Blondie‘s Debbie Harry is revisiting her 1981 debut solo album, KooKoo, with a brand new reissue.
The 2023 deluxe edition of the album will be released May 5 on double 180g crystal clear vinyl, and will include a bonus 12-inch disc with extended versions and remixes of tunes. Only 6,000 copies of the reissue will be available worldwide, and they will include a reproduction Chris Stein art print and will come in a special lenticular-effect sleeve.
KooKoo, produced by Chic’s Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards, was originally released July 27, 1981. It peaked at 25 on the Billboard 200 Album chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA.
Foo Fighters have added another music festival to their 2023 schedule. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are set to headline the Louder Than Life festival, set for September 21 to 24 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Other artists on the four-day bill include GreenDay, Queens of the Stone Age, Megadeth, Weezer, Pantera, Tool, Rancid, Limp Bizkit and more.
This is just one of many festivals Foo Fighters have booked for 2023, which will be their first shows since last year’s death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. Their first confirmed show is happening May 24 in Gilford, New Hampshire, followed by Massachusetts’ Boston Calling Music Festival on May 26. They are also playing Bonnaroo, Outside Lands and Sonic Temple.
Bret Michaels turned 60 on Wednesday, and considering his health struggles over the years, he’s embracing the milestone.
“I am grateful to be on this crazy roller coaster ride and to be here with some of my good decisions and some of my less-than-reputable decisions,” the Poison frontman told USA Todaywhen asked if he’s bummed about turning 60. “But I’ve got to be honest. When people ask I say, No. 1, what is my alternative? The alternative is not good. And two, I get no choice in the matter. My choice will be how I deal with it.”
He adds, “No one says, ‘Man, I want to be old.’ I feel blessed that I got to get old because I know so many of my friends never got the chance. I live also for them.”
And Michaels hasn’t had it easy over the years. He’s lived with Type 1 diabetes since he was a child, suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2010, and also underwent heart and kidney surgery. But he says he’s learned to “adapt and change with what my body can do.”
“There is no magic pill,” he adds. “I am like a true muscle car – still fast, still fun to ride, but I just need a little more maintenance.”
It seems like a lot of folks are worried about artificial intelligence replacing humans in various areas, including making music, but Peter Gabriel isn’t one of them.
Gabriel, who contributes the forward to the new music guidebook Reverberation: Do Everything Better With Music, has always embraced technology. While he tells Yahoo! Entertainment, “I’m probably just as scared (of AI) as everybody else,” he says he’d prefer to “jump in the river rather than talk about it.”
“I do think about it quite a lot, and I think not enough people are thinking about it. And it would be great to get ahead [of it],” he says. “You know, this is something that’s going [to] have way more impact than the Industrial Revolution and the nuclear bomb. So, if we don’t start anticipating what it might do, it’s going to be too late, because it’s very fast.”
And while some may suggest that it would never be possible for AI to take the place of great musicians and make great music, Gabriel doesn’t seem so sure.
“Most people argue no; I would say they just need better algorithms,” he shares. “So, we might as well just grab the algorithms and dance with them, rather than fight them. … Unfortunately, I don’t think my job or anyone’s job is safe from AI.”
He noted, “It’s coming whether we like it or not, so we might as well try and work with it rather than work against it, and make sure that there are programs in there that protect ethics and some sort of morality.”
Elton John needs an Emmy for the EGOT, and his concert special Farewell from Dodger Stadium could be his winning ticket.
Variety reports the singer received an EGOT push at a recent event for Television Academy members, which screened his Disney+ special at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Elton then spoke about his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour and why performing at Dodger Stadium was a full-circle moment.
“I’m so critical of myself … I’ve never played and sang so well in my life, for so long. And I really mean that sincerely,” he said.
“[It] was so important to leave on a really high note,” added Elton, stressing he “didn’t want to go out when I was going down.”
Choosing Dodger Stadium to be his final North American performance was also symbolic, as it was where he played two career-making shows back in 1975. Elton said he “was so unhappy and so ill” back then, revealing he’d “taken an overdose two days before.”
“I’m at a different stage in my life. I have never been so happy,” Elton said, reminding the audience he turns 76 next week.
Speaking about his age, the singer admitted he is slowing down despite having “the energy of a 20-year-old.” Noting that turning the big 9-0 is 14 years away for him, Elton said, “Your mortality hits you. And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to stop [touring].”
