Author: smngrx01

From pretty much the very beginning, Guns N’ Roses were an instantly recognizable band in terms of their outer image.

“I try to express myself through my clothes,” Axl Rose told Rolling Stone in 1989. “It’s another form of the art. I’m not afraid of what people think about different ways I look. I’m gonna do what I want to.”

And Rose was not the only one showing his identity through his clothing.

“Steven [Adler] enjoys the hell out of the clothes he wears,” Rose said, “whereas Slash and I wouldn’t be caught dead in them; then again, there’s things Slash and I wear that Steven wouldn’t be caught dead in either. It’s just different personalities.”

Several of those personalities will be on full display in 2025 when Guns N’ Roses launches their Because What You Want & What You Get Are Two Completely Different Things world tour on May 1 in Incheon, Korea. If you’ve got tickets and you’re pondering your own outfit choices, we have some suggestions for you below with links included.

We’re going to start with perhaps the most obvious fashion accessory: a black top hat like Slash’s. Fortunately, Amazon has what appears to be hundreds of variations on this item depending on your exact style and budget. Slash usually dons a sort of belt buckle-looking band around his like this one, but you can get creative with yours.

And in case you were wondering, no, Slash never meant for his hat to become as iconic as it has. He stole it from a Los Angeles store way back in the day before GNR became superstars. “It just spoke to me,” he explained to Conan O’Brien in 2022. “[It] just became a thing where I just really identified with it. Like I wore it all the time. There was a way you pull it over your eyes; you could hide behind it if you were really high. It was great for bad hair days. I had no intention of it being this long-term show thing.”

Here’s the thing about accessories, particularly in rock ‘n’ roll: they can be both a fashion statement and a practical tool. Such is the case with Rose’s famous bandana headband. “If we’re going to do a show,” he explained in the aforementioned 1989 Rolling Stone interview, “I wear a headband because my hair gets in my face.” Rose’s bandana was often red, but he sometimes sported other colors like blue or purple. Amazon carries basically every color of the rainbow so feel free to branch out.

If you thought temporary tattoos were just for kids at birthday parties, think again. When you look at the musicians on stage during a Guns N’ Roses concert, you’ll notice they pretty much all have visible tattoos. (Followers of Duff McKagan, for example, know that the bassist has occasionally shared photos on Instagram of whatever fresh ink he’s gotten.) Why not match the band a bit? Sure, you could go out and literally get some tattoos, but it’s probably best to stick with the temporary ones for one-night-only.

We have no idea why Rose chose to wear a jersey with the number 22 on it during GNR’s Use Your Illusion tour in the early ’90s. He wore another black jersey, this time with the number 80, when the band performed at the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 29, 2002. That one appeared to be an Oakland Raiders football jersey — 80 was wide receiver Jerry Rice’s number. In any case, you can find either of these numbers (22, 80) in classic black jersey form on Amazon.

If you’re going to wear a flannel shirt to a Guns N’ Roses concert, you better make sure it’s not on your shoulders but tied around your waist a la Rose. He’s worn several different color variations of this over the years — red and black, navy and white, etc. — but Amazon has plenty of other color options so you can choose your own favorite.

Slash sure does enjoy a sleeveless number from time to time, especially the denim cutoff kind. (To be fair, some of his bandmates have also sported them.) You could get a plain one, or you could go the extra mile and grab an official Guns N’ Roses sleeveless denim vest from their website, complete with “bullet seal on the back and GN’F’NR across the top back and front panels.”

Rose and Slash are by no means the only rockstars to don aviator sunglasses, but you sort of can’t complete an outfit inspired by either one of them without throwing on a pair. You can, of course, switch things up with the hardware and/or lens color.

Again, Slash picked up the habit of wearing this accessory because it worked as a sort of shield from people. “Now wherever you go, because everybody’s got camera phones, people take your picture, and you just end up never taking the shades off,” he told The New Zealand Herald in 2015. “And I rarely look out at the crowd. It makes me very uncomfortable to look directly into the face of the crowd.”

This one won’t work for everyone, but if you’re someone with long enough locks, you could really get the Slash look by curling your hair with a small-barreled curling iron like this one. (Of course, you could also wear a wig.) Weirdly, Slash’s hair on the cover of GNR’s debut album Appetite for Destruction is….straight? But we all know the real signature look is those voluminous curls.

