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50 years since bassist and vocalist Lemmy Kilmister formed heavy metal icons Motörhead, a long-lost album from 1976 is set for release.
Originally recorded in August 1976, The Manticore Tapes is a snapshot of the first recording with the band’s classic ’70s and ’80s lineup, including Kilmister, drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor and guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke.
The 11-track release came to be when the group set up at Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore Studio to rehearse and record with Ron Faucus. Ultimately, the tapes of this session were lost, but have since been recovered, with restoration undertaken by Cameron Webb and mastering done by Andrew Alekel.
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The result is a record which captures Motörhead in their formative period, fresh from the early lineup which recorded the tracks that would later make up 1979’s On Parole album, yet hungry with the ambition that would turn them into one of the U.K.’s biggest heavy exports of the ’70s and ’80s.
Many of the tracks present on The Manticore Tapes are early versions of those found on the band’s 1977 self-titled debut and On Parole. This includes the likes of the eponymous “Motörhead,” “Vibrator” and “The Watcher.”
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Additionally, the new package features alternate takes and instrumental versions of “Iron Horse/Born to Lose” and their cover of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers’ “Witch Doctor,” and an early version of Eddie Holland’s “Leaving Here,” of which a re-recorded version would be issued as the band’s debut single.
Word of the newly-announced collection also comes alongside the single release of “Motörhead,” allowing listeners to gain a deeper insight into the evolution of the track as it flirts with R&B and blues before making the leap into the hard rock classic it would become.
The Manticore Tapes is officially set for release On June 27, with a deluxe edition also featuring their Blitzkreig on Birmingham ’77 live record, and a previously-unreleased 7″ single titled Live at Barbarella’s Birmingham ’77.
Clarke would later depart Motörhead in 1982, and Taylor would follow in 1984 though he rejoined for five years from 1987. Both musicians would briefly appear onstage with Motörhead again in 2014, though Taylor would pass away in November 2015 at the age of 61, with Kilmister following the next month at 70, ultimately putting an end to the band. Clarke would later pass away in 2018 at the age of 67.
Fans wishing for a reunion from the Dead Kennedys and Jello Biafra will have to petition the former singer, founding guitarist East Bay Ray has claimed.
Ray (whose real name is Raymond Pepperell) has served as the guitarist for the San Francisco punk icons since their formation in 1978, stepping away from his role only during the band’s inactive period between 1986 and 2001.
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Though the Dead Kennedys reformed in the 21st century, they’ve not once been fronted by Biafra, whose relationship with Ray and drummer Klaus Flouride (aka Geoffrey Lyall) remains fraught to this day. As Ray explained in a recent interview with Guitar World, he’s open to the concept of a reunion with the classic lineup, though Biafra remains the sticking point in any potential plans.
“It’s not an issue for me or Klaus,” Ray explains. “It’s Biafra that turns down any offers for us to do something; we don’t have any problem. He got caught with his hands in the till and wants to blame us for getting caught, but he should never have put his hands in there in the first place.”
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Ray’s claims relate to a 1998 lawsuit in which Ray, Flouride and drummer D.H. Peligro (aka Darren Henley, who would pass away in 2022) accused Biafra and his Alternative Tentacles label of withholding royalties. In 2003, Biafra was ordered by California’s Court of Appeal to replay the outstanding royalties with additional punitive damages.
Ray, Flouride and Peligro reunited the Dead Kennedys in 2001, with various singers fronting the band until the appointment of Ron “Skip” Greer in 2008. Attempts to reunite the classic members of the Dead Kennedys have taken place over the years, including by Chicago’s Riot Fest in 2017.
“Dead Kennedys had a sincere invitation to play a reunion show at Riot Fest in Chicago this fall,” Ray wrote on social media at the time. “Jello Biafra turned it down. Klaus Flouride, DH Peligro and I were looking forward to doing it.”
The Dead Kennedys’ original eight-year run resulted in a string of singles and four studio albums, including their 1980 debut Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables. The conclusion of the band’s lawsuit in 2003 gave members the right to reissue past Dead Kennedys albums, including a 2022 release of their debut which left Biafra displeased.
“We actually wrote as a band, where in effect, due to the chemistry between us, it was a case of two and two equaling five, you know?” Ray rold Guitar World. “None of us has had a solo career that was bigger than Dead Kennedys, which, to me, shows the power of a bunch of talented people getting together and creating something that was far greater than the sum of its parts.
“Jello didn’t bring in the songs. I know he’s created the myth that he wrote them all, but the question here is that if he did, why didn’t he ever do anything significant after leaving the band?” he added. “Iggy left the Stooges and had a career; ditto Lou Reed with the Velvet Underground or Morrissey with the Smiths. Where’s Biafra’s solo career with a bunch of great songs?”
