Pulse Music

Despite rumors, A$AP Rocky and Rihanna are NOT married or engaged. Rihanna has appeared in Rocky's new video "D.M.B." and there is a wedding scene in the clip -- and people started wondering if the two tied the knot in real life. Sources close to the couple say that they are not married and the wedding scene was just for the video.

Meanwhile, fans also wondered if Rocky threw a shot at RiRi's ex Chris Brown. On the song, he rapped, "I don't beat my b*tch, I need my b*tch."

It was 52 years ago Sunday (May 8th, 1970) that the Beatles released what was technically their final album, Let It Be. Although the band's last album, Abbey Road had been released the previous fall, the Let It Be project -- which began 16-months before its release -- was issued nearly a month after Paul McCartney announced that the "Fab Four" had indeed split. The album served as the soundtrack to the film of the same name, which premiered in New York City on May 13th, 1970. The movie, which was shot in January 1969, was originally intended to be a TV special called Get Back featuring the group rehearsing for their first live show in over two years. The early rehearsals captured the group -- along with John Lennon's soon-to-be wife Yoko Ono -- clearly bored, with only Paul McCartney showing any real enthusiasm for the new material. The first part of the film shows the strain of the early morning sessions held in a cavernous soundstage at London's Twickenham film studios

The Beatles' late-producer George Martin recalled that the Let It Be project held great promise in the beginning: "They were going through a very, very revolutionary period at that time. And they were trying to think of something new. They did actually come up with a very good idea, which I thought was well worth working on; The wanted to write an album completely and rehearse it and then perform it in front of a large audience -- and for that to be a live album of new material. And we started rehearsing down at Twickenham film studios, and I went along with them."

George Harrison, who was the least invested member of the band in regards to returning to the stage, recalled the band's initial plan: "I think the original idea was to rehearse some new songs, and then we were going to pick a location and record the album of the songs in a concert. I suppose kinda like they do these days on Unplugged, except, y'know, it wasn't to be unplugged. It was to do a live album."

Among the songs featured in the film are "Let It Be," "Get Back," "Don't Let Me Down," "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," "For You Blue," "Octopus' Garden," "I Me Mine," "Across The Universe," "The Long And Winding Road," covers of "Besame Mucho," "Shake, Rattle And Roll," and "Kansas City," among others -- including the still unreleased originals "Jazz Piano Song" and "Suzy Parker."

The tracklisting to the Let It Be album is: "Two Of Us," "Dig A Pony," "Across The Universe," "I Me Mine," "Dig It," "Let It Be," "Maggie Mae," "I've Got A Feeling," "One After 909," "The Long And Winding Road," "For You Blue," and "Get Back."

In 1970 John Lennon recalled the nearly month-long film shoot saying: "It was just a dreadful, dreadful feeling being filmed all the time. I just wanted them to go away. And we'd be there at eight in the morning and you couldn't make music at eight in the morning, or 10, or whatever it was . . . in a strange place with people filming you and colored lights."

The tension between the group is palpable, especially during the sequence where Harrison and McCartney argue over Harrison's playing on the song "Two Of Us."

McCartney explained that unconsciously, the Beatles were actually telling the world that they were breaking up: "In fact what happened was when we got in there we showed how the breakup of a group works because we didn't realize that we were actually breaking up, y'know as it was happening."

The movie lightens up considerably during the second half, when the filming moved to the group's new Apple basement studios, with the addition of keyboardist Billy Preston. A major highlight of the film is the final sequence, when the Beatles play in impromptu set on the Apple headquarters rooftop, featuring "Get Back," "Dig A Pony," "I've Got A Feeling," "Don't Let Me Down," and "One After 909." Filmed on January 30th, 1969, it would be the band's final public performance.

Reviews for the film, which was released a month after the group's breakup, were mixed, citing the sluggish and depressing nature of the film, as well as director Michael Lindsay-Hogg's sloppy editorial choices. But across the board, both critics and fans agreed on the power of the group's triumphant rooftop set.

Author Ritchie Unterberger chronicled the prolonged Get Back/Let It Be sessions in his book, titled The Unreleased Beatles: "They had bitten off more than they could chew. Y'know, even before they assembled in January, the idea was, 'Let's get back to playing as a live band' -- pretty good idea. But then it was, 'Let's make it an album and a film, and we're going to make the album a film of us doing a concert of songs we've never recorded before.' It's kind of like trying to do too much at once. And then you're recording it -- the comparison I made in the book is kind of Nixon's 'The Watergate Tapes,' you have no idea that this stuff is going to comeback to haunt you forever."

Beatlefan magazine's executive editor Al Sussman saw the film within days of its premiere and was left speechless by the group's live swan song: "It was really depressing. But, what made it worthwhile was the rooftop, y'know? Because when I left that theater, I was this far off the ground. Despite the fact that we knew everything that happened afterward. Yeah, that saves the film."

