This Week's Top stories

Here are the top stories from this week's Day in Rock and the top Day in Rock digest stories

Bret Michaels Nude- Two Velvet Revolver Hopefuls- KISS Not Allowed To Rock All Night- Music TV Coming Back?- Ozzy's Cocaine Cure All- Metallica Anniversary- more

Bret Michaels appears nude on the cover of the newest issue of Billboard Magazine (October 2nd, 2010 edition) which includes a feature article on Bret called Maximum Exposure. Check out cover here

In more series news, Michaels is scheduled to undergo more surgery come January, this time to close up a small hole in his heart. AOL Health has an in-depth article describing what exactly is wrong with the Poison frontman here

In a exclusive, ridiculously long and in-depth interview, Antiquiet catch up with A Perfect Circle, back from a five year hiatus here

There might actually be a TV channel that shows music videos again and we can thank MTV for it! Billboard reports that: the bad blood between online music video upstart Vevo and stalwart MTV may reach new levels, as Vevo reportedly is planning to launch a TV network for its content as well. more

Misery Signals guitar player Stu Ross, who has been with the group for most of their existence, has quit the band. Lambgoat contacted him for comment, check out what he had to say here

Linkin Park makes its customary No. 1 start on Billboard's European Albums chart, arriving at the top with "A Thousand Suns" (Warner Bros./Warner Music). more

Slash tells Classic Rock Revisited that he is "going back to L.A. next month and working with Duff [McKagan], Matt [Sorum] and Dave [Kushner] and working with a couple of new singers to see how they turn out. There is no effort being made to have Myles join Velvet Revolver." He also talks about considering having Axl sing on his solo album, read more here

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett says "We all have tons of music that is just lying around; there is never any shortage of ideas" more

Black Country Communion - the band featuring vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Trapeze), drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin), Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater) and blues rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa - has entered the official UK charts at #13. more

Robert Plant's new solo album, Band Of Joy - which entered the US Billboard charts at #5 this past week - will be released on double vinyl in the US and Canada on October 25th by Rounder/Universal Music. more

Following their run of dates with Swingin' Utters, Boston, MA's Have Nots will embark on a tour of their own that includes a handful of American gigs as well as a trip to Europe. more

Arsis will embark on a headlining tour in December! Support on "A Tour for the Sick" will come from Powerglove and Conducting From The Grave. more

Heather Locklear is wiping clean her marriage to Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora - she has filed court papers to revert back to her maiden name. more

Norma Jean will team up with Reckoner for a brief mid-November run more

Rufus Stone Limited Editions will release Ronnie James Dio - A Photographic Memoir on November 30th. more

In Ozzy Osbourne's health column for Britain's Sunday Times Magazine, he writes, "Funnily enough, in the 1980s I used to cure athlete's foot by pouring cocaine on my toes. They cut the stuff with so much foot powder back then, it was the best treatment you could find if you had an outbreak on the road. The only problem was the price, which was around $3,000 a toe." more

Soundgarden played a special "secret" show Monday night at Activision's exclusive launch event for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock at the Paramount Studios back-lot in Los Angeles, California. Wanna see video? Go here

Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven & Hell- Live at Wacken will be released on CD and DVD via Eagle Records in North America on November 16th. Columbia Music Entertainment Japan will release the set on CD on November 10th. more

Limp Bizkit's manager says that the band was forced to cancel last night's show in Oslo, Norway after the group's drummer, John Otto, was diagnosed with pneumonia. more

Metal Injection has an exclusive first-listen stream of Halford's new single, Undisputed, which comes off the Metal God's forthcoming release, Halford IV – Made Of Metal, out September 28th in the US. Listen here

In other Halford news, they have scheduled an in-store autograph session at Best Buy in Northridge, CA. Details here

Ozzy Osbourne said that alcohol, not politics, has stopped him from playing in Israel until now. Osbourne is in Israel this week as part of this year's international Ozzfest tour, along with Soulfly and Korn. Tuesday's performance will be his first ever in the Holy Land. more

Mastodon will appear on Adult Swim's Metalocalypse on Sunday, October 3rd. more

Sublime are set to hit the studio again to record their first album of new material in 13 years. Drummer Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson reformed the group last year and have since settled a name dispute with late singer Bradley Nowell's family. Now known as Sublime With Rome, the group has started work on a new album at the Radiostar studio in Weed, California. more

