Classic Rock
Van Morrison Announces Anti-Lockdown Song Series
The coronavirus death toll is currently 947,000, and Europe is in the midst of its second wave of the pandemic. And yet somehow there are still people like Van Morrison who believe it’s all a hoax and insist on putting more people’s lives in danger. In a statement last month, the Northern Irish songwriter dismissed socially distanced concerts as “pseudo-science”, and called on fellow musicians to join him in demanding a return to “full capacity audiences.” Now, to further drive his ill-informed point home, Van Morrison has announced a series of anti-lockdown protest songs. As the BBC reports, the “Brown Eyed Girl” musician plans to release three different singles in the near future. All of them bear cringe-worthy titles — the kind that Trump or one of those embarrassing Target Flash Mob an...
50 Years Ago, Black Sabbath Deliver the Magnificent Paranoid
The “sophomore slump” has spelt the beginning of the end for quite a few rock acts over the years. But looking back, one of the cases in which the exact opposite occurred was when Black Sabbath delivered one of the greatest metal albums of all time, Paranoid. The Birmingham, UK-based band – singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward – had already caught the attention of rock fans with their detuned and doomy self-titled debut (released in February 1970 in the UK, and June in the United States). And they wasted no time capitalizing on the buzz – issuing Paranoid in the UK on September of that year. (It would arrive in the States in January 1971.) While Sabbath amazingly knocked out the recording of their debut album in a single day, they would t...
R.I.P. Lee Kerslake, Drummer for Ozzy Osbourne and Uriah Heep Dies at 73
Lee Kerslake, drummer on Ozzy Osbourne’s classic solo albums and longtime member of Uriah Heep, passed away Saturday (September 19th) at the age of 73. The veteran musician died after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. The drummer’s death was reported by Ken Hensley, a fellow former member of Uriah Heep. “It’s with the heaviest of hearts that I share with you that Lee Kerslake, my friend of 55 years and the best drummer I ever played with, lost his battle with cancer at 03:30 this morning,” wrote Hensley. “He died peacefully, praise The Lord, but he will be terribly missed.” He continued, “I know many of you were praying for him not to suffer and I thank you for that and, now that Lee is at peace, our thoughts and prayers should turn to his wife Sue who will need all the support she ca...
Neil Young Releases The Times EP: Stream
Neil Young has released his new live acoustic EP The Times. To ensure the best audio experience possible (as Young is wont to do), it’s only available to stream on the Neil Young Archives website or Amazon Music HD. Sign up for AMHD here or listen via the embedded player below. The seven-track collection captures the “Porch Episode” of Young’s Fireside Sessions series from back in July. That performance introduced fans to the updated version of “Lookin’ for a Leader 2020”, which reworks the lyrics to specifically target Trump and the current US political climate in 2020. The EP takes its name from another featured track: a cover of Bob Dylan’s classic “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. The Times is rounded out by five cuts from various stages in Young’s catalog, all of which are particularly...
Joe Bouchard on How “Don’t Fear the Reaper” Made It Into Stephen King’s The Stand
Kyle Meredith With… Joe Bouchard Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Former Blue Öyster Cult bassist Joe Bouchard speaks with Kyle Meredith about his new solo album, Strange Legends, which finds the songwriter embodying several strange characters. Bouchard discusses the lost art of the rock instrumental, covering The Kinks, and his ability to make happy songs sound dark. He also discusses “Don’t Fear the Reaper” as an anthem for the apocalypse, its use in Stephen King’s The Stand, and the Cowbell Edition of this new LP. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Meredith digs...
Hans Zimmer Covered Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse” with a 32-Person Choir Over FaceTime
We’re one week past D-Day (that’s Dune-trailer day, of course) and everyone is still buzzing about Hans Zimmer’s epic arrangement of Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse”. Now Variety has the lowdown on how it all came together, with FaceTime, a socially-distanced 32-person choir, pandemic recording pods, and more. This behind-the-scenes tale began at Zimmer’s Remote Control studio in Santa Monica, CA. The 32-person ensemble was led by Edie Lehmann Boddicker, who had previously assisted Zimmer on The Lion King. At 63 years old, the legendary composer himself opted to minimize his human interaction, instead FaceTming in from his home studio, giving direction and offering suggestions. Boddicker described the quarantine choir as a “who’s-who” of Los Angeles session musicians, a...
