Rock
Page: 29
Retired KISS bassist/singer Gene Simmons is known for unapologetically wagging his legendarily long tongue and for his self-described reputation as a lusty Lothario. But during a guest judging stint on Tuesday night’s (Oct. 8) “Hair Metal Night” on Dancing With the Stars some commenters thought he went too far by focusing on pulchritude instead of Paso doble.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
First, Simmons reportedly got a loud round of boos on air after he gave a bewigged Reginald VelJohnson (Family Matters, Die Hard) a lowly score of 5 for his stiff cha cha to Twisted Sister’s “I Wanna Rock.” According to EW, the studio audience did not take kindly to fellow permanent judges Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli posting the same score — Carrie Ann Inaba gave them a more magnanimous 6 — but when Simmons followed suit, the boos reportedly got significantly louder.
The low score came after Simmons had previously been generous to the fellow septuagenarian, saying before the dance, “Hey Reggie, you’ve got a beautiful woman right beside you who can twist it and turn it and knows how to move it and all that. But I want to tell you, as a guy that’s been on the stage for half a century around the world, I’m kind of a big deal, Reggie. It’s all in the attitude. And you’ve got something in that beautiful face. They love you.”
VelJohnson — who was eliminated on Tuesday night — had had consistently low scores so far this season, but EW said Inaba noted that he’d been a season 33 fan favorite as he hoofed alongside such fellow stars as previous eliminees con artist Anna Delvey, actors Eric Roberts and Tori Spelling, as well as still-active contestants Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik, NFL player Danny Amendola, NBA center Dwight Howard, Olympic rugby star Ilona Maher, model Brooks Nader and Bachelorette star Jenn Tran, among others.
Simmons was repeatedly called out by viewers in comments on X for what they dubbed his “creepy” remarks, which some said treated the female dancers as if they were in a beauty pageant. The pointed to Simmons saying he couldn’t decide which one was more “hot hot hot” among Amendola and pro dancer Witney Carson and telling 24-year-old actress Chandler Kinney (Pretty Little Liars) that she “fogged up my glasses” and that she “moved me — not just with your gyrations, but with your beautiful face.”
“ABC needs to issue an apology after having Gene Simmons on there and subjecting their cast to that . Why didn’t a producer tell him to knock it off,” wrote one X user, while another joked, “Gene Simmons comments about the ladies are giving the energy of the gross uncle who corners you at the reunion.” A similar comment read, “it’s only the first dance and i’m already over gene simmons being a creep,” as one added, “Gene Simmons is seriously sucking all the energy out of the ballroom with his creepy comments about the female dancers.”
Well known for speaking his mind on all manner of subjects, Forbes noted that Simmons has been called out before for his thoughts on the opposite sex, including over a passage in his 2017 book, On Power: My Journey Through the Corridors of Power and How You Can Get More Power, in which he wrote that leveraging sexuality is still the fastest route to the top for women.
“Women have a choice,” he said in an interview with the New York Post while promoting the book in 2017. “They can dress in potato sacks, [but] as soon as they pretty themselves up with lipstick, lift and separate them and point them in our general direction, they’re gonna get a response. Guys are jackasses — we will buy them mansions and houses . . . all because of sex.” In that same interview, Simmons told women to “get over” their biological urges, opining, “It’s natural to want to have kids, but, sorry, you can’t have it both ways. You have to commit to either career or family. It’s very difficult to have both.”
KISS said that after five decades on tour their End of the Road Tour — which wrapped in December — would be their last go-round. The group then sold its name, image and likeness rights and announced a virtual Las Vegas performance set to launch in 2027.
Watch VelJohnson’s routine and see some of the comments about Simmons below.
