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B-Sides Report for 08/15/2016


Jeff Beck And Steven Tyler Cover Prince's 'Purple Rain'

(Radio.com) Rock guitar legend Jeff Beck threw an epic 50-year celebration party concert at the Hollywood Bowl last Wednesday (August 10), and during the performance the guitar legend and former Yardbirds member paid tribute to Prince with a cover of 'Purple Rain."

That's when the place really heated up. Beth Hart performed lead vocals and Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler joined in with some trademark high notes and background vocals.

Earlier in the evening Tyler performed Aerosmith's version of the Tiny Bradshaw number 'Train Kept A-Rollin" and the Yardbirds' 'Shapes of Things." Read more here.

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A Look Back At Metallica's 'Black Album' 25 Years Later

(Radio.com) Metallica's self-titled album, referred to by fans as "The Black Album," turned 25 this month (August 12). Here, we look back at the album's place in Metallica's catalog and its impact.

Over the course of their first three albums, 1983's Kill 'Em All, 1984's Ride the Lightning and 1986's Master of Puppets, they were at the forefront of thrash metal, heavy metal's latest and most brutal subgenre. They were a defiantly underground band who refused to even shoot videos; this was during MTV's heyday.

With 1988's 'and Justice for All, their production got a bit more slick (although fans complained about how the drums sounded), and they even had a song that got played on the radio--"One"--and they eventually made a video for it. But despite the song's ballad-like beginning, it was an anti-war song about someone who'd lost all four limbs, was blind and unable to speak, as a result of war injuries. Suffice to say, it was not that commercial, and fans figured their moment in the mainstream would be short-lived.

Still, they headlined their first arena tour for that album; they could no longer truly be considered "underground." This became apparent a few seconds into "Enter Sandman," the "Black Album's" first single and lead-off track. It was also apparent that "One" was no one-off hit. Fans could see the metal underground fading in Metallica's rear-view mirror.

While Metallica didn't make any real concessions to glam metal bands that had dominated radio and MTV in the late '80s (and were on the wane), they did hire Bob Rock (who'd previously worked on albums by Motley Crue and Bon Jovi) as their producer for the "Black Album." A few seconds into the song it was clear that Metallica and Rock had stadium-sized ambitions. Read more here.

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Video From Guns N' Roses Seattle Concert Goes Online

(hennemusic) Guns N' Roses brought their 2016 summer reunion tour to CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA on August 12 and videos from the show have been posted online.

The 21st stop on the Not In This Lifetime trek saw the band deliver an extended 25-song set with the addition of the 2008 "Chinese Democracy" track "Catcher In The Rye."

The concert marked only the third appearance of the song by the reunited trio of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan following its debut at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA on July 20 and performance during an August 5 show at NRG Stadium in Houston, TX.

McKagan's daughter's band, The Pink Slips, and Alice In Chains opened the show. Guns N' Roses will next perform at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ on August 15. Check out the videos here.

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Christina Grimmie's Video For 'Snow White' Released

(Radio.com) A videos that Christina Grimmie worked on before she died, "Show White," has been released. The clip is the first of four posthumous videos that will be premiered over the next month on Billboard.com, reported Rolling Stone.

"Snow White" is the first chapter in a four-segment concept called The Ballad of Jessica Blue. The song originally appeared on Grimmie's second EP, Side A, which was released February 21.

In the video, Grimmie plays a character burdened by the insecurities that come with being a teenager. "The story follows a young girl's journey into self-discovery through her love life, her womanhood and her music," posted Grimmie's Facebook. "Jessica is at a crossroads in her life. She becomes suspicious of her boyfriend and is gripped by insecurities only to realize that she is doing more damage to her own heart and future than any relationship ever could. [During the four-part video she] finds her path by doing what she loves. She sings from her heart."

Grimmie, a former contestant on the TV show The Voice, was shot and killed June 10 while signing autographs after a concert in Orlando, Florida. She was 22. Watch Grimmie's video for "Snow White" here.

