Well, it’s been all over the news, but ICYMI, Rolling Stone and The Pulse Of Radio say Rage Against The Machine and Radiohead were among the artists who did not make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, along with veteran metal act Judas Priest. All three acts were first-time nominees. The class of 2018 was announced yesterday (Dec 13th) and includes Bon Jovi, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues, The Cars and Nina Simone, with Sister Rosetta Tharpe being honored with an Early Influence award.
Other nominees who were passed over included first-timers Kate Bush and Eurythmics, along with repeat candidates Depeche Mode, J. Geils Band, LL Cool J, the MC5, the Meters, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Link Wray and the Zombies.
The 33rd annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony will be held at Cleveland’s Public Hall on Apr 14th, 2018. An edited version will air later on HBO.
The Moody Blues and the surviving members of the Cars are expected to reunite and perform at the event, while Bon Jovi may perform with ex-guitarist Richie Sambora at the induction for the first time since 2013.
The members of Radiohead had indicated that if they were chosen for induction, they would be unable to attend the ceremony due to touring commitments in South America.
Ballots were sent to a voting group of more than 1,000 artists, historians and music-industry professionals. The public was invited to participate again this year in the fan vote. The top five artists made up a fan’s ballot, which counted as a single vote. Bon Jovi topped the fan list. Rock Hall rules state that artists become eligible 25 years after their first records were released, but the Hall also claims that other “criteria include the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock ‘n’ roll.”
Kinda scary news about net neutrality coming to an end if this adminstration has their way. Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda has spoken out in favor of preserving the current rules on net neutrality, which guarantee a free and open internet and level playing field for all websites. The FCC under chairman Ajit Pai, a Trump appointee, plans to vote today (Dec 14th) to end the rules. That would allow corporations like Comcast and Verizon to determine which websites and applications users could access by blocking them and speeding up or slowing the connection speed at will.
Shinoda urged fans in a tweet to text “RESIST” to 50409 to voice support for net neutrality. The non-profit organization Fight For The Future recently sent a letter to Congress in support of net neutrality, which was signed by Prophets Of Rage guitarist Tom Morello, Incubus, Michael Stipe and many more. The letter stated in part, “Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are guaranteed by our Constitution, and we demand that such freedoms continue online. Net Neutrality is essential to our democracy.”
Meanwhile, Linkin Park will release a concert album titled One More Light Live on Friday (Dec 15th). The live set will arrive five months after the passing of singer Chester Bennington, who died on Jul 20th at his Los Angeles area home after committing suicide at the age of 41. (Thanks The Pulse Of Radio.)
- Jonathan Davis (right) with Fieldy and some old lady-NYC 2016
My friend Jonathan Davis has spoken to me about this for a while now. It’s no secret he’s always working on music, whether it’s for Korn or his more industrial or techno side projects Killbot or JDevil. But he has definitely been working on solo music that he describes as more along the line of the stuff he did for his soundtrack music for The Queen Of The Damned. JD is planning to release a new solo album in 2018 and will also tour in support of it. Davis is already confirmed to appear at Hellfest Open Air in Clisson, France, with more touring in both Europe and North America expected. Further details on the album and Davis’ live plans are yet to come. Stay tuned!
Singer Myles Kennedy of Slash‘s solo band, Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, said in a new interview with Eddie Trunk that there are no plans at the moment for the Conspirators to return to the studio and cut a new LP. Kennedy explained, “(Slash and I) connect via text once in a while and just check in. But right now, for me, now that (Alter Bridge) is paring down, it’s just full steam ahead with (my) solo record. And then the plan is to, in 2019, to get (Alter Bridge) rolling again.”
Kennedy added that while there’s been talk of a new Conspirators album, the Guns N’ Roses reunion tour is “doing so well” that “we’ll just see how that all plays out.” He revealed that he and Slash had written about half an album’s worth of material before Slash jumped on board the Guns reunion.
Slash’s last record with the Conspirators was 2014’s World On Fire. The guitarist just completed 18 months of touring with Guns and has a six-month break before that band heads to Europe next summer. His plans during that time are unknown, although there’s been no indication that Guns N’ Roses plans to record a new album.
Slash told us a while back that his partnership with Kennedy seemed natural from the start: “We work really well together. I never really thought about how that’s progressing. It’s real natural. So it’s like any kind of sort of close relationship, where I think we established it really, really early on and now we’re just sort of doing our thing, you know. Yeah, I don’t know what else to say — it’s just a really cool kind of synergy that we’ve got.”
Kennedy’s debut solo album, Year Of The Tiger, will be released on Mar 9th, 2018. Alter Bridge is expected to take most of 2018 after touring extensively behind 2016’s The Last Hero.. (Thanks The Pulse Of Radio and Blabbermouth)
AEG Live‘s Rocklahoma was announced yesterday. Tickets on sale at www.rocklahoma.com.
Happy 68th today to my pal and fellow Floridian, Cliff WIlliams of AC/DC! And Happy BELATED to Morgan Rose of Sevendust, who turned 49 yesterday!
