Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Ozzy Osbourne’s Family Says Goodbye to Pup on Christmas
Christmas is supposed to be a joyful time of year, but for Ozzy Osbourne’s daughter Kelly and the rest of the Osbourne family, this Christmas brought some sad news. Kelly revealed via her Twitter page that the family’s cherished chihuahua Martin passed away on Christmas day! She tweeted Sunday (Dec. 25): “Today is a sad day in the Osbourne family house hold we lost R dog martin of 14 years. Devastated does not quite sum it up! #NotSoMerryXmas.”
Martin often appeared on the Osbourne family's reality TV show, The Osbournes, and Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon described the pup as “a sophisticated little creature” in the “pets” section of her personal web site.
Regardless of the sad news, it seems Kelly was able to bounce back quickly. Later that day, she tweeted: “‘Peace on earth will come to stay, When we live Christmas every day!’” The day after Christmas, she started looking ahead to New Year’s Eve celebrations, tweeting: “It’s time 2 start planning my NYE party! I’m not [bringing] in the new year in a club full of wasted people so I’m staying home w/ good food/friends!” Rest in peace, Martin!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Disturbed’s Dan Donegan Remembers Getting First Gibson for Christmas
’Tis the season to charm little ones with gifts of Christmas cheer, and Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan clearly remembers the most important Christmas gift of his life: his first guitar.
“My first electric guitar, it was like from Sears – it was a [Gibson] SG…” he told the Pulse of Radio. “My parents just didn’t really seem too supportive of it in the beginning, because they figured it’s either gonna sit in the closet and collect dust, or ‘he’s gonna play it and it’s gonna be loud and annoying.’ It was kind of a difficult thing to convince them that I was gonna be serious about it, and I wanted this…” He added that, yes, he still has that guitar!
Donegan earlier this year told Gibson.com that classic metal guitarists inspired him to delve into guitar playing in the first place: “I can’t really single out any player, but I liked going to concerts and the idea of being in a band where you see the impact four or five guys on stage have over thousands of people. So, that power and the scenario of the lead guitar just pummeling through the speakers were two things that caught my attention. Early on, I got into a lot of the classic metal players: Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath; the guitarists in Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Queensryche, Pantera. These bands all had great guitar players, so it definitely inspired me to go down that road.”
Read Gibson’s full interview with Donegan here.
Friday, December 23, 2011
10 Rock and Metal Christmas Albums That Aren’t Horrible
Christmas and heavy music make for strange bedfellows. That said, a handful of rock and metal personalities have managed to knock out holiday sets that are actually really good, both placing their muscular stamp on Christmas classics and crafting entirely new yuletide tunes. Read on for 10 hard rock and metal Christmas albums that might prove the perfect fit for background music at Christmas dinner. Okay, maybe that’s a stretch, but, nonetheless, these releases sure rock!
10. The Vandals, Christmas with the Vandals
To say The Vandals’ Christmas with the Vandals is not your traditional Christmas album is an understatement. The California punk-rock outfit dish out cynical tracks such as “I Don’t Believe in Santa Claus” and “Thanx for Nothing,” in typical anti-establishment, punk rock tradition. This is a good bet for someone with a sense of humor and love for DIY punk.
9. We Wish You a Hairy Christmas featuring Warrant, L.A. Guns and more
Who says hair metal fans can’t have a merry Christmas? We Wish You a Hairy Christmas features glam-rockers Warrant covering The Kinks’ “Father Christmas,” Faster Pussycat putting their spin on “Silent Night,” L.A. Guns doing “Run Run Rudolph” and more amusing arrivals. Have a fan of ’80s metal glory on your Christmas list? This set might do the trick.
8. Smash Mouth, The Gift of Rock
Rock is really a wonderful gift, right? That’s the idea behind novelty rock band Smash Mouth’s The Gift of Christmas, which has the California group covering rock holiday classics (“Snoopy’s Christmas,” “Come on Christmas, Christmas Come On; “Zat You, Santa Claus?”) instead of strictly traditional yuletide tunes. Who you expect anything less from the quirky pop band?
