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Retro Minute, November 18, 1987

Retro Minute, November 18, 1987

Sony buys CBS Records, home to Michael Jackson. Guess the auction price of a '63 Ferrari 250 GTO. Find out as Shawn's wakin' up the memories...

Singers Who Should Quit

Singers Who Should Quit

You can unplug your ears now. Ashlee Simpson has left the building. The lip-synching diva who was ousted from "Melrose Place" has decided to focus on being a mom to her son, Bronx (Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz is the dad). Good news for pro-parenting fans - and even better news for music fans.

Unlike that of her big sister, Jessica, Ashlee Simpson's music career has been fraught with credibility problems. Between the mindless dribble of her MTV reality series, "The Ashlee Simpson Show," her "SNL" lip-synching meltdown, and her 2005 Orange Bowl debacle (she was roundly booed by 72,000 angry football fans), it's been a long farewell.

Simpson is part of a breed of modern-day divas who don't know when to walk away despite all of the clues. These are singers who withstand punishing reviews, bruising crowd defections,and embarrassing career mishaps only to keep coming back for more.

Thank you, Ashlee, for finally staying down. May these other singers follow you to the mat.

Enough With the Self-Congratulatory Music Awards Shows

Enough With the Self-Congratulatory Music Awards Shows

Last week, Taylor Swift rewrote the Country Music Awards history books when she beat out Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, George Strait, and Keith Urban (all of whom had hired Swift as their opening act) for Entertainer of the Year. And in another historic win, Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker took home a Best New Artist award - following in the footsteps of fellow African-American country singer Charley Pride.

Billed as "Country Music's Biggest Night," the first CMAs were handed out in 1967 and have since grown to become the standard bearer for the best in country music. Members of the Country Music Association - a Nashville mafia of industry heavyweights - vote for the winners. Like most award shows, the CMAs are the result of a bunch of insiders congratulating one another. That's cool with me. Everyone needs to feel good about themselves, even platinum-selling country artists.

But here's the problem: there are just too many music award shows these days. Once upon a time, we'd wait excitedly for the Grammy Awards to roll around every year. No one complained. No one was jonesing for another nominee fix.

So while country's elite gather to deservedly backslap one another, here are a few of the more useless awards shows in recent memory. Two have thankfully disappeared, only one more to go.

Retro Minute: November 16, 1981

Retro Minute: November 16, 1981

Rush plays Germany. Which star from TV's Batman celebrates a birthday? Find out as Shawn's wakin' up the memories...

Retro Minute: November 15, 1990

Retro Minute: November 15, 1990

President George H. W. Bush passes the Clean Air Act. Which "Law & Order" star turns 50? Shawn's wakin' up the memories...