Metallica has been working on new music, and Kirk Hammett is hoping it will do more than just get people headbanging.
Speaking with Classic Rockmagazine, the guitarist shares that he wants the metal legends’ next album to “cut through the division” people have been feeling.
“Metallica has always been about bringing people together through music,” Hammett says. “I think the sentiment now is that people need music more than ever to bring everyone together and collectively celebrate that we’ve got to this point.”
He adds, “There’s a lot of division in the world. Hopefully this Metallica album will cut through the division and bring people together in ways that are more beneficial for everyone overall.”
Hammett also reveals that the new material feels “very appropriate for the times.”
“Music should bring everyone together, it should be a celebration,” he says. “That’s what music is about. It’s not about selling albums or getting Grammys, it’s about putting out good music and helping the situation with that music.”
Metallica’s most recent album is 2016’s Hardwired…to Self-Destruct.
Meanwhile, Metallica is prepping a deluxe reissue of 1991’s The Black Album in honor of its 30th anniversary. That will be released on September 10, along with the 53-track Metallica Blacklist tribute compilation.
Dry your eyes: Ozzy Osbourne‘s No More Tears is being reissued.
An expanded digital edition of the Prince of Darkness’ 1991 solo album will arrive on September 17 in honor of its 30th anniversary. Along with the original album, the reissue includes various live tracks and demos.
A new vinyl version of No More Tears will also be released on September 17.
No More Tears, Ozzy’s sixth solo record, notably featured four songs co-written by Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, including the hit “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” and the Grammy-winning “I Don’t Want to Change the World.” The RIAA quadruple-Platinum certified record is one of Osbourne’s top-two selling solo efforts, alongside his 1980 debut, Blizzard of Ozz.
“It was one of my favorite albums to make,” Ozzy now says of No More Tears.
“It was really, really well done,” he continues. “Every song was worked on for a long time and we spent extra time trying to get things right. But there was also lots of goofing around and we had a good time making it.”
Whitesnake‘s ongoing deluxe reissue campaign continues with a four-CD/DVD collection focusing on the band’s 1997 studio album, Restless Heart, which will be released on October 29.
Restless Heart: Super Deluxe Edition features newly remixed and remastered versions of the album, plus a variety of unreleased demos and studio outtakes, and a DVD containing official music videos, fan videos, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the record that includes new interviews with frontman David Coverdale.
Restless Heart originally was intended to be Coverdale’s third studio album, but it was released as a new Whitesnake record due to label pressure. It was never issued in the U.S. at the time.
The super deluxe reissue’s first disc features a 2021 remix of Restless Heart that’s closer to how Coverdale originally intended for the album to sound. It includes three bonus tracks, which were originally available on the Japanese version of the record.
The original musicians who contributed to the project included guitarist Adrian Vandenberg, drummer Denny Carmassi and bassist Guy Pratt, while Coverdale tapped guitarist Joel Hoekstra and keyboardist Derek Sherinian to add their talents to the updated tracks.
Disc two features a remastered version of Restless Heart, while the third and fourth CDs boast demos and outtakes that help show how the tracks evolved to their final stage.
In addition to the aforementioned music videos and making-of feature, the DVD offers a trio of acoustic performances from the 1997 live acoustic album, Starkers in Tokyo, originally only available in Japan.
The set comes with a hardbound book featuring rare and unseen photos.
The Restless Heart reissue, which you can pre-order now, also is available as a two-CD set, a two-LP silver-vinyl release and a single CD.
Here the Super Deluxe reissue’s track list:
Disc 1: Restless Heart — 2021 Remix
“Restless Heart”
“You’re So Fine”
“Can’t Go On”
“Crying”
“Take Me Back Again”
“Anything You Want”
“Too Many Tears”
“All in the Name of Love”
“Your Precious Love”
“Can’t Stop Now”
“Woman Trouble Blues”
“Stay with Me”
“Oi (Theme for an Imaginary Drum Solo)”
“Don’t Fade Away”
“Can’t Go On (Unzipped)”
Disc 2: Restless Heart — 2021 Remaster
“Don’t Fade Away”
“All in the Name of Love”
“Restless Heart”
“Too Many Tears”
“Crying”
“Stay with Me”
“Can’t Go On”
“You’re So Fine”
“Your Precious Love”
“Take Me Back Again”
“Woman Trouble Blues”
“Anything You Want”
“Can’t Stop Now”
“Too Many Tears ’95 (Live & Drunk in the Studio featuring The Horny B’stards)”
Disc 3: Dancing on the Titanic — Early Arrangements & Getting Drum Tracks in the Studio
“Restless Heart “
“You’re So Fine”
“Can’t Go On”
“Crying”
“Take Me Back Again”
“Anything You Want”
“Too Many Tears”
“All in the Name of Love”
“Your Precious Love (Soul Version)”
“You Precious Love”
“Can’t Stop Now (Instrumental Version)”
“Woman Trouble Blues”
“Stay with Me”
“Oi (Instrumental)”
“Don’t Fade Away”
“Snakes Down South (Unreleased Demo)”
Disc 4: Restless Heart — Evolutions
“Restless Heart”
“You’re So Fine”
“Can’t Go On”
“Crying”
“Take Me Back Again”
“Anything You Want”
“(Red Light Green Light)”
“Too Many Tears”
“All in the Name of Love”
“Your Precious Love”
“Can’t Stop Now”
“Woman Trouble Blues”
“Stay with Me”
“Oi (Instrumental)”
“Don’t Fade Away”
Disc 5: Restless Heart — DVD-Video
“All in the Name of Love” (Fan Video)
“Anything You Want” (Fan Video)
“You’re So Fine” (Music Video)
“Restless Heart” (Fan Video)
“Too Many Tears” (Music Video)
“Don’t Fade Away” (Music Video)
“Can’t Go On” (Acoustic Slideshow)
“Restless Heart” (Lyric Video)
Starkers Trilogy
“Too Many Tears”
“Can’t Go On”
“Don’t Fade Away”
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for EJAF, Rich Fury/Getty Images
Elton John is the latest celebrity to condemn the homophobic remarks made by rapper DaBaby at Miami’s Rolling Loud Festival over the weekend.