Metallica's James Hetfield says of the band's 30th anniversary in 2011: "We've gotta do something; there's no doubt about that. There are quite a few bands that have made it 30 years, but these days, I think it's getting a little harder to survive 30 years. The fact that we made it 30 years is pretty unbelievable." more

Indie pop act Tegan And Sara have posted a cover of Bad Religion's classic "Suffer" on their myspace profile. more

The Cult are turning to the UK for a major tour early next year. more

God Dethroned has revealed the tracklisting to it's forthcoming studio album. The album, titled "Under The Sign Of The Iron Cross," is set for release on November 23, 2010 through Metal Blade Records. more

Accept will embark on a European headlining tour in January and have also been confirmed for next year's edition of Hammerfest, set to take place March 17-19, 2011 in Prestatyn, North Wales.more -

Top Guitar Solos of All Time

Gibson have put together their list of the Top 50 Guitar Solos of All Time with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" taking the top prize (they topped the fan poll as well). Here is their run down for the top 3 entries:

3. "All Along the Watchtower," The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Although written by Bob Dylan, "All Along the Watchtower's" ownership was transferred to Jimi Hendrix as soon as the guitar god's version was released in 1968. An "overwhelmed" Dylan was all too happy to comply, saying, "He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there." While some of those things might be the vigorous opening and Hendrix's wild vocal delivery, Dylan also had to be talking about the guitarist's mind-blowing middle passage. The minute-long solo takes one unbelievable turn after another, drawing on blues, rock and soul, and merging Hendrix's ridiculous technical ability with his knack for melody and smart use of woozy effects. It's one, big psychedelic rocketship that blasts you somewhere else – the Vietnam War, your high school parking lot, a lazer light show, outer space, anywhere. You can get lost in that solo and, quite happily, not find your way back out for days. It's no wonder Dylan started playing the song Hendrix's way. – Bryan Wawzenek

2. "Eruption," Van Halen (Eddie Van Halen): You've heard of the Big Four? With apologies to Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, I'm referring to the original Big Four: "Mona Lisa" (Leonardo da Vinci), "David" (Michelangelo), "The Thinker" (Auguste Rodin) and, of course, "Eruption" (Eddie Van Halen). The first time I heard "Eruption," I remember asking my friend to play it again for me because I wasn't sure what I had just heard. "Oh, it's a guitar, and it's being played by one guy!" he assured me. It was too difficult for these young ears to comprehend that the symphonic cacophony I had just heard came from one man, one guitar and no overdubs. "Eruption" was an epiphany to me as a fledgling guitarist, as well as to millions of music fans everywhere. Nearly 30 years (and a zillion guitar solos) later, I've yet to hear its equal. – Sean Patrick Dooley

1. "Stairway to Heaven," Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page): Haters have railed against this song for years because of its ubiquitous presence on FM playlists, but the power of Page's presence in this Renaissance-ballad-turned-hard-rock-Valhalla is undeniable. From the tender acoustic fingerpicking of the song's intro to the power chord barrage at the end, "Stairway" is the ultimate showpiece for one of rock's ultimate guitarists. After allowing the spotlight to shine on John Paul Jones' multi-track maypole-dance recorders, Robert Plant's illustrative lyrics and vocal flourishes and John Bonham's thunderous entrance to the parade, Page finally commands it for himself with the solo to end all solos. Bathed in reverb, as though they were crashing down from the heavens themselves, Page's notes bend and blur in a rising movement that blows into the final verse with a goosebump-raising speed flurry. If you ask me, what makes for a good solo is its ability to propel the song forward; not to distract from the song for the sake of technical showboating, but to actually contribute to the musical ideas put forth in the composition – and to enhance them. Page's solo on "Stairway" does just that. It takes the folkie intro piece and provides a Bifröstian bridge to the thunderous end verse. Hammer of the Gods, indeed. – Michael Wright

- See the full list and the fan poll results here

Steven Tyler Not Leaving Aerosmith

Rumbling that Steven Tyler's new gig with American Idol may leave him out of Aerosmith have been addressed by bassist Tom Hamilton in a new interview with the Boston Herald.

"Steven's been very emphatic in saying that the way his time is arranged on the show leaves room to work on a record," Hamilton told the paper. "He's been taking great pains to remind everybody of that, so hopefully that's the way it will come out."

