Rock
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...
Marshmello Nabs First Streaming Songs No. 1 With Juice WRLD on ‘Come & Go’
“Come & Go” is also the fourth song to debut at No. 1 on Streaming Songs in 2020 and first since 6ix9ine’s “Gooba” in May. Juice WRLD and Marshmello’s “Come & Go” becomes the fourth song to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart in 2020, ruling the list dated July 25. “Come & Go” bows with 36.4 million U.S. streams earned in its first full tracking week (ending July 16), according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. The song follows Drake’s “Toosie Slide,” The Scotts, Travis Scott and Kid Cudi’s “The Scotts” and 6ix9ine’s “Gooba” as No. 1 Streaming Songs debuts in 2020, equaling the amount of No. 1 debuts achieved in 2017 and 2019. Only 2018, which saw 11 debuts atop the list, had more. “Come & Go” is Juice WRLD’s third Streaming Songs leader, following the two-week rei...
UK Music Magazine ‘Q’ Folds After 34 Years Due to Pandemic
British music magazine Q is publishing its final issue on July 28. The beloved long-running monthly, which has been integral to U.K. rock and alternative scene, will cease publication after 34 years due to financial constraints caused by the coronavirus crisis. “We’ve been a lean operation for all of my tenure, employing a variety of ways to help keep our head above water in an extremely challenging print market,” wrote editor Ted Kessler in his final Q editor’s letter. “Covid-19 wiped all that out. I must apologise profusely for my failure to keep Q afloat.” Parent company Bauer Media listed Q for sale among several other titles in May, following a sharp decline in sales and advertising revenue during the pandemic. The publishing industry ...
Linkin Park Speaks Out Against Trump After ‘In the End’ Appears in Campaign Video on Twitter
Linkin Park is speaking out against Donald Trump after the president’s team tweeted a campaign advertisement featuring the band’s music without its permission. On Saturday (July 18), Twitter removed a campaign-style video featuring a cover of Linkin Park’s 2002 song “In the End,” citing a copyright complaint. The video ad, originally posted by White House social media director Dan Scavino, was later retweeted by the president. “Linkin Park did not and does not endorse Trump, nor authorize his organization to use any of our music. A cease and desist has been issued,” Linkin Park tweeted Saturday. Twitter removed the campaign video after after receiving a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice from Linkin Park’s Machine Shop Entertainment, Reu...
Riley Keough Shares Touching Tribute to Her Late Brother Benjamin: ‘This Is True Heartbreak’
Riley Keough has broken her silence following the tragic death of her younger brother Benjamin. The 31-year-old actress took Instagram on Saturday (July 18) to share a touching tribute to Benjamin, who died July 12 by suicide at the age of 27. In her emotional tribute, Riley describes Benjamin as her “twin soul” and “best friend.” “Mornings are the hardest,” she captioned the post, which featured several photos of the siblings together. “I forget you’re gone. I can’t cry because of the fear that I will never stop. A pain that’s new to me.” Benjamin was the son of Lisa Marie Presley and grandson of the late Elvis Presley. Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that his official cause of death was a shotgun wound and the mann...
Mariah Carey, Ice Cube, Paul McCartney and More Remember John Lewis
The music community is mourning the loss of civil rights icon and longtime U.S. congressman John Lewis, who died Friday night (July 17) after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 80. Following his death, many artists took to social media to remember Lewis, who was the last last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, a group led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. He is best perhaps known for leading hundreds of protesters in the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. “Today we have lost a heroes’ Hero.. Thank you God for John Lewis’s life of service. Let us continue to try to walk his walk of truth. Rest in Power,” Mariah Carey wrote on Twitter. Other artists paying tribute to Lewis included Paul McCartney, Ice Cube, Lecrae, Katy Perry, Stevie Van...
Queen’s ‘Greatest Hit’ Notches U.K. Chart Milestone
Long live Queen. The legendary rock outfit’s Greatest Hits (Virgin) album chalks up an impressive milestone by passing 900 weeks on the Official Albums Chart Top 100, and is just the third album to do so. Released in 1981, the career retrospective is behind just Bob Marley & The Wailers‘ 1984 hits album Legend (933 weeks) and ABBA’s Gold compilation, the longest-running U.K. Top 100 album ever, with 949 weeks, according to the Official Charts Company. There’s one category in which Queen’s Greatest Hits reigns supreme. It’s the best-selling album in British recorded music history with more than six million copies sold, the OCC reports. The 900-week-plus accomplishment comes at roughly the same time the band celebrates 50 years since their first London gig, on July 18, ...
Robby Krieger Explores Jazz for His Upcoming Solo Project, But With ‘a Little Zappa, a Little Doors’
The album — the guitarist’s first in a decade — will arrive Aug. 14. One of Neil Young’s best-known lyrics — “It’s better to burn out than to fade away” — can be applied to numerous casualties of ’60s rock n’ roll. Yet despite the turmoil he has experienced over his career, Doors guitarist Robby Krieger has neither burned out nor faded away. Krieger wrote some of The Doors’ best songs, including “Light My Fire,” “Love Me Two Times,” “Touch Me” and “Love Her Madly.” And for the past 10 years, he has written jazz, blues and rock music from his home studio; guested on other people’s albums; formed the charity Art for a Cause to sell prints of his colorful paintings; and performed both Doors tunes and his solo material on tour. Now, a decade since his last album, ...
