Pulse Music

Metallica debuts at Number Two on the Billboard 200 albums chart with their 11th studio set, 72 Seasons. The album is the band's first studio album since 1988's ...And Justice For All not to top the charts. 72 Seasons, which is the band's first in seven years, marks not only their 12th Top 10 album -- but their eighth to have reached the Top Two.

Billboard reported, "(72 Seasons) debuts with 146,000 units earned -- achieving the largest week, by units, for any rock or hard rock album in over three-and-a-half years."

Across the globe, 72 Seasons has hit Number One on the UK, Australian, Belgian, Dutch, Finnish, German, Irish, New Zealand, Scottish, Swedish, and Swiss album charts.

Kirk Hammett told us not long ago that Metallica has to be in better than average shape to play its music live: "There's a physicality to our music that we cannot ignore, so we just kind of have to keep ourselves in a certain sort of physical sort of state where that, y'know, we can't let ourselves get to a point where we can't play these songs, y'know? That's just not allowed. Y'know, when we write this music, we have to make sure that we can play it and play it, y'know, when we need to play it."

Metallica kicks off their upcoming tour on April 27th and 29th at Amsterdam's Johan Cruijff Arena.

Halsey called breast milk the "best skincare ingredient" in a new interview, published Friday (April 20th).

The "Without Me" singer told Nylon, "It's so full of antioxidants and good fats and stuff that speed up the healing process." They added, "When your baby is kissing you or snuggled up against you, you become hyper-cognizant of what's on your face."

Halsey and Alev Aydin welcomed Ender Ridley Aydin in July 2021.

Meghan Trainor was diagnosed with PTSD related to the birth of her son, Riley.

The "All About That Bass" singer and her husband Daryl Sabara welcomed Riley in 2021, but the boy struggled with breathing issues and was whisked off to the neonatal intensive care only seconds after she held him for the first time.

Trainor wrote in an excerpt of her book, Dear Future Mama, "The drugs kept me from panicking, but they didn't keep my heart from breaking. I was alone, without Daryl or Riley, and I wasn't sure if my baby could even breathe. Would he be okay? Would Daryl be okay, up there on his own with this crisis? The drugs and the stress made it seem like everything was happening in slow motion. I didn't feel pain, but I could feel the sensation of every tool inside me. I felt and heard a suction tool up by my ribs. I could still smell my own burning flesh. I felt nauseous and light-headed, but the moment I mentioned it to the anesthesiologist, he made it go away."

The Grammy winner told People that the events of the day gave her vivid nightmares that lead her to seek treatment for her mental health.

She told the outlet, "I would be in tears and tell Daryl Sabara, 'I'm still on that table, dude. I'm trapped there. I can't remind myself I'm in bed and I'm safe at home. I had to learn how traumatic it was."

Trainor added, through therapy, "I just worked through it. Time heals all."

Stephen Stills and Neil Young teamed up on Saturday night (April 22nd) for the 2023 "Light Up The Night" benefit at L.A.'s Greek Theater, marking the pairs first joint performance in four years. Stills and wife Kristen launched the charity gig back in 2013 to benefit and support Autism Speaks. The organization is near and dear to Stills' heart with his adult son Henry on the autism spectrum.

In addition to sets by Willie Nelson, his sons' band Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, and others, Joe Walsh was a surprise guest performing his classics "Life's Been Good" and "Rocky Mountain Way." Stills' son Chris Stills played his own set, with then late-David Crosby's son -- and longtime Crosby, Stills, & Nash bandmate James Raymond performing on keyboards as part of the house band.

Rolling Stone reported Graham Nash, who is currently out on the road, sent a tribute to David Crosby that featured archival footage of him, Crosby and jazz great Wynton Marsalis performing "Croz's" "Guinnevere" at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Neil Young and Stephen Stills -- together and apart -- treated the crowd to some of rock's most beloved songs of the past five decades including such solo, Buffalo Springfield, and CSNY favorites as "Wooden Ships," "Love The One You're With," "Helplessly Hoping," "On The Way Home," "Everybody's Wrong," "For What It's Worth," "Bluebird," and "Mr. Soul."

A while back, Stephen Stills shed light on his longtime friendship and frequent partnership with Neil Young: "He's also one of my best friends. I can always talk to him about anything. I think we bring the best out of each other. He's not quite so bitter, y'know, not quite so tart when he's with us -- and I think it serves him well."

Dead & Company have alerted fans that co-founding drummer Bill Kreutzmnann will be sitting out of the band's upcoming summer tour. Kreutzmann has been dealing with heart issues in recent years and has sat out of various runs over the past few touring cycles.

Bob Weir's solo bandmate Jay Lane drummed for Kreutzmann dering the previous shows he had missed, but so far there's been no word as to whether he'll be on board for the coming summer trek.

A message was posted in Instagram, which read:

Dear Deadheads,

Every day, things change. After many long discussions and some good old-fashioned soul searching, we are letting you know that our brother Bill Kreutzmann will not be joining us on our final summer tour. Bill wants you to know that he is in good spirits, good health and he is not retiring.

This is the culmination of a shift in creative direction as we keep these songs alive and breathing in ways that we each feel is best to continue to honor the legacy of the Grateful Dead. The final tour will go on as planned with Bill's full endorsement and support.

See you at Jazz Fest!

"Let the Music Play the Band"

Bobby, Billy, Mickey and John

Bill Kreutzmann explained that as the Grateful Dead wound down in the mid-1990's, the realities of running what was essentially their own corporation began to slowly taint the group's artistic sensibilities: "The overhead of the business was so demanding that you couldn't just stop playing, because all the people that work for you; your crew, your office staff, and the truckers, and the 13 different semis it took to drive your band (equipment) would go bad, would break. I think towards the end it got to be like that, it got to be much more money conscious than in the beginning. Y'know, the purity may have run its length, but it would still come back at times. Even in some of the, the weirdest shows when things weren't going right, you could still bring the joy out, you could still bring some happiness out of even those dark times. It's just, it took a lot more work when it was the dark side."

