Classic Rock
AC/DC’s Brian Johnson to Release His Memoir The Lives of Brian in October
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-12T16:38:34+00:00“>April 12, 2021 | 12:38pm ET AC/DC singer Brian Johnson will tell his life story in his official autobiography, The Lives of Brian. The book is due out October 26th via Penguin Michael Joseph in the UK and Harper Collins’ Dey Street Books in the United States. The memoir will chronicle Johnson’s life and career from his early days in the UK as the son of a British army sergeant-major and an Italian mother to his years in the band Geordie to the daunting task of replacing the late Bon Scott in AC/DC. It will also touch upon the serious hearing issues that forced him to exit AC/DC in 2016 prior to his recent return to the legendary band. Penguin publishing directo...
Ted Nugent Thinks There Was COVID-1 through -18, Wonders Why There Weren’t Shutdowns Then
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-08T15:04:27+00:00“>April 8, 2021 | 11:04am ET Legendary guitarist and gun-toting purveyor of extreme right-wing views Ted Nugent has a bone to pick with the COVID-19 shutdown. He wonders why we didn’t have shutdowns during COVID-1 through 18, mistakenly thinking that COVID-19 is the 19th iteration of the contagious disease. Lamenting the fact that he won’t be back on the road anytime soon, The Nuge took to Facebook Live (transcribed by Blabbermouth) to declare, “This year’s tour is canceled again. The production companies won’t let us tour again this year. Dirty bastard, lying, scam, smoke-and-mirrors COVID-19 freaks.” That’s when he mistakenly and hilariously used non-factual lo...
R.I.P. “B.B.” Dickerson, War Co-Founder and Bassist Dead at 71
Morris “B.B.” Dickerson, co-founding member, co-vocalist, and bassist of War, has died at the age of 71. According to Billboard, Dickerson passed away Friday (April 2nd) following a long, undisclosed illness. War’s origins date back to the late 1960s, when Dickerson and several other future members of War served as the backing band for football player Deacon Jones. After record producer Jerry Goldstein caught the band in concert, he linked them up with former Animals singer Eric Burdon — and the rest was history. Burdon and War released their debut album, Eric Burdon Declares “War”, in April 1970. It peaked at No. 18 on US albums chart, due in large part to the hit single, “Spill the Wine”, which peaked at No. 3 on the singles chart. The group’s sophomore double album, The Black-Man’s...
Robert Fripp and Toyah Celebrate Easter Sunday with Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast”: Watch
Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox are celebrating Easter Sunday in a devilish way. For their latest “Sunday Lunch” performance, they take on the Iron Maiden classic “The Number of the Beast”. Leave it to the quirky married couple to pay homage to the devil on the day Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The pair are once again joined by a mysterious guitarist, as they were last week with their performance of ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’”. Looking like a naughty Easter Bunny, Toyah holds three carrots in her hand as she sings the metal opus. At one point she impressively holds a note for 10 seconds, giving Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson a run for his money. “The Number of the Beast” is the title track to Maiden’s third album, and their first with Dickinson. It’s consi...
Fugees Built New Classics Out of Old Staples
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Consequence of Sound and Sony present The Opus, an exploration of legendary albums and their ongoing legacy. For Season 13, host Jill Hopkins (The Moth Chicago, Making Beyoncé podcast) will explore the Fugees’ second and final album, The Score. So much of hip-hop is built on the notion of creating something from something. Call it covering, call it borrowing, call it sampling, but don’t call it unoriginal. For decades, samples have helped musicians turn some of greatest hits into even greater hits. Fugees are no exception to this. In fact, they built upon this legacy, The samples and covers included on 1996’s The Score range from The Delphonics to Enya — and yet they’re seamlessly woven together to create a distinct, si...
Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi on “Rock Is Dead” Theory: “I Don’t Think Rock Is Going to Die”
For years, Gene Simmons of KISS has voiced his opinion — on several different occasions — that “rock is dead.” In a feature in Esquire magazine in 2014, the blood-spitting bassist-singer provided such quotes as “Rock is finally dead” and “The death of rock was not a natural death. Rock did not die of old age. It was murdered.” However, fellow rock legend Tony Iommi has a different opinion on the state of rock music. At the beginning of this year, Simmons reiterated his “rock is dead” claim in an interview with Gulf News, and then fully explained his theory in an interview with Heavy Consequence. He told us, among other reasons, “That kid living in his mom’s basement, decided one day that he didn’t want to pay for music. He wanted to download and file share. And that’s what killed the chanc...
