Rock
Page: 172
Like a lot of people who said they were headed for the border over the past six tumultuous years in the country, Ozzy Osbourne swore his days in the U.S. were numbered. As recently as early September, the metal icon seemed poised to bounce back to his native England after it was announced that the BBC had green-lit a revival of the beloved Osbournes series starring the first family of metal.
The announcement came after Ozzy’s statement a month earlier that he was “fed up” with America and that his family was headed back to England because of the relentless string of mass shootings in the U.S. “Everything’s f—ing ridiculous there. I’m fed up with people getting killed every day. God knows how many people have been shot in school shootings,” Osbourne said in a an interview with The Observer.
But in a new cover story for Consequence of Sound, Ozzy said after decades of living in Los Angeles he’s on the fence about making the move permanent. “I’m getting a bit of flak from people,” Ozzy said about the reaction to news of the planned pack-up that will set the stage for the BBC reality series Home to Roost. “To be honest with you, if I had my way, I’d stay in America. I’m American now.”
Osbourne gave a bit of context for the decision, saying wife/manager Sharon Osbourne’s booting from the daytime TV chat program The Talk was one of the reasons the couple no longer felt like this was the safest place for them anymore.
“When my wife got called a racist on [The Talk], she is absolutely not a racist,” Ozzy said of Sharon’s March 2021 booting from the syndicated show after 11 seasons over her defense of British chatter Piers Morgan, who had mad disparaging comments regarding Meghan Markle. “Her friend is Piers Morgan… She didn’t say, ‘I agree with him.’ She just respected his ability to have freedom of speech,” Ozzy explained. “That’s all that she said. And she got a lot of flak from that, so we actually had to have f–king armed guards and all that.”
Sharon Osbourne also said safety in L.A. was an impetus for them to pack up the gargoyles and split. “When I first came here, I thought I was in heaven. In the ’70s, if you loved music, this was the place to be,” she said. “It’s not that hub anymore. It’s not exciting anymore. It hasn’t gone sideways, it’s gone down. It’s not a fun place to live. It’s dangerous here. Every big city’s got crime, but I don’t feel safe here. Neither does Ozzy.”
To be clear, though, Ozzy said he’d still rather stay put. “To be honest with you, I don’t want to go back [to England],” he told CoS. “F–k that.”
According to the BBC, producers expect to film 10 30-minute episodes for BBC One and iPlayer of Home to Roost, which will find the clan — Ozzy and Sharon, son Jack and daughter Kelly — living their new life at their 350-acre Welders House estate in Buckinghamshire. Producers promised to chronicle everything from Sharon’s recent 70th birthday party to daughter Kelly’s soon-to-be-born baby, Ozzy’s upcoming tour to the big move itself.
Nandi Bushell picked the perfect time to pay tribute to a rap god. In fact, on the eve of Eminem getting formally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the 12-year-old British drummer phenom tipped her hat the only way she knows how: by ripping through a killer cover of Slim Shady’s 2013 anthem “Rap God” just hours before Marshall Mathers joined the ranks of rock royalty.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Guess who’s back? My first new cover in almost 6 months! #rapgod by @eminem!,” Bushell tweeted, noting that her stick-spinning, booming version was inspired by HAL, the drummer for Japanese rockers CVLTE. But there was even better news. After years of expertly covering other people’s songs — and picking up new pals like Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl in the process — Nandi said she’s got big things in store.
“I am still working on my original songs. Coming soon!,” she added. “I can’t wait for you to hear them. Working on my speed and consistency.”
In the video, a smiling Bushell bounces her sticks off the floor, hits a pummeling double-kick drum and blasts out double-time beats to go along with the track of Em’s verbal blitzkrieg.
Longtime friend and collaborator Dr. Dre inducted Eminem on Saturday night, recalling how just about nearly everyone tried to discourage him from working with the then-unknown rapper, saying no one believed or saw the vision. “I knew that his gifts were undeniable,” Dre said during his speech. “Each of us was what the other one needed — and I was willing to bet my entire career on it.”
Em took his place this weekend alongside a 2022 Hall of Fame class that also included Dolly Parton, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie and Carly Simon.
In September, Spin spoke to Bushell about her upcoming debut EP, Into the Abyss, which will feature her first collection of original songs after years of posting viral cover videos and jamming with the Foos on “Learning to Fly” at the London Taylor Hawkins tribute concert earlier in the month. She’s already released the first single from the five-song effort, “The Shadows,” as well as “Forsaken,” which was inspired by a song she was invited to sing on by Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello to help Afghan girls and young women at a school learn to play guitar under the repressive Taliban government.
Bushell said her originals are inspired by everyone from Billie Eilish to Slipknot and Twenty One Pilots. “I also wrote everything and I played everything,” she said.