Ed Sheeran heads to trial Monday (April 24th) to defend "Thinking Out Loud" in a copyright case in Manhattan Federal Court.

The heirs of "Let's Get It On" co-writer Ed Townsend claim the 2014 hit "copied the heart" of the Marvin Gaye classic.

U.S. District Judge Stanton ruled in March that lawyers for the Townsend family will be able to play a YouTube clip in court showing the "Bad Habits" singer seamlessly transitioning from "Thinking Out Loud" to "Let's Get It On" during a 2014 concert.

Coming on June 2nd is John Mellencamp's 25th album, titled, Orpheus Descending. The album features Mellencamp's latest single, "Hey God," which addresses the national epidemic of gun violence.

The album marks Mellencamp's followup to the critically acclaimed 2022 collection, Strictly A One -Eyed Jack, which peaked at Number Five on the Billboard Folk Albums chart.

With well over 45 years in business, we asked John Mellencamp how he sees himself and the state of his career in the present day: "Fortunate -- but unlucky. Unlucky enough to be a rock star. Y'know, you turn on the radio and you hear 'Pink Houses' for the 9,000th time, and you assume that's all that John Mellencamp does. Led Zeppelin was a lot more than 'Stairway To Heaven,' but, y'know, that's what you hear. Y'know, it's not just me -- y'know, the Rolling Stones are always more than 'Honky Tonk Women.' Bob Seger was always more than, y'know, 'Night Moves,' but sorry -- that's all you hear all the time. Of course you and I know that rock is over. We've had our 40 years. And so now, it's just total freedom to me. I don't have to listen to anybody (laughs), I don't do -- y'know, do exactly what I wanna do."

John Mellencamp performs tonight and tomorrow (April 24th and 25th) at Memphis' Orpheum Theatre.

The tracklisting to Orpheus Descending is:

"Hey God"
"The Eyes Of Portland"
"Land Of The So Called Free"
"The Kindness Of Lovers"
"Amen"
"Orpheus Descending"
"Understated Reverence"
"One More Trick"
"Lightning And Luck"
"Perfect World"
"Backbon"

Taylor Swift enjoyed a girls' night out on the heels of her breakup with Joe Alwyn.

The "Midnights" singer was spotted out in New York City Thursday (April 20th) night with Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid and the Haim sisters. According to TMZ the crew hit up the private club, Zero Bond.

Elle reports that early last week, all three Haim sisters, Swift's brother, and Lively's husband Ryan Reynolds unfollowed Alwyn on Instagram. After the get together, Hadid followed suit.

News broke in early April that Swift and the Conversations with Friends star split after six years together.

• Aerosmith are rumored to soon be announcing a massive "40-plus" date North American tour. The band -- which according to reports will include drummer Joey Kramer -- is said to announce the trek during an upcoming appearance on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show. Joe Perry let the news slip on New York's WBAB radio station, stating: "I don't know if I'm not supposed to announce it or not, but we are gonna announce the tour, and it's gonna start in September and will go into next year. And being one of the guys who votes on this kind of thing, it looks like we're gonna do it." (BraveWords)
  
  
• Sammy Hagar took time out to slam fellow Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth. Blabbermouth transcribed some of the "Red Rocker's" chat on Steve-O's Wild Ride! podcast, in which he said of "Diamond Dave": "He's not a fun guy. He doesn't play well with others. I'm not sure what his problem is. He just always is about, 'How can I make this guy look bad?' And not just me -- in life. He's a chest-beating motherf***er. And God bless him, 'cause the early stuff is frickin' great. (I thought) he'd be a fun guy to know. But he ain't like that. He ain't like his persona. When you get around him, he ain't that guy. He's some other cat (laughs)." (Blabbermouth)
  
  
• The legendary red and white Kramer guitar played by the late-Eddie Van Halen in Van Halen's classic 1984 "Hot For Teacher" video has sold at auction for $3,932,000. According to the report, "The winning bidder also took home the guitar's original case with tour and Warner Brothers tags, and straight jacket and white gloves worn by Van Halen in the video." (People)
  
  
• Coming on June 2nd is Roger Waters' latest solo set, The Lockdown Sessions. The album was recorded during the Covid lockdown in 2020 and 2021 and originally issued back in December was a digital-only download. The Lockdown Sessions include remakes of such well know tracks as "Vera" from Pink Floyd's The Wall along with "Two Suns In The Sunset" and "The Gunner's Dream" from Waters' final album with Floyd, 1983's The Final Cut. Also included is "Comfortably Numb 2022" which Waters and his band recorded live in concert during his recent "This Is Not A Drill" tour. (BestClassicBands)
  
  
• Iron Maiden has just rolled out three new Canadian arena concerts for this fall. New dates now on the itinerary are September 28th at Calgary's Scotiabank Saddledome; September 30th at Edmonton's Rogers Place; and October 2nd at Vancouver's Rogers Arena. As previously reported, Maiden is slated to appear on October 6th at Indio, California's inaugural Power Trip Festival.

It was 47 years ago today (April 24th, 1976) that John Lennon and Paul McCartney last saw each other. Over the course of the previous two years, relations between the two chief Beatles had warmed considerably, with the pair spending time together both in Los Angeles and in Manhattan. Prior to returning to Yoko Ono after their infamous 14-month separation, in early 1975, Lennon was planning to travel to New Orleans to record with McCartney, who was then working on Wings' Venus And Mars album. Paul and Linda McCartney had last visited the Lennon's at their apartment in the Dakota apartments around Christmas, 1975.