Miley Cyrus just unlocked a vulnerable new layer of her upcoming visual album Something Beautiful, dropping fourth single “More to Lose” Friday (May 9) just a few weeks ahead of the LP. Singing over cinematic piano, guitars and strings, the pop star steps fully into the power of her voice on the new track. “I […]
Halsey and Amy Lee of Evanescence are feeding fans well this week, serving up new collaboration “Hand That Feeds” for new movie Ballerina on Friday (May 9). Haunting and cinematic, the track matches the intensity of the June-slated film as the two musicians harmonize with one another. “Too late ’cause you know you can’t turn […]
2025 could be Doechii’s year. The TDE rapper continued her winning streak on Friday (May 9) with her surprise guest appearance on The Weeknd and Playboi Carti’s “Timeless (Remix).”
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Days after rumors ran rampant on social media of Doechii hopping on the Pharrell-produced hit, the “Timeless (Remix)” landed on streaming services on Friday (May 9).
Doechii bats leadoff and wastes no time bleeding her swagger into “Timeless” with a braggadocios assist flexing on the competition.
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“Hop in the booth, I advance on the beat/ B—h, it’s a wrap like lettuce and cheese/ Why would I f–k a n—a that’s fanned over me/ I do what you n—-s do with my hands on my knees/ This s–t too easy,” she raps.
The Swamp Princess closes out her guest appearance with a nod to her record label and Kendrick Lamar’s pgLang.
“Top Dawg cashin’ out Doechii stock/ Pull up to the pgLang on the dot/ Now I got a timeshare wrist watch/ I been that girl since hopscotch, I’m too legit,” she boasts.
“Timeless” sits at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and could receive a boost in the coming weeks thanks to the timely remix.
Coming off a Grammy Award win and her Met Gala debut, Doechii’s been in the mix for the first half of the year and it’s all eyes on when her anticipated debut album will arrive.
As for The Weeknd and Playboi Carti, they’ll kick off the After Hours Til Dawn Tour in Glendale, Arizona’s State Farm Stadium on Friday.
The XO singer and Carti will be invading stadiums throughout North America with stops in Detroit, Chicago, Inglewood, Las Vegas, New Jersey, Philly, Miami, Toronto, Montreal, Atlanta and Orlando before wrapping up in San Antonio on Sept. 3.
Listen to the “Timeless (Remix)” below.
Put American actor Nicolas Cage and Australian musician Nick Cave in the same room, and it seems no one can tell the difference – at least that’s what the former has claimed in a recent interview.
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Cage (that’s the actor, not the musician) is currently promoting his recently-released film The Surfer, which was both filmed and set in Cave’s home country. Speaking to The Guardian, Cave responded to a reader’s question about a 2022 tall tale from Cave which recounts the pair apparently meeting based on their similar names.
“I don’t think there’s a day that goes by where I’m not mistaken for Nick Cave,” Cage explains. “People also say: ‘Hey, Nick, you were great in The Hunger,’ which is this great David Bowie movie.”
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Though Cage didn’t appear in Tony Scott’s 1983 film The Hunger (and neither did Cave), the actor turned his attention to an anecdote in which he claims to have met the musician.
“I do remember that Cave was very nice,” he continued. “We were at an animal sanctuary, I believe – I think Sealy Animal Hospital in Texas – and he was terrific. I said hello and wanted to shake his hand. I said: ‘Only one letter separates us – G. Nick Cave, Nick Cage.’”
Cage’s comments somewhat echo the 2022 story which Cave shared on his Red Hand Files website, responding to readers who respectively asked if Cave has ever met Cage, or added an “untrue component to a story to make it more interesting than it actually is.”
“People mix me up with Nicolas Cage all the time,” Cave recalled. “Like, I’ll be going through customs and the customs officer will look at my passport and say, ‘Happy to have you with us, Mr Cave. Loved you in Face/Off’. Or whatever. Sometimes it can be a bit of a pain in the neck, but you get used to it.”
Cave then continued with a lengthy tale about how he was apparently mistaken for Cage while purchasing a didgeridoo for his late son Arthur from the gift shop of the Healesville Sanctuary in his home state of Victoria. On their way home to Melbourne, Cave claims their meal at a local pub was interrupted by an apparent interaction with Cage.
“I follow the security guy into a small private room, adjacent to the main bar. Sitting there is Nicolas Cage,” Cave writes. “He is wearing a pork-pie hat and holding a didgeridoo. Nicolas Cage shouts, ‘Only one letter separates us!’ and leaps from his seat and eagerly pumps my hand. I’m pretty confused by all of this, but say, ‘It’s an honour to meet you, Mr Cage. Have you just been to Healesville Sanctuary?’ and he shouts, ‘Yes!’ and I say, ‘Well, me too.’”
