Classic Rock News

Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley died April 5, 2002, 20 years ago today.

With his dark lyrics and unique voice — often joined in harmony with guitarist Jerry Cantrell — Staley helped make Alice in Chains one of the big four bands of the ’90s grunge era, alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.

Alice released their first album, Facelift, in 1990, putting the band on the map with the single “Man in the Box” and its instantly recognizable opening riff. They followed that with 1992’s Dirt, which was certified quadruple-Platinum by the RIAA, and spawned singles including “Would?”, “Them Bones,” “Rooster” and “Down in a Hole.”

Dirt was followed by the EP Jar of Flies, which became the first EP to hit number one on the Billboard 200, and the 1996 album Alice in Chains.

In between his work with Alice, Staley formed the band Mad Season alongside Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready and other Seattle musicians. The group’s lone album, 1995’s Above, included the hit single “River of Deceit.”

Following the release of Alice in Chains, the band went on an unofficial hiatus, playing only a handful of shows in 1996, and reuniting briefly to record new songs for the 1999 compilation box set Music Bank.

In April of 2002, Staley was found dead of an overdose in his home at age 34. Officials determined that his date of death was April 5, eerily the same day that Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain passed away in 1994.

Following Staley’s death, Alice continued to be inactive before reuniting in 2005 for a charity concert with multiple guest vocalists. In 2006, they announced William DuVall as AiC’s official new singer, who’s remained with the band since.

Alice has released three albums with DuVall, the most recent of which being 2019’s Rainier Fog.

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Allan Clarke, founding lead singer of The Hollies, turns 80 today, April 5.

Clarke co-founded the popular British Invasion band in 1962 with his childhood friend Graham Nash. The group scored several top-10 hits in the U.K. before enjoying their first top-40 success in the U.S in 1965 with “Look Through Any Window,” which reached #32 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1966, The Hollies’ single “Bus Stop” became the band’s first top-10 U.S. hit, peaking at #5 on the Hot 100.

Around this time, The Hollies began finding success with original songs co-written by Clarke, Nash and guitarist Tony Hicks, including “Stop Stop Stop,” “On a Carousel,” “Pay You Back with Interest” and “Carrie Anne,” which reached #7, #11, #28 and #9, respectively, on the Hot 100.

Nash left the group in 1968, but The Hollies continued their chart success during the next few years.

A cover of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” peaked at #7 in 1969, and in ’72, the band released its highest-charting U.S. single, “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress,” which was co-written by Clarke and ascended to #2 on the Hot 100.

The Hollies final top-10 hit in the U.S. was “The Air That I Breathe,” which peaked at #6 in 1974.

Nash reunited with The Hollies for the 1983 album What Goes Around…, which included a top-30 cover of The Supremes‘ “Stop! In the Name of Love.”

Clarke retired from the music business in 1999. In 2010, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with The Hollies.

In 2019, Allan came out of retirement and released the solo album Resurgence. Last year, Nash revealed to ABC Audio that he and Clarke were working on a new collaborative album.

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Pistol, the upcoming FX series based on The Sex Pistols, now has a trailer.

The series, which debuts on May 31 on Hulu, was directed by Danny Boyle, the man who brought us Trainspotting, Yesterday and Slumdog Millionaire. “We’re gonna kick this country awake if it kills us,” says Toby Wallace as guitarist Steve Jones. Anson Boon, the actor portraying singer Johnny Rotten, declares, “The monarchy has stolen our future!”

We also hear Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Pistols’ manager Malcolm McLaren saying, “I don’t want musicians: I want saboteurs…assassins!” while his partner-in-crime, Vivienne Westwood, played by Talulah Riley, says, “I want to burn this city to the ground!”

In conjunction with the series’ release, Sex Pistols: The Original Recordings will be released on May 27 on vinyl, CD, cassette and digitally.  The 20-track collection includes tracks from the band’s only album Never Mind the Bollocks, B-sides like “Satellite” and “I Wanna Be Me” and songs from The Great Rock & Roll Swindle soundtrack. You can pre-order the collection now.

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Every year, people complain about the stars who were either left off of or given short shrift during the “In Memoriam” segment of The Grammys, and Sunday night’s segment was no different: There were complaints that neither The Moody Blues’ Graeme Edge nor Slipknot‘s Joey Jordison were included. But now, we have some clarity about a part of last year’s “In Memoriam” segment that people complained about.

Eddie Van Halen, who died in October of 2020, was saluted in the 2021 Grammys “In Memoriam” segment with a clip of him playing his signature instrumental “Eruption” while his iconic “Frankenstein” guitar sat alone on the stage.  Many felt the Grammys could’ve done more to honor the guitarist who single-handedly changed rock music, but now it’s been revealed that it wasn’t up to them.

David Wild, a writer and producer of The Grammys, who was a friend of the late guitarist, tells The Mitch Lafon and Jeremy White Show podcast that they went to the Van Halen family and offered a number of tribute ideas, including various artists performing Eddie’s songs, or Eddie’s son Wolfgang performing.

But according to Wild, “They said no one should perform…they didn’t want anyone, so we had to find video, and there is very little video of Van Halen.”  What’s more, Wild claims the family didn’t want a clip of a song with any of Van Halen’s vocalists singing on it: They only wanted Eddie.

Wild, who decided to put the “Frankenstein” guitar onstage, tells the podcast it was “frustrating” when the segment drew criticism, including from Wolfgang Van Halen, who wrote that he had declined to play “Eruption,” but complained, “I didn’t realize that they would only show Pop for 15 seconds in the middle of [four] full performances for others we had lost.”

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“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” is going under the hammer.