We saved the most daring for last. Though he doesn’t anymore, there was a time when Rose often wore tiny white shorts, and we really cannot emphasize the word “tiny” enough. So if you’re feeling brave — and the weather is warm enough — Amazon has you covered….well, at least in the figurative sense.

Billy Idol and Joan Jett kicked off their 2025 tour Wednesday night in Phoenix with a huge serving of ’80s hits and trips to their respective punk rock pasts.

You can see the complete set lists for both Idol and Jett below, as well as fan-shot video from their performances.

Jett kicked things off at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre with a 15-song set that wrapped up with a powerful foursome of her biggest hits: “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” “Crimson and Clover,” “I Hate Myself for Loving You” and “Bad Reputation.”

It was the first show of the It’s a Nice Day to.. Tour Again! tour, timed to promote Idol’s new Dream Into It album. His 17-song set featured five songs from the new album, mixed in with Rebel Yell hits such as “Flesh for Fantasy” and “Eyes Without a Face.”

His longtime guitarist Steve Stevens was given plenty of time to shine with two extended solo segments, one of which found him covering Led Zeppelin‘s “Stairway to Heaven” and Eddie Van Halen‘s “Eruption.”

In a better world, the tour would have also served as a victory lap for the “Rebel Yell” singer’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. But despite coming in third in the fan vote, Idol wasn’t chosen for induction this year.

Both singers revisited the catalogs of their pre-solo career punk rock bands, with Idol covering Generation X’s “Dancing With Myself” and “Night of the Cadillacs,” while Jett performed “Cherry Bomb” and “You Drive Me Wild” by the Runaways.

Read More: Here’s What to Wear to the Billy Idol / Joan Jett Tour

Idol and Jett will return to the stage in Houston on Saturday night. The tour’s first leg will conclude May 23 in Toronto. They’ll return to the road Aug. 16 in Philadelphia, with the fun scheduled to wrap up Sept. 25 in Los Angeles. You can get complete show and ticket information at Idol’s official website.

Watch Billy Idol Perform ‘Rebel Yell’

Watch Billy Idol Perform ‘Eyes Without a Face’

Watch Joan Jett Perform ‘Cherry Bomb’

Billy Idol, April 30, 2025 Phoenix Talking Stick Amphitheatre Set List

1. “Still Dancing”
2. “Cradle of Love”
3. “Flesh for Fantasy”
4. “77”
5. “Too Much Fun”
6. “Eyes Without a Face”
7. Steve Stevens Guitar Solo
8. “Mony Mony”
9. “Dream Into It”
10. “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”
11. “Night of the Cadillacs”
12. “Blue Highway”
13. “Rebel Yell”
14. “Dancing With Myself”
15. “Hot in the City”
16. “People I Love”
17. “White Wedding”

via SetList.fm

Joan Jett, April 30, 2025 Phoenix Talking Stick Amphitheatre Set List

1. “Change the World”
2. “Cherry Bomb”
3. “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)”
4. “You Drive Me Wild”
5. “If You’re Blue”
6. “Different”
7. “Fake Friends”
8. “Lie to Me”
9. “Androgynous”
10. “Everyday People”
11. “Love is Pain”
12. “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”
13. “Crimson & Clover”
14. “I Hate Myself for Loving You”
15. “Bad Reputation”

via SetList.fm

Chubby Checker has finally been elected to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but the pioneering musician still isn’t content.

In a recent interview with Variety, Checker – who has been Hall eligible since 1986 – explained why he believes his career belongs among the greats.

“I was thinking that if I was chosen [for the Hall of Fame], or that if I wasn’t chosen, I’m still Chubby. What we did then, what we do now, is still there,” the singer explained. “It’s just a great thing that it’s happening. And if they finally put my statue up, well, I might not be alive to see that happen, but people will enjoy it.”

The statue he’s alluding to goes back to an incident in 2002, when Checker protested the Hall insisting he deserved credit for helping blaze a trail for rock and roll.

READ MORE: 28 Rock Stars Inducted Into the Hall of Fame More Than Once

“I told them that, because of what we’ve done in the music industry, the Hall should erect a statue of Chubby Checker in its courtyard inviting everyone in to rock ‘n’ roll,” he recalled. “Everyone got so angry about that. Everybody’s made a whole lotta money off of Chubby. Give the man some credit!”

What Chubby Checker Wants From the Music Industry

Checker has remained remarkably active over his six decade career. While he’ll always be associated with his timeless hit “The Twist,” the singer accumulated 16 Top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, proof of his impressive longevity. While the Hall honor is nice, he has an even bigger hope for his legacy.