Check out Bushell’s cover below.
Mimi Parker, the vocalist and drummer of rock band Low, died on Saturday (Nov. 5) following a battle with ovarian cancer. She was 55.
The Duluth, Minn.-based group, which also includes Parker’s husband and bandmate Alan Sparkhawk, confirmed the sad news through its official Twitter account on Sunday.
“Friends, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message, but she passed away last night, surrounded by family and love, including yours,” Low tweeted in a statement. “Keep her name close and sacred. Share this moment with someone who needs you. Love is indeed the most important thing.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Friends, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message, but She passed away last night, surrounded by family and love, including yours. Keep her name close and sacred. Share this moment with someone who needs you. Love is indeed the most important thing.— LOW (@lowtheband) November 6, 2022
In recent weeks, Low announced the cancellation of upcoming concert dates in the United Kingdom and Europe while Parker continued treatments for her cancer. She was diagnosed with the disease in December 2020.
“There have been difficult days, but your love has sustained us and will continue to lift us through this time,” Sparkhawk wrote in an Instagram post on Oct. 7. “With tears, we say thank you and hope to see you soon.”
Parker was born and raised in Minnesota, and her mother was an aspiring country singer, the vocalist and drummer previously told Chickfactor. Parker first played drums in her high school marching band, and began dating her future husband Sparkhawk during junior high school, according to NPR.
Sparkhawk and Parker, both practicing Mormons, formed Low in 1993 with original bassist John Nichols. The band, which featured other rotating members throughout the years, would later become a standout name in the “slowcore” rock sub-genre. Low’s 1994 debut album, I Could Live in Hope, received critical acclaim, and the act went went on to release 13 albums during its nearly 30-year career.
Parker is survived by her husband, Sparhawk, and their two children, Hollis and Cyrus.
The 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony brought a handful of legends to Los Angeles on Saturday night (Nov. 5) to commemorate and celebrate one another. And as John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, revealed, L.A. will now join Cleveland and New York as a regular home for the annual honors.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The 2022 class included Dolly Parton, Eminem, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie and Carly Simon. Judas Priest and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis also joined the Rock Hall with the “award for musical excellence.”
Yet they were far from the only stars in the room: attendees included Dave Grohl, Mary J. Blige, Gwen Stefani, Ed Sheeran and Bruce Springsteen (whose longtime manager, Jon Landau, is stepping down as chairman of the Rock Hall, which he co-founded).
Also being honored: Elizabeth Cotton, who rose to prominence for playing the guitar both upside down and left handed; Sylvia Robinson, singer, producer and co-founder of Sugar Hill Records; singer and activist Harry Belafonte; legendary producer and executive Jimmy Iovine; and famed entertainment attorney Allen Grubman.
Though long — clocking in at five-and-a-half hours — the unrushed evening allowed for a surplus of special moments, from superstar jams to the recounting of beautiful memories from music’s greatest talents.
Ahead of the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony airing Nov. 19 on HBO, here are the highlights.
Dolly Parton Live Debuted New Music
“If I’m gonna be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I’m gonna have to earn it!” exclaimed Dolly Parton. Prior to performing, she spoke about how she had initially declined the honor, saying at the time she didn’t feel worthy enough. “Back when they tried to put me in, I didn’t think I had done enough, but I get it’s a little bit more than that now,” she said in her speech.
Yet, the country icon still felt she had something to prove, and as such live-debuted a brand new song off her upcoming rock album (How many of you rockers are gonna help me out?” she asked the room, surveying the audience). Rocking a black latex jumpsuit with large colored jewels and a matching guitar — on which she shred through a solo — Parton performed the new track with Zac Brown on guitar and backing vocals. “I still got rock and roll down in my country soul,” she sang.
Her set included P!nk and Brandi Carlile duetting on “Coat of Many Colors,” Sheryl Crow and Zac Brown Band singing “9 to 5” and a grand finale featuring every inductee (minus Eminem, naturally) for a whopping rendition of “Jolene.”
Parton put it best: “We’ve got a star studded stage up here, don’t we?“
Eminem Ripped Through a Hits-Filled Medley
During Dr. Dre’s induction speech for his longtime friend and collaborator Eminem, the super producer recalled their first session. The rising rapper came to Dre’s home studio, listened to an unfinished track and immediately got on the mic to say: “Hi, my name is…” thus creating a soon-to-be mega hit.
Eminem fittingly opened his set with the track, before even more appropriately showing off his hyper-speed skills with “Rap God.” And it just kept getting better. Steven Tyler made a surprise appearance for “Dream On,” which Em samples on “Sing for the Moment,” only to be replaced by another guest star, Ed Sheeran. The pop icon, with his acoustic guitar in hand, helped deliver an impassioned “Stan.” The medley then moved into “Forever” before closing out with “Not Afraid.”
