Rock
Alanis Morissette’s Such Pretty Forks in the Road Shines Light into the Depths: Review
The Lowdown: Alanis Morissette is back! After an eight-year hiatus, one of the ’90s pinnacle pioneers of alt rock is sweeping back into the spotlight with her ninth studio album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road. After four years of work and a three-month delayed release due to COVID-19, the album applies a trademark Morissette treatment — cutting lyrics and a voice that howls and croons and whispers as deftly as an arrow — to questions of adulthood, responsibility, and creativity to greater and more complete effect than what we’d last seen from her. The resulting album is extremely haunting, immaculately polished, and complexly kind. The Good: Such Pretty Forks in the Road finds Morissette exploring the tenuousness of fame, youth, and passion but in a way that thwarts that tenuousness in its...
A Statue of Prince’s Love Symbol Has Been Installed At Paisley Park
While the world is tearing down monuments of problematic historical figures, the grooviest statue in music has just been erected. Prince’s iconic Love Symbol now stands proudly at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota, home of the late singer’s studio and estate. A tribute to the late funk legend, the Love Symbol statue is 11 feet tall and 6 feet wide, and is decked out in Prince’s signature purple hue, as fans would expect. It’s positioned at the entrance to Paisley Park, where fans can take photos and pay their respects for free before paying admission to the compound. A plaque at the base of the statue features lyrics from the 1985 song “Paisley Park” and reads: “For love is the color/ This place imparts (Paisley Park)/ Admission is easy, just say you/ Believe and come to this/ Place in...
Korn Unveils Cover of The Charlie Daniels Band’s ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’
Korn has teamed up with YelaWolf to deliver a cover of The Charlie Daniels Band’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” In the new rendition, frontman Jonathan Davis trades off verses with YelaWolf as they take on the roles of “The Devil” and “Johnny” in the classic tale. “I’ve always said it, but country music is some of the darkest ever,” said Davis in a press statement. “Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and, of course, Charlie Daniels all turned pain into some really powerful music that sounded alive. ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia’ is a classic story, and we wanted to release it now to help others in need.” All proceeds from the track will be donated to Awakening Youth, a nonpr...
Machine Gun Kelly & Megan Fox Make Their Relationship Instagram Official
Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox have taken a new step in their relationship. The couple have officially made their love Instagram official. MGK uploaded a mirror selfie of the smitten duo sticking their tongues out on Tuesday (July 28), with the caption, “waited for eternity to find you again.” The duo sparked relationship rumors back in May when they were spotted together in public following the actress’ split from Brian Austin Green. Soon enough, Fox appeared in MGK’s “Bloody Valentine” video. Watch it below. [embedded content] You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards...
Bruce Hornsby Teams with Jamila Woods for “Bright Star Cast”: Stream
Bruce Hornsby is celebrating recent protests against racial inequality with “Bright Star Cast”, his new song featuring Jamila Woods. While this cross-generational collaboration may seem unexpected, both artists have long histories of addressing racism. The 65-year-old Hornsby has touched on prejudice several times throughout his career, including on his biggest radio hit, 1986’s “The Way It Is”. Then, too, there’s his decades-long relationship with Spike Lee, where he’s provided the musical backdrop to some of the most vital cinematic moments of the last 25 years. And as for the 30-year-old Woods, the fight against injustice is one of many plots that run through her two titanic albums, 2017’s HEAVN and the 2019 masterpiece, LEGACY! LEGACY!. “Bright Star Cast” is a rollicking funk-rock...
St. Vincent Shares Clip of Her “Fumbling” Through “Stairway to Heaven”: Watch
St. Vincent, photo by Ben Kaye There’s nothing like guitar stores, with their rows upon rows of unlimited potential, and the ever-present sound of overeager amateurs stumbling through famous riffs. Many such establishments are now closed, but to recreate that hallowed vibe, St. Vincent has shared a Led Zeppelin cover just in case you “missed the sound of someone fumbling through “stairway to heaven”.” The artist born Annie Clark posted the video to Instagram. She wore a fruit-covered robe with red-framed sunglasses, and chose a filter with the color saturation turned all the way to Vegas Strip. While the short clip doesn’t contain singing or any other words, she did add a short comment in which she honored and roasted guitar stores. Clark wrote, “Since guitar stores have been closed, I tho...
