This Week’s SHAZAM Winner!!
Congrats to Scott Crouch in Indianapolis, Indiana who listens to WFBQ, Q95 Rocks and is this week’s Shazam contest winner, scoring a House of Hair t-shirt!
Be sure to Shazam the House of Hair Request of the Week when you hear it each week. Whip out your cell phone and open the Shazam app to get info on the song and register to win an official House of Hair t-shirt, too! One winner will be chosen randomly each week.
METAL NEWS
Led Zeppelin Wins “Stairway to Heaven” Trial
A federal jury quickly sided with Led Zeppelin on Thursday in a lawsuit that alleged the band stole its opening riff to the 1971 classic “Stairway to Heaven” from a song by the band Spirit.
After a six-day trial in Los Angeles, the eight jurors ultimately decided that while there was a reasonable chance guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant had heard Spirit’s “Taurus” before writing the song, and could have conceivably lifted the riff, the two songs were not “substantially similar” enough to suggest copyright infringement. The decision came after the jury took one last listen to both songs. Within a half hour of doing so, the jury had made up its mind.
At trial, Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant testified, as well as Michael Skidmore, the Trustee of Spirit songwriter Randy Wolfe’s (aka Randy California) estate.
Randy Wolfe never sued and was ambivalent about doing so even with questions from others who pointed out some similarities. After he died in 1997, Trustee Skidmore asserted an ownership interest in copyrighted sheet music and was able to push the case to trial despite decades of inaction and non-cooperation from Hollenbeck Music, the publishing company that signed Randy Wolfe (performing as Randy California) in the 1960s as a teenager after being discovered by Jimi Hendrix.
After the verdict, Page and Plant put out a joint statement. “We are grateful for the jury’s conscientious service and pleased that it has ruled in our favor, putting to rest questions about the origins of “Stairway to Heaven” and confirming what we have known for 45 years,” they said. “We appreciate our fans’ support, and look forward to putting this legal matter behind us.”
Steven Adler Rumored To Perform with Guns N’ Roses
This week, video was released of former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler practicing “Paradise City,” leading to speculation that he will, at least make a guest appearance on the band’s upcoming reunion tour.
According to a previous report from prominent rock journalist Mick Wall, Adler actually rehearsed with Guns N’ Roses to perform at The Troubadour on April 1, but was unable to play on that night due to a back injury.
Steven Tyler Confirms 2017 Aerosmith Farewell Tour
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has revealed that the band will embark on a Farewell Tour in 2017. Tyler, who will release his first ever solo album, We’re All Somebody From Somewhere, on July 15th, offered no more details on the Aerosmith situation. Stay tuned for updates.
Tyler tells Rolling Stone that his first ever solo album, We’re All Somebody From Somewhere, will feature 15 new songs, including his first two country singles, “Love Is Your Name” and “Red, White And You,” as well as a new, “darker, countrified” version of Aerosmith’s “Janie’s Got A Gun.”
Queensrÿche Announce U.S. Fall Headline Tour
Queensrÿche have announced their next U.S. headlining tour. The tour will start on November 15 in Seattle, WA and end on December 15 in Colorado Springs, CO.
The opening acts for all shows will be Armored Saint and Midnight Eternal. Tour dates can be found here.
Queensrÿche vocalist Todd La Torre comments: “We are pleased to announce that we will be hitting the road this November with the one and only Armored Saint and Midnight Eternal. We’re looking forward to seeing all of you for this great billing of musical diversity and high energy performances! Come join the ‘Ryche this November – December!”
Duff McKagen Sounds Off About Axl Rose Fronting AC/DC
In a recent interview on Jonesy’s Jukebox, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan commented on Axl Rose’s current post as AC/DC’s singer in the wake of Brian Johnson being forced to step down due to concerns over hearing loss.
McKagan, who attended AC/DC’s June 4 show in London at Queen Elizabeth’s Olympic Park, said:
“Me and Slash and our ladies went over to London just to surprise Axl, and to see the AC/DC thing at the new Olympic stadium. And it was amazing. We got to see him do that thing with AC/DC, and it was magical. He was out of his chair; he was up and cruising around, and it was really great to see. I’d never seen him, I guess, play… see him sing. And I think it energized the band — they were pretty energized — and the crowd was into it. It was cool. I’m super stoked for him.”
