Rock
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Great art is so often hewn from struggle. Dave Grohl knows all about it. Following the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain, and the immediate disbanding of Nirvana, the grunge great’s drummer Grohl focused his grief and energies on a new project, Foo Fighters. A year later, Foo Fighters dropped its self-titled debut album. Grohl sang every line and played every instrument, with the exception of a guitar part on “X-Static”.The Foos are now members of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 2022 (Grohl was also elevated as a member of Nirvana, in 2014), and 11 albums deep in a rocking career, one that was ignited by struggle. Grohl and his Foos have had to pick up their shattered pieces once again following the untimely death last March of their talismanic drummer, Taylor Hawkins. Working through heartbreak, the band reassembled those pieces for But Here We Are, the Foos’ 11th and latest studio album, which dropped at the stroke of midnight. Produced by years-long collaborator Greg Kurstin, the set is described a “brutally honest and emotionally raw response” to tragedy, and “the first chapter of the band’s new life.”
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Spanning 10 tracks, But Here We Are opens with the first single “Rescued,” which dropped April 19.
Grohl returns to his familiar duties behind the kit on the new LP, though Josh Freese was recently unveiled as the Foos’ full-time drummer, making his live concert debut with the group on May 21 for a performance that included new cut “Show Me How” and the title track. Freese, a veteran studio/touring drummer, has played with acts including Guns N’ Roses, A Perfect Circle, and Nine Inch Nails, was revealed as during a livestream, “Foo Fighters: Preparing Music for Concerts”.
The Foos will rumble through the summer with a full itinerary, including more than a dozen festival appearances at Boston Calling, Sonic Temple, Rock Am Ring, Bonnaroo, Ottawa Bluesfest, Harley-Davidson Homecoming, Fuji Rock, Wildlands, Outside Lands, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, Riot Fest, Sea.Hear.Now, Louder Than Life, Ohana and ACL, as well as a number of North American and international headlining dates.
And Here We Are is the followup to 2021’s Medicine at Midnight, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, one of the band’s nine top 10 appearances on the chart, two of which hit No. 1.Stream it below.
It’s been 20 years since Linkin Park rocked the music world with their 2003 hit “Numb,” and this week, the emotionally charged music video hit 2 billion views on YouTube. It’s the band’s first clip to achieve the impressive milestone. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The […]
Little Richard knew exactly what he was doing when he sang the seemingly gibberish lyrics “Awop-bop-a-loo-mop-alop-bam-boom/ If it don’t fit, don’t force it/ You can grease it and make it easy.” The iconic couplet he originally wrote for his 1955 breakthrough hit “Tutti Fruitti” is explored in a new episode of PBS’ American Masters, “Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” which will debut on public stations on Friday (June 2) at 9 p.m. ET as pat of LGBTQIA+ Pride Month and African American Music Appreciation Month.
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The show, which features interviews with the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, Nile Rodgers, Pat Boone, Ringo Starr, Bobby Rush and Big Freedia, as well as activist/drag performer Sir Lady Java and Richard’s spiritual advisor, Rev. Bill Minson, tells the origin story of Richard (born Richard Wayne Penniman) from a child prodigy steeped in the world of gospel to global rock stardom; it features never-before heard audio recordings of Richard made by his authorized biographer, Charles White, who is also featured.
In a Billboard exclusive clip from the show (see below), Little Richard’s bandmates and contemporaries talk about the origin story of “Tutti Frutti,” which was birthed at the raucous Dew Drop Inn in New Orleans. “When we went into the Drew Drop Inn there was a piano… and that’s when I began to know and understand Little Richard,” says Specialty Records producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell.
“‘Cause that’s all you gotta do is give Richard an audience, turn the lights on and show is on,” Blackwell says. Richard’s longtime keyboard player and friend Ronald “Ron” Jones adds that one day Richard jumped on the piano and played the “alop-bam-boom” riff and his producers asked about the hook they’d never heard before, even though the singer — who died in May 2020 at age 87 of bone cancer — had been using it for years while playing to Black audiences on the Chitlin’ Circuit.
In the episode we hear archival tape of Richard reciting the next two lines in the chorus, “If you want it, you got it/ Tutti-frutti, good booty.” The lyrics, of course, could be interpreted as being about gay sex, laughs Deacon John Moore, a blues musician who recorded with Richard. “They’re not gonna play that on the radio. ‘Tutti-frutti, good booty!’ And everybody knew this ain’t about ice cream!”
The bottom line from Richard’s producer, though, was that regardless of what he was singing about, “Tutti Fruitti” sounded like a slam-dunk hit record. Informed that he would have to clean up the “smutty” lyrics a bit to get airplay, Richard agreed, with Blackwell explaining how they changed the first bit to “tutti frutti, oh rootie,” while adding girls named Sue and Daisy. After two or three takes, history was made.