On April 24th, 1976, Lennon and McCartney -- with Yoko and Linda -- watched Saturday Night Live as producer Lorne Michaels offered the Beatles a whopping $3,000 to reunite on the show. They briefly considered heading to Rockefeller Center where the show was being performed, as a gag, but in the end passed due to being too tired. The two last spoke on the phone in early 1980.

In 2011, Paul McCartney went on recall to The Express the last time he saw Lennon: "I was at John's place and Saturday Night Live was on and John said to me, 'Have you seen this?' I hadn't, I was living in England, he was living in America. He said, 'No, they're offering us money to get back together -- Lorne Michaels came on the show last week.' And John said, 'We should go down, just you and me. We'll just show up. There's only two of us, we'll take half the money.' For a second we were like, 'Shall we do it?' I don't know what stopped us. It would've been work and we were having a night off so we elected to not go to work. It was a nice idea. We nearly did it."

Sadly, the following day, McCartney turned up again at the Dakota to hang out with Lennon, who dismissed him, explaining that he was busy with his young son Sean, and that it wasn't "like 1956, and could you please call before stopping by?" The pair's relationship once again became strained following the incident.

A fictionalized account of Lennon & McCartney's final meeting, called Two Of Us, was premiered on VH1 in 2000. The movie, which was directed by Let It Be's Michael Lindsay-Hogg, starred Aidan Quinn as McCartney and Jared Harris as Lennon.

The end of the Beatles came in late-1970 when McCartney sued the other Beatles to dissolve their partnership -- which ultimately saved the group its fortune. McCartney admits that Lennon quitting the Beatles in September 1969 left him devastated on multiple fronts: "The biggest trouble for me, I mean, there's no denying it, was the breakup of the Beatles, y'know? It totally screwed my head for years -- and it would yours, too. In fact, I'm lucky to have survived it, in truth. 'Cause, it really isn't easy having the top job one second, the next day someone just says, 'We're breaking the group up.' And you haven't got a job. And I mean, I actually got with it to Scotland for a while, 'cause I just couldn't handle being around London and the music business and the people saying, 'Well, when are you getting together with the lads, Paul?' That was the big question."

McCartney shed light on the personal demons Lennon dealt with growing up and spoke about the difficult family life Lennon came from: "Yeah, I mean, the truth is, John was really a great guy and really a nice fella; but fame is a crazy thing and when you get the kind of fame that the Beatles got, if you're not that stable -- it's tough. Now, if you look at John for his stability, you gotta look at a guy whose mother left him. . . his father left home then he was three, he was brought up by his auntie and his uncle; his auntie was living but the uncle died. Then, his mother, who used to live nearby was visiting one night, she left, she got run over by a drunken policeman and got killed stone dead when he was 16, his first marriage failed, so, y'know. . . And on top of all that, it's remarkable that he was as straight as he was, really."

McCartney biographer Christopher Sanford told us that throughout the 1970's, the Beatles kept close tabs on each other's respective work -- with John Lennon and Paul McCartney never missing an opportunity to pour over and analyze one another's solo albums thoroughly: "John always critiqued Paul's albums, either in public or between the two of them. And I found that one of the most poignant aspects of the whole '70s, y'know, relationship -- or non-relationship. They always deconstructed each other's records. They had to have the latest album immediately shipped to them from the other party. And they would often do these very minute sort of deconstructions of each track."

With artists now taking prolonged absences from the music business for a multitude of reasons, in the mid-1970's, for someone of John Lennon's stature to put his recording career on pause to become a stay-at-home dad for half a decade was simply unprecedented. Shortly before his death, Lennon admitted that it took a while to ease into his new life, and spoke about where his head was at in 1976: "The first half-a-year or year, I had this feeling in the back of my mind that ‘I ought to, I ought to' -- and I'd go through periods of panic because I was not in the NME or the Billboard or being seen at Studio 54 with Mick and Bianca (Jagger). Y'know, I just didn't exist anymore. I got a little fear of that would come, like a paranoia. And then it would go away, because I'd be involved with the baby, or I'd be involved with whatever other business that I'd be involved with. But that only lasted about nine months and then it was suddenly, like a . . . ‘oh.' It just went away, and then I realized there was a life (laughs) after death. I mean, there was a life without it."

John Lennon's mid-'70s companion May Pang recalled many nights during his infamous "Lost Weekend" when Lennon and McCartney socialized in L.A. and New York City. Pang's recent photo book Instamatic Karma features one of the only photos taken of Lennon and McCartney after the Beatles' 1970 split. She told us that a Beatles reunion -- particularly a Lennon/ McCartney reunion -- was never far from her mind: "Getting him back with Paul. Paul was the biggest, obviously. And I almost got them to write. It was in January of '75, we had seen Paul and Linda (McCartney), and we'd go out to dinner, they'd come by the house. And one morning he's thinking and he says, "Hey, I wanna ask you something' and I said 'What?' he said, 'Do you think I should write with Paul again? I was just thinking -- what do you think?' And I said, 'The two of you, solo-wise, you're good, but when the two of you get together there's a magic that can't be broken." He just sort of looked at me and went, 'Yeah.'"

Paul McCartney admitted that he and John Lennon making peace and eventually coming together as friends in the 1970's helped him get through the horror of Lennon's 1980 murder: "He and I eventually made it up. And I used to phone him in New York -- y'know, after all the arguments were over. And we, we got to be friends again and it was nice -- long distance friends -- but still friends. And I could phone him and say, ‘What are you doin' now?' He'd say, ‘Oh, I'm just baking some bread' -- ‘Baking bread? Oh, I've done that!' Or he'd say, ‘Oh, I'm just feedin' the cats' -- he liked cats, y'know? I'd say, ‘Well, I've got a couple of dogs' -- and, y'know, we'd talk about ordinary things and that brought us back together again. Because, when we talked about business it always ended up: ‘Your business. . . my business. . . what are you doing. . . what am I doing (makes exploding sound).' It was crazy. Business is like that -- y'know, can be, anyway. But it was very good actually. It was the one thing when he died, was that we had got our friendship back together again. So, that was a big consolation for me."

