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On this day in 1969, Led Zeppelin made their debut on the U.S. singles chart with "Whole Lotta Love," it went on to make #4 on the chart and was the first of six Top 40 singles for the group in the U.S. During the band's career, Zeppelin never released any singles in the U.K. Also on that day The Rolling Stones played a free festival at Altamont in California, along with Jefferson Airplane, Santana, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby, Stills ,Nash & Young. While the Rolling Stones played, fan Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death by Hell's Angels who'd been hired to police the event. It's claimed Hunter was waving a revolver. One other man drowned, two men were killed by in a hit-and-run accident and two babies were born. Find out what else happened on this date in music history here -

Axl Rose Accused of Lip Synching

Guns N' Roses are facing a backlash after a recent concert in Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

First the band reportedly took the stage 2 hours late and Rock AAA reports that the led them to break their performance curfew and they wound up setting off fireworks at midnight on a weekday, angering near by residents.

But now Axl Rose faces accusations of lip-synching during the performance. Rock AAA report that a New Zealand TV report from 3news shows that while the lead vocals on Welcome to the Jungle are coming through the PA, Rose doesn't always have his mic to his face.

Rock AAA had a follow up report with two videos from different angles so you can judge for yourself if Axl did or didn't. Check it out - here

Slipknot Announce Live Return

(Gibson) Slipknot will return to the stage in the middle of next year to headline Europe's Sonisphere festival – the same festival which this year saw the unprecedented "Big Four" thrash lineup of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax.

It will be Slipknot's first run of shows without founding member Paul Gray, who passed away earlier this year.

In a statement, the band said: "We're looking forward to spending our summer in Europe. This tour is about us and our fans. It's about celebrating the life of our brother, Paul, and his legacy. The door is neither open nor closed. This tour is about burning down that door. See you this summer." - more on this story

Ask Dr. Ozzy

(hennemusic) TheBookSeller.com reports that Sphere – an imprint of Little, Brown - has acquired the rights to a new book from legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne.

Little, Brown editor-in-chief Antonia Hodgson acquired world rights for "Ask Dr. Ozzy" from Sharon Osbourne, with Ben Greenberg at Grand Central Publishing publishing in the US.

"Ask Dr Ozzy" - written with "I Am Ozzy" co-writer Chris Ayres - is a spin-off from Osbourne's ongoing Sunday Times column in which he offers medical advice. - more on this story

Megadeth New Album Progress

(Gibson) Megadeth's Dave Mustaine says the band's follow-up to last year's Endgame is shaping up to be "more like Endgame, maybe sticking in that vein and going a little forward toward what I like."

Speaking to Faster Louder, Mustaine said he preferred Endgame's more aggressive moments. "We were forced in a way to have to do certain things and it's really easy for me to blame somebody, but at the end of the day it was my fault, I could have said no, but I didn't. I was nervous that we were going to end up getting kicked off the label. I figured I would rather go underground and play what I like, and not sell as many records, but still be able to look myself in the face in the morning."

Mustaine says his bandmates, including recently returned bass player David Ellefson, are welcome to have songwriting input, as is producer Andy Sneap, and he may consider bringing in an outside writer to collaborate on a track. - more on this story

Rush Filming Time Machine Show for DVD

(hennemusic) As a tribute to the US city that first played their music, Rush have confirmed that the Cleveland performance of their Time Machine tour - on April 15th at the Quicken Loans Arena - will be filmed for full-length release.

Cleveland is remarkable for being one of the very first US cities where the band performed, in addition to being the first city to provide American airplay.

This will be a must-see event for Rush fans in Cleveland – and for everyone able to make the road trip, as it is will also mark the first live full-length filming on US soil. - more on this story

Aerosmith Star To Experience Hendrix On Leno

(Gibson) Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford will perform Jimi Hendrix's classic 1967 song "Fire" along with fellow Experience Hendrix tour mates — Jonny Lang and Chris Layton — this evening on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Whitford, who's played rhythm guitar for Aerosmith since 1971, recently told Michigan's The Macomb Daily,"[Jimi's] had such a profound effect ... and still does to this day. It's something we'll be talking about until we're six feet under. The body of work that he did in such a short period ... I think it's astounding that he was able to do that and leave this incredible, lasting impression. It's hard to grasp it all."

