Classic Rock
Remembering Ronnie James Dio 10 Years After His Passing: Interview with Wendy Dio
It’s been 10 years since the world lost one of the greatest voices of heavy metal and hard rock, the iconic Ronnie James Dio. The singer had a legendary career, ranging from doo-wop bands in the late ’50s to a reunion with his onetime Black Sabbath bandmates as Heaven & Hell in the 21st century. Born Ronald James Padavona on July 10, 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Dio was raised in Cortland, New York, and became a trumpet player at an early age. Eventually, his vocal talents led him to singing in a variety of doo-wop and rock ‘n’ roll bands (including Ronnie Dio and the Redcaps). By the time he became the singer in Elf (earlier going by the name the Electric Elves), he began to find the style of music that best suited his voice – hard rock, and later, heavy metal. Elf opened shows ...
The Who’s Live at Leeds Remains a Peerless Document of Rock and Roll Power
Today, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of arguably the greatest live rock and roll album of all time. June 1969. Back from the brink, The Who are bigger than they ever imagined possible. With Tommy selling 200,000 copies in the first two weeks in the US alone, it was a remarkable turnaround for a band who, only a few months earlier, neared bankruptcy and calling it a day. In what must have seemed like the blink of an eye, the rock opera was born, and, with it, Pete Townshend ascended to his throne, the last high king of 1960s counterculture. With FM-friendly Tommy A-sides “Pinball Wizard” and “I’m Free” refining their “maximum R&B” down to proto prog-inflected rock, The Who found themselves zig-zagging across the world, topping major festival bills and — full testament to their expan...
Alice Cooper Unveils New Song “Don’t Give Up” to Offer Encouragement During Pandemic: Stream
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect communities around the world, Alice Cooper is offering words of encouragement in the form of a new song, “Don’t Give Up”. The rock legend shared the music video for the track, which was recorded remotely during isolation. Cooper recently invited fans to participate in the video, which features his band members performing separately while in quarantine. More than 20,000 fans responded, with many of them seen holding signs of the song’s positive lyrics in the clip. “‘Don’t Give Up’ is out today,” Cooper said in a press release. “It’s a song about what we’ve all been going through right now and about keeping our heads up and fighting back together. And whatever you do — don’t give up!” The song is pure positivity, a mid-tempo rocker that begins ...
R.I.P. Phil May, Frontman of UK Rock Band Pretty Things Dies at 75
Phil May, the longtime vocalist of UK rock band Pretty Things, has died at the age of 75. According to The Guardian, May died in a Norfolk, UK hospital due to complications from hip surgery. His death was not COIVD-19 related. May formed Pretty Things in 1963 alongside former Rolling Stones guitarist Dick Taylor. They were initially a part of the British blues rock scene, achieving six top 50 hits between 1964 and 1966. Their biggest single, “Don’t Bring Me Down”, peaked at No. 10 on the UK charts, while its follow-up, “Honey I Need”, hit No. 13. Despite their early success, and sharing the same management as Pink Floyd, Pretty Things failed to achieve the same international success as fellow rock bands of their times. They later attributed their lack of fame in the US to a decision to tou...
R.I.P. Astrid Kirchherr, Legendary Beatles Photographer Dies at 81
Astrid Kirchherr, the legendary rock photographer who documented the earliest days of The Beatles, has died at 81. Via The Guardian, Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn announced the news of her passing on Friday. No cause of death is known at this time. Born in 1938 in Hamburg, Germany, Kirchhherr became one of The Beatles’ earliest fans during their 1960 residency at Hamburg’s Kaiserkeller club. At the time the band consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best. Kirchherr convinced them to sit for their first photo session, and later became engaged to Sutcliffe until his death in 1962. In addition to capturing the band’s time in Germany, Kirchherr famously advised them to cut their hair into mop tops. Those hairstyles became one the band...
Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson Clarifies Health Status: “My Days as a Singer Are Numbered, Rather Than Days to Live”
After revealing that he was “suffering from an incurable lung disease” and that his “days are numbered,” Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson has issued a statement to clarify his comments. The legendary rocker assures fans that he’s still reasonably in good health and that he meant his “days as a singer are numbered.” The initial news of Anderson’s health came out of a preview clip for his appearance on Dan Rather’s AXS TV show The Big Interview, which aired on Wednesday night. In the video, Anderson told Rather, “I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told anybody in public before — I am suffering from an incurable lung disease which I was diagnosed with a couple of years back.” He went on to say specifically that he suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). While the c...
