Search Results for: lit

Metallica are particularly unhappy about certain actions the U.S. military has taken in Iraq. Not the ones that resulted in the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s empire – the ones in which the band’s music was played to extract information from terrified Iraqi prisoners who’d never been exposed to heavy metal. Speaking to the press in Europe, drummer Lars Ulrich told the World Entertainment News Network that he strongly objects to the use of “Enter Sandman” as a device of coercion. “I feel horrible about this,” he said. “No one in Iraq has ever done anything to hurt me, and I… Read more »

The Used, from Orem, Utah, have become a musical phenomenon in short order since the release of their self-titled debut album last summer. The band’s honest and straightforward approach to their music and lives has captivated an audience worldwide. Now, more than a year into living on the road and performing their music with reckless abandon and extreme passion, The Used have decide to give a little back to their fans in appreciation of all that they have done for them. That gift is a heartfelt, behind the scenes telling of their story, as they say, “with nothing to hide”… Read more »

Don’t picture little Billy Gilman any more. The kid is 15 now, with a voice that took two years to change and a new CD out. His new release is “Music Through Heartsongs,” an album of songs that are the poems of 12-year-old Mattie J.T. Stepanek. Stepanek battles a rare form of muscular dystrophy, a disease that took the lives of his three siblings and left him dependent on a ventilator that feeds oxygen through a tube attached to his neck. But he has sold more than 1.5 million copies of his inspirational books and has countless admirers including Oprah… Read more »

Lots of Nashville’s finest are taking part in Wal-Mart’s Literacy Day Initiative this weekend. Phil Vassar’s composition “Words Are Your Wheels” is the theme song, and tomorrow Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club locations will celebrate “Words Are Your Wheels” Literacy Day with special guests appearing in stores across the country. Vassar will visit Pittsburgh’s Wal-Mart store, to read to people there and speak about the importance of literacy. Diamond Rio is on tour in North Dakota, so the band’s members will make visit to the Wal-Mart in Devil’s Lake. Billy Gilman will appear in his hometown area at two locations, Westerly… Read more »

The Clash believes powerful messages are best delivered in a musical form. Bassist Paul Simonon says it worked to their advantage to have a heavy message with a catchy tune. “Once you get a great tune playing in a disco or pub, the idea of people going home saying, ‘Wow! That was a great tune. What was it about?’ is powerful,” he told AP Radio. Simonon says that kind of communication still works, as heard in classics like “London Calling” and “Rock the Casbah.” Guitarist Mick Jones says they’ve all taken great solace in music in times of hardship. Jones… Read more »

Eddie Vedder has found plenty of material in mortality over the years. His band, Pearl Jam, was born of a heroin overdose more than a decade ago. Rival songwriter Kurt Cobain of Nirvana committed suicide while at the height of popularity. Two of Pearl Jam’s biggest hits, “Jeremy” and “Last Kiss,” deal with teen death. Now comes renewal, an appropriate topic as the lead singer and his bandmates re-emerge from their most proximate shock: the deaths of nine fans trampled during the 2000 Roskilde festival in Denmark. “Riot Act,” released Nov. 12, is Pearl Jam’s first studio album since the… Read more »

Music legend Ray Charles was honored at the 20th annual Media Access Awards for raising awareness about disability issues in the entertainment industry. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists presented Charles, 72, with the Disability Awareness Award at a Universal Studios ceremony on Saturday. Charles, who lost his sight at age 7, has won 13 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1982 and was one of the original inductees to the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame in 1986. Classic songs include “I Got a Woman,” “What’d… Read more »

Tommy Lee and MCA Records have parted ways. A spokesperson for Lee declined comment on the split. Lee said that with MCA’s support or not, he will continue to make music. “I sometimes think that if somebody took music away from me, I would probably die. I would absolutely f-kin’ die. Every room you walk into in my home there’s a piano, there’s a guitar, there’s equipment everywhere. This is what I do. I think I was put on this planet to do this,” he said. Lee subbed for Drowning Pool at this year’s OzzFest and he recently finished up… Read more »

Backstreet Boy and soon-to-be-daddy Brian Littrell is hosting a Breakfast With Brian in support of his Healthy Heart Club For Kids at the ESPN Zone restaurant in New York City on October 26 at 8:30 a.m. ET. Guests attending the event will get to meet Littrell and his family, and eat breakfast with them. In addition, guests will have the chance to bid via silent auction on Backstreet Boys items, and the opportunity to go head-to-head with the Backstreet Boy in a game of either basketball, golf, football, or several other sports. All proceeds from the event will benefit the… Read more »

Perhaps the most nebulous whine in fandom concerns a perceived dearth of good music. Roughly 27,000 titles are dumped into the marketplace annually, yet many consumers, particularly casual or older fans less prone to rooting out new sounds, grumble about a shortage and pine for the days of plenty. The complaint: Record labels sign only what they hope will sell, jumping on the latest bandwagon and flooding the market with sound-alikes. Everything radio and MTV plays sounds as if it fell off the same assembly line. Record companies focus on radio-friendly and videogenic acts to the exclusion of worthy mavericks… Read more »