Rock
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Kamila Valieva took the 2023 Russian Figure Staking Championships by storm last week by performing a routine to The Cramps‘ “Goo Goo Muck” dressed as Wednesday Addams.
Starting outside the edge of the rink, the 16-year-old sensation nailed her recreation of the herky-jerky dance on the Jenna Ortega-led Netflix series — all the way down to the hand motions, gothic party dress and long black pigtails.
“When the sun goes down and the moon comes up/ I turn into a teenage goo goo muck/ Yeah, I cruise through the city and I roam the streets/ Looking for something that is nice to eat,” Lux Interior’s voice sang as Valieva executed the choreography flawlessly and the audience in the stands clapped along to the beat.
Then, halfway through the program, Valieva went full TikTok as the music abruptly changed to the sped-up version of Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way album cut “Bloody Mary” and she ended the routine with a flourish.
Ultimately, Valieva took home the silver in the women’s senior championship division just behind 15-year-old Sofia Akateva. Between her short program and free skate, Valieva earned a total of 247.32 points from the judges, with her free skate even coming in at the top of the pack.
In early December, Gaga even got in on the viral fun by performing the dance challenge on her official TikTok page while Dino, Mingyu and Joshua of SEVENTEEN ran through the moves while attending LA3C with Billboard‘s own Tetris Kelly.
Watch Valieva’s Wednesday Addams-inspired routine below.
Jeremiah Green, drummer for rock band Modest Mouse, has been diagnosed with stage four cancer.
The 45-year-old’s mother Carol Namatame took to Facebook on Christmas (Dec. 25) to share the news, without specifying the type of cancer her son has. “Please send healing vibes for my son, Jeremiah Green, who is battling stage 4 cancer. He’s is so strong and so brave and hanging in there!” she wrote alongside photos of the rocker.
Radio host Marco Collins also shared a bit more information on Facebook, noting that due to chemotherapy treatments, Green pulled out of the band’s recently wrapped tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their breakthrough sophomore album, The Lonesome Crowded West. “Despite having a stage 4 diagnosis, his prognosis is good! Also his oncologist is a big MM fan (so he’s got that in his corner!),” Collins added. “Sending him nothing but love & healing energy! Get well buddy. We’re all pulling for you!”
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Modest Mouse is scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza South America music festivals in Chile, Argentina and Brazil in March 2023, though it is unclear if Green will take part in the shows. Green helped form the popular rock band in Seattle, Washington, back in 1992. He has played on every one of the band’s albums, except for Good News for People Who Love Bad News, which was released in 2004. The star took a break from the band from 2003 to 2004.
Modest Mouse’s most recent album, The Golden Casket, was released in 2021.
Gwen Stefani honored the memory of one of No Doubt‘s founding members, John Spence, in a tribute posted 35 years after his death.
Spence was the original lead singer in the earliest days of the Anaheim, Calif., group, while Stefani provided backing vocals. The first version of No Doubt — with a name inspired by a phrase Spence often said — was formed in 1986. “For some reason there was automatically this built-in following,” Stefani said in a 1996 interview with Spin. “People loved the fact that it was a girl, that it was 2-Tone, that it was me and John up there.” A year later, Spence died by suicide at the age of 18.
“remembering John Spence today, and always,” Stefani wrote of the late singer and friend on Instagram Wednesday (Dec. 21).
The pop star and Voice coach shared six photos on her post, leading with a black-and-white image of the two of them together. Some of the other pictures included performance shots and what appears to be a school yearbook photo of Spence.
See her collection of personal photos with Spence on Instagram.
On the fourth night of Hanukkah Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin gave us a classic coming-of-age song. Mid-way through this year’s “Hanukkah Sessions,” the Foo Fighters leader and producer invited Grohl’s 16-year-old daughter, Violet, to the stage for a moving cover of Janis Ian’s 1975 hit “At Seventeen.”
“I learned the truth at 17/ That love was meant for beauty queens/ And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles/ Who married young and then retired,” Violet sang in a voice too young to be as world-weary as the character in Ian’s song. Strumming an acoustic guitar as dad Dave gently brushed the drums behind her and producer Kurstin provided light-touch, jazzy piano backing, the preternaturally poised teen brought a hush over the room as she painted a world of teen angst that swings from hope to angsty despair and back again.
