Electric Lady Studios, a recording studio commissioned by Jimi Hendrix, opened in New York’s Greenwich Village. It was the first commercial studio owned by an artist.
Planning for the studio began in 1968. It was constructed specifically for Hendrix, who died just three weeks after its opening.
The studio went on to be a go-to spot for musicians, with artists such as John Lennon, David Bowie, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and more recording there.
A new documentary about the studio, Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision, opened in August in New York City.
Bruce Springsteen is turning 75 in September, and he wants fans to know that he has no plans to slow down.
During his show in Philadelphia Friday night, The Boss addressed any suggestion he and the E Street Band may be considering retiring.
Fan-shot footage posted to social media shows Bruce telling the crowd, “We’ve been around for 50 f****** years, and we ain’t quitting! … We ain’t doing no farewell tour bulls***! Jesus Christ! No farewell tour for The E Street Band!”
He also added, “Farewell to what? Thousands of people screaming your name. Yeah I want to quit that.”
As for the Philly concert, the second of two shows at Citizens Bank Park, Bruce treated fans to “My Love Will Not Let You Down” and “Waitin’ On A Sunny Day,” which marked the first time he performed both songs in the U.S. since 2016, as well as plenty of classics, like “Born To Run,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “Thunder Road,” “Glory Days” and more.
Bruce and the E Street Band launched the latest North American leg of their tour in early August. They are set to play Washington, D.C., on Sept. 7. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.
Legendary rock band the Grateful Dead will be the subject of a new Stanford Continuing Studies course this fall.
Did It Matter? Does It Now? The Music and Culture of the Grateful Dead is an eight-week course that kicks off Oct. 3, taught by David Gans, producer and host of the nationally syndicated Grateful Dead Hour.
The course will feature a variety of Dead-related guest speakers, including David Lemieux,Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager; Dennis McNally, former Grateful Dead publicist and author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead;and Jesse Jarnow, producer/host of The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast.
According to the description, the course “will feature a collection of stories and conversations with scholars and historians, each offering facts and personal perspectives illuminating every aspect of the Grateful Dead culture.”
It will use music from live and studio recordings “to learn what makes the Dead’s music-making unique and explore the broad musical universe the band created in its 30-year history.” The course will also explore the band’s impact on society, art, literature, social change and more.
The description notes, “By the end of the course, students will have a well-rounded appreciation for the roots, struggles, and milestones that shaped the Grateful Dead’s trajectory, an understanding of their profound impact on music and culture, and insight into a legacy that still resonates deeply today.”
Foo Fighters are making it known that they are not happy about Donald Trump using their hit song “My Hero.”
The tune, from the band’s 1997 album The Colour and the Shape, was played Friday as Trump brought out Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a rally in Arizona, and the band let it be known on social media that they did not approve the song’s use.
When an account posed the question, “Hey @foofighters did you let Trump use ‘My Hero’ to welcome RFK Jr. on stage,” the Foo Fighters official account replied “No.” And if anyone questioned what they meant, they later retweeted the post with the caption, “Let us be clear.”
A rep for Foo Fighters also tells Billboard in a statement, “Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were, they would not have granted it,” adding, “appropriate actions are being taken.” They also indicated that any earned royalties from Trump’s use of the song will be donated to the Kamala Harris/Tim Walz campaign.
Foo Fighters are far from the first artist to oppose Trump’s use of their music. Neil Young has threatened to sue him for using “Rockin’ in the Free World,” and earlier in August, Beyoncé‘s camp threatened legal action when her song “Freedom” was used in an online video for Trump. The estates of both Tom Petty and Isaac Hayes have also been vocal about their opposition to Trump using their music.
Two reel-to-reel audio tapes featuring a soundboard recording of a Toronto Beatles concert may soon be up for sale.
Billboard reports the owner, Piers Hemmingsen, a Toronto-based Beatles historian and author of The Beatles in Canada, is looking to sell the recordings, which were made at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens on Aug. 17, 1965.
“I have never offered it for sale before,” Hemmingsen shares. “This is the best recording of any Beatles concert in Canada, if not North America, other than what was professionally recorded for The Beatles themselves.”
The reels include The Beatles’ full half-hour set, including performances of “Twist and Shout,” “Ticket To Ride,” “Help!” and “A Hard Day’s Night,” along with recordings of the day’s opening acts and venue announcements.
Hemmingsen says he has a copy of the concert on cassette, strictly for listening purposes, and while he’d like to keep it, he’s willing to sell it, as well. He didn’t say how much he wants for the recording, but Dan Muscatelli-Hampson, of U.K.-based music memorabilia and vinyl specialists Omega Auctions Ltd., estimated to Billboard it could be worth between $60,000 and $80,000.
So far Hemmingsen hasn’t put the reels on the market and says he’d prefer to sell it to Apple Corps, so Beatles fans may one day hear it.
“You can’t sit on a thing like this,” he says. “You want to share it with the world. On the other hand, there’s a commercial value to it and the only people that can release it are Apple.”
