The iconic ’90s clip, which was first uploaded to YouTube in 2009, is Nirvana’s first to cross the 2 billion views threshold. It previously hit 1 billion views in 2019.
In the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video, Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl are seen rocking out in a grimy gymnasium alongside anarchist cheerleaders and moshing teens. The song, which was released as the lead single off Nirvana’s 1991 album, Nevermind, and its video came to represent the angst felt by the generation’s youth.
In February, Grohl and Novoselic reunited for SNL50: The Homecoming Concert and performed “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” with Post Malone taking on the role of the late Cobain.
Founding Beach Boys singer, songwriter and creative mastermind Brian Wilson has died. He was 82.
“We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now,” read a post on Wilson’s Facebook page. “Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world,” with the post signed, “Love & Mercy.”
One of the most significant figures in pop music’s acceptance as an art form, Wilson wrote the music to nearly all of his famous band’s best-known songs, from their early surf-rock classics to their more complex recordings of the mid-1960s and beyond. Wilson’s catalog includes the timeless hits “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Surfer Girl,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” “Help Me, Rhonda” and “California Girls.”
With his gift for vocal harmonies and musical arrangements, Wilson helped craft one of the most celebrated albums of all time, The Beach Boys’ 1966 release Pet Sounds, as well as its follow-up single, “Good Vibrations.” Paul McCartney has said that Pet Sounds was a huge influence on The Beatles‘ 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
But Wilson’s work with the Beach Boys was severely impacted by the mental health issues he’d experienced since his 20s. In 1975, those issues, combined with over-indulgence in food, alcohol and drugs, led him to come under the care of controversial psychologist Dr. Eugene Landy, who ultimately became Wilson’s therapist, business manager, executive producer and even co-songwriter.
Wilson’s family, concerned about Landy’s undue influence on the musician, the fees he charged and the amount of medication he’d prescribed, moved to sever Landy’s relationship with Wilson. In 1989, Landy’s license was revoked due to alleged ethical violations, but he worked with Wilson until 1992, when he was legally barred from contacting him again. Their relationship was documented in the 2014 biopic Love & Mercy.
Wilson’s relationship with his bandmates was difficult for decades. His last album with The Beach Boys, That’s Why God Made the Radio, was released in 2012, coinciding with the band’s 50th anniversary. In recent years, Wilson focused on his solo career; his last studio album, At My Piano, was released in November 2021 and featured solo piano versions of many classic Beach Boys songs. Starting in 1999, he also toured on and off as a solo artist.
In early 2024, Wilson was placed under a conservatorship after the death of his wife, Melinda Wilson, who he married in 1995 and with whom he had adopted five children. “This decision was made to ensure that there will be no extreme changes to the household and Brian and the children living at home will be taken care of and remain in the home,” his manager said in a statement. Melinda was credited with helping separate Wilson from Landy.
Wilson was the subject of three authorized documentaries: 2021’s Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, 2004’s Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of ‘Smile’ and 1995’s Brian Wilson: I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times. In 2024 he participated, along with his former bandmates, in the Disney+ documentary The Beach Boys.
His many career achievements included induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with The Beach Boys in 1988, induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000 and being recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007.
Wilson’s daughters Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson are also chart-topping musicians, having made up two-thirds of the bestselling ’90s pop group Wilson Phillips.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Crossroads Guitar Festival
Eric Clapton is shooting down rumors about his health.
A story on Radar claims that the three-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has been using a wheelchair due to a nerve disease, but the report is now being shot down.
“There is no validity to the false information circulating online claiming Eric is reliant on a handicap-equipped van and wheelchair to attend his shows,” reads the post on Clapton’s Facebook page. “Eric has just finished a residency at The Budokan in Tokyo, and a highly successful tour in England, Italy, and France and is in excellent physical condition, singing and playing better than ever.”
The post even adds a photo of Clapton performing at London’s Royal Albert Hall in May as proof he’s doing OK.
Clapton is scheduled to play several shows in the U.S. this fall. His tour kicks off Sept. 8 in Nashville, with shows in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston and New York before wrapping Sept. 20 in Uncasville, Connecticut. A complete schedule can be found at EricClapton.com.
The Atlantic City Police Department announced on Facebook that they have recovered the rocker’s custom purple sparkle baritone Telecaster, which had been stolen from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City following Heart’s performance there May 31.
Garfield Bennett was arrested for the theft on June 5. The statement from the ACPD says officers had tracked his movements using surveillance cameras, which showed that he gave the guitar to a woman. They then ran the woman’s license plate and were able to locate the guitar, which was voluntary surrendered. The woman said she had purchased the guitar from Bennett.
“The guitar has been turned over to representatives of the Hard Rock Atlantic City who will be turning the instrument over to the Heart band members,” the statement says.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the Atlantic City Police Department for recovering my guitar—it means so much to have it back in my hands,” Wilson says in a statement obtained by ABC Audio. “Their dedication and quick action are deeply appreciated.”
