Rock
Iced Earth Condemn Capitol Assault by Trump Supporters: ‘We Hope That All Those Involved That Day Are Brought to Justice’
A widely-distributed photo was posted on the D.C. Metropolitan Police site under “Persons of Interest in Unrest-Related Offenses.” In the image, a person resembling Schaffer can be seen pointing angrily at a camera with his index finger extended as he and dozens of others invade the Capitol building. The outspoken co-founder of the Tampa, Florida metal band has been identified by numerous outlets by his signature grey beard, left wrist tattoos that include “1776” and an American flag, as well as an Oath Keepers baseball hat from the group the Southern Poverty Law Center has described as a far-right anti-government militia organization. “We absolutely DO NOT condone nor do we support riots or the acts of violence that the rioters were involved in on J...
Lou Reed Keyboardist Michael Fonfara Dies at 74
In a lengthy, eclectic career that spanned more than 50 years, Fonfara performed with the 1960s rock bands The Electric Flag and Rhinoceros, Blackstone and Rough Trade, as well as adding “keyboard textures” on Foreigner’s multi-platinum 1981 4 album on the No. 4 hit “Urgent” and the track “Girl on the Moon.” Fonfara also recorded with the Everly Brothers, Grievous Angels, Cameo Blues Band and many others in a lauded career that included a 2000 Maple Blues Award honor for piano/keyboard player of the year. Fonfara’s final recording was Downchild’s Live at the Toronto Jazz Festival 50th anniversary performance in 2019, which featured guest appearances from Dan Akroyd, Paul Shaffer, Kenny Neal, Gene Taylor, Erja Lyytinen and David Wil...
Sex Pistols Limited Series From Danny Boyle a Go at FX
“It’s great to be back in business with Danny Boyle, an exceptional artist responsible for so many great feature films and TV series,” said Nick Grad, president original programming at FX. “Steve Jones was at the center of the storm that shook the rock establishment and we’re thrilled to have Danny and the rest of the creative team tell his story as a member of one of music’s most notorious bands — the Sex Pistols.” Pistol will center on Jones, who co-founded the Sex Pistols in the mid-1970s. It will follow his life from West London’s council estates to Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s boutique, Sex — one of the early centers of punk culture in London — and the band’s meteoric rise and fall. “Imagine breaking into the ...
Brian May Launches Wildlife Fundraising Fragrance ‘Save Me’
For superfans, May and Xerjoff are stocking an autographed 50ml bottle priced at €410 ($500), and the standard bottle is priced at €197 ($240). “This amazing man is doing something wonderful for animal welfare,” May wrote of Momo, captioning photos of the pair signing bottles with gold pens. Aside from wielding the axe on some of rock music’s indelible songs, May is a long-time advocate for wild animals and co-founder of the Save Me Trust, which has battled the U.K. government on badger culls, among other issues. May — or rather, Dr May — also received a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in 2017. The rocker endured a rollercoaster 2020, which at its peak saw May, his Queen bandmates and singer Adam Lambert fill stadiums on their Rhapsody tour, and enjoy the rollou...
Michael Anthony Regrets Not Resolving Issues With Eddie Van Halen Before Guitarist’s Death: ‘It Kind of Bothers Me’
The bassist, who joined the rock band in 1974 and was replaced by Van Halen’s son Wolfgang in 2006, said that the rocker hadn’t shared how sick he was. “Eddie was very private about how ill he was,” Anthony said. “We all knew he was ill, but it was a real shock to all of us.” Van Halen died on Oct. 6, 2020, after a battle with cancer. He was 65. While Anthony didn’t get a chance to repair his relationship with EVH, Sammy Hagar, the band’s second lead singer, revealed to Howard Stern in a statement that he and the guitarist had reconciled months before EVH’s death. “Eddie and I had been texting and it’s been a love fest since we started communicating earlier this year,” said Hagar, who joined the band in 1985. “We ...
Trent Reznor, Duran Duran & More Electrify at Davie Bowie ‘Celebration’ Tribute Concert
The one-night-only paid event also featured Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti and members of his final touring band. Duran Duran opened the concert with a spine-tingling cover of “Five Years,” the opening track from Bowie’s classic 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Dust and the Spiders from Mars. Watch the performance here. “My life as a teenager was all about David Bowie,” frontman Simon Le Bon wrote on social media in releasing a recorded version of the cover. “He is the reason why I started writing songs.” Smashing Pumpkins‘ Corgan also joined the show, delivering an emotional cover of the classic “Space Oddity.” Backed by Garson on piano, the hard-hitting performance featured Corgan’s impressive vocal range complemented b...