The “I’m Still Standing” singer explained that spreading homophobic misinformation is harmful to the LGBTQ community — especially those with HIV.
Taking to Instagram Wednesday, Sir Elton shared an post that read, “HIV misinformation and homophobia have no place in the music industry. We must break down the stigma around HIV and not spread it. As musicians, it’s our job to bring people together.”
“We’ve been shocked to read about the HIV misinformation and homophobic statements made at a recent DaBaby show. This fuels stigma and discrimination and is the opposite of what our world needs to fight the AIDS epidemic,” the five-time Grammy winner continued in a lengthy caption.
“HIV has affected over 70 million people globally: men, women, children and the most vulnerable people in our communities,” he expressed. “In America, a gay black man has a 50% lifetime chance of contracting HIV. Stigma and shame around HIV and homosexuality is a huge driver of this vulnerability. We need to break down the myths and judgements and not fuel these.”
“You can live a long and healthy life with HIV,” he continued. “Treatment is so advanced that with one pill a day, HIV can become undetectable in your body so you can’t pass it onto other people.”
Sir Elton reiterated that rather than spread misinformation, musicians should “bring people together.”
“Homophobic and HIV mistruths have no place in our society and industry and as musicians, we must spread compassion and love for the most marginalized people in our communities,” he closed.
DaBaby has since apologized for his weekend remarks, tweeting on Tuesday night, “What I said was insensitive.”
Anybody who done ever been effected by AIDS/HIV y’all got the right to be upset, what I said was insensitive even though I have no intentions on offending anybody. So my apologies 🙏🏾
But the LGBT community… I ain’t trippin on y’all, do you. y’all business is y’all business.
Journey returns to the concert stage this week for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with two shows in Chicago — one tonight at the Aragon Ballroom and the second on Saturday at the Lollapalooza festival in Grant Park.
The concerts also will mark Journey’s first live performances since three new members were welcomed into the band — bassist Randy Jackson, drummer Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist Jason Derlatka. However, keyboardist Jonathan Cain tells ABC Audio that Jackson — who previously played with Journey during the mid-1980s — will be missing the Chicago gigs.
“Unfortunately, Randy’s not going to be there, ’cause he’s got back surgery,” Cain reports. “Marco Mendoza, a good friend of ours [who] plays great, he’ll fill in for now.”
Cain says he finds it interesting that Journey will launch its new chapter in Chicago, where he was born.
Journey recently released its first single with the new lineup, “The Way We Used to Be,” and Cain says the band likely will include it in their sets this week, as well as plenty of the group’s classic hits. Jonathan also notes that Journey will be playing a longer set at the Aragon Ballroom — which is considered an official Lollapalooza “Aftershow” event — so they may dig deeper into their catalog for that performance.
Journey guitarist Neal Schon, meanwhile, tells ABC Audio that he’s hoping the band will be jamming more and be doing more extended sets in the future.
“I think Journey is capable of being one of the greatest jam bands in the world ever,” he declares. “And everything in my intuition is telling me that it’s time to…encompass it all in one concert, be daring, go out on a limb with no net and create…in front of people.”
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler‘s debut solo album, Golden Heart. To commemorate the milestone, an expansive box set featuring newly remastered versions of all of the solo studio efforts Knopfler issued from 1996 through 2007 will hit stores on December 10.
Mark Knopfler: The Studio Albums 1996-2007 will be available as a six-CD package or an 11-LP set, and will feature remastered editions of the lauded singer, songwriter and guitarist’s first five solo records — 1996’s Golden Heart, 2000’s Sailing to Philadelphia, 2002’s The Ragpicker’s Dream, 2004’s Shangri-La and 2007’s Kill to Get Crimson. The box set also will include as a bonus disc a new companion compilation titled Gravy Train: The B-Sides 1996-2007.
The vinyl box set will feature two-LP versions of the five studio albums, plus the single-disc compilation, all pressed on 180-gram black vinyl. This will mark the first time that Golden Heart, Sailing to Philadelphia and, of course, Gravy Train, will be available on vinyl.
