Rock
Page: 55
If you’ve noticed one trend with the artists the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has officially let through its doors this decade, it’s probably been the institution drifting away from the classic rock artists (mostly bands, mostly all-male) that defined its ranks for decades, and towards a broader genre view rewarding artists (often solo and female) of wide cultural iconicity.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Artists like Whitney Houston, Carly Simon, Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, Missy Elliott, Kate Bush and Dolly Parton did not fit the traditional mold of artist the Rock Hall would have looked towards in past decades — as evidenced by the fact that all of them except Missy had to wait at least a decade from their earliest eligibility until their induction. But of course, music has continued to progress further and further away from the late period traditionally considered the classic rock era, while modern audiences have come to place significantly less emphasis on rock as the sun that the world of Serious Music revolves around. It makes sense that Rock Hall voters would end up emphasizing game-changing pop, country and hip-hop artists whose relevance has endured into the 21st century over 20th century radio rock leftovers with little bearing on contemporary popular music.
And so of course, the 2024 inductees for the Rock Hall include Peter Frampton, Foreigner and the Dave Matthews Band.
Trending on Billboard
Now, that snarky comment isn’t totally fair to either the Rock Hall voters or the artists inducted. For one, there are still two artists from this year’s recently announced class that absolutely fit the newer brand of Rock Hall inductees in Cher and Mary J. Blige: both unquestionably iconic artists with rich, expansive legacies and subsequent generations of major artists that their impact can be traced through. Neither is traditionally rock — Cher dabbled in the genre and likely would’ve gone further with it than she did had she been allowed the artistic agency more frequently afforded today’s pop stars, while Blige’s intersections with the genre have been mostly incidental — but you can’t properly tell the story of the period of popular music the Rock Hall covers without either, so their presence is hard to argue with.
And while they cannot compare with artists like Cher or Mary J. Blige in terms of enduring pop culture ubiquity, those aforementioned rockier acts have legacies of their own that at least elbow their way into the discussion of Rock Hall worthiness. Peter Frampton had one of the biggest rock albums of the ’70s and a tremendous amount of peer respect for his work solo, as well as in prior group Humble Pie and as a sideman. Foreigner were among the biggest hitmakers in any genre for a solid decade from the late ’70s to late ’80s, with a handful of songs that remaining enduring staples on classic rock radio, movie soundtracks and even on singing competition reality shows. And for 30 years, Dave Matthews Band have been the model for a beloved jam-band also thriving as a massively successful recording act, scoring No. 1 albums and alternative radio hits and even a major pop crossover or two.
In an older Rock Hall class, you might not have looked askance at the three of them getting in. Even now, you might not think it that strange for any of the three of them to get in on their own. But for all three of them to get in the same year is fairly surprising, especially considering some of the names shut out. That includes Mariah Carey, one of the most accomplished and longest-lasting pop superstars of all time, and Sinéad O’Connor, a genre-blending star whose stardom was curtailed by artistic risks she took on and off record, but whose legacy feels even more vital and timely in 2024 (sadly following her death in 2023) than it even did at her commercial peak three-plus decades ago. By modern Rock Hall standards, both would feel like obvious picks; both will nonetheless remain on the outside for at least one more year.
And it’s not just the rockers among the less-expected inductees for 2024. Kool and the Gang, funk hitmakers of the ’70s and ’80s who had been picked up as something of a cause in recent years for their longtime Rock Hall snubbing, have been granted entry on their first nomination. Meanwhile, the third time proves the charm for A Tribe Called Quest — among the most beloved and celebrated groups in hip-hop history, but one that never achieved the massive crossover success of recently inducted rappers like Missy, Jay-Z and Eminem. For those two groups to get in not just over Carey and O’Connor, but more traditional rock and roll flag-wavers like Oasis and Lenny Kravitz, is also something of a shock. (The eighth and final 2024 inductee not yet mentioned was this year’s most predictable: Ozzy Osbourne, who satisfies both classic rock cred and solo star recognizability and prototypicality.)
