Black Sabbath On Their Final Tour?

"I don't want to go onstage for the sake of the money. You have to have a lot pride in yourself, and I honestly think I'm coming to the end of the top of my job." more on this story

Blue Oyster Cult Founding Member Dies

Allen Lanier, a founding member of Blue Oyster Cult, died on Wednesday (August 14th) from complications from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, according to the band.

The band revealed the sad news to fans on their official website and Facebook page with the following message: "We have extremely sad news to report. We've lost our friend and bandmate Allen Lanier.

"Allen succumbed to complications from C.O.P.D. He is survived by his wife Dory, sister Mary Anne and mother Martha. Although he retired from touring in 2006 Allen returned to the stage for what turned out to be his final appearance, reuniting with B?C at the 40th Anniversary show in New York this past November. DFTR sweet man. We love you and miss you."

BOC frontman Eric Bloom had the following tribute on his Facebook page "My great friend Allen Lanier has passed. I'll miss the guy even though we hadn't spoken in awhile.

"He was so talented as a musician and a thinker. He read voraciously, all kinds of things, especially comparative religion. We drove for years together, shared rooms in the early days. We partied, laughed, played. All BOC fans and band members will mourn his death.

"Ultimately smoking finally got to him. He had been hospitalized with C.O.P.D. It was Allen who heard some old college band tapes of mine and suggested I get a shot as the singer in 1968. A lot of great memories, over 40 years worth. Maybe he's playing a tune with Jim Carroll right now."

Former Korn Drummer David Silveria Speaks Out

Former Korn drummer David Silveria posted a lengthy message for fans on his Facebook page yesterday (August 14) to explain some recent comments he made about the changes in the band's sound.

His new post gives his perspective on why the changes in the band's sound took place and he expresses that he would love to get back with the band and resurrect the original sound of the band.

Here is his full statement: "Hello people. Before I get into this post I want to be clear I'm just explaining some history from the early days of Korn. Not bashing Korn at all. I hope Korn fans will find this info interesting. To all the haters that will talk smack. Then why bother reading this? Maybe you should get some help. So here we go.

"In 1991when Korn was first writing music it was in our rehearsal studio. When we had 6-8 songs we went and played our first show then back to our rehearsal room to keep writing. So over the next couple years we wrote songs and re-wrote songs,played numerous shows. The songs that became our first record,'Korn', where written and played live and fine tuned over a course of around two and half years.

"Our second and third records,Life is Peachy and Follow the Leader, were written in our rehearsal studio and rehearsed and fine tuned over and over. We didn't play shows while writing though. The music and vocals were written all together.

"This is the key point. The first three records had all kinds of strange and off time breaks in the songs. We would purposely speed up and slow down parts. Most of the weird breaks were made up by Fieldy and I. We would change the timing in the middle of songs that made no sense. One of the great things about music is there are no rules.

"Fast forward to our next record 'Issues.' A big name producer was brought in telling us he would 'take us to the next level.' I immediately called bullsh*t. I thought we had just made three legendary records?

"Here is the next key point. He wanted to record the record on the digital system pro-tools. He also wanted to record everything to a click track eliminating all crazy timing changes and off time breaks and the pushing and pulling of parts. I was the only one to think this was a horrible idea. Our signature style was under attack and the guys said just listen to this 'big time' producer.

"So we started writing music. I did my thing on the drums by playing in my style. The producer immediately wanted me to simplify my playing. I said to him 'this is not your record. I'm going to do my thing.'

"The next day I get a phone call from our manager saying one of the band members says I'm being hard to work with. Seriously!! So I was being asking to be a puppet and dumb down my playing and be a good boy. I heard this enough times I finally just simplified everything. Pretty lame right?

"Then next it came to our attention that we were going to record all of the music before Jon even started on the vocals. That's another major blow to our signature sound. We always wrote songs as a five piece band and made unique accents and breaks specifically to the vocals. Well there goes that unique Korn sound. Once our original way of writing was totally changed the original sound was also changed. I was disappointed. I've been asked hundreds of times why our sound changed so much after Follow the Leader. Well, now you have the answer.