Both box sets will come with a download card allowing access to digital versions of the albums, plus six embossed art prints of the albums’ covers.
The Knopfler studio album featured in the box set that saw the most commercial success is Sailing to Philadelphia, which peaked at #4 on the U.K. chart and was certified gold for sales of over 500,000 copies in the U.S.
Joan Jett loves rock ‘n’ roll, and the rock legend will get back to doing what she loves with her band, The Blackhearts, when they kick off a series of 2021 concerts with a show this Sunday, August 1, in San Francisco at the Stern Grove Festival.
Jett & the Blackhearts have 20 concerts lined up this year, running through a November 21 performance in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Several shows on Jett and company’s schedule are joint gigs with some other big-name rock acts. These include an August 12 concert in Vienna, Virginia, with George Thorogood & The Destroyers; performances with Cheap Trick on August 28 and 29, respectively, in Chesterfield, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri; and an October 2 show in Laughlin, Nevada, with Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Joan and the band also will play the 2021 of Milwaukee’s Summerfest on September 9.
Meanwhile, The Stadium Tour, the long-delayed trek that will feature Joan Jett & the Blackhearts teaming up with Def Leppard, the reunited Mötley Crüe and Poison, is scheduled to finally get underway on June 16, 2002, in Atlanta. The outing is plotted out all the way through a September 7 show in San Francisco.
Sure, getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is nice, but now New Jersey’s own Jon Bon Jovi is getting a real honor: a rest stop named after him on the Garden State Parkway.
The neighboring New Jersey Turnpike has rest stops named after historical New Jerseyites, like Thomas Edison, but the Parkway is going for star power, reports NorthJersey.com. The rest stop formerly known as — no joke — Cheesequake will now be known as the Jon Bon Jovi Service Area.
Other famed New Jerseyites who are getting the rest stop treatment include Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, Toni Morrison, James Gandolfini, salsa legend Celia Cruz and author Judy Blume. It’s all part of a campaign by the New Jersey Hall of Fame, which is installing displays about each rest stop’s famous namesake.
But wait, you ask — where’s the Bruce Springsteen Service Area?
“Bruce Springsteen respectfully declined to have a service area named after him,” a New Jersey Hall of Fame spokeswoman told NorthJersey.com. “It should be noted, though, that Bruce has been very supportive of the New Jersey Hall of Fame over the years, and is very much a part of the fabric of the Hall.”
Dusty Hill, the long-bearded, longtime bassist for beloved Texas blues-rock trio ZZ Top, has died at age 72.
ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons and drummer Frank Beard announced Hill’s passing with a message on the band’s official Facebook page.
“We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX,” the note reads. “We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the ‘Top.’ We will forever be connected to that ‘Blues Shuffle in C.'”
Hill joined ZZ Top shortly after the group’s formation in 1969. Gibbons sang lead on most of the group’s songs, while Hill usually handled backing vocals, although he occasionally did take over as lead singer for select tunes, including the band’s classic 1975 hit, “Tush.”
Dusty co-wrote many of ZZ Top’s songs, including “Tush” and other enduring classics including “Cheap Sunglasses,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’, “Got Me Under Pressure,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs,” and “Sleeping Bag.”
Hill was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of ZZ Top in 2004.
The band’s plans for a major 50th anniversary tour in 2020 were sidetracked because of the COVID-19 pandemic. ZZ Top had recently started playing shows again, but the band announced last week that Hill had to return home to Texas “to address a hip issue,” and that the group’s longtime guitar tech, Elwood Francis, was filling in for him.
These recent shows marked the first time since Hill had joined ZZ Top that they performed with out him.
ZZ Top’s most recent album, La Futura, was released in 2012, although Gibbons revealed in recent interviews that the band had been working on material for a new record.
Courtesy of Rex Foundation and The Jerry Garcia Family
A second annual edition of Daze Between, a series of events celebrating the life and legacy of Jerry Garcia that’s scheduled on and around the late Grateful Dead frontman’s August 1 birthday, recently kicked off and is slated to run through August 10.
While last year’s inaugural Daze Between was a virtual celebration because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 edition is a hybrid of live and streaming events and activities.
In conjunction with Daze Between, a variety of Garcia tribute concerts by Melvin Seals & JGB, The Garcia Project, Dark Star Orchestra and others will be held at various venues between Thursday, July 29, and Monday, August 9. Among these is a special Daze Between show on August 8 in New Haven, Connecticut, featuring Warren Haynes, Grace Potter and more.
In addition, Major League Baseball will host a series of special “Jerry Day” games featuring special Garcia merch giveaways and taking place July 29 at Boston’s Fenway Park, August 2 at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, and August 10 at San Francisco’s Oracle Park.
Other events include livestreamed concert, an exhibition of Garcia’s digital art hosted by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and an online auction featuring a selection of Grateful Dead collectibles.
Daze Between was launched in partnership between Garcia’s family and the Grateful Dead’s Rex Foundation charity. Proceeds raised will benefit the foundation, which supports people involved with creative endeavors in the arts, sciences and education.