And, in a touching moment, proud dad Dave gave his daughter a huge smile and two fists up for her elegant efforts at song’s end.
“Born Janis Eddy Fink, a 23-year-old Janis Ian wrote one of the all time classic coming of age anthems ‘At Seventeen’ — here it is as interpreted by Violet Grohl,” read the video’s description. It’s just the latest impressive showing by Violet, who also joined her dad and a parade of all-stars paying tribute to late Foo’s drummer Taylor Hawkins at a pair of memorial concerts in London and L.A. earlier this year, where she effortlessly pulled off moving covers of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and Jeff Buckley’s “Last Goodbye.”
So far this season, Kurstin and Grohl have teamed with the former’s The Bird and the Bee bandmate Inara George for 10cc’s “The Things We Do For Love,” P!nk on “Get the Party Started” and director Judd Apatow for Blood, Sweat & Tears’ “Spinning Wheel.” This is Grohl and Kurstin’s third year posting eight nights of covers of songs made famous by Jewish musicians. In a twist, this year’s efforts were all recorded live at Los Angeles’ intimate Largo on Dec. 5 with a cast of all-star guests taking the stage at the 250-capacity club.
Grohl and Kurstin released the first “Sessions” in Dec. 2020 in the midst of the first winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping one new cover for each night of the holiday. In the midst of a concerning rise in antisemitic incidents and hate speech in the U.S., proceeds from the Largo night went to the Anti-Defamation League.
Watch “At Seventeen” below.
The opening of a Las Vegas museum devoted to punk rock music has been pushed back.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday (Dec. 21) that the Punk Rock Museum, slated to debut next month, will open its doors in March.
The 12,000-square-foot museum is situated between the Las Vegas Strip and downtown. It will include a bar, a tattoo parlor, a wedding chapel and a “jam room.”
Several punk rock artists have signed on to act as tour guides, including Roger Miret of Agnostic Front and Louiche Mayorga of Suicidal Tendencies.
The museum’s opening day is March 10. Tours will begin April 1.
Weezer released the final chapter of their ongoing SZNZ EP project, SZNZ: Winter, on Wednesday (Dec. 21) via Crush Music/Atlantic Records.
Dropped by the band on the winter solstice, the seven-track EP contains lead single “I Want a Dog” as well as cuts like “Iambic Pentameter,” “Dark Enough to See the Stars” and closer “The Dark and Dreamless Sleep,” and completes the seasonal release cycle that began last March with SZNZ: Spring. SZNZ: Summer came next on the summer solstice in June, followed by SZNZ: Autumn on the September equinox.
“This year we’re releasing four EPs each inspired by magic, Pagan myths, religious rituals, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Shakespeare and more (so much more). Each one will take you on an enchanting journey,” the foursome shared when announcing the project back at the start of the year. The EPs are all tied together by interpolating a movement of “The Four Seasons” in a song on each.
To coincide with the sprawling, yearlong project, Weezer originally planned — and announced — a five-show Broadway run titled SZNZ: In Residence, but the residency was canceled months later in August due to low ticket sales and “unbelievably high” production expenses.
This fall, Weezer held their very first “Weezerween” pumpkin carving contest, offering the winning fan the chance to see their Halloween-inspired creation on a giant billboard somewhere in America. Last month, the band also released the lo-fi music video for SZNZ: Autumn lead-off “What Happens After You.”
Stream Weezer’s SZNZ: Winter below.
Just says after the death of The Specials singer Terry Hall at age 63 after what the band described as a “brief illness,” the group’s bassist revealed the beloved singer’s cancer diagnosis, as well as the previously undisclosed album the group was preparing to record.
“We had it all planned out. Make the album we were going to do in 2020 – a reggae album,” wrote Horace Panter, an original member of the second wave British two tone ska revivalist group of the sessions that were already booked in Los Angeles during the first winter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Panter said Aggrolites keyboardist Roger Rivas was set to co-produce the set and famed street artists Shepard Fairey was on board to create the cover.