Though it remains to be seen whether Cage’s own claims of mistaken identity are truthful (and for that matter, where the truth – if any – lies in Cave’s own story), Cage also used his interview with The Guardian to comment on the existence of Australian band Nicolas Cage Fighter.
“I think they’re terrific,” he explained. “Their songs are empowering. The lyrics are all about taking ownership of your mistakes, never being a victim, figuring out how you can fix your problems.”
Even before the ACM Awards got underway Thursday (May 8), winners had been announced in six categories. And in one of those categories, the voters delivered a big surprise. Country traditionalist Zach Top took the award for new male artist of the year, beating Shaboozey, whose “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” had spent 19 weeks at […]
Talk about the trailblazers! Country icon Reba McEntire joined Lainey Wilson and Miranda Lambert to debut the trio’s emotional new collaboration “Trailblazer” toward the end of the 2025 ACM Awards Thursday (May 8) at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The song had dropped on streaming services just hours earlier, at 8 p.m. ET.
The celebrated country artists took to a stage that was dressed to appear like a barren desert, the skies behind them a warm orange as the silhouettes of birds fluttered through the the scene. Dressed in matching brown suede outfits accented with turquoise, the three women traded lyrics before harmonizing on the chorus, singing, “Talk about a trailblazer, cuttin’ one half at a time/ Running like a dream chaser, living on a prayer and a rhyme/ Put a flag in the ground to the country sound, to the rhythm of your own highway/ Talk about a trailblazer, I’m rolling down the road you paved.”
At the end of the song, McEntire, who was also hosting the show for the 18th time, took the hands of her collaborators, and together, the three women walked to the front of the stage and took a bow together.
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The day before the ACM Awards, the trio spoke to Billboard‘s Melinda Newman about their new ballad, which pays tribute to those who influenced them and paved the way. “We wanted to lean in pretty hard to paying tribute to each person,” shared Lambert, who was the focus of Billboard‘s inaugural Power Pets feature alongside her dog Bellamy. “We had to do it strategically, though, because we didn’t want it to be so blatant — but more like a secret thing that you would have to listen to it twice.”
“We were just having a conversation about how [Lambert and McEntire] have influenced me and [about] passing the torch and blazing trails for each other,” Wilson also noted. “Generation after generation, it’s going to continue, but we got to keep blazing those trails for the next one.”
The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
Some of the best harmonies in pop and country music joined forces on Thursday night (May 8) when Backstreet Boys hit the ACM Awards stage to close the 2025 show alongside Rascal Flatts. The eight men teamed up for four songs, starting with 2006’s “What Hurts the Most” — which the two groups just re-recorded […]
Jelly Roll was living the dream on Thursday (May 8) when he performed “Heart of Stone,” the third single from his sophomore album, Beautifully Broken, at the 2025 Academy of Country Music Awards held at at Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas.
“I’m wide awake and I’m dreamin’/ Wonderin’ where and when I fell apart/ Oh, I fell apart/ I had enough of my demons/ Angels only meet you where you are,” he sang emotionally, his voice powerful, during the chorus from the track about some very dark days in his life. As he belted out the chorus, Bunnie XO, who is married to the country star, sang along in the audience. “And I’m in the dark/ Least for now, Lord, I ain’t losin’ hope/ That somehow you can make a heart of gold/ From this heart of stone.”
As the tune ended, Jelly pointed to the heavens and mouthed, “Thank you.” The cameras then shifted to Shaboozey, who stood alone as he began his new single, the two men’s collaboration “Amen,” off the “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” singer’s Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going. After the chorus, Jelly joined in as he walked through the crowd, giving Wynonna Judd a hug before he made his way onto the stage next to ‘Boozey to finish the upbeat tune as Keith Urban and Nicole kidman sang along from the audience.
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At the end of the Jelly and Shaboozey’s duet, the “Need a Favor” singer turned to his song partner, who turns 30 on Friday (May 9), and said, “Happy birthday, ‘Boozey!” before giving him a big hug.
Jelly Roll — who is nominated for entertainer of the year, male artist of the year and album of the year for his Billboard 200 chart-topper Beautifully Broken — spoke about “Heart of Stone” while appearing on The Jennifer Hudson Show in April. “I love the lyrics of this song,” he explained to the host, specifically pointing out the lyrics to the second verse. “When I hear ‘Lord, can you hear me? I’m shackled in these chains/ I’m haunted by the lies of every time I said I’d change.’ Wow, that just reminds me of all the times that I went and looked in the mirror and said, ‘I’m gonna be different today’ and I wasn’t different that day. … It still gives me goosebumps and it makes me want to stand up and do something about it. It makes me want to quit being a man that puts it off and start being a man that does it right now.”
Country icon and 16-time ACM Awards winner Reba McEntire is the host of the show; it is her 18th time helming the ceremony. The show streamed live on Amazon’s Prime Video.
The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.