Rock
Page: 55
Simple Plan‘s pop punk take on Sir Elton John‘s The Lion King classic “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” is the first single from the upcoming Disney album A Whole New Sound. The group’s take on the soaring ballad — which drops at midnight Friday (July 12) — is the first taste of the Mouse House’s 30th anniversary celebration of the iconic animated classic.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“When Disney reached out to us to be a part of this project, it was a bit overwhelming because there are so many amazing Disney songs. But it became obvious pretty quickly that The Lion King song book, and especially ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight,’ stood out from the rest,” Simple Plan tells Billboard. “The song just has such a classic feel, and the melodies are so memorable and timeless. We also felt like it would lend itself really well to our style and would sound awesome as a pop-punk version.
“It’s also one of those songs and movies that has been such an important part of people’s lives. Lots of our fans grew up watching it and listening to the soundtrack and we also played them for our own kids,” the band continues. “So, it holds a special place in our hearts and felt like the rare song that could connect to a very wide range of listeners across many generations. Finally, the fact that the movie celebrates its 30th anniversary this year was just the icing on the cake! It’s such an honor to offer our own version of this song and to cover such an iconic artist like Sir Elton John. We’re not sure if he heard the song or not, but we hope he will enjoy this new version and feel like we did it justice.”
Trending on Billboard
The band is set to perform the song on Aug. 9 at the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.
According to a release, the collection will feature a number of alternative, rock and pop punk bands reworking popular Disney songs, as well as a fresh streetwise look for Mickey and his friends, with Goofy and Donald Duck slipping into sneakers, skinny jeans and backwards baseball caps for the celebration.
Guitarist Jeff Stinco teased out the collaboration earlier this week when the band posted a video of him taking a Disney-centric quiz in which someone asked him to choose his favorite Mouse House animated film, with the shredder repeatedly choosing The Lion King over such classics as Toy Story, Ratatouille, Lilo & Stitch and Tarzan.
“Why are you always choosing Lion King?” an off-camera voice asked Stinco as he stood in the shadow of Cinderella’s castle. Stinco silently shrugged and smiled, though the caption on the post made sense once the news was unveiled. “Jeff’s really been feeling the love for The Lion King lately,” it read. “There must be a reason [chin stroke and shifty eyes emoji].”
Then, on Wednesday (July 10), Disney Music unveiled a brief preview of the Simple Plan song, with Goofy and Donald rocking out to it along with Mickey under a banner that read “A Whole New Sound.”
On July 12, 1962, The Rolling (then Rollin’) Stones played their first show at the famed Marquee Club in London. By the fall of 1963 they were on the road in Europe, on the low end of a package with the Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Bo Diddley and more.
Flash forward 60-plus years, and they’re filling the world’s biggest stadiums — as they have been since the mid-’70s — with the current North American leg of their Hackney Diamonds Tour.
Few acts boast the kind of road resume the Stones have built over the decades. Conservative estimates put the group’s tally at more than 2,000 concerts for more than 45 million people — including an estimated 1.5 million alone on Feb. 18, 2006 at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And sometimes it seems like Mick Jagger has worn precisely that same number of outfits during all those years of performing.
Two of the Stones’ treks — A Bigger Bang from 2005-2007 and No Filter from 2017-2021 — are among the top 10 grossing tours of all time, according to Billboard Boxscore. The group’s two ’90s tours, Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 for that decade, and A Bigger Bang topped the 2000s. Clearly, we like it when the Stones come to town — yes we do.
Why? So many reasons — not the least of which is a wealth of rock anthems the Stones dependably deliver most every time they hit the stage. There’s also staging, which is just as dependably awesome, and a sense of seeing bona fide history on display. We can certainly marvel at (and maybe be a little jealous of) Jagger’s continued vigor as he nears 81, and take comfort in the fact that Keith Richards, also 80, is still inexplicably with us despite behaviors that would take most everyone else off this mortal coil. “How do you make rock ‘n’ roll grow up? It seems to me that’s a very interesting question, and we’re the only answer,” Richards told this writer back in 2005. “When we finally croak, you’ll find out how long we can do this.”
The Hackney Diamonds Tour, which began April 28 in Houston and runs through July 17 in North America, is showing that the Stones have yet to gather any moss. Invigorated by a strong new album of the same name, the early shows have featured strong performances and changing set lists, and fans are still coming in droves.
