Pearl Jam‘s Ten is now officially three times as old as its title.
The grunge band’s iconic debut album was released August 27, 1991 — 30 years ago today. The RIAA Diamond-certified record is now considered one of the defining records of the ’90s alternative rock scene.
Pearl Jam released Ten just one year after they were founded in 1990. After playing together in the band Mother Love Bone, which dissolved after the death of frontman Andrew Wood, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament formed a new band with fellow Seattle musician Mike McCready. They then eventually recruited lead vocalist Eddie Vedder from San Diego, and drummer Dave Krusen.
Originally named Mookie Blaylock after the NBA point guard, Pearl Jam adopted a new moniker after they signed a record deal. The album title Ten is a reference to Blaylock’s jersey number.
Despite its now legendary status, Ten wasn’t an out-of-the-gate hit. That September, though, Nirvana released “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Nevermind, and by the end of 1991 and into 1992, the grunge sensation was officially in full swing. Ten would eventually hit number two on the Billboard 200, and Pearl Jam joined Nirvana as the faces of the suddenly popular Seattle sound.
Ten‘s success was buoyed by singles including “Even Flow,” “Alive” and the Grammy-nominated “Jeremy.” “Jeremy” was also accompanied by a shocking video, which showed a young student killing himself in front of his classmates, though the scene of the student putting the gun into his mouth was infamously censored. Despite its controversy, “Jeremy” won the 1993 MTV VMA Video of the Year.
Interestingly, Ten isn’t the only PJ album celebrating a milestone anniversary today. The band’s polarizing fourth album, No Code, was released 25 years ago on August 27, 1996.
After delighting the internet with their viral drum battle last year, Dave Grohl and Nandi Bushell finally got to jam in person.
The 11-year-old musical prodigy joined Foo Fighters on stage during their concert in Los Angeles Thursday night for a show-closing performance of “Everlong.” Referring to their epic drum-off, Grohl jokingly referred to Bushell as his “arch nemesis” before introducing her as the “most bad-a** drummer in the world.”
“We’ve had the honor to jam with some pretty amazing people over the years,” Grohl told the crowd. “Maybe some Beatles, maybe some Stones, maybe some Pink Floyds…but let me tell you something: this one right now takes the cake.”
Following the performance, which Bushell predictably crushed, Foo drummer Taylor Hawkins brought her to the edge of the stage to show her how to properly throw her sticks into the audience.
You can watch fan-shot footage of the Foo-Nandi collaboration streaming now on YouTube. Be warned: it’s impossible not to smile.
In addition to jamming with Bushell, Grohl also appears on the brand-new Halsey album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, which was produced by Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. He returns to his Nirvana role to play drums on a song called “honey,” which is available now via digital outlets.
KISS was forced to cancel its concert Thursday night in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, after Paul Stanley tested positive for COVID-19.
“Tonight’s KISS show at The Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, PA is unfortunately postponed due to Paul Stanley testing positive for COVID,” the band announced on its official website Thursday. “More information about show dates will be made available ASAP. Everyone on the entire tour, both band and crew, are fully vaccinated.”
The message continues, “The band and their crew have operated in a bubble independently to safeguard everyone as much as possible at each show and in between shows. The tour also has a COVID safety protocol officer on staff full-time that is ensuring everyone is closely following all CDC guidelines.”
Stanley also took to his personal Twitter page to squash rumors that the Kiss frontman was having heart problems, insisting, “PEOPLE!!! I am fine! I am not in ICU! My heart allows me to do 26 miles a day on my bike! I don’t know where this came from but it’s absolute nonsense.”
In addition, the venue issued a statement on Twitter assuring ticketholders that the concert will be rescheduled and that “[a]ll previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new date once announced.” Ticketholders will be updated directly by email.
This is the second concert KISS was forced to postpone since kicking off the 2021 leg of its End of the Road World Tour on August 18 in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The band postponed its August 22 show in Hartford, Connecticut, because of Hurricane Henri.
KISS’ farewell tour was launched in January 2019 and was originally scheduled to conclude in New York City on July 17, 2021, but is now expected to last well into 2022.
