Pulse Music

Foo Fighters, Korn, Kendrick Lamar, and Sheryl Crow are all set to will perform the 2023 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, running from June 15th through 18th. The Foos' performance on the festival's final night marks their third officially announced concert since the death last year of drummer Taylor Hawkins. The band has also announced its appearance on May 26th at the Boston Calling Festival.

This year's Bonnaroo performers also include Odesza, Lil Nas X, Paramore, Tyler Childers, Portugal. the Man, Charley Crockett, Louis the Child, Griz, Three 6 Mafia, My Morning Jacket, Marcus Mumford, Jenny Lewis, Pixies, Franz Ferdinand, and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness.

Rolling Stone reported, "The annual late-night highlight, the Bonnaroo Superjam, is set for Saturday, June 17th, with a lineup and theme to be announced."

UPDATED: Foo Fighters tour dates (subject to change):

May 26 - Boston, MA - Boston Calling Music Festival
May 28 - Columbus, OH - Sonic Temple Arts & Music Festival
June 18 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

Gwen Stefani stands by her Harajuku era.

In a new interview with Allure about her vegan beauty line GXVE, the No Doubt singer opened up about criticisms of cultural appropriation. It began with the Japanese artwork used to market her 2004 debut studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and continued with the 2008 launch of her Harajuku Lovers fragrance.

She told the outlet she had a revelation when she finally visited Japan for the first time, "I said, 'My God, I'm Japanese and I didn't know it.'"

The Voice judge added, "If people are going to criticize me for being a fan of something beautiful and sharing that, then I just think that doesn't feel right. I think it was a beautiful time of creativity… a time of the ping-pong match between Harajuku culture and American culture."

She elaborated further: "It should be okay to be inspired by other cultures because if we're not allowed then that's dividing people, right?"

U2 has announced a surprise new album, titled Songs Of Surrender, which re-imagines 40 songs from across the band's catalogue. The new set, which drops on St. Patrick's Day -- March 17th -- is a companion piece to frontman Bono's memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story. Although the band posted a teaser via YouTube, no tracklist has been announced, but it's generally assumed to follow the trajectory of Bono's book.

Rolling Stone reported: "Some select U2 fans have started receiving handwritten letters from the band that offer a bit more insight into Songs Of Surrender. One letter, signed by The Edge and shared on the fan account, U2Songs, reads in part: 'The fact is that most of our work was written and recorded when we were a bunch of very young men. Those songs mean something quite different to us now. Some have grown with us. Some we have outgrown, but we have not lost sight of what propelled us to write those songs in the first place.'"

Bono has always had a higher profile than his bandmates, and The Edge told us that the other members of the band are comfortable with the role their singer plays outside the group: "We certainly debate. Certainly early on we did a lot more because I felt personally that there was a risk of things being misinterpreted or his intentions being called into question. But I think at this point in time, y'know, it's so well established what he's up to and what his agenda is. I don't think there's much chance of people misinterpreting or, y'know, getting confused or let down."

Bad Bunny, BLACKPINK, and Frank Ocean will headline the Coachella music festival this April.

Bad Bunny kicks things off on Friday, April 14th and will take the stage again on April 21st. K-Pop superstars BLACKPINK will take the Saturday shift on April 15th and 22nd, and Ocean will close things out on Sunday, April 16th and 23rd.

Additional performers include Gorillaz, Burna Boy, Blondie, the Kid LAROI, Charli XCX, Bjork, Latto, Willow and YUNGBLUD.

Motley Crue and touring mates Def Leppard have just announced an "intimate" March 12th gig at Hollywood Florida's Hard Rock Live. Blabbermouth reported tickets go on sale this Friday, January 13th local time via Ticketmaster. Prior to launching their 28-date South American and European trek dubbed the "World Tour," the bands are also playing a few Stateside warm-up gigs at Atlantic City's Rock Live at Etess Arena

The new tour, which kicks off in February and wraps in July, will hit Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Chile, Brazil, England, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Ireland.