Ken Mansfield, the former U.S. manager of Apple Records, recently published his latest memoir on his time with working with the Beatles, titled The Roof: The Beatles' Final Concert. Mansfield was among the handful of insiders present at the rooftop concert that day. He recalled prior to the lunchtime gig walking in on the four Beatles who were using one of the Apple offices as a makeshift dressing room: "It was like walking in on a band, a nervous bunch of guys getting ready to do an audition. I don't know if it's because they hadn't played together, or whether they were trying to put the set together, but it was one of those kind of tense things where they were nervous. When we locked the doors upstairs, and the minute they started playing -- and y'know all the. . . everything that was going down, all the stuff. It's like it all went away and I really believe in my mind that they forgot everything and they were what they were. They were the Beatles."

George Martin said that he felt betrayed by Lennon and Harrison when they enlisted Phil Spector to rework the Let It Be tapes prior to their eventual release: "When the record came to be issued, EMI rang me up and said, 'They don't want your name on the record. It'll be 'Produced by Phil Spector.' I said, 'But I produced all the original stuff that they worked on.' I said, 'I'm not having that. Why don't you put on it, 'Produced by George Martin, over-produced by Phil Spector?' But they didn't seem to go for that."

The Let It Be album marks the only Beatles album to house three Number One songs -- albeit in different mixes to their single counterparts: "Get Back," "Let It Be," and the group's last chart-topper, "The Long And Winding Road."

The version of "Get Back" that closes the Let It Be album, which was long thought to be a live take, is actually a cheat -- Lennon and McCartney's pre and post-song comments were tagged by Phil Spector onto an abbreviated version of the studio-recorded single version.

Let It Be earned the Beatles their only Academy Award, when they won the 1970 Oscar for Best Original Song Score. The film was briefly available on VHS in 1981, but is not yet available on DVD.

The Let It Be album hit Number One on June 13th, 1970, ending Paul McCartney's three-week run on top of the charts with his solo debut, McCartney. Let It Be went on to hold the top spot for a solid month until the soundtrack to Woodstock displaced it.

FAST FORWARD

Released last October was the long-awaited "Super Deluxe" version of the Beatles' Let It Be. The set features six discs -- a remastered version of the album, outtakes, a Blu-ray mix of Let It Be, and engineer Glyn Johns' original 1969 mix of the scrapped original album titled Get Back.

The Let It Be album has been newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell in stereo, 5.1 surround DTS, and Dolby Atmos. The "Super Deluxe" collections also feature 27 previously unreleased session recordings, a four-track Let It Be EP, and the never before released 14-track Get Back stereo LP mix compiled by engineer Glyn Johns in May 1969.

The "Super Deluxe" editions feature a 100-page hard-back book with an introduction by Paul McCartney, extensive notes and track-by-track recording information and many previously unseen photos, personal notes, tape box images, and more.

The band's complete January 30th, 1969 Apple Rooftop performance is also now availalble for streaming.

Happy Birthday to Bob Seger who turns 77 today (May 6th)!!! Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band performed their final show on November 1st, 2019 with little nostalgia or fanfare at Philly's Wells Fargo Center. As it stands now, there are no further Seger tour dates on the books in the future. The trek, which had started in support of Seger's latest album, 2017's I Knew You When, was cut short by complications from a ruptured disc.

Bob Seger and his family were unharmed after a small fire broke out at his house in Orchard Lake, Michigan on Halloween morning (October 31st). The Detroit News reported the fire in the eight-bedroom, 10-bathroom house, "Was contained to a chimney flue off Seger's family room. Firefighters broke through some walls and ceilings in order to put out the fire. The home sustained water damage in the family room and a downstairs room that contained a golf simulator, but no injuries were reported from the fire."

Seger and his wife, Juanita, were both home when the fire alarm went off at 6 a.m.

Last June, as part of Record Store Day, Bob Seger reissued his classic 1976 live double album, Live Bullet. The set was available as a standard 150-gram black vinyl with a lithograph, and a translucent orange and red swirl vinyl.

During a November 2017 chat with Rolling Stone, Bob Seger was asked if he ever thought he'd still be making music at this point in his life. Seger answered: "God, no. I thought I'd be done by 30. My original plan was to do it for five years between the age of 25 and 30 and then buy a motorcycle and drive across Europe, and then get a real job. It didn't work out that way. The more you do it, I guess, the more you love it."

That same month, Seger released his 19th studio set, I Knew You When. The album followed 2014's Top Three hit, Ride Out. I Knew You When came in a standard edition and deluxe version featuring three bonus tracks, which include Seger's tribute to his dear friend, late-Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey on "Glenn's Song," along with a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Democracy." Although most of the new songs are Seger originals, he chose a cover of Lou Reed's "Busload Of Faith" to serve as the album's lead single.

We asked Bob Seger if while creating the running order for a new album, songs get tossed aside because they're not commercial enough: "Not at my age. What it is is just a good song. Bottom line. As good a song as I can write, and if anything's on the bubble of being an average song: it's gone. Sometimes I'll write a song that I can't really sing, and it'll get eliminated in that regard, ‘cause my range is not as wide as it used to be. Or, it may not make it through the studio process. Y'know, it might be that it's a really good song, but I don't like the way the studio band did it, or something. It's all different things -- but it's mostly gut."