For a rapper whose piercing eyes and vicious verses could kill, his speech — for which he put on his glasses — was less of an attack and more of a thank you note, especially to Dr. Dre. Or, as Em called him, “the man who saved my life.”
Duran Duran Shared Some Heavy News
While Duran Duran was arguably met with the evening’s loudest cheers, not every moment the band spent on stage was a celebratory one. Following an induction from Robert Downey Jr., in which he revealed the band played a short set at his 50th birthday party (seven years ago) and shared the secret to longevity — “consistent quality over time, plus headbands” — frontman Simon Le Bon sang a powerful though accidental a cappella opening to “Girls On Film.” Despite the band’s sound not working, he remained in good spirits, joking, “We just had to prove to you that we weren’t lip syncing.”
The band then played “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Ordinary World,” complete with an orchestra, before delivering a moving — and unexpectedly sad — speech. Simon began by reading a letter from former member Andy Taylor, in which he explained his absence and revealed he has stage four prostate cancer.
“I’m truly sorry and massively disappointed I couldn’t make it. Let there be no doubt I was stoked about the whole thing, even bought a new guitar with the essential whammy!” the letter read. “I often doubted the day would come. I’m sure as hell glad I’m around to see the day.”
Lionel Richie Had a Belt-Off With Dave Grohl
The story Lenny Kravitz told while inducting Lionel Richie of how, 25 years ago, his grandfather interrupted their first jam session was hard to top. But halfway through Richie’s beautifully arched set — which opened with “Hello” and closed with a fun-filled dance along to “All Night Long” — he delivered a show-stopping moment.
During “Easy,” Dave Grohl made a surprise appearance — wearing a velvet blazer perhaps inspired by the one Richie himself was wearing — to offer support as lead guitarist. It wasn’t his shredding that stole the show, but rather the growling belt-off that ensued between the two after Richie held the mic to Grohl. And though without context it may have seemed like a heated debate over who is lower maintenance, the conviction on both ends is what sold the spontaneity of it.
“We are celebrating one of the funniest jokes in my life,” said Richie, “because all of the songs I wrote and recorded, so many people told me, ‘These are the songs that will destroy your career.’”
Olivia Rodrigo and Sara Bareilles’ Embodied Carly Simon
Sara Bareilles pulled double duty, both inducting and performing on behalf of Carly Simon, who was unable to attend the ceremony. Bareilles beautifully belted the Grammy-awarded “Nobody Does It Better” before welcoming another performer to the stage: Olivia Rodrigo.
Rodrigo performed the classic Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, “You’re So Vain,” which was called “the biggest hit that has kept everyone guessing for 50 years” in Simon’s celebratory montage. And yet, Rodrigo sang with a convincing clarity, like she knew exactly who was at fault. In the same video package, Taylor Swift praised “Vain” for being “the best way anyone has addressed a breakup.”
As Simon wrote in a letter, read by Bareilles: “I am humbled, shocked, proud, overachieved, underqualified and singularity grateful.”
Judas Priest Brought The Pyro
The only (light) pyro of the evening came courtesy of none other than metal rockers Judas Priest. As Alice Cooper said in his induction speech, “I don’t want to hear rock is dead, because it isn’t,” he teed up the band nicely to demonstrate why it’s very alive and well. “Judas Priest,” he continued,” are truly the definitive metal band. Heavy metal didn’t have a look until Judas Priest.”
During lively performances of “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight,” sparks served as an electrified backdrop to the band’s iconic twin guitar sound. “People underestimate just how popular heavy metal is,” Glenn Tipton said. To which Richie Faulkner admitted, “You rebel against the establishment until you realize you are the establishment… and here we are, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame… I’m honored and proud to be a part of it.”
Rob Halford delivered a similarly touching take on metal and this moment, though opened with more of a zinger: “I’m the gay guy in the band,” he said with a laugh. “The heavy metal community is all inclusive, everybody’s welcome… We’re all about the power and the emotion and the dedication and the love.”
Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo Proofed Love Can Be Long Lasting
Sheryl Crow inducted the duo of Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo by holding up the couple’s 1980 Rolling Stone cover. “They were hot!” she exclaimed, noting she was 18 years old when that issue came out. A clear longtime and avid fan, Crow insisted, “They should have been inducted many years ago… Finally, they get what they long deserve.”
To celebrate, the pair performed a roaring set that included “All Fired Up,” “Love Is a Battlefield” and “Heartbreaker.” But when delivering their speech, that ferocity that vibrates through Benatar’s hits was soon replaced with tenderness. As Giraldo spoke of their beautiful and expanding family (they just welcomed an 11-day-old grandson) and called his longtime love “Patricia,” she looked on with wide-eyes as if they had only just met.