The PBS doc follows on the heels of producer/director and former label exec Lisa Cortés’ recent doc, Little Richard: I Am Everything, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and has been streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV since April.
Watch the American Masters preview below and watch the full episode on Friday night.
New releases from Dave Matthews Band and Ghost top Billboard’s rock album charts dated June 3.
Walk Around the Moon, Dave Matthews Band’s 10th studio set, bows at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums tallies with 44,000 equivalent album units earned May 19-25, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 40,000 are via album sales.
The set is frontman Matthews’ seventh No. 1 on both surveys, which began in 2006. (Five leaders are billed as by Dave Matthews Band; two are credited to Matthews and DMB guitarist Tim Reynolds.) He boasts the third-most rulers in the history of both charts, behind only John Mayer and Bruce Springsteen (solo and with the E Street Band), each with eight.
Most No. 1s, Top Rock & Alternative Albums:
8, John Mayer
8, Bruce Springsteen (solo and with the E Street Band)
7, Dave Matthews (solo and with Dave Matthews Band)
6, The Beatles
6, Coldplay
6, Grateful Dead
6, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)
Dave Matthews Band first commanded Top Rock & Alternative Albums in 2006 with The Best of What’s Around, Vol. 01. Until its latest No. 1, the group had last led with 2018’s Come Tomorrow.
Walk Around the Moon’s 40,000-unit sales mark also slots the set at No. 1 on the all-genre Top Album Sales chart, where it’s the band’s eighth leader. On the Billboard 200, it begins at No. 5, marking Matthews’ 13th top five entry, a run that began with Dave Matthews Band’s Crash in May 1996.
Concurrently, “Monsters,” the second radio single from Walk Around the Moon, lifts 12-11 on Adult Alternative Airplay. “Madman’s Eyes” reached No. 4 in March.
Meanwhile, Phantomime, Ghost’s new all-covers EP, starts at No. 1 on Top Hard Rock Albums with 36,000 units, with 34,000 from album sales.
The five-song set features the rockers’ renditions of music from Genesis, Iron Maiden, The Stranglers, Television and Tina Turner.
It’s Ghost’s fifth Top Hard Rock Albums ruler. The band first led with Infestissumam in May 2013 and had most recently reigned with Impera in March 2022.
Phantomime also begins at No. 2 on both Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums. On the Billboard 200, it arrives as the Tobias Forge-led outfit’s fourth top 10, at No. 7.
The EP’s lead single, Ghost’s cover of Genesis’ “Jesus He Knows Me,” rises 18-16 on Mainstream Rock Airplay. It has outperformed the Phil Collins-sung original, which hit No. 24 in 1992.
Paramore usually pick a superfan to join them on stage to perform their signature 2007 hit “Misery Business” during their shows. But on Wednesday night (May 31) they had a very special guest, and true uberfan, on hand to do the honors: Lil Uzi Vert. According to NME, Singer Hayley Williams took a moment to […]
Bruce Springsteen had a moment that fans, bandmates and promoters dread when, during a concert in Amsterdam last Saturday (May 27), the rock legend had an on-stage fall.
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The 73-year-old artist was returning from a stint in the pit when, during a performance of “Ghosts,” he tripped up the stairs while carrying his electric guitar.
The Boss appeared to have a soft landing, as members of the E Street Band rushed over to check on him and help the Boss to his feet.
“Goodnight everybody,” he yelled to the audience, as he gingerly made his way back to the center stage.
Thankfully, it wasn’t the end of the show. “Ghosts” came early in a set at Johan Cruijff Arena that numbered almost 30 songs, and included classics “Born In The U.S.A.,” “Born to Run,” “Thunder Road,” “Dancing In The Dark,” and more.Stumbles aside, Springsteen has enjoyed some glory days on his current European tour.
During his trip to Ireland, he caught up with former Pogues singer Shane MacGowan at his home in Dublin, and was spotted hanging with some townspeople and having a pint at The Burrow pub in Rathangan, Co. Kildare.
During a visit last month to Spain, Springsteen welcomed on stage former First Lady Michelle Obama and actress Kate Capshaw, wife of director Steven Spielberg, for a rendition of “Glory Days.”
And the stars came out for his performance at Rome’s Circus Maximus, with the likes of Sting, Nick Cave, drummers Lars Ulrich (Metallica) and Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), and actors Woody Harrelson, Chris Rock and Isla Fisher spotted in the audience.
Springsteen has been prolific of late, dropping the albums Western Stars in 2019, followed by Letter to You in 2020, both peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Last year, Springsteen released the R&B covers album Only the Strong Survive, his 21st studio set (peaking at No. 8).