If Gene doesn’t think the woman is hot, she gets a low score. Get this man off my screen. No reason he tried to give Brooks a ten and THE Phaedra Parks a five? #DWTS— Shelby🌻 (@shelbykvosburg) October 9, 2024
Dear @officialdwts ,Shame on Gene Simmons for treating this like a beauty pageant. Never have him on the show again. EVER. He ruined it. #gross #DWTSWith love, Everyone— StarSamantha21 (@StarrSamantha21) October 9, 2024
underscoring the asian and black female contestants relative to the other judge’s scores after inflating scores all night??? gene simmons you may just be a racist #dwts pic.twitter.com/8MuuMVLeu2— lau (@kodylavenders) October 9, 2024
Last week, rising British pop acts Rachel Chinouriri and Cat Burns released the emotional new single “Even.” The song addressed the pair’s respective rise over the last few years. Chinouriri released her debut album What A Devastating Turn Of Events in May and enlisted actor Florence Pugh for the “Never Need Me” music video; Burns, meanwhile, hit No. 2 on the U.K. Singles Charts with “Go” and was nominated for a Mercury Prize for her debut LP, Early Twenties.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The song speaks to the double standards Black artists are held to in the U.K. music industry, as well as the mislabeling of their releases. Despite their love of indie music and varied inspirations across genres, they’ve been frustrated with the battles they’ve faced to be heard.
Trending on Billboard
“Wish I didn’t have to climb twice as high / For them to see me, isn’t it crazy,” Burns reflects on “Even,” while in the chorus, the pair asks: “We talk the same, dress for fame / Why does no one else believe in / Us the same?”
Fellow British artist Master Peace – real name Peace Okezie – is credited as a songwriter on “Even” and knows the issues all too well. He released his debut album, How To Make A Master Peace, earlier this year, which featured contributions from alternative legend Santigold and dance producer Georgia. The record was infused with indie rock stylings and nods to Bloc Party and The Streets, but he says he still faces misrepresentation of his music and feels some opportunities have passed him by.
“We are from a place where we have to work a hundred times harder than the average white guy, because people see as Black artists and just chuck us in the R&B space. It’s a cop-out,” Peace tells Billboard.
In 2020, Tyler, The Creator spoke out against the categorization of his music as rap while collecting a Grammy Award and criticized the use of the ‘urban’ music category. There’ve been similar issues in the U.K. A 2021 study by Black Lives In Music reported that 63% of Black music makers had faced racism in the U.K. music industry, and included testimonies by artists of microaggressions and mislabeling of their music.
“For the work that we’ve put in, we should be further than we already are,” he says of Chinouriri, Burns and himself. “You can easily fall victim to it and think ‘it’s never going to work because there’s no Black U.K. pop stars,’ or you could be like us and step up and cut through.”
How to Make A Master Peace was released in March this year and charted at No. 30 on the U.K.’s Official Album Charts. He’s since landed an Ivor Novello Award for their rising star trophy, collecting alongside fellow ceremony winners like Bruce Springsteen. He supported Kasabian at their massive homecoming show in Leicester, England, earlier in the summer and recently landed a nomination at the Independent Music Awards (AIM) in the best music video category. A run of live dates is now taking place in the U.K., but he still feels like people within the industry and potential listeners need convincing of his credentials.
“On paper when you look at all the achievements you think ‘why would he complain?’”, Peace says. “I wouldn’t say I feel like an outsider in my scene, but do I feel like I’m held up the same way as certain bands or artists? Probably not.”
He signed to Universal’s EMI in 2020 and had a string of releases under the label. He says that hype around his live shows – particularly given the lack of releases – was what got the majors involved. “As a result,” he says, “people had nothing to reference [my music] to” beyond a YouTube freestyle which saw him creatively rap over a-ha’s “Take On Me.”
When his A&Rs left EMI, he followed them and inked a deal with PMR Records, whose previous success stories include Disclosure, SG Lewis and Jessie Ware.
“At EMI it was about dropping tunes, but I don’t think they understood what we wanted to build; maybe at the time I didn’t even understand.” He started again from scratch as an independent artist, but refined his direct, party-starting sound and continued collaborating with songwriters and producers like Julian Bunetta, who has credits on Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and her 2022 single “Nonsense.”