Dave Grohl was the special guest during Wet Leg's Friday (April 21st) Coachella set. While performing "Ur Mum," Grohl snuck on stage and joined the band for their "longest and loudest scream."

Rhian Teasdale told the crowd, "OK Coachella Weekend Two, we've all been practicing our longest and loudest scream. Are you all ready? Here we go." Teasdale launched a countdown to scream and then suddenly, Grohl appeared at the mic to help with the shout a thon.

J-Hope of BTS has officially entered South Korean military boot camp. And all of his bandmates were there at the drop off location for an emotional send off. Their comments and hugs were all captured on video.

Jimin said, "Our J-Hope … they're leaving one by one." And then gave him a long hug.

Jung Kook joked and said, "I was fine when Jin left, but with J-Hope leaving, I'm pretty sad. I'm kidding!"

They all teased him about his buzz hair-cut, he laughed and said, "the rain just bounces off."

Meanwhile, V made sure to keep the tears at bay, telling the group, "If someone cries here, won't it be too different than it was with Jin?"

Jin was able to be there and took the day off from service, but due to military restrictions, he was not shown.

J-Hope is fulfilling his country's mandatory 18-month service requirement.

TL;DR:

• J-Hope of BTS has officially entered South Korean military boot camp. And all of his bandmates were there at the drop off.
• Jimin said, "Our J-Hope … they're leaving one by one." And then gave him a long hug.

As Taylor Swift's Eras Tour stops in Houston this weekend, the local animal shelter is backing her on one of her favorite philanthropies of helping animals.

All week they're reducing the fee for cat adoption to $13 and calling the event Lucky 13. Named because it's Swift's favorite number, she was born on the 13^th, she turned 13 on Friday the 13^th and her first album went gold in 13 weeks.

Each time her tour stops, she's been dropping a lot of cash on local shelters, both for animals and for people.

The Eras Tour is in Houston from April 21-23.

TL;DR:

Jonas Brothers are reaping the benefits of small venue performances, as their Broadway shows grossed 1.6 million.

The numbers refer to five shows they did at Broadway's Marquis Theatre, which has the capacity of just over 1,600.

Titled Jonas Brothers on Broadway = 5 Albums 5 Nights, the group played their entire discography dating back to 2007, one album at a time.

The shows mark the smallest venue they've played since 2008.

But don't look for it to become a habit anytime soon, JoBros recently announced a two-night stay at Yankee Stadium, marking the biggest crowd potential of their career.

TL;DR:

• Jonas Brothers' five Broadway shows grossed 1.6 million.
• They played their entire discography dating back to 2007, one album at a time.
• The shows mark the smallest venue they've played since 2008.

Pearl Jam has just rolled out nine late-summer tour dates. The band will play double nights in St. Paul, Chicago, Fort Worth, and Austin. As of now, Indianapolis is the only city to featured the band performing a single show. There's been no word yet as to whether the band will be adding more dates to the run.

Inhaler, led by Bono's son Elijah Hewson, will open for the band at the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Austin stops. The tour's other support acts are still TBA.

Public tickets will be available through Ticketmaster Verified Fan Registration. Verified Fan ticket registration is open now through Tuesday, April 25th at 5 p.m. PT.

Bassist Jeff Ament told us that the Pearl Jam's initial goals when they started out were decidedly modest: "Y'know, I think we all thought, like, if we sold 50, 60,000 records, that would allow us to make a new record and, y'know, I think mostly we wanted to get out and play. Y'know, I think we wanted to be a touring band and we wanted to be better musicians and we wanted to be more powerful and tighter. And we knew in that process we'd be better songwriters, and so I think for us, y'know, at the time the focus was just to be a better band."

JUST ANNOUNCED: Pearl Jam North American tour dates (subject to change):

August 31 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
September 2 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
September 5, 7 - Chicago, IL - United Center
September 10 - Indianapolis, IN - Ruoff Music Center
September 13, 15 - Fort Worth, TX - Dickies Arena
September 18, 19 - Austin, TX - Moody Center

Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello are dating again. After they were spotted kissing at Coachella, TMZ reports they've been seen out with each again.

This time, hand-in-hand, strolling down a street in Santa Monica ... near a bank of restaurants.

The couple first began dating in July 2019, and quarantined together during the pandemic. They broke up in November of 2021.

There was lots of buzz that he was seeing his chiropractor, Dr. Jocelyne Miranda, but that doesn't appear to be the case ... Jocelyne was at Coachella with Shawn and saw it all. According to TMZ, it's highly unlikely they were anything more than friends.

TL;DR:

• Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello are dating again.
• After they were spotted kissing at Coachella, they were spotted hand-in-hand, strolling down a street in Santa Monica.

Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan is fine with fans not following or diving too deeply into the concept of the band's ongoing song cycle, Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Parts. The final release from the conceptual trilogy -- Atum: Act Three -- drops on May 5th and is directly linked thematically to group's 1995 double LP, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.

Regarding the completion of the Atum trilogy, Billy Corgan admitted to Rolling Stone: "For a while I thought this album was never going to happen because the band's enthusiasm was suspect. But the pandemic was a watershed moment for me. I thought, 'What's happening in the world, I have no control over. At least I control the world of (the character) Shiny and his friends.'"

Corgan went on to say that concept albums seem to find their audience in strange ways: "Most people don't know what the records are really about. They're focused on their favorite song or their favorite drum solo or whatever. It's totally fine. The last 20-something years of social media have taught me to respect the fact that everybody has their own level of engagement, and any engagement is good."