Whitford joined the second leg of the all-star Experience Hendrix Tour for 19 dates this past fall. Original Hendrix bassist Billy Cox anchored the popular tour, which also featured Robert Randolph, Susan Tedeschi, Steve Vai and other virtuosos. - more on this story

Tabloid Claims A Virtual Beatles Reunion is Coming

(Gibson) Oh, those British tabloids. If they're not chasing down poor Prince William, they're digging up our favorite rock legends. Can we believe them as sources? Well, you decide…

The Daily Star is reporting that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will perform at the Hollywood Bowl next year, accompanied by digital images of their late Beatle bandmates, John Lennon and George Harrison. The show will supposedly benefit charities in support of world peace and breast cancer.

While other news outlets have run with the Daily Star story, there are no corroborating sources at this time. - more on this story

AC/DC's Brian Johnson Pub Jam

(hennemusic) AC/DC's Brian Johnson joined the Greg Billings Band last month at the Irish Rover Pub in Sarasota, Florida to perform a few AC/DC classics.

It was the Pub's 5th Anniversary, and Johnson joined pal Billings and crew to mark the occasion.

The two have reportedly been friends for a number of years, and Johnson has joined Billings on stage several times in the past. - more including video

Chicago Reunite With Phil Ramone In The Studio

(Gibson) Veteran rock band Chicago are recoding again with legendary producer Phil Ramone (who produced their hit song "Alive Again") for their next album planned for sometime in 2011.

Undercover.fm reports group founder Robert Lamm as saying: "Phil is an old friend and we have a long history. We were talking last night at dinner about exactly when he first became involved in Chicago. It was the mid-'70s. We were recording at Caribou Ranch and doing a lot of television and Phil would be the guy who mixed."

Chicago will get together in the New Year to finish the album. "We just spent three weeks in Nashville recording some new music," he said. "The experience was so good, so organic and so musical that I think everybody was encouraged to try and do it again in the next few months, an album top to bottom." -

Sammy Hagar Car Coming Next Year

(hennemusic) Sammy Hagar can't drive 55… ...because his new 3-wheel car goes from 0-60 in under 4 seconds.

Autoblog reports Talon Motors unveiled its new Invader at this year's Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas last month.

The Invader builder has teamed up with former Van Halen front-man Sammy Hagar to produce a limited-edition signature series. - more on this story

Tantric Frontman Releases Christmas Song

(Submitted) Tantric Frontman Hugo Ferreira puts a unique twist on a holiday classic with a rock rendition of "Carol of the Bells". Ferreira's first holiday release is now available for digital download at iTunes and other digital retail outlets. The song is released on Ferreira's own record label, Breakdown Records.

While recording in his home studio in Louisville, KY, Ferreira realized the vocal had an underlying darkness. Ferreira says "the hardest part about doing a cover of a Christmas classic is keeping your rock fans interested by avoiding the typical jolly style, while still staying true to the song. I wanted it to sound like it should be in a Tim Burton movie."

Ferreira selected "Carol of the Bells" because he connected with its underlying dark tone. Ferreira says, "I've always loved this particular song especially the vocals. I wanted it to be beautiful but dark. It came out like I imagined it." - more on this story

Blackmore Rocks with Deep Purple... Sort of

(Gibson) Jurgen R. Blackmore, son of Deep Purple founder Ritchie Blackmore, joined his dad's former band onstage in Germany last weekend to perform "Smoke on the Water."

Blackmore, who currently plays guitar with Over the Rainbow (a Rainbow tribute band made up of former Rainbow members), joined Steve Morse for an extended version of the group's Machine Head staple.

Blackmore's father left Deep Purple somewhat acrimoniously in 1993 (as chronicled in the DVD Come Hell or High Water). Jürgen is a blazing guitarist in his own right, and has settled comfortably in his father's shoes with former Rainbow members Joe Lynn Turner, Bobby Rondinelli, Greg Smith and Paul Morris. - Check out video here

Muse Frontman Wants To Be Hemp Farmer

(Gibson) Muse frontman Matt Bellamy has told The Sun newspaper that he might become a farmer and retire to his native Devon, U.K. He already owns the property.

"It's just land with a couple of jaded barns that need to be renovated," he said. "It's a nice place to camp but my long-term plan is to grow industrial hemp for making paper and material.

