Pat Benatar released her second studio album, Crimes of Passion, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200, a position it held for five weeks.
The album featured three singles, the most popular being “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” which was her first top-10 hit. The other singles included “You Better Run,” which was the second music video ever aired on MTV, and “Treat Me Right,” which was a top-20 hit.
Crimes of Passion went on to be certified four-times Platinum by the RIAA. It also earned Benatar a Grammy for best female rock vocal performance, her first Grammy ever. She went on to win three more Grammys in the same category.
L-R Roger Daltrey, Zak Starkey and Pete Townshend of the British band The Who perform live on stage during a concert at the Waldbuehne on June 20, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns)
Drummer Zak Starkey has seemingly responded to new comments The Who’s Roger Daltrey has made regarding Starkey’s firing from the band.
In an interview with the U.K. publication The Times, Daltrey noted that comments Starkey made after The Who’s Royal Albert Hall show in March, where they appeared to have a disagreement on stage, were “kind of a character assassination,” adding that it was “incredibly upsetting.”
Well, now in a post on Instagram, Starkey shared text from an article quoting The Times piece, insisting in the caption, “I didn’t make any nasty comments about Roger when I got fired.”
At the Royal Albert Hall show Daltrey and Starkey appeared to have some words during the performance of “The Song Is Over,” but in The Times piece, Daltrey clarified that he was actually calling out the person handling his monitors.
“There was no conflict and no argument before the show or after as I was in my car on my way home before Pete (Townshend) and Roger had finished the last song ‘Tea and Theatre’ which is an acoustic duet and doesn’t feature any of the band,” Starkey writes, adding, “I thought the gig was ok. I had no idea about getting fired or any problems at all until a week after the show.”
He notes, “So either the times misunderstood or…confusion reigns O’er me and everyone else!”
Starkey says he thought the whole controversy over his firing “had blown over,” calling The Times story “old news and completely wrong.” He said he wasn’t going to respond to it but did so because the story “has been picked up by every outlet in the cosmos.”
Finally he writes, “I love Roger and he’s a f****** amazing singer – we go back too long for grudges.”
Joe Elliott of Def Leppard performs onstage during the Summer Stadium tour at Truist Park on July 13, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott is showing off his piano skills in a new video posted to Instagram, and it looks like he’s a little rusty.
“Allow us to introduce you to Sir Elton Joe,” reads the post’s caption, an obvious reference to Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and well-known pianist Elton John. “When you get a piano in your hotel room for the first time in 46 years of touring, you have to put on a show. Even if it is out of tune.”
The video opens with the time filming began, 12:56 a.m., and Elliott showing off the piano in his room. He then sits down and tries to play a few notes, messing up several times to the point where he begins cursing at himself and loses track of how many attempts he’s made at performing.
It ends with the clip noting the time he ended his attempts — 2:30 a.m.
Luckily for Elliott, fans aren’t expecting to see him behind the piano when Def Leppard takes the stage. Their next show is Saturday in Placer County, California. A complete list of dates can be found at DefLeppard.com.
Scorpions have released a live video of their track “Blackout,” recorded during the German rockers’ historic hometown show at Hanover Stadium Arena on July 5.
“Blackout,” the title track of their eighth studio album, is one of many songs that will appear on the upcoming album Coming Home Live, which captures their Hanover, Germany, concert that had the band celebrating their 60th anniversary in front of an audience of 45,000 fans.
According to setlist.fm, the Hanover show had the band performing many of their biggest hits, including “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “Wind of Change.”
Coming Home Live will be released Nov. 14 as a two-LP and two-CD set. It is available for preorder now.
The live album news comes as a film about the Scorpions, titled Wind of Change, is in production. The film will be directed by Alex Ranarivelo and stars The Last Kingdom’s Alexander Dreymon as guitarist and founder Rudolf Schenker; Generation War’s Ludwig Trepte as frontman Klaus Meine; You’s Ed Speleers as lead guitarist Matthias Jabs; and Interview with the Vampire’s Luke Brandon Field as drummer Herman Rarebell. It also features The Crown’s Dominic West as the band’s manager, Doc McGhee.
Official poster for Billy Joel: And So It Goes; Courtesy of HBO
Billy Joel’s daughter Alexa Ray Joel says her famous dad isn’t that impressed by his recently released documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, which is currently streaming on HBO Max.
“You know my father is really funny because [he’s] like the most self-effacing person on the planet right?” she tells the New York Post. “He never buys in his own hype.”
“I’m like, ‘You should be so proud of yourself!’ He’s like, ‘Eh,'” she adds.
“He’s just not a typical, like narcissistic guy in the spotlight — he just does not buy into any of it — he’s a true artist,” she says. “He so deeply introverted, he’s really actually a shy person.”
As for what he said about the two-part doc, Alexa reveals, “He’s like, well you know I’m kind of bored by it because it’s a lot about me and I get sick of me.”
Meanwhile, Joel continues to dip into his archives to share some classic performances with fans. The latest clip is of the AnInnocent Man track “This Night,” recorded June 9, 1984, at Wembley Arena in London.