10 Times David Bowie Was the Coolest Man Who Fell to Earth
Editor’s Note: As we continue to celebrate the life and art of David Bowie, we take a look at some of our favorite Starman’s coolest moments. If you’ve missed any of the Bowie content we shared or reshared this week, you can experience it all again here. Five years ago, the sudden passing of David Bowie sent shockwaves through the whole landscape of popular culture. Born David Jones on January 8, 1947, Bowie was far more than just one of the most groundbreaking, expansive, and fearless musicians of his era; he was also an accomplished actor, painter, sociopolitical advocate, philanthropist, and much more. In a multitude of ways, then, his loss was so tragic and surreal because his life was so inspiring and matchless. (Hell, Flight of the Concords devoted practically a whole episode to him ...
Hip-Hop, Latin & Vinyl’s Popularity Grew in 2020 (Rock, Pop & CDs’ Did Not)
Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” (via Atlantic) was the top streaming song in 2020 with 1.3 billion on-demand streams, beating out Future’s “Life Is Good” featuring Drake (via Epic), which had 1 billion on-demand streams. Lil Baby’s My Turn (via Quality Control) was the No. 1 album for the year, generating 2.6 million consumption units, with Taylor Swift’s folklore (via Republic) coming in second at 2.2 million album consumption units — of which 1.3 million were from sales (including 796,000 from downloads), making it the year’s best-selling album. In fact, Swift placed four albums in the year’s top 200 albums, as her Lover album ranked No. 33 with 878,000 album consumption units; evermore was No. 70 with 569,000 units and 1989 was No. 116 with 428,000 units. For the 21st year in a...
Famous David Bowie Locations You Can Visit
Editor’s Note: Today, we continue our celebration of the life and art of David Bowie with On Location, a recurring series that brings to life the places you know from songs, album covers, and music history. Keep checking back all weekend for more new and reshared content reflecting on our favorite Starman. And, if you’ve missed anything, you can experience it all again here. While this week marks the five-year anniversary of David Bowie’s passing, it goes without saying that his indelible legacy makes his presence everlasting. Forever fueling his musicianship with innovation, Bowie left behind a tapestry of work that boasted colorful characters, imaginative lyrics, and an intoxicating nexus of fantasy and reality. In short, he was a visionary in every sense of the word. In addition to a vi...
David Bowie’s Covers of John Lennon and Bob Dylan Unearthed for 74th Birthday: Stream
Today, January 8th, would have been David Bowie’s 74th birthday. In honor of The Man Who Fell to Earth, previously unreleased covers of John Lennon and Bob Dylan have been unearthed for the public for the first time. The first recording is Bowie’s reimagining of “Mother”, which Lennon put out in 1970. This cover was originally recorded by Bowie in 1998 with longtime producer Tony Visconti. It was supposed to appear on a Lennon tribute collection, but the release never came to fruition. The other cover is of “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven”, from Dylan’s 1997 Grammy-winning album Time Out of Mind. Bowie recorded this version in 1998 while working on his live album LiveAndWell.com that came out the following year. The new Bowie recordings are packaged as a limited-edition two-song 7-inch ...
BTS Covered X Ambassadors For a New Ad and We Need the Full Version ASAP
BTS unveiled their cover of X Ambassadors‘ “Jungle” in a new Coca-Cola commercial on Monday (Jan. 4) in Indonesia. In the ad, the boy band’s version of the song plays over bottles of the fizzy drink being manufactured in a hip, music-driven Coca-Cola factory before being delivered around the world in the brand’s trademark red trucks. “I lost my mind, in the city of lights/ In the backstreets, buildings and the neon lights/ When I heard the thunder, I could feel the rain/ It’s the same to me, just a different name/ Won’t you follow me into the jungle/ Ain’t no god on my streets in the heart of the jungle,” the K-pop idols croon, transforming the rock trio’s foot-stomping 2015 hit with Jamie N Commons into a skittering, glitch...
The Magic of David Bowie in 10 Collaborations
Editor’s Note: We continue our celebration of the life and art of David Bowie with a look at 10 magical collaborations. Keep checking back all week for more new and reshared content reflecting on our favorite Starman. And, if you’ve missed anything, you can experience it all again here. David Bowie was a singular force, blurring gender and genre lines in a career that spanned over half a century. Along the way, he gifted listeners with a slew of memorable, solitary personas: Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, the Man Who Fell to Earth, the Goblin King, and, in his stunning final act, the Blind Prophet. While Bowie will rightly be remembered as a brilliant solo artist who consistently pursued new inspiration, he would be the first to tell you that his musical odyssey was never conducted a...
