Alternative Music
Nikki Sixx Dares To Insult “Whining” Taylor Swift, Gets Called Out by Fans
Oh no, he didn’t! Nikki Sixx dared to insult the mighty Taylor Swift, and he has been met with a swift response from fans. Over the weekend, the Mötley Crüe bassist tweeted, “Is it just me or does Taylor Swift always seems [sic] likes she’s whining about something new every-time she’s gonna drop an album? #WorIsMeMarketing [sic].” (He likely meant @WoeIsMeMarketing as the hashtag.) It would appear that Sixx is referencing the big fuss over the Ticketmaster debacle that left millions of Swifties spending hours online, only to find themselves without tickets to her upcoming 2023 tour. In a statement, Swift wrote, “It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.” Ticketmaster l...
Marvel Finds New Blade Director in Lovecraft Country’s Yann Demange
It’s open season on all suckheads, as Marvel has tapped Yann Demange as the new director of Blade. The French filmmaker is known for executive producing and directing episodes of both HBO’s beloved but short-lived Lovecraft Country and UK crime drama Top Boy. On the full-length feature side of things, he helmed 2018’s White Boy Rick and 2014’s ’71. Demange replaces Bassam Tariq, who left the production in September just weeks before filming was scheduled to start. While Tariq is set to remain as an executive producer, Kevin Feige and his team decided not to try and skate up hill with a flailing production, instead hitting pause while they went for a complete reset. Advertisement Mahershala Ali is still onboard to star as the day-walking vampire hunter, but Demange isn’t the only new c...
James Winburn, Original Michael Myers Stunt Double, Dead at 85
James Winburn, the actor, director, and stunt man best known for being the stunt double for Michael Myers in the original Halloween, has died at age 85, EW reports. Winburn passed away November 19th following an undisclosed illness. While Nick Castle portrayed Michael Myers in John Carpenter’s classic horror film, Winburn donned the mask for the killer’s more physical scenes. He did stunt work in more than 70 films, including Carpenter’s Escape From New York, the original TRON, and Dennis Hopper’s police drama Colors. Winburn acted in film and television as well, including in the TV series Cagney & Lacey and Hunter and Robert Aldrich’s 1977 film, The Choirboys. As a director, Winburn helmed 1988’s Evil Altar, 1991’s The Death Merchant, and ...
How to Get Tickets to Kenny Chesney’s 2023 Tour
Kenny Chesney is ready to return to the road for his “I Go Back 2023” tour, and No Shoes Nation will need to claim their tickets soon to join on the country superstar’s 21-date trip down memory lane. In a statement, Chesney shared his reason for choosing his beloved 2004 single as the tour’s nostalgia-laden namesake, saying “That song is about holding all those things that shaped you very close, recognizing how special they are – and keeping them alive any way you can. So, I decided that rather than just go repeat what we did, I wanted to take this band and these songs to a lot of the cities we played on our way up! Let’s call the tour ‘I Go Back’ – and do just that.” “I remember coming up, the craziness of so many of those dates,” he continued. “Markets where people were using chain-cutte...
Dave Mustaine Pushes for More Big 4 Shows, Details Failed Collaboration with James Hetfield
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine opened up on a number of topics in a new interview, including his desire to stage more “Big 4” concerts and a failed collaboration with one-time Metallica bandmate James Hetfield. From June 2010 to September 2011, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax played 14 concerts as the “Big 4” of thrash metal. While speaking with Songfacts, Mustaine expressed a great interest getting the bands back together for at least one more show. Mustaine was asked about the guitarists he admires, replying, “I think a lot of the household names in metal can go without saying: Michael [Amott] from Arch Enemy, and some of the guys like Jeff Loomis. And the guys from Lamb of God and the guys from Trivium. They’re all really good guitar players in their right.” Advertisement Rela...
DijahSB Announces New EP Living Simple, Shares “Khadijah”: Stream
Toronto rapper DijahSB has announced a new EP called Living Simple. The six-song project drops February 10th, while new single “Khadijah” is out now. Living Simple is tightly intertwined with Living Single. The EP’s name is a play on the ’90s sitcom’s title, while “Khadijah” is a reference to Queen Latifah’s character on the show, whom DijahSB’s mother loved so much that she named her child after them. Best of all is the project’s cover, which utilizes that nostalgic cartoon font. Check it out below. Understandably, the song “Khadijah” deals with the loneliness of living single, but the person Khadijah avoids self pity with a laid back, amiable beat. “I be at the crib like Khadijah/ Wondering if I will ever find somebody out here who’s a keeper,” the artist raps. L...