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Carly Rae Jepsen's New Collaboration 'Super Natural' Streaming

(Radio.com) A new single pairs Carly Rae Jepsen with Danny L. Harle of PC Music, a London-based collective of artists dedicated to sunny, euphoric pop. "Super Natural" plays to Jepsen's greatest strengths as a vocalist, which is why Harle knew he had to work with her the minute he heard "Call Me Maybe."

"I wrote the melody for 'Super Natural' before I had any lyrics in mind, and even at that stage I knew it was going to be an important track for me," he said in a press release. "I found that the lyrics came to me easily once I had the tune. Carly was always at the top of my list of people who could sing it, but I never envisaged it actually happening!"

As soon as the stars aligned, Harle knew it was time to call her, definitely: "Ever since I heard 'Call Me Maybe' she has been one of my dream collaborators. I love her take on the track; her voice has an amazingly positive energy which was essential in giving 'Super Natural' a necessary sense of euphoria." Listen to "Super Natural" here.

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Tyga May Avoid Arrest Following Settlement with Ex-Landlord

(Radio.com) West Coast rapper Tyga (real name Michael Ray Stevenson) was hit with an arrest warrant on August 9 after failing to show up to a court date in Santa Monica to address a lawsuit filed by his former landlord Rholamreza Rezai.

Now, it looks like the MC may be off the hook, having reportedly reached a settlement with Rezai, reported People. Tyga was accused of owing Rezai $480,000 for payments he allegedly failed to make on his home in Malibu.

In the lawsuit, Rezai alleges that Tyga stopped paying rent three months after he moved into the place. Tyga left the property in 2012, People wrote. Read more here.

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Florence + the Machine Contribute to 'Final Fantasy XV'

(Radio.com) Final Fantasy XV, the latest installment of the classic video game series, will feature music by Florence + the Machine. Frontwoman Florence Welch posted on social media that she found a whole new world of music that she didn't know existed, and deciding to get involved.

Earlier this year, Florence + the Machine recorded a cover of Ben E. King's 'Stand by Me." In anticipation of a September 30 release of Final Fantasy XV, the band has shared a three-track playlist of their songs from the game, which includes the 'Stand by Me" cover.

"@FinalFantasy @FFXVEN @iTunes po.st/DH74mQ @Spotify po.st/HKOyD6 https://t.co/HY7UFszODL- florence welch (@flo_tweet) August 12, 2016" Check it out here.

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Twisted Sister's Jay Jay French Doesn't See New Rock Generation

(Classic Rock) Twisted Sister's Jay Jay French says there doesn't seem to be a younger generation of true rockstars. The guitarist recalls that most of the bands he watched growing up were in their mid-20s - but he says nowadays veteran acts such as Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Black Sabbath still dominate the rock and metal industry, despite nearing the end of their career.

He tells Kaoos TV: "When I was 17-years-old I listened to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors. None of them were older than 26 when I was 17.

"Now we, as 17-year-olds, never went to see bands that were 60. We saw bands that were all 25, 26 years old. If I told my mother I was going to go see a band with 60-year-old guys, she'd look at me like I was crazy or I was going to some jazz band or some classical group.

"So now we play festivals where all the bands are 60 years old - us, Whitesnake, Kiss, Black Sabbath, AC/DC. They're all 60. Maybe 50, with Metallica."

French continues: "So I ask everybody out there - where are the 25-year-old rock stars? Where are they? There's a huge gap. You can't name them." Read more here.

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Heart Release Live 'Beautiful Broken' Video

(Classic Rock) Heart have released a live video of them performing Beautiful Broken. It's the title track of their 16th album, which was released last month via Concord Bicycle Music. The studio version features a guest appearance from Metallica's James Hetfield.

Speaking about the track with Rolling Stone, Heart singer Ann Wilson said: "I wrote the words in 2012 or 2013. And the vision I had for it was of a sort of fabulous disaster chick - kind of in the form of someone like Courtney Love.

"She's complicated, she's gorgeous, she's got it all wired tight, but she has a design flaw upstairs that makes her unable to live in the world normally. It's a character study, really. And getting James Hetfield to sing on it, that was an idea that Nancy had."