Alice Cooper has signed on as the opening act for Motley Crue and Def Leppard's upcoming string of U.S. stadium shows. The August dates will hit Syracuse, New York; Columbus, Ohio; Fargo, North Dakota; Omaha, Nebraska; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and El Paso, Texas.

Guitarist Phil Collen told us Def Leppard is always aiming to introduce their catalogue to newer fans while on tour: "People go, 'Oh, are you promotin' any album?' And it's, like, 'Yeah, all of 'em.' We've got, like, 12 studio albums, or something, that we're actually gonna be out there promoting. That's really cool. That's totally exciting that we can finally bring that to people in a different format. We're changing up, obviously, some of the songs are gonna be different and the look of the stage and everything."

UPDATED: Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Alice Cooper North American tour dates (subject to change):

February 10, 11 - Atlantic City, NJ - Rock Live at Etess Arena (Motley Crue and Def Leppard only)
March 12 - Hollywood, FL - Hard Rock Live (Motley Crue and Def Leppard only)
August 5 - Syracuse, NY - JMA Wireless Dome
August 8 - Columbus, OH - Ohio Stadium
August 11 - Fargo, ND - Fargodome
August 13 - Omaha, NE - Charles Schwab Field Omaha
August 16 - Tulsa, OK - H.A. Chapman Stadium
August 18 - El Paso, TX - Sun Bowl Stadium

Nick Jonas will be one of the speakers at this year's South by Southwest.

Organizers announced Tuesday (January 10th) that Jonas Brother will speak on the health-focused panel "Crushing: The Burden of Diabetes on Patients".

Blxst and Wu Tang Clan's RZA are also among the musicians set to speak at the event. SXSW will take place March 10th-19th in Austin.

The Doobie Brothers have just tagged two Hawaiian dates onto the end of their upcoming Australasian tour. March and April will see the Doobies -- including co-founders Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons -- along with returning member Michael McDonald -- hitting Singapore, Australia, and Japan.

The new dates are May 2nd and 5th, at Kahului, Hawaii's Waikiki Shell, with tickets going sale to the general public starting Friday, January 13th at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster.

We asked guitarist Tom Johnston if incorporating Michael McDonald's material back into the band's repertoire took some extra elbow-grease for the group: "Well, it always needs to be rehearsed, (whether) if Mike's here or not. We always rehearse a lot before going out. Mike brings another facet musically to the show, which is frankly, I think, kinda cool. He brings some depth -- a little more depth -- I should say, and it goes in a different direction. So, what you do is you place those songs accordingly through the set and mix it up with the other songs and then people get, as I said, the full aspect of what the band has done over the years."

REPORT: BEYONCE REACHED OUT TO BRITNEY SPEARS FOR A COLLABORATION: Did Britney Spears turn down the opportunity to work with Beyonce? According to a report from Page Six, the "Break My Soul" singer asked Spears to appear in a new music video, but the collaboration ultimately didn't come together. It is unclear why the plan didn't go through.

SOURCE: MARIAH CAREY IS PLANNING TO FILE FOR PRIMARY CUSTODY OF TWINS SHARED WITH EX NICK CANNON: Reports say that Mariah Carey is planning to file for primary custody of her twins Moroccan and Monroe, whom she shares with ex husband Nick Cannon. According to RadarOnline, a source said, "The reality of the situation is that Monroe and Moroccan are usually with Mariah anyway. Nick doesn't see much of them." The source added, "But she wants to put him on notice that he can't just flit in and out of their lives while he attends to his other children. And she wants legal standing as the twins' primary caregiver."

THE WEEKND IS BACK IN THE STUDIO: The Weeknd has new music in the works. He told the Hollywood Reporter Monday (January 9th), "I've definitely been inspired. I've been in the studio." The star, born Abel Tesfaye, just celebrated the one-year anniversary of his most recent album, 2022's Dawn FM.