"I love the music we made after Leader, don't get the wrong idea. It just lost so much of our unique trademark sound. I really think the fans noticed. I made several attempts to get the band to get back to the basics and write and record like we did the first three records but was met with opposition every time. I don't know why. All I wanted to do is make better records. But the other members didn't want to spend the extra time it takes to write the original way. But hey, I tried.

"When I was talking about bringing the funk back I was talking about the original writing style. I would love to get back in the rehearsal studio with the guys and resurrect the original passion and unconventional writing style and make a record that stands up to the first three.

"Of course before that could happen I would love to just sit down with guys and talk about our humble beginnings and really put things in perspective. I really hope to see you Korn fans again soon from behind my drum kit on stage with the guys.

"If anyone wants to post this on other sites please do so. All I ask is to be honest and post it in its entirety and not take parts out of context. I hope you true Korn fans thought this insight was interesting. Take care everyone. Talk soon:)"

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Dream Theater Not Open To Reuniting With Mike Portnoy

Mike Portnoy recently said that he would reunite with Dream Theater "in a heartbeat" but added "they are the ones who have closed the door on it," and comments made by frontman James Labrie in a new interview seem to confirm that.

Dream Theater will be releasing their new self-titled album next month and it is the second release to feature Portnoy's replacement Mike Mangini. Labrie was asked by Chile's Radio Futuro about the possibility of Portnoy rejoining the group and did indeed appear to have closed the door on the idea.

He said, "That possibility, I don't see it ever happening. It's not gonna happen, because, first and foremost, Mike Mangini is a full-fledged member of the band now; he's a phenomenal drummer and he's doing everything that we could possibly want as a drummer in a band. He's helping us realize exactly what we wanna do right now musically. And he will be our drummer until the day that we finish doing this, when we conclude."

He added, "Mike Portnoy was a big part of our past, but I think that's where it's going to remain. He was a drummer from the past. And as far as presently and into the future, it will be Mike Mangini, and we all feel very strongly about that. He's an incredible drummer, he's an incredible asset to the band, and he is fulfilling out wildest dreams as far as what we're doing musically and what we're doing with each album. So that's the way it stands."

Dave Grohl and Pearl Jam Documentaries To Be Broadcast on TV

(Gibson) Dave Grohl's Sound City documentary and Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam Twenty are headed to VH1's Rock Docs series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sound City, directed by the Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, tells the story of the beloved studio near Los Angeles where Nirvana recorded their 1991 classic Nevermind. The movie also features artists including Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, Neil Young, Rick Springfield, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo and Trent Reznor, who have all recorded at the now defunct analog studio.

Pearl Jam Twenty traces the band's early years as the musicians first come together, deals with their fast-rising fame and decision to step away from it. Almost Famous director Crowe also packs in more than 1,200 hours of rare and never-before-seen footage of Pearl Jam.

Sound City will air on VH1 August 17. Pearl Jam Twenty will air on October 12. more on this story

Anthrax Consider Shadows Fall's Jon Donais Their Guitarist

(Classic Rock) Anthrax's Scott Ian says that he now considers Shadows Fall guitarist Jon Donais a full member of the band as the permanent replacement for Rob Caggiano.

The band brought in Donais after Caggiano surprised fans with his departure in January, then joined Volbeat full-time the following month. Speaking on TeamRock Radio's The Metal Hammer Show, Ian says:

"Jon's been with us since February and I think I can safely say he's passed the audition. I know we haven't said anything official yet, but in my mind he's the guy."

"I'm sure some type of official announcement… because in this world, people apparently need that kind of information so they can sleep well at night. But as far as I'm concerned, Jon is the guitar player in Anthrax." More including a stream of the interview with Ian.

White Wizzard's Facebook Hacked, Singer Not Leaving Band

(TeamRock Radio) White Wizzard have laughed off the hacking of their Facebook page, which resulted in some fans believing mainman Jon Leon was going to leave the band in order to join a religious sect.

Earlier this week a post appeared which said: "This is Jon – I want to write a quick letter about my future. After our tour in Europe I will be stepping down from my role in White Wizzard to pursue a path of enlightenment through Scientology, inspired by my hero Isaac Hayes, otherwise known as Shaft."