“You know what I do want from the music industry – or maybe I don’t care anymore, I don’t know – is to hear my music in the same way people can hear Billy Joel, the Beatles, Elton John or Fleetwood Mac: everywhere,” Checker explained. “On the radio. In supermarkets. I want to hear my music liked like them.”

READ MORE: Rock Hall Class of 2025: Snubs, Surprises and More

“The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame says I’m in, and I appreciate that,” Checker continued. “But I want to hear my music, and get it heard like [those other legends] do. Billboard gave me the first No. 1 song of all time for ‘The Twist’ in 2008, because it was on top longer than any other song. I want people to hear it. I want to hear it. They don’t have the No. 1 song on the planet; I do. And by the way: the dancefloor that so many of these artists enjoy and make millions of dollars on – I put it there. And it’s still there.”

The ’80s had main-character energy. Say what you will about the music but everyone looked the part. Well, for a while, anyway.

Despite its reputation for over-the-top production values, over-the-top album sales and even more over-the-top fashion, the ’80s produced their fair share of also-ran bands. The decade was defined in part by one-hit or two-hit wonders who found a quick burst of fame through the new medium of MTV.

Then there were the members of our list of Five ’80s Bands That Should’ve Been Bigger. Their fates were altered by a variety of forces – and only some of them were beyond their own control. There were a few scattered hits, but most aspired to even one.

READ MORE: Yes, They Actually Wore This in the ’80s

They couldn’t control their own vociferous appetite for drink and drugs. Or they were changed forever when a key songwriting partner left for a solo career. One simply couldn’t get along. One became something of a shooting-star band because their biggest singles all arrived in a matter of months. Another seemed to do everything they could to push back against impending fame – and they ultimately succeeded.

Yet their influence on the music of the following eras is undeniable. They opened the door for indie bands to join the ranks of major-label signings. They forged a path from the nervy underground vibe of the early ’80s to the mainstream alt-rock stadium tours of the early ’90s. Nirvana traced their attitude and musical roots back to one of these acts. The Killers do, too.

Just as intriguing: While two combustible acts completely fell apart, the others continued well past this defining era, building on their original sound and successes well into the new century. That forms its own cornerstone in the argument that they should have bigger.

No. 5. The dB’s

The dB’s set an alt-rock and power pop standard with their first two albums that the North Carolina-rooted group struggled to match again. That’s because they lost Chris Stamey, the quirkier half of a songwriting duo with smart rocker Peter Holsapple. The dB’s gamely carried on, finally charting (though only at No. 171) with 1987’s The Sound of Music. By then, they’d signed to a label that promptly folded then the lineup had shifted again. The dB’s fell silent until roaring back with 2012’s very welcome reunion, Falling Off the Sky.

No. 4. Husker Du

Husker Du broke up after notching their highest-selling LP, 1987’s Warehouse: Songs and Stories. Unfortunately, they’d only made it to No. 117 – and that was the least of their problems. Husker Du never had a charting U.S. single, and No. 96 was the best they’d do in the U.K. Their manager died by suicide as tensions boiled over between songwriters Bob Mould and Grant Hart. They flamed out on tour, but not before providing a key support in the bridge from punk to alternative rock. Without Husker Du, there’s no Nirvana.

No. 3. The Church

The Church scored a bona fide hit with 1988’s “Under the Milky Way.” They just didn’t seem all that interested in success. The group was dropped by their U.S. label after delivering a sophomore release that quickly veered from new wave. Later, their manager secured an opening spot on a 1982 U.K. tour with Duran Duran – but the Church quit before the showcase could provide any commercial momentum. The No. 22 single “Under the Milky Way,” a fever dream of psychedelia and gloss, underscored the distinctive musical evolution that followed. But then they fired their label’s chosen producer and never returned to the Billboard Top 40.

No. 2. The Replacements

The Replacements made the Church seem like fame-hungry sycophants. They met every opportunity with a lit match. There were drunken onstage antics, and disastrous appearance on Saturday Night Live. Then they fired Bob Stinson from the band he started. All of it obscured Paul Westerberg‘s canny knack for articulating teen angst. Their musical arc began with the trashiest of hardcore punk before slowly transforming into a template-setting blend of attitude and power chords soon dubbed alternative. They were also among the first wave of indie signings by major labels, opening the door for the mainstreaming of college rock in the ’90s.