And that has us thinking back over the group’s touring history, and the enormous legacy that’s been created since those Stones started rolling. Check out our ranking of the band’s 17 tours below,
British and American Tours (1964) / Irish Tour (1965)
Image Credit: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
Nickelback’s catalog sports sizable gains following the June 16 U.S. Netflix premiere of the band’s career-spanning documentary, Hate to Love: Nickelback, with one of its signature songs ruling a Billboard chart dated July 13.
“How You Remind Me,” the group’s breakthrough 2001 hit, bounds in at No. 1 on the Hot Hard Rock Songs tally, as well as No. 12 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. (Older songs are eligible to rank on Billboard’s multimetric charts if placing in the top half and with a meaningful reason for their re-entries.)
In the tracking week ending July 4, “How You Remind Me” earned 5.1 million official U.S. streams, up 12%, and sold 2,000 downloads, up 171%, according to Luminate.
The song makes its first appearance on Hot Hard Rock Songs, which began in 2020, and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, which started in 2009. “How You Remind Me” was released on Nickelback’s third studio album, Silver Side Up, and became its to-date only No. 1 on the all-format Billboard Hot 100, ruling for four weeks in 2001-02.
While “How You Remind Me” is the only song from Nickelback’s catalog to reach the newest multimetric Billboard charts, the band’s music dots other surveys. “Rockstar,” from 2005’s All the Right Reasons, crowns Hard Rock Digital Song Sales (2,000 sold), where it’s followed by “How You Remind Me” at No. 2; “Photograph,” also from All the Right Reasons, at No. 4; “Someday,” from 2003’s The Long Road, at No. 8; and “Savin’ Me,” likewise from All the Right Reasons, at No. 9.
“How You Remind Me” also leads a pair of Nickelback tracks on Hard Rock Streaming Songs, lifting 4-3 as the survey’s Greatest Gainer. “Rockstar” follows as a re-entry at No. 23 via 3.1 million streams.
On the Top Hard Rock Albums tally, The Best of Nickelback: Volume 1, released in 2013, rises 3-2 thanks to 18,000 equivalent album units earned, a 30% jump. The 19-song compilation features each of the aforementioned tracks.
In all, Nickelback’s catalog received 28 million official on-demand U.S. streams in the week ending July 4, up 22% from 22.9 million in the week ending June 27.
Hate to Love: Nickelback premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023 prior to its Netflix arrival.
The four-piece’s most recent album, Get Rollin’, was released in November 2022 and debuted at its No. 2 high on the Top Hard Rock Albums survey. It has earned 149,000 equivalent album units to date and spawned a No. 2-peaking Mainstream Rock Airplay hit in “San Quentin.”
Eminem’s “Houdini” achieves a feat that no single from the rapper had in over 20 years: make Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart.
The song bows at No. 35 on the ranking dated July 13, marking Eminem’s fifth appearance on the survey and first since “Lose Yourself,” which peaked at No. 14 in December 2002.
“Lose Yourself” logged an 18-week run on the chart, through February 2003. As such, the break between Eminem’s Alternative Airplay hits numbered 21 years and five months. That’s the longest between appearances since Kate Bush went over 28 years between January 1994 (“Rubberband Girl”) and June 2022 (“Running Up That Hill [A Deal With God]”), the latter charting after the 1985 classic’s synch in Netflix’s Stranger Things.
Eminem’s respite is the third-longest in Alternative Airplay’s nearly 36-year history, behind only Bush’s and Debbie Harry’s; the latter waited almost 29 years between “Kiss It Better” in 1990 and her featured turn on Just Loud’s “Soul Train” in 2018.
Eminem’s Alternative Airplay history extends before “Lose Yourself,” though it’s his highest peaking entry on the tally. He first reached the list with “My Name Is” in 1999 (No. 37), followed by “The Real Slim Shady” (No. 19, 2000) and “Without Me” (No. 15, 2002).
Trending on Billboard
“Houdini” has been described as evocative of many of those earlier Eminem singles, which is not lost on Kevin Weatherly, Audacy senior vp of programming and program director of KROQ Los Angeles. “This Eminem song has an instant familiarity, and it resonates with a large segment of our audience that was there when he arrived 20-plus years ago,” he tells Billboard. “Much like when we played him in the past, the response is mostly positive, but there are also some negatives. That said, we recognized the pop-culture moment and wanted to reflect it and be a part of it.”
KROQ played “Houdini” 21 times in the latest tracking week (July 28-July 4), sixth-most among stations on the Alternative Airplay panel, according to Mediabase.
