Are these good enough reasons why Axl Rose of Guns N Roses should join Velvet Revolver?
September 5, 2008
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MusicRadar users have voted Axl Rose as the best recruit for the currently singer-less hard rock band Velvet Revolver.
This, of course, would essentially reform Guns N’ Roses: Axl Rose, guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum would all be in the band – the four core members that recorded Guns N’ Roses Use Your Illusion I and II albums in 1991.
Over 2000 voters in the MusicRadar poll chose between four suggestions for the next frontman of Velvet Revolver and the results are as follows:
Chris Cornell (ex-Audioslave) 38%
Perry Farrell (ex-Jane’s Addiction) 7%
Sammy Hagar (ex-Van Halen) 9%
Axl Rose (still clinging on to Guns N’ Roses) 46%
Velvet Revolver have been without a singer since Scott Weiland left in April 2008, and a search for a replacement has been dogged by confusion. Spacehog’s Royston Langdon and Lenny Kravitz have both been rumoured, incorrectly, to be joining and bassist McKagan has admitted the recruitment process is proving “tough”.
With Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy album (featuring only Axl Rose from the original line-up) still yet to be released after nearly 15 years of recording, it’s clear that a lot of fans want both bands to cut their losses and reunite.
Have Guns N’ Roses lost all credibility?
MusicRadar Editor Michael Leonard comments: “We didn’t ask whether Guns N’ Roses should reform the classic line-up, as most fans would most likely say yes. What’s astonishing is that so many fans want Axl to actually join Velvet Revolver. Whether it would ever happen, I don’t know, but maybe Velvet Revolver now have more credibility than Axl’s ‘who-the-hell-are-they?’ version of Guns N’ Roses.
“Whatever the band is called, the bottom line is fans want to see Axl Rose and Slash back together - before they’re too old and it’s too late.”
Meanwhile, Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum exclusively told MusicRadar recently that he “is sure” a Guns N’ Roses reunion will eventually happen.
http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/axl-rose-should-join-velvet-revolver-172115
Metallica Finally Realizes It Can’t Fight The Internet with Death Magnetic album
September 5, 2008
Metallica is infamous for helping kill the original Napster, but it looks like the metal group has finally realized that they can’t stop the Internet. Or at least they’ve figured out how to talk like that.
Metallica’s new album, ‘Death Magnetic’, leaked out onto the Internet a week before its scheduled release. But instead of resorting to lawsuits — so far, at least — drummer Lars Ulrich had this to say on a Bay Area radio station, according to Digital Music News
:
“If this thing leaks all over the world today or tomorrow, happy days. Happy days. It’s 2008 and it’s part of how it is these days, so it’s fine.”
Obviously, to some extent, this is sarcasm. But for Metallica, even that’s progress. If only their peers at Guns N’ Roses could cultivate a similar sense of humorhttp://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/9/metallica-finally-realizes-it-can-t-fight-the-internet
Dumb media think Metallica Death Magnetica album review should be pop
September 5, 2008
Metallica, the world’s biggest heavy rock band, were widely ridiculed for making their last album, 2003’s comparatively sensitive St Anger, under the guidance of a psychotherapist.
In terms of regaining their primacy, Death Magnetic is every inch the record they needed to make: a more wisely chosen mentor, producer Rick Rubin, has them exploding anew with the battle-rabid, flat-out thrash-metal of their late-Eighties heyday.
Throughout, the Californians cook up riffs of staggering intensity, while James Hetfield swaps his latterday shrink-speak for bilious fury. There’s self-indulgence by the shovelful, particularly on the Led Zeppelin-esque 10-minute instrumental, Suicide & Redemption. Though the whole thing could have been shorter, it’s still the best metal album of the millennium so far.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/09/06/bmpopcdmetallica106.xml
Slipknot album number one after recount
September 5, 2008
Masked heavy metal band Slipknot have scored their first US number one album - but only after a recount put them ahead of rapper The Game’s long-player.
Slipknot topped the Billboard 200 with All Hope Is Gone which, according to analysts Nielsen SoundScan, sold 239,516 copies - 1,134 more than LAX.
When the chart was first issued, The Game’s offering was originally placed at number one by a slim margin.
But, after data was reprocessed because of the margin, Slipknot came out top.
All Hope Is Gone, their fourth studio album, is their first to reach the number one spot in the US.
Slipknot’s eponymous 1999 debut album reached number 51 while 2001 follow-up Iowa hit number three.
Their last album, Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses, reached number two in 2004.
Both of The Game’s previous two albums debuted at number one.
Earlier this year, he was released from prison after serving eight days of a 60-day sentence for possessing a weapon while on school premises.
Last month, Slipknot were forced to pull their Reading and Leeds Festival slots after drummer Joey Jordison broke his ankle.
The nine-piece band formed in 1995 in their home city of Des Moines, Iowa.
Their live shows quickly attracted attention as they took to the stage wearing home-made Halloween masks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7597785.stm
Led Zeppelin awarded in person; Page, Plant and Jones accept GQ’s top honor
September 4, 2008
Led Zeppelin awarded in person; Page, Plant and Jones accept GQ’s top honor in London
All three original surviving members of Led Zeppelin made a surprise appearance in London Tuesday when the bandmates shared a podium to receive GQ’s Men of the Year award for 2008.
“The U.K.’s most celebrated awards ceremony,” held at London’s Royal Opera House, marked the first public appearance together by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones since they performed a one-off concert last December, also in London, with Jason Bonham filling in for his late father on drums. That exclusive performance, which reunited the group’s surviving members for their first full show since 1980, is the reason the Led Zeppelin members earned GQ’s Outstanding Achievement award.
Page and Jones were on hand in June when another magazine, Mojo, honored Led Zeppelin with an award as voted on by readers to recognize the live show. Plant, however, was touring the United States when his Led Zeppelin bandmates picked up the Mojo award in person.
It is also Plant who was absent earlier this year while Page, Jones and Bonham were jamming on new material in England.
Surely, much could be made of Plant’s photo op with Page and Jones at the GQ Men of the Year award ceremony in London on Sept. 2. For now, all that can be discerned from this rare appearance by all three original surviving members of Led Zeppelin is that they are, for now, willing to look back and appreciate their long and storied past.
Many fans are quick to call this month Zeptember, and rightly so, as the coming weeks are to include several reminders of Led Zeppelin’s magic. Namely:
- At Knebworth Field House, the site of the band’s final U.K. concerts in 1979, a fan-initiated memorabilia exhibition celebrating Led Zeppelin closes today with a scheduled personal appearance by Zacron, the artist behind the group’s third album.
- Page is slated to walk the red carpet of the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, Sept. 5, for the world premiere of “It Might Get Loud,” a movie joining him with fellow guitar superstars The Edge and Jack White.
- This Sunday, Sept. 7, marks the 40th anniversary of Led Zeppelin’s first live performance. Fans in Denmark who were present for that historic moment in 1968 will relive it 40 years to the day when a Led Zeppelin tribute band recreates the group’s famous music.
- This month, author Frank Reddon of Enzepplopedia fame is to release the first book of a series recounting Led Zeppelin’s early years in detail, as told by numerous voices including some previously untapped primary sources who witnessed the group’s power firsthand.
- Led Zeppelin has been nominated for a Vodafone live music award in the category of best live return, again for the O2 Arena concert. Winners are to be announced at the third annual ceremony, to be held Sept. 18 in London.
- http://lemonsqueezings.blogspot.com/2008/09/led-zeppelin-awarded-in-person-page.html