No. 1. The Fixx

The Fixx were easily the most commercially successful on our list of Five ’80s Bands That Should’ve Been Bigger – but that’s a relative description. They still only a handful Top 40 songs, with “One Things Leads to Another” leading the way at No. 4. The main burst of attention was also confined to 1983: Three of those hits were plucked from Reach the Beach. It all began to feel very much like a moment in time even as the Fixx continued to release layered, resonant albums with all of the same emotion and urgency – right up through 2022’s triumphant Every Five Seconds. Somewhere, the Killers were clearly listening.

Our Top 10 Brian Eno Songs list takes a look at the music that Brian Eno released on his solo albums. For this list, we’ll start with his first album and select songs from his solo album catalog in chronological order.

# 10 – Baby’s On Fire

Since we are doing this Brian Eno Songs list in chronological order, there is no way we could pass on listing one of the most cherished Brian Eno songs of all time. “Baby’s On Fire” was released on Brian Eno’s first album, Here Come the Warm Jets. The excellent album was released in 1974. Listen to that incredible guitar solo by Robert Fripp at the end. The video will freak you out!

“Baby’s on Fire,”  was cut in September 1973 at Majestic Studios, London, with Eno producing and Chris Thomas credited for additional production. The session line-up placed Eno on vocals, VCS3 synthesiser and “snake” guitar, flanked by Paul Rudolph on bass and rhythm guitar, Marty Simon on drums, and Robert Fripp—invited from King Crimson—for the song’s celebrated three-minute lead-guitar improvisation, recorded in one take through a fuzz-soaked Hiwatt stack. Clocking in at 5:19, the track marries a locked two-chord groove to surrealist lyrics inspired by J. G. Ballard.

# 9 – Third Uncle

“Third Uncle,” the propulsive opener of side two on Brian Eno’s Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), was cut at Island Studios, London, during July–September 1974 with Eno producing alongside engineer Rhett Davies. The track captures a lean quartet: Eno on treated vocals, keyboards, and additional guitar; Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera firing rapid-strummed lead lines; bassist Brian Turrington anchoring the harmonic drone; and drummer Freddie Smith driving the song’s relentless motorik pulse. At 4:48, its two-chord assault and opaque, cut-up lyrics anticipated post-punk minimalism by several years, prompting later critics to tag it “proto punk” and “a blueprint for art-rock velocity.” Although Taking Tiger Mountain peaked modestly at No. 28 on the UK Albums Chart and missed the U.S. listings on its November 1974 Island Records release, “Third Uncle” went on to become one of Eno’s most covered compositions—most notably by Bauhaus in 1982—and a touchstone for artists exploring the intersection of repetition, texture, and controlled dissonance.

# 8 – Sky Saw

Tough to pick only one track from Brian Eno’s amazing third album entitled Another Green World. The track “Sky Saw” also featured Phil Collins on drums and John Cale on viola. Another Green World was mainly an instrumental album and marked a dramatic departure from his previous work. “Sky Saw”  was recorded at Island Studios, London, during July and August 1975 with Eno and engineer Rhett Davies sharing production duties. Clocking in at 3:27, the track assembles an unlikely chamber of contributors: Phil Collins supplies clipped, polyrhythmic drums; John Cale threads a distorted, scraping viola; Percy Jones underpins the piece with fretless bass; and Eno layers processed guitars, EMS synth, and abstracted vocals mixed so low they function more as texture than narrative. The result marked a decisive pivot from the glam‐tinged art-rock of Eno’s earlier records toward the ambient and electro-acoustic collage that would define his later career.

Released by Island Records that November, Another Green World reached No. 24 on the UK Albums Chart and introduced critics to a sound world where rock instrumentation, studio experimentation, and quasi-ambient atmospheres coexisted in unprecedented balance—an aesthetic “Sky Saw” establishes in its opening moments with slash-and-drone urgency.

# 7 –  The Big Ship

Well, we could not do it. We had to pick at least one more. “The Big Ship” is a legendary Brian Eno Song. We could not pass on this one. Brian Eno played all the instruments on this great track. “The Big Ship,” placed deep on side two of Brian Eno’s Another Green World, was recorded at Island Studios, London, in July–August 1975, with Eno and engineer Rhett Davies co-producing; unlike most cuts on the album, this 3:01 instrumental is a solo construction, Eno himself layering EMS synthesizer swells, Yamaha organ chords, and subtle treatments over a steadily rising pulse generated by his own drum machine and processed guitar.