His album’s release dovetails with the ‘indie sleaze’ hype in recent years, a moment where younger fans on have revisited works by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes and more, and been enraptured by Lizzy Goodman’s Meet Me In The Bathroom oral history and documentary. “Where I’ve come from and my background, I’ve always been in fight-or-flight mode. I’ve always wanted to take a leap and risk things,” he says. “It was a big risk making an indie sleaze-inspired album when no one knew about what that was all about.”
Now Peace is keeping the momentum up with How To Make A(nuva) Master Peace, a new EP that acts as a deluxe record to his debut. “Dropping the album when I did got me so many amazing opportunities, so I want to keep it up,” he tells Billboard.
But most of all, he wants the music world to recognize his work and what his contemporaries are doing without stereotyping. “I’m a Black, alternative artist that makes pop music and sits in that space. I want to be that guy who people look at and think, ‘His thing is valid’.”
Ever wondered what Green Day‘s ode to soul-sucking boredom “Longview” would sound like if it was re-recorded on a doorbell? How about the hard-charging Dookie classic “Welcome to Paradise” rendered in 8-bit glory on a Game Boy cartridge? Well, then you’re in luck, because on Wednesday (Oct. 9) the band announced that as part of […]
Post Malone has been added to the lineup for the upcoming eighth edition of Eagles guitarist and solo star Joe Walsh‘s VetsAid benefit show. The 2024 concert, which will take place at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, NY on Nov. 11, will also feature previously announced guest Eric Church, Toto, Kool & the Gang and Walsh.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“VetsAid is for EVERYONE: fans of all ages, backgrounds and musical genres,” Walsh said in a statement. “So who better to join the party than Posty – the man who can do it all? And do it so well?! Mix in the best of country with Eric, rock with Toto and funk with Kool and The Gang and you have a VetsAid for the ages. What better way to honor our veterans and their families this Veterans Day than with a night you will never forget?”
Tickets for the event whose proceeds go to veterans’ service charities are available now here. The grant recipients who will benefit from this year’s show are all based in New York and New Jersey and have committed to using the funds exclusively in those states, according to a press release.
Trending on Billboard
The 2024 large grant recipients are: Travis Manion Foundation, Fourblock, Hire Heroes Foundation, America’s VetDogs, Vets4Warriors, Our Military Kids, Foundation for Women Warriors, HunterSeven Foundation, Merging Vets & Players, while the community grant recipients include: Homeward Bound Adirondacks, Project Refit, AMVETS Service Foundation of New Jersey, North Country Veterans Association.
The first VetsAid took place in 2017 and featured Walsh — a Gold Star son — jamming on his own songs and collaborating with Zac Brown Band, Keith Urban and Gary Clark Jr., while subsequent editions welcomed everyone from Chris Stapleton, Haim and Ringo Starr to ZZ Top, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Brad Paisley, Eddie Vedder, Gwen Stefani, Metallica’s James Hetfield, Nine Inch Nails, Black Keys, the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Flaming Lips and Stephen Stills. To date, the events have distributed $3.5 million.
For more information on VetsAid click here.
Shirley Manson, the iconic frontwoman of Garbage, has given fans a hopeful update as she recovers from surgery following the band’s decision to cancel all remaining 2024 tour dates.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
On Oct. 7, Manson took to social media, sharing a photo of herself in a hospital bed with the simple caption, “She lives.”
In another follow-up post, the iconic singer expressed her gratitude to those supporting her during her recovery and reflected on the challenges she’s faced over the past few months.
Trending on Billboard
“I’m choosing to remind myself, as I lie here trying to recover from major surgery, that there are still beautiful things in the world. Animals, flowers, oceans, trees. I’m so grateful to all the people who have gone out of their way to love on me, take care of me, check in on me. I cling on to their kindness and their thoughtfulness and their care,” she said.
“Mostly, I have spent the week in bed. Mostly, I have been doomscrolling. As you can imagine, like everyone else, I’m trying really hard not to lose my mind,” she shared.
Manson also used the post to call for peace amidst the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, writing, “We are all living in the same world. We all deserve a life of peace and happiness. No one will convince me otherwise. Where you have inequality and injustice there will be suffering.”
The update comes after Garbage announced in August that all remaining tour dates for 2024 would be canceled due to an injury Manson sustained during the band’s European performances.