On September 23, the shock rocker will visit the Rock City Music Company in the Detroit suburb of Livonia, Michigan, where he’ll sign copies of the album for fans.
This will mark the first time Cooper has participated in this type of event in or near Detroit since 1999.
Detroit Stories, which was released in February, is Cooper’s homage to the hard-edged rock music of his childhood hometown. The album features contributions from various guest musicians, including the three other surviving members of the original Alice Cooper group, plus ex-Grand Funk Railroad frontman Mark Farner, MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels drummer Johnny “Bee” Badanjek.
“I’m excited to do an album signing in Detroit again, especially for the Detroit Stories album, and for all the Detroit fans,” says Alice. “Detroit still feels like home in so many ways. And Rock City Music is the right place to do it.”
The event begins at 4 p.m. local time. Tickets are priced at $25 and include either a vinyl LP or a CD/DVD copy of Detroit Stories. Cooper will only sign copies of the new album, and will autograph up to two per person. No photos with Alice, including selfies, will be permitted.
Masks will be required for entry into the event. People who are experiencing a temperature above 100.4 degrees or have any other COVID-19 symptoms are asked to stay home.
Two days after the signing event, Cooper will return to the Detroit area for a concert in Clarkston, Michigan, part of Alice’s upcoming U.S. tour that kicks off September 17 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Here’s a deeper look at the reissue’s Super Deluxe editions, which will be available as a five-CD/Blu-ray set, a four-LP/EP vinyl collection and in digital formats.
The expanded reissue boasts a new mix of the original album; previously unreleased recordings from the sessions, including alternate takes, rehearsals, jams, studio chatter and a performance from the band’s historic rooftop concert; and a recreation of the unreleased 14-track Get Back LP compiled in May 1969 by engineer Glyn Johns.
The CD and vinyl Super Deluxe reissue will come with a book featuring a foreword by Paul McCartney; commentary, notes and essays by respected Beatles historian Kevin Howlett and journalist John Harris; previously unpublished photos; and rare images of handwritten lyrics, session notes, sketches and more.
Let It Be was released in the U.K. on May 8, 1970 — a month after The Beatles announced their breakup — and 10 days later in the U.S.
The album spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 in June and July of 1970, and yielded the chart-topping hit “The Long and Winding Road.” It also featured alternate versions of two other songs that reached #1 prior to the album’s release — the title track and “Get Back.”
As previously reported, the new three-part documentary The Beatles: Get Back created by director Peter Jackson from unseen footage shot during the Let It Be sessions will premiere on Disney+ on November 25, 26 and 27.
A companion The Beatles: Get Back book will be published on October 12.
Here’s the track list for the CD version of the Let It Be Super Deluxe reissues:
CD 1: Let It Be (new stereo mix of original album)
“Two of Us”
“Dig a Pony”
“Across the Universe”
“I Me Mine”
“Dig It”
“Let It Be”
“Maggie Mae”
“I’ve Got a Feeling”
“One After 909”
“The Long and Winding Road”
“For You Blue”
“Get Back”
CD 2: Get Back — Apple Sessions
“Morning Camera” (Speech – Mono)/”Two of Us” (Take 4)
“Maggie Mae”/”Fancy My Chances with You” (Mono)
“Can You Dig It?”