Conceived as “a picture of enormous uncertainty slowly resolving into optimism,” the track provides the record’s emotional apex, its shimmering crescendos foreshadowing the long-form ambient pieces Eno would release in the following years. Issued by Island Records in November 1975, Another Green World reached No. 24 on the UK Albums Chart; although “The Big Ship” was never a single, it became a cult favorite, regularly cited as a touchstone of Eno’s transition from art-rock songwriter to architect of ambient soundscapes.

# 6 – Discreet Music

This is haunting and beautiful in the same breath. Side one of Brian Eno’s Discreet Music album should not be missed.“Discreet Music,” the 30-minute composition occupying the entire first side of Brian Eno’s 1975 LP of the same name, was recorded in September 1975 at his London home studio using an EMS Synthi AKS, graphic equaliser, and twin Revox A77 tape machines arranged in a delay-loop configuration that allowed the music to generate itself with minimal intervention. Produced solely by Eno and issued that November on Island’s Obscure Records imprint, the track marked his formal pivot from song-based art rock toward systems-driven minimalism: a slow-evolving lattice of synthetic tones designed, in his words, to be “as ignorable as it is interesting.”

Unlike the chamber-music interpretations of Pachelbel’s Canon that fill side two—performed by the Cockpit Ensemble under Gavin Bryars—“Discreet Music” features no additional musicians; every note originates from Eno’s generative rig, captured in real time and left unedited. Though the album did not trouble the charts, its radical premise—music created to enhance, rather than dominate, the listening environment—became the cornerstone of Eno’s subsequent ambient catalogue and a foundational text for modern electronic and installation artists.

# 5 – King’s Lead Hat

“King’s Lead Hat,” a manic anagrammatic salute to Talking Heads, closes the first half of Brian Eno’s Before and After Science, recorded between September 1976 and September 1977 at Basing Street, AIR, and Olympic Studios in London and released by Island Records in December 1977 (the single followed in January 1978). Produced by Eno with engineer-co-producer Rhett Davies, the 3:57 track matches Eno’s rapid-fire vocal over Phil Manzanera’s jagged guitar, Percy Jones’s fretless bass, Paul Rudolph’s additional rhythm guitar, and Simon Phillips’s hyper-precise drums, all driven by Eno’s Yamaha CS-80 sequences and EMS processing.

Issued as the album’s only UK single (Island WIP 6425), “King’s Lead Hat” failed to chart, yet critics cited its nervous energy and studio layering as a template for the emergent new-wave aesthetic—anticipating Eno’s subsequent production work with Talking Heads. The parent LP, split between uptempo side-one experiments and ambient-leaning side two, peaked at No. 26 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 171 on the Billboard 200.

# 4 – Thursday Afternoon

The ambient Brian Eno at his best. This is basically one 60 minute track that took up the entire album. Brian Eno played all the instruments. This one was released in 1985. If you have a massage chair, this is a great piece of music to just get lost in.“Thursday Afternoon,” issued by E.G. Records in September 1985, is a single uninterrupted 60-minute ambient composition conceived and produced solely by Brian Eno at his private studio in London during 1984.

Created for a video art installation of the same name, the piece was assembled from layered DX7 synthesizer textures, piano treatments and digital delay systems, then transferred directly to the compact-disc format—making the album one of the first major releases designed specifically for CD rather than vinyl. Presented without additional musicians, the work extends Eno’s generative-music methodology pioneered on Discreet Music and Music for Airports, unfolding as a slowly evolving field of harmonic washes intended for low-level playback and environmental listening. Although it registered no commercial chart positions, Thursday Afternoon drew critical notice for its technological foresight, its seamless hour-long structure, and its role in cementing Eno’s reputation as the foremost architect of long-form ambient soundscapes.

# 3 – Fractal Zoom

We jump ahead another seven years to 1992 and a return to rock with the Nerve Net album.  “Fractal Zoom,” the jittery opener to Brian Eno’s 1992 album Nerve Net, was recorded between 1990 and early 1992 at Wilderness Studio in Woodbridge, Suffolk, with Eno producing and co-mixing alongside Markus Dravs. Built on a looping drum-machine lattice and distorted bass programmed by Eno, the track features Robert Fripp’s angular lead-guitar bursts, John Paul Jones on fretless bass overdubs, Benmont Tench adding Hammond organ swells, and Wayne Duchamp on treated saxophone, while Eno supplies lead and processed backing vocals.