With 8 songs prepped for the sessions by Hall, “confidence was high,” Panter wrote, noting that a revised plan called for them to hit the studio in September of this year. “Terry e-mails everyone and says he’s in bed with a stomach bug and can’t do the first week of pre-production sessions,” according to Panter. “No big deal, we can knock everything back a week. We’re not due to fly out until November 4th. The next week, Terry is no better and is in hospital. There’s not much we can do except wait for him to get better. Sunday October 2nd and I get a phone call from Manager Steve. And everything turns to s–t.”
Panter said that Hall’s illness was “a lot worse” than anyone thought, writing that the singer had been “diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas which has spread to his liver. This is serious. Like life-threatening serious.” At press time Billboard was unable to independently confirm the description of Hall’s illness and cause of death.
After the pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Panter said that Hall then developed diabetes, with chemotherapy going well, but pushing any potential plans to record vocals to March 2023 at the earliest. “He is in and out of hospital to stabilise the diabetes issue and also to manage pain. It then goes quiet,” Panter wrote. “Beginning of December and reports are not good. Terry has lost a lot of weight and is very frail. His friend Ian Broudie visits and phones Manager Steve. He fears that Terry is slipping away. 15th December and Manager Steve drives up to London to visit. He calls me on his return journey and says things are not looking promising. Terry is dying.”
The day after the visit, Panter said Hall was placed on morphine and was essentially unconscious most of the time. He described Hall’s wife holding the phone to the singer’s ear so he could say goodbyes to his bandmates and family, including to Panter. The bassist said the “Ghost Town” singer died on Sunday evening. “The world has lost a unique voice and I have lost a good friend,” he lamented.
One of the leading lights of the late ’70s British ska revival, The Specials (originally billed as Special AKA) formed in Coventry, England, in 1977, with Hall replacing original singer Tim Strickland in the group notable for its multiracial makeup. Coinciding with the burgeoning Rock Against Racism movement in the U.K. at the time, the band members made a statement in their rude boy two-tone suits and porkpie hats and blasted out of the gate on their Elvis Costello-produced self-titled debut on their 2 Tone label, which featured their signature cover of Dandy Livingstone’s 1967 single “A Message to You Rudy.”
The outpouring of grief over Hall’s death came in a torrent in the days after, with everyone from Elvis Costello (who produced the band’s self-titled 1979 debut), to Go-Gos guitarist Jane Wiedlin (who sang backing vocals on the group’s 1980s More Specials album) and dozens of other friends, peers and collaborators sharing their thoughts.
One of the most moving was a wordless, emotional piano performance of The Specials’ 1980s track “Friday Night, Saturday Morning” by Blur/Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn. “Terry, you meant the world to me. I love you,” Albarn wrote.
See Panter’s FB postand see Albarn’s tribute below.
If you’re feeling weird about spending all that hard-earned cash on a big stack of holiday gifts that the people on your list may or may not want (or need), Coldplay have a unique, heart-warming way to throw your arms around the world this Christmas time.
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On Tuesday (Dec. 20) the group encouraged their fans to drop by this year’s edition of their “Choose Love” pop-up shop in London — or to visit the store online — “to buy essential supplies like warm coats, hot food and heating fuel for refugees and displaced people all over the world this winter.”
A brief video accompanying the tweet showed a long line of people waiting outside the shop and a shot of the unconventional shelves inside stocked with toys for children, soccer balls, house plants, children’s backpacks, jerry cans and orange life vests, along with footage of coats and school supplies in the hands of kids in need.
“Everything you buy will go directly to the people who need them the most,” the video promised. “This year shop with love.”
Earlier this month, singer Chris Martin gave fans an update while sharing his current favorite songs. “I hope you’re all doing well. Here are some things I love at the moment,” Martin wrote in a note while listing his current top tracks, including include RM‘s “Yun” featuring Erykah Badu, Badu’s live rendition of “Tyrone,” Bayka‘s “She Like It,” The 1975‘s “Looking for Somebody (to Love),” Inhaler‘s “Totally,” Kyoka‘s “Hurt People” and Stormzy‘s “Hide & Seek.”
