Merchbar Minute: Rage Against The Machine Tour & More

Thanks for hanging out with us for the Merchbar Minute today! Here's a few of trending music stories, new arrival merch, and more music goodness for our community.

Rage Against The Machine Is Touring

We knew that Rage Against The Machine was headlining Coachella and playing a select few shows this year, but fans are being treated with a full reunion tour. Rage announced they will be joined by Run The Jewels, with shows beginning March 26 in El Paso and ending in Vienna in September. Our excitement knows no bounds on this one. 

Spotify Introduces Songwriter Pages

If you’re a Spotify power user you’ve almost certainly looked at the song credits of a song through the app. The streaming platform is expanding on those features, introducing Songwriter Pages for a handful of writers as they begin rolling it out. It’s a pretty awesome way for those that dig into the liner notes of music, and one that could add a welcome layer of discoverability for songwriters, producers and more in the future. A win for artists and fans is always welcome.

Why A Song Gets Stuck In Your Head

After getting Tina Turner’s “The Best” stuck in my head and singing “Simply the best” over and over while making tacos last night, I went back to an article our founder Ed shared with us on why songs gets stuck in our heads. Let Harvard Health explain why songs become earworms, why they might be good for us, and how you can try getting rid of that pesky earworm. 

We want to share pictures from our growing community of music lovers! Let's see your favorite live concert shots, band tees you cherish, trademark hoodies, collection of instruments, posters, and everything you love about music!   

GWAR is one of the most iconic bands ever, and we were sent a doozie from community metalhead Addison who traveled three hours to see the legendary shredders. This amazing shot is of guitarist Mike Derks, taking in the crowd during his first show back with the band after his battle with cancer. "It did not disappoint," we were told, and it certainly looks like that was the case. 

Every week we take to Google Trends to see what people are searching for. Are people looking for WD-40 or E-40? What about Lil Yachty vs. Boat Rentals? Are people yawning, or looking up Yanni's discography? What's more popular; NASCAR or Coachella?  

 We've called this section Music vs. The World since it began, but we've only ever used the U.S. map for our Google Trend search. That changes now. This week in the blue corner we've got the one-man band out of Australia, Tame Impala, on the eve of dropping the highly-anticipated album Slow Rush. In the red corner, a staple of American automobiles and West Coast rap: the Chevy Impala. Let's dig in:

Tame Impala's reach outside of the United States shines here, sweeping up almost the entire world map. Time to go jam to "The Less I Know The Better," now. 

We've got something a little different this week, getting a glimpse into the mind of Paul McCartney as he conceptualized one of the greatest album covers of all-time. This rough collection of sketches from McCartney would go on to inspire the legendary album art. Fun fact: the license plate that belonged to the Volkswagen Beetle featured in the final image was stolen from the car several times. Fame ain't always all it's cracked up to be.