This Week In Entertainment News 31 October 2025
It’s Halloween! No tricks here, just plenty of tasty entertainment news treats to satisfy your sweet tooth, so dig in. Boo!
It’s the end of an era for Gen X with the impending closure of MTV’s dedicated music stations. MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live will be shutdown from 31 December 2025 following a strategic shift to focus on digital platforms and reality programming. Parent company Paramount announced the broadcaster’s flagship channel MTV HD will remain on air.
MTV started in 1981 and became on of the most dominant cable channels, finding huge popularity among teenagers, especially in the ‘90s when grunge exploded. Over the years, MTV transitioned to producing reality television programming, which has become the staple of the network. The termination of music programming on MTV signals a shift in viewer habits as well as Generation X ageing out of the demographic.
But it’s not all tears for Generation X with the 30th anniversary of The Smashing Pumpkins’ multi-platinum double album ‘Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness’. One of the greatest and best-selling albums of all time, ‘Mellon Collie’ is the third studio album by The Smashing Pumpkins. It represents a pivotal development in the band’s sound and Corgan’s songwriting, vastly maturing from previous releases.
For anyone who got high in the ‘70s, this one’s for you. This year marks 50 years of Pink Floyd’s ninth studio album, ‘Wish You Were Here’, the band’s troubled love letter to band founder and madcap genius Syd Barrett. There’s lots of special edition merchandise available to celebrate the anniversary, but nothing beats sitting down and letting this album run from start to finish. What a journey, and what a tragic loss in Syd Barrett. You can read our tribute to the album here.
We also bid a fond farewell to on-screen matriarch and Hollywood actress June Lockhart, who passed away aged 100. June, known for her roles as the mother figure in ‘Lassie’ and ‘Lost In Space’, died of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica late last week. She found great success on television, portraying Ruth Martin on ‘Lassie’ from 1958-1964 before blasting off on the Jupiter II as Maureen Robinson in ‘Lost In Space’ from 1965-1968. Beloved for her portrayals of warm, compassionate mothers, June often insisted that in real life she is nothing like the characters she plays, preferring rock concerts and driving tanks instead.
There are more and more tours heading our way as we creep towards the end of the year. Next year is looking just as good, with the swift return of powerful hip hop duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids. Coming out of the Haisla Nation in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Snotty Nose Rez Kids have already forged a strong connection with Aussie audiences. They’re back in February and March 2026 for another tour that includes their New Zealand debut. Award-winning Malyangapa, Barkindji rapper BARKAA will be co-headlining all Australian dates.
Dance into 2026 when Sydney institution and New Year’s Day tradition, Field Day returns to add another chapter to its legacy with an epic celebration on Gadigal Country this New Year’s Day. Featuring a stacked lineup of Australian and international talent, the festival will once again fill The Domain with music, energy and community spirit.
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Across three stages, the Field Day 2026 lineup brings together some of the biggest names in global dance music. Legendary British DJ Carl Cox teams up with Welsh producer Jamie Jones for solo and back-to-back sets that promise to keep Sydney moving well into the night.
And what better way to finish off Friday and ease into the weekend than some new music releases. Central Coast indie artist Joel Leggett has released his fourth album ‘Love Game’. 2025 has seen Joel Leggett push his music into entirely new spaces, venturing into the waters of pop and rock, and finding beauty and excitement in the cross sections between these and his folk origins.
With their second-ever release, clandestine Sydney based Alternative artist wednesday (or ’W’, for short) has exploded onto the scene with ‘I’m Fine Thanks’, a fiery, unrelenting critique of Australia’s class system. As explained by W, ‘I’m Fine Thanks’ is “a scream into the ear of every YouTube business ‘guru’ and Martin Place Broker who propagate a particularly infuriating brand of deaf optimism.