Fans Pick Little Mix’s ‘Holiday’ As This Week’s Favorite New Music
Little Mix‘s new single “Holiday” has topped this week’s new music poll. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (July 24) on Billboard, choosing the U.K. quartet’s latest pop gem as their favorite new music release from the past week. “Holiday,” which will appear on the group’s upcoming sixth studio album, brought in 63 percent of the vote, beating out new music by Taylor Swift, Logic, Maroon 5, J. Cole and others. The song offer a delectable bass line, top-notch vocals and sensual lyrics (“Touch me like a summer night, you feel like a holiday,” goes the chorus). Coming in second place on this week’s poll with 23 percent of the vote was Swift’s surprise new album, Folklore. The 16-song set, her eighth studio release, takes Sw...
Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac Co-Founder, Dies at 73
Peter Green, the influential blues rock guitarist and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, has died. He was 73. The musician’s death was confirmed by his family members in a statement shared with the BBC. “It is with great sadness that the family of Peter Green announce his death this weekend, peacefully in his sleep. A further statement will be provided in the coming days,” the statement reads. Born in London in 1946, Green began his career as a teenager in 1965 as the guitarist for John Mayall‘s Bluesbreakers, where he replaced Eric Clapton. Two years later, Green teamed up with drummer Mick Fleetwood to form Fleetwood Mac. The two later recruited John McVie on bass. Under Green’s direction, the early incarnation of Fleetwood Mac released three albums, starting with its 1...
Metallica & My Chemical Romance to Headline Rescheduled Aftershock Festival in 2021
Aftershock Festival 2020, originally scheduled for Oct. 9-11 in Sacramento’s Discovery Park, has been pushed back to Oct. 7-10, 2021, with Metallica and My Chemical Romance headlining. Danny Wimmer Presents, the music festival production and promotion company in charge of Aftershock, added a fourth night in partnership with Jack Daniels to the 2021 edition of the massive West Coast rock festival. “After all the harm caused by COVID-19, there is nothing that we wanted more than to be celebrating Aftershock with you this October at Discovery Park for what was going to be a monumental weekend,” the DWP statement read. “We, the artists, and Sacramento County all thought we had a shot at being the first post-COVID festival to happen. That really would have been incr...
Taylor Swift’s folklore Dismantles Her Own Self-Mythologizing: Review
The Lowdown: Born of isolation, Taylor Swift’s eighth album, folklore, interrogates the pop star’s self-mythologizing and turns her gaze outward. Created during the ongoing pandemic, Swift collaborated remotely on 11 songs with Aaron Dessner of The National, who shared orchestrations composed inside his own quarantine. The results lean toward modern folk and glitchy experimentation, abandoning pop bombast but not the drama of swelling strings or anxious percussion. The accompanying visuals depict a gloomy summer, and listeners can imagine Swift watching storms barrel across the Atlantic horizon and wandering old-growth forests in half-done braids, alone or with a companion socially distanced beyond the frame. Dropped on 24 hours’ notice without her typically painstaking roll-out, the 16 mo...
Bright Eyes, Semisonic Return to Billboard Airplay Charts With New Singles
The bands make their first bows since 2007 and 2001, respectively. Two veteran acts return to Billboard airplay charts, as Semisonic and Bright Eyes both bow on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay list dated July 25. Bright Eyes, led by Conor Oberst, debuts at No. 37 with “Mariana Trench,” from the band’s album Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, due Aug. 21. It’s the act’s second airplay chart entry, after Cassadaga single “Four Winds” reached No. 22 in June 2007. In between, the group released one album, The People’s Key, in 2011. That said, Oberst made a pair of Adult Alternative Songs visits between Bright Eyes entries’, both as part of groups. Monsters of Folk‘s “Say Please” hit No. 20 in November 20...
‘Total F*cking Godhead’ Author Corbin Reiff Details the Origins of Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun’
In his most recent book, TOTAL F*CKING GODHEAD: THE BIOGRAPHY OF CHRIS CORNELL (Out July 28), author Corbin Reiff presents the comprehensive life story of one of the most celebrated singers and songwriters in rock history — from his beginnings in Soundgarden, through Temple Of The Dog, Audioslave and beyond. In this exclusive excerpt, Reiff recounts the story behind the creation of one of Cornell’s most celebrated songs: “Black Hole Sun.” Chris had secured his place as the preeminent screamer in rock, but as he wrote this latest batch of songs, he tried to explore the full dynamic range of his voice. He went deeper, and remained more subdued in spots, which only made the moments when he took off into the stratosphere that much more explosive. Each of the tracks on Superunknown has it...