Now the band have stated: "We unfortunately had someone hack our account as we were travelling, and they posted some 'questionable' stuff, to say the least." They had more to say.

Pierce The Veil Shocked By Tim Lambesis Murder For Hire Plot

(Radio.com) Earlier this year, As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis shocked the rock community when he was arrested for conspiring to have his wife murdered by a hitman. It was a charge Lambesis denied, going on to claim that steroid abuse was at the root of the situation.

Lambesis' lawyer, Thomas Warwick, claimed that the self-proclaimed Christian singer's "thought processes were devastatingly affected by his steroid use," adding that Lambesis "was irritable and lost God" due to the substance abuse.

For Pierce the Veil members Vic Fuentes and Jamie Preciado, the surprising news hit very close to home, as their band has quite a bit in common with the As I Lay Dying camp.

"We hung out with them about a month before that happened," Fuentes told KROQ (a Radio.com station) during a recent interview. "I didn't get any killer vibes."

"Some of our crew members used to work for that band, and we've known that band forever," added bassist Preciado. "We've looked up to that band. They're from San Diego as well. They hung out [with us] like two months before all that stuff came up."

"I think everybody was just really shocked," interjected Fuentes. "Like [Preciado] said, a lot of our crew used to be As I Lay Dying crew, so they spent years with them. They were just blown away by it. I didn't know him personally, so I couldn't really say one way or another." more on this story

Former Bandmate Accuses Jack Russell

(Classic Rock) Ex-Great White singer Jack Russell has been accused of forging financial records by his former bassist. Daio Seixas departed Jack Russell's Great White last month, but did not discuss his reasons at the time. Now he says he wants to state his case after hearing the vocalist's comments in a radio interview.

SleazRoxx reports Seixas saying: "I'll tell you the real reason why I quit – and yes, I quit. He did not fire me, and even tried to get me to go on this tour a week before it started."

He continues: "We had an agreement that we would split the profits from the shows and merch, with Jack making 50% and the rest of us splitting the other 50%, and management taking 10% of that.

"Everything was fine initially, and we were getting the budgets weekly as agreed. All of a sudden they stopped sending us the budgets. I kept asking about it and kept getting the runaround. That went on for over 10 months." Find out what happened next.

The Police's Andy Summers Returns With New Band

(Gibson) Circa Zero is the name of The Police's Andy Summers' new band. He's joined by multi-instrumentalist Rob Giles of the band The Rescues and drummer Emmanuelle Caplette. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Summer says the trio have a full album recorded and mastered, but are undecided how to release the songs.

"There's a lot of interest, but it's like everything else now – should we do this or should we do that, go the internet route or go a different route?" says Summers. "But we want to get it out pretty soon because we finished the record – it's completely mastered."

Rob Giles adds that Summer is back blazing on guitar. "All our songs trudge like rock. There's one that's an odd time [signature], the ballad, but it's not a power ballad about a girl so much. Everything else is really full energy, not that that one isn't.

"As a fan of Andy's I enjoy all of his solo work, but f*** that – he gets to rock, and we haven't heard this virtually ever."

Summers adds, of the songs: "They've all got a lot of energy. It's almost an album with 10 or 11 singles. They've all got strong attitudes and hooks, which is what we were intending to write." more on this story

Def Leppard To Screen Viva Hysteria in Theaters World Wide

(hennemusic) Def Leppard have announced worldwide theater screenings next month of their forthcoming DVD, "VIVA! Hysteria", which captures the band during their 2013 spring residency in Las Vegas.

The UK rockers played 11 shows at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino this past spring, following in the footsteps of Motley Crue and Guns N' Roses.

The Las Vegas shows featured two sets from the band: the first, a wild card collection of songs that changed from night to night – performed under the name "Ded Flatbird"; the second presented the band's iconic 1987 album, "Hysteria", from start to finish. more on this story

The Cure and More Added To Voodoo Music + Arts Experience

Organizers of the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience have announced that The Cure will be joining the lineup for this year's festival which will be taking place on November 1-3 in New Orleans.