He went on to explain, "If somebody likes a song, great. If somebody wants to know every guitar pedal and what these lyrics mean and stuff, that's great, too. It doesn't bother me at all. I'll just take engagement, because I can do something with engagement. That's something that professional wrestling teaches you. Without engagement, there's no opportunity."

In the past, Billy Corgan has tested his audience -- and trusted them to hear material that had yet to be released: "We've taken it as an opportunity to write and push the band over the cliff, y'know? Like, I'll write a song and I'll play it that night. It's very interesting because it puts us on situations with wobbly legs, but that's the place to do it -- y'know? A small, supportive crowd that you can wipe out in front of."

For years most fans believed that it was Bob Dylan who was against hitting the road as part of the Traveling Wilburys -- but it turned out to be none other than their most devoted member, the late-George Harrison. In a new interview with Uncut, legendary drummer Jim Keltner -- who played on most of the solo hits by Harrison, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr -- revealed that Harrison's distaste for the road all but insured the Wilburys were destined to stay a studio-only act.

Keltner, who drummed on both the Wilburys albums recalled, "Those were fun times, but it just was fleeting. I was surprised when (Bob Dylan's former manager Jeff Kramer) told me years later that it wasn't Bob who didn't want to go on tour; because everybody thought it would be Dylan who would say no. Bob loved the idea of going on tour. George was the one that quashed it. I really don't know what his thinking would have been about not doing the Wilburys tour. But that's what life is, wondering what might have been."

Following the Beatles' 1970 breakup, Jim Keltner drummed on such iconic solo albums as All Things Must Pass, Imagine, The Concert For Bangla Desh, Some Time In New York City, Living In The Material World, Ringo, Mind Games, Dark Horse, Goodnight Vienna, Walls And Bridges, Rock N' Roll, Extra Texture -- and more. He spoke about having a front-row seat in seeing how the former-"Fabs" dealt with one another: "Over the years with (George) and John, they could both be really brutal with Paul (McCartney). I learned very early on that I couldn't join them. They both on different occasions said, 'We can say that, but you shouldn't.' They were truly brothers who loved taking the piss out of each other, but they didn't want anybody else doing it."

George Harrison explained that the Traveling Wilburys sessions were among the most fun of his life: "When they actually were doing the vocals in there, at one point, I just said to Jeff, 'This is it -- the Traveling Wilburys!' I mean, it was like, magic -- it just happened. You could never have planned it. Y'know, if you has tried phoning everybody up, (and) say, 'Hey, we've got this idea, y'know, will ya do it?' You woulda got all these record companies and managers and it would've been impossible. But it was so spontaneous, we were doing it before we realized."

It was seven years ago today (April 21st, 2016) that Prince -- born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7th, 1958 -- died at age 57 of an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl. In April 2018, Minnesota's Carver County Attorney Mark Metz announced he was closing the investigation into the musician's death without filing any criminal charges. During a press conference, Metz explained, "For the past two years, law enforcement has conducted an extensive, painstaking and thorough investigation into Prince's death. That investigation determined that Prince died from taking a counterfeit Vicodin pill that contained Fentanyl, a dangerously powerful opioid. . . we simply do not have sufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime related to Prince's death."

Last June saw the official audio release of Prince & The Revolution: Live. The legendary concert, filmed at the height of Prince's mid-'80s fame during his Purple Rain tour, was captured on March 30th, 1985 at Syracuse, New York's Carrier Dome. The concert was a major video hit when issued on VHS back in 1986.

July 2021 saw the latest archival Prince released plucked from the seemingly endless vaults at Paisley Park, titled Welcome 2 America. The album was recorded back in 2010 and left unreleased.

In September 2020, the Prince estate released the "Super Deluxe Edition" of his groundbreaking 1987 double album set, Sign o' The Times. The collection, which has been expanded to an eight CD/DVD and/or 13 LP and DVD set, includes the original album remastered for the very first time, 63 previously unreleased tracks, as well as a previously unissued two-plus hour video concert performance from Prince's legendary vault. The set is also available in triple and double set editions.

Paisley Park -- Prince's legendary estate and production complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota is now open to visitors. Throughout the experience, guests can see one-of-a kind artifacts from Prince's personal archives -- "including iconic concert wardrobe, awards, musical instruments, artwork, motorcycles, rare music and video recordings. All tours include full access to special exhibitions, when available. The Beautiful Collection, a limited-time exhibition of over 300 pairs of Prince's custom shoes."

Back in 2020, CBS aired the primetime special, Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute To Prince. The two-hour event featured performances by Shelia E., the Time, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Foo Fighters, Common, Beck, H.E.R. and Gary Clark, Jr., John Legend, St. Vincent, and Mavis Staples & The Revolution, among others.

Released in 2019 was the posthumous release, The Originals. The set features tracks recorded between 1981 through 1991 that Prince wrote for others, including such instant classics as Sheila E.'s "The Glamorous Life," the Time's "Jungle Love," and the Bangles' 'Manic Monday.'" The Originals also features Prince's versions of Vanity 6's "Make-Up," Kenny Rogers' "You're My Love," and Prince's original version of "Nothing Compares 2 U," which Prince's estate first released in April 2018.

2018 saw the release of the first posthumous Prince album, Piano & A Microphone 1983. The set, which was mastered from a cassette tape, has been released as a nine-track, 35-minute album featuring the contents of a previously unreleased 1983 home studio cassette recording of Prince at his piano captured at his Kiowa Trail home studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota by engineer Don Batts.