Grammy-winning metal band System of a Down is best known for hair-raising hits such as “B.Y.O.B.” and “Aerials,” and now — thanks to America’s Got Talent contestant Phillip Bowen’s stunning violin cover of “Chop Suey!” on the show’s season premiere on Tuesday (May 30) — the world can enjoy an impressive reimagining of one of […]
Welcome to the jungle! Carrie Underwood is set to join rock band Guns N’ Roses for three shows on the North American leg of the group’s 2023 Global Tour. Alice in Chains, The Pretenders, The Warning and Dirty Honey are also joining the trek.
The country star will open for the rockers during two shows in Canada (Aug. 5 in Moncton, New Brunswick, and Aug. 8 in Montreal, Quebec), followed by a show on Aug. 26 in Nashville at GEODIS Park.
“SO ready for this!” the American Idol season four champ gushed in an Instagram post announcing her addition to the tour. “I CANNOT WAIT!!”
Underwood has long incorporated songs from Guns N’ Roses’ classic rock catalog — such as “Welcome to the Jungle” — into her own concert setlists, and welcomed lead singer Axl Rose as her surprise guest during her headlining set at the Stagecoach music festival in 2022, where the two performed “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and “Paradise City.”
Later that year, Guns N’ Roses later welcomed Underwood to reprise those same songs during Guns N’ Roses’ London concert.
This marks the first time Guns N’ Roses has toured North America since their We’re F’N Back! Tour in 2021. The tour launches overseas on June 5 in Tel Aviv, Israel, and continues through Europe through July 22, wrapping in Athens, Greece. The band then continues on to North America, starting Aug. 5 for the Moncton, NB show at Medavie Blue Cross Stadium. The tour traverses several U.S. states and wraps on Oct. 16 at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Underwood previously told Jimmy Fallon about meeting Guns N’ Roses for the first time, during one of the band’s concerts in Las Vegas.
“I might have, like, hung out with Axl after the show a little bit!” she joked. “I do always say that it’s hard when you meet your heroes, because I do consider him to be somebody who taught me how to sing, because I loved how he could just do different things with his voice. I was like, ‘I don’t know! If I meet him, and he’s not everything I want him to be…’ But he was. It was great. He was super cool and nice, and we talked — we’re best friends.”
See her post announcing her dates on the Guns N’ Roses tour below:
Dave Grohl went back home on Tuesday night (May 31) to play a very special show at the new Washington, D.C. venue: The Atlantis. The 450-capacity room is a replica of the city’s legendary 9:30 Club, which during its heyday hosted everyone from hometown heroes Fugazi to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and even Bob Dylan.
But on Tuesday night, the Foo Fighters took a break from playing arenas to set up shop at the cozy club for a 22-song, two-hour set that opened with an onstage reunion between Grohl and his former Scream bandmate Pete Stahl, according to Consequence of Sound. The old friends played “Live at the Atlantis,” a song by another D.C. bold name, hardcore legends Bad Brains, before the FF dipped into a mostly greatest hits set.
The set also included Grohl’s daughter and frequent backup singer Violet singing on “Shame Shame” and “Rope,” as well as 9:30 Club owner Seth Hurwitz joining the band to drum on “Big Me. CoS reported that Grohl referred to his days as a teen attending shows at the old 9:30, which he never played, but which new drummer Josh Freese had with his band, the Vandals, as had keyboardist Rami Jaffee with the Wallflowers.
At one point Grohl thanked the crowd for helping the Foos carry on following the tragic death of beloved drummer Taylor Hawkins last year at age 50, and then dedicated a performance of “Aurora” to his late best friend and bandmate.
NBC 4 reported that Grohl and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser attended a grand opening ceremony where Hurwitz cut a guitar string at the venue’s door to christen the new club on the location of the original, which first opened in 1980. Hurwitz also helped unveil a life-size statue of Grohl made of found objects. “I got to witness hundreds of bands that inspired me to become a musician myself,” Grohl said during the ceremony, adding that seeing those show gave him “that feeling of being in this sort of tribe, like we were all in on this big secret.”
“Dave won’t just be christening the room – he’ll be honoring the legacy of a space he attended as a kid and later took the stage of with bands like Scream and Nirvana,” The Atlantis said in a statement. The $10-million club will host a series of other underplays this year as part of its grand opening celebration, including shows from Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Parliament Funkadelic and Barenaked Ladies.
The Foos are slated to play at Germany’s Rock Am Ring Festival on June 2.
Check out some video from the show below.
Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters was on hand for the unveiling of his sculpture at D.C.’s newest concert venue, The Atlantis. What do you all think of the artwork? pic.twitter.com/BRWQZLi6aO— WUSA9 (@wusa9) May 30, 2023
Joe Trohman is back in the band. Four months after announcing he’d be taking a break from Fall Out Boy to work on his mental health, the guitarist revealed on Tuesday (May 30) that he’s ready to get back onstage. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Hey everyone, I’m […]