The Cure and more artists will join the already impressive roster of Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Paramore, The Gaslight Anthem, Alkaline Trio and more.

Here is the latest announced lineup for the festival: Pearl Jam; Nine Inch Nails; The Cure; Calvin Harris; Bassnectar; Paramore; Macklemore & Ryan Lewis; Afrojack; Boys Noize; The Gaslight Anthem; Big Gigantic; How To Destroy Angels; Matt & Kim; Alkaline Trio; Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Dirty South; Desaparecidos; Beats Antique; New Found Glory; Cults; Savoy; Delta Rae; Anamanaguchi; Allen Stone; Destructo; Youngblood Hawke; ZZ Ward; Rudimental; The Revivalists; Shovels & Rope; Moon Taxi; The Olms; Keys N Krates; L.P.; G-Eazy; He's My Brother, She's My Sister; Hockey; A Silent Film; Robert DeLong; The Virginmarys; The Apache Relay; Those Darlins; Reignwolf; CC Adcock & The Lafayette Marquis; Ruby Amanfu; Fleur De Bris Vodu All Stars Featuring David Torkanowsky, George Porter, Jr., & Nicholas Payton; Billy Squier; John Michael Rouchell; Flow Tribe; Royal Teeth; Quintron & Miss Pussycat; Roll The Tanks; Jingle Punks Hipster Orchestra; Dan Dyer; The Purrs; Andrew Duhon; The Breton Sound; Poof! The Pop Show With Carmine P. Filthy & A Boy Named Ruth; The Scorseses; Big History; Coyotes; Kinky Machine; Leopold And his Fiction Church With Unicorn Fukr, Mr. Cool Bad Guy & Guests; Leslie Blackshear Smith & Double Black Featuring Simon Lott, DJ Raymond, Shane Theriot, Alfred "Uganda" Roberts, Tim Green, Ivan Neville, Kiki Phillips, Mehnaz Hoosein & Erica Falls; Paul Varisco And The Milestones; Panic In Eden; Oh, Jeremiah; Hello Negro; The Real Night Tripper: Dr John Featuring George Porter, Jr., Herlin Riley, Alfred "Uganda" Roberts, Smokey Johnson, Shane Theriot, Chief Monk Boudreaux, Nicholas Payton, Roderick Paulin, Sarah Morrow, & Topsy Chapman & Solid Harmony. more on this story

Augustines Announce Album and Frightened Rabbit Tour

We Are Augustines are no more as the band has returned to using their original shorter name Augustines for the release of their new album and upcoming tours.

The band won't be releasing their new self-titled album until January 21st, 2014, but fans will be able to watch them perform live this fall when they hit the road with Frightened Rabbit.

The North American tour will be kicking off on September 24th in Edmonton, AB at Union Hall and will be concluding on October 29th in Washington, DC at 9:30 Club.

The band plans to launch their very own North American headline tour after the new album is released. more on this story

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow DVD and Double Live Album Coming

Eagle Rock have set an August 27th release date for the new Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow's DVD, double CD and digital release "Black Masquerade."

This will be the only live release from the 1990s version of the band that Blackmore formed after leaving Deep Purple in 1993. The line up included Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Doogie White (vocals); Candice Night (vocals); Paul Morris (keyboards); Greg Smith (bass); Chuck Burgi (drums).

The show was captured while the band was performing in support of their "Stranger In Us All" album and was recorded in Dusseldorf, Germany for the hit TV series Rockpalast.

The concert features featured performances of several tracks from 'Stranger In Us All' as well as classic Rainbow and Deep Purple tracks including "Spotlight Kid," "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll," "Black Masquerade," "Man On The Silver Mountain," "Since You've Been Gone," "Perfect Strangers," "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves," "Burn," "Temple Of The King," and "Smoke On The Water." more on this story

Dimebag Darrell Voted Best Metal Guitarist

(Gibson) For the last month Loudwire.com has been polling users on their Greatest Metal Guitarists and after a claimed 1 million votes were cast, late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell has been voted #1.

