Billboard finally got wind of the rumor that Alter Bridge lead singer Myles Kennedy would be filling in for Robert Plant on the “half of Led Zeppelin plus the dead drummer’s son” tour that’ll bill itself as a Led Zep reunion to overly credulous classic rock fans next year, with anonymous “sources” feeding their reporters the same bits of speculation that Dee Snider was more than willing to blab about a few weeks ago. But buried at the very end of the piece is another reunion-related revelation that should chill your bones:
I spent part of my summer traveling around the country and talking to bandom writers (bandom, in case you are lucky enough to be out of the loop, is fan fiction about emo bands). The overwhelming consensus among my subjects was that the characterization of Panic at the Disco’s Ryan Ross (not the lead singer, the other one) had taken an abrupt turn from fragile emo kid to twee hippie. Judging from this video for their new single “Northern Downpour,” he seems to be angling for yet another shift: Middle school graduation attendee in 1975, complete with goofy haircut.
When Ozzy Osbourne declared himself “the prince of fucking darkness” on a 2002 episode of The Osbournes, he may as well have simultaneously relinquished the title. The MTV hit quickly dissolved 30 years’ worth of mystique and danger as it revealed him to be in reality a doddering old family man. But when Ozzy rose to fame in the ’70s, every other rock star had an interest in the occult (or at least Hobbits), and heavy metal was still genuinely thought of as the province of Satanists, not nerdy gearheads. But who could be pop music’s reigning prince of darkness in the era of rock star transparency, when every famous musician has a whiny MySpace blog? Since it’s Halloween, we decided to think of a few options:
The Guardian today reports on the possible end of the double album, as highlighted by Robert Smith’s unwillingness to take a paycut to release a second disc along with this month’s 4:13 Dream. The question that came to mind: Should anyone care?
Once again, we present Rock-Critically Correct, a feature in which the most recent issues of Rolling Stone, Blender, Vibe, and Spin are given a once-over by a writer who’s contributed to many of those magazines, as well as a few others! In this installment, he switches things up a bit and gives the latest issue of Relix a once-over:
The other day, Jermaine Jackson was shooting off his mouth about next year bringing a reunion of the Jacksons, one that, in his words, would be “more like a family affair, Janet’s going to open and, of course, the original Jackson 5 … Michael, Randy and the whole family.” Well, Michael apparently wasn’t apprised of this before Jermaine started working the press angle, because he’s released a statement saying that he is too busy in the studio to fritter his time away with his siblings. “My brothers and sisters have my full love and support, and we’ve certainly shared many great experiences, but at this time I have no plans to record or tour with them… I am now in the studio developing new and exciting projects that I look forward to sharing with my fans in concert soon.” Some of you may hope that said projects are more “exciting” than the Fergie version of “Beat It,” but I’m sad because this means Michael won’t be around to lend his vocals to my favorite song from Jermaine’s catalog:
