Van Halen To The Rescue- Roger Waters Racist Wall?- Zakk Wylde Rocks Elton John- Naked Bret Michaels Speaks- Stone Temple Delay- King of Leon- Pavement- more

On this day in 1970, Janis Joplin was found dead at the Landmark Hotel Hollywood after an accidental heroin overdose. Find out what else happened on this date in music history here -

Listen To Steven Tyler's Solo Debut

hennemusic has the hook up for Aerosmith fans who want to hear Steven Tyler's debut single, "Love Lives."

Tyler recorded the theme song for the live-action "Space Battleship Yamato" movie, which opens in Japan on December 1.

The song premiered on Japanese radio last Friday and has now surfaced online. Grab a listen - here.

Former Guns N' Roses Manager Slams Axl's Mistakes

Rock Radio has this report which should interest Guns N' Roses fans: The man who helped make legends out of Guns N' Roses has listed the three main mistakes singer Axl Rose has made since taking over the band. Alan Niven managed GnR through their early days and remained on board until Rose fired him and took over the band, forcing the members to sign their name rights to him.

Now the manager says Rose made three critical errors over his Chinese Democracy album, which has resulted in a negative attitude from former followers. And he says the current GnR is "an insult" to the band who recorded Appetite for Destruction.

"Axl made two huge mistakes: one was releasing it and the other was working with manager Irving Azoff," Niven tells BraveWords. "I'd have done everything in my power to make sure Chinese Democracy was something people always talked about and wondered about – but never got to completely hear."
- He has a lot more to say here

INXS Announces Singers For New Album

INXS have announced the guest singers from their new album. Gibson has the story: INXS will release a new single on Monday, with Australian vocalist/actor Dan Sultan at the mic.

The song is a new version of their 1980 hit "Just Keep Walking." Sultan - who appeared in the 2009 film Bran Nue Dae with Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush - isn't the only guest vocalist appearing on INXS's forthcoming album. Other singers include Ben Harper, Rob Thomas, Train's Pat Monahan and more, all offering their own takes on INXS classics. The Harper-fronted version of "Never Tear Us Apart" was released in August. The release date for the new album is yet to be announced.

Singer JD Fortune, who won his place in the band via the TV show Rockstar: INXS and performed on 2005's Switch, is still a permanent member of the band, although his job appeared in doubt in 2009 when he told Entertainment Tonight Canada that he was fired at an airport in Hong Kong at the conclusion of the last tour. -

Linkin Park Singer In Saw 3D and American Tour Coming

Two Bits Of News Comes Out Of A New Interview Chester Bennington Gave To MTV. The band do plan to tour the U.S. in January and also Chester will appear in the new "Saw 3D".

"We'll be touring in the U.S. come the end of January; we'll most likely be touring from the end of January until probably the middle of March or into April," Bennington told MTV News according to FMQB . "[It's] interesting because we've always kicked off our touring cycles playing in the U.S., but, crazily enough, we've kind of become a worldwide band... but we're coming back, and it's going to be pretty bad-ass."

As for Saw 3D, Chester was a bit more tight lipped. "I can tell you that my name is Evan," Bennington told MTV. "Other than that, I can tell you nothing else about the character."
- But he did discuss a bit more here

Zakk Wylde To Write Forward to Randy Rhodes Biography

(Gibson) Author Joel McIver, whose previous books include Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Holy Rock & Rollers: The Story of Kings of Leon, will deliver two new hard rock bios for the coming year. On his website, McIver announced the 2011 release of Crazy Train: The High Life and Tragic Death of Randy Rhoads and Overkill: The True Story of Motörhead.

Crazy Train will concentrate on the impact of Rhoads' all-too-brief career on subsequent generations of players, including interviews with Tom Morello, Annihilator's Jeff Waters, Exodus' Gary Holt and several others. The book will also feature a foreword by Zakk Wylde.

"When Joel asked me to write the foreword for this book about Randy, I was beyond honored," said Wylde. "I figured it was the least I could do, considering how much impact Randy has had on my life." - more on this story

Bret Michaels Monday Night Football Gig Tonight

(Big Machine) Bret Michaels will be the headline act at the Land Shark Tailgate Stage on the AT&T Grand Plaza at Sun Life Stadium Tonight (October 4th) prior to the Dolphins-Patriots game.

Opening for Michaels will be the rock & roll quartet from Boston, MA. Tab The Band, who will perform live on-stage starting at 7:30 p.m.

Following his triumph on the latest season of Donald Trump's reality show, Celebrity Apprentice, and after three seasons of his own VH-1 reality series, Rock of Love, Bret Michaels will take to the stage for an exclusive South Florida appearance to perform a medley of acoustic tracks, including the popular Poison classics "Something To Believe In" and "Every Rose Has It's Thorn." - more on this story

Why Les Claypool Didn't Join Metallica

(Rock Radio) Primus mainman Les Claypool says rumors about Metallica believing he was too good to join them are just that: rumors.

He was in the running to replace Cliff Burton in the band after the tour bus crash which killed him in 1986. He was far from the only candidate – along with Jason Newsted who finally got the job, wrestling star Hulk Hogan has said he also applied.

But modest Claypool says Metallica frontman James Hetfield is being too kind when he suggested in an interview that the tie-up never took place because his audition was just too impressive. - Find out the real reason here

Soundgarden Game For Platinum

(Gibson) Chris Cornell thinks that his band's unique deal with the Guitar Hero video game series is the best way to bring Soundgarden to new generations of rock fans. This week, the rockers bundled their new retrospective album, Telephantasm, with copies of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

"In the obvious way, it's going to reach a certain amount of younger people that either may or may not know about Soundgarden," Cornell told Billboard.com. "No matter what, I feel like releasing it this way is going to reach a lot of people who have not heard our music or have not heard a lot of it."

Because of the number of Warriors of Rock games shipped to stores, Telephantasm has already gone platinum… and it hasn't even been released on its own yet. Fans can buy the album (without the game) starting on Tuesday.
- more on this story

Singled Out: Jody Porter (Fountains Of Wayne)

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Fountains Of Wayne guitarist Jody Porter tells us about "Aurora" from their new solo album "Close To The Sun," which was released earlier this year. We now turn it over to Jody for the story:

I had the title first. It's about a girl from London who went searching for some new life she saw glamorized in old films that basically over romanticizes New York or the American way. The story had an element of reality but I wanted to fill it in so it wasn't just telling a story and try to give it other angles.

I lived in England for long enough to know the street names that sounded right meter wise and that's where it starts. "From the back of a taxi to a 1 way flight/ she said so long to the simple things in life"... Grass is always greener kind of thing in the first verse. As it goes on... "winter took it's toll/ the garbage in the dirty snow/ everything looks worse in the light/ better in the movies than in real life... She's on the bus to a s***ty 9 to 5/ never takes the 6 train late at night" and so on.

In my mind I was using the night turning into day thing to parallel the disillusion. The suns coming up after a long night of looking for something that's not there. Then choruses -"Aurora I'm not waiting for your new light to shine thru/ this girls been confiscated somewhere underneath yer moon and Daylight always comes too soon." etc..

The recording of the song was pretty straight ahead with 2 acoustics bashing it out in the verses. I used a Nashville tuning on one so the 2 together sound a bit like a 12 string. Then the electrics have a spacey panning thing to give the choruses more depth. It recorded for the album as soon as I wrote it.

I didn't have a demo to reference and the song wasn't lying around for ages. It was written during the sessions and went down fresh so I probably ended up liking it more.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself with a full album stream - right here!

Paul McCartney Writes Imprisoned George Michael To Keep the Faith

(Gibson) The Sun newspaper reports that the imprisoned George Michael was delighted to receive a handwritten letter from Sir Paul McCartney. The "Faith" singer is serving an eight-week sentence after crashing his car into a high street store.

A source told The Sun, "He got the letter on Monday and was really chuffed. Sir Paul said he would see him soon and told George to keep his chin up. The letter was two pages long and George read it over and over again."

One of the world's most successful artists of all time, Michael has sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide including seven U.K. #1 singles, seven U.K. #1 albums, eight U.S. #1 singles and one U.S. #1 album. -

Steven Tyler and Willie Nelson Jam at Farm Aid

(hennemusic) Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America had a surprise guest on Saturday, as Steven Tyler joined Willie Nelson for a song during his set at the annual benefit concert.

Tyler and his fellow judges were in town for some American Idol audition callbacks, and the Aerosmith singer took the opportunity to make an appearance alongside Farm Aid's founder and undisputed leader.

The two hooked up on "Once Is Enough" (also known as "One Time Too Many") - an Aerosmith track that was originally recorded during the "Permanent Vacation" sessions in 1987; left off the album, the song did appear as a b-side on the 12" single of "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)."
- Wanna See? Check it out here

David Bowie Confirms Book Plans

(Gibson) David Bowie is writing a book called Bowie: Object, his website has confirmed. The release date for the book has not yet been set.

"Sadly, this is one of those stories that has leaked out way ahead of our intended announcement," BowieNet said. "It first surfaced last week on the Publishers Weekly site and it looked like it had slipped by unnoticed for a few days. But, as ever, we didn't reckon on some of you eagle-eyed spotters out there. We still don't want to give too much away just yet, suffice to say that David Bowie has been working on a book entitled Bowie: Object."

Designed by Barnbrook, Bowie: Object is a collection of 100 items from the Bowie archives that will give fans an unprecedented glimpse into his creative processes. Images of the items will be accompanied by text written by Bowie himself, and the book will be available in several colors.
-

Infectious Grooves Reunion Show and Suicidal Tendencies Expand Tour

Infectious Grooves have announced their first show in over 10 years on November 23!

Sponsored by Los Angeles radio station KROQ, the show is set to take place at the House Of Blues in Hollywood, California, the show will make the band's only U.S. appearance in 2010.

In related news, Suicidal Tendencies, who recently announced their U.S. tour set to commence later this month, have added additional dates to the trek including a performance at New York City's Terminal 5 with Cro-Mags and Underdog. - more on this story

Reverend's Davey Lee Dies

Reverend had tragic news for fans this weekend: "With sad and heavy hearts we want to let all of our friends and fans know that Davey Lee, our lead guitarist, passed away Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. from a heart attack.

"We will greatly miss his sense of humor, his love and dedication to his family and friends, metal music and to Byfist/Reverend.

"You will be sorely missed, Davey, but we know you will keep on rockin'!!!" - more on this story

Steve Hackett Announces Tour Behind Album of the Year Nominated Release

(Gibson) Steve Hackett will begin his Around the World in 80 Trains U.K. tour in November alongside Roger King (keyboards), Nick Beggs (bass/stick/vocals), Gary O'Toole (drums/vocals), Rob Townsend (various saxes/flute/whistle/vocals) and Amanda Lehmann (guitar/vocals).

Hackett's Out of the Tunnel's Mouth is nominated for Best Album of the Year at this year's Classic Rock Awards.

He told Classic Rock magazine: "It's so nice to get such recognition. It would be even better to win it, but the nomination means a lot to me. Especially when you consider the problems I had to get this out there. There was so much litigation surrounding me. But I feel the battle made me stronger." - tour dates

Gwar To Violate Jimmy Fallon

Not content with violating obnoxious female comedians or raping hobbits, Gwar plan to let a nationwide network television audience witness them doing unspeakable things on a late night TV show's stage.

Yes, that's right, Gwar is set to appear on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" on October 28th, playing "Zombie's March!", the first single from their new album "Bloody Pit of Horror", out Nov. 9th on Metal Blade Records.

The announcement follows lead singer's Oderus Urungus latest appearance on FOX News "Red Eye", which was described as a "complete cock-up", as he managed to botch just about every date he was suppose to plug. - more on this story

Sevendust and 10 Years Tour Starts Today

HardDrive and HardDrive XL with the second annual Harddrive Live Tour 2010 featuring headliners Sevendust, 10 Years, with special guests Since October, Aranda and Anew Revolution.

The tour kicks off today in Augusta, GA and currently scheduled to hit 28 cities across North America by November.

Sevendust says of the outing, "We couldn't be more excited to be on the HardDrive Live tour this Fall. Roxy (Myzal, HardDrive producer) has been there since the beginning and HardDrive have been huge supporters of the band over the years. It will also be great to be on tour with our friends in 10 Years and, of course, as always - playing for our Sevendust family." - more on this story

Rob Zombie Releases Retail Exclusives

Rob Zombie has released two retail exclusive hit packages. Here is the official word with all of the details: Rob Zombie Icon (Geffen/UMe) is a double assault with a 12-track single-CD and 24-track double-CD versions are out in the stores now.

Revising as well as updating his previous collections with tracks from his most recent super-smash studio masterpiece album—the Top 10-charting Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls And The Systematic Dehumanization Of Cool--the single-CD (exclusive to Walmart) offers an overview of his solo career while the double-CD (exclusive to Best Buy) adds tracks from his seminal days with White Zombie.