In 2015, Seger wrapped an exhaustive North American tour in support of his long-awaited studio set, Ride Out. The album, which was released on October 14th, 2014, earned him his first Top Three album in 28 years. Ride Out entered the Billboard 200 album charts at Number Three, marking his best chart showing since his 1986 album, Like A Rock, which also hit Number Three. Seger's previous studio album, 2006's Face The Promise topped out at Number Four upon its release.

In addition to Bob Seger's own compositions, Ride Out featured several covers -- including the album's lead single "Detroit Made" written by John Hiatt, "California Stars" featuring lyrics by Woody Guthrie and music by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett, Steve Earle's "The Devil's Right Hand," and "Adam And Eve," which was written by acclaimed Australian singer/songwriters Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson.

Bob Seger released his first single, "The Lonely One," in 1961, with the help of Max Crook, who was a member of Del Shannon's backing band. Seger spent much of the '60s writing songs for other people, and playing with a number of different bands, including the Bob Seger & The Last Heard and the Bob Seger System. But he will always be best remembered for his '70s and '80s Silver Bullet Band classics "Against The Wind," "Night Moves," "Mainstreet," "Turn The Page," "Katmandu," "Old Time Rock & Roll," "Rock And Roll Never Forgets," "We've Got Tonight," "Still The Same," and "Shakedown," among others.

Seger admitted that he's amazed at the lifespan of not just his career -- but of all of rock n' roll: "The career arc for most people in entertainment was three good years, five tops, and you were gone. I mean, who'd ever thought that we'd be seeing (Paul) McCartney at 60 onstage, (Mick) Jagger -- nobody, y'know? It's just interesting -- you think how old I thought I was (35) when (laughs) I was writing 'Rock 'N' Roll Never Forgets.'"

He feels that staying near Detroit to live and raise his family proved to be among the best decisions of his life: "I don't think it was ever really a choice -- it was, like, where I lived and where I felt comfortable. By being in Detroit, I was able to keep it in perspective, and just work as much as I could, but also kind of have a life outside of it where I was grounded, and where people put me in my place."

Longtime Eagles collaborator J.D. Souther co-wrote "Heartache Tonight" with Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Souther gave us the inside scoop on Bob Seger's key involvement with the Eagles' last chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100 to date: "Glenn and I were walking around my living room, just clapping our hands -- no instruments -- and we were trying to write a Sam Cooke song. And if you think about the melody without instruments, it's very, very, Sam Cooke-ish, y'know? We got a verse-and-a-half, or, two into it and just couldn't think of a chorus and so, (laughs) Glenn called Seger on the phone and sang it to him, and Seger just came right in with, (sings) 'It's gonna be a Heartache Tonight!' So, Glenn called me back and said, 'We got a chorus.'"

Bob Seger told us that the mixture of writing, recording, and performing makes him feel as though he's back operating at the top of his creative game: "It feels good to write again and get back into it. I feel like I'm back workin' again, and it's a good feelin.' I'm looking forward to doing some more, y'know?"

Although his life on the road is done, Seger swears he'll never stop creating new music: "I would remain writing songs, I don't know about recording, y'know? I think I'd write for other people. The recording takes a lot more time than the writing, y'know? And I think I could better use my time writing and turning them over to someone else."

Twenty One Pilots will be the next featured artists for MTV Unplugged.

In this latest edition of the iconic series, Twenty One Pilots take the stage in Los Angeles to perform stripped-down versions of some of the biggest songs of their career.

The news comes as the duo gears up this summer and fall for a global tour, with stops across North America and Europe.

The MTV special will premiere globally on June 9 at 9 p.m. ET.

TL;DR:

• Twenty One Pilots will be featured artists for MTV Unplugged on June 9 at 9 p.m. ET.
• Recorded in Los Angeles.
• They'll perform stripped-down versions of some of the biggest songs of their career.

Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators (SMKC) have released the video for their second single, "April Fool." The clip was shot live throughout SMKC's sold out spring The River Is Rising Tour, which they recently wrapped up. The trek was in support of their new album 4.

Slash said, "I've got a lot of tapes of us jamming ‘April Fool' at soundchecks without knowing where it would go, and although it took awhile to put together, it's a cool riff. The song really came together when we went into the studio, and it is one of the songs that Dave Cobb had a definite impact on. Certain key elements were missing in the demo, arrangement-wise, and he just went, ‘We'll connect that right there…' And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, that's a good idea!' (laughs) Sometimes you just need that other person that you can trust musically. And if they have an idea, you can't be too precious to try it."

Kennedy adds of the song, "It's one of my favorites. A really fun track. Lyrically it's about being played, and ultimately you realize you've had enough, and you decide you're going to have the last laugh in the end. That's where that line ‘I guess the jokes' on you,' comes into play. And Dave got his hands dirty on this one. He did some tweaking and suddenly it was like, ‘This is a lot better!' We were really, really, happy with how it turned out."