Metallica’s James Hetfield Lends Voice To New Animated Television Series
Hetfield’s voice acting skills will be featured in Activision Blizzard, Inc.’s “Skylanders Academy”. The show will premiere this fall on Netflix.
The series follows the heroic adventures of the Skylanders team, a group of heroes with unique elemental skills and personalities who travel the vast Skylands Universe; protecting it from evil-doers and showing the next wave of Academy cadets how to do things the “Skylander way.”
Jack Russell Reveals He Lapsed Into Coma After Alcohol Binge
Recently the former Great White vocalist spoke on the Music Mania podcast about his sobriety and revealed some rather scary news about his most recent booze relapse.
During the interview, Russell was asked if the 2011 death of Warrant‘s Jani Lane motivated him to get clean. The rocker admitted that Lane’s death did hit home with him but he still continued to drink. “Unfortunately, at the time, it wasn’t enough,” said Russell. “I mean, it was for a while, but then my disease started going, well, you’re not Jani Lane. No doctor’s ever told you that, so you keep on drinking. And I’d binge for a while, and I’d sober up.”
As for his most recent lapse, Russell explained, “The last time I did that was, like, eight months ago; I went on a binge and I drank, like, Mai Tais in, like, twenty minutes. And I kept falling off the bar stool. [And they told me], ‘Hey, dude, we love you here, but you’ve gotta go. Or else we’ll call the cops.’”
“So Don Dokken, who was with me, took me to my boat and dropped me off. And my wife was just furious. And she put me in bed, and the next morning I wouldn’t wake up… I was in a coma eight months ago from drinking too much. The doctor told me when I woke up, ‘If you drink again, your liver’s gonna shut down and you’re gonna die.’ And I went, ‘Okay.’ So I’m not gonna take the chance.”
NEW RELEASES
Def Leppard Release New Music Video
Def Leppard have released a video for “Man Enough,” a track from last year’s self-titled studio album. Check it out, above.
Find the remaining U.S. Summer Tour dates here.
James Hetfield Confirms New Metallica Album
James Hetfield has confirmed that Metallica have completed recording their 10th album and it’s now in the mixing stage.
He believes fans won’t feel let down after waiting eight years for the follow-up to Death Magnetic.
Hetfield told NBC Sports earlier this month: “We’re mixing it now. Hopefully by fall it’ll be out and hitting people’s ears.”
Meat Loaf Announces New Album
Meat Loaf will release his album Braver Than We Are on September 16. The project, which has been in the works since 2014, sees the singer collaborate once again with songwriter and producer Jim Steinman, who he last worked with on 2006’s Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. Meat Loaf will sing alongside vocalists Ellen Foley and Karla DeVito.
Meat Loaf previously said of the upcoming record: “It’s like nothing you’ve ever heard. It’s like Bat Out Of Hell was in ’77 – nothing that’s out there now can compare to it. I’m not saying it’s better, I’m just saying it’s a world unto itself. There is no other artist even close to it.”
The announcement comes days after Meat Loaf collapsed onstage at his Edmonton show in Canada due to severe dehydration.
Tesla to Re-Release “Psychotic Supper” as Double LP In Honor of its 25th Anniversary
To help mark the Psychotic Supper’s 25th anniversary in August, UMe is reissuing the album for the first time as a double LP standard issue vinyl set on July 22.
Psychotic Supper, Tesla’s third studio album, was released on August 30, 1991, and was the follow-up to the live Five Man Acoustical Jam. Psychotic Supper peaked at #13 on the Billboard 200. Five songs landed on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, including “What You Give,” which went to #7 and cracked the Billboard Hot 100 at #86.
The album was eventually certified platinum in 1993 by the RIAA, and was included in German magazine Rock Hard’s book of “The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.” The band themselves have been quoted as considering Psychotic Supper their best record.
Metalheads Say The Damnedest Things
“I don’t know. We got a Grammy a few years ago, which was highly unexpected and a tremendous thrill. And the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, you know, is a controversial entity. It’s not like the Baseball Hall Of Fame or the NFL Hall Of Fame. Those incredible institutions have very little kind of discourse going on in them, but because music — much like sports — is very passionate, and because I think the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame has been getting more diverse now, which I think it should.
You know, because a musician is a musician is a musician, and, again, if you’ve been able to make an indelible mark with what you do, to be recognized for that, I think, is a great honor. And if and when that day comes, I think that will be a real treat.”
~ Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford on what he thinks it will take for his band to finally be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.