Images from Chris Cornell‘s final photo shoot are being auctioned off as NFTs.
The pictures were taken in 2017 by Randall Slavin, photographer and friend of the late Soundgarden frontman. They’ve been authenticated by Chris’ widow, Vicky Cornell.
You can bid on the NFTs starting Thursday, August 5, via the platform Cryptograph.co. Proceeds will benefit Phoenix House, which assists those struggling with substance use disorder.
Previously, images from Kurt Cobain‘s final photo shoot were also sold as NFTs.
Elena Di Vincenzo/Archivio Elena Di Vincenzo/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
Besides being the godmother of punk, Patti Smith also is an acclaimed poet and an award-winning author. So it’s no surprise Smith is the singer with the biggest vocabulary, according to a new study that ranks 200 different music artists based on their song lyrics.
Word.Tips, which conducted the study, found that Smith uses 217 unique words per 1,000 words appearing in her songs.
At #2 is legendary singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, with 199. Other veteran artists ranked in the top 20 include late Doors frontman Jim Morrison at #4, with 177; Free and Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers at #12, with 151; The Eagles‘ Don Henley at #17, with 149; Freddie Mercury at #18, with 148; and Gregg Allman at #20, with 144.
Perhaps surprisingly, Bob Dylan, the singer/songwriter considered by many to be one of the music world’s greatest wordsmiths, was at #44 on the list with 130 unique words per 1,000 — tied with David Bowie.
However, Dylan does top a separate list ranking the artists who have used the most unique words over the course of their entire career. According to the study, he has 12,285 different words in his songs. Prince is second on the tally, with 11,430; Elton John is third, with 9,467; Lou Reed‘s fourth, with 8,979; and Bruce Springsteen is fifth, with 8,862.
The artists that are part of the study came from Rolling Stone‘s list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time,” and a list of Spotify’s 100 most-listened-to modern stars as determined by Kworb.net.
John Mellencamp‘s recently announced documentary The Good Samaritan Tour 2000will premiere August 27 on Turner Classic Movies’ YouTube channel, and a companion live album will be released the same day.
As previously reported, the film focuses on Mellencamp’s 2000 trek of the same name, which featured a series of free, unannounced concerts held at parks, on street corners and in other public spaces in select major cities in the Midwest and on the East Coast. John played acoustic guitar at the shows, backed by only a viola player and an accordion player.
The doc is narrated by Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey.
Mellencamp co-produced the film, which was directed by Shan Dan Horan. The movie also includes special contributions from Nora Guthrie, daughter of late folk legend Woody Guthrie.
You can check out a trailer for The Good Samaritan Tour 2000 at John’s official YouTube channel. Following the movie’s debut, Mellencamp will appear as a guest programmer on the Turner Classic Movies network in September.
The soundtrack album, which is available for pre-order now, features 12 performances, including renditions the Mellencamp hits “Small Town” and “Pink Houses,” some deeper cuts from his catalog and covers of such tunes as Bob Dylan‘s “All Alng the Watchtower,” Donovan‘s “Hey Gyp” and The Rolling Stones‘ “Street Fighting Man.”
Here’s the full track list for The Good Samaritan Tour 2000 companion album:
“Small Town”
“Oklahoma Hills”
“In My Time of Dying”
“Captain Bobby Stout”
“Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)”
“All Along the Watchtower”
“The Spider and the Fly”
“Early Bird Café”
“Hey Gyp”
“Street Fighting Man”
“Cut Across Shorty”
“Pink Houses”
Life is ours, we live it our way. And that includes watching Metallica‘s “Nothing Else Matters” video many, many times.
The visual for the Black Album hit single has officially passed one billion views on YouTube, making it the first-ever Metallica video to reach the milestone.
“Nothing Else Matters” is also the just the sixth ’90s music video to join the billion-views club, following Nirvana‘s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Guns N’ Roses‘ “November Rain,” The Cranberries‘ “Zombie,” 4 Non Blondes‘ “What’s Up,” and Whitney Houston‘s “I Will Always Love You.”
Originally released in 1992 before being uploaded to YouTube in 2009, the “Nothing Else Matters” video shows Metallica working and hanging out the studio while recording their massive 1991 self-titled record, aka The Black Album.
Fittingly, “Nothing Else Matters” hit the billion-views mark just ahead of The Black Album‘s 30th anniversary, August 12. Metallica will be celebrating the occasion with a massive deluxe reissue and the 53-track Metallica Blacklist tribute album, both of which drop on September 10.
Carlos Santana has announced plans to release the first single from his band’s forthcoming studio album, Blessings and Miracles, later this month.
Coinciding with the news, the legendary guitarist has announced that the star-studded project will be released as part of a new global deal he’s signed with the BMG label.
“I am honored to partner with BMG to release Blessings and Miracles,” Carlos says in a statement. “I would like to thank everyone at BMG for sharing our collective commonality-vision to touch people’s hearts with energy, conviction and integrity. Now more than ever, we need songs and melodies to remind us that we are significant, meaningful and that life is full of blessings and miracles.”
BMG executive Thomas Scherer adds, “Listening to and feeling this album is an embrace of the source from where we all come from. Blessings and Miracles is full of joy, and we are grateful to be his partner in spreading this musical treasure to his fans and new fans everywhere around the world.”
Santana recently revealed to ABC Audio that Blessings and Miracles will feature guest appearances by Steve Winwood, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, Living Colour frontman Corey Glover and Fifth Harmony‘s Ally Brooke, among others. In addition, Carlos reported that hit-making songwriter Diane Warren and country star Chris Stapleton have contributed tunes to the album.
Carlos’ next performance will be at the star-packed “We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert” event taking place August 21 in New York City’s Central Park. The Santana band then is slated to kick off a new series of Las Vegas residency dates at the House of Blues on August 25. Check out the group’s full schedule at Santana.com.