"April Fool" follows the the band's first single "The River Is Rising" which reached Number Seven on the Active Rock Charts.

The 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are Duran Duran, Pat Benatar, Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, and Eminem. This year's Musical Excellence Award will go to Judas Priest along with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Early Influence Awards will go to Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten, with Ahmet Ertegun Awards going to recording engineer, producer, and executive Jimmy Iovine, R&B singer and Sugar Hill Records founder Sylvia Robinson, and attorney, Allen Grubman.

The 2022 Rock Hall nominees that did not make the final cut are Beck, Kate Bush, Devo, Fela Kuti, MC5, New York Dolls, A Tribe Called Quest, and Dionne Warwick.

The 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on November 5th at L.A.'s Microsoft Theater and air at a later date on HBO and stream on HBO Max.

Several of the inductees have taken to socila media regarding the announcement:

Judas Priest: "We are thrilled and honored to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame 2022. This is also a great moment for British Heavy Metal, Metal worldwide and our amazing fans who support us and keep flying the flag for Metal and Judas Priest!"

Duran Duran's John Taylor: "We are so honored and thrilled and happy. We really want to thank our fans, the people that have been voting for us, really, really pushing, giving us the people's vote. We're very proud of that. Nick (Rhodes) is working on his speech. We'll see you in Los Angeles."

Lionel Richie: "Being elected to the rock hall is an incredible honor. I would like to say THANK YOU to all of the voters, to all of my wonderful fans and to everyone at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Congratulations to all of my fellow 2022."

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo: "We are thrilled and humbled to become part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame family. Thank you to everyone who voted especially the fans and congratulations to all the other inductees."

Eurythmics: "We are beyond delighted to announce that Eurythmics have been inducted into the legendary Rock Hall."

Dolly Parton: "I am honored and humbled by the fact that I have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Of course I will accept it gracefully. Thanks to everyone that voted for me and to everyone at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I will continue to work hard and try to live up to the honor."

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford told us a while back that Priest wouldn't have sustained such a lengthy career without the support of their fans: "It's an ongoing metal love affair that's been solid and kept us going and motivated, quite frankly. Bands don't exist without the people that support them, and so it is with Priest, y'know? Without our fans we're nothing, so we love our fans dearly, and we do as much as we can to keep that bond strong and solid."

Duran Duran won this year's fan vote and bassist John Taylor admitted to us that he's never once taken his life and career with the band for granted: "The kind of fortune that Duran Duran was sort of happens once in a lifetime, really. It's just like kids that come together that happen to, like, be into the same thing -- they just happen to go to the right place, the right time, meet 'Mr. Big' and da-da-da-da; and suddenly, it's a snowball effect."

Pat Benatar told us that persistence and a firm belief in one's art is fundamental in creating and maintaining a career in rock: "Sometimes you're up against a brick wall, and you have really good intentions, and you just can't get there, y'know? That's why it's not plumbing (laughs), y'know? That's why it's art. So you have to go with the ebb-and-flow that sometimes, those are the kinds of records you have to make, and then every once in a while you get lucky, and you actually get one -- y'know, the intention that you wanted to do actually comes to fruition."

Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox spoke candidly about what the group means to her: "It's just part of my history and part of my life's work and it's a special thing, I think, looking at it from this distant point of view. I think the songs we've written and recorded together span quite a long period of time, and they're beautiful songs. It's a certain kind of sound. It's a certain kind of identity, I guess."

Rapper Eminem told us that his ability to keep people guessing about his lyrical intention is crucial to who he is as an artist. "A lot of people ask me, 'You joke so much. You say so much f--ked up s--t, it's like, when do we know when you're joking and when do we know to take you seriously?,' and you don't. Y'know what I'm saying? It's your guess. Am I serious or am I not? When am I serious? When am I kidding? When am I joking? When am I not? It's kind of like that mystique that I want to leave about me. It's the only mystique that I got."

Carly Simon told us that even though most of her work is in the pop and rock fields, she was reared on the "Great American Songbook" as much as she was on classic Top 40 radio: "I'm quite familiar with that genre, having grown up in a family that went to musical comedy openings and closings, and my father published books by Oscar Hammerstein and George Gershwin, and we were very much music lovers in a wider sense. We loved all kinds of music. There was always music in my house."

Dolly Parton told us that it's her songwriting that she values most out her numerous talents: "Every time I get in a creative mood, I get excited because I feel like good, bad or indifferent I feel like I'm gonna leave something in the world today that wasn't there yesterday. So, I love writing songs, being able to express myself and hopefully be able to speak for other people, too."

Producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis made their bones in Minneapolis as part of the Time and under the tutelage of Prince. Although responsible for countless era-defining records on their own, they've never forgotten how Minneapolis became the music mecca for a short period of time: "The record companies started descending. It was like anybody that could hold a guitar would try to put a band together. And yeah, they'd get these deals and their whole thing would be, 'Oh yeah, we're from Minneapolis,' and we'd be going, 'They ain't from Minneapolis.' We knew everybody from Minneapolis because we were part of it. Man, it was crazy. It was a crazy time."

Lionel Richie, who currently serves as one of the judges on ABC's American Idol, told us that one of the best parts of performing on the road is getting to see the various generations out together for the night all in one place -- something you usually don't see these days: "It is a beautiful thing, I'm so enjoying it. Only one line I have to get used to when I get the new school kids is, 'My mom. . . (laughs) My mom and dad played your records all the time, Mr. Richie.' 'Cause the question I kept asking is, 'How do you know the Commodores so well? And all of my back catalog?' And they were saying, 'You were taught in the family.'"

Ed Sheeran has joined forces with Ukrainian band, Antytila to releasee a new version of his song "2Step." Recently the band made news when they were denied their request to play a benefit concert featuring Sheeran.

When Sheeran found out, he posted to the band on social media. He wrote, "I can't wait to check out your music, guys, sending lots of love." Shortly after he invited the band to collaborate with him and even asked them to write a new verse of the song.

The video was filmed both in Kyiv and on the ground in northeast Ukraine where the band's frontman, Taras Topolia, is working as a medic.

The studio that the band usually uses, in the city of Hostomel, was under occupation, so they had to find another studio to complete the recording.

Sheeran and Topolia have since communicated through Instagram DMs.

TL;DR:

• Ed Sheeran has joined forces with Ukrainian band, Antytila to releasee a new version of his song "2Step."
• The band was denied their request to play a benefit concert featuring Sheeran. When Sheeran found out, he reached out.
• He invited the band to collaborate with him and even asked them to write a new verse of the song.

Madonna has announced her upcoming remix collection titled Finally Enough Love. It will feature her 50 singles that have topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. The tracks span from 1989's "Like A Prayer" and "Express Yourself," all the way up to 2019's "Medellín."

Madonna is the only artist to ever have 50 #1 hits on any Billboard chart.

The record-breaking music set will be released at various times and in various formats, including digital, vinyl, and CD. The first set will start streaming on June 24.

TL;DR:

• Madonna to release a remix collection titled Finally Enough Love.
• Will feature her 50 singles that have topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.
• Madonna is the only artist to ever have 50 #1 hits on any Billboard chart.
• The first set will start streaming on June 24.

Even after all these years, Paul McCartney still worries about introducing new material into his live concerts. The former-Beatle answered fan questions on his official website (PaulMcCartney.com) and shed light on his issues with dropping untested material into his setlists: "The trouble with that though, is there's always the eternal dilemma of what do you take out, knowing the audiences really want to hear the hits so you've got to balance it very carefully. You're taking out something they know very well and putting in something they don't necessarily know, and I'm always dreading that's the signal for them to go get a beer."

He admitted that one of his fears is an audience walking out on him: "It's actually a recurring dream of mine: I'm playing and people start walking out, and I'm trying to think of a song that will get them back -- 'Do 'Long Tall Sally,' quick!' – but they keep walking -- 'Let's do 'Yesterday!' – it's typical performer's insecurities. I'd like to do a whole show of new songs but that's for the anoraks in the crowd, that's for the deep fans."

McCartney went on to explain why he keeps the show jam packed with massive hits and crowd favorites: "(The audience) have paid good money, have brought their mums and dads (and don't want to hear) deep cuts. I think they want Beatles stuff mainly, Wings stuff, and maybe some of the new stuff. I force some of the new stuff on them. I know which ones people like because you can see it all light up, all the phones recording. When you say you want to do a new one it's like a black hole!"

Despite being a seasoned live performer for well over 60 years -- Paul McCartney spoke about how his nerves manifest themselves these days: "It's normally the first thing in the morning when you wake up. You think, 'What is it today? What -- ah, it's a show. It's a big show tonight' And really that's the time that I get a little bit nervous. I maybe wake up a little earlier than I would've. 'Cause with the Beatles I used to get quite nervous, especially if they were big shows."

Billie Eilish is heading to the UK to promote climate change awareness. She'll be presenting a six-day climate conference called Overheated in partnership with Support + Feed and REVERB. It will take place next month at London's O2 Arena.

The conference will feature musicians, climate activists, and designers discussing the climate crisis and how to make a difference.

Along with her brother Finneas, she'll introduce the conference that begins on June 10. Overheated coincides with each of Eilish's six shows at that venue, on her Happier Than Ever World Tour.

TL;DR:

• Billie Eilish is presenting a six-day climate conference called Overheated at next month at London's O2 Arena.
• The conference will feature musicians, climate activists, and designers discussing the climate crisis and how to make a difference.

Charlie Puth has released the official music video for his new song, "That's Hilarious." The song was produced by Puth and co-written with longtime collaborator JKash.