Whether it's the single-CD or double-CD, Rob Zombie – Icon represents the best of rock's most frightful vision of the dark side. Rob Zombie – Icon is part of the new Icon series of albums from Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) featuring the greatest hits, signature tunes and fan favorites of the most popular artists in music history. With more than 15 million albums sold, 7 Grammy® nominations, the helming of 5 major motion pictures and dozens of music videos under his belt, Rob Zombie is a force to be reckoned with in today's entertainment landscape. Zombie's unique meld of horror and hard rock has influenced his sound as a musician and, more recently, his vision as a director and writer. - more on this story

Chrissie Hynde No Longer Pretending

(Gibson) For as long as most music fans can remember, Chrissie Hynde has been synonymous with The Pretenders. The only consistent member of the band (although drummer Martin Chambers has been in the group for most of its run), Hynde recently told Billboard.com that she's unconcerned with her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band right now.

"I have no interest in working on anything else now but this," she said, referring to her new band, called JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys. The group was founded on a creative partnership between Hyde and Welsh musician JP Jones, who met at a party in 2008. The band released their debut album, Fidelity!, earlier this year.

"We certainly have enough songs for another album and who knows what else in the future," she said, "but my main ambition is to take the boys and JP into a studio and record an album of his songs, 'cause he's got the most amazing songs and he's very prolific."
- more on this story

No Rest for the Wicked (hed)p.e.

(hed)p.e. premiered the video for their new single "No Rest for the Wicked" on Myspace Music.

The track comes from their forthcoming studio album, Truth Rising, which is scheduled to hit stores on October 26th

The video was directed by Joey Nugent utilizes stop-motion animation to illustrate the motivations behind the song and most of the songs on Truth Rising.
- Check it out here

Glenn Hughes To Write Forward To Motorhead Biography

(Gibson) Apart from the Randy Rhodes book mentioned in the previous article, Joel McIver will deliver a new hard rock bio about Motorhead.

On his website, McIver announced the 2011 release of Crazy Train: The High Life and Tragic Death of Randy Rhoads and Overkill: The True Story of Motörhead.

For Overkill, McIver's tome on Lemmy and company will feature a foreword by Glenn Hughes, currently of Black Country Communion. McIver promises a host of new interviews for that book, as well. - more on this story

The Soulless Give Fans A Taste Of Forthcoming Album

The Soulless, the band formally known as Ignominious Incarceration, has released a brand new preproduction track from the band's forthcoming new album.

The new track, titled "Earthbound", is available to hear now on the band's new MySpace page here

The Soulless drummer Sam Bailey comments: "We are putting up a new demo from our new album - our van accident pushed our studio time back, so we thought that instead of delaying a new song, we would preview what we've been up to for the last year or more with a preproduction song. - more on this story

Accept Announce Euro Tour

(PR) Accept have completed their European warm-up tour and are finishing up a warm-up US Tour, they are ready for the next announcement.

After their October appearance at the prestigious 45,000 seat Loudpark Festival in Japan , ACCEPT can now confirm their extensive European Tour to start in early 2011!

The 28 announced dates in support of "Blood Of The Nations" will span Germany , Switzerland , Spain , Italy , Greece , Finland , Norway , Sweden , the Czech Republic , Poland , Hungary , France , Belgium , plus some planned shows for Russia and UK as well. Accept is back and on the prowl! - more on this story

Fergie Rips Off Mick Jagger

(Gibson) Recently Fergie revealed the inspiration behind her shimmy-shaking stage moves. The object of her adoration and imitation is none other than Rolling Stones frontman (voted #1 all time on the Gibson.com poll Mick Jagger. The Fergalicious Black Eyed Peas singer told US Weekly, "I grew up with the Rolling Stones and they are my dad's favorite band. I've copied Jagger's moves for years!"

The pair teamed up last year at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden, joining U2 to perform "Gimme Shelter."

"It was electrifying to be up there with him with this crazy kinetic energy bouncing off each other because we are both nuts and so that was great," she said. "It was just organic. It's when you are on stage and you are in the rock moment, you lose yourself to it. You just give up to it because it's that adrenaline; it's just kind of whatever goes, goes. - more on this story

The Trashcan Sinatras Acoustic Tour

The Trashcan Sinatras will launch an acoustic tour in the western USA on October 20th.

The trek includes an invitation to play a Seattle date with fellow Scottish indie-pop favorites, Belle & Sebastian.

"We had been talking about touring the USA this fall when this opportunity to play with Belle & Sebastian came up, so we decided to organize a little acoustic tour at the same time," says guitarist John Douglas. "We played with B&S at an festival in Glasgow a few years ago and it was a great time, so we're looking forward to it." - more on this story