Hamilton doesn't sound convinced though, "There's a lot of not knowing what's going to happen, but that's how it's always been for us," Hamilton said. "I'm not sitting here thinking that (Tyler on "American Idol") is not going to work for us. Steven is an incredible I-can-do-anything kind of guy. But he's taken a big bite, and I'm looking forward to seeing him chew it." - Check out the Boston Herald feature for more

24th Anniversary of Cliff Burton's Death

Last Monday marked the 24th anniversary of Metallica bassist Cliff Burton's death. Gibson takes a look back, here is part of that report: By the time the follow-up album, Master of Puppets, was released, the band had played to massive crowds at the Monsters of Rock festival at Donington Park in England and at the Day on the Green festival in Oakland, California. Now a major metal act in their own right, they took to the road in March 1986 on the Damage, Inc. Tour. Initially, Metallica supported Ozzy Osbourne on the trek, but when Damage, Inc. hit Europe, it was Metallica who were the main act.

Stockholm, Sweden was the 13th stop on the European tour, for those of you seeking omens in this tale. After the show, the band climbed aboard their tour bus to head south to the next gig. For the previous few weeks, the group had complained to one another about how uncomfortable the bus was to sleep in. It had gotten to the point where the band had taken to cutting cards to see who would get the better bunk. On the night of September 26th, Cliff Burton drew the Ace of Spades (still there, omen-seekers?) and chose Kirk Hammett's bunk.

Around 7 a.m. on September 27, Metallica's tour bus careened off the road and flipped onto the grass near tiny Dörarp, in southern Sweden. Burton was thrown through a window and was crushed to death when the bus rolled over on him. The driver claimed he had hit a patch of black ice and lost control. Hetfield claimed the driver was drunk. A detective on the scene said the tracks indicated the driver might have fallen asleep. Whatever the truth was, no charges were filed. - more on this story

Ronnie James Dio To Be Immortalized With Statue

The late metal great Ronnie James Dio will be immortalized with a monument in the Bulgarian Black-sea coastal town of Kavarna, according to Blabbermouth. Here is part of their report: The statue will be placed in the city's central park, as part of the soon-to-be built "Walk of Rock," a project approved by the City Council four years ago.

According to Radio Bulgaria, the decision to erect the monument was taken by the municipal administration, with the most active proponents being Kavarna Mayor Tzonko Tzonev as well as leading journalists, musicians and singers.

Dio was reportedly one of the very first heavy rock icons to play Kavarna. In fact, he performed in Bulgaria no less than five times and took an active part in the campaign for liberating the Bulgarian nurses held in prison in Libya for eight years. - more on this story

Death Cab for Cutie Working On New Album

(Gibson) Death Cab for Cutie guitarist/producer Chris Walla has said his band has been working on their seventh album since June. The untitled release will be the follow-up to 2008's Narrow Stairs. The album will most likely come out in 2011, although nothing set in stone, yet.

"We're working in fits and starts," he told Spin.com. "It's hard to say – we might be half done, we may not have started."

Walla, Ben Gibbard and Co. are taking a different approach than with their previous album. "With that one, it was live off the floor," he said. "We're in the phase where songs could be so cool with just two acoustic guitars or they could be really good with sequencers. We're trying on all the outfits with the songs." - more on this story

Rodrigo y Gabriela Cancel U.S. Tour

Rodrigo y Gabriela announced that they have been forced to pull the plug on their tour of the United States.

A message on their site explains: After a year of relentless touring, the wear and tear finally caught up with Gabriela. Her incredibly physical style of play involves banging out complex rhythms on the neck and body of her guitar night after night, putting great stress upon her right hand and arm as well as joints like the wrist and elbow.

It is under doctors recommendation that she rest her joints and muscles to avoid further harm and permanent damage. While the duo is incredibly frustrated to have to pull out of dates in cities they were very much looking forward to visiting for the first time, the move was an unavoidable reality that had to be made in order to ensure that Gabriela fully recovers and is able to play at full capacity for many years to come. - more on this story

Singled Out: Mushroomhead's Come On

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Jeffrey Nothing from Mushroomhead tells us about "Come On" from their brand new album Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children," which hit stores this week. We now turn it over to Jeffrey for the story:

"Come On" is about us, as a people and perhaps as a Nation, have had enough... and seriously how much more do "They" think we can take? It's about rebellion and standing up. It's being fed up.

I came up with a verse, then Waylon's verse. It all just started to vibe and feel good. We merged them into "Come On, do you wanna f**k with me." Skinny our drummer and producer said it was great and we were off. Actually, my part was written from a serial killer's perspective. When you think of it, serial killers are for the most part feeling invincible and anonymous.

This was one of the last songs we recorded. We felt we had a good record going into finishing our new album "Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children," so this song was icing on the cake. In some ways it felt like "Come On" wrote itself, but there was some shifting around of parts. We just started playing it live on our new tour last week and the kids already know all the lyrics. That's always a good sign.