According to the press release, "The private rehearsal provides a rare, intimate glimpse into Prince's creative process as he worked through songs which include '17 Days' and "Purple Rain' (neither of which would be released until 1984), a cover of Joni Mitchell's 'A Case Of You,' 'Strange Relationship' (not released until 1987 on his critically acclaimed Sign O' The Times album), and 'International Lover.' The album also includes a rare recording of the 19th Century spiritual 'Mary Don't You Weep,' which was featured during the end credits of Spike Lee's recent film, BlacKkKlansman. For fans of Prince's spontaneous live medleys, tracks one to seven of the album are presented in that same format as they were originally recorded."

In the year following his death, the "Purple One's" catalogue sold a combined 7.7 million copies in the U.S. alone, according to Nielsen. Of that 7.7 million, 2.3 million came in the form of traditional album sales, while the remaining 5.4 million were from digital downloads -- with Prince, by far, selling more albums than any other artist during the same time period. The closest competition was Adele, who sold an impressive 2.23 million units. Billboard reported the 5.4 million digital song downloads comprise one-third of the 18.64 million downloads of his songs since Nielsen began tracking that info in 2003.

Since his passing, fans have found a number of other ways to celebrate Prince's life as well. His Paisley Park home/studio complex in suburban Minneapolis has been turned into a museum, with his ashes on display in a glass and ceramic Paisley Park-shaped urn.

When we last spoke to Cyndi Lauper, she was still reeling from Prince's death. Aside from their friendship, Lauper was a major fan of his and covered his Dirty Mind classic "When You Were Mine" on her 1983 breakthrough album, She's So Unusual. Lauper, who had lost touch with Prince in recent years, regretted not being aware of his whereabouts prior to his death: "I'm pretty devastated, because you just didn't expect him to go like that. He doesn't do drugs. He was sick, so, y'know, he might've been taking medication and I don't know, what the heck happened. And, y'know, he always pushed himself -- he pushed, y'know? I feel horrible. I was in Minnesota, I didn't call. I didn't know where he was anymore. I didn't know if he was in Minnesota, or Toronto. One time he's in Toronto, then he's in L.A. I didn't know he kept a place in Minnesota, y'know? And I should've -- 'cause I was there -- called."

Bruce Springsteen -- like most of rock's upper echelon -- including Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, and Elvis Costello -- remained a die-hard fan and in awe of Prince's output: "It's funny, because I was just talking to someone who was talking about Prince, who makes. . . writes a lot of music. He's tremendously prolific. And I find everything he does. . . I find is fascinating in some fashion and filled with just enormous creativity. He's just a. . . And I envy his prolific-ness. And I made records as quickly and as often as I could. I would've loved to have made more records. I wished I had put out more records and more music, y'know?"

Country star Keith Urban told us that above the hitmaker, or the star -- it was the musician above all else that captivated him: "The very first time I saw him was on MTV, y'know? ‘1999,' I guess was the song and video. That period you saw so many artists come and go, one hit wonder sort of thing, but there was something immediate about that track and about him and the way he performed. It was no surprise that that was going to be something of legend. That catalog of his is just mind-blowing. You kind of have to ask guitar players about Prince, because most people don't seem to know (about his guitar playing), but every guitarist I've ever talked to knows he was a monster on guitar. Certainly when you went and saw him live, you're just like, ‘Oh my God!!! That's you!!! You played on the records?! Oh my God!!!'

Sheila E., both a romantic and musical partner to Prince over the years, spoke lovingly about the good times with her dear friend: "Well, there are too many, so, probably I'd just say, just being his friend. We just had a great time. Y'know? We were really, really good friends. And we just loved to have fun. And we did."

PRINCE ON PRINCE

Prince accepts The Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 BET Awards:

"I do believe the future is in good hands. I have seen so much talent here tonight. I was watching backstage and at the hotel and I'm just so thankful to be a part of this world of music. I was pretty wild in my younger days. And you don't have to do what I did, you don't have to make any of the mistakes I made. The future is in your hands now, the world is really yours. There's a change in America that's going on right now and everyone can feel it and we are going to be the beacon to the rest of the world. Thank you so much to Debra Lee and thank you Steven Hill for a wonderful night tonight. I will never forget it, as long as I live. Thank you so much."

Prince speaks on the music industry at NAACP Image Awards in 2007:

"And I would just challenge the phone companies and the new digital providers to allow us to be the gatekeepers to stewards the new jazz renaissance, hip-hop and soul music in the twenty-first century rather than the accountants and lawyers who ruined the music industry this first time around."

Prince accepts Best Male R&B Artist at the 2006 BET Awards:

"This was unexpected but I appreciate it nonetheless. I'd like to give all praise and thanks to Jehovah God for the gift of life and music. Also I'd like to take this time to thank Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, India.Arie and Yolanda Adams for continuing to be such inspiration in my life. I thank you so much for this BET, peace."

Prince in 2000 on his records sales:

"I always get journalists saying to me, 'You're not selling as many records as you used to.' And I say, 'Well, I never sold the records -- I only made 'em. You gotta talk to the accounting firm on that.'"

It was 43 years ago today (April 21st, 1980) that Pete Townshend released his first official mainstream solo album, Empty Glass. The album followed two previous non-Who related projects -- 1977's Rough Mix, the joint album with Ronnie Lane, and 1972's Who Came First, which was made up of multi-track one-man band demos, nearly all of which were intended for the Who.

Empty Glass was part of a high profile new solo contract with Atlantic Records, who released the set through its Atco imprint and publicized Townshend firmly as a solo artist for the 1980's. This all happened despite the fact that the Who were not only alive and thriving -- but in the midst of a 43-date European and North American tour -- as Empty Glass was hitting the street and Townshend's personal life was quickly unraveling.

The album, which was co-produced by Chris Thomas -- at the point a red-hot choice due to his recent work with the Sex Pistols, Paul McCartney, and the Pretenders -- peaked at Number Five on the Billboard 200 albums chart and spent nine weeks in the Top 10. The album scored Townshend his biggest solo hit with "Let My Love Open The Door," which peaked at Number Nine, and tied the Who's only Top 10 hit -- 1967's "I Can See For Miles."

