Jon Bon Jovi’s son Jake Bongiovi has landed a movie role that hits a little close to home.Variety reports the 20-year-old has been cast in the film Rockbottom, which centers around a 1980s hair metal band.
In the film, the band CougarSnake never got off the ground and broke up over infighting. When a present-day Gen Z music star mentions in an interview he was introduced to the band by his absentee father, it sparks a push to reunite the group so that they can open for the younger star’s charity concert.
Bongiovi, who is dating Millie Bobby Brown, has been cast to play CougarSnake’s new lead singer, who is struggling with a case of stage fright.
This isn’t Bongiovi’s first acting gig. He will appear in the upcoming Kiernan Shipka holiday comedy Sweethearts.
Last month Dee Snider caused quite a stir when he tweeted that Robert Plant and Ronnie JamesDio were “great singers” but not “great frontman.” While he stands by his comments, he’s now saying they were a bit misinterpreted.
“When I said they weren’t great frontman, everybody said, ‘Here’s Dee shooting his mouth off again.’ But I’m not just shooting my mouth off,” the Twisted Sister frontman says in a new interview with Ultimate Guitar. “I’ve actually taken a lot of time to think about and consider it. I didn’t just make an arbitrary statement. I’ve thought about it. I got on my computer, and I studied and researched it.”
Snider considers himself a great frontman, so what does he see as the difference? “Now, a frontman doesn’t have to sing well but needs to be a guy who can engage the audience and entertain the people who stand there,” he says. “A frontman that can wow the crowd with their incredible voice, yeah, that’s entertaining on a different level, but it’s not the same as a full-scale performance.”
Snider says he “absolutely” thinks his original comments were misinterpreted, particularly when it comes to Robert Plant. “I am not saying I’m Robert Plant, nor am I saying I’m even in his league,” he says. “Having said that, I do something at a level that he doesn’t do, and that is I engage the crowd.”
Snider added, “He’s an incredible singer, but showmanship, that’s what I do well.”
Snider says Dio used to compliment him on his antics onstage and he would compliment Dio on his singing, telling him, “I can’t do what you do, but I can hold an audience in the palm of my hand.”
Rolling Stone has shared some new advice from the late David Crosby, culled from his final “Ask Croz” session, which took place in the summer of 2021. The singer, who passed away in January, offers advice on talking to teenage daughters about sex, finding love again after a spouse dies and more. He even tries to set the record straight about his former group.
When asked, “Settle an argument: Who is better, CSN or CSNY?” Crosby would not definitively say whether the group was better with Neil Young.
“I don’t think ‘better’ really applies. They were two completely different bands,” he says. “Chemistries between human beings are [as] individual as snowflakes — very delicate and very complex. The chemistry between the three of us in Crosby, Stills, and Nash was organic. It came there of its own will.”
As for Young, Croz says he “did add something and he did bring some good songs. He’s an exciting guitar player, and an exciting artist. He’s always pushing the limit, and that’s good.”
Crosby maintains “both bands made really excellent music”: “What counts is the songs, and both bands generated great songs.”
The mag says Crosby “absolutely loved helping out strangers with their problems,” and he reiterated the same feeling in an interview with ABC Audio prior to his death. “I like the hell out of it. I have a lot of fun with it,” he said, while suggesting it was ridiculous folks seemed to be helped by his advice. But, Croz said, “I’m all about fun, man … be(ing) opinionated is absolutely fun.”
Record Store Day has announced the list of exclusive releases for its 2023 event, taking place in independent record stores on April 22. Here are some of the pieces that will be available:
The 2020 John Lennon compilation Gimme Some Truth is being released as a box set consisting of nine 10-inch vinyl EPs. Meanwhile, Paul McCartney is contributing a 50th anniversary reissue of the 1973 Wings album Red Rose Speedway, while fellow surviving Beatle Ringo Starr is putting out a reissue of his 1981 solo effort, Stop and Smell the Roses.
Keith Richards‘ long out-of-print Vintage Vinos collaboration will be out as a two-LP set, while The Rolling Stones‘ 1968 classic Beggars Banquet is being reissued on vinyl with its original artwork.
Stevie Nicks‘ Bella Donna Live1981, capturing a 1981 live show supporting the Fleetwood Mac star’s first solo album, is making its vinyl debut. Fleetwood Mac’s early single “Albatross” is also getting a vinyl reissue.
And U2 is celebrating the 40th anniversary of their album War with a 12-inch EP featuring remixed versions of “Two Hearts Beat As One” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” as well as two versions of the same songs from their upcoming Songs of Surrender album, which drops March 17. The EP will be released on 180g white vinyl.
RSD 2023 will also feature exclusive releases from Duran Duran, The Allman Brothers Band, David Byrne, The Cranberries, The Cure, The Doors, Emerson, Lake & Palmer,Jerry Garcia Band, The Grateful Dead, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Billy Joel, Elton John, Todd Rundgren, T. Rex, Van Halen, Yes and Warren Zevon.