Robert Plant credits Phil Collins for easing him into his solo career. 30 years after his second solo set, The Principle Of Moments, Plant looked band on his celebrated second act recalling to Vulture where he was at following the 1980 death of his Led Zeppelin bandmate, John Bonham: "After John passed away and there was no Led Zeppelin, there had to be a way to go. I floundered around a lot because until I was 32, I was in some kind of wild and absurd adventure. I went through all that stuff. I'll write with other people. It's a very intimate thing to do. It's hard for anybody to expose themselves musically. Other people with me, and me with other people. I have a lot of songs under my belt, which I co-wrote with the members of Zeppelin. It was a lot to live up to. I had a lot of people who gave me support and strength around that time, so I suppose the first two albums were driven by great friends."

Plant went on to recall, "Phil Collins especially was a driving force and had positive energy with the first record, Pictures At Eleven. . . With Phil, it wasn't so much advice as encouragement and consideration. He was taking no prisoners. He would only allow himself a short amount of time to come to the studio in Wales and make it work. Nobody was hiding behind the performance. Then he came on tour with me and basically said, 'Robert, the guy that sat behind you for all those years was my hero.' That was it. He said, 'Anything I can do to help you to get back into fighting shape again, I'm here.' That was at the time when 'In The Air Tonight' came out. Yet he was still mixing and working with me while kicking off a particularly impressive and successful time."

Robert Plant remembered Phil Collins' work ethic and belief in his new material was unyielding: "I mean, he was there and he used to come down to Rockfield (Studios), where we (used to) record and he'd say: ‘I've got four days, okay? Let's go do the whole album' -- I said, ‘done.' And we'd just work it and work it and work it. And he was, he had this funny look on his -- his eyebrow used to go up in the air. He put his drumsticks under his arm and a towel around his neck, and he'd listen to the playback and he'd go: ‘Bass drum's too fast. Let's do it again. Gotta get it right, we've got to get it right.' So we got it right and in doing so, I started dragging myself out of the shadows bit by bit. And we did great stuff and Phil toured with us for a couple of tours and we had a great time."

Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks have just announced their eighth 2023 joint stadium show. The pair of Rock Hall of Famers will now play on November 10th at Minneapolis' U.S. Bank Stadium.

As it stands now, in addition to the just-announced Minnesota gig, Billy and Stevie are set for major stadium shows in California, Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, and Massachusetts.

Billy Joel told us he feels lucky to still be performing at the top of his game these days: "I kind of have a split opinion about it. Part of me thinks it's absurd. I'm 73-years-old and I'm doin' the same gig I was doin' when I was 16. Y'know, this is a job for a young person and I am now considered elderly and I'm still doin' the same crazy-ass job -- so, that part of it is kinda absurd. The other part of it to me is it's wonderful. I've picked a great job to have. They're payin' me all kinds of money, the audiences are bigger than they ever were, people are still comin' to see me -- and there's a lot of young people out in the crowd, who somehow know my stuff and that's wonderful! I'm a lucky guy."

Stevie Nicks believes the art of songwriting is an act of healing for both the creator and the listener: "To me, the music is writing songs and that is to be able to write something that maybe at a time in somebody else's life, they need a little help or a little inspiration, or something, that they would sit down and listen to something I wrote and it would just either make them feel a little better or they'd be able to go 'Somebody else's been there, too -- and that helps me.'"

UPDATED: Billy Joel & Stevie Nicks tour dates (subject to change):

March 10 - Los Angeles, CA - Sofi Stadium
April 8 - Arlington, TX - AT&T Stadium
May 19 - Nashville, TN - Nissan Stadium
June 16 - Philadelphia, PA - Lincoln Financial Field
August 5 - Columbus, OH - Ohio Stadium
August 19 - Kansas City, MO - Geha Field At Arrowhead
September 23 - Foxborough, MA - Gillette Stadium
November 10 - Minneapolis, MN - U.S. Bank Stadium

Jin has a heartfelt message for fans as he serves his mandatory military enlistment in South Korea.

