Wally Safford, who danced in Prince‘s Revolution band and served as the singer’s bodyguard, has died at age 63. No further details have been given. Safford, a Detroit native, grew up in the Nation of Islam, where he received much of his bodyguard training. (His family was close with Elijah Muhammad , Malcolm X and Muhammad […]
Rikki Rockett honored late Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali during Poison’s performance on the final date of the Stadium Tour. After rocking through a rendition of their 1990 hit “Unskinny Bop,” frontman Bret Michaels introduced Rockett, with the drummer taking the spotlight. As he began his solo — a customary highlight of the band’s sets […]
Stardom was never on Bonnie Raitt‘s radar. From the beginning of her career, she was mostly concerned with the craft of live performance. “I personally don’t have any ambition to be any big hot stuff,” she told Sing Out! in 1972. “I like to play. I could play second act, or play at Jack’s [a bar and […]
Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee has never been bashful with his body, but now it seems the rocker has decided to jump to the famous live streaming site Only Fans. “In case you guys are fucking living under a rock, I’ve been in trouble a little bit lately,” Lee declared during Motley Crue’s Stadium Tour closing […]
Aerosmith brought their ongoing 50th anniversary celebration to Fenway Park in their hometown of Boston last night (Sept. 8). The crowd of 38,700 set a new record for the most tickets sold for a concert at the iconic baseball field. The show came four days after Aerosmith returned to the stage for the first time following […]
R.E.M.‘s “Lightnin’ Hopkins” isn’t a song about the musician of the same name. Although the title of the third track on side two of Document shares its moniker with Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins, spotlights a howled vocal hook and features slide guitar, R.E.M. wasn’t paying any sort of tribute to the Texas bluesman in the song’s […]
Rock fans who excitedly tuned into NBC’s opening game of the NFL season on Thursday night were left disappointed as the network opted to air only 10 seconds of Ozzy Osbourne’s halftime performance. The Prince of Darkness had been hyping his performance over the past week, with multiple social media posts promoting the halftime set. […]
Members of the Byrds discussed an argument over Paul Simon that may have been “the beginning of the end” for David Crosby’s original tenure with the band. He was fired in 1967 after his relationship with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman disintegrated following the Monterey Pop Festival. In the new photo book The Byrds 1964-1967 (via Variety), […]
Contrary to the popular narrative, grunge didn’t appear out of thin air and obliterate the ’80s hard rock zeitgeist overnight. But if there’s a single event that represented rock music’s changing of the guard — and the brief moment in time where these disparate strains coexisted — it’s the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. The 1992 VMAs were a who’s […]
Ozzy Osbourne has recorded two solo albums in the past three years, including Patient Number 9, which is out now. But he’s faced a long series of health challenges every step of the way. The chronic pain got so bad earlier this year that Osbourne admitted that he hoped he wouldn’t wake up as he […]