Slipknot, Coheed and Cambria, and KISS Cruises Rescheduled for 2021
Slipknot (photo by Raymond Ahner); Coheed and Cambria (photo by Thaib A. Wahab); KISS (photo by Kevin RC Wilson Planned 2020 rock cruises led by Slipknot, Coheed and Cambria, and KISS have all been postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as announced Thursday by the events’ producer Sixthman. A number of the production company’s other cruises and vacation festivals have also been moved to next year. Slipknot had already announced that their Knotfest at Sea cruise would be postponed, but now some specific details have been revealed. Instead of setting sail from Barcelona, Spain, as it was scheduled to do this August, Knotfest at Sea will now depart from Athens, Greece in August 2021. Exact dates will be announced shortly. In addition to Slipknot, the 2020 lineup was to feature Be...
Queen Streaming Legendary Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert on YouTube
Queen are streaming their 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness to raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts. The show will be available to watch on the band’s YouTube page for 48 hours beginning Friday, May 15th at 2:00 p.m. ET. The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert originally took place back on April 20th, 1992 at London’s Wembley Stadium. Queen’s surviving members Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon wanted to perform in Mercury’s memory, as the third greatest singer of all time died months earlier from AIDS. They broke out classics and hits alike in his honor with help from guest vocalists including David Bowie, Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey, Axl Rose, Elton John, Tony Iommi, James Hetfield, Seal, George Michael, and Liza Minnelli. Viewers are asked donate to ...
Jethro Tull Frontman Ian Anderson “Suffering from an Incurable Lung Disease”
Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson has revealed that he is “suffering from an incurable lung disease”. The rock legend added that his “days are numbered” in a conversation with Dan Rather for the veteran newsman’s show The Big Interview, airing Wednesday night (May 13th) on AXS TV. In a preview clip, Rather asked Anderson about the rigors of singing and playing flute onstage, to which Anderson responded, “I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told anybody in public before — I am suffering from an incurable lung disease which I was diagnosed with a couple of years back.” He continued, “I do struggle. I have what are called exacerbations — periods when I get an infection that turns into severe bronchitis and I have maybe two or three weeks when it’s really a tough job to go out there on ...
Guns N’ Roses Mock Trump with “Live N’ Let Die With COVID 45” T-Shirt
Guns N’ Roses have turned one of the most ironic moments of the pandemic into a charitable piece of apparel, selling a “Live N’ Let Die With COVID 45” t-shirt on their official merch site. Last week, President Trump toured a factory in Arizona that was manufacturing essential N-95 face masks while not wearing a mask himself. That was glaring enough, but the fact that Guns N’ Roses’ cover of “Live and Let Die” was blaring over the factory’s loudspeakers at the same time took the irony to a whole ’nother level. Now, a week later, Guns N’ Roses are commemorating the incident (and mocking Trump) by selling the aforementioned “Live N’ Let Die With COVID 45” t-shirt for $25 each. Better yet, 100-percent of the net proceeds are going to MusiCares, which has set up a COVID-19 relief fund to ...
Clutch’s Neil Fallon Crushes AC/DC’s “Riff Raff” with Members of Cave In, Converge, and more: Watch
The folks over at Two Minutes to Late Night have delivered yet another stellar quarantine performance, with Clutch singer Neil Fallon leading a rousing cover of AC/DC’s “Riff Raff”. Like the previous videos in the “Bedroom Covers” series, the AC/DC performance features each musician performing from his own home. Interestingly enough, this series was conceived before the pandemic, and a few of the artists recorded and filmed their contributions as early as January. Two Minutes to Late Night host Gwarsenio Hall (aka Jordan Olds), a constant in all of these videos, sings and performs bass on the AC/DC cover. He’s joined by drummer Ben Koller (Converge, Mutoid Man), and guitarists Stephen Brodsky (Cave In, Mutoid Man), Adam McGrath (Cave In, Wear Your Wounds), and Tom Draper (Carcass). Fa...
Almost Famous Cast and Crew Reunite for Origins Podcast
It’s all happening: For its 20th anniversary, the cast and crew of Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous are reuniting for James Andrew Miller’s Origins podcast. Ever the golden god himself, the award-winning author and host got everyone back on the bus. That includes Crowe, Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Zooey Deschanel, Jimmy Fallon, Peter Frampton, Nancy Wilson, and the list goes on. Below, Miller’s dropped a three-minute trailer chock full of quotes to get you pumped. The show begins soon, so subscribe to the series now and go get some BBQ, man. In the past, Miller’s Origins series has offered oral histories on Curb Your Enthusiasm, ESPN, and Sex & the City. He’s also published definitive tomes on Saturday Night Live and CAA.