"When I stop touring I'm going to hang around there and start shearing sheep. As we speak, I'm letting the rams loose on the ewes. I got them mainly because I've got a farm which has a lot of steep hills, so the grass gets out of control unless you get grazing animals in there." - more on this story

Singled Out: Random Touch

Today Christopher Brown from prog rockers Random Touch tells us about "Home for Twilight" from their brand new album "Reverberating Apparatus". Here is the story:

Because we so prolific, and because our releases often trail by a couple years or so the creation of a track, we often have very little memory of the jam itself. However, Home for Twilight's length, breadth and maturity made for easy recollection. The original recording notes identify the sixth track of June 16, 2007 as "Great." The piece has a quiet confidence and feels ripe with abundance and expansiveness. I remember feeling that it represented a mature work by Random Touch. Like many longer pieces, it begins slow and diffuse, resembling a deep-space nebulae.

As it progresses things begin falling into place, as if it is moving towards the creation of a bonafide solar system that moves with clockwork precision and a sense of completion. In the American Indian tradition of the four directions, West represents harvest, dreams, intuition and twilight. This piece seemed to be of the West, seemingly containing all four aspects. For me, twilight itself encompasses harvest, dreams and intuition, and so to offer the track a title centered around twilight, and with two meanings no less, seemed very apt.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album - right here!

Corrosion of Conformity Offshoot Righteous Fool Hitting The Road With Clutch

(Submitted) Righteous Fool, featuring Corrosion of Conformity bassist Mike Dean and drummer Reed Mullin along with guitarist Jason Browning, will play five dates in late December with Clutch.

The tour follows the release of the band's debut single "Forever Flames/Edict of Worms" which was recently released on the experimental metal label Southern Lord Records.

Righteous Fool recently played several dates with the reunited three-piece "Animosity"-era C.O.C lineup featuring Dean, Mullin and guitarist Woody Weatherman, and like C.O.C., they mix elements of hardcore punk with rock and metal. They opened for Clutch back in October, and are set to join the Maryland rockers again for a tour that begins on December 27th in Richmond, VA and wraps up on New Year's Eve in Asheville, NC. Also playing is Savannah, GA's Kylesa. - more on this story

Biffy Clyro US Tour

Biffy Clyro will be kicking off a US headlining tour on February 10, 2011 in support of their latest album, Only Revolutions.

Produced by Garth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers), mixed by Andy Wallace (Coldplay, Nirvana, Faith No More), and featuring the orchestration of multi Grammy-winning composer David Campbell, Only Revolutions is the fifth release from biffy clyro. - more on this story

Ozzy Osbourne Number One! TV Interview

(hennemusic) Ozzy Osbourne and his family were featured in the first episode of the second season of Germany's "Number One!" TV show with host Markus Kavka.

NOTE: The show is in German, and even Ozzy and his family's interviews are dubbed over in the German language.

English viewers may be able to follow some of the interview footage by catching the English underneath the German voice-over. - Watch it here

Simply Red Singer Tops Gene Simmons Sex Record?

Gene Simmons claimed to have slept with thousands of woman in his time. (Interestingly, that number climbed from his appearance on Oprah in the late 80s to more recently claims while at the same time he claimed to be faithful to Shannon Tweed.) Nevertheless, there is someone else in the music world who says he has done the same thing and is now sorry for it... not boasting about it. Gibson reports:

Mick Hucknall, singer with '80s stars Simply Red, guesses he slept with more than 3,000 women in 3 years during the band's glory years. But in an interview with the Guardian, he's now ready to put Simply Red to bed and apologized for his philandering behavior: "I regret the philandering. In fact, can I issue a public apology through the Guardian? They know who they are, and I'm truly sorry."

"When I had the fame, it went crazy," he said. "Between 1985-1987, I would sleep with about three women a day, every day. I never said no. This was what I wanted from being a pop star. I was living the dream and my only regret is that I hurt some really good girls." - more on this story

Steven Tyler Makes Ill Woman's Wish Come True

(hennemusic) Cleveland's Fox 8 reports that Aerosmith's Steven Tyler recently reached out to a Beachwood, Ohio woman with Lou Gehrig's disease.

Tyler made time for a special phone call Wednesday to Menorah Park Campus resident Susan Marshall.

During part of the call, Tyler told Marshall, "I have called, and Susan I love you, and happy Bat Mitzvah and happy everything else. I mean, happiness is all we got," Tyler said. - more on this story

Aretha Franklin Recovering From Surgery

(Gibson) Aretha Franklin's surgery in her Detroit, Michigan hometown, on Thursday was a success, according to a statement released Friday by the Queen of Soul.

"God is still in control," Franklin said. "I had superb doctors and nurses whom were blessed by all the prayers of the city and the country."