The vote started with 32 of metal's finest axe-slingers and shredders. There are many talking points about the results - Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi and Ozzy's virtuoso Randy Rhoads were ousted by the likes of Avenged Sevenfold's Synyster Gates and Tool's Adam Jones.

Indeed, it was the Tool guitarist who made it all the way to the final round against Dimebag. Pantera's legions of fans came through in the final stretch, leading Dimebag to the ultimate victory. See how the votes progressed.

Metallica Play Historic Show

Metallica made history on Tuesday night as the band played their very first show in China when the group kicked off a two-night stand at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai.

The band shared their excitement on Tuesday night on their tour journal where they wrote "China has been waiting a long time for Metallica to play their country, and today that dream has come true.

"The very energetic Shanghai crowd gave a loud welcome to the band when they hit the stage with the opening song of Hit The Lights! Then it was onto Bellz, Fuel, Harvester, and now Sanitarium is playing. BBS is next!"

Frontman James Hetfield also shared his excitement about the show afterwards by saying, "We didn't expect the energy that was being given to us would be so intense. We were very excited to see people singing the words, joining in and becoming part of the show; which is what we really love."

The Chinese shows are part of the band's Asian tour which kicked off in Tokyo on the 10th and will continue in Seoul on Sunday followed by shows in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Check out the band's tour journal for more details here.

Candlelight Red Release New Video and Touring With Candlebox

Candlelight Red have released a new music video for the song "Feel The Same" and will be kicking off a series of tour dates with Candlebox tonight in West Warwick, RI.

The new video was directed by Wade Spencer and was filmed while the band was on their summer tour. The song comes from the group's latest album "'Reclamation" and you can watch the new video here.

Guitarist Jeremy Edge had this to say about the "Feel the Same" video, "Since this is a much mellower tune for us, we thought it would be cool to give fans a glimpse of life on tour as well as the sacrifices we all make to be away from family and friends to go out and do what we love most...travel over the country playing music and trying to win over new fans!"

The band continues their summer tour and will kick off a series of dates with Candlebox tonight and has announced several dates with Sick Puppies next month. more on this story

Nashville Pussy Announce Fall Tour

Nashville Pussy have announced that they will be hitting the road for a North American headline tour this fall in support of their recent special "From Hell To Texas" reissue with live bonus album.

The tour will be launching on October 3rd in Charlotte, NC at Milestone and will be concluding on October 23rd in Pittsburgh, PA at Altar Bar. Support acts were not mentioned in the announcement.

Nashville Pussy also announced that they have started working on their next studio album and expect to reveal more details about the effort soon. more on this story

Sevendust's Clint Lowery Producing New 3 Years Hollow Album

3 Years Hollow have announced a series of live dates in the Midwest and have signed a recording contract with Imagen Records for the release of their upcoming album.

The new album does not have a title yet, but the band has recruited Clint Lowery from Sevendust to produce it. They had this to say about their new deal: "It's such an amazing feeling to sign with Imagen Records. It feels like we're able to end one chapter and start a new one with a brand new excitement.

"This not only opens up more opportunities for us, but also allows us to give more to our fans. That's something that's always been important to us. We're looking forward to working with a group of people and a label that believe in our vision and dream as much as we do."

Label president Bob Winegard adds, "We first noticed them in the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands powered by Imagen in last year's Uproar Tour."

Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose, also the newly minted A&R V.P. at Imagen, says, "We had them out for a few dates and I was floored, extremely tight and energetic. Jose was spot on every night. The kids were all over them. I wanted them on our label." more on this story

Neil Young's Pono Digital Music System Coming Soon

(Gibson) Neil Young has long-thought that the sound quality of most modern music devices and services are garbage. So, he is launching a new digital format called Pono, a Hawaiian word that means "righteous."

According to Evolver.fm, Pono will launch in 2013. It involves a bespoke Pono player that Young briefly showed during an interview on David Letterman in 2012.

According to Evolver.fm, Pono files will play on any digital audio device, just at a lower sound quality (i.e. something like what most of us listen to today). In other words, you should be able to load the songs up on your iPhone or similar — they will just lack the amped-up sound that made you go with Pono in the first place.