7. Psychostick, The Flesh Eating Rollerskate Holiday Joyride
With a title like The Flesh Eating Rollerskate Holiday Joyride, it’s no surprise that this Christmas album is packed with flat-out crazy holiday tunes. From the heavy metal to the sardonic, song titles like “Holiday Hate” and “Jingle Bell Metal” get the point across.
6. Twisted Sister, A Twisted Christmas
On A Twisted Christmas, Dee Snider and his glam group riddle the cherished Christmas carol through a hair metal lens, putting their mark on traditional songs such as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” “White Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” While the songs no doubt carry Twisted Sister’s heavy metal edge and punk energy, Snider and company keep relatively close to the originals, and that makes this a surprisingly conventional score.
5. The Reverend Horton Heat, We Three Kings
We Three Kings is a group of 12 classic Christmas songs, plus one new original, flogged into an edgy lather of twang-y guitar and steady percussion by Jim Heath and posse. Fans of rockabilly, punk and blues will likely find charm in this set, which offers such classics as “What Child is This,” “Jingle Bells” and “Frosty the Snowman.”
4. Scott Weiland, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Scott Weiland – the same guy behind ’90s grunge bastion Stone Temple Pilots – is doing a Christmas album? Really? That was the reaction when the news hit that Weiland was prepping a set of straight-laced Christmas traditionals! The set, titled The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, arrived this fall, and what’s perhaps more surprising is how Weiland captures the Christmas spirit with ease. His lush tenor proves a perfect fit with jolly, festival tunes like “White Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “What Child is This?” We give Weiland props for stepping outside of the grunge rock mold!
3. Halford, Halford III: Winter Songs
Heavy metal and Christmas make for unlikely buddies, but Judas Priest frontman Halford makes it work on Halford III: Winter Songs, approaching Christmas songs such as “Come All Ye Faithful” and “We Three Kings” with the same seriousness and conviction that he brings to Priest favorites. While the release still sounds very “metal” and may not be conventional enough for Christmas dinner, it’s a consistent and listenable release, and the metal genre should be happy to claim it under their roster.
2. Black Label Society, Glorious Christmas Songs That Will Make Your Black Label Heart Feel Good
Brawny guitarist Zakk Wylde’s Southern-fried metal collective, Black Label Society, show that they have the kind of sensitivity to melody that comes with years of honing their skills with this three-song, instrumental, acoustic Christmas EP. The set – Glorious Christmas Songs That Will Make Your Black Label Heart Feel Good (available on iTunes) – features the yuletide favorites “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” and “It’s a Wonderful World.” This one you might actually be able to get by your significant other to play at Christmas dinner!
1. We Wish You A Metal Xmas & A Headbanging New Year featuring ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Dave Grohl and more
On We Wish You A Metal Xmas & A Headbanging New Year, a collection of rock and metal greats put their talents together to pay tribute to the merriest time of year. Album highlights are plenty, including Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons rocking out together on “Run Run Rudolph” and Testament‘s Chuck Billy and Anthrax’s Scott Ian putting their spin on “Silent Night.” Further appearances include Alice Cooper, Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy and Black Sabbath‘s Tony Iommi. It’s safe to call this the definitive heavy music Christmas album!
What Your Favorite Guitarist Really Wants for Christmas
What do most guitarists want for Christmas? Another guitar, of course! But if you are a rockstar axeman with enough six-strings to fill an airplane hangar already, you’ll be wanting a more inventive gift. Based upon the wonderful and weird hobbies of guitar stars, and with festive fun in our hearts, here are some speculative suggested gifts that may please your favorite twanger…
David Gilmour
Gift: Triplex World War I pilot goggles
When he’s not playing guitar, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour is also a qualified pilot and aviation enthusiast – Pink Floyd’s “Learning To Fly” is a quite literal song about his hobby. Gilmour once owned his own company, Intrepid Aviation, through which he amassed a collection of historical aircraft, though he later sold the operation, as it became “too much of a business.” But even these days, Gilmour says he has “a nice old biplane that I pop up, wander around the skies in sometimes.” Hey, who doesn’t have a nice old biplane? Triplex were the RAF’s best goggles.