Nonetheless, the recognition of that trio of long-eligible 20th century rock acts (and male ones, as six out of this year’s eight artists inducted are) suggests that as much as the Rock Hall has shifted towards a less hemmed-in, genre-specific institution over the years– an evolution likely necessary for its continued relevance — there are still plenty of voters primarily concerned with rock representation. DMB were likely helped by their continued presence within the industry, while Foreigner were doubtless boosted in no small part by the celebrity campaigning on their behalf by insider’s insider Mark Ronson (stepson of the band’s guitarist and founder Mick Jones). But the recognition of Frampton in particular — who we pegged as having the second-lowest chances of induction among this year’s 15 years — feels indicative of pushback against the Rock Hall’s broadening definitions.
If there is more of a unifying theory to the new inductees to the Rock Hall this year, though, it might have to do with the breakdown of longstanding critical preconceptions in evaluating said artists. Of the eight artists granted entry this year, only A Tribe Called Quest could really be considered in any way to be critics’ darlings. Of the seven others, several (Dave Matthews Band, Cher, Foreigner) existed as critical punching bags at their commercial peaks, and others (Kool & The Gang, Mary J. Blige, solo Ozzy Osbourne) were largely shrugged at by rock critics outside their home genres. Perhaps the expulsion of Jann Wenner from the Rock Hall’s Board of Directors last year has also served as the final severing of the institution’s adherence to classic critical canons, in favor of a slightly more updated perspective less beholden to the received wisdom of previous generations.
In any event, the 2024 class makes it clear that while the Rock Hall’s constituency may be forever evolving in their tastes and priorities, the musical values of decades past have not yet been completely lost to time. We will have to wait and see from the next few years’ classes whether this year’s represents the beginning of a pendulum swinging back to more traditional rock hall definitions for voters, or a final emptying of the bench for the classic rock faithful.
“Honestly, I broke into tears when they told me,” says longtime Motown executive Suzanne de Passe about the moment she learned that she would be receiving the Ahmet Ertegun Award at this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, taking place Oct. 19 in Cleveland.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
That reflected the many reactions coming from inductees after the Rock Hall’s Class of 2024 was revealed on Sunday (April 21) night’s episode of American Idol on ABC. Joy, exultation and even some surprise was expressed by those headed into the Rock Hall this year, whether in the voted-on performers category or those receiving this year’s musical excellence awards.
Robert “Kool” Bell is happy to explain why Kool & the Gang, an R&B band with several pop hits, belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Speaking to Billboard via Zoom, with bottles of his branded champagne sitting alongside to presumably, er, celebrate the induction, Bell says that “I did 48 shows with Van Halen, 10 shows with Kid Rock, opened for the Dave Matthews Band, Elton John, Rod Stewart. I also worked with Foreigner…If you’re gonna call it a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame then, yeah, I guess you could say that I feel like a rock n’ roller.”
Trending on Billboard
Bell is, of course, the last remaining member of Kool & the Gang’s original lineup and says his departed bandmates, including his brother Ronald Bell, would be pleased with the Rock Hall honor. “We’ve been to a lot of different ones,” Bell notes, including a 2018 induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. “It’s great to finally be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. All the guys would love it.” Kool & the Gang’s Rock Hall honor comes 60 years after the band’s formation in New Jersey, and 55 years after its self-titled debut album.
Ozzy Osbourne, who was inducted with Black Sabbath in 2006, tells Billboard via email that being honored for his solo career “feels big. I’m more than honored.” He says the induction for his own work, which began with the Blizzard of Ozz album in 1980 “feels different than with Sabbath because my solo career, it’s been a much larger part of my overall music career as a whole…I feel like I was invited to a party in 1980, and it hasn’t stopped. Not bad for a guy who was fired from his last band.” Osbourne, who’s effectively retired from touring due to a variety of health issues, including Parkinson’s disease, says he’s not sure about performing at the ceremony but will be there, in attire that “most certainly will be black.”
Peter Frampton tells Billboard that he’s “a little bit shock, and speechless” after learning the news of his induction. He was also stoked about finishing second behind the Dave Matthews Band in the fan vote, with 528,000. “It’s an honor people regard me in this way. I’m just blown away,” said Frampton, who had encouraged fan voting during his recent tour by flashing a QR code for the vote on the video screen at his concerts. “It’s quite uncanny we would be touring during the public voting, so every night I could hopefully get a few hundred out of the couple of thousand, three thousand that were in the audience. And it made a difference.”
