Talk About Rock Music

There are several sources that state that Lenny Kravitz is to be the new front man for Velvet Revolver. He has been seen in and around the studio with the band in the last few weeks adding fuel to the fire that he will be replacing the previously fired singer, Scott Weiland.

Whether or not these rumours are true is yet to be seen, but we can be sure to find out in due course.

Lenny, (nee Leonard Albert Kravitz) was born on 26th May 1964.  He is a singer-songwriter but is multi-talented as he plays a vast array of instruments and often plays them himslef when recording.

Lenny Kravitz has won a Grammy Award 4 yesrs in a row starting from 1999 for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and has sold, to date, over 32m albums internationally.

Last week, Guns N’ Roses AND Queen managed to get 2 songs in the top 10 most downloaded track list released pre 2000, “The 10 Most Dowloaded Golden Oldies”. The songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s listed below weren’t necessarily the biggest hits in those decades. It all depends on how its measured. If its done by how many weeks they were at number one, then for the 70s, that would be “You Light Up My Life” sung by Debbie Boone, the 80s would be “Physical” by Grease Superstar Olivia Newton-John and the 90s would be “One Sweet Day” recorded by the 90s Diva Mariah Carey and soul quintet Boyz II Men, none of which appear in our top 10 list by Nielsen/Soundscan!

The “real” hits of those decades are surely the songs that we are still downloading today and have lasted the test of time.

Here is the list of the top 10 songs realeased pre 2000 that you have been downloading, as of last week.

1. Don’t Stop Believin’ - Journey (1.821m)
2. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen (1.348m)
3. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynard Skynard (1.346m)
4. Somewhere Over The Rainbow / What A Wonderful World - Israel Kamakawiwo’Ole (1.339m)
5. Sweet Child O’ Mine - Guns N’ Roses (1.267m)
6. Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor (1.206m)
7. Good Riddance - Green Day (1.168m)
8. We Will Rock You - Queen (1.168m)
9. Welcom To The Jungle - Guns N’ Roses (1.154m)
10. Iris - Goo Goo DOlls (1.091m)

Chicago band, Disturbed, have finally announce tour dates for the UK!!

Supported by Shinedown, they will be rocking out in October this year.
Dates as follows:

4th October - London, Brixton Academy
6th October - Manchester Apollo
7th October - Glasgow, Academy
8th October - Nottingham, Rock City
10th October - Birmingham, Academy

Tickets went on sale on the 1st. You can pick them up from Aloud

Disturbed, (Formally known as Brawl), hail from Chicago, Illinois. They originally got together in 1996 when the musicians of the band hired frontman, David Draiman, to lead them into success following the departure of Eric Awalt.

So far, they have had worldwide album sales of over 10,000,000 and have had three consecutive number 1 albums. Starting out as nu-metal, they have been re-classified in to the alternative rock genre. Heavy metal fans don’t think the band is heavy enough, David Draiman comments,

“We probably have too much melody going on or we’re not quite as turbulent or caustic. While I really love that type of music, it’s not what we try to do. If we have to place things in context, we’re more hard rock than heavy metal these days.”

For full details, see the official band website

Metallica are set to release thier first album in half a decade. The long awaited album, titled “Death Magnetic”, is scheduled for Friday September the 2nd and is the second time the band has had an unusual release date, industry standard in the US being a Monday or Tuesday.

The band recorded the video for their first single off the new album, “The Day That Never Comes”, which was shot in California and was directed by Thomas Vinterberg, an old pal of Lars Ulrich.

The promo is set to a war theme, but has no relation to the current problems in Iraq. James Hetfield said in a recent interview with MTV news, “The one thing that I wasn’t keen on here was Metallica plugging into a modern war or a current event that might be construed as some sort of political statement on our part. There are so many celebrities that soapbox their opinions, and people believe it’s more valid because they’re popular. For us, people are people - you should all have your own opinion. We are hopefully putting the human element in what is an unfortunate part of life. There are people over there dealing with situations like this, and we’re showing the human part of being there.”

“The main theme of the video is the human element of forgiveness. Someone doing you wrong, you feeling resentment and you being able to see through that in the next situation that might be similar and not take your rage or resentment out on the next person and basically keep spreading the disease of that through life.”

“It’s the forgiveness part - that is key. Metallica has never plugged into any current event visually, but this one is kind of a hotbed. People have very high opinions about this war, and we’re trying to cut through all of that. The politics and the religion tend to separate people, and what we’re trying to do is bring it together with the common thread of resentment and forgiveness.”

In the same interview with MTV news, Lars Ulrich tells the story behind the single, “It’s a story about human beings who don’t know each other, in a particularly tense situation. It could be a contemporary war setting, but it’s really about forgiveness and redemption and understanding what goes on in people’s minds. We really feel that this was such a beautiful and epic way to treat the song in something that was really radically different than the specificity of the lyrics.”

Metallica will be playing at the reknowned Ozzfest held in Dallas on the Saturday. The guitarist, Kirk Hammett, will be playing in a tribute to Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott, the late guitarist from Pantera who was mudered in Columbus, Ohio, whilst playing on stage in 2004. He will be joined by Kerry King from Slayer, Scott Ian from Anthrax and Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains. A concert surely not to be missed for those of you who can actually get tickets.

The eagerly awaited album from David Cook, winner of the latest American Idol, is in the making with Cook teaming up with a Grammy-winning producer, Rob Cavallo, for his first solo album.

Cavallo, who has worked with the likes of My Chemical Romance, Eric Clapton, Kid Rock, Green Day and Goo Goo Dolls, is having to work around the American Idols Live! Tour , which ends this September in Tulsa, and the duo are sneaking into the studio whenever they have a spare hour or so. Cook, who is co-writing most of the songs for the album, told EW.com what he thought of Cavallo. “He’s a great producer with the kind of sound that I want. … And in talking to him, he’s just a good guy. Like the song selection I had on the show, Rob just fit.”

Cook has already completed 7 songs for his album but he wants to have around 20 in total so he has plenty to choose from for his debut.

Although the official release date has not yet been announced, we can confirm it will be in November and at the same time that David Archuleta, idol runner up and by far, the less superior singer, will be releasing his album. Idol albums doing battle for the number 1 slot and surely a cunning money-making scheme by the top dogs in the music business.

Cook was the not the first to bring rock to the once pop/country television show but he sure showed the rest of the world how it’s done and will be hard to beat in the next season.

With not even a snippet from the new album, we can be sure that Cook will bring his true rock style to the songs and with Cavallo working him to his limits, we can expect to hear some turn into modern classics.