Steve Vai
Gift: A fancy beehive and plenty of glass jars
When we say “beehive” we are not talking retro hairstyles. When Steve Vai isn’t playing honey-toned guitar lines, he’s making honey – his passion outside of guitar shredding is keeping bees. As a keen apiarist, Vai even has toured U.S. schools talking about his sweet hobby. Just when you thought rock stardom could not be more surreal, here is Steve Vai being asked about apiary via a Russian interpreter. “Beers? No, bees!”
Jeff Beck
Gift: A 1926 Chrysler Roadster, without wheels
Jeff Beck releases new music only when he wants. Why? He’s too busy fixing cars. In 2008, he recalled: “I’ve built 14 or 15 street rods in 25 years. And I’ve kept most of them. The ones I bought whole over in L.A. in ’76, and had them shipped back to England – they started to go rusty. And I thought, ‘I’m not going to rebuild this. I didn’t build it in the first place.’ So I cleaned it up, except the ones that were already clean, and let somebody else have them. But I never sold anything after. I can’t see 18 months of work go down the driveway. In a flash someone else has got the car, for a few bundles of notes that are all going to go out the window. So I’ve built a special shed for them.” Beck is regarded as one of guitar’s greatest players, but it seems he just prefers fixing vintage cars. Go to 5 minutes in this Car Crazy video to hear Beck talking about his true passion.
Ronnie Wood
Gift: The rarest stamps
Ronnie Wood is famed as a Rolling Stone, bon viveur and painter. But “Woody” has another hobby: philately. And any stamp collector wants the ultimate. The U.K’s “Penny Black” was the world’s first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system, issued in Britain on May 1, 1840. A mint “Penny Black” stamp is valued upwards of $15,000. Or go large! The world’s highest-valued stamp was printed in Sweden in 1855 and was the result of a printing error and instead of printing the three-skilling stamp on green stock, it was printed on yellow/orange stock paper. The one-off rarity was last sold for $2.3 million in 1996. If Ronnie doesn’t find this one stuck to his Christmas tree, he’ll have to remind himself: you can’t always get what you want.
Bill Wyman
Gift: Roman coins
Ex-Rolling Stone bassist Wyman is a metalhead. Yes, he is an avid metal detector and has his own website BillWymanDetector.com. So, buy Bill some old Roman coins, throw them in his garden, and make his life easier. Or if you are feeling generous, how about the OKM eXp 5000 Pro metal detector with 3D eyeset for “seeing” 25 meters underground. At $56,799, “Satisfaction” is surely guaranteed?
Kings of Leon
Gift: Penfolds Grange Shiraz 1952
Kings of Leon live the high life, and they live it with style. The quartet love their vintage wines and are particularly fond of Australia’s Penfolds. For Christmas, they’d appreciate this rare red. The half bottle (375ml) is signed by winemaker Max Schubert. Just one half bottle left when we checked, at $12,500. Gulp!
Eric Clapton
Gift: Hardy Zane Ti Saltwater Fly Fishing Reel
When Eric Clapton isn’t playing scales, he’s hooking them. EC is a keen fly-fisherman, and sitting by a river gives him repose. Indeed, he credits a fishing mishap for turning his life around. “It was the fishing rod that told me I had hit rock bottom,” he told Esquire magazine in 2007 of his drinking days. “Everyone says I’m in a fix. Am I in a fix? I don’t know, am I? I don’t feel like I’m in a fix. How do I get out of the fix I’m in? I’ll go fishing. I had always thought of myself as a good fisherman. I drove to the River Wey and found a spot. I had just managed to get my gear set up when I lost my balance, fell over onto one of my rods, and broke it. I could no longer even fish. Bang, I was at rock bottom. You are not a fisherman, mister. Wake up.”
Clapton will want the ultimate fishing tackle these days, so how about the limited edition Hardy Zane Ti Saltwater Fly Fishing Reel, made from Titanium? $9,700 will keep Clappers reeling in happiness.