Foreigner founder Mick Jones told Billboard in an exclusive interview that, “It’s a great honor to be included amongst all these great artists that have been inducted over the years.” He added that despite waiting more than 20 years since the band became eligible, “I certainly haven’t been overly consumed by it. Every year was the same thing, so eventually I didn’t really worry about it…I’ve had a great career, and this is like the whipped cream and cherry on top.”
Jones, who’s battling Parkinson’s disease, was also “very grateful” to son-in-law Mark Ronson’s video campaign on Foreigner’s behalf, which enlisted luminaries such as Paul McCartney, Slash, Jack Black, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and others to express their surprise and indignation that Foreigner hadn’t already been inducted. “I wasn’t totally aware of the extent to which he saw this through…I had a good laugh seeing Paul’s Instagram post.” Jones added that he plans to attend the ceremony in October but hasn’t decided if he’ll play or not. Original Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm previously told Billboard that he plans to be there and expects to perform the Billboard Hot 100 topper “I Want to Know What Love Is” and one other song.
The MC5’s musical achievement Award is “bittersweet” in the wake of co-founder Wayne Kramer’s death on Feb. 2 at the age of 75, according to his widow, Margaret Saadi Kramer. “Perhaps even the exact right thing at precisely the wrong time,” noted Kramer, who manages MC5 affairs and co-founded the Jail Guitar Doors initiative with her husband. “Yet I’m certain he would have landed in gratitude for this recognition and received it like the beautiful free radical he was, an underdog victorious.” Three other MC5 members — Rob Tyner, Fred Smith and Michael Davis — have also passed, leaving only drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson.
Wayne Kramer did finish working on a new MC5 album, Heavy Lifting, which is due out later this year and features guests such as Thompson, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave), Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, Alice in Chains’ William DuVall, Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath and Don Was. It will be packaged with a live recording of the all-star MC50 band during 2018 in the MC5’s hometown of Detroit.
Suzanne de Passe, who is still active as a TV and film producer since her days with Motown, said she’s “truly blown away and honored,” and that the Ahmet Ertegun Award means even more to her because she saw her mentor, Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., receive it back in 1987. “Berry Gordy gave me the opportunity of a lifetime,” says de Passe, whose time at Motown included shepherding the careers of the Jackson 5, Lionel Richie and others as well as producing the Emmy-winning Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever and specials for the company’s 30th and 40th anniversaries. She also produced miniseries about the Temptations and Jacksons as well as Lonesome Dove and other projects.
“I really learned a lot and was able to go out on a limb in some cases and either rise or fall, but never not be in a position of learning and growing,” she says. “I’m very, very grateful for the career I’ve had and the opportunities that have come my way because of that launching pad.”
She’s also happy to be honored alongside Motown songwriter-producer Norman Whitfield, whom she knew well and calls “one of the funniest people I ever met, a born comedian. We worked together a lot and I learned a lot from Norman. He really took me under his wing and taught me a lot about working in the studio. We had a great relationship.”
Berry Gordy issued a statement celebrating the honors for both of his Motown charges on April 21.
“Today marks a moment of intense pride as two members of the Motown Family will be honored at the upcoming Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation Awards, Suzanne de Passe and Norman Whitfield,” reads Gordy’s statement. “I want to congratulate, Suzanne, my protégé and longtime friend, on being selected to receive the prestigious Ahmet Ertegun Award! Suzanne’s vision and passion contributed to Motown’s success. Every task I ever threw at her, she not only accomplished, but exceeded my expectations. Suzanne went from being my creative assistant, helping to launch the careers of Michael Jackson, the Jackson 5, Lionel Richie, the Commodores and more, to co-writing a screenplay for Lady Sings the Blues, for which she received an Oscar nomination. Suzanne has great instincts, a sharp wit, and a creative sense that has made her a formidable player in the entertainment world. I continue to be extremely proud of her.
