As frontrunners of the burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden made perfect sense as tour mates — and the latter were wise to create some healthy competition when they joined the former’s British Steel tour on March 7, 1980. Both bands typified the subgenre coined by the British press, which fused the technicality of heavy metal with the speed […]
Did you ever wish you could be Gene Simmons‘ roadie? Well here’s your chance! The Kiss star is offering a $12,495 “Personal Assistant and Band Roadie for the Day” experience for his upcoming solo shows. The tour kicks off April 3 in Anaheim and is currently set to conclude on May 24 in Houston. Only […]
Brian James, co-founding guitarist with The Damned, died at the age of 70 on Mar. 6, his family confirmed. He was the lead songwriter for the band in their early years and wrote their 1977 track “New Rose,” widely regarded as the first-ever British punk single. Guns N’ Roses covered the song on 1993’s “The […]
Gene Simmons says he once had to be talked out of using a swear word as the title of a Kiss song. “I originally wrote a song called ‘Shit’ — ‘Doesn’t mean shit to me’ was the tagline,” Simmons told UCR. “Bob Ezrin, who produced that record, said, ‘You can’t call a song ‘Shit.’ Wal-Mart […]
Burton Cummings isn’t worried about the Guess Who being snubbed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “I don’t think about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” Cummings told Cleveland.com in a recent interview. “It’s not a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Madonna is in there. It’s not rock ‘n’ roll. So […]
Kansas vocalist Ronnie Platt shared an encouraging health update shortly after revealing his cancer diagnosis. The singer went public with his thyroid cancer diagnosis on Feb. 11, noting that he would have to have his thyroid removed. Platt emphasized that his cancer “has a 99% survival rate [and] it has not spread.” Kansas canceled or postponed a handful […]
For Tom Petty, the ’80s began on complicated ground. Just before the new decade started, a significant conflict was struck up when Petty lost his publishing rights as the result of his original label, ABC, being sold to MCA. He fought back by refusing to hand over the tapes for Damn the Torpedoes until a new […]
Peter Engel, the TV executive best-known for changing the landscape of young adult programming in the early ‘90s, has died at the age of 88. Engel’s family confirmed his death to Variety, noting that he passed away in his Santa Monica home. Born in Manhattan in 1936, Engel began his career as an NBC Page […]
Alex Lifeson has recalled the sadness he felt as Rush’s last-ever live performance wound to its end, because Neil Peart was expressing feelings of joy. The drummer – who died in 2020 – had been persuaded to take part in the limited R40 Live tour in 2015. While it had seemed possible that more could […]
Like many of us, Bruce Kulick and Ace Frehley don’t seem to have Vinnie Vincent figured out quite yet. In separate recent interviews, the two former Kiss lead guitarists shared their thoughts on the famously reclusive Vincent, who replaced Frehley in the group in 1982 but was dismissed early in 1984 over creative and personal […]