The singer expressed he now wants to spend time with his sons — Elijah, 10, and Zachary, 12, whom he shares with David Furnish — and see them get married.
Elton then reflected, “To finish at Dodger Stadium in three nights, while I’m 75 at the end of my career, it was everything I could have dreamed of and more.”
KISS released their fourth album, Destroyer, which included such future classics as “Detroit Rock City,” “Shout It Out Loud,” “God of Thunder” and the ballad “Beth,” which became their first top-10 single.
The album peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Album chart, making it the third consecutive KISS record to make the top 40.
Within a year, Destroyer was certified Platinum by the RIAA, making it the band’s first Platinum record, and was eventually certified Double Platinum.
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Rick Wakeman kicks off his U.S. tour, An Evening with Rick Wakeman: His Music and Stories, Wednesday in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. And as the name suggests, fans can expect to hear more than just music at the shows.
“Basically I play music that I’ve been involved with or been inspired by over the 50 plus years” of his career, Wakeman tells ABC Audio. That includes his own music and music of Yes, as well as songs by David Bowie, Cat Stevens and more. “Then in between I tell stories, some of which are completely silly and some of which do have a semblance of truth, as well.”
He adds, “It’s a fun evening. Imagine everyone sitting around a giant dinner table.”
The tour is set to hit 17 cities, and Wakeman says one of the best things about hitting the road in the U.S. is meeting people.
“I’m a people person,” he shares. “I like people.”
He says he’s made lots of friends over the years, and he loves to get to see them in the audience when he comes to town.
“You know, there’s something nice about, like, a sort of friendship thing when you go onstage and you know you’ve got friends out there,” he says. “It’s just a really nice feeling and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of that.”
An Evening with Rick Wakeman: His Music and Stories runs through April 15 in Woodstock, New York. A complete list of tour dates can be found at rwcc.com.
Bono has previously described U2’s next album as a “guitar album,” and The Edge reiterated that by saying it would be “more driven by guitar.” Well, now bassist Adam Clayton is sharing his thoughts on the record, and it certainly sounds like it will be louder than past albums.
“We are turning the amps on,” he tells Mojo magazine. “I certainly think the rock that we all grew up with as 16- and 17-year-olds, that rawness of those Patti Smith, Iggy Pop records … that kind of power is something we would love to connect back into.”
Asked about the album’s difference from the long-in-the works Songs of Ascent record, Clayton joked, “Well, Songs Of Ascent is a much more meditative, spiritual record. This will be Songs For Fighting, I’d say.”
In the meantime, fans can enjoy U2’s latest effort, Songs of Surrender, featuring 40 reimagined and rerecorded U2 songs, which drops Friday.
Axl Rose and Carrie Underwood continue to solidify their musical friendship, with Axl once again turning up to join Underwood to perform the Guns N’ Roses classic “Welcome to the Jungle.”
The collaboration went down Monday night as Carrie brought her Denim & Rhinestones tour to Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, marking the third time they’ve performed together onstage.
“I’m the luckiest girl in the world,” Carrie shared on Instagram. “Thanks, Axl, for showing up, once again, to make the great times even better! It’ll forever feel like it was all a dream, but these dreams are my favorite ones!”
Axl and Carrie first performed together last year at Underwood’s Stagecoach Festival appearance in Indio, California. She then returned the favor, turning up at GNR’s 2022 show at Tottenham Hotspur Arena in London, England.
Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars announced his retirement from touring back in October, citing his ongoing battle with the inflammatory disease ankylosing spondylitis, or AS. But it sounds like there may have been more to his decision.
In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, drummer Carmine Appice, who’s worked with Vanilla Fudge, RodStewart, King Kobra and more, claims that Mars “was not happy” while out on Mötley’s Stadium Tour with Def Leppard.
“Basically, everything was on tape; it was all planned out and ultimately a lot of crap,” Appice, who’s friends with Mars, explains. “And Mick is a pretty good player, and so, to [not] let him loose and play the way he wants, that was never going to work for him.”
He notes, “The truth is that everything has been weird for a while with Mötley Crue,” adding that Mick was “pissed off” that everything was on tape, with Appice saying it was obvious.
The drummer also says Mick wasn’t getting along with his bandmates and he “would travel alone on a bus while the other guys flew everywhere. They were all busy still trying to be rock stars, and Mick just wanted to play the music,” he says. “Their lifestyles are different than his, and so there were a lot of disagreements. I think he was just done.”