After the Who's 1981's Face Dances was released, fans and critics alike blamed Townshend for stockpiling his best songs for his 1980 solo album Empty Glass -- rather than giving the band first dibs on his latest work. Townshend explained to us that in the case of "Rough Boys" -- a major MTV hit -- it was Roger Daltrey who actually passed on what would've definitely made for an instant Who classic: "He's not comfortable with what the subject is about. Y'know, the subject is homoerotic. The subject is about the fact that, y'know, that it's very difficult to tell just because a guy looks really, really tough on the outside and he's dressed in leather -- is he a man, is he really a tough guy -- or is he something else?"

Townshend admitted that some of the material -- or at least the sound of some of the material -- on Empty Glass, was a result of record company politics: "When I delivered the first few tracks to Atlantic, they said, 'Y'know, Who fans are not gonna like this stuff' and I said, 'I don't care; this is my solo music' and they said, ‘Y'know, we advanced you $1 million, we wanna sell it, it's gotta sound like the Who.' So, the concession that I made was to put a few tracks on Empty Glass that sounded a bit 'Who-ey,' but, y'know, I made sure the subjects were the subjects that I felt the Who probably wouldn't touch."

Pete Townshend's early-'80s solo work, created while writing, recording, and touring the globe with the Who, admittedly left him physically and emotionally fried. He takes umbrage at all the Who fans that felt as though he hoarded his best material for himself, rather than give to the Who: "This was a mistake that I ever embarked on a solo career. I understand that now. I shouldn't have done it. But, y'know, to be honest, that type of Who fan-ism, it irritates me. Because what it's actually doing is, it's so easy to make these comments after the fact. Everything is easy in hindsight. Y'know, what was actually going on at the time was that I was trying to satisfy my own peculiar creative urge. My unique creative urge, which wasn't classic ‘Rough Boy' Who stuff."

The tracklisting to Pete Townshend's Empty Glass is: "Rough Boys," "I Am An Animal," "And I Moved," "Let My Love Open The Door," "Jools And Jim," "Keep On Working," "Cat's In The Cupboard," "A Little Is Enough," "Empty Glass," and "Gonna Get Ya."

FAST FORWARD

The Who's March 25th, 2022 acoustic set at London's Royal Albert Hall in support of their patron charity, the Teenage Cancer Trust, marked the first live performances of Roger Daltrey singing Pete Townshend's 1980 solo hit "Let My Love Open The Door."

Back in 2015, Daltrey had recorded the tune as a stand-alone charity single in aid of the Trust.

Happy Birthday to Peter Frampton, who turns 73 on Saturday (April 22nd)!!! Despite billing his last tour as his official "farewell," Frampton has just surprised fans by announcing a 26-date summer run, dubbed the "Never Say Never" tour. Frampton has been forced to slowly quit the road upon discovering he's suffering from a degenerative muscle disease called Inclusion-Body Myositus (IBM), that slowly weakens the body's muscles.

The new trek kicks off on June 21st in Huber Heights, Ohio at Rose Music Center and winds down two months later on August 21st at Sandy, Utah's Sandy Amphitheater.

Available for pre-order via PeterFrampton.com com is the Frampton@50 limited edition vinyl box set, which ships on July 28th. The collection is comprised of meticulously restored 180G reissues of the essential 1972-1975 studio releases Wind Of Change (1972), Frampton's Camel (1973), and Frampton (1975).

2021's Frampton Forgets The Words features new takes on Radiohead's "Reckoner," George Harrison's "Isn't It A Pity," Lenny Kravitz' "Are You Gonna Go My Way?," Roxy Music's "Avalon" and Jaco Pastorious' "Dreamland," among others.

Frampton's 2019 album All Blues topped the Billboard's Blues Chart for a whopping 15 weeks. His 2020 autobiography, Do You Feel Like I Do?: A Memoir, debuted on The New York Times Bestsellers list.

In 2020, another Frampton "came alive" with the birth of Frampton's first grandchild. Elle Frampton Homburger was born on April 6th to the guitarist's fashion designer daughter Jade and husband, Samuel Homburger. Frampton has two other children, son Julian, who's a musician and the leader of the Julian Frampton Band, and younger daughter Mia, who's an actress and was featured in numerous TV and features -- including Bridesmaids.

While talking to CBS, the guitarist shed light on some of the physical difficulties he faces these days: "Inclusion-Body Myositus, which is what I have. . . going up (laughs) stairs and downstairs is the hardest thing for me. I'm going to have to get a cane. Then, the other thing I noticed -- I can't put things over my head."

2019's All Blues, featured such special guests as Larry Carlton, Sonny Landreth, Steve Morse, and Fabulous Thunderbirds frontman Kim Wilson. Apart from the new instrumental set, Frampton currently has two new albums in various sates of completion; a full-on solo acoustic album, and an all-blues collection featuring outtakes from the recent All Blues chart-topper.

Peter Frampton first made his mark in Britain in the late-1960's with the pop group the Herd, and then later as part of the hard rocking Humble Pie with co-founder Steve Marriott. Frampton left Humble Pie in late-1971 to go solo, and released four moderate selling solo albums before releasing his 1976 blockbuster double album Frampton Comes Alive!

Frampton Comes Alive! propelled Frampton into superstardom with its hit singles "Show Me The Way," "Baby, I Love Your Way," and "Do You Feel Like We Do." In March 2017, Peter Frampton released a new single, called "I Saved A Bird Today." The track was inspired by Frampton discovering a bird on his patio, which was unable to fly away. Frampton explained to us that upon calling his local wildlife rescue group, the bird was identified as a coot -- as in "crazy as a coot" -- and was only able to fly away by taking off from a body of water.