“I am also so thrilled that Norman Whitfield, whom I consider a true musical genius and one of Motown’s most important creative forces, has been selected for the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame’s musical excellence award. His brilliant body of work was versatile and bold. He had early collaborations like Marvin Gaye’s ‘Pride and Joy’ and the Temptations’ ‘Just My Imagination.’ He had numerous No. 1 hits, including two with the same song, ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine,’ back to back on two artists – Gladys Knight & the Pips and Marvin Gaye. Then, with his ear to the streets, he took the Temptations and Motown in a whole new direction. Norman’s music reflected the social consciousness of the times with songs like ‘Ball of Confusion,’ ‘War,’ ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone.’ His incredible body of work makes him one of the most important creative forces of his time.”
Mick Jones could be excused for feeling a bit bitter about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ignoring Foreigner for more than two decades of eligibility. But now that the group will be part of the class of 2024 this October, Jones — who put Foreigner together back in 1975 in New York — says he’s feeling “quite the opposite.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“I think it means more to me now than perhaps 20 years ago,” Jones tells Billboard exclusively, via email due to a struggle with Parkinson’s disease that he revealed in February. “I’ve had a great career, and this is like the whipped cream and cherry on top. It’s something I will savor over the years. It’s a great honor to be included amongst all these great artists that have been inducted over the years.
Jones, 79, adds that despite Foreigner fans’ very vocal frustration at the band’s exclusion, he himself has kept a measured perspective about the prospects. “Occasionally it might have entered my mind,” he says. “I certainly haven’t been overly consumed by it. Every year was the same thing, so eventually I didn’t really worry about it. My dear friend Peter Frampton had been passed over all these years; I don’t think he has been overly consumed by it either.”
Trending on Billboard
Foreigner finished third in the Rock Hall’s fan vote this year, behind the Dave Matthews Band and Frampton, with more than 527,000 total votes. That was partly assisted by a video campaign by Jones’ son-in-law Mark Ronson, who recruited musical friends such as Paul McCartney (“Foreigner? Not in the Hall of Fame? What the f–k?!”), Dave Grohl, Slash, Jack Black, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and others expressing disbelief that the group wasn’t yet in.
“I am very grateful for the time and effort Mark has put into this,” Jones says. “I wasn’t totally aware of the extent to which he saw this through. He reached out to a lot of people to post their support on social media. I had a good laugh seeing Paul’s Instagram post.”
Jones isn’t alone, of course, in celebrating Foreigner’s impending induction. Rick Wills, who was Foreigner’s bassist from 1979-1993, tells Billboard, “We’re more than thrilled. It’s been over 20 years since we’ve been waiting for this day. I suppose we were frustrated, to be perfectly honest, but we tried to hide it as best we could because we didn’t want to appear like we were sad people. (laughs). I mean what else could you do but what we’ve done already with our music, and what people have appreciated and enjoyed? We didn’t understand why we didn’t get that recognition.”
And original frontman Lou Gramm told Billboard last month that he “had given up that we would ever be considered” but would happily serve if elected. “I was not feeling good that our peers were in years ago and we were completely neglected…I didn’t even think about it anymore, to be honest with you, so (the nomination) was a big surprise to me.”
Gramm recently brought up past issues with Jones over songwriting credits and financial issues but is looking forward to being with the band and performing at the induction ceremony on Oct. 19 in Cleveland. And Jones says Gramm, with whom he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame with in 2013, will be welcomed with open arms.
“On a personal level I have no hard feelings toward Lou,” Jones says. “We did perform together at the 40th anniversary concert. It has been so many years now since Lou left Foreigner; I like to think that those ill feelings are in the past. There is power in letting go of hard feelings and getting on with your life. Why carry the burden of hard feelings? It serves nothing in the long run. I do plan to attend,” Jones adds. I’m sure my whole family will be there. As to whether I get up on stage and perform hasn’t really been decided as yet. In some ways it might be nice just to be there to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy being inducted.”
Jones says he deals with his Parkinson’s “day to day. Keeping my chin up and making the best of everything. Fortunately, my Parkinson’s isn’t debilitating like it is for some people. My friend Michael J. Fox has been such an inspiration and advocate to find a cure for this disease. I do hope they find the answer soon. Like any disease it’s a quality-of-life issue. With all the research my family and assistant has done, I’ve been able to stick with a healthy lifestyle and exercise program that I think helps stymie the progression of my Parkinson’s.”
