Good morning Radicals! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. We spent some time at the final run of the Vans Warped Tour on Saturday, you’ll be hearing those interviews in the coming weeks!
Green Day is dropping hints that the band might head out on a tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the band’s 1994 LP and commercial breakthrough, Dookie. In an Instagram post on Thursday (July 26th), drummer Tre Cool posted a photo of himself with in the studio with his bandmates with the caption, “Fun band practice – swipe to see the set list we played today…” The next photo showed a set list with the entirety of the Dookie album on it.
Dookie was the punk trio’s third studio album and first for a major label, Reprise Records. The album peaked at Number Two on the Billboard 200 album chart, eventually selling more than 10 million copies. The album spawned the hit singles “Longview,” “Basket Case,” “Welcome to Paradise,” “When I Come Around” and “She,” and made Green Day one of the most popular bands in the world.
Not too long ago, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong reflected on the band’s success: “It’s hard to look back when you’re thinking about the future so much. We’ve done a lot of things. When we started playing punk rock music, it was already a proven fact that you couldn’t be famous or get big or be a millionaire being in a punk rock band, and we’ve definitely broken those rules. It’s crazy. It’s been a pretty strange journey indeed.”
The disc was released on February 1st, 1994, so the 25th anniversary would fall on the calendar early next year. The band currently has nothing on its live schedule after completing the touring cycle for its 12th studio effort, 2016’s Revolution Radio.
Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett‘s collection of classic horror movie posters and other memorabilia will be on display at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto next year, in an exhibit titled “It’s Alive! Classic Horror And Sci-Fi Art From The Kirk Hammett Collection.” The exhibition will run from July 13th, 2019 to January 5th, 2020.
More than 90 horror and sci-fi movie posters will form the centerpiece of the exhibition, to provide insight into the evolution of genre films and how they have played upon contemporary societal fears. The exhibition will also feature collectible electric guitars, monster masks and sculptures. Hammett has acknowledged his poster collection as a source of inspiration for his own musical creativity.
Hammett told us a while back why he has shared his collection in recent years at festivals, his own convention and in a 2012 book: “There’s a certain part of being a collector, you know, that’s based on selfishness. You know, you’re buying stuff for yourself. You’re collecting stuff for yourself. You know, I’ve always been aware of this, you know, selfish aspect of collecting, and after a while, it came to a point where I just decided to start being generous. I wanted to share my collection with people who are into this sort of thing.”
Speaking about the parallels between horror movies and heavy metal, Hammett said, “Heavy metal and horror movies come from the same sources, they come from the same seeds, they have a lot of the same imagery and subject matter and whatnot. And for myself, part of the appeal of horror movies is coming in contact with my own mortality but not having to pay the price. Or, like, reliving a death or something without having to go through the actual experience.”
Metallica will begin a new North American tour this fall.
Marilyn Manson‘s “unforeseen illness,” which caused him to abruptly cancel his performance last Thursday night, July 26th, in Toronto on his co-headlining tour with Rob Zombie, was apparently the flu. A statement posted Friday, July 27th on Manson’s Twitter feed read, “Marilyn Manson was unable to perform on his and Rob Zombie’s Twins Of Evil tour in Toronto last night due to the flu. Manson is recovering and is set to perform at all scheduled dates starting tomorrow at Heavy Montreal.”
Rob Zombie performed an extended set Thursday night in Toronto to make up for Manson’s absence, adding a cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” to his set. The song, originally written and performed by Eurythmics, was a hit for Manson in 1995 when he recorded it for the Smells Like Children EP.
Thursday’s initial cancellation announcement was made moments before Manson was set to start his show, with his stage backdrops already up. A fan-filmed video surfaced on Twitter showing the crowd’s reaction to the news, which was a mixture of boos and yells in disgust.
Zombie and Manson kicked off their “Twins Of Evil: The Second Coming” tour on July 11th in Detroit.
Smashing Pumpkins frontman William Corgan has weighed in on an internet meme that points out facial similarities between him and Taylor Swift, with the implication being that Corgan is Swift’s father. Writing on Instagram, Corgan began by saying, “I’ll take the compliment of the comparison here despite the fact that I guess the joke’s on me? (and not the lovely and talented Miss Swift).”
Corgan then launched into a meditation on the question of identity and how we construct new ones for ourselves, citing himself as an example. He explained, “There is NO such person as ‘Billy Corgan.’ He (BC) does not exist. Or, if he does exist (per these times), he is a creation from my mind to yours, and no different than a cartoon drawing of Batman or Sponge Bob.”
He added that after being known as “Bill” or “Little Bill” until he was 18, Corgan changed his appearance and began calling himself “Billy.” He revealed, “Billy was better than I, and certainly more interesting, and capable in ways I couldn’t have dreamt of . . . the more I played at this character, the more I became him.”
But despite this, it’s not the character of Billy Corgan who got busy with Taylor Swift’s mom sometime in early 1989.
The Smashing Pumpkins are currently on a reunion tour that brings the band to Boston on Tuesday, July 31st. A new Pumpkins studio album is due out later this fall.
Greta Van Fleet canceled its Sunday, July 29th performance at New York’s Panorama Festival due to an injury sustained by drummer Danny Wagner. The band said in a statement, “Danny has been playing with injured fingers for the last two weeks, and they have not been able to heal properly. It has now reached the point where he cannot pick up a drumstick because of it. Therefore, there is no possible way for us to play today.” They continued, “We promise to make it up to our fans in NYC this year. However, it is our top priority for Danny to heal from this injury and be able to play for all of you soon.”
That’s Dirt! Have a great Monday!