KTCL Denver spun the song 29 times in that span, the fourth-most on the panel in that stretch; KKDO Sacramento led all stations with 38 plays. “One of my Jocks, B-Large, brought it to our music meeting for discussion,” KTCL program director Jeb “Nerf” Freedman tells Billboard. “We play four Eminem songs in catalog, so it makes sense to take a listen to the new song – but not every artist has a comeback this late in their career. Lucky for us, we constantly engage our audience with online surveys. When we tested it and it went through the roof, we knew they didn’t think of Eminem as just a part of history. Slim Shady is alive and well!
“It sounds a little weird hearing that Steve Miller melody on our station, but it certainly jumps out of the speaker at you. So far, it’s a massive hit.”
The Miller melody Freedman references is that of “Abracadabra,” the 1982 hit from The Steve Miller Band that topped the Billboard Hot 100; “Houdini” interpolates the song’s melody in its chorus.
Concurrently, “Houdini” lifts to a new No. 29 high on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart via 1.2 million audience impressions, up 21%, according to Luminate. Upon its debut in late June, it became Eminem’s first song on the list, which began in 2009.
“Houdini” boasts multi-format approval; in addition to its Alternative Airplay rank, it has so far reached No. 8 on Rhythmic Airplay, No. 16 on Pop Airplay, No. 18 on hot-rap-tracks and No. 32 on Adult Pop Airplay.
The track launched at No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts dated June 15, as well as No. 2 on the all-format Billboard Hot 100. It holds at No. 16 on the latter list’s latest edition via 20.9 million radio audience impressions, 15.7 million official U.S. streams and 6,000 downloads sold.
“Houdini” is the lead single from The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace), Eminem’s 12th studio album, due Friday, July 12. One other song was released ahead of the album: “Tobey,” featuring Big Sean and BabyTron, which bows at No. 95 on the Hot 100.
Rod Argent has suffered a stroke, leading to his immediate retirement from touring. The 79-year-old Zombies keyboardist is currently recovering at home after an overnight hospital stay, with doctors advising several months of rest and recuperation.
The news came in the form of a release from the band’s managers Chris Tuthill and Cindy da Silva Thursday (July 11), which notes that the group’s founding member had spent a weekend in London with his wife Cathy to celebrate their 52nd wedding anniversary as well as his birthday before his hospitalization. All upcoming performances on The Zombies’ schedule have now been canceled, including the band’s two festival shows in the U.K. slated for later this month. A fall 2024 U.S. tour had also been in the works prior to his stroke.
“He was already preparing to wind down his live performance schedule after health scares on recent tours,” the announcement read. “However, the stroke was an unmistakable warning sign that the risks are too great.”
Trending on Billboard
Though he will no longer be performing with the English rock trailblazers, Argent plans to continue writing and recording with bandmates Tom Toomey, Søren Koch, Colin Blunstone and Steve Rodford. According to Tuthill and da Silva, he’s “already been back at his piano for some much-needed “’Bach therapy.’”
Plus, The Zombies’ second annual Begin Here Festival in St Albans U.K. will continue as planned in November, although their performance will be replaced with a special show honoring Argent. At this time, the band’s team asks that fans sit tight with their tickets until they’ve “had time to regroup and announce new plans.”
Argent’s retirement from touring ends quite a run, with The Zombies getting their start in the early ’60s. He’d previously stepped away from the group in 1975 in order to focus on his family and being a songwriter, but agreed to temporarily fill in for a few shows in 1999 — something that turned into 25 more years of touring and recording with the band. The group has had two albums chart on the Billboard 200 — 1965’s self-titled release and 1969’s Odessey & Oracle — as well as five Billboard Hot 100 hits over the course of its career.
“Our last message is that if a classic artist that has made music you love is performing nearby, don’t miss the opportunity to see them,” Tuthill and da Silva’s message concludes. “You can sit on the couch and binge Netflix another day. The communal experience of a live performance by a veteran artist is a singular and joyous moment. These artists are treasures who have stood the test of time and are giving their all, but they are fragile human beings like all of us.”
More than 20 years after its release, The Killers’ “Mr Brightside” continues to break records and collect awards.
The American alternative rock act was this week presented with two Guinness World Records, for its extraordinary chart success in the United Kingdom.
With a total of 416 weeks — and counting — on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, “Mr Brightside” has the longest stay on the singles survey by a group and the most cumulative weeks on the U.K. tally for one song, according to GWR.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Earlier this year, “Mr Brightside” was crowned as the biggest-ever single in the U.K. which had never gone to No. 1.