For the full list of releases and participating stores, visit RecordStoreDay.com.
Brett Michaels is revisiting his 2001 salute to his band. The Poison frontman is set to reissue a deluxe version of Show Me Your Hits – A Salute To Poison, which had him revisiting and reimagining Poison’s biggest hits.
The new release will feature remastered audio, along with new mixes of songs like “Nothin’ But A Good Time,” “Fallen Angel” and “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” as well as new artwork.
The album is also being released on vinyl for the first time with a limited edition purple and black splatter LP.
Show Me Your Hits – A Salute To Poison is available for preorder now.
Here’s the Show Me Your Hits – A Salute To Poison track list:
“Nothin’ But A Good Time”
“Fallen Angel”
“Every Rose Has Its Thorn”
“Look What The Cat Dragged In”
“Talk Dirty To Me”
“Something To Believe In”
“I Want Action”
“Unskinny Bop”
“Stand”
“So Tell Me Why”
“Doin’ As I Seen On My TV”
There’s no doubt music can make you happy, but a new study suggests some songs do a better job at brightening someone’s day than others. StudyFinds reports that a university professor claims to have found a scientific formula to discover what song makes people the happiest, with The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” topping the list.
Dr. Michael Bonshor, who has a Ph.D. in music psychology, claims the happiest songs are in a major key with 7th chords and 137 beats per minute. They also have four beats in every bar and are structured with a verse-chorus-verse-chorus.
The Beach Boys actually have two happy songs in the top 10, with “I Get Around” landing at seven.
Other tunes making the happiest songs list include James Brown‘s“I Got You (I Feel Good)” at two, BillyJoel’s “Uptown Girl” at five, Bob Marley’s “Sun Is Shining” at six, The Village People’s “YMCA” at eight, ABBA’s “Waterloo” at nine and the Earth, Wind & Fire classic “September” at 10.
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.
Geezer Butler is ready to tell his life story. The Black Sabbath bassist will release his memoir, Into The Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath—And Beyond, on June 6.
The book is described as “a rollicking, effusive, and candid memoir by the heavy metal musician and founding member of Black Sabbath,” sharing that it details “how one of rock’s most influential bands formed and prevailed.“
The book has Butler sharing stories of the beginnings of Black Sabbath in Birmingham, England, through their stardom, along with stories of his childhood growing up in a family of seven. According to the publisher, it “reveals the softer side of the heavy metal legend and the formation of one of rock’s most exciting bands, while holding nothing back.”
The publisher adds, “Like Geezer’s bass lines, it is both original, dramatic, and forever surprising.”
Butler first announced he was working on his memoir back in April 2021 during an interview with Cleveland.com, sharing he was doing it “for my grandkids to read.” Last April he announced on Twitter that he had turned in his first draft and mentioned Into the Void as a possible title, along with other options.
Bob Dylan’s fourteenth studio album, Planet Waves, became his first album to hit number one on the Billboard Album chart.
Recorded with his longtime collaborators The Band, Planet Waves includes the future classic “Forever Young,” which appeared on the record in two different versions. The record was originally supposed to be titled Ceremonies of the Horsemen, and the release was delayed two weeks because of the title change.
Dylan and The Band supported Planet Waves with a tour, which was Dylan’s first since 1966.
The Kinks‘ Dave Davies is not at all happy with Twitter. As previously reported, The Kinks announced a new compilation, The Journey – Part 1, to celebrate the band’s 60th anniversary, but apparently when Davies decided to tweet about it, the social media site put a warning on it for “sensitive content” because of the band’s name.
Davies was so annoyed that he actually tweeted right to the social media site’s owner, Elon Musk, writing, “Dear @elonmusk would @Twitter please stop putting warnings on everything from ‘the Kinks’. We are just trying to promote our Kinks music @TheKinks #thekinks60.”
Davies later informed Musk, “The Kinks are a brand name. We have been called the Kinks since 1963.”
The rocker also railed against robots that are flagging their name, noting, “The word robot should be banned. We got robots running our lives. At least I’m a Kink and not a f***n’ robot.
Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett has premiered a new solo song, a country rocker called “Black Top White Lines.”
“Thematically it felt like it turned a classic country trope on its head a little,” Shiflett says of the tune.
You can listen to “Black Top White Lines” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying lyric video streaming now on YouTube.
“Black Top White Lines” follows Shiflett’s two 2022 singles, “Long, Long Year” and “Born & Raised.” He’s also been working on a new solo album, which is due out later this year.
Shiflett’s previously released two solo albums, 2017’s West Coast Town and 2019’s Hard Lessons.
In addition to working on his solo material, Shiflett will join the rest of Foo Fighters for a number of festivals this year, including Bonnaroo and Boston Calling. The shows mark the band’s live comeback following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins last March.