Elon Musk Hits Back at “Crybaby” Trent Reznor After Nine Inch Nails Frontman Quits Twitter
It seems Elon Musk may have been a little “hurt” by Trent Reznor’s decision to quit Twitter. The billionaire owner of the social media platform responded by calling the Nine Inch Nails frontman a “crybaby” despite being a fan of his music. Reznor deactivated his account on Sunday (November 20th), shortly after telling The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been an “embarrassment,” while adding, “We don’t need the arrogance of the billionaire class to feel like they can just come in and solve everything.” Musk, responding to a tweet by “Catturd” that read, “48 hours since @elonmusk reinstated President Trump’s Twitter account and the world still hasn’t ended,” wrote, “And it turns out that Trent ‘nine inch nails’ Reznor is actually a crybaby.” Advertiseme...
Why Alien: Resurrection Is the Worst Alien Film — and Also the Most Fascinating
Twenty-five years ago, 20th Century Fox released the fourth Alien film, and with it brought its once-lucrative franchise to a screeching halt. Yet, despite the fact that Alien Resurrection is maybe the worst of the four original Alien films, it’s probably the one I’ve seen the most times. I keep coming back to it, over and over, as a fascinating mismatch between writer and director that, on paper, should have been legitimately amazing. I keep wanting to understand it. Every time, I fail. But I still come away fascinated by the sheer fact of its existence. Resurrection features the fourth (and to date final) appearance of Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, who we originally met as a humble space trucker in the first Alien, before she became one of the galaxy’s sole living experts on the terr...
Smashing Pumpkins Invite Willow Smith to Perform “Cherub Rock” at Tour Finale: Watch
Smashing Pumpkins enlisted Willow Smith for a ripping performance of the band’s 1993 single “Cherub Rock” during their headlining set at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Saturday (November 19th). The concert marked the end of Pumpkins’ joint “Spirits on Fire Tour” with Jane’s Addiction. Smith, who performs as “WILLOW,” took the stage toward the end of the band’s set after a brief introduction by guitarist James Iha. Despite the fledgling rockstar’s well established powerhouse vocals, she ceded the mic completely to Billy Corgan and instead opted to showcase her guitar-playing abilities. Joining Corgan, Iha, and Jeff Schroeder, WILLOW brought the band’s headcount of guitarists to four, which surely delighted the frontman’s insatiable desire for dense, distortion layering. WILLOW later poste...
New Pantera Lineup Shares First Rehearsal Photos: “This Is All About the Love for Vinnie and Dime”
With anticipation running high for the first Pantera shows in more than 20 years, drummer Charlie Benante has shared the first photos of the metal band’s new lineup rehearsing for the upcoming gigs. Benante and Zakk Wylde are taking on the daunting task of filling the shoes of late brothers Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell, respectively. They are joined by classic Pantera members Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown. On his social pages, Benante unveiled four pictures from the band’s rehearsal space in New Orleans, mostly of himself with Brown and Wylde, with one pic showing a blurry view of Anselmo from behind the drum kit. Advertisement Related Video Benante wrote the following caption to go along with the four photos: “2 weeks in NOLA with these boys, it’s been a lot of work but how could it not...
With His Final Dodger Stadium Show, Elton John Wrote His Own Happy Ending: Review
Something I never expected to see in Dodger Stadium during Elton John’s last live concert in North America — a peek at his belly. But due to the poor fit of the icon’s first wardrobe choice (a sequined tuxedo jacket with tails, and pants that needed adjusting every time he stood up to acknowledge the crowd), at a certain point a bit of pink skin became visible through a gap in his button-down shirt. This tiny wardrobe malfunction was the only notable misstep during an intense marathon of music seeped in legacy, and it proved to be charming, in a way — a moment of human fallibility that felt all too relatable. Especially because this semi-final stop on the “Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour” was otherwise transcendent, an invitation into the passion Elton John has for his work...
Jack Antonoff Says Venues “Fuck Artists so Hard” by “Taxing Merch”
Young artists on the road face death by a thousand merch cuts, as Jack Antonoff pointed out on Twitter November 18th, writing that venues “fuck artist[s] so hard” by “taxing merch.” The sustainability of post-pandemic touring has been hotly debated in recent months, especially with what Lorde called the “demented struggle to break even or face debt.” Antonoff, a frequent Lorde collaborator, tweeted, “while we are having the discussion can venues simply stop taxing merch of artists? this is literally the only way you make money when you start out touring.” In a series of posts, he added, “the more we make it tenable for young and small artists to make a living on the road the more great music we will get,” continuing, “touring is one of the most honest ways to make a living. some of th...