Eurythmics Shimmered in Matching Sparkling Suits
After The Edge opened his speech by praising the women of Iran, he loosely quoted Oscar Wilde, saying “the duty of the artist is to make beautiful things.” And no better act, he felt, embodied that sentiment than Eurythmics.
The two seemed intent on proving as much with a set that included a vibrant and rallying performance of “Sweet Dreams.” And when the two insisted, “Keep your head up!” it was clear this song arguably resonates now more than ever — the sign of any true classic.
When it came time for Annie to speak after the set, she was met with a thunderous standing ovation, to which she said in awe: “Oh wow.” The rest of her speech packed more punch, as she spoke about how, by nature, “We musicians are peaceful people… we spread love around the world, not hate and division. We bring people together.”
Terry Lewis Shared More Than He Ever Has Before
To honor the great Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam, longtime friend and collaborator Janet Jackson rocked the same look of her 1986 Control cover art — fitting, considering how she said that album was the first time anybody had asked her what she wanted to talk about. With Terry and Jimmy, she said, “it felt like we were kids playing in a sandbox,” plus they listened. “Those stories [I shared] became the foundation of the Control album, and that album sounds fresh to this day,” she said.
Perhaps inspired by her speech — in which she also detailed the pair’s impressive resume, having worked with Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, George Michael, Usher, “my brother Michael” and so many more — Terry took the mic next. He spoke at length of his gratitude, especially for his mom, who used to yell at him and Jimmy to “turn that s–t” down whenever they would make music in the basement. “So thank you, mom, for tolerating all of that noise.”
Jimmy’s reply was simple: “That’s the most I’ve ever heard Terry talk in my whole life.”
Jimmy Iovine Passed On a Key Lesson
As Bruce Springsteen joked in his induction speech for Jimmy Iovine, referencing their first few encounters when Iovine was working in a studio, “[Jimmy] came with the furniture.” As it turned out, being embedded into the studio proved unbelievably beneficial when, one day, Springsteen’s manager came in asking Iovine if he could producer. “Jon [Landau] looked at me and said, ‘Can you do this?’ I’d like to thank myself for having the balls to say, ‘YES.’”
Turns out, he could do it — thanks to those who had taught him a thing or two. And now, the idea of passing it on informs Iovine’s every day life. “Technically I retired five years ago… not,” he jokes. “Thank the people who mentored you and try to be a mentor for somebody else whenever you can, because the truth is, no one gets to a moment like this alone.”
This year’s inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame all gave heartfelt speeches from the stage of Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater detailing what the honor meant to them. And when a number of the Class of 2022 stopped backstage to Billboard’s one-on-one booth, they were able to share even more.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Duran Duran
Before speaking with Billboard’s, the band stopped in the general press room where Duran Duran lead singer Simon LeBon talked about how he felt reading former bandmate Andy Taylor’s letter on stage about having stage four prostate cancer — a diagnosis that had not been previously made public. “It is devastating news to found out that a colleague — not a colleague, a mate, a friend — is not going to be around for very long,” LeBon said. “It is absolutely devasting. We love Andy dearly. I’m not going to stand here and cry. It wouldn’t be appropriate, but that’s what I feel like.”
On stage, LeBon delivered an emotional take on the band’s 1993 hit, “Ordinary World,” which he co-wrote about trying to cope with the death of his best friend. He told Billboard even nearly 30 years later, the song takes him back every time he sings it. “I think of my dear friend Dave Miles and what it means to me to be able to free myself of his death. That’s what the song was,” he says. “I was imprisoned by my feelings about him. I couldn’t continue on. I couldn’t develop. That song was a way of freeing myself. A way of saying goodbye, letting something go. That is in my heart every time I sing it.”
Duran Duran won the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame fan vote in April garnering nearly a million votes from fans. The support of their Duranies means “everything,” says keyboardist Nick Rhodes. Bassist John Taylor, who befriended Rhodes when Taylor was 12 and Rhodes was 10, says the band can still relate. “We were fans. Not just music buyers. Nick and I used to go hang out backstage, listen to the band do their sound check,” he says. “We love the fan culture. We love identifying with fans through music, so we’ve always had a love for our followers. We get them. We are them.”
This year’s class is one of the most musically varied in the Rock Hall’s history and each member of the band named a different honoree when asked whom they would most like to collaborate with. For LeBon, it was Terry Lewis & Jimmy Jam. Roger Taylor chose Judas Priest, Rhodes picked Dolly Parton and John Taylor selected Annie Lennox. Rhodes came up with the perfect solution: “The thing to do would be to get us and Judas Priest to do the track together and Dolly and Simon to sing with Jam & Lewis producing.”
Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo
November is a big month for Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo. Not only did the couple, who celebrated their 40th anniversary this year, get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but on Nov. 22 their newest project, Invincible–The Musical, will premiere at the Wallis’ Bram Goldsmith Theater in Beverly Hills (it runs through Dec. 18). They began working on the play, which is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet through the pair’s catalog and new songs, five years ago. The pandemic ended up providing a burst of creativity. “We had done four stage readings prior to the pandemic,” Benatar says. “At first it seemed like the momentum was going to be lost, but it turned out that being home and not touring gave us so much time to work on it. It wound up being something really great and when we finally did come back together to work, we were so much further ahead. That’s why we’re in full production right now.”
For the couple, writing songs is one of the few things they do apart — at least in the early stages. “I write mostly on piano,” Giraldo says. “Sometimes I start with words, sometimes I start with a title or a chorus, and I hand it off to Patricia. Then she adds to that and I go, ‘Oh my God, that’s great,’ and that inspires me. So I do more and then she hears what I do and goes, ‘Oh my god, that’s great.’ That’s how it goes.”
“We don’t really write in the same room at the same time,” Benatar continued. “We take pieces of things. If I have a story that I’m thinking of, I give it to him and he puts music to it. It goes back and forth and we don’t do it at the same time until we get further along and then we come together with our individual ideas and put them together.”
Lionel Richie
As one of several of the inductees who performed their songs at the event, Lionel Richie had the crowd on its feet and dancing during a joyous version of his signature hit “All Night Long.” As he told Billboard, he has reached a place in his life and career that is all about uniting people. “Do you know how wonderful it is to walk into a room and people start smiling?” he says. “ I’m not playing. I’m walking into a dinner, I’m walking into a restaurant, I’m walking my kids to school. What I’m saying is I don’t know how you get this blessed, but it’s a moment in time when you realize the songs have translated over into this thing called love.”
He touched on another love: country music. It’s been 10 years since Richie released Tuskegee, his wildly successful album reimagining his greatest hits as duets with country artists including Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean. Richie, who also wrote Kenny Rogers’ smash, “Lady,” says he promises his own country record of new music is coming. “Country is so solid with me and the answer is it will happen,” he says. “I’m a gigantic procrastinator, so [when] it hits me over the head or runs over me is when I go, ‘Ok, I’ll get on it,’ but [my manager] has been pushing me. Tell Nashville it’s coming. It won’t be too long. I promise.”
The Eurythmics
Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox wore identical black suits in an intentional homage to the Eurythmics‘ early days. “All through the years, Dave and I, especially with [1983 breakthrough hit] ‘Sweet Dreams,’ we had very small budgets. We didn’t have any budget, actually,” Lennox says. “We’d buy second-hand things and put them together. We wore the suits at the very beginning with ‘Sweet Dreams.’ There was a sense for us of being equals, of being like twins. There was something about the unit of being one and one makes three. It was always what we felt. I always loved it because it wasn’t an overtly feminist statement at the time, but nevertheless it gave me permission not to have to be a pretty kind of accessory. That was where it came from.”
Added Stewart, “There was a conscious decision to try and step away from anything that was happening at all and make ourselves like a single unit. United front.”
The duo also performed at their induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame earlier this year (postponed from 2020), but say they can go years without playing together. When they do, muscle memory kicks in. “We’ve played so much in the past, we know instinctively, ‘OK, this is this song, we can do this,’” Stewart says.
But any thoughts of reuniting for a tour are not realistic, Lennox clarifies. “There’s always a certain joy that does come from performance and all singers’ bodies are their instruments and, for me, I actually did have a quite serious thing happen in my back,” she says. “I have certain health issues and the thought of doing a long tour is really arduous. In my time in life, it’s like, ‘What’s best to do?’ We do enjoy playing together. I very much enjoy playing with Dave. He’s great. One of the best musicians in the world.”
For Lennox, preparing for the energetic Rock Hall performance helped pull her out of pandemic doldrums. “I kind of lost a lot of my will to live,” she says. “I’m kidding. I just had to say that. Throughout the pandemic, I just didn’t feel like going out. I didn’t feel like exercising, but this gave me a motivation to go back and get fit again, which was a great bonus for me.”
Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have more No. 1s on Billboard charts than any other songwriting and production team — and they aren’t slowing down. The pair are at work on Volume 2, their follow up to to 2021’s Jam & Lewis, Volume 1, which paired them with Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton and more.
They wouldn’t spill any names for Volume 2 just yet, but from their Rock Hall class, the two acts they’d most like to collaborate with are Lennox and Duran Duran, “because we just had a discussion with them about ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ influencing [Janet Jackson’s] ‘Escapade,’” Jam said.