“I Don’t Know Why I’m Moaning” (Speech – Mono)
“For You Blue” (Take 4)
“Let It Be”/”Please Please Me”/”Let It Be” (Take 10)
“I’ve Got a Feeling” (Take 10)
“Dig a Pony” (Take 14)
“Get Back” (Take 19)
“Like Making an Album?” (Speech)
“One After 909” (Take 3)
“Don’t Let Me Down” (First rooftop performance)
“The Long and Winding Road” (Take 19)
“Wake Up Little Susie”/”I Me Mine” (Take 11)
CD 3: Get Back — Rehearsals and Apple Jams
“On the Day Shift Now” (Speech – Mono)/”All Things Must Pass” (Rehearsals – Mono)
“Concentrate on the Sound” (Mono)
“Gimme Some Truth” (Rehearsal – Mono)
“I Me Mine” (Rehearsal – Mono)
“She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” (Rehearsal)
“Polythene Pam” (Rehearsal – Mono)
“Octopus’s Garden” (Rehearsal – Mono)
“Oh! Darling” (Jam)
“Get Back” (Take 8)
“The Walk” (Jam)
“Without a Song” (Jam) — Billy Preston with John and Ringo
“Something” (Rehearsal – Mono)
“Let It Be” (Take 28)
CD 4: Get Back LP — 1969 Glyn Johns Mix
“One After 909”
“I’m Ready” (aka “Rocker”)/Save the Last Dance for Me”/”Don’t Let Me Down”
“Don’t Let Me Down”
“Dig a Pony”
“I’ve Got a Feeling”
“Get Back”
“For You Blue”
“Teddy Boy”
“Two of Us”
“Maggie Mae”
“Dig It”
“Let It Be”
“The Long and Winding Road”
“Get Back (Reprise)”
CD 5: Let It Be EP
“Across the Universe” (unreleased Glyn Johns 1970 mix)
“I Me Mine” (unreleased Glyn Johns 1970 mix)
“Don’t Let Me Down” (new mix of original single version)
“Let It Be” (new mix of original single version)
Blu-ray: Let It Be Special Edition audio mixes
–Dolby Atmos
–96kHz/24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
–96kHz/24-bit High Res Stereo (2019 Stereo Mix)
Metallica has announced a $50,000 donation toward Haitian earthquake relief through the band’s All Within My Hands charity foundation.
The funds will be used by to help those impacted by the 7.2 magnitude quake, which hit Haiti on August 14. More than 2,200 people have died and over 12,200 have been injured, according to Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency. Additionally, over 50,000 homes have been destroyed.
All Within My Hands has previously donated money to causes including COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts for disasters including the West Coast wildfires, and this year’s Texas winter storm.
Meanwhile, Metallica has released two more previews of the upcoming Metallica Blacklist compilation, a 53-artist tribute to the group’s iconic 1991 self-titled record, aka The Black Album. The newly released covers include Japanese-British musician Rina Sawayama‘s version of “Enter Sandman,” and British rock band IDLES‘ rendition of “The God that Failed.”
The Metallica Blacklist will be released September 10. Proceeds will benefit a charity of each contributing artist’s choosing, as well as All Within My Hands.
As previously reported, the five-CD collection features previously unreleased live, studio and demo recordings from Joni Mitchell‘s early career leading up to Blue‘s release.
Archives Vol. 2 features home recordings from 1967 and 1968; tracks recorded during the making of Mitchell’s first four studio albums — 1968’s Song to a Seagull, 1969’s Clouds, 1970’s Ladies of the Canyon and ’71’s Blue — performances and an interview from Joni’s August 1969 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show; and several full-length concerts.
The concerts include a March 1968 show at the Le Hibou Coffee House in Ottawa, Canada, that was recorded by guitar legend Jimi Hendrix, a February 1969 performance at New York City’s historic Carnegie Hall, and an October 1970 concert at London’s Paris Theatre, during which Joni was joined by James Taylor for part of the show.
Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2 also is available as a limited-edition 10-LP vinyl set.
In addition, a standalone three-LP vinyl edition of Mitchell’s 1969 Carnegie Hall performance also will be released on November 12. A limited-edition white-vinyl version of Live at Carnegie Hall, February 1, 1969 can be purchased exclusively at JoniMitchell.com.
The three-LP set offers audio of the entire concert over five sides, while the sixth and final side features an etching of the American eagle design that appeared on the skirt Mitchell wore at the show.
Joni’s performance of “Chelsea Morning” that kicked off the concert has been released as a digital track in advance of the live album and the Archives Vol. 2 box set.