Franklin hasn't yet revealed the reason she required surgery. A month ago, the legendary singer cited doctor's orders when she canceled all of her scheduled concert dates and public appearances up until May 2011. The public first caught wind of Franklin's health problems after she stayed for several days in a Detroit hospital this past October. - more on this story

Cold Weather Spoils Weekend Concert Plans

(Gibson) Artists in the U.K. were forced to cancel gigs this past weekend as Britain suffers a crippling freeze. Madness cancelled their a gig at the Hull Arena Friday night gig while Dodgy were forced to cancel their three Scottish shows this weekend.

NME.com reports that Paul Weller has cancelled his Aberdeen Exhibition Centre show scheduled for Sunday, December 5 because of the bad weather conditions in Scotland.

The Vaccines' gig in Stoke-on-Trent and The Elephant Keys and White Buffalo gig at the Sheffield Leadmill, on Saturday, December 4 have also been cancelled. -

Fergie Names Her Rock Influences

(hennemusic) Fergie rocks. And she has a pretty impressive resume of influences to back it up.

The Black Eyes Peas singer has received raves and constant praise from Slash, with whom she worked on the track "Beautiful Dangerous" from his 2010 solo album.

When asked about her vocal influences, Fergie laid out a healthy list of rockers. "There are so many different people that I've emulated vocally," she said. "In the rock world - Sebastian Bach, Vince Neil, Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant. They all had amazing vocal talent. And as far as female vocalists, I love Heart, Joan Jett, Courtney Love, Laura Branigan, Linda Ronstadt, Barbra Streisand-or going back to when I was a child-Aileen Quinn, the original Annie. I have so many different influences, and if you listen, you can hear all of them throughout my songs. I like to use different parts of my voice, and I don't limit myself." - What does Slash have to say about her?

Kevin Shirley Talks Up Mr. Big Reunion Album

(Gibson) Legendary producer Kevin "Caveman" Shirley says the trick to getting such a powerful result out of Mr. Big on their forthcoming album What If… was to forget about impressing musicians and ladies, and just play.

Speaking to Music Radar's Joe Bosso, Shirley said: "This was my first time working with them, but I thought they were terrific. We had two weeks in the studio, not a lot of time, but it forced me to capture them playing live and getting a lot of energy – which definitely happened. Musically, they were much more like a Stone Temple Pilots band than, say… you know, hair metal of the '80s."

Shirley says his job, with Mr. Big and other bands he's produced such as Journey, Black Country Communion and Dream Theater, is to make them feel like they're 19 again, but with a more mature outlook based on writing great songs and not being too clever with their musicianship. "Stop thinking about the press and the reviewers," he said. "Do it for the right reasons. Make music to pull chicks and stop worrying about turning on the Steely Dan guys." - more on this story

Gene Simmons' Emotional Visit To The Anne Frank House

(hennemusic) Gene Simmons and his A&E show returned this weekend, and the new season kicks off with an insightful look into Gene's personal life.

The first episode includes footage of Gene facing his childhood demons and his mother's tragic past while visiting the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

Simmons rarely speaks about his mother's harsh survival from the Nazi concentration camps during WWII. His mother and Anne Frank were approximately the same age when they went into concentration camps and seeing how Anne lived hits very, very close to home for Gene. - more on this story

Anniversary of Roy Orbison's Death

(Gibson) A few days before his death on this day in 1988, Roy Orbison was asked in an interview about his legacy. And his answer was simple: "I just like to be remembered…" In fact, he has been. More than 20 years after his death, Orbison still is one of the icons of his generation, among superstars like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Some people will remember him for "Oh, Pretty Woman," the song that made history and was part of one of the most recognized soundtracks ever (Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, 1990). Even some rock fans will associate that song with Van Halen's version that became their second Top 20 pop hit in 1982. Later, Orbison cited that version as one of his favorites.

But his legacy goes beyond that one hit. Roy Orbison wrote "Oh, Pretty Woman" in 1964, and it was his sixth smash song in the early '60s. Orbison's first hit was "Only the Lonely," which reached #2 in 1960. Later, he got a series of hits that included "Running Scared" (#31, 1961), "Crying" (#2, 1961), "Dream Baby" (#4, 1962) and "In Dreams" (#7, 1963). He was successful not only in the U.S. but in England, where he toured with The Beatles. - more on this story

Steven Tyler American Idol Promos Online

(hennemusic) The hype machine is warming up for the new season of American Idol.

AI has released two promos for the show, with the new-look judging panel featuring Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson.

The promo theme is "everyone deserves a chance." The new season starts in mid-January. - Watch the promos here