It's about the pain of feeling betrayed by a breakup. Written from his own experience, it's considered to be Puth's most personal work yet.

"That's Hilarious" is from his album, Charlie, due out later this year.

TL;DR:

• Charlie Puth has released the official music video for his new song, "That's Hilarious."
• Written from his own experience, it's considered to be his most personal work yet.
• It's from his forthcoming album, titled Charlie, due out later this year.

Daryl Hall admitted he's not averse to selling his song catalogue like many of his rock legend peers have been doing over the past few years. Hall is on the road this month with special guest Todd Rundgren in support of his new solo compilation, BeforeAfter, and has just rolled a trio of Hall & Oates dates set for the fall.

We caught up with Hall and asked him if he's been approached about selling his publishing catalogue, which includes countless radio staples, such as "Rich Girl," "You Make My Dreams," "Private Eyes," "Out Of Touch," "Sara Smile," "One On One," "Kiss On My List," "Everytime You Go Away," among many, many more: "Not really -- yes and no -- but, I have an open mind about it all. I'm not against it, but I think it's one of those things that you have to know what you're walking into when you do it. Because it's one's work and life -- you give it to somebody else; it's theirs. It's not yours anymore. Everybody's motivated by different things. Some people are motivated any dollar signs. Y'know, like, 'Wo -- I can get all this money -- ahhh' -- and they don't think much past that. But there are other people, hopefully, who think it through."

JUST ANNOUNCED: Daryl Hall & John Oates tour dates (subject to change):

September 1 - Canandaigua, NY - CMAC Performing Arts Center
October 20 - Sparks, NV - John Ascuagas Nugget
October 22 - Laughlin, NV - Laughlin Event Center

Despite there being a clear distinction between the Peter Gabriel-led Genesis era and the Phil Collins years, co-founding keyboardist Tony Banks saw little difference in the band's music over the years.

During a chat with Classic Rock, Banks was asked if he saw any line in the sans between the two periods, and said, "I don't feel that. There is a hard-core who feel the days with Peter are the glory days, but I never really saw a big change in Genesis. It was a slow thing. We got better at the short stuff. Once we did (1978's) 'Follow You Follow Me,' the singles became something we were able to do, even quite complex songs like 'Turn It On Again' and 'Mama.' "

Banks, who wrote some of the band's most beautiful -- and catchy -- musical moments, went on to explain, "In many ways it's more difficult to write a good simple song. And some people are very good at it – the Beatles, the Bee Gees, ABBA. I love a well-done single, even nowadays when I hear something like 'Let It Go' from Frozen -- that's a really good pop song! There's a real art to that."

Although by no means a reluctant stage performer, Tony Banks told us his primary duty in Genesis has always been that of a composer: "It's always been one of my major roles in this group to write music. 'Cause, y'know, back in the time when Pete (Gabriel) first left, y'know, Mike (Rutherford) and I were definitely doing a lion's share of the writing, even before that. In the later part, y'know, slightly Phil (Collins') contribution came up more to a kind of level with ours. I mean that was the thing. I'd say it was very much an even thing on those last two Genesis albums."

There's been no word on any further Genesis activity since the band wrapped its final European dates back on March 26th at London's O2 Arena.

It was 25 years ago today (May 5th, 1997) that Paul McCartney released his Flaming Pie album. The collection, which was hailed as a return to form, followed closely on the heels of the Grammy Award-winning The Beatles Anthology project and marked McCartney's final album recorded and released during his wife Linda McCartney's lifetime and the last set to feature new contributions from her. Linda McCartney died of cancer on April 17th, 1998 at age 56.

Flaming Pie peaked at Number Two on the Billboard 200 albums chart, marking his first solo Top 10 album since 1982's Tug Of War.

The album was co-produced by ELO's Jeff Lynne and featured contributions from Ringo Starr, Steve Miller, James McCartney, Beatles recording engineer Geoff Emerick, and "Fab Four" producer George Martin.

With The Beatles Anthology -- and the group's work process -- still very fresh in his mind, Paul McCartney didn't set out to create a Beatles-sounding album so much as one with a Beatles-like vibe: "I thought I should do this with this album. I should make sure that I like every single song, and I think they're all strong, they're simple and direct -- and they're all recorded with a good humor."

McCartney explained that the album had a far more laid-back approach than he's normally used to employing: "We just did it not like you do a normal album, where you'll do, kind of three months heavy breathing -- y'know, mixing, doing this -- vocals, backings. . . We just, sort of, made a few tracks, stockpiled them and then suddenly it was, it was t here."

Flaming Pie marked the first time that McCartney's son -- the then 19-year-old James traded licks with his dad on record: "He's been playing guitar for about nine or 10 years now. And I just hear him at home, and y'know, I occasionally think, 'That's really good, wow!' Y'know, it doesn't really go beyond that. But, I had this track, called 'Heaven On A Sunday,' I said, 'Are you up for it?' He said, 'Yeah, okay' -- ever so casual -- we just (laughs) went into the studio, and it was lovely, really, 'cause, y'know, when you've lived with someone or played with someone that long, you've got a little rapport. With James, it just worked out."