On Aug. 7, Manson shared more details about the toll the injury had taken, revealing that she had returned from the tour “an absolute hot mess.”
In her post, she explained, “So broken that my poor husband had to push me through Heathrow and LAX airports in a wheelchair. I also had a dose of laryngitis and a massive cold sore on my lip.”
Fans were understandably concerned about her vocal health, but Manson reassured them in a follow-up post that everything was under control.
“I was freaking out that I had somehow managed to damage my vocal cords on top of everything else, but yesterday I was scoped and everything is as it should be,” she shared, offering a glimpse of her vocal cords for good measure.
Though she hasn’t gone into detail about the surgery, things seem to be looking up. Garbage is gearing up for their 2025 South American tour, where they’ll be joined by L7 for shows across Bogotá, Buenos Aires, and São Paulo, starting in March.
On top of that, Garbage fans can look forward to a special Record Store Day Black Friday release on Nov. 29. The band is dropping copy/paste, a collection of covers they’ve performed as an homage to luminaries such as David Bowie, Ramones, Patti Smith, U2, Big Star, Siouxsie and the Banshees and more.
Johnny Neel, songwriter and former member of the Allman Brothers Band and the Dickey Betts Band, has died. He was 70 years old. His former bandmate Warren Haynes confirmed the news of Neel’s death in a heartfelt social media post. No cause of death has been given. “Aside from being an amazing musician and singer, Johnny was one […]
Metallica are the latest music act to pledge a major donation to help Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene. The band announced on Friday that their All Within My Hands Foundation has donated $50,000 each to the World Central Kitchen and Team Rubicon to aid their relief efforts as residents from Florida to Virginia clean up in the wake of the third-deadliest storm since 2000; the death toll at press time was 227, but experts expect it to rise as they continue recovery efforts.
“Over the past week, Hurricane Helene has left a 500-mile path of destruction throughout Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee in its wake,” the band wrote on X. “It is an unmitigated tragedy, with over 215 lives lost and hundreds of people still unaccounted for. Historic water levels and widespread flooding across the Appalachians have left hundreds of roads inaccessible, hindering rescue efforts.”
Trending on Billboard
According to the band, World Central Kitchen’s efforts so far include bringing in food and water to isolated communities using helicopters and airboats, while partnering with 35 food trucks in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee and 16 restaurants in North Carolina and Tennessee, which has already provided tens of thousands of hot meals and sandwiches to families in need.
WCK has also deployed water tanks capable of delivering 100,000 gallons of potable water per day to communities in hard-hit Asheville, N.C., where residents have been without fresh water since the storm dumped an unprecedented amount of rain on the town where more than 100 people have been confirmed dead so far. At press time officials were still not sure when water service will be restored in the city, with some estimates suggesting it could be several weeks, or more before residents can turn their taps on again to cook, shower and flush toilets.
Disaster response NGO Team Rubicon is working with state and federal emergency response agencies to provide immediate disaster relief. “More than 140 Greyshirts (Team Rubicon volunteers) comprise five recon teams serving more than 35 communities across the affected area,” read a statement from the band. “These route clearance teams have already cleared more than 400 dump trucks worth of debris and continue to work diligently across Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee.”
Metallica join several other acts who’ve made major pledges to help, including Dolly Parton, who donated $1 million of her own money to help relief efforts, as well as another $1 million through her various business entities, including Dollywood and Dolly Parton’s Stampede to help the affected areas recover from the storm that led to massive destruction across several states, including washing out bridges and roads, leaving some communities inaccessible. “I look around and I think, ‘These are my mountains, these are my valleys, these are my rivers…these are my people, and this is my home…I just want you to know, I am totally with you, I am part of you, I love you,” Parton said in a statement.
In addition, fellow country singer Morgan Wallen has donated $500,000 to the Red Cross‘ hurricane relief efforts through his Morgan Wallen Foundation. “My family in East Tennessee are safe, but I know many are absolutely devastated there and in multiple states,” Wallen said in a statement. “All my prayers are geared toward those tonight. Those hills and hollers are very important to me in so many ways. It is going to take a monumental effort, and I am in contact with my team and others working on ways I can help.”