In February 2016, Peter Frampton released Acoustic Classics, which covers key tracks from his '70s A&M catalogue and beyond -- including "Fig Tree Bay" "All I Want To Be (Is By Your Side)," "Wind Of Change," "Lines On My Face," "Do You Feel Like We Do?," "Sail Away," "Show Me The Way," "Baby I Love Your Way" -- with Frampton handling nearly all the guitar, keyboards, and bass work on the album.

In 2014, Frampton performed as part of old friend Ringo Starr's backing band during that year's Grammy telecast and as part of the house band for CBS' The Beatles: The Night That Changed America - A Grammy Salute. Frampton appeared on two tracks on Ringo's 2015 album, Postcards From Paradise -- and co-wrote the song "Laughable" with the Beatles' drummer for his 2017 album, Give More Love.

In 2014, Frampton released the critically acclaimed mini-album, Hummingbird In A Box. The set marked the first new Frampton music since the 2010 release of Thank You Mr. Churchill. The piece was originally commissioned by and performed with the Cincinnati Ballet in April 2013.

Also out now is Frampton's latest live DVD and Blu-ray disc, FCA 35 Tour: An Evening With Peter Frampton, and its companion triple CD set, Best Of FCA! 35 Tour. The DVD features footage taped at New York City's Beacon Theater and Milwaukee's Pabst Theater, with Frampton personally going through the tour's performances for the best versions of all the songs for the CD -- which features his son, Julian Frampton, guesting on two songs.

Recently released is the newly expanded Humble Pie collection, Performance: Rockin' The Fillmore - The Complete Recordings. The revised edition has been mixed and mastered from the original multi-tracks. The new edition features -- for the first time -- all four shows from the band historic Fillmore East stand as performed on May 28th and 29th, 1971. The collection includes the seven tracks that comprised the original 1971 double album, along with 15 previously unissued performances -- including the band's never-before-heard complete first set.

Prior to leaving Humble Pie, Frampton was befriended by George Harrison who asked him to contribute acoustic guitar to assorted tracks for his 1970 solo debut, All Things Must Pass: "George called me up and he said, 'Look, we need to do some more acoustics,' and this was the best thing ever for me. We just sat, the two of us, in Abbey Road Studios -- the studio they'd done Sgt. Pepper in, and they would just put up another reel. They went through the whole album, basically, and said, 'We need some more acoustics here,' so George and I would just add acoustics (guitar), overdub acoustics, maybe one or two tracks to each track. So basically, I'm playing on just about everything that's not fully electric."

In 2011, Frampton revealed that he was celebrating seven years of sobriety: "I mean, I'm not gonna bore people with it because there's nothing worse than being lectured at. But for me personally, it's been some of the best years of my life. It sounds contrite, it sounds phony, but it's not. Y'know, it's been a very stressful period for me, for everybody around me it's been better, and it's been a new -- well, they say that's my birthday seven years ago."

Late, great Yes drummer Alan White first worked with Frampton during the 1970 sessions for George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, and got to catch up with him when Frampton and Yes hit the road together in 2010: "I've known Peter for such an awful long time -- I met him first when he was playing with the Herd and stuff like that, so we go back a long way. But obviously we only see each other every now and then. Y'know, he did have a problem with drinking at one time and then he just stopped it and he's a super guy now."

Although Frampton was able to stay an arena attraction throughout the end of the '70s, he feels that his career never recovered from the multi-platinum success of the live album. He says that his career nose-dived after Frampton Comes Alive! because there was no place left to go beyond its phenomenon: "No one knew how to make a record after that, because no one had ever made a record that huge. So that's where I was looking for professional help from those people that represented me. But the only person that really knew the answer to any question that I would ask -- was me. Because, here I am asking all these people what I should do, because hell, this is the biggest record in history."

Frampton, who's never stopped writing, recording, and touring since splitting with Humble Pie in 1971, admitted to us that he's constantly amazed with whom he's gotten to make music with over the years: "People like myself that have been doing it for this long, I think it's because we're such a fan of everybody else. You never forget the people that really influenced you at the beginning and throughout your career. So from Hank Marvin to Pearl Jam (laughs), y'know, I got to play with all these people. And it's such an honor to realize that they want to play with me. I've been exceedingly lucky. I appreciate the talent I was given. I've never phoned it in."

The National's Aaron Dessner praised Taylor Swift and compared her "lyrical prowess" to that of Joni Mitchell and said her abilities as an entertainer are like Beyonce.

Describing a writing session, he said, "She made me so much better than I could have ever imagined on my own. It felt like a lightning bolt hit the house."

Dessner shared his thoughts in an interview with The Telegraph.

"Dessner co-wrote and co-produced the bulk of 2020's Folklore and Evermore and he's contributed to Swift's re-released versions of Fearless and Red, as well as her 3am edition of Midnights.

TL;DR:

• The National's Aaron Dessner praised Taylor Swift and compared her "lyrical prowess" to that of Joni Mitchell,
• And her abilities as an entertainer to those of Beyonce.

Aaron Carter's cause of death was made public on Tuesday (April 18th).

Five months after the passing of the 34-year-old singer, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner ruled that Carter's death was accidental, stating that he drowned in the bathtub after inhaling difluoroethane and taking alprazolam.

A report obtained by People showed that the combination of gas found in condensed air and the generic form of Xanax caused the former child star to become "incapacitated while in the bathtub."

Carter was found dead in his Los Angeles home on November 5th after police received a 911 call reporting a man who drowned in a bathtub.

Jonas Brothers announced Tuesday (April 18th) that they will play three secret shows this month.

The trio will perform on April 25th, 26th and 28th in Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth and Baltimore, respectively.

Fans can register on jonasbrothers.com for the chance to purchase tickets.