music blog
Will Forte Returns to SNL: The Five Best Sketches
Will Forte isn’t one of those Saturday Night Live stars who went on to superstardom, like Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, or Eddie Murphy, nor was he ever really a spotlight player who remained a fixture even after he left the show, like Kristen Wiig or Bill Hader. As he alluded to in the opening monologue of his first SNL hosting gig this weekend, most of the people he used to work with on the show have already returned to host: Wiig, Hader, Andy Samberg, Seth Meyers, frequent co-conspirator Jason Sudeikis, and even fellow weirdo Fred Armisen. Saving the best for “way last,” as he put it in his monologue, is typical of Forte’s actual tenure on the show, which was long (eight seasons), distinguished (the vast majority of Forte-focused sketches are very funny), and at his own pace. As such, his...
Ozzy Osbourne’s CryptoBatz NFTs Hit by Scam That Bilked Users Out of Thousands of Dollars
A few weeks ago, Ozzy Osbourne announced his new CryptoBatz NFT collection, making 9,666 unique digital bat designs available to those willing to part with their cryptocurrency. Now it turns out that a large number of people were scammed out of thousands of dollars worth of crypto thanks to a bad link shared by the project’s official Twitter account and website. As tech site The Verge reports, Cryptobatz uses the site Discord for its transactions and initially used the shot URL “discord.gg/cryptobatznft” (do NOT click) in its Twitter posts. Somewhere along the line, the official short link was changed to discord.gg/cryptobatz, but hackers took advantage of the old URL to set up a fake Discord site. Unfortunately, Ozzy and his partner companies still left up the old Tweets with the old link...
The Weeknd Breaks Record for Most Spotify Listeners
On the heels of his fifth studio album Dawn FM, The Weeknd has now broken the record for the most Spotify listeners. The Toronto-born artist now has over 86 million monthly listeners on the popular music-streaming service. Previously, the record was held by fellow Canadian Justin Bieber whose Spotify monthly listener count currently rests at 81.8 million. Behind Justin Bieber are Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Ariana Grande. The sudden push in listener count for the Weeknd comes as the artist’s latest project Dawn FM was released earlier this month on January 7. So far, the album has set a new record for the Billboard Global 200 chart with 24 charting songs, making the most ever by a solo male artist. Additionally, Dawn FM debuted at No.1 on Apple Music in the U.S. and in 125 countries, in ...
SAXON’s BIFF BYFORD Didn’t Understand JUDAS PRIEST’s ‘Strange’ Decision To Tour As Quartet: ‘It’s A Bit Wacky’
SAXON frontman Biff Byford says that it was “strange” for JUDAS PRIEST to announce its plan to embark on the next leg of its 50th-anniversary tour as a quartet. On January 10, JUDAS PRIEST revealed that it would perform as a four-piece when it returns to the road in early March. A few hours later, the band’s touring guitarist Andy Sneap, who co-produced the group’s 2018 album “Firepower” and has helmed several SAXON LPs in the past, released a statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET in which he said that he was “incredibly disappointed” by PRIEST‘s decision to carry on as a quartet and thanked the Rob Halford-fronted outfit for the “mind-blowing” opportunity to share the stage with one of his favorite bands. Meanwhile, PRIEST fans wer...
BLACK VEIL BRIDES’ ANDY BIERSACK Opens Up About Getting Sober More Than Six Years Ago
During an appearance on MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn‘s “No Fuckin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn” podcast, BLACK VEIL BRIDES singer Andy Biersack spoke about his decision to get sober more than six years ago. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It was just one of those situations where I was so young. All I wanted in the world was to be in a rock band and to go on tour and to get to do this thing that I had this dream to do. I didn’t really socialize much growing up. Basically, my childhood was I’d play sports and then I’d come home and I’d paint my face and I’d sing into the mirror and then I’d go to hockey practice or whatever and then I’d come back and paint my face and sing into a mirror and dream of drawi...
STRYPER’s Upcoming Album Will Feature Lyrics That Address ‘The State Of This World’: ‘We’re In A Much Darker Place These Days’
Michael Sweet of openly Christian rockers STRYPER says that he is “more concerned with the state of our world” as he continues to work on lyrics for the band’s upcoming 14th studio album. STRYPER‘s follow-up to 2020’s “Even The Devil Believes” LP will once again be recorded at SpiritHouse Recording Studios in Northampton, Massachusetts. Earlier today (Sunday, January 23), the 58-year-old guitarist/vocalist, who recently underwent surgery for a re-detached retina, took to his social media to write: “I’ll be honest. I’m a little nervous about the new album. Not the music itself but more so the process. “We’re obviously not operating at 100%,” he continued. “Oz [Fox, STRYPER guitarist] lost the hearing in his ...