Clocking in at 4:24, “Fractal Zoom” signalled Eno’s return to rhythm-driven art-rock after a decade focused on long-form ambient works, blending techno-inflected beats with the dissonant guitar atmospherics pioneered on his 1970s collaborations. Released by Opal/Warner in September 1992, Nerve Net reached No. 51 on the UK Albums Chart; although “Fractal Zoom” did not chart as a single, its accompanying video, directed by digital artist Hugo Heppell, reinforced the album’s forward-looking fusion of electronic texture and live improvisation.

# 2 – And Then So Clear

This one is absolutely stunning. “And Then So Clear,” the luminous opener of Brian Eno’s Another Day on Earth, was recorded at Eno’s private studios in West London between 2004 and early 2005 and self-produced in collaboration with engineer Peter Chilvers. Across 4:22, Eno sings in an elevated, almost androgynous register treated with formant-shifting software, while layering his own synthesizers, piano, and programmed percussion; Jon Hopkins contributes additional keyboards, Leo Abrahams adds textured guitar, and Nell Catchpole supplies subtly looped violin lines. The track introduces the album’s hybrid of songcraft and ambient impressionism—Eno’s first full vocal project since 1977—and became a fan-favorite despite no single release, earning critical notice for its serene melody set against digitally fractured rhythms. Another Day on Earth emerged on Virgin/Opal in June 2005, reaching No. 131 on the UK Albums Chart.

# 1 – Fickle Sun (iii) I’m Set Free’

The closing movement from Brian Eno’s 2016 album The Ship is the perfect way to end our chronological Top 10 Brian Eno Songs List. “Fickle Sun (iii) I’m Set Free,” was recorded at Eno’s private studios in Norfolk and London between 2014 and 2015 with long-time engineer Peter Chilvers co-producing and programming; the track re-imagines the Velvet Underground’s 1969 composition, featuring Eno’s own lead and harmony vocals, his EMS Synthi and digital treatments, Chilvers on keyboards and processing, Jon Hopkins supplying additional electronics, and Leo Abrahams on textural guitar. Running 5:17, the performance slows the original’s folk-rock cadence into a reverberant elegy that closes the album’s meditation on technological hubris and maritime catastrophe. The Ship reached No. 28 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 168 on the US Billboard 200

Check out similar articles on ClassicRockHistory.com Just click on any of the links below……

Brian Eno Taking Tiger Mountain: Album Review

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Top 10 Brian Eno Songs article published on ClassicRockHistory.com© 2025

Halestorm singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale has commented on being the only woman booked to play at Black Sabbath’s final show.

The Pennsylvania-born musician will take the stage both with her band and as part of an all-star ‘supergroup’ at the Back To The Beginning concert at Birmingham’s Villa Park on July 5.

The show will mark the final performances of both Sabbath’s original lineup and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. Despite it having dozens of bands and artists on the poster – including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Gojira and more – Hale is so far the only non-male set to take the stage.

Talking to Audacy Music, the frontwoman says being the sole woman there is an “honour”.

She continues (via Blabbermouth): “I was talking to my friends Taylor Momsen [of The Pretty Reckless] and Amy Lee [of Evanescence] and Maria Brink [of In This Moment] and all of my sisters in this genre, and they’re all so proud of me.

“And I said, ‘Hey, girls, I’m carrying you with me. You’re gonna be there in spirit. I’m gonna make you girls so proud.’ And so it’s this beautiful event that everyone gets to look forward to. I’m so glad they’re doing it.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Hale reveals that, when she got the email from Ozzy’s wife/manager Sharon Osbourne about taking part in Back To The Beginning, it took her two days to respond.

“I’m like, ‘Is this real?’,” she explains. “It’s wild! I’ve been a Black Sabbath fan since I was 11. The first riff I ever learned on a guitar was Heaven And Hell by Black Sabbath.”

Earlier this month, Hale appeared on a Women Of Metal roundtable hosted by Spotify, where she spoke with Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia and Spiritbox‘s Courtney LaPlante about their experiences being female in a genre as male-dominated as metal.

Halestorm released their new single, Darkness Always Wins, last week. The band are set to put out their sixth studio album, the follow-up to 2022’s Back From The Dead, this year. Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, etc.) is the producer.

Halestorm have a packed touring schedule for the summer. They’ll be playing select dates with Iron Maiden in Europe from May to June, as well as headline shows and festival slots. Shortly after Back To The Beginning, they’ll start a North American tour with Volbeat. See all dates and get tickets via the band’s website.