Young's idea for Pono is HD Audio whenever possible, and enhanced lossless music for everything else. You could say he's trying to put the warmth of vinyl recordings into a pocket device. Three-to-five thousand albums are apparently ready to go on Pono. more on this story

The Sixxis To Tour With Winery Dogs

(Prog) US band The Sixxis will tour Europe in support of Mike Portnoy's latest project The Winery Dogs, it's been confirmed. The trip includes a show at London's O2 Islington Academy on September 5, before stops in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

The Sixxis have already lived through several lineup changes since their formation in 2006, but frontman Vladdy Iskahov says their musical aims have always remained the same.

And he's hoping the tour will offer European listeners an insight into what they've achieved with their recent self-titled album. Iskahov says: "Our sound has always been an enigma. Some get it immediately; some think they get it; some don't understand it at all." More including dates and a song stream

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler Top Gear Behind The Scenes Video Released

(hennemusic) Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler was featured on a recent episode of BBC's Top Gear and behind the scenes video from the show has been posted online.

The rocker took a spin as the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car, and the long-running automotive series is sharing some behind-the-scenes video from the program.

Top Gear's blog noted that its new Vauxhall Astra Tech Line had its "first mechanical sin bin of the series" thanks to Tyler deciding to take the quick route from fourth to first gear. "But after a quick car change, and some menacing morse code messages from The Stig, the Demon of Screamin' didn't miss a thing… apart from a few apexes."

Check out the behind the scenes video here.

Paramore Rock Conan

Paramore were the special musical guests on Conan O'Brien's late night TBS talk show on Tuesday night and performed their latest single "Still Into You".

Team Coco have posted a video of the performance for any Paramore fans that may have missed the broadcast. You can watch the video here.

The band also performed the song at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday night where they took home the award for "Choice Rock Group".

The song is the latest single from the group's new self-titled album and they will be hitting the road this fall for a North America headline tour that will feature support from Metric and Hellogoodbye. more on this story

Lynyrd Skynyrd Debut Turns 40 This Week

(Radio.com) This week's Radio.com Not Fade Away series focuses on Lynyrd Skynyrd's debut album, 'Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd,' which turns 40 this week.

Calling a genre "southern rock" is a bit redundant, if you ask Gregg Allman, whose group, the Allman Brothers Band, is part of the movement. His feeling was that most rock music comes from south of the Mason-Dixon anyway, so the geographical qualifier is unnecessary. But if, like many rock fans, you do buy into the idea of "southern rock" — an unpretentious, working class, guitar and piano driven brand of rock music primary played by guys whose long hair just about covered their rednecks — you can make the argument that ground zero is right here, on 1973′s Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd.

Think of it like this: Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin preceded Black Sabbath, but Sabbath is attributed with creating heavy metal with their 1970 debut. Similarly, even though the Allmans and ZZ Top had already released some classic albums by '73, the aforementioned were more like blues bands making rock music. With Lynyrd Skynyrd and Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, the south had its own radio and arena-ready act.

Let's get "Freebird" out of the way first. Along with Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven," it was one of the epic deep-ballad-that-morphs-into-deep-rocker songs that dominated the radio in the '70s and continues to be a staple on classic rock stations to this day. Depending on where you sit, "Freebird" either symbolizes everything you love or everything you hate about Skynyrd and '70s rock. Four decades later, the song has become one of music's biggest cliches, inescapable at concerts and large events thanks to The Most Annoying Dude In The Crowd. But if, somehow, you haven't heard the song in, say, five years and you return to it with open ears, you might be surprised by how well it holds up. "Freebird" would not have become so irritatingly legendary were it not a great song.

Then there's "Gimme Three Steps." In a genre filled with machismo, this is the rare song that celebrates high-tailing it out of harm's way. "I was scared and fearing for my life/I was shakin' like a leaf on a tree," Ronnie Van Zant sang. "'Cause he was lean, mean, big and bad, lord, pointin' that gun at me!" It's one of the funniest songs in the classic rock canon. More including song streams