Here’s the Live at Carnegie Hall track list:
First Set
Side One
“Chelsea Morning”
A Valentine for Joni
“Cactus Tree”
“Night in the City”
“I Had a King”
Side Two
“Blue Boy”
My American Skirt
“The Fiddle and the Drum”
Spoony’s Wonderful Adventure
“That Song About the Midway”
“Both Sides Now”
Second Set
Side Three
“Marcie”
“Nathan La Franeer”
Intro to “The Gallery”
“The Gallery”
“Hunter”
“Morning Morgantown”
Side Four
Intro to “Get Together”
“Get Together”
Intro to “The Circle Game/Little Green”
“The Circle Game/Little Green”
Encore
Side Five
“Michael from Mountains”
Intro to “Urge for Going”
“Urge for Going”
Side Six
Etching of American eagle design from the skirt Mitchell wore at Carnegie Hall show
Anthrax is celebrating 40 years of thrashing with a stiff drink.
The New York City metallers have announced Anthrax XL, a signature whiskey marking the band’s 40th anniversary. Created in collaboration with Hillrock Estate Distillery, Anthrax XL boasts a 115 proof cask strength, and is limited to 400 hand-numbered, limited edition bottles costing $155, each of which is signed by every band member.
“On the nose, there is an explosion of caramel, toffee, and butterscotch with hints of dried cherries and fresh herbs,” guitarist Scott Ian says of Anthrax XL. “The palette has a rich texture of bright red fruits, baking spices, and toasted almonds. I’m drooling just reading that back. Get yourself a bottle, you deserve it!”
Also available are special “Golden Ticket” bottles, which comes with two tickets and a meet-and-greet during Anthrax’s upcoming 2022 headlining U.S. tour, the exact details of which have yet to be announced. Only 40 of those will be sold, and are priced at $350.
Anthrax was founded July 18, 1981 — 40 years ago last month. The band marked the milestone with a streaming concert, as well as a video series going through each of their albums.
A vinyl box set celebrating the 50th anniversary of Billy Joel‘s career and focusing mainly on his 1970s albums is due out on November 5, the same day Joel will play his first rescheduled residency show at New York’s Madison Square Garden since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Billy Joel — The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 1 is a nine-LP package featuring the singer/songwriter’s first six studio efforts — 1971’s Cold Spring Harbor, 1973’s RIAA four-times-Platinum Piano Man, 1974’s Streetlife Serenade, 1976’s Turnstiles, 1977’s RIAA Diamond-certified The Stranger and 1978’s seven-times-Platinum 52nd Street — plus his first live album, 1981’s Songs in the Attic, and a previously unreleased two-disc concert album titled Live at The Great American Music Hall – 1975.
The box set, which you can pre-order now, also will feature a booklet that boasts archival photos, Joel’s comments about his early music, tributes from various well-known musicians and celebrities, and an essay by music journalist Anthony DeCurtis.
Live at The Great American Music Hall, which will be available exclusively as part of The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 1, was recorded in June 1975 in San Francisco. The concert features versions of such popular Joel tunes as “You’re My Home,” “New York State of Mind,” “The Entertainer” and “The Ballad of Billy the Kid,” as well as Billy’s imitations of Joe Cocker, Elton John and Leon Russell.
Among the many classic songs features on the box set are “She’s Got a Way,” “Piano Man,” “Captain Jack,” “The Entertainer,” “New York State of Mind,” “Say Goodbye to Hollywood,” “Just the Way You Are,” “Movin’ Out (Anthony’ Song),” “She’s Always a Woman,” “Only the Good Die Young,” “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” My Life,” “Big Shot,” and “Honesty.”
The Beatles‘ final studio album, Let It Be, will be reissued on October 15 in multiple configurations in advance of the highly anticipated The Beatles: Get Back documentary that focuses on the making of the record.
All versions of the reissue will feature a new mix of the 1970 album by Giles Martin — son of late Beatles producer George Martin — and engineer Sam Okell.
The Super Deluxe editions of the reissue boast a total of 57 tracks, including 27 previously unreleased recordings from the sessions, a four-track Let It Be EP and an unreleased 14-track album titled Get Back featuring stereo mixes of songs compiled in May of 1969 by engineer Glyn Johns.
In advance of the Let It Be reissue, three tracks have been made available from the deluxe versions — a 2021 stereo mix of the title track, a recording of The Beatles’ rooftop performance of “Don’t Let Me Down” and the Get Back LP mix of “For You Blue.”