The BTS singer said in a pre-recorded YouTube video posted to the band's Bantam TV channel Monday (January 9th), "Hello everyone, this is Jin of BTS. I won't be a civilian by the time the video is out. But I am here in front of the camera because I wanted to leave you something, even if it is just leaving a message.

"I may not be by your side, but I'll go looking for you soon, if you just wait a little. I'll be back soon. That's all for today. Next time when I have the time, I'll share another video."

He began his 18-21 month service in December.

Nick Carter is gearing up to release a song about his late brother, Aaron Carter.

Music industry sources told TMZ Monday (January 9th) that the Backstreet Boy got to work on the song shortly after Aaron passed in November and it's a "very emotional track."

According to Nick's social media account, his new single will drop on Wednesday (January 11th).

Olivia Rodrigo is teaming up with Sour producer Dan Nigro to create new music.

The "drivers license" singer posted a clip of the two rocking out at a piano on her Instagram Story Sunday (January 8th) night.

She captioned the video with, "Working on so many new songs I'm excited to show u! thank you for everything."

Ozzy Osbourne admitted he's nervous for his family's big to return to TV. Following the massive success 20 years ago of the MTV hit The Osbournes, the clan will be featured once again in the upcoming ten-part 30-minute BBC reality series, Home To Roost, which focuses on the family's move back to Britain. The new series will also air on BBC One and iPlayer.

During a chat with The Mirror, Ozzy said, "I don't know how The Kardashians have done it for so long -- it sent us crazy at the end.I am not sorry I did it, but after three or four years I said, 'Do you know what, we're going to lose somebody because it is getting too crazy.' There is rock n' roll fame, which is pretty intense, but that Osbourne level was just unbelievable. The kids paid for it. They all ended up doing drugs. Jack got clean and sober on that show, Kelly messed up on that show, I was messed up and Sharon got cancer."

On his SiriusXM show Ozzy went on to say, "I always wanted to know what it would have been like when Beatlemania was around. I had that with The Osbournes, let me tell you. I remember going into McDonald's for a pee. When I came out of the bathroom the whole restaurant was outside screaming at me."

Ozzy told us a while back that he has never felt comfortable seeing himself on television: "I gotta be honest, I'm not really keen on TV. I mean, I must have watched, like, two episodes of The Osbournes. I just don't like watching myself on TV, I feel geeky."

Harry Styles revealed Monday (January 9th) that Wet Leg will open for his rescheduled Love on Tour dates in Los Angeles.

The Grammy winner was forced to cancel several dates at the Kia Forum in November because he became sick with the flu.

He will make up for the lost shows by performing on January 26th through 29th.

Bruce Springsteen fans were surprised to hear that "The Boss's" ongoing archival series is being put on hold due to his upcoming E Street Band tour dates. Backstreets magazine -- the unofficial source for all Springsteen news -- shared the official message stating: "With opening night of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2023 tour less than a month away, the Live Archive series will pause regular monthly releases and turn its attention to new shows."

The series, which has provided high-end, professionally mixed soundboard recordings from Springsteen's shows from 1975 through to the present, will be put on ice, while fans will have the opportunity to purchase concerts from the E Street Band's current dates via nugs.net.

The new live sets will be mixed by fan favorite Jon Altschiller, who's long been in charge of the series' monthly releases. The upcoming recordings will include Springsteen's upcoming 31-show U.S. tour that launches in February, and the 31-show European leg that starts in April.

During a recent chat with The Bellissimo Files, Bruce Springsteen explained the feelings behind what it takes to be a performing entertainer: "The stage is a unique place; it's pretend, first of all. So, you're making believe -- though, you're trying to experience and communicate authentic emotion. And you present a picture of a world and a life that your audience enters with you, where you communicate and experience a set of common values and dreams and interests with the people that you've been in conversation with for 40, or 45 years -- or with some of them, only five years, or for the first time that night."

Lady Gaga and Sully Erna were once an item.

Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin told the 2020'd podcast, "Yea, that's true. And that's not, I don't think, a secret. I don't think Sully would bum out if people knew he dated Lady Gaga. I mean, she's hot, and she's mega talented."

According to Larkin, "It was a brief thing," and Erna only told his friends and the band because he's not "flashy" like Tommy Lee or Travis Barker. He's an "and East Coast guy."

It was 54 years ago today (January 10th, 1969) that George Harrison temporarily quit the Beatles. The group, who was filming their Let It Be movie in London's cavernous Twickenham Film Studios, had been rife with tension as they prepared to work up a set of new material for their proposed return to the concert stage. Harrison wasn't the first Beatle to quit the band, with Ringo Starr walking out the previous August during the group's sessions for The Beatles, commonly referred to as the "White Album."

Although it's been thought that Harrison's was annoyed with Paul McCartney's domination during the rehearsals -- dubbed by fans as the "Get Back" sessions -- Harrison was equally peeved at John Lennon, who at this point was barely communicating to the band and letting his soon-to-be wife Yoko Ono speak for him in group matters. Harrison later went on record stating he was frustrated because he had a growing backlog of new material, but constantly had to work on Lennon and McCartney's songs before the group could begin rehearsing his.

After running through a few songs that day, including a brief rendition of the group's "All Together Now" and "Get Back," Harrison nonchalantly announced that he was leaving the band immediately and sarcastically told them as he walked out, "See you around the clubs."

George Harrison explained that the Beatles regrouping in January 1969 before the cameras was a "worst case scenario" situation for him: "I just spent, like the last six months producing an album of this fella named Jackie Lomax and hanging out with Bob Dylan and the Band in Woodstock -- and having a great time. And for me to come back into the winter of discontent with the Beatles in Twickenham (Film Studios) was, it was very unhealthy and unhappy."

After the announcement, filming was halted. According to authors Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighard, who documented existing tapes of the sessions for their book Drugs, Divorce And A Slipping Image: The Unauthorized Story Of The Beatles' "Get Back" Sessions, once the tapes began running again, Lennon ironically led the group through a run-through of the Who's "A Quick One While He's Away."

Before departing for the weekend, Lennon half-joked that the group should replace Harrison with either Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix, and that the Beatles' publicists should announce Harrison's departure to the British trades. Interestingly, it was Harrison who broke the news of the rift to the British press, yet refused to do so in any great detail.

Author Ritchie Unterberger chronicled the dozens of hours of Let It Be tapes for his book The Unreleased Beatles. He says that many of Harrison's songs didn't fit stylistically with the group's other material: "They tried 'All Things Must Pass' a lot. I mean, they almost tried to record it as much, in terms of total versions as they did something like 'Don't Let Me Down.' George at this point, he was reaching a high as a songwriter. A lot of the material he was writing (and) they were even trying out, ended up on (his solo album) All Things Must Pass. And somehow the feel of his compositions, they weren't as natural for a Beatles arrangement as 'Here Comes The Sun' or 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps.'"

After Harrison failed to show up for the sessions on January 13th, 14th or 15th, a band meeting was held at Ringo's house, where they urged Harrison to come back and complete the project. Harrison agreed to re-join the band under the condition they give up on the idea of a live concert, and move the filming to the Beatles' new studio in their Apple headquarters.

The band re-grouped in front of the cameras again -- with the addition of old friend, keyboardist Billy Preston -- on January 22nd.

It was 66 years ago today (January 10th, 1956), that Elvis Presley recorded his first Number One hit, "Heartbreak Hotel." The song, its B-side "I Was The One," and several other tunes were recorded in Nashville at Elvis' first RCA recording session, just two days after his 21st birthday. The previous November, RCA Records had bought his existing Sun Records contract for a whopping $40,000 -- $5,000 of which went straight to Elvis as a signing bonus.