[embedded content]
Hailing from Las Vegas, the band was originally discovered by and signed to U.K. independent Lizard King, and were embraced by Brits as one of their own. “Mr Brightside” was initially released in 2003 with a limited-edition 500 CD run, and was reissued in May 2004, peaking at No. 10.
Trending on Billboard
Now, after eight years on the national chart, the track is also recognized as one of the U.K.’s all-time top three singles for combined units (sales and streams) and among the top five most-streamed tracks.
“It’s infectious still to us, I know some people can’t wrap their head around it but you’ll see the response [when you see it live],” frontman Brandon Flowers tells GWR. “It’s tough not to be touched by it or be excited by it and there’s going to be people tonight who’ve never seen it live, there’ll be some people who’ve seen it 45 times. And we just don’t get tired of it.”
It would seem, no one has tired of the song. In recent weeks, The Killers were inducted with the SoundExchange Hall of Fame Award, recognition for their status as one of the most streamed acts in the organization’s 21-year history.
The Killers complete a six-night stand at London’s O2 arena tonight (July 11), part of a tour of the U.K. and Europe that runs through mid-July. The band returns to the U.S. for festival appearances at Lollapalooza and Outside Lands before kicking off an August Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, and additional North American festival dates through September.
The Killers took over The O2 in London on Wednesday night (July 10), and the rock group got to treat their English fans to a once-in-a-lifetime moment. In videos circulating social media, the band is seen pausing their show to air the end of the England vs. Netherland semifinal game for UEFA Euro 2024. Right […]
A month ahead of his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Peter Frampton will help honor an International Tennis Hall of Famer when the guitar god joins the party at the 2024 City Parks Foundation Dinner & Concert Benefit. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]
Jon Bon Jovi paid loving tribute to the Bongiovi family matriarch on Wednesday (July 10), a day after his mother, Carol Bongiovi, died at 83. The Bon Jovi front man’s mom died of undisclosed causes on Tuesday (July 9) at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J. just a three days short of her 84th birthday.
“Our mother was a force to be reckoned with, her spirit and can-do attitude shaped this family. She will be greatly missed,” Bon Jovi, 62, said in a statement from the family; Bon Jovi (born John Francis Bongiovi Jr.) has two younger brothers, Anthony and fellow musician Matthew Bongiovi. In addition to being a former Playboy playmate and florist, Carol was married to barber and fellow Marine veteran John Francis Bongiovi Sr. and operated her son’s fan club for many years.
According to an obituary from the Holmdel Funeral Home, the family matriarch enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1959, where she met her future husband. The couple moved to Sayreville, N.J. after their hitch in the military, where they raised their family before moving to Holmdel, N.J.
Trending on Billboard
The woman affectionally referred to as “Mom Jovi” by the Garden State legends’ fans made a cameo, along with his dad, in the singer’s 2021 “Story of Love” video. In the visual, Jon strummed an acoustic guitar in front of a wall of family photos — including a giant black and white snap of his folks with their eldest son — as he sang about familia love. “Father love daughters like mothers love sons,” he sang. “They’ve been writing our story before there was one/ From the day you arrive/ ‘Til you walk, ‘Til you run/ There is nothing but pride, there is nothing but love/ They can offer advice that you don’t wanna hear/ Words that cut like a knife and still ring in your ear.”
In an interview with the Big Issue in 2020, Bon Jovi, 62, spoke lovingly of the lessons he learned from his parents, especially their unwavering support after his admittedly “terrible” first talent show performance as a teen. “What I got from my parents was the ability to make the dream reality. They always instilled that confidence in their kids which, in retrospect, I realize was so incredibly valuable,” he told the mag at the time. “Because even if you truly weren’t any good at your craft, if you believed you were, you could work on it. As I got older I realized that was a great gift that I got from my folks. They truly believed in the John Kennedy mantra of going to the moon. ‘Yeah, of course you can go to the moon. Just go, Johnny.’ And there I went.”
Carol Bongiovi was born Carol Sharkey in Erie, Pennsylvania on July, 12, 1940 and is survived by her husband of 63 years, their three sons and daughters-in-law as well as eight grandchildren.
After Pearl Jam were forced to cancel shows in Berlin and London last week due to an unspecified illness affecting band members, singer Eddie Vedder opened up about what he described as a “near-death experience” during their return to stage in Barcelona over the weekend. In video posted by fans, Vedder, 59, talked about the […]