Kirk Hammett
Gift: Roy Stewart’s Baron surfboard
When Metallica’s Kirk Hammett isn’t riding the lightning, he’s riding the waves. A keen surfer for over a decade, Kirk would no doubt appreciate New Zealander Roy Stewart’s top-line made-to-order Baron surfboards that cost $528,000 apiece. What?? The Baron is made of Paulownia wood, so if Kirk doesn’t like it he could always chop it up and build a guitar? Here’s Kirk talking about surfing…
Jack White
Gift: A vintage stuffed elephant’s head
The White Stripe and Raconteurs man Jack White used to run his own upholstery business, refurbishing vintage sofas and more. His shop motto was “Your Furniture’s Not Dead” – unlike his other stuffed-related hobby, taxidermy. In an interview with Believer magazine in 2003, White revealed his personal vintage taxidermy collection includes “a zebra head, two gazelles, an eland, a kudu, a giant white elk,” and more. But he hasn’t got an elephant’s head. For a man whose breakthrough album was Elephant, maybe this could be an ideal gift? Beware: you cannot send Jack White just any stuffed animal. He once complained to WENN about fan gifts, saying, “Sometimes people get it wrong, and it’s so insulting. They’ll buy me a squirrel playing pool or some s--t like that.” White’s hobby may be strange, but he’s still picky. Okay?
Many more guitar heroes have fascinating hobbies, of course. Such as... Billy Gibbons (hot-rodding), Joe Perry (cuisine), Ted Nugent and James Hetfield (hunting) and Blur’s Alex James (cheesemaking). We hope all the above – and you – get some great gifts.
More seasonal cheer:
Guitars and Goodies for Every Budget
Zakk Wylde’s Christmas EP - interview
Billy Gibbons’ Christmas Memory: His First Guitar
ZZ Top mastermind and guitar titan Billy Gibbons has a favorite Christmas memory. It may not be surprising that it involves a certain six-stringed instrument.
In an interview with Men’s Journal (via Ultimate Classic Rock), Gibbons recalled Christmas morning at the Gibbons household in 1962, when young Billy was only 13-years-old.
“Sitting under the tree was a little Gibson Melody Maker …. and away we went.”
Gibbons also shared his musical memories of his family.
“My dad was quite the entertainer. He was a classically trained pianist with his five brothers as the Gibbons Brothers Band,” he said. “The thing he shared with me that still resonates: Play what you want to hear. And following that, the two golden rules: Play it in tune and play it in good time.”
Christmas Music Overload? 10 Twisted Classics to Keep Your Yule Cool
Tired of the same old Christmas music? Even cool stuff, like the classic instrumental holiday albums by The Ventures and Booker T. & the MG’s? Try these severely twisted alternatives – 10 tunes that take merry and bright to a whole ’nother planet.
“Bebop Santa,” Babs Gonzales
Dig this crazy opening: “Twas the blight before Christmas/And all through the dawn/The scene was quiet except pops and mom/They sat hung in their big easy chair/Goofed on egg nog, sherry and beer.” Thus begins the bebop era jazz vocalist’s jive talking take on the Clement Clarke Moore holiday classic. It’s a hip trip and you gotta fly it.
“I’m a Christmas Tree,” Wildman Fischer
As far as unconventional odes to the Jolly Fat Man go, this tune by Frank Zappa protegee and certifiably insane Los Angeles performer Fischer, in collaboration with famed curator of the musically bent Dr. Demento, is a precursor to the outsider songwriters’ craft as practiced more recently by Wesley Willis and Daniel Johnston. But he knows the score: “Oh Santa Claus/He breaks all the laws/He trespasses/He breaks and enters/He travels all around the world without a valid passport.”
“Santa’s Messin’ With the Kid,” Eddie C. Campbell
Chicago harmonica giant Junior Wells recorded his classic Afro-Cuban influenced shuffle “Messin’ With the Kid” at the United Records studio in 1960. Seventeen years later, hard-core Windy City bluesman Eddie C. Campbell flipped the tune into a Christmas ditty, but with a twist: Santa’s not sneaking into the house for cookies; he’s slippin’ in for nookie. And it’s up to Campbell to run him off.
“Is Zat You Santa Claus,” Louis Armstrong
This king of protean swing cut two Christmas classics: “Is Zat You Santa Claus” and “Christmastime in Harlem.” “Zat You” translates to all ages thanks to Armstrong’s zesty vocal, the band’s straight-up chug and the tune’s clever, playful lyrics: “Sure is dark out/Ain’t the slightest spark out/’Pon my slackened jaw/Who’s there, who is it/Stopping for a visit/’Zat you Santa Claus?”