Black Sabbath‘s reissue campaign continues with Technical Ecstasy.
An expanded edition of the 1976 record will be released October 1. Along with the original album remastered, the reissue includes a new mix by Steven Wilson of the prog band Porcupine Tree, various alternate mixes and outtakes, and live recordings from Sabbath’s 1976-77 world tour.
You can check out the remastered version of album opener “Back Street Kids” now via digital outlets.
Technical Ecstasy was Black Sabbath’s seventh studio album. It was also the band’s penultimate release before Ozzy Osbourne‘s firing in 1979.
This year, Black Sabbath has also released reissues of 1972’s Vol. 4, 1975’s Sabotage, 1980’s Heaven and Hell and 1981’s Mob Rules.
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello is on a “Highway to Hell,” and he’s brought Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder along for the ride.
That’s right, The Boss and Vedder are featured on Morello’s just-released new cover of the classic AC/DC song “Highway to Hell” that’s available now via digital formats.
The track will appear on Morello’s upcoming second solo album, The Atlas Underground Fire, which will be released October 15.
“Our version of ‘Highway to Hell’ pays homage to AC/DC but with Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder, brings this legendary song into the future,” Morello says in a statement.
Explaining how the cover of “Highway to Hell” came about, Tom notes that he played the song live a few times with Springsteen – and Vedder on guest vocals — when he was touring as a temporary member of Bruce’s E Street Band in Australia in 2014.
“I began to wonder, what does the most ferocious version of this song sound like in 2021?” notes Tom. “I put together a pretty rocking demo and sent it over to Bruce and Eddie with my fingers crossed. This is what we got back: one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll songs of all time, sung by two of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll singers of all time, and then I play a shredding guitar solo. Thank you and good night.”
The Atlas Underground Fire, which you can pre-order now, will feature a variety of other guests, including country star Chris Stapleton, reggae artist Damian Marley and many more.
Here’s The Atlas Underground Fire‘s full track list:
“Harlem Hellfighter
“Highway to Hell” — featuring Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder
“Let’s Get the Party Started” — featuring Bring Me the Horizon
“Driving to Texas” — featuring Phantogram
“The War Inside” — featuring Chris Stapleton
“Hold The Line” — featuring grandson
“Naraka” — featuring Mike Posner
“The Achilles List” — featuring Damian Marley
“Night Witch” — featuring phem
“Charmed I’m Sure” — featuring Protohype
“Save Our Souls” — featuring Dennis Lyxzén of Refused
“On the Shore of Eternity” — featuring Sama’ Abdulhadi
Guns N’ Roses debuted a new song live during their concert in Boston Tuesday. Well, sort of.
During their set, the “Welcome to the Jungle” rockers performed a track titled “Absurd.” While it now has a new title, the tune is actually a reworked version of the notably profane GN’R rarity, “Silkworms.”
“Silkworms” was one of the many songs written during the sessions for Chinese Democracy, the long-fabled Guns record that finally became reality in 2008 after a 10-year recording process. Though it was performed live in the early 2000s, “Silkworms” didn’t make the final Chinese Democracy track list.
You can watch fan-shot footage of the “Absurd” performance streaming now on YouTube.
Guns N’ Roses is currently in the middle of a U.S. tour, with support from Wolfgang Van Halen‘s Mammoth WVH. The outing was originally scheduled for 2020 before being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dee Snider released his latest solo album this past week, Leave a Scar, which the Twisted Sister frontman says is a true follow-up to his 2018 studio effort, For the Love of Metal.
Like For the Love of Metal, Leave a Scar finds Snider collaborating with Hatebreed‘s Jamey Jasta and exploring heavier, contemporary metal sounds.
Snider notes that while he left songwriting duties to Jasta and other collaborators for his previous album, with Leave a Scar, he felt motivated to co-write the new tunes, inspired by the state of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was very much driven by ‘I need to say something,'” Snider tells ABC Audio. “This record is of the time. Every song is inspired by what’s going on in the world, and what [we’re]…all going through.”
He adds, “It was the pandemic. It was the social unrest, the political unrest in the world. I mean, our country was a mess, but it was going on in England and Brazil and all around the globe.”
While the songs on Leave a Scar tackle some heavy subjects, Snider says he also wanted the tunes to offer messages of hope for people dealing with the frustration of life during the pandemic.
The album kicks off with “I Gotta Rock (Again),” a song in the tradition of Twisted Sister’s “I Wanna Rock,” only much heavier, that also serves as an anthem for rock fans itching to go to live concerts again.
“By the middle of COVID, ‘I Gotta Rock (Again)’ popped in my head and I said, ‘Boy, if there was ever a Dee Snider title, that’s [one] right there,” he explains. “[I]t was supposed to be an anthem. It was supposed to be a sledgehammer. And I’m hoping it achieves its goal.”
As previously reported, the collection was personally curated by McCartney and includes covers or remixes of McCartney III tracks by Beck, Blur‘s Damon Albarn, Queens of the Stone Age‘s Josh Homme, Radiohead‘s Ed O’Brien, Anderson .Paak, St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers and others.
The album sold 21,000 copies in the U.S. during the week ending July 29, according to MRC Data, driven by its release on CD, vinyl LP and cassette. Of that 21,000 sales figure, 16,100 were vinyl LPs, 4,300 were CDs and about 300 were cassettes.
McCartney III Imagined is the former Beatles legend’s third album to peak at #1 on the Top Album Sales tally in the chart’s 30-year history, following Egypt Station in 2018 and McCartney III in early 2021.
The album got its initial release in digital formats back in April. During its first week, it debuted at #60 on Top Album Sales, after selling 2,200 downloads.