Guitarist Nancy Wilson added: "James is a really old friend of my husband's. We were listening to the bonus-track version of Beautiful Broken that came from the Fanatic album, and it had such a great, raucous spirit. It had that aggression and that rock thing and so he said, 'Well, why don't we see if James might want to give it a listen and try to do some stuff on there?'

"James came back and said that he loved it. So we sent him the new track that we had just recorded. He took it to his studio and he did amazing work. He added a new part, some new lyrics, all the background vocals. I think he brought the song more into focus than it had been.

"It was great to see it transform like that into something sort of new, which is what we did with a lot of the songs on this album." Watch the video here.

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The Raven Age's George Harris Picked Music Over Pro-Sports Career

(TeamRock) The Raven Age guitarist George Harris has revealed how he gave up on a promising career as a professional footballer (soccer) to pursue a life in metal.

Harris, 25, is the son of Iron Maiden bassist Steve and his dream job was always to be a soccer star. He takes after his father both when it comes to music and in his love for sport, with Steve having once been on the radar of scouts for his beloved West Ham United.

George had trials with various clubs and was made an offer by one Norwegian team, but opted to put his efforts into The Raven Age instead. Speaking to TeamRock after the band's performance on the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock Saturday, Harris says: "My dream job was always to be a professional footballer.

"My dad never pushed me towards music, but I did start playing the guitar when I was 14 and then started writing songs when I was 17. But I was so into football and had loads of trials for different teams. When I was in Norway for trials I wrote a lot of songs that ended up being played in The Raven Age." Read more here.

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Gojira Frontman Says Metal Is The Opposite Of Divisive

(TeamRock) Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier believes the metal scene is a more inclusive place than some might think. Reacting to Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider's remarks that metal is more divisive than ever, Duplantier gave his take on the state of the scene and took a different view to his elder counterpart.

Speaking to TeamRock at Bloodstock before his band perform on the Ronnie James Dio stage Saturday, Duplantier says: "I think it's pretty good. There is a shift in the mentality where there is no lines between genres any more.

"I know we don't have the bands that we had in the 90s, like Pantera and Rage Against The Machine, but we do have Mastodon, Meshuggah, Behemoth and bands like that who are part of it.

"Mastodon, for example, move between genres but they are very welcome in the metal community. Music now is more of a way to connect people than back in the day. Metal is growing as the world is shrinking, because the internet has brought us closer together.

"So I don't think it's divisive, I think it's the opposite." Read more here.

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Behemoth's Nergal Wants Extreme Reaction To 'Love Is A Dog From Hell'

(Metal Hammer) Behemoth frontman Nergal has named his upcoming blues, country and folk-inspired album Love Is A Dog From Hell. He's just completed work on the project with his friend John Porter and previously issued two video clips from the studio.

And with such a radical departure from his work with Behemoth, Nergal says he's looking forward to hearing "extreme" views from fans of the band. Speaking with TeamRock at Bloodstock, Nergal says: "The more radical and more extreme they are, the more delighted I will be. The worst thing you can get is people just saying, 'Yeah, it's OK.'

"I want people to either say... I'm throwing out all the Behemoth records because of all this crap you recorded.' That's what I would love to see on one hand.

"And on the other, 'All that piece of s--- Behemoth stuff you've done, I don't want you to scream any more.' I want to get both reactions." Read more here.

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Sabaton Frontman Explains Lineup Changes

(Metal Hammer) Sabaton frontman Joakim Broden says a hectic touring schedule is partly to blame for the band's lineup changes. They most recent member to leave the Sabaton fold was guitarist Thobbe Englund, with the vocalist saying he understands why being part of a band isn't for everyone.

Speaking to Mitch Lafon at this year's Heavy Monteal, Broden says: "Our second guitar player Thobbe resigned a couple of weeks ago, so we've got a new one coming in - that's still a secret, though.

"I also understand we're a very active band. I think between April 2014 and April 2015 we played 170 shows, so that's at least 250 days away from home. It's tough.

"I've seen it happen so many times with our band and other bands, that even if you can try to explain it, do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into? There is no guarantee that you're still going to want this five years later."

Sabaton have also released a lyric video for their track Shiroyama, which features on their eighth album The Last Stand - out on August 19 via Nuclear Blast. Watch it here.