“Jingle Bells,” Singing Dogs
This song is a marvel of early ’50s recording technology and the first tune to make extensive use of tape splicing to create an entirely new piece of music. Carl Weismann, the Danish musique concrete composer who created the piece, made field recordings of his own dog and varied their pitch to achieve the effect of multiple hounds. Nearly 60 years later it’s still a staple of the holiday – a truly weird staple of the holiday.
“Santa Claus & His Old Lady,” Cheech and Chong
Christmas collides with San Francisco doper street life and Chicano culture in this 1971 radio hit by one of America’s greatest comedy teams. “On, Donner! On, Blitzen! On, Tavo! C’mon, Bento!”
“Christmas Dragnet,” Stan Freberg
Better known to generations of children as Spike the Bulldog, Beaky Buzzard, Cage E. Coyote (Wile E.’s dad) and a host of other supporting characters in classic Warner Brothers cartoons, this Los Angeles voice artist tackled nearly all the roles in his holiday record lampooning the famed TV detective drama in a story about the un-Scrooging of a curmudgeon named Grudge.
“Green Christmas,” Stan Freberg
Here satirist Freberg took on the rampant consumer culture of the prosperous late 1950s, which pales compared to the rampant consumer culture of today’s recessionary times. Freberg’s monolog ends on a sober note, with a version of “Jingle Bells” accompanied by the sound of ringing cash registers.
“Christmas at Ground Zero,” “Weird Al” Yankovic
This is a surprisingly dark entry from the modern king of the parody song. A Cold War satire from 1986, the tune uses an impending nuclear holocaust as a backdrop to the holiday. But it’s not as hopeless as it sounds. Yankovic ends on a potential upbeat: “Oh, it’s Christmas at Ground Zero/And if the radiation level’s okay/I’ll go out with you and see the all new/Mutations on New Year’s Day.”
“Jingle Bells,” Etta James
Somehow 1930s comedienne Fanny Brice, a backside tumble in the snow, a bay horse clocking in at “240” and a few other oddities appear in this somewhat extemporaneous version of the Christmas classic as performed by the great blues singer on her 12 Songs of Christmas album. Hey, as long as James sings “jingle” and “Christmas” in her timeless, soul-soaked way, it’s all good.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Pogues Score Britain’s Most Played Christmas Song
The Pogues’ raucous Christmas classic, “Fairytale of New York” has been officially declared the most played holiday song of the century in Britain.
The Daily Expressreports that the Shane McGowan/Kirsty MacColl duet has had more plays on radio, TV and the web since 2000 than any other Christmas track. Ironically, the song didn’t make it to #1 when first released, because the Pet Shop Boys’ “Always on My Mind” took the Christmas top slot in 1987.
Also in the Top 5, as compiled by music licensing organization PPL, were Wham!’s “Last Christmas” in second place, Mariah Carey's “All I Want for Christmas is You” at #3, Wizzards’s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” at #4 and Band Aid's “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” at #5.
You can have your say in Gibson.com’s Christmas song poll here.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album
Glee decks the halls and gets you in the holiday spirit with the release of Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album. The Glee cast sprinkle a little Christmas cheer with their dazzling renditions of such holiday classics as “We Need A Little Christmas,” “O Holy Night,” “Jingle Bells” and a very special Dr. Seuss inspired “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” featuring Grammy Award winner k.d. lang. 12 songs to fill your holidays with Glee!Price: $11.98
Saturday, April 16, 2011
My Christmas
Millions will rejoice this holiday season with the much-anticipated release of Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas. The first-ever Christmas recording from Andrea is a heart-warming collection of seasonal favorites produced by the legendary David Foster. The lush, beautiful arrangements alongside Bocelli's unmistakable soaring vocals make this a must-have holiday recording. Highlights include "White Christmas," "Oh Holy Night," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "Jingle Bells," "Silent Night," "The Christmas Song," and "What Child Is This" among others. My Christmas will also be a major component of a PBS Great Performances special to air on Public Television this December, featuring Andrea and David Foster with additional special guests.Price: $18.98