How is this for a comeback: years after their 1990s heyday at the top of the charts, Brit-pop wonders Blur (see ‘Song 2,’ ‘There’s No Other Way,’ ‘Parklife’) are blazing trails again.
As the planet counts down to the quartet’s hotly anticipated performance alongside New Order and The Specials closing the London Summer Olympic Games, Blur has just revealed they will perform two new songs on Twitter via live worldwide video stream Monday. Nuts, huh?
It’s hard to imagine a more fitting headliner for this summer’s fabulously named Strummer of Love Festival saluting late Clash singer/songwriter Joe Strummer than his bandmate, Clash guitarist Mick Jones, who has just been confirmed for the event which marks the 10th anniversary of Strummer’s death.
Few song catalogs have aged as well as Fleetwood Mac’s. So the forthcoming Mac tribute disc featuring hip young things MGMT and Best Coast alongside ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Marianne Faithfull, the New Pornographers, the Kills and Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo with Dinosaur Jr. guitarist J Mascis is something to behold.
Just Tell Me That You Want Me arrives August 14 and a few tracks have surfaced online: Best Coast’s take on the Stevie Nicks classic 'Rhiannon' plus Gibbons version of 'Oh Well' and The New Pornographers' take on 'Think About Me.' Check them out below.
Remember how your Mom always said, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again?’ It appears Pete Doherty, British rocker and onetime paramour to supermodel Kate Moss, took that chestnut to heart.
The singer/songwriter – arguably as well known for his long battle with addiction and many brushes with the law as for his music with combos Babyshambles and the Libertines - has just cancelled three high-profile summer concerts to return to treatment in an effort to finally kick crack cocaine and heroin. Talk about a deadly duo.
It wasn’t the ultimate reunion, but it might have been the next best thing: the sons of the Beatles, musicians all, getting together to form a kind of supergroup that might tackle the hits of their famous fathers. At least, that was an idea James McCartney floated last spring when he suggested that Sean Lennon and Dhani Harrison were also game.
But Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has said sons Zak Starkey and Jason Starkey have both said they won’t participate.
Can you believe this man is age 65? Iggy Pop, courtesy Getty Images.
This is a great time to be a Trubie (better known as a die-hard fan of True Blood). Sinewy Stooges screamer Iggy Pop and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino are set to debut a collaborative track on the HBO vampire series. "Let's Boot and Rally," a duet between the pair, will play July 8 during the end credits of the fifth episode of the show's current and fifth season.
Brian Johnson (left) and Angus Young of AC/DC, courtesy Getty Images.
We correctly called this one last February, so permits us to gloat just a smidge. Teeny rock brawlers AC/DC, whose private label wines were such a hit in their native Australia that UK distribution soon followed, are gearing up to release their fabulously named Back in Black Shiraz, Highway to Hell Cabernet Sauvignon and Thunderstruck Chardonnay in the U.S.A.
It’s official: we are living in the era of the tell-all rock-and-roll autobiography. Witness recent titles from Rolling Stone Keith Richards, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, onetime-Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar, Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, KISS’s Ace Frehley and Stone Temple Pilot Scott Weiland to name a few. Next up – Duran Duran’s John Taylor.
The Beatles circa 1966, courtesy Getty Images.
File under bizarre. Even though the Beatles broke up some 40 years ago, a Russian health official has gone on record as saying the youth of his country have a major drug problem, and that he can trace it back to the Fab Four. Yes, really.
Peter Hook performing in 2006, courtesy Getty Images.
Now this is neat. Peter Hook, legendary rock bassist with Britain’s Joy Division and New Order - also onetime club owner and author - is the inspiration behind a new master's degree in Music Industry Management and Promotion at the University of Central Lancashire in England.
That ought to keep the kids in school.
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May 2012