It’s also allowed him to continue working — not on stage with Foreigner, of course, but there may be new material in the offing. “There are a number of songs that are demos I wrote with Lou,” Jones says. “A couple of them are quite promising. Some written with Marti (Frederiksen) are lying around. I’ve been going through cassette tapes of demos; some I think don’t deserve to see the light of day.” Jones adds that he’s also finished mixing and mastering a solo album, Shelter From the Storm, that he hopes to release “at some point soon.”
Foreigner, meanwhile, is in the midst of an open-ended farewell tour that will likely extend into 2025 and may even include occasional performances or residencies after the road work is done. And Jones affirms he’s still comfortable with that decision. “It’s expected that all good things must come to an end. When Foreigner does retire it’s because the guys in the band have given so much of themselves and have reached a time in their lives where they want to have an easier life and spend more time with their families. There are so many demands being in a successful rock band.”
Peter Frampton says news of his long-awaited Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction “hasn’t really sunk in yet.” But he’s still thrilled that the honor is upon him after 52 years of eligibility as a solo artist.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“I think I’m a little bit in shock, and speechless,” Frampton tells Billboard with a laugh from his home in Nashville. “I never expected this. People always said, ‘You should be in.’ I said, ‘Eh, what is to be,’ y’know? So mixed emotions, because it’s something that I just never expected, whereas other people did for me. (laughs) It’s wonderful.”
Frampton is particularly stoked that he also finished second in the fan vote with 528,000 — second only to the Dave Matthews Band. “You never quite know how you are regarded,” Frampton explained. “I don’t think about that; I just do my thing. But ending up in the number two position blew me away, actually. It’s an honor people regard me in this way. I’m just honored and blown way.”
Trending on Billboard
Of course, Frampton did his part, too; during his most recent concert tour he spoke about the nomination, putting a QR code up on the video screen to take fans to the voting site in real time.
“That was wonderful,” he recalls. “Every night when I said, ‘I got this phone call a couple months ago…and my managers told me I’m being nominated for the Rock….’ I never got out ‘Fame’ — they just went berserk, the audience, every night, and it made me feel like, ‘Well, they think I deserve to be in.’ So that was very, very nice from the word go. It’s quite uncanny we would be touring during the public voting, so every night I could hopefully get a few hundred out of the couple of thousand, three thousand that were in the audience. And it made a difference.”
Frampton regards the 2024 Rock Hall lineup as “a wonderful class to be involved with,” with many personal connections. He and Foreigner founder Mick Jones, for instance, go back to sessions for French singer Johnny Hallyday when Jones was his musical director and songwriter; Jones subsequently played on “All I Want To Be (Is By Your Side)” on Frampton’s 1972 debut album, Wind of Change. And Foreigner’s lineup included Rick Wills, who also played bass in Frampton’s Camel. “I was hoping they would get in, too,” Frampton says. “I figured they would, but you never know, so I’m thrilled.”
In the musical influence category, meanwhile, Frampton played with Alexis Korner during the mid-‘60s and was also a fan of John Mayall. “I was in the front row at the Flamingo and all the clubs, watching Eric (Clapton) and so many other guitar players — Peter Green, Mick (Taylor) from the (Rolling) Stones, so that means a lot to me,” Frampton notes. “It’s just amazing that (Mayall) was a spawning ground for so many great English guitar players.”
Frampton – who began as a teen star in England before achieving worldwide fame in the band Humble Pie and especially with his Frampton Comes Alive album in 1976 — has begun thinking loosely about the induction ceremony night on Oct. 19 in Cleveland, though with no concrete plans yet. “I’m thinking about people to invite to play with me and all that kind of stuff he says,” noting that number one on the list will be Sheryl Crow, who “championed” Frampton by including him in her induction performance last year in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, Frampton — who continues to work in defiance of the degenerative inclusion body myositis (IBM) disorder he’s been battling during the past six or so years — is continuing with his other work. He’s planning a trip to England during June as well as a filmed concert performance for the career documentary he’s been working on. He’s also writing songs for a new album, his follow-up to 2021’s instrumental set Frampton Forgets the Words. “It’s just got to be the best one I’ve ever done,” he says. Another leg of touring is also a possibility, he says, “but I don’t know when that’s going to be at this time. We’re still looking at availabilities and things like that.”