Friends since their teens, Jam and Lewis have always operated on a handshake deal and split everything 50/50. “We don’t really worry about the money or the budgets or any of that kind of stuff, it’s just about the creativity,” Jam says. “We’re free to individually do what we want to do…Sometimes there will be a song that came out on the radio and it sounds great and I’ll be like, ‘Terry, when did you do that?’ But I got 50 % of it, so it doesn’t matter and it eliminated about 99% of anything creatively that we could ever disagree about… It’s not my way or his way, it’s the best way.”
On Saturday night (Nov. 5), the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted its 2022 class in grand fashion. Inductees included Dolly Parton, Eminem, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie and Carly Simon. Judas Priest and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis are also joining the Rock Hall with the “award for musical excellence.”
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
And while little was known about what Eminem in particular would do to commemorate his induction — as is expected from the reserved rapper — the surprises, plural, made for an even more impactful showing.
Longtime friend and collaborator Dr. Dre had the pleasure of inducting Eminem, recalling the first time Jimmy Iovine called to let him know that Eminem was a white guy. “That completely f—-d me up,” said Dre with a laugh.
He continued to recount how nearly everyone tried to discourage him from working with the then-unknown rapper, saying no one believed or saw the vision. “I knew that his gifts were undeniable,” Dre affirmed. “Each of us was what the other one needed — and I was willing to bet my entire career on it.”
As Dre said, Eminem “brought hip-hop to middle America.” In doing so, he became one of the best-selling and most celebrated rappers in music, evidenced by the Rock Hall video montage that included clips from Adele, Elton John, Rihanna and more all praising his unmatched skills.
There was only one way to follow such a hefty induction, and that was with an even meatier performance. Em delivered just that, ripping through hits like “My Name Is,” “Forever,” “Not Afraid” and more — while also featuring unexpected guests from Steven Tyler to Ed Sheeran.
“I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” said Eminem following his set. “One, I’m a rapper; two, I almost died from an overdose; and three, I really had to fight my way through… I’m a high school drop out with a hip hop education.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will air on Nov. 19 on HBO.
On Saturday night (Nov. 5), the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted its 2022 class that included singer-songwriter great Carly Simon. Following an induction and performance from Sara Bareilles, Olivia Rodrigo made an appearance to deliver a theatrical and passionate take on Simon’s hit “You’re So Vain.”
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In the video montage honoring Simon (who was unable to attend the ceremony), Taylor Swift even called “Vain” “the best song that’s ever been written… that is the best way anyone has addressed a breakup, it’s amazing.”
Wearing stockings and a gray dress, Rodrigo skipped on stage during the sing-songy chorus, giving a performance so convincing it was as if she had written the 50-year-old song herself.
“You’re So Vain” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. It’s Simon’s only No. 1 on the tally. Bareilles performed “Nobody Does It Better,” which hit No. 2 on the Hot 100.
The 2022 ceremony is the first time in the Hall’s 37-year history that six female acts — Benatar, Parton, Simon, Cotten, Robinson and Annie Lennox (as part of Eurythmics) — were inducted in one class.
The 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which took place this year in Los Angeles, will air Nov. 19 on HBO.
Andy Taylor was expected to join his former bandmates tonight (Saturday, Nov. 5) at Duran Duran’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Los Angeles. However, after performing a medley of their hits, current members Simon LeBon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor took to the podium and explained his absence.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Four years ago, Andy was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer,” LeBon said, breaking the news. He read a portion of a letter from Taylor, who had hoped to join the band on stage for the first time in 17 years but his health did not allow him to travel from Ibiza.
Taylor left the band in 1986. He rejoined in 2001 and played guitar on 2004’s Astronaut before leaving again in 2006.
Below is his letter in full.
Dear Simon, John, Roger, Nick, my fellow inductees and countrymen
I wanted to send a personal note to pass along my sincerest respect to you all for what’s been an amazing career, and to also share what has happened to me.
Firstly, can I say what an absolute honour it was to be nominated let alone be inducted into the RRHOF. There’s nothing that comes close to such recognition. I’m proud of everything we’ve achieved together and of the way you have continued. As a guitar player in a progressive band from the synth days of the early eighties, literally from the day I met Nick, John, Simon and Roger they truly valued the contribution of a rather noisy, versatile Northern brat. We all grew up on the same vinyl records and live gigs, from David Bowie to Roxy Music, The Sex Pistols and of course CHIC. I could go to all those places as a player and developed a hybrid guitar style that fitted this amazing concept OF A BAND…
I loved going into the studio and recording our material; nobody else sounded like us. We were ripe to absorb what was the art of analogue recording, but with some different kit, Nick’s artful obsession with synth technology was something I’d never seen before and I was introduced to layers. Because we were instinctively the right fit, we evolved very quickly, writing RIO as our second album with the confidence our very early success with ‘Girls On Film’ and ‘Planet Earth’ inspired.