The music to "Heartbreak Hotel" was written by Mae Boren Axton -- mother of country songwriter Hoyt Axton -- with lyrics by Tommy Durden. Durden was inspired to write the lyrics after reading a newspaper account of a man who left behind a suicide note containing the phrase: "I walk a lonely street." As was the case with many hits of the 1950's, Elvis' name was added as both a courtesy and incentive for recording the song -- which also ensured that he received a third of the song's royalties.

"Heartbreak Hotel" featured Elvis' usual band at the time, with Bill Black on double bass, Scotty Moore on lead guitar, and D.J. Fontana on drums, along with country legends Floyd Cramer on piano and Chet Atkins on guitar. The single was rush-released on January 27th, 1956 and went on to become Elvis Presley's first million-seller.

We asked the late, great D.J. Fontana, who ultimately decided on the rhythm of Elvis' classic '50s singles: "Well, sometimes I would -- sometimes Elvis would count it off the way he felt it. So it was a mixture of different guys and sometimes (guitarist) Scotty (Moore) would do it, just according to what kind of mood we was (laughs) all in, y'know? But it seemed like it all, it all turned out good for some reason. Who knows? Y'know what, those things happen."

During his 2012 keynote address at Austin's South By Southwest music festival, Bruce Springsteen recalled seeing Elvis Presley debut on The Ed Sullivan Show on September 9th, 1956: "It was the evening that I realized that a white man could create magic. That you did not have to be constrained by your upbringing, by the way you looked, or by the social context that oppressed you. You could call upon your own powers of imagination, and you could create a transformative self. A certain type of transformative self that perhaps at any other moment in American history might've seemed difficult, if not impossible."

When Elvis returned to live performances in 1969, "Heartbreak Hotel" was one of the few '50s numbers included in his act. He continued performing the song sporadically through 1974.

Peter Gabriel has dropped "Panopticom," the first single from his upcoming album, titled i/o. Gabriel said in the press release, "The first song is based on an idea I have been working on to initiate the creation of an infinitely expandable accessible data globe: The Panopticom. We are beginning to connect a like-minded group of people who might be able to bring this to life, to allow the world to see itself better and understand more of what's really going on."

According to the announcement: "The lyric is, in part, inspired by the extraordinary work of three groups, Forensic Architecture, Bellingcat and the Gabriel co-founded pioneering human rights organization WITNESS." The legendary Brian Eno contributed the "haunting electronics" to "Panopticom."

"Panopticom" is Gabriel's first new track since offering up "The Veil" for Oliver Stone's 2016 film, Snowden. i/o marks Gabriel's first mainstream, all-original new album since 2002's Up collection. No release date has been announced for i/o, but Gabriel plans to issue a new track off the set to coincide with every upcoming full moon.

Peter Gabriel, told us that over the course of his career, it keeps both him and his work fresh to constantly dip his toe into new, creative waters: "I love to have both unfamiliar and familiar elements in my work, so that you hopefully feel you've got some reference points, but it's different, and strange, and mysterious, if I'm lucky."

The completed inner-workings of Journey continue to make headlines as former-frontman Steve Perry has dropped his legal claim against the band's corporate entity for trademarking the titles to 20 of its songs. Guitarist Neal Schon posted on a social media the letter he'd received from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which states, quote, "Petitioner, without the written consent of Respondent, filed a withdrawal of the petition for cancellation on January 4, 2023. . . In view thereof. . . the petition for cancellation is denied with prejudice." This means that Perry cannot file that same suit again against the corporation.

Ultimate Classic Rock reported that Schon not only teased that the end of the legal skirmish might signal some type of reconnection between the estranged former-bandmates, but took the opportunity to slam keyboardist Jonathan Cain, posting: "So much for (Cain) trying to throw me under the bus as he claimed I was blatantly trying to rip off (Perry) while collecting the checks for the very diligent work my wife and I did to protect our Merch. Time for coffee."

IN OTHER JOURNEY NEWS

According to a December 12th cease and desist letter uncovered by The New York Post, in addition to recently filing suit against Jonathan Cain -- Neal Schon has issues with Cain's wife.