Watch DEATH ANGEL Perform In San Francisco
DEATH ANGEL played a homecoming show last night (Saturday, January 22) at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, California. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below. DEATH ANGEL released a new live album titled “The Bastard Tracks” last November via Nuclear Blast. Recorded live at The Great American Music Hall on May 22, 2021, and streamed live soon after, “The Bastard Tracks” is a deep-cuts collection of rarely and never performed songs from the band’s catalog that was released digitally and on CD, vinyl and Blu-ray. In December 2020, DEATH ANGEL streamed its seventh annual “Another Death Angel XMas Show” from The Great Northern in San Francisco. In October 2020, DEATH ANGEL released a four-song EP, “Under Pressure...
Ana De Armas Superfans Sue Universal for Cutting Her Scenes from Yesterday
There’s a lot of faults to Yesterday, the 2019 musical rom-com that imagined a world in which The Beatles never existed. But of all the reasons to gripe about it, two fans chose a really strange one to bring to court against Universal Pictures: The fact that Ana De Armas‘ scenes were cut from the film. The fans in question, Conor Woulfe and Peter Michael Rosza, filed a consumer protection class action lawsuit alleging “deceptive, and misleading advertising.” Apparently, trailers for the film led them to believe that De Armas had a major role, which was ultimately taken out of the film before it hit streaming. Woulfe and Rosza evidently spent about $8 total to watch the film, which — as their lawsuit implies — was wasted due to De Armas’ absence. Though Yesterday‘s main love inter...
Sundance Review: You Won’t Be Alone is Staggering, Contemplative Folk Horror
This review is part of our coverage of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The Pitch: In 19th-century Macedonia, a young girl is born to a woman in a remote mountain village. But mere days after her birth, the mother is approached by Old Maid Maria (Anamaria Marinca), a mysterious, ancient witch — covered in flame-scarred skin — who lives outside the village and takes the blood of first-born children. Fearing for her child’s life, the mother takes her to a remote mountain cavern free from the witch’s influence, keeping her there for sixteen years without any other human contact. Eventually, the witch comes for her anyway, and soon the girl is transformed into a witch-creature like her, living under yet another stifling parental environment. Before long, she’s left to wander the Macedonia...
Meat Loaf Cried When ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’ Hit No. 1, His Daughter Recalls
It wasn’t until 1993, years after the late ’70s release of his breakthrough, massively successful album Bat Out of Hell, that Meat Loaf actually had the first Hot 100 No. 1 song of his career with the epic “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” leading the album Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell. That moment brought tears to the late singer’s eyes, his daughter Amanda Aday remembers. Explore Explore Meat Loaf See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Aday spoke to People about her dad, born Marvin Lee Aday, after he passed away at age 74 on Jan. 20. “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, and his Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell album went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200. I...
Neve Campbell Reacts to The Weeknd Name-Dropping Her on ‘Here We Go… Again’
Scream star Neve Campbell is referenced on a track on The Weeknd‘s new album, Dawn FM. But when she found out, she was a bit confused. The Weeknd sings the lyric “I loved her right, make her scream like Neve Campbell” on “Here We Go… Again,” which features Tyler, the Creator. The actress — whose latest film, the fifth title in the Scream series, recently relaunched the horror franchise with a $35 million opening — was asked about the album shout-out on her appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden earlier this week. Explore See latest videos, charts and news “How crazy is that? It’s pretty crazy,” she initially said, before admitting, “Well at first, my publicist told me, and she was like, ‘The Weeknd,’ and I was like, ‘Wait, which weekend? Last weekend?’ I had no idea what s...
PAUL STANLEY On Turning 70: ‘I’m A Work In Progress But Am Always Striving To Do Better’
KISS frontman Paul Stanley, who turned 70 on Thursday, January 20, has thanked fans for their well wishes and support. On Friday, the singer and rhythm guitarist, who was born Stanley Eisen in New York City, took to his social media to write: “Thank You For All Your Kind Birthday Wishes. “In recent years I’ve started to see my birthdays as a time for me to reflect on the past year and assess my life and actions rather than purely celebrating my making it through another year (which frankly I had little to do with). Did I tell my family and dear friends that I love them and did I show them? Did I embrace people with acceptance, tolerance and giving some the benefit of the doubt? Did I appreciate the daily gifts and miracles around me? I’m a work in progress but am al...