In 2020, Paul McCartney reissued Flaming Pie as part of his ongoing archival collection. The set has been released in a four-LP / five-CD / two-DVD "Collector's Edition," strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies.

The "Collector's Edition" includes the original album remastered at Abbey Road Studios, 32 bonus audio tracks -- including unheard home recordings and demos -- alternative studio recordings, rough mixes, video content -- including the In The World Tonight album documentary -- and much more.

Kirk Hammett maintains that it was the maturity of his Metallica bandmates that allowed him the freedom to record and release his debut solo EP, Portals.

Hammett spoke about the critically acclaimed new set to Consequence Of Sound's Kyle Meredith, with Ultimate-Guitar.com transcribing Hammett's view on the first solo project released in the group's 40-year-history.

The guitarist revealed, "Things are just different now with Metallica. I mean, we're just a lot more mature, I guess. A lot more responsible, I guess (laughs)? And so it seems like a solo album, it's a different understanding. I think the understanding nowadays is that we're all artists, and we all create, and we should have the opportunity to express ourselves, put out whatever art we want to put out to the world."

He went on to explain why the time has come for the members of Metallica to spread their creative wings individually: "There's no reason why we shouldn't at this point. What do we got to prove? We're friggin' one the biggest bands in the world these days, y'know? I mean, how can anything dilute our influence these days? I believe that putting out an album like this only makes us look better. And it's not just my solo album."

Hammett added: "This album is the result of those guys' influence, too. Look, I have been playing with them for the last 40 years. They're on this album as much as I am. Just subjectively, not objectively. We're all influenced by each other, when it comes to being in a band. There's no way around it."

Def Leppard enjoyed the process of recording virtually so much during the pandemic -- they're looking to keep doing it in the future. Frontman Joe Elliott shed light on howe the band recorded their new album, Diamond Star Halos, which drops on May 27th, telling Classic Rock magazine, "It was so exciting to wake up in Dublin and see a message from (guitarist) Phil (Collen) with a new idea. This was a whole new way of working for us -- and I don't think we'll ever do an album the traditional way again. This way, there was no pressure. And the record doesn't sound disjointed. It sounds like a band all on the same page, which is what we are."

This time around, guitarist Viv Campbell sat out of the composing duties for the album, admitting, "I just wasn't ready this time. That's the bottom line. I thought we were going on tour, and then it was: 'We're making a record!' I was in full panic mode. I do feel bad for not pulling my weight. But it wasn't like we were short of songs."

Joe Elliott added: "Vivian was happy to do the Ronnie Wood thing on this record. But his contribution to this record is immense from a performance point of view. His (Jimi) Hendrix-like solo in 'This Guitar' is superb."

In pulling the "diamond star halos' line from the 1971 T. Rex classic "Get It On (Gang-A-Gong) for their album title, Joe Elliott explained, "Whenever people take a dig at our lyrics, we've always said: 'We're more Marc Bolan than Bob Dylan, more 'hubcap diamond star halo' than 'the answer is blowin' in the wind'! So when Phil suggested the title, we all went: ‘F***, yes!' Glam is in our DNA. We're all big fans of (Led) Zeppelin and the (Rolling) Stones, but really, in a musical sense, we were born on Top Of The Pops -- (David) Bowie, Bolan, Slade, Sweet. With this album we've gone back beyond the '80s to the '70s and all the music that inspired us as kids. Yet it still sounds like 2022 -- even though we did it in 2020."

Leppard will be out on the road all summer with Motley Crue, Poison, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts with opening night set for June 16th at Atlanta's SunTrust Park. Guitarist Phil Collen can't contain his excitement for finally being back on tour: "We feel like we're moving into a different league. There's a lot of bands who have stopped tourin' stopped performin' -- lost interest. We're the complete opposite. We're rarin' to go, so it's gonna be bigger and we've got this album that's amazin' -- and tourin' -- we're a great live band. Y'know, we put pride in all the vocals and everything we do and we can't wait to get out there and prove that. 'Cause, since we were out last time, there's less out there."

Dua Lipa quit smoking in order to keep herself healthy for the Future Nostalgia tour.

According to The Sun, the singer announced at her final show of the UK leg of the tour Monday (May 2nd) that she now feels "invincible after kicking the habit."

She told the crowd, "I had laryngitis in December and that kind of kickstarted me quitting smoking a month earlier than I was supposed to. Bit I did it and I have stuck to it."

Lipa added that she's also been tracking her habits with an app and doing regular yoga while on the road.

Justin Bieber says that his next album will feature John Mayer.

The "Peaches" singer told Apple Music's Ebro Darden on Tuesday (May 3rd), that Mayer contributed a "wicked guitar solo."