Hemmingsen plans to use the money toward printing his next two Beatles books, The Beatles in Canada: The Evolution 1964-1970, due out in September, and a follow-up, The Beatles In Canada: The Origins of Beatlemania!
KISS is celebrating the 35th anniversary of their album Hot in the Shade with an all-new merch collection.
The line includes special limited-edition bundles; one features a 35th anniversary Hot in the Shade deluxe picture disc, along with a Hot in the Shade track list T-shirt, while another includes a limited-edition color vinyl with a hoodie.
The line also includes various T-shirts, a brown hoodie, tank top, hat, sunglasses and a bandana.
Released in October 1989, Hot in the Shade was the 15th studio album by KISS and came out during their non-makeup era. It was the final KISS album to feature drummer Eric Carr on all the songs. Carr was also featured on vocals for the song “Little Caesar,” the first time since 1981’s Music From The Elder that someone other than Paul Stanley or Gene Simmons handled lead vocals on a tune.
The biggest hit on the record was “Forever,” a ballad written by Stanley and Michael Bolton, which was a top 10 hit for the rockers.
Def Leppard fans may debate which of their albums is better, 1983’s Pyromania or 1987’s Hysteria, but you won’t hear frontman Joe Elliott picking a favorite.
Elliott was asked to pick a fav in an interview with the Los Angeles Times and had a very diplomatic answer.
“Obviously, the breakthrough was Pyromania — the memories from that tour of being this band that got out of a bus and walked into a hotel to being this band that got off the bus and we couldn’t even get into the hotel because there were too many kids blocking the way,” he shares. “But by 1987, when it’s the second time, it’s the second time, you know what I mean? So what you had was the first and then the bigger.”
He adds, “Which of them is better? I just blend them together and go, The ’80s were great.”
Elliott also shared his thoughts on Taylor Swift, who the band did a CMT Crossroads with back in 2008. He says while nobody could have predicted the success she’d have, “you look at it now and it kind of makes sense.”
Elliott says in 2008 “there was no such thing as what she accomplished,” comparing her success to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, noting, “for people born this century or in the ’90s, this is a phenomenon that’s never been seen before – technically bigger than the Beatles and the Stones combined, at least commercially.”
“But I always knew she’d be big. And for all the hardships she’s gone though — the people who’ve tried to trip her up over the years at certain parts of her career — she’s just dusted herself down,” he adds. “She’s a fantastic role model for a generation of kids.”
U2 is wrapping their U2 to Love and Only Love – Deep Dives and B-Sides digital series with a new playlist dedicated to “Electrical Storm,” one of two singles the band recorded for their 2002 greatest hits album, The Best of 1990–2000.
The 12th and final installment includes a remastered version of the track, as well as a William Orbit remix, “Nice” and “Nasty” mixes of the All You Can’t Leave Behind tune “New York” and a live medley of the songs “40,” “Bad” and “Where The Streets Have No Name” from a 2004 show in Boston.
U2 launched the U2 to Love and Only Love – Deep Dives and B-Sides digital series back in April. Since then they’ve released 12 newly remastered collections, made up of songs that until now were only available on vinyl, CD or cassette.
Previous collections focused on such songs as “Discothèque,” “Staring at the Sun,” “Last Night on Earth,” “If God Will Send His Angels,” “Please,” “Mofo,” “Sweetest Thing,” “Beautiful Day,” “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” “Elevation” and “Walk On.”
The ”Electrical Storm” playlist is now streaming on most digital outlets.
Bryan Adams has dropped a video for the song “War Machine,” which is his take on one of two songs he co-wrote in the ’80s with Jim Vallance and Gene Simmons for KISS.
The video opens with Adams walking through a field holding a white flag with a peace sign, and as the camera pans out you realize he’s next to a battlefield. That’s followed by combat footage, including fighter planes flying through the air and soldiers on the ground.
There’s also footage of men in suits in a war room making decisions about what’s happening on the battlefield, and it ends with the man in charge ordering the bombing of the area, only for the missile to turn around and drop on the big white house where the man is calling the shots.
Earlier in August, Adams dropped his version of the other song he co-wrote for KISS, “Rock and Roll Hell.” Both tracks appeared on KISS’ 1982 album, Creatures of the Night.
Adams is set to release both songs as a limited-edition double A-side 7-inch single on Aug. 30. It is available for preorder now at bryanadams.com.
Mötley Crüe has announced a new EP called Cancelled.
The three-track collection is due out Oct. 4. It includes the previously released track “Dogs of War,” the title track and a cover of the Beastie Boys song “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!).” You can listen to the Beasties cover now via digital outlets.
“Dogs of War” premiered in April and marked the first new song from Mötley since guitarist John 5 joined the band in place of Mick Mars. It reached the top five on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
Before that, the Crüe’s most recent release was 2019’s soundtrack to their The Dirt biopic, which featured four new recordings, including the Machine Gun Kelly collaboration “The Dirt (Est. 1981).”
Mötley Crüe will be playing several upcoming headlining shows and festivals, including Louder than Life and Aftershock.