G.E. Smith on Saturday Night Live and Jamming With David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and Roger Waters
Kyle Meredith With… G.E. Smith Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Legendary guitarist and side-man G.E. Smith speaks with Kyle Meredith about his new album with Leroy Bell called Stony Hill. Smith takes us through how he met Bell, what prompted the album, writing music with a message, and the duo’s concern for our country. The former Saturday Night Live band leader also talks about playing alongside greats such as David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Roger Waters, and Hall & Oates, covering Buffy Sainte-Marie, and writing a song that stretches back to his time with Jean-Michel Basquiat. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of m...
Marty Friedman and Members of Mastodon, Baroness, Lucifer Deliver Metal Cover of Fleetwood Mac Classic: Watch
The Two Minutes to Late Night YouTube channel continues to churn out impressive all-star quarantine covers each week as part of its “Bedroom Covers” series. The latest is a metal rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “You Make Loving Fun” featuring former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman and members of Mastodon, Baroness, Lucifer, and more. Friedman is one of metal’s premier guitarists, having appeared on Megadeth’s classic Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction albums, among others. For the Fleetwood Mac cover, he is joined by Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher on guitar; Baroness’ Nick Jost on bass; Lucifer’s Johanna Sadonis on lead vocals; Lucifer’s Nicke Anderson on drums; and Two Minutes to Late Night host Gwarsenio Hall (aka Jordan Olds) on guitar. Emily Panic and Mutoid Man’s Stephen Brodsky provi...
Donald Trump Thinks Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain” Is the “Greatest Music Video of All Time”
Donald Trump loves him some Guns N’ Roses. In fact, not only does Trump think “November Rain” is the “greatest music video of all time,” he’s made his staffers watch the video to prove his point. As Newsweek reports, Trump’s love of GNR’s “November Rain” video was revealed by Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The former White House Press Secretary mentioned the tidbit in her new book, Speaking for Myself, recounting the time Trump made her and White House Communications Director Hope Hicks watch the video in the Oval Office: “The president told Hope and me in the Oval he wanted the classic Guns N’ Roses song ‘November Rain’ added to his rally playlist. He told us it was the ‘greatest music video of all time,’ and made us watch it to prove his point, even though neither of us had disagreed.” Eventual...
Disturbed Cover Sting’s “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You”: Stream
Disturbed have had unquestionable success with cover songs in the past, and now the metal act is trying their hand at the classic Sting song “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You”. While Disturbed were already established as one of heavy music’s biggest bands, their 2015 cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” took them to a new stratosphere. An accompanying video for the song has racked up more than 600 million views on YouTube. On their Sting cover, Disturbed keep things fairly mellow for the first half of the track, with frontman David Draiman delivering clean vocals to start. At the 2:23 mark, Disturbed turn things up, with Draiman switching over to his powerful rasp and the band kicking in with heavy guitars and drums. “We have loved this song for a long time, and even ...
John Fogerty Mocks Donald Trump’s “Confounding” Choice of “Fortunate Son” at Rally
Yesterday, September 10th, Donald “Bone Spurs” Trump held a campaign rally in Freeland, Michigan. He de-planed to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s anti-war classic “Fortunate Son”, and if you’ve ever paid the tiniest bit of attention to the lyrics, you’ll agree with singer John Fogerty that it’s a “confounding” choice. The moment was recorded in a tweet by Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel, who called it “an entry for the “nobody listened to the lyrics” hall of fame.” The tweet quickly went viral, and today Fogerty issued his response. In a Facebook video called “Meaning behind Fortunate Son,” the legendary rocker broke things down so even a very stable genius could understand. “Recently, the President has been using my song ‘Fortunate Son for his campaign rallies,” the former C...
Suzanne Vega on Lou Reed: “His Artistry Was Always Something I Aspired to Myself”
Kyle Meredith With… Suzanne Vega Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Suzanne Vega connects with Kyle Meredith about her new live album, An Evening of New York Stories and Songs. Recorded in the legendary Cafe Carlile, the new set of songs paint a fading picture of the Big Apple — her longtime home. Together, the two discuss the loss of famous rooms across the city, coming up in the ’80s folk scene, and how her relationship with the metropolis has evolved over the years. Vega also talks about the darker side of community that led to the passing of her brother and how nostalgia reveals the ghosts left behind, one of which includes her friend Lou Reed. Kyle Meredith With… is an inte...