Martin concluded his message by writing, “We are in the studio. We send you all much love.” The band recently wrapped a massive world tour in support of 2021’s Music of the Spheres.
Check out the tweet below.
It’s beginning to look a lot like BlinkMas. Just in time for the holiday season, the reunited Blink-182 revealed they are edging closer to dropping their first new album of music from the longtime lineup. “New Album Coming in a few months,” wrote guitarist/singer Tom DeLonge, who rejoined the trio earlier this year after leaving the band for a second time in 2014.
The album tease featuring a live shot of the band performing below a giant four-letter pyro effect — Blink has not yet announced a firm release date for the follow-up to 2019’s Nine — came with more good news. In celebration of the first single from the album, “Edging,” earning a seventh week at No. 1 at alternative radio, DeLonge announced, “the next single that’s coming is [fire emoji].”
The slow-drip leak of information about the as-yet-untitled album got a boost last week from singer/bassist Mark Hoppus, who also promised that the follow-up to the trio’s last studio album together, 2011’s Neighborhoods, is, well, another fire emoji, followed by a metal salute emoji. Plus, Hoppus added what appeared to be some very on-brand goofball lyrics.
“I like to eat cheese/ In my U-Haul/ And drink so much beer/ I never poop at all/ I put my dog down/ And pulled my grandma’s plug/ I was getting kinda used to be someone you loved,” they read. The latter appeared to reveal that the lyrics may have been a gag (or not), as the last line was cribbed from Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved.” That inclusion inspired the English pop singer to respond, “This is the best day of my life.”
Drummer Travis Barker got in on the action this week too, posting a killer, triple-time drum solo from the studio with the caption, “Anthem Pt. 3.” The first “Anthem” appeared on the group’s 1999 breakthrough Enema of the State album, with the sequel showing up on their follow-up fourth full-length, 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.
The upcoming album’s first single, “Edging,” rocked all the way to the top of Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart last month after just three weeks, marking the quickest ascent to the top of that tally so far this year. The reunited trio’s massive world tour is slated to kick off on March 11 in Tijuana, Mexico at the Imperial GNP festival and keep the band on the road in South America and Mexico through April 2 before shifting to North America on May 4 with a show at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota; those dates will run through a July 16 gig in Nashville at the Bridgestone Arena and then move on to Europe in September and Australia/New Zealand in early 2024.
See all three members’ posts below.
On night three of Hanukkah Dave Grohl and producer Greg Kurstin dipped into an all-time classic from one of their favorites. “Once referred to as the ‘biggest Jewish band to come out of Britain,’ 10cc’s MOTs Godley, Crème and Gouldman recorded a ton of hits — here’s one of the many: ‘The Things We Do For Love’ as sung by Inara George!” they wrote in the description to the latest video from their 2022 “Hanukkah Sessions” series.
Singer George — Kurstin’s partner in the indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee — soared with the swoony ballad, belting out the song’s dreamy lyrics about walking through any kind of weather for love as Kurstin banged out the track’s barroom roll on his piano and Grohl hled down the beat. As a bonus, Tenacious D’s Jack Black and Kyle Gass casually added in some background sweet harmonies.
This is Grohl and Kurstin’s third year posting eight nights of covers of songs made famous by Jewish musicians. In a twist, this year’s efforts were all recorded live at Los Angeles’ intimate Largo on Dec. 5 with a cast of all-star guests taking the stage at the 250-capacity club that also included the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O and Grohl’s 16-year-old daughter, Violet. Night one featured beloved director Judd Apatow rocking through a cover of Blood, Sweat & Tears’ 1969 Grammy-nominated Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit “Spinning Wheel.” On night two, P!nk rolled up to “Get The Party Started” with a run through her signature 20001 bar mitzvah jam.
Grohl and Kurstin released the first “Sessions” in Dec. 2020 in the midst of the first winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping one new cover for each night of the holiday. In the midst of a concerning rise in antisemitic incidents and hate speech in the U.S., proceeds from the Largo night went to the Anti-Defamation League.
Watch “The Things We Do For Love” below.