More videos are expected throughout the year. He’s already shared a 1975 performance of “Piano Man,” an a cappella performance of his 1984 hit “The Longest Time,” a performance of “Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)” from a Columbia Records convention in 1993 and a performance of “Zanzibar” from the Houston Summit in 1979.
Ozzy Osbourne and Kelly Osbourne attend the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, CA. David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Kelly Osbourne is sharing her gratitude for those who’ve supported her and her family following the death of her father, Ozzy Osbourne.
“I’ve sat down to write this a hundred times and still don’t know if the words will ever feel like enough,” Kelly writes in an Instagram Story posted Monday. “But from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
“The love, support and beautiful messages I’ve received from so many of you have truly helped carry me through the hardest moment of my life,” she continues. “Every kind word, every shared memory, every bit of compassion has meant more than I can ever explain.”
The post marks Kelly’s first extended statement since the Osbourne family announced Ozzy’s death on July 22. Previously, she’d only posted the opening lyric of the Black Sabbath song “Changes”: “I feel unhappy I am so sad. I lost the best friend I ever had.”
“Grief is a strange thing—it sneaks up on you in waves—I will not be OK for a while,” Kelly writes. “But knowing my family are not alone in our pain makes a difference. I’m holding on tight to the love, the light, and the legacy left behind. Thank you for being there. I love you all so much.”
Ozzy died just over two weeks after he played his final concert with his original Black Sabbath bandmates on July 5. That same weekend, Kelly got engaged to Slipknot‘s Sid Wilson.
The music of the Allman Brothers Band‘s Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts will once again be celebrated at the ninth annual Allman Betts Family Revival, a 20-date tour launching in November.
The trek will be hosted by Gregg’s son Devon Allman andDickey’s son Duane Betts and feature a performance from The Allman Betts Band.The lineup will also include special guests Robert Randolph, Amanda Shires, Eric Johnson, Cody Dickinson and Luther Dickinson, Dweezil Zappa and G. Love in select cities.
The tour is described as a celebration “infused with the spirit of brotherhood and musical camaraderie that defines the Allman Brothers legacy.” It kicks off Nov. 29 in St. Louis, Missouri, and features stops in New York, Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles and more before wrapping Dec. 21 in San Francisco.
Roger Daltrey is setting the record straight about the events that led to The Who’s firing of drummer Zak Starkey.
Problems arose with Starkey during The Who’s Teenage Cancer Trust shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall in March, with Daltrey appearing to call out Starkey’s playing during “The Song is Over.” In an interview with The Telegraph, Starkey suggested that Daltrey was actually the one who “got it wrong,” and Daltrey was not happy about that.
In a new interview with the U.K. publication The Times, Roger called Starkey’s comments “kind of a character assassination,” adding that it was “incredibly upsetting.”
Daltrey says he wasn’t “having a go” at Starkey onstage at Royal Albert Hall, but was simply telling the guy controlling his monitors that he was hearing too much sub-bass. He added that the audience had “a complete misunderstanding” of what was happening.
Starkey was fired by The Who in April, but then rehired by the band, only to be let go again in May.
As for why they decided to go with another drummer, Daltrey says, “We wanted to branch out and that’s all I want to say about it. But [Starkey’s reaction] was crippling to me.”
Daltrey and Pete Townshend are getting ready to kick off what they say is their final U.S. tour. While Daltrey says his voice is “still as good as ever,” he does have some concerns, noting, “I can’t tell you if it will still be there in October.”
He adds, “There’s a big part of me that’s going, I just hope I make it through.”
The Who’s The Song Is Over North American Tour begins Aug. 16 in Sunrise, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at TheWho.com.
Rod Stewart paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne during a recent concert, and he got a little help from AI to do so.
NME reports that during his Aug. 1 concert in Alpharetta, Georgia, near Atlanta, Stewart projected images of Ozzy on screen during his performance of “Forever Young,” but the Black Sabbath frontman wasn’t alone in them.
Fan shot footage shows that the tribute included AI-generated images of Ozzy posing for selfies with several other dead celebrities, including Prince,Tina Turner, Freddie Mercury, Kurt Cobain, George Michael, Michael Jackson and more. They are all set against a backdrop of clouds, suggesting they are all up in heaven together.
Ozzy Osbourne died July 22 at the age of 76.
After his death was announced, Rod paid tribute to Ozzy on social media, writing, “Bye, bye Ozzy. Sleep well, my friend. I’ll see you up there — later rather than sooner.”
The Kinks released their third single, “You Really Got Me,” in the U.K., where it became their first #1 hit and stayed on top for two weeks.
The tune was released in America that September and became a breakthrough hit for the band, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Guitarist Dave Davies created the distorted guitar sound in the tune by slicing up the speaker on his amp with a razor blade. The highly influential track has been described as proto-punk and early heavy metal.
The track hit the charts once again in 1978 after Van Halen covered it for their self-titled debut album and released it as their debut single. The Van Halen version peaked at #36 on the Hot 100.