According to Schon's complaint, Paula White-Cain -- Cain's minister wife and Donald Trump's personal spiritual advisor -- has been accused of "allegedly giving herself access to the band's bank accounts without Schon's knowledge or consent."

The complaint, which claims that White-Cain's signatures appear "as an authorized signatory" on the band's account, goes on to state: "We further demand that you immediately cease and desist and refrain in the future from inserting yourself in any business of the band and any legal entities used by the band as this contradicts the existing agreement between Mr. Schon and Mr. Cain." (The New York Post)

Rihanna's musical director Adam Blackstone has opened up about the singer's upcoming halftime show. He told Rolling Stone, "It's been cool. . . . The thing about Rihanna is that she's so creative. She is boundary-pushing at all times, so it's going to be unlike anything you've ever seen before, and we always try to push the envelope with her."

He added, "This is her first time coming back as Rihanna, the artist. She knows that her career has expanded different sonic palletes, from EDM to pop to hip-hop to ballads, so we want to try to give a little bit to everybody."

It was 60 years ago today (January 9th, 1963) that the late, great Charlie Watts joined the Rolling Stones replacing drummer Tony Chapman. Watts -- who was strictly a jazz drummer -- held a day job as a graphic designer for the ad company Charles, Hobson and Gray when he took the gig drumming for British blues icon Alexis Korner's group Blues Incorporated. Through Korner, he met Mick Jagger who often sat in with the band.

Watts' first show with the Stones took place just three days later on January 12th, 1963 at London's Ealing Blues Club, featuring Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman -- and co-founding keyboardist -- and later road manager, Ian Stewart. Watts remained the Rolling Stones' drummer until his death from cancer on August 24th, 2021 at the age of 80.

Charlie Watts said that it never crossed his mind that the Stones would ever make it -- let along become rock's longest lasting rock bands: "No, every band I'd ever been in lasted a week. I mean, you only lasted as long as the guy in the club, or whatever, would book you for. So, y'know, if they didn't like you, y'know, it was two gigs and that was it. So I always thought it's gonna last a week, then a fortnight, and suddenly it's 30 years."

Charlie Watts believed that had it never been for the Stones, he would've remained safe and sound in his jazz-based world: "Keith Richards taught me rock n' roll. We had nothing to do all day, but we'd just play these records over and over again, and I learned to love people like Muddy Waters and people like that, through an intensive three-year crash course, you might say. And Keith turned me on to how good Elvis Presley was. I use to hate him until then. Elvis was, like, the least sort of person I'd ever want. . . I mean, Miles Davis was more what I would -- that's what I consider someone. Not Elvis, y'know?"

Metallica has brought back its archival online streaming service. The band has begun running rare performances from its "Black Album" era via nugs.net. Metallica sent an email to fans announcing the revamped series, writing, "With help from the archivists at The Metallica Black Box, our friends at nugs.net are bringing back the 'Wherever We May Roam' livestream series from a year ago."

Loudwire reported, "The series will feature 10 concerts that span 1991-1993; a 'new' concert will debut every Monday and Sunday for five weeks."

According to the announcement: "If you remember these shows, you know they aren't the polished productions you'll find today. This standard definition footage comes from Betacam tapes with the occasional camera dropout, and the audio is straight from the soundboard. But these shows aren't just a time capsule from the '90s anymore; they've gotten some modern upgrades, including a new, extended edit and mastered audio by Reuben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering."

"The Black Album" was Metallica's biggest commercial breakthrough, producing five singles and making them one of the most popular rock bands in the world. Former-bassist Jason Newsted told us that at the time, Metallica was eager to make a big leap forward: "Everybody was ready. We pulled in somebody that could control us for a second and harness us for a second. That transpired. Everybody put their nose to the stone and worked hard, like Metallica always did, and then we got the fruits from it. Years later, it's still, well, maybe is the biggest selling album in America for, I don't know, for a long time."