Bieber continued, "He's someone who I've looked up to for a long time. So we were at Henson the studio, and I was working on this song and he came in and he's like, ‘Can I go in the booth?' And I was like, ‘Yeah, bro, go in.' And so he went in the booth and then he came out and he laid a guitar solo and it was just like, it was mind-blowing to see him actually operate in his gift like that, being able to like see it first-hand, because like he is on another level. It's insane."

Cardi B took to Instagram to insist that she was joking after a video of her telling people to to "take a shot right now, everybody take a line" at her MET Gala afterparty at the Standard. Cardi told fans, "Fame has turned me into a prisoner. I make one joke as a hostess because I am hosting a party and it gets twisted. Why can't every celebrity joke around and say slick s–t?"

She continued, "I'm tired. I can't be myself anymore. . . . If I could click my f–king feet three times and go back to f–king 2013 when I was just a regular b*tch, dancing and making money every single night, that is where I want to be. That's when I was me."

She added, "I hate fame. I hate being famous. I really hate it. Let me tell you something: If you ever wish to be rich and famous, don't wish to be famous, wish to be rich. I feel like God cursed me with fame."

Coldplay's new Music Of The Spheres World Tour App is free and available to download now for iOS and Android devices via coldplay.com/app. The app comes just in time for the band's US leg of their global stadium tour, which kicks off in Dallas on Friday (May 6th).

The app was created as part of Coldplay's pledge to make their Music Of The Spheres World Tour as sustainable and low-carbon as possible since, according to studies1, fan travel accounts for the largest part of tour-related emissions. The app allows fans to plan low-carbon travel to and from shows, with those who choose green journeys rewarded with a merch discount code.

Coldplay said, "We're really proud of the Music Of The Spheres World Tour app. For the past few years, we've been figuring out how to put sustainability at the heart of our tour. The app is a big part of that. You can use the app to figure out the cleanest and greenest ways to get to and from the concert. It also allows us to see how people have travelled to and from the shows so that we can drawdown all those emissions. You can also get right to the heart of the tour with exclusive photos, performances and behind-the-scenes access."

The app was first made available to fans before the Coldplay's shows in Latin American in March and April. Tens of thousands of journey plans have already been submitted, with the average fan carbon footprint down around 50% from 2016/17's A Head Full Of Dreams Tour.

The app also offers Coldplay-themed games and AR experiences, exclusive behind-the-scenes content, photos and videos from every show, plus Coldplay news updates and tour info.

The band will also be streaming the full concert audio of an upcoming European date exclusively via the app in a presentation powered by SAP (full details to be announced soon).

Joan Jett took time out to slam Ted Nugent, who believes she should not have been ranked in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists" list. Not too long ago, Nugent defamed Jett on his YouTube livestream for her placement on the magazine's list at Number 87 by naming other musicians he would've preferred to see on the list -- and hitting below the belt regarding her alleged sexual preferences.

Nugent mocked Jett by saying, "(I) love Joan. Some of my greatest memories include lesbians. I love the lesbians; it's a cocktail of wonderment. (I) love Joan Jett -- 'put another dime in the jukebox, baby'; great rock and roller -- but as a Top 100 guitar player, but you don't list Rickey Medlocke or Dave Amato. Really? Or Dick Wagner and the Frost from Detroit. Or Mark Farner? Mark Farner from Grand Funk Railroad. Joan Jett is on the list but not Mark Farner? Grandmaster Flash is in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame but not Grand Funk Railroad (laughs)?. . . You have to have sh** for brains, and you have to be a soulless, soulless pr*** to put Joan Jett."

Jett, who was promoting her new acoustic album, Changeup, countered in NME, saying, "Is that his implication that he should be on the list instead of me? Well, that's just typical -- it's what I've dealt with my whole life, being written off. Ted Nugent has to live with being Ted Nugent. He has to be in that body, so that's punishment enough. He's not a tough guy. He plays a tough guy, but this is the guy who sh** his pants -- literally -- so he didn't have to go in the Army. So this is the tough guy who's running around America, stirring things up against each other."

During her 2015 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame, Joan Jett spoke frankly about the passion and promise of true rock n' roll: "I come from a place where rock n' roll means something. It means more than music, it means more than fashion, more than a good pose. It's a language of a sub-culture that has made eternal teenagers of all who follow it. It's a sub-culture of integrity, rebellion, frustration, alienation, and the glue that set several generations free of unnatural societal self-suppression. (Applause) Yeah! Rock n' roll is political! It is a meaningful way to express dissent, upset the status quo, stir up revolution, and fight for human rights! (Applause) Do you think I'm making it sound more important and more serious than it is -- it's only rock n' roll, right? Rock n' roll is an idea and an ideal."

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will next perform on May 14th at Macon, Georgia's Macon City Auditorium.

Taylor Swift will screen All Too Well: The Short Film at the Tribeca Film Festival next month.

The lineup for the decorated film festival was released Monday (May 2nd) and includes "A Conversation With Taylor Swift." The event will take place at the Beacon Theater on June 11th and feature the 32-year-old Grammy Award winner as she explains the process of bringing the 13-minute track to the big screen.