Billy Joel opens up about a lot of things in a new interview with The New York Times Magazine, including dating, not writing any new pop songs and Elton John's "mom hair." But he also addresses two subjects the tabloids have mostly focused on since Joel stopped making pop records two decades ago: his drinking and the state of his finances.
Paul McCartney has written an open letter of support for one of the jailed members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot. The former Beatle sent handwritten letters to officials in charge of the woman's case.
Roger Daltrey set the record straight about the time he knocked out Pete Townshend today. The Who singer told Howard Stern, on his radio program and TV show, that the story, which Townshend told a couple of years ago, is indeed true.
A year and a half after Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ self-titled debut album fooled some music fans into thinking that the Los Angeles-based classic rockers were maybe a New Wave act, the quintet doubled down. ‘You’re Gonna Get It!,’ which was released on May 2, 1978, loaded up on Byrdsian jingle-jangle, classic-rock guitar crunch and a few meathead riff-based songs that made it clear that Petty and his band had little in common with the skinny-tie kids and their synthesizers.
Doors drummer John Densmore has been making the publicity rounds for his new tell-all memoir, 'The Doors: Unhinged -- Jim Morrison's Legacy Goes on Trial.'
The numbers attached to ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ are pretty impressive. More than 50 million copies sold worldwide. Fifteen straight years on Billboard’s album chart. Consistently ranked in the Top 10 of many best-albums-ever-made polls. But Pink Floyd’s achievements with their eighth LP go deeper than that. In a way, their 1973 epic changed the way people made and listened to albums. Forty years after its release, there’s still no better head trip -- legally at least -- available.
There comes a point in most artists’ careers where they just don’t care about making records anymore. Or at least they don’t care about making records that their fans want to hear. They tour sporadically, playing the old songs to pay the bills. And they release new albums every five years or so because they feel it’s something they should do. Eric Clapton got to this point years ago, but on his 21st solo album, ‘Old Sock,’ he settles into not caring like it’s his full-time job these days.
By 1972 the Byrds had pretty much become a vehicle for Roger McGuinn’s solo recordings. The original quintet began falling apart in 1966, after Gene Clark, who penned most of the group’s original early songs, left.
Nobody really expected anything from David Bowie at this point, let alone his best album in 30 years. After virtually disappearing following the release and aborted tour in support of 2003’s underwhelming ‘Reality,’ even the rock ‘n’ roll changeling’s biggest fans figured he was finished. He was rarely seen in public, and there certainly were no rumors swirling about a new record or anything like that.
The Rolling Stones -- like so many other great groups that got their start in the '60s -- began as a cover band, working through rock, blues and R&B favorites. Their first few albums consisted almost entirely of cover songs. As
Before the Allman Brothers Band hit it big, guitarist Duane Allman had played with Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Boz Scaggs and others. After their breakthrough live album ‘At Fillmore East,’ he continued working as a busy session musician, clocking gigs with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Derek & the Dominos and Laura Nyro. Through it all he established himself as one of rock’s great instrumentalists; a master axman with a show-stopping signature style who’d step out of the spotlight and let others shine.
