the scream using the
appropriate physical techniques.
Use the wrong ones—yell from
the bottom of your throat, for
instance—and you risk develop-
ing vocal-chord nodules, which
only sound good on Lemmy.
Instead, the DVD, which features
shriekers like Loudermilk’s Davey
Ingersoll and Alien Ant Farm’s
Dryden Mitchell, shows how
to support the scream with the
pelvic muscles (say “Huh!” like a
Marine—those muscles), place it
precisely in the top of the throat
(less Cookie Monster, more Marge
Simpson), and correctly manage
air flow (the diaphragm’s duty).
Learn all that, and you’ll be acing
“Run to the Hills” on Rock Band in
no time. Now, that’s something to
shout about. DAVID MARCHESE

FATBOY SLIM RUINS BACK CARRYING RECORDS

9 “Take two Ecstasy and call me in the morning” proves unhelpful remedy

₁₀ RUMOR THAT HALLOWEEN WILL BE RENAMED _{VAMPIRE WEEKEND Patently false}

^{11 DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH?} Either stop asking or be more racist

PRINCE BLOCKS “SINGING DENTIST” FROM COVERING

12 “PURPLE RAIN” A request to be Prince’s “weekend lover” also denied

MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY PLANTS SON’S

13 PLACENTA IN BACK YARD

That is gonna be some killer weed

^{14 KANYE BRINGS BURGER CHAIN TO HOMETOWN} Finally, a place to eat fattening food in Chicago

^{15 FESTIVAL SEASON WINDS DOWN} Just three more months until festival season! ^{16 W.} Funny, but we preferred the book

^{17 GARY GLITTER FREED Lock up your daughters.} No, seriously, lock up your daughters.

“A touring singer is
always going to risk
ruining their voice.”
SUSAN CARR

₁₈ AC/DC TO TOUR FOR FIRST TIME IN EIGHT YEARS _{We’ve been Angusly awaiting this}

₁₉ PHIL COLLINS’ WIFE GETS $46.7 MILLION IN DIVORCE _{SETTLEMENT Will you marry me, Phil Collins?}

20 ^{VIRGIN RECORDS SUES 30 SECONDS TO MARS OVER} UNDELIVERED ALBUMS If we could, we’d countersue