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

Mr. Big Recording New Album

(Gibson) Mr. Big have begun tracking their new studio album in Los Angeles, the first to feature all four original members since Hey Man in 1995.

The band is working with producer Kevin "The Caveman" Shirley, who oversaw the formation and recording of Black Country Communion, the super group featuring Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, Derek Sherinian and Jason Bonham. Shirley has also worked with Aerosmith, Journey, Dream Theater and The Black Crowes, and engineered the self-titled Led Zeppelin DVD.

According to a Twitter and Facebook post, bass legend Billy Sheehan says the album features "impossible bass and guitar stuff," and the material is said to be in a similar vein to the band's 1991 breakthrough, Lean Into It – the album that launched the #1 single "To Be With You." After Paul Gilbert departed for a solo career, the band recorded two CDs with Richie Kotzen on lead guitar before calling it quits in 2002. - more on this story

Metallica's Kirk Hammett Writing A Book

Metallica's Kirk Hammett may be the next rocker to hit the bestseller list: the Metallica shredder says in a new interview that he's writing a book. Gibson has the details:

When asked if he would consider releasing a solo album, Hammett told Matera, "Yeah, eventually, but right now I have to say that Metallica is my home and I have no intentions of running away from that home. But I am going to put [out] a book, though. I am working on it and that in itself feels like I am making a solo album because it is so much [expletive] work! It is all myself. I don't have a band I can rely on or seek support. So I think once I do this book thing, maybe I may start considering doing a solo album, but I don't know."

Hammett would join an ever-growing list of rock star writers, including both Slash and Steven Adler of Guns N' Roses, Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and more. -

MGMT Member Walks Off Stage After Being Hit By Fan

(Gibson) MGMT drummer Will Berman abruptly abandoned his post on-stage Sunday night after an audience member struck him in the torso with a pint bottle. Two songs shy from wrapping up their set at England's Manchester Apollo, MGMT continued on as an obviously angry Berman exited the stage.

Not noticing his absence during "The Handshake," the band at last realized Berman was gone just as they were about to launch into their biggest hit to date, "Kids."

"Where's Will gone?" the band asked the crowd. Despite the band's requests, Berman wouldn't return to the stage. With their drummer missing, the band played "Kids" over a backing track. AOL's Spinner.com reports that the crowd didn't mind, and the song won the night's biggest applause. Check out a video of a drummer-less MGMT playing "Kids" - here

Rammstein Announce First U.S. Show In Almost A Decade

Rammstein will play their first show on U.S. soil since 2001 when they play a one-off gig at Madison Square Garden on December 11th.

Rammstein first stormed America in 1998, touring with a set based on their Grammy-nominated breakthrough second release, Sehnsucht, featuring "Du hast," the song that brought the world's attention to the band.

During their 1998 Family Values tour, praise was high, as well as indignation: band members were jailed in the US on indecency charges due to the highly provocative live show. - more on this story

Radiohead Might Ditch New Album

(Gibson) Despite reports earlier this summer that Radiohead's eighth studio album was almost complete, there appears to be plenty of work left to do before any Radiohead fans will get a listen.

Over the weekend, Radiohead drummer Phil Selway told Canadian Press that the future of the next album is uncertain but that it would be determined during a band meeting on Monday.

"We might get back together on Monday and after discussing stuff we might just throw this all out and say maybe we need to go back to the drawing board," said Selway, who's at work on his debut solo album, Familial. "Who knows? It's all up in the air at the moment." - more on this story

Alice Cooper's Theatre Of Death DVD Out

Alice Cooper's Theatre Of Death DVD, which was recorded live at London's Hammersmith Apollo, hits stores. Here is the description and tracklisting:

The concert features all of the massive hits from "The Coop" including "School's Out," "I'm Eighteen" and "Poison" in a no-holds barred performance the slogan for which is "They Keep Killing Him, He Keeps Coming Back."