Paul McCartney‘s original handwritten lyrics for The Beatles‘ Abbey Road track are up for auction on the Moments in Time website for the low, low price of $450,000.

According to TMZ, the lot includes three pages in all: One written by Paul and the others by Beatles road manager Mal Evans, who you probably saw in the Disney + Get Back documentary scribbling down lyrics as the Beatles wrote them. Contact MomentsInTime.com to bid.

TMZ reports that the last time the lyrics were sold was 2006, when they went for $192,000.

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A new Jimi Hendrix line of merchandise will have female fans yelling, “You got to be all mine!”  Yes, The Limited-Edition Jimi Hendrix Beauty Collection has arrived.

The new line is available at RockandRollBeauty.com and Ulta.com and includes a guitar-shaped “Voodoo Child” eyeshadow palette featuring colors like “Experience,” “Psychedelic” and “Groovy,” as well as “Purple Haze” and “Hey Baby” palettes. You can also buy a “Bold As Love” blush and highligher palette, as well as “Foxy Lady” matte lip duos.

Accessories include “Angel,” “Fire” and “Purple Haze” candles, “Purple Haze” makeup brushes, a “Foxy Lady” mirror and cosmetic bags, nail kits and more.

And if you prefer your makeup with an ’80s metal flair, Twisted Sister and Def Leppard makeup lines are apparently “coming soon.”

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Metallica has announced a $500,000 donation to the World Central Kitchen Ukraine Relief Fund to kick off the band’s annual Month of Giving charity initiative.

The money will support World Central Kitchen in its efforts to provide meals to Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of their home country.

“The work that [WCK founder] Chef José Andrés and the dedicated World Central Kitchen cooks do on the frontlines in a humanitarian crisis is nothing short of incredible,” says Metallica’s Lars Ulrich. “We are inspired, humbled, and beyond proud to support their teams currently in six European countries serving the millions of Ukrainians who have been forced to leave their homes.”

The drummer adds, “WCK represents everything that Metallica and our All Within My Hands foundation stand for by providing meals with dignity and hope worldwide.”

Metallica first launched their Month of Giving campaign in 2020. This year’s program will last over two months, from now through May 31.

Metallica will continue to raise funds for WCK through exclusive merch through their website, as well as various auctions and raffles, one of which will offer the guitars James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett will play during the band’s upcoming Metallica Night with the San Francisco Giants baseball team.

For more info, visit Metallica.com.

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Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian is paying tribute to Taylor Hawkins with a series of Foo Fighters covers alongside his son, Revel Young Ian.

In an Instagram post, Ian shares a video of him and 10-year-old Revel, who plays drums, jamming a number of Foo tunes, including “Low,” “Stacked Actors” and “Run.”

Alongside the clip, Ian writes, “We’ve been jamming our favorite Foo’s all week. Healing our hearts with the power of rock.”

Hawkins died unexpectedly on Friday, March 25, at age 50. His passing drew reactions and tributes from throughout the rock world, including from Mick Jagger, Axl Rose, Jimmy Page, Tom Morello and Ozzy Osbourne.

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Steven Tyler‘s Grammy viewing party raised millions for charity, and featured a performance by the Aerosmith frontman himself.

The fourth annual event raised $4.6 million for Janie’s Fund, Tyler’s charity that helps girls who’ve been abused or neglected. It’s named after Aerosmith’s 1989 hit “Janie’s Got a Gun.”  Some of the money raised came from a silent auction, where one of the items sold included the grand piano that Aerosmith has been using onstage since 2011, signed by Tyler.

Miley Cyrus was supposed to be the night’s entertainment, but she dropped out after testing positive for COVID-19, so British pop star Jessie J filled in, and duetted with Tyler on “Walk This Way.”  Tyler himself also performed “Dream On.”

A grateful Tyler told the crowd, “Even in the absence of our 2021 GRAMMY party, so many of you stepped up and made generous contributions which meant we kept them safe and met their needs and ultimately more ‘After Care’ for more girls, in more states than ever before — and that takes my breath away.”

Among the attendees: ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons, Twisted Sister‘s Dee Snider, Matt Sorum, and Metallica’s Robert Trujillo.

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Wolfgang Van Halen didn’t win a Grammy trophy Sunday, but he did go home with some great memories.

In an Instagram post, the Mammoth WVH reflects on his “wild experience” during ”Music’s Biggest Night,’ alongside a photo of him at the ceremony with his mother, actor Valerie Bertinelli, and his girlfriend.

“We came, we saw, but we did NOT conquer and that’s OK!” Wolf writes in the caption. “I got to have a wonderful night with the two most important women in my world.”

Wolf’s track “Distance” — which was released as his debut Mammoth WVH single in honor of his late father, the iconic Eddie Van Halen — was nominated for Best Rock Song, but it lost out to “Waiting on a War” by Foo Fighters. Other nominees included songs by Paul McCartney, Kings of Leon and Weezer.

“Such an honor to be nominated for the first song I ever released on my own, in a category with artists I’ve looked up to my entire life,” Wolf writes. “I don’t know if that’ll ever fully set in.”

He adds, “Pop didn’t win the first time he was nominated too, so it looks like I’m following in his footsteps quite nicely.”

Eddie’s first Grammy nomination came during the 1985 ceremony, where Van Halen‘s “Jump” was up for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. He was also nominated that year for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for his song “Donut City.” Eddie and Van Halen would eventually win their first — and only — Grammy in 1992 in the Best Hard Rock Performance category, for For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

“Who knows what the future holds,” Wolf says. “All I know is I’m feeling pretty damn grateful. What a wild experience this was.”

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