You can dream about what happened to us but to experience it, on one’s own terms, as mates, was beyond incredible.
I would like to thank each of my brothers in this great band.
My family: my incredibly sane wife of 40 years – Tracey – my amazing children, Andy, Georgie, Bethy and Izzy, not forgetting my grandson Albie, who’s probably online listening or on Fortnite!!!
The original believers: Paul and Michael Berrow, Dave Ambrose, Terry Slater, Rob Hallett.
The Producers: Colin Thurston, Alex Sadkin, Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers – I’ve also really dug the work with Mark Ronson – I particularly admire ‘All You Need Is Now’, that’s a DD melody if ever I heard one.
Thanks also to Merck, Andrew and Wendy.
Now for the bad blood, well the good news is that there is none, just pure love and respect for everything we wrote, recorded and achieved together. What’s the point? There’s no stopping this 44-year thing called “Duran Duran”.
Now to the reason I’m not here:
Just over 4-years ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer. Many families have experienced the slow burn of this disease and of course we are no different; so I speak from the perspective of a family-man but with profound humility to the band, the greatest fans a group could have and this exceptional accolade.
I have the Rodgers and Edwards of doctors and medical treatment that until very recently allowed me to just rock on. Although my current condition is not immediately life threatening there is no cure. Recently I was doing okay after some very sophisticated life extending treatment, that was until a week or so ago when I suffered a setback, and despite the exceptional efforts of my team, I had to be honest in that both physically and mentally, I would be pushing my boundaries.
However, none of this needs to or should detract from what this band (with or without me) has achieved and sustained for 44 years. We’ve had a privileged life, we were a bit naughty but really nice, a bit shirty but very well dressed, a bit full of ourselves, because we had a lot to give, but as I’ve said many times, when you feel that collective, instinctive, kindred spirit of creativity mixed with ambition, armed with an über cool bunch of fans, well what could possibly go wrong?
I’m truly sorry and massively disappointed I couldn’t make it. Let there be no doubt I was stoked about the whole thing, even bought a new guitar with the essential whammy!
I’m so very proud of these four brothers; I’m amazed at their durability, and I’m overjoyed at accepting this award. I often doubted the day would come. I’m sure as hell glad I’m around to see the day.
All My Love
AT
Live. A note. A melody. A passing riff. It’s fleeting, one-of-a-kind artistry. Few know this better than Deadheads.
In the 160-odd years since audio was first recorded, many a musical legend has attempted to bottle the elusive magic of their live performances. Some successfully. Others less so. But few rock bands have produced anything as influential as Europe ‘72, the Grateful Dead’s triple live album, chronicling their wild ride through The Continent in April and May that year. Released 50 years ago on Nov. 5, 1972, it remains one of the most commercially successful albums by the Dead. It’s also perhaps their one release most responsible for The Live Cult of the Dead – the cultural movement that today is still very much alive and well. It’s the gateway drug for prospective Deadheads. While bootleg tape-traders can argue over which recording of what show during which era is the band’s best, Europe ’72 is their best-known and most widely acclaimed.
By the early 1970s, it had already been a long strange trip for the Grateful Dead. What started in 1964 as the trad-folk group Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions quickly and temporarily became The Warlocks by 1964, before the core group—singer-guitarist Jerry Garcia, singer-rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, bassist-vocalist Phil Lesh and drummer Bill Kreutzmann—settled on Grateful Dead by ‘65. From their first show at Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests, the band was at the center of the 1960s psychedelic and counter-culture explosion in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Second drummer Mickey Hart and lyricist Robert Hunter joined in ’67, and the band then went on a run of classics, starting with the heavily experimental (1968’s Anthem of the Sun and 1969’s Aoxomoxoa) before moving out of SF to Marin County, Calif., to reinvent the Americana sound with their legendary psych-folk duo of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty (both 1970).
It was an incredibly productive period for the Dead. In ’69, the band released their first live album, Live/Dead, for which the band’s audio engineer, Owsley “Bear” Stanley, adopted then-revolutionary new gear and techniques, including 16-track recording and a microphone splitter that cleaned up the sound. Recorded at SF’s Fillmore West and the Avalon, the LP introduced exploratory renditions of tracks like “Dark Star,” “St. Stephen” and “The Eleven.”
“Studio versions could never do those songs justice,” Kreutzmann said in his 2015 memoir, Deal.
In ’71, they followed up with a self-titled live album, lovingly known as Skull & Roses for its iconic cover art, which introduced tracks like “Bertha,” “Wharf Rat” and “Playing in the Band.” Then, in early ’72, Garcia dropped his eponymous debut solo album, shortly followed by Weir’s solo release, Ace. It all helped add to the Dead’s live repertoire.