North Carolina natives Luke Combs and Eric Church have also posted on social media that they are looking for ways to contribute to the relief efforts. Miranda Lambert’s MuttNation Foundation has donated $100,000 to help animals impacted by the hurricane and Sturgill Simpson announced a one-off Oct. 21 benefit show at the Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary, N.C. with proceeds earmarked for the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund.
Check out Metallica’s announcement and links for other organizations taking donations for Hurricane Helene relief below.
If you want to help, check out links to the organizations below (or click here for a longer list):
American Red Cross
GoFundMe
United Way
Mercy Chiefs
In his new memoir, Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 accuses his band’s former manager Greig Nori of sexual abuse and grooming.
As revealed Tuesday (Oct. 8) in the newly published pages of Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, the now-44-year-old rocker was 16 when Nori — then 34 — allegedly began abusing the musician. According to snippets of the book shared by the Los Angeles Times, the now-61-year-old Treble Charger band member was a personal hero of Whibley’s before he became a songwriting mentor and manager to Sum 41, after which the alleged sexual misconduct began, with Whibley claiming that when he was 18, Nori cornered him in a bathroom stall at a rave and “passionately” kissing him.
Over time, Whibley alleges in his book that Nori manipulated him by calling the younger musician homophobic if he didn’t reciprocate. Whibley also writes that Nori said he “owed” his then-manager for his career, and alleged that Nori pressured him into continuing the relationship because “so many of my rock star idols were queer.”
“Greig had one requirement to be our manager — he wanted total control,” Whibley writes in Walking Disaster, according to the LA Times. “We couldn’t talk to anyone but him, because the music business is ‘full of snakes and liars’ and he was the only person we could trust.”
Billboard was not able to reach Nori at press time. Multiple publications, however, have reported that Nori did not reply to requests for comment.
“I always thought that I would take this to my grave and I wouldn’t say anything,” Whibley told Rolling Stone. “As I started getting into the book, I felt like, ‘How could I not be honest?’”
Whibley still hasn’t told his bandmates about the alleged abuse, according to the LA Times. In March, Sum 41 dropped its eighth and final album, Heaven :x: Hell, after which the band spent much of this year on a farewell tour. In January, the group is slated to play Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, marking its final show ever.
Nori hasn’t been in the picture since 2005, when Sum 41 fired him at Whibley’s urging, according to the LA Times. Without disclosing anything about his personal experiences with Nori at the time, the frontman eventually persuaded his bandmates to part ways with their manager by citing Nori’s alleged professional failings, from fumbling opportunities for the group to being unreachable and showing up to important events under the influence of ecstasy.
Whibley went on to marry Avril Lavigne, who was one of the first to tell him, “That’s abuse! [Nori] sexually abused you,” the “Landmines” singer writes in Walking Disaster, according to the LA Times.
After the couple divorced in 2009, Whibley wed Ariana Cooper, to whom he’s been married for 10 years. Cooper had the same reaction as the “Complicated” musician, Whibley says.
Even so, it wasn’t until Whibley turned 35 — one year older than Nori was when he allegedly began abusing Whibley — that the Sum 41 guitarist finally started to understand what he’d been through. “It all became so clear,” Whibley told L.A. Times. “Then about a year later, the Me Too thing started happening. I started hearing stories of grooming, and it all started to make sense.”
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual abuse, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 for confidential help 24/7.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are headed to the city. Specifically the Boss’ new touring doc, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, will become the latest rock doc to be showcased in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Screening Series next week when the movie will be shown at […]
The Doors will turn 60 next year — something drummer John Densmore says the kids who formed the legendary rock group in Los Angeles could never have imagined.