The investigation into the other missing instrument, a vintage 1966 Gibson EM-50 mandolin belonging to band member Paul Moak, continues.
Wilson notes that they are still “hoping for the safe return” of Moak’s instrument, sharing, “This instrument holds tremendous sentimental and musical value. A reward is still being offered—no questions asked—for its return. We just want to see it come home where it belongs.”
Bennett has been charged with burglary and theft in connection with the case.
Beatles legend Paul McCartney married his second wife, Heather Mills, a former model and activist, whose leg was amputated in 1993 after she was run over by a police motorcycle in London.
The couple wed at Castle Leslie in the village of Glaslough in County Monaghan, Ireland, with the celebration attended by several celebrities, including McCartney’s Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr.
The wedding took place four years after the death of McCartney’s first wife, Linda McCartney, from cancer.
McCartney and Mills welcomed their first and only child together, daughter Beatrice, in 2003, and three years later announced they had separated, with their acrimonious divorce finalized in 2008.
McCartney went on to marry a third time, to New Yorker Nancy Shevell, in 2011. They are still married to this day.
R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe is one of the many artists contributing to a new double vinyl compilation called Democracy Forward, dropping July 4.
The double album is being released by the legal organization Democracy Forward and The Bitter Southerner, with Stipe’s contribution listed as “Invocation.”
Other artists on the album include Wilco, Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Jim James, John Prine and Tyler Childers.
Proceeds from the album benefit Democracy Forward, which is dedicated to defending democracy, the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.
“Democracy Forward is committed to using every legal tool available to protect our nation’s values, its people and the rule of law. We are also determined to help people build community, find courage and fight for their rights,” Skye L. Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, shares on the album’s sleeve. “We are grateful to the incredible artists who are supporting these goals with their music and voices. Each of us has a role to play in strengthening our democracy, and every voice can make a difference.”
Back in March KISS announced the KISS Army Storms Vegas fan event, which will feature an unmasked electric performance by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, but now Stanley says plans for the event may be changing.
In a new appearance on the Broken Record Podcast, Stanley says they will still perform, but the plan is to make some changes so it more closely represents a KISS Kruise.
“It started off as something, honestly, that Gene and I kind of took a back seat in, and, honestly, we reached a point not too far in the past where we both said, ‘You know what? This isn’t the way we want it,'” Stanley says of the Vegas event. “And it’s going to go through some major changes to be what we think it should be,” noting, “we needed to put our big hands into this and we needed to steer the ship.”
KISS Army Storms Vegas will take place Nov. 14-16 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. In addition to Stanley and Simmons, it will feature KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer, along with former KISS member Bruce Kulick, SkidRow’s Sebastian Bach and others. Stanley says they also plan to add more bands to the bill.
“It doesn’t need a ship. It will have all the familiar touchstones that people love about a KISS Kruise,” he says. “To do it in Vegas at the Virgin hotel, it’s gonna be everything that people want and have been hoping for.”
Tickets for KISS Army Storms Vegas are on sale now.
Lenny Kravitz has paid musical tribute to Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Sly Stone, frontman of the legendary group Sly and the Family Stone, whose death was announced Monday. He was 82.
Kravitz shared video on Instagram of him playing guitar to Sly and the Family Stone’s classic track “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” captioning the post, “GOOD MORNING and THANK YOU SLY.”
Kravitz had previously shared a tribute to Sly on his Instagram Story, sharing a photo of the musician with the caption “Sly FOREVER.”
The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger also paid tribute, sharing a photo and writing, “Thanks for the inspirational music Sly.”
Bob Dylan appears to be throwing his support behind the upcoming album by Machine Gun Kelly.
Mgk just announced his new album, lost americana, will release on Aug. 8. He shared an album trailer, narrated by what certainly sounds like the “Like A Rolling Stone” singer.
“Lost americana is a personal excavation of the American dream, a journey to find what’s been lost,” the voice-over says. “This album is a love letter to those who seek to rediscover the dreamers, the drifters, the defiant. It’s a sonic map of forgotten places, a tribute to the spirit of reinvention and a quest to reclaim the authentic essence of American freedom.”
It continues, “From the glow of neon diners to the rumble of the motorcycles, this is music that celebrates the beauty found in the in-between spaces where the past is reimagined and the future is forged on your own terms.”
As for why Dylan would be voicing an mgk album trailer, you may recall back in February the folk legend inexplicably posted a video of the “Bloody Valentine” artist performing in a record store some years back. In a May social media post, mgk hinted that he’d since met Dylan.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive has extended their Roll On Down The Highway 2025 tour into the fall.
The “Taking Care of Business” rockers have announced eight new East Coast dates, kicking off Oct. 23 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The tour hits Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., before wrapping Nov. 3 in North Tonawanda, New York.
Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. local time.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Roll On Down The Highway 2025 tour is set to launch July 13 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Some of the dates are co-headlining shows with The Marshall Tucker Band, featuring Jefferson Starship as special guest.
A complete list of dates can be found at btoband.com.