All is sweetness and light between Ozzy Osbourne and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the Prince of Darkness prepares for his second induction — this time as a solo artist.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Osbourne, you may remember, tried to get Black Sabbath taken off the 1999 nominations list, calling the nod “meaningless.” But he happily went in with the band in 2006, and he tells Billboard via email that to become one of the Rock Hall’s multiple inductees “feels big. I’m more than honored.”
The honor comes after his wife and manager Sharon Osbourne called out the Rock Hall last year for not considering Ozzy as a solo artist even though he’s been eligible since 2006. Osbourne began that career after leaving Black Sabbath acrimoniously in 1979 and scoring eight consecutive multi-platinum albums starting with Blizzard of Ozz in 1980. On his own he’s also released iconic songs such as “Crazy Train,” “Flying High Again,” “Bark at the Moon,” “Shot in the Dark” and “No More Tears.”
Trending on Billboard
“I definitely wouldn’t say I was confident” about solo success, says Osbourne, adding that the 2021 induction of Randy Rhoads, his late songwriting partner, in the musical excellence category “made me feel we could be on to something. With every new music venture there’s always a certain amount of surprise that comes when you see the fans embrace it, because no one wants to make a record and have it flop. I feel like I was invited to a party in 1980, and it hasn’t stopped. Not bad for a guy who was fired from his last band.”
Comparing this induction to Sabbath’s “feels different,” Osbourne says, “because my solo career, it’s been a much larger part of my overall music career as a whole.” And after finishing fourth in the fan vote with more than 480,000 votes “feels more special, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels that way.”
The big question, of course, is whether Osbourne will perform at the induction ceremony on Oct. 19 in Cleveland. Though he’s effectively retired from touring due to a variety of health issues, including Parkinson’s disease, Osbourne continues to speak about performing again in some capacity. Could it be a two- or three-song set for the Rock Hall? “You never know,” he says, only promising that his outfit that night “will most certainly be black.”
Osbourne has remained prolific as a recording artist, meanwhile, releasing two albums so far this decade — Ordinary Man in 2020, Patient Number 9 in 2022 — and is intending to do more. “I’m not putting a timetable on it,” Osbourne says, “but I plan to start working on a new album sometime in the near future.”
What’s more rock n’ roll than American Idol? Well, a few things, but the Sunday (April 21) episode of the long-running singing competition series found Ryan Seacrest and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Lionel Richie revealing which artists constitute the Rock Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024. (The episode featured the 12 remaining contestants […]
The Starting Line, the group behind the 2003 pop-punk classic “The Best of Me,” got a name-check on Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department album and posted a response to the pop star after hearing the song.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Swift references The Starting Line on the emotional ballad “The Black Dog,” found on one of four deluxe editions of her Tortured Poets physical release, and as track No. 17 on Swift’s complete 31-song The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, made available on streaming services and via digital download on April 19.
The song begins with Swift’s realization that her former flame forgot to disable location tracking on his phone. It goes on to set the scene of what she imagines is playing out without her at a London pub.
Trending on Billboard
“I just don’t understand/ How you don’t miss me in The Black Dog/ When someone plays The Starting Line/ And you jump up, but she’s too young/ To know this song that was intertwined/ In the magic fabric of our dreaming,” Swift sings on the chorus of “The Black Dog.” “Old habits die screaming.”
Later, Swift’s hurt turns to anger as her words shift to “And I hope it’s shitty in The Black Dog/ When someone plays The Starting Line/ And you jump up, but she’s too young/ To know this song that was intertwined/ In the tragic fabric of our dreaming/ ‘Cause tail between your legs, you’re leavin’.”
In a note posted on The Starting Line’s Instagram account on Friday, the band wrote: “Dear Taylor, we heard the song, thank you for name checking our band. We feel flattered and humbled by the reverberations of love that have come back to us as a result. It’s an honor to have TSL memorialized on such a lovely song. You didn’t have to do that, but you did, and we appreciate it wholeheartedly. Respect!”