“When I was a kid, 60 years old seemed like, ‘Well, you’ll be dead any minute,’” Densmore tells Billboard with a laugh. “And here we are.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The group’s 60th anniversary celebration is upon us, too — starting next month with some key archival releases. Arriving Nov. 22 via Rhino’s High Fidelity audiophile vinyl series is The Doors 1967-1971, a limited edition (3,000 copies) six-LP set that houses the six studio albums the band released during late frontman Jim Morrison’s lifetime. A week later, for Record Store Black Friday, Rhino will release a four-disc remastered vinyl edition of Live in Detroit, taken from a May 8, 1970, concert at the city’s famed Cobo Arena. The 25-song set is the longest concert the Doors ever performed, according to band manager Jeff Jampol of JAM Inc.
Following those, in early 2025, will be Night Divides the Day, a 344-page book from Britain’s Genesis Publications that includes new interviews with Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger, archival material from Morrison and the late keyboardist Ray Manzarek, commentary from other colleagues, friends and admirers, a treasure trove of photos, a foreword by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and an afterward by conductor and composer Gustavo Dudamel (a recent Billboard cover subject). The 2,000 numbered box sets will be signed by Krieger and Densmore and come with rare demo recordings of “Hello, I Love You” and “Moonlight Drive” on a 7-inch vinyl disc. It’s available for pre-order here.
Trending on Billboard
These are just the beginning of the Doors’ 60th festivities, according to Jampol. “Here we are 60 years later talking about them, and they’re just as relevant and the music is more relevant than ever, and the message,” Jampol, who also represents the Morrison estate, tells Billboard. “I want to preserve it because I think it’s relevant for new generations. We’re trying to do two things here. We want to do interesting things and fun things for Doors fans, who are great ’cause they’ve always been here with us and they’ll support whatever it is we’re doing, and they’re excellent passers-on of the baton. Then we also want to expose the Doors to people who are not as familiar…this group of potential new fans, which is thousands of times larger. So we’re trying to serve those two distinct fan bases.”
Jampol is confident that either constituency will be impressed by the remastered sound quality of the upcoming vinyl releases, while the book, he adds, is “a thing of beauty” that came in the wake of The Collected Works of Jim Morrison, another Genesis project that came out during 2021. “We started working on this three years ago,” Jampol says, promising that, “there’s some stuff in that book no one’s talked about, photos I’ve never seen.”
Densmore, meanwhile, was particularly flattered by Dudamel’s glowing assessment of the Doors’ creativity in his afterward.
“He talks about my rhythms and said, ‘Oh, a few hundred years down the road the Doors will be remembered like Beethoven and Mozart,’” Densmore says. “I’m like, ‘Holy sh-t! I feel a whole lot of helium rising up in my skull now.’”
Densmore himself has written a couple of books about the Doors — a memoir and another focused on his legal issues with Krieger and Manzarek after they began playing together again during the early 2000s — while Krieger has also published an autobiography. Both are clear about why interest remains so high in the Doors 52 years after its last album of original material.
“When you get right down to it, it’s the songs. We had great songs,” Krieger told Billboard a couple of years ago. “A lot of kids come up to me, like 10-year-old kids, ‘Yeah, I love the doors. You guys are amazing.’ I don’t think they even know about the Jim Morrison myths and all that as much as they love the music. And I think that’s what is gonna carry it for the next 50 years, or more.”
“I hoped we would last 10 years and pay the rent: ‘That’d be cool,’” Densmore says with a laugh. “I knew the ingredients were unique. It was a wonderful, blessed few years. And that we’re still talking about it? Come on, man!”
Other 60th anniversary plans for 2025 are still being finalized, including museum exhibitions and art installations and possibly additional archival releases. Densmore — who played with Krieger during February of 2016 in Los Angeles for a Stand Up to Cancer benefit on what would have been Manzarek’s 77th birthday — says he’d also like to see some sort of performance be part of the celebration.
“The Doors 60th at the Hollywood Bowl would be quite wonderful,” Densmore says of the venue where the group recorded and filmed a concert during July 1968 (and returned in 1972, after Morrison’s death in 1971). “Willie Nelson did his 90th birthday at the Bowl, so it’d be wonderful to have something like that — me and Robby would play a little bit here and there, and there’d hopefully be lots of wonderful artists that would show up for that. I’d love to see something like that happen.”