Robert Fripp and Toyah Slice Their Way Through ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’”: Watch
Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox continue their “Sunday Lunch” quarantine series with a slice of the ZZ Top hit “Gimme All Your Lovin’”. This time around, the couple is joined by a mysterious second guitarist and two pairs of scissors. In both a musical and visual tribute to ZZ Top, King Crimson founder Fripp and the mystery guitarist are sporting hats and super-long beards in honor of the legendary Texas rock act’s Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill. Toyah, meanwhile, looks like a burlesque cross between Sweeney Todd and Edward Scissorshands (both played by Johnny Depp), with her eyelashes conjuring up images of Malcolm McDowell’s sociopathic Alex in A Clockwork Orange. Not to mention, she’s wearing a top that more than rivals the see-through number she wore in the couple’s viral performanc...
Paul McCartney and Beck Share New Version of “Find My Way”: Stream
Paul McCartney and Beck have released “Find My Way”, a new single from McCartney’s upcoming McCartney III Imagined album. Stream the visualizer video below. The cover transforms the whimsical classic rock song into a disco-funk tune and finds Beck having a bit of fun with a vocoder. “You never used to be afraid of days like these / But now you’re overwhelmed by your anxieties,” he sings on the chorus. “Let me help you out, let me be your guide / I can help you reach the love you feel inside.” “Find My Way” is the opening track from McCartney’s new album, which features artists like St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, Anderson .Paak, Damon Albarn, and Blood Orange covering and/or reimagining a particular track from McCartney III, which The Beatles bassist originally released in December 2020...
Gibson Unveils Tom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower Acoustic Guitar
Gibson has announced the new Tom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower signature acoustic guitar. The beautiful instrument is inspired by the Gibson acoustic commissioned by the late rock legend in 1996 and used on the Wildflowers album — hence the guitar’s name. “It is so incredible to see the SJ-200 design our Dad worked on so long ago, lovingly brought to fruition with his longtime guitar tech and friend Alan Weidel and the craftsmen and women at Gibson guitars,” commented Tom Petty’s daughter Adria Petty in a press announcement. “There has been much effort made to make certain this guitar lives up to Tom’s musical standards and the specs he wanted for a best-in-class instrument,” she continued. “Alan Weidel has put this instrument through its paces as he has with all Tom Petty signature guitar model...
Paul Stanley on Soul Station, His Favorite Singers, and Whether KISS Will Complete Their Farewell Tour
For several years, KISS singer-guitarist Paul Stanley has been moonlighting as the frontman for Soul Station — a musical collective that focuses on covers of vintage soul and R&B classics of the ‘60s and ‘70s (as well as some originals that sound as if they were cut from the same musical cloth). But it was not until this month that the band finally issued their debut album, Now and Then. And it turns out the wait was certainly worth it — Stanley’s voice is in fine form throughout, especially on covers of the Five Stairsteps’ “O-O-H Child” and Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”, among others. The singer, who forgoes rhythm guitar when fronting Soul Station, spoke with Consequence of Sound shortly before the arrival of Now and Then, which you can pick up here. Not only did he discuss Soul ...
Thin Lizzy’s Ricky Warwick: “Rock & Roll Ain’t Dead, It’s Just Lost Its Mystery”
Kyle Meredith With… Ricky Warwick Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders frontman Ricky Warwick hops on the line with Kyle Meredith to talk about When Life Was Hard and Fast. The new solo record finds the Irish songwriter taking stock of the past and Warwick tells us about having Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and Guns N’ Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed as guests, the loss of mystery in rock, and carrying Thin Lizzy’s legacy forward. There’s also a bonus disc of covers on the new record, and Warwick talks about covering the Britney Spears classic “Baby One More Time”. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide b...
Greta Van Fleet Share New Song “Broken Bells”: Stream
Greta Van Fleet are prepping for the release of their highly anticipated sophomore album, The Battle at Garden’s Gate, out April 16th. Now the band has shared the anthemic new single, “Broken Bells”. A coming-of-age song of sorts, the track again sees Greta Van Fleet expanding their sonic palette beyond the restrictive classic-rock pastiche of their debut record. The prog-like Rush influences and subtle folk flourishes add new colors to the band’s sound. For the third consecutive single, Greta Van Fleet push the song past the five-minute mark as they stretch their musical ideas. “Broken Bells is what the fetter of society does to impact a pure and innocent soul,” bassist Sam Kiszka said in a press release. “Our intention is to remove the obligation of generational synthetic expectations; b...
