The Smiths’ final album, 1987’s Strangeways, Here We Come, came out after the band had broken up. It includes “Paint A Vulgar Picture,” the band’s disgusted song about the music industry. In his acid-tongued lyrics, Morrissey described the “sickening greed” of record execs, “sycophantic slags,” rushing to sell music that a “dead star” left behind.” On Saturday night, Morrissey performed that song live for the first time in 29 years. I wonder why.

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Last night the third iteration of Mustafa’s Artists For Aid benefit concert series went down at Los Angeles’ Shrine Ballroom, with proceeds supporting relief efforts in Palestine and Sudan. The event was hosted by Bella Hadid and Pedro Pascal, and featured sets from Clairo (her first performance sing having to drop off November’s Camp Flog Gnaw lineup), Geese (their first performance since successfully playing Camp Flog Gnaw), Blood Orange, Alex G, Faye Webster, 070 Shake, Lucy Dacus, and more. Dacus’ set — her first performance since Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration — featured a surprise appearance from Chappell Roan, and the two of them did a cover of the Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs classic “The Book Of Love.” Check that out below.

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Bob Weir, co-founding singer/guitarist for the Grateful Dead and their various offshoots, has passed away. “He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could,” according to a statement posted on his website today that cites “underlying lung issues” as the cause of death. Weir was diagnosed with cancer last July, and he began treatment before playing three farewell shows with Dead & Company last year, his final live performance. Weir was 78.

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On Thursday (Jan. 8), Jenny Lewis turned 50. The Rilo Kiley leader celebrated the big birthday by marrying her cockapoo, Bobby Rhubarb, who’s immortalized on her 2021 single “Puppy And A Truck.”

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Countless musicians have slammed ICE with even more fervor than usual since an agent’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old US citizen Renee Nicole Good in her car in Minneapolis, MN on Wednesday (Jan. 7). Billie Eilish spoke up by resharing a series of posts to her Instagram Story, with one calling ICE a “federally funded and supported terrorist group” that is “tearing apart families, terrorizing citizens, and now murdering innocent people.” Now, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is responding.

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Before the news that the Kennedy Center was being renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center, there was already a slew of protests after Donald Trump appointed himself Kennedy Center chairman, including Ben Folds resigning as National Symphony Orchestra’s Artistic Advisor. Now the protests are reaching a fever pitch, and the Washington National Opera is leaving the Kennedy Center where it has performed since the venue opened in 1971.

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Many musicians are using their platforms to speak up against the recent murder of Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good by ICE. That includes Neil Young, who is sharing op-eds on his website.

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At the end of month, Ari Lennox is releasing her third studio album Vacancy. We’ve heard the title track and the single “Under The Moon.” Today she’s three for three with another called “Twin Flame.” It was produced by Tommy “TBHits” Brown and Leather Jacket. Whereas “Under The Moon” had some sensual doo-wop flare to…

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Every week the Stereogum staff chooses the five best new songs of the week. The eligibility period begins and ends Thursdays right before midnight. You can hear this week’s picks below and on Stereogum’s Favorite New Music Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly. (An expanded playlist of our new music picks is available to members on Spotify and Apple Music, updated throughout the week.)

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