During the course of the performance Alice is "killed" no fewer than four times. Guillotine, gallows and other diabolical implements of death plus a cast of unique performers and henchman shock, terrify, amaze and, most importantly, entertain through the 90 minute concert. - more on this story

Singled Out: August Burns Red

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today August Burns Red's guitarist / primary songwriter / founding member JB Brubake tells us about The Seventh Trumpet," an older song that ABR re-imagined live, and that closes out their new live DVD/CD "Home" which came out this week. We now turn it over to JB for the story:

This is the last track on our debut full length, Thrill Seeker, and also the last song of our set on our live record, Home. "The Seventh Trumpet" was our first attempt at writing a long closing track for an album. We wanted it to have an apocalyptic vibe, as the song lyrically focuses on the end of the world. The meat of the song is only about two and a half minutes, but the last section becomes a five minute+ outro that builds each measure with additional layers. It was a lot of fun to record and we actually had aspirations to do even more with it, like adding piano and acoustic guitar, but we ran out of time in the studio.

Over the last four years we've played this song at the end of our headlining sets more often than not. We seldom played it on support tours, as it was simply too long and took up too much of our limited set time. The first few times we tried to play this song live the same way it was recorded, but that was a tall task, as there were so many layers and parts going on that we couldn't play them all at the same time without a third guitar player. We played the song once in 2006 at a hometown show in Lancaster, PA with our first vocalist, Jon Hershey, taking on the responsibility of third guitar. It seemed like a lot of work for one song, so we never did that again. Instead, we changed the way we played the end of the song live. We shortened it by about two minutes and completely rewrote how the outro builds. Instead of building the outro with a bunch of layers that we couldn't pull off live, we restructured the end and added a spacey sounding guitar solo to fill things out. We also returned to the heavy breakdown rhythm that starts the outro to close out the track with a bang. It seemed to work well live and we've been doing it that way for years.

Now that we have a recording on Home of our live version of "The Seventh Trumpet," we discussed whether or not it's time to retire the track. We realize it's probably not a fan favorite anymore and we did kind of wear it out after playing it so many times over the years. Who knows though, maybe it just needs a little rest and we'll revisit it down the road sometime.

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

Robert Plant's Only North American Commercial Radio Interview Streaming Online

Explore Music has a new audio interview with Robert Plant. In fact it is billed as the only interview with commercial radio in North America that Plant agreed to do. Here is part of their intro, followed by a link where you can check it out: "Nothing is daunting for me but forever challenging," says Robert Plant. "I have to be able to just get out there into the great drift of music and possibility, and hang onto great themes and ideas".

Jeff Woods prefaces his interview with this: getting Robert Plant to speak to radio stations, was not an easy task, despite it not being the first time I sat down across from him to talk music. You see, he's not a fan of commercial radio any longer. Getting asked for the millionth time about his old band getting back together no doubt part of the problem. In fact Robert didn't want to speak to commercial radio stations, PERIOD, and so none were granted interviews this time around.

Taking no for an answer is not something Legends likes to do, so with the efforts of Universal Music Canada, we pushed until in the 11th hour, we got the green light, the ONLY such approval for commercial radio in North America, apparently. - check it out here

Slash Wanted Michael Jackson and Considered Axl Rose For Solo CD

(Gibson) In a new interview with ClassicRockRevisited.com, Slash discussed his self-titled solo album. The album featured appearances by a Who's Who of top singers, including Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell, Ian Astbury, Myles Kennedy, Lemmy, Iggy Pop, Fergie and others. The Chapeau'ed Shredder also briefly considered asking Michael Jackson to sing on a track.

"The record was being made right around the time he passed on," he recalled. "Before that happened, he was getting ready to do those shows at the O2 in London. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be funny to have Michael Jackson do a heavy metal song.'"

While that collaboration would have turned some heads, there was another potential vocalist who would have gathered even more headlines — his former Guns-mate, Axl Rose: "You know, I will be honest with you, even at the sake of it going public," he said. "When I was in the middle of this process there were a lot of singers names who flew through my mind during the process. You are living in Singer Land, so all you are thinking about is singers. The thought of him crossed my mind at one point. I thought, 'Axl could sing the (expletive) out of any of these songs.' I, obviously, never made the phone call, because I wanted to put the record out in this millennium." -

Weezer's Pinkerton Remastered and Expanded With Second Disc

Weezer may have gone indie and just released a new studio album but their former label DGC/Ume have announced a deluxe two disc reissue of one of their most beloved albums. Here is the official word and tracklisting:

Few albums in rock history have enjoyed as complete a critical and popular turnaround as Weezer's Pinkerton. Though tagged a disappointment upon its 1996 release, today Pinkerton is considered one of the most influential and important albums of that decade and beyond.

The two-CD Pinkerton - Deluxe Edition, released November 2, 2010, adds color to the band's musical journey with the original Weezer-produced album remastered and 25 contemporaneous bonus tracks, including every official B-side and 16 previously unreleased recordings. - more on this story