A few more lineup changes occurred during this time: Hart began a three-year absence in ‘71, leaving Kreutzmann as the Dead’s sole drummer. Keyboardist Keith Godchaux joined in September ’71 to help prop up the 26-year-old Pigpen, who was by then in and out of the hospital with health problems. And finally, Godchaux’s wife Donna, a onetime session singer for Elvis Presley, joined as a backing vocalist. The stage was now set for Europe ’72.
“Magical stuff was happening in ’72,” longtime crew member/manager Steve Parish said in Amazon’s four-hour documentary A Long Strange Trip. “Stuff that to this day, I can’t explain. They we repushing us into the light, and the light was bright.”
On the Dead’s first extended European tour, the group played a total of 22 shows (most of them clocking in north of three hours) starting and concluding in London, and hitting Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich and others in between. It was a 50-person traveling circus of family members, wives, girlfriends, friends, kids, roadies, dealers and hanger-ons. Live, the band leaned into the kaleidoscopic, yet dusty, psych-Americana sound of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty with slithering guitar solos and rollicking rhythms. Each night’s full set was recorded with a future release in mind—the band was in debt to their label and the tour needed to be profitable. They jammed into the night aided by a bottle of distilled LSD smuggled across the Atlantic on the plane.
In the end, the best 17 tracks were chosen for Europe ’72, including the introduction of a handful of new tunes: “He’s Gone,” “Jack Straw,” “Brown-Eyed Women,” “Ramble on Rose” and “Tennessee Jed,” most of which never saw release in the form of a studio version, adding more value to Europe ’72 as a stand-alone album.
Extended, energetic improvisations abound, and post-tour overdubs eliminated most of the crowd noise (some new vocal takes were added, too). The tour de force is Garcia’s messianic closer, “Morning Dew,” recorded at the last show of the tour in London. It’s a Canadian folk tune, recounting a conversation between the last man and woman alive on earth following a nuclear apocalypse, but heavily interpreted by the Dead and Garcia: “Walk me out in the morning dew my honey,” he sings, his guitar gently reassuring, Pigpen’s organ lines floating beneath. “I’ll walk you out in the morning dew my honey. I guess it doesn’t really matter anyway.” Garcia reportedly played the version on the live album with his back to the crowd, tears running down his face.
Europe ‘72 was one of the first triple-record rock albums to be certified gold, and has since been certified double platinum. The Dead’s best-selling live album also marked a coda: the group’s final recording with Pigpen, who died the following year.
In 2011, all recordings from the tour were released as Europe ’72: The Complete Recordings—across 73 CDs.
And the legend roles on. After Garcia’s death, in 1995, the band’s various members carried the torch, performing their classics in too many incarnations to mention. In 2015, members of the Dead unexpectedly partnered with John Mayer for a new band, Dead & Co. Yes, “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” Rolex-collecting, Jessica Simpson-dating Hollywood pop-blues playboy John Mayer. At first, it was a very curious partnership. Many Deadheads were livid. Now, in hindsight, it feels like destiny. The band’s live shows over the past seven years have drawn millions and been positively embraced by Deadheads. Meanwhile, the band’s quarterly archival live release series, Dave’s Picks, have delivered their highest chart placements in recent years. And in summer 2023, the Dead & Co. will wrap up their run with a series of shows across North America. It’s one of the hottest tickets on earth.
But that won’t be the end of the Dead or their Cult of Live.
“Being alive, means continuing to change,” Jerry Garcia said in A Long Strange Trip. And The Dead never die.
Arctic Monkeys return to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart dated Nov. 5 with the debut of their first album in four years, The Car.
In its first tracking week dated Oct. 21-27, The Car earned 38,000 equivalent album units, according to Luminate. The set is Arctic Monkeys’ third to top the chart, following 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino and 2013’s AM.
The Car also debuts at No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums rankings. Concurrently, The Car starts at No. 6 on the all-genre Billboard 200, tying AM for the band’s best rank and marking its fourth top 10, dating to its first, the No. 7-peaking Favourite Worst Nightmare, in 2007.
Two songs from the new album reach the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” debuts at No. 36 (1.9 million official U.S. streams) and “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball” re-enters at No. 39 (1.7 million).
The tracks concurrently place at Nos. 22 and 25, respectively, on Hot Alternative Songs, and “Quite” is bubbling under Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart.
In all, the band has three songs on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Alternative Songs. “505,” the closing track on 2007’s Nightmare, is currently charting due to TikTok virality over the past few months, putting it at No. 10 on the latter and No. 13 on the former. In the Oct. 21-27 tracking week, “505” accumulated 4.7 million streams, down 3%.