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Motley Crue Song Used In NFL Commercial

(hennemusic) The Motley Crue song, "Home Sweet Home", provides the soundtrack to a new NFL commercial celebrating the return of football which debuted during Saturday's ESPN broadcast of the league's first preseason game between the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys.

Creativity Online reports the ad cuts together joyful scenes of players, coaches, fans, groundskeepers, owners and broadcasters singing the 1985 hit ballad.

Directed by Rob Gehring, the commercial includes cameos by former New York Giant-turned-talk show host Michael Strahan, Pittsburgh Steelers player Antonio Brown, NFL vet Charles Woodson, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the Denver Broncos' Von Miller, among others.

The ad closes by announcing, "Families always come home, sweet home," followed by the NFL's theme "Football is Family." Watch the ad here.

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Neon Trees Singer Tyler Glenn Releases First Solo Single 'Shameless'

(Radio.com) Tyler Glenn, the lead vocalist and keyboardist of the group Neon Trees, has released "Shameless," the first single from his debut solo album Excommunication.

The song is a celebration of excess and indulgence that pulses with throbbing keyboards, slappy funk bass and a steady beat. The lyrics echo the decadent vibe of the music:

"I've been fighting off a hurricane inside me�/ It's the darkest time of the night/ Godd- vodka might save my life/you judge but I don't give a damn�/ I live a life so shameless." Listen to "Shameless" here.

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Drake Makes Return Appearance On 'PartyNextDoor 3 (P3)'

(Radio.com) Drake makes a guest appearance on PartyNextDoor 3 (P3), the first album in two years from R&B vocalist PartyNextDoor, reported Billboard. Drake, who performed on the PartyNextDoor 2 track "Recognize" in 2o14, returns to lend his vocals to the dusky, previously released "Come and See Me."

Of course, PND is a fellow Canadian producer, singer, songwriter and rapper and he's signed to Drake's label OVO, which might have facilitated the process.

Drake is the only special guest on the record. The other 15 tracks are all PartyNextDoor (real name Jahron Anthony Brathwaite). That doesn't mean the crooner won't wear his influences on his sleeves. He references Blackstreet's 1996 track "No Diggity" in the first song "High Hopes," and his old school R&B delivery is sometimes reminiscent of Drake, The Weeknd and Frank Ocean. Read more here.

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Jake Owen's 'VW' Wasn't Inspired By His VW Van Trip

(Radio.com) The cover of Jake Owen's new album American Love sees the country singer sitting in a VW van on the beach. As many of his fans know, he spent some time driving across the country in a VW van. (He documented some of it in his "American Country Love Song" video.) So it was no surprise that a song called "VW" ended up on the album.

But it turns out that Owen didn't write the song; not only that, but it had been written before he ever took off on his triad trip. "Well, it was a song that had been written a few years earlier," Owen tells Radio.com. "I hadn't heard it [at the time it was written]. But my buddy who is a songwriter saw that I was doing that VW van trip, he sent me an email saying that his friends had written a song that maybe I could use. And I thought, 'This is perfect for the record.'"

A big part of the album is making connections with people, and "VW" helped Owen make a nice connection with the writers. "It was really cool because the guys that wrote it hadn't really had a song on a record before. Now they're on the map; one of the guys said that now he's working on a publishing deal." Read more here.

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Beyonce Song Featured In Nike Commercial Starring Simone Biles

(Radio.com) A new Nike commercial features Beyonce and Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles. The ad depicts Biles training for competition and a voice-over from her mother Nellie. Beyonce's "Jealous" plays in the background.

In addition to showing Biles stretching, tumbling and navigating the uneven bars and balance beam, the video includes footage of her as a little girl doing backflips at home.

"When she was a little girl Simone was very hyperactive, always flipping around in the house and always non-stop energy. That's just my Simone," says her mom.

Following shots of Biles demonstrating incredible acts of athleticism, the ad concludes with Nellie saying, "When I see how dedicated she is, it humbles me. I always tell her, 'Don't forget to be the best, Simone. Just be the best.'" Watch the Simone Biles' Nike ad here.

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