[embedded content]
Although Swift doesn’t name the song by The Starting Line she’s hearing in her head on “The Black Dog” — nor does she identify the romantic interest the song is about — her lyric could be alluding to “The Best of Me,” the lead single from TSL’s debut album, Say It Like You Mean It.
The 1975’s Matty Healy — who by all appearances Swift briefly dated in 2023 after also briefly being linked together a decade ago — happened to play a snippet of “The Best of Me” live on tour in New Zealand on April 21, 2023, and again on May 3, in the Philippines. On May 5, Healy was spotted attending Swift’s Eras Tour in Nashville. This was the first of several times he was photographed around or with her during the time period, sparking dating rumors for the pair.
[embedded content]
“Shout-out to people in their 30s,” Healy said with a smile after his short “The Best of Me” cover, as seen in the clip above from The 1975’s show a year ago.
Fans have pointed out signs indicating Healy as the possible muse of title track “The Tortured Poets Department,” among other songs, on Swift’s latest release.
“Tell me what you thought about when you were gone/ And so alone/ The worst is over/ You can have the best of me,” The Starting Line’s Kenny Vasoli sings on the group’s “The Best of Me.” “We got older/ But we’re still young/ We never grew out of this feeling that we won’t give up.”
See the band’s thank-you letter to Swift for the shout-out on “The Black Dog” below.
Interpol celebrated the biggest concert of its career with a free show on Saturday (April 20) at the Zócalo in Mexico City, where the band gathered over 160,000 fans, according to figures provided by local authorities.
In the words of vocalist Paul Banks, it was the “most special night” and “a great honor” to perform at a historic site for a country with which they have maintained a very close relationship for two decades. The band — also comprising guitarist Daniel Kessler and drummer Sam Fogarino (who is recovering from surgery and was covered by Chris Broome) — has the visited the country just over 20 times. Banks lived and studied in Mexico when he was 17. This partly explains why he feels like he’s in his “second home,” as he told Billboard Español hours before Saturday’s performance.
After moving to New York for college, the vocalist returned in 2005 to Mexico City and gave one of his most memorable concerts. That night, in the Salón Mexica, he says he felt the “terrifying” beauty of the Mexican audience, when the venue was about to collapse due to the number of people gathered (about 7,000, according to promoter Iguapop).
This time around, at the Zócalo — the main public square in the country and the second largest in the world after Tiananmen in China — everything was impeccable, including the sound, the lights, and the logistics. The Government of Mexico City deployed an operation with hundreds of police officers who watched over the main plaza and surrounding streets, where huge screens were installed so that more people could enjoy the show without venturing into the crowd. Although there was a slight drizzle hours before, spirits did not falter.
Interpol joins a list of international stars who have performed at the Zócalo, including Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Justin Bieber, Shakira, Rosalía, Café Tacvba, and Vicente Fernández, among others.
Here are some of our favorite moments from Interpol’s Mexico City concert, including the complete setlist.
“Evil” in Mariachi
Patti Smith has acknowledged being named alongside Dylan Thomas on Taylor Swift‘s “The Tortured Poets Department,” the title track from the prolific pop poet’s 31-song anthology released on Friday (April 19). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “You’re not Dylan Thomas/ I’m not Patti Smith/ This ain’t the […]
Five years after its last concert tour, what Nancy Wilson calls “the actual Heart,” with herself and older sister Ann Wilson, is beating its way toward the road — and looking toward making some new music, Heart’s first since its Beautiful Broken album in 2016.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“The thing that we really hope to achieve is to maybe write some more stuff together,” Ann tells Billboard. She adds, however, “We don’t have plans for that right now. We don’t really plan too far in the future; we’re not calculating like that. We’re just gonna do this tour and see what comes. But I think if a song comes out of a situation, it’ll be a real good one, ’cause it’ll be authentic. It’s just a matter of me and Nancy getting our heads around that.”
There is, however, one new song that Heart’s been working on — “Roll the Dice,” written with longtime collaborator and Lovemongers groupmate Sue Ennis with an eye toward including it in the Royal Flush Tour shows that begin April 20 in Greenville, S.C. Ann says it’s still “a work in process,” which Nancy began when she and Ennis got together “just for songwriting purposes. A lot of times we text with each other and we get on concept ideas and title ideas and lyric ideas. When she finally came to visit me at my house in northern California, we spent about a week together, and we actually recorded some demos.”
Trending on Billboard
There are no plans for “Roll the Dice” yet beyond playing it at shows, but Nancy says she’s also been trolling through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted group’s vaults, listening to unreleased material with the thought of releasing some of that in the near future, too. “There’s a couple unfinished things I’d like to finish off with Ann and Sue,” she says. “There’s one really, really cool song called ‘Sweet Deceiver,’ but the words were never right, so we never recorded it properly. I think I might want to finish that song; I’ve been trying to think of new chorus lyrics ever since I heard the demo. I would love to write some new stuff, too.
“If we have a song or two that comes out of Heart, that would be really great. These days, it’s kind of like one song at a time, but you can still do a whole album, which is cool. I love albums,” she adds. “When I can put on an album in its entirety, in the sequence it was intended, that’s the best to me. The new Kacey Musgraves [Deeper Well] is really great. I love the Post Malone album, Austin. Taylor Swift’s stuff is amazing. So we’ll see.”
In the meantime the Wilsons are happy to have Heart headed back out on tour, with a lineup of mostly new members; only guitarist Ryan Waters was part of the group’s last tour, in 2019, while he and his Tripsitter bandmates — guitarist Ryan Wariner, guitarist-keyboardist Paul Moak, bassist Tony Lucido and drummer Sean T. Lane — have worked with Ann during the interim. The sisters are planning covers-free setlists this time out, focusing on what Nancy says are “songs that mean a lot to a lot of people, that are the Heart songs they know and love that are also the soundtracks to people’s lives.”
“What I really love about Heart and miss about Heart is the flexibility, musically, inside of the band itself,” she notes. “If we wanted to, we could be a Led Zeppelin cover band. Or if we wanted to, we could be a total comedy routine band. We could do all kinds of amazing covers of stuff, but this time, it’s going to be all us.”
Ann adds, “We’re really trying to keep it pure. The whole idea is to do something we have not done before … just a whole set of Heart music from different eras of the band.”
That immersion, meanwhile, has led to some unexpected perspective on Heart’s nearly 50-year recording career.
“I think I was always so busy performing the songs and trying to just be excellent on stage that I never really sank into the true meaning of some of the songs until now,” Ann explains. “The other day at rehearsal they had been working out ‘Dog and Butterfly,’ and I sat down and it was so beautiful and the sentiment was so great and beautiful and tender, and I just teared up right off, even before I sang anything. It was awesome.”
The sisters acknowledge that there are still some differences in their individual views of what Heart is and should be, but they’ve found enough common ground to put the band on tour for the remainder of 2024 in North America and Europe — with opening acts such as Cheap Trick, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening and Randy Bachman’s BTO, as well as three stadium dates this summer supporting Def Leppard and Journey.
“We’re talking. We’re fine together. We just felt it, so why not?” Ann says. “The common ground is that we both want it to be excellent and we both want it to be absolutely Heart. We just basically put it together and said, ‘Let’s go!’” Nancy — who performed with her own Nancy Wilson’s Heart during 2022 and 2023 — adds that “there’s so many things, circumstantially, since 2019 … a lot of it’s just family drama and unavoidable, and just other stuff people wanted to do besides Heart. So we were off doing our own things for a little while, and there was also this little interruption called the pandemic.
“And, y’know, I just turned the big 7-0 [on March 16], so it’s like, ‘Whoa … If I ever want to get a chance to do this amazingly fun thing one more time, now is the time.’”
That said, Nancy, for one, would not mind if Heart’s resumption lasts an even longer time than is currently planned.
“I think this will carry us at least through the year, if not beyond. My fingers are crossed,” she says. “There’s no telling if it’ll run like a well-oiled machine, but I think once we get started it’ll go smooth and steady and rock like the well-oiled machine it knows how to be, and that’s the fun part. The shows can be so elating and so transcendent, and the electric energy is unbelievable. So that’s what we’re here for.
“We’ve built this train,” she adds. “We’ve got the wheels on and we’re putting it on the track, and we’ll see how fast things thing can go — and how far it can go.”