The rendition by the two metal heroes features on the soundtrack for Queen Of The Ring, an upcoming biographical movie that follows the story of the revolutionary Mildred Burke, who became the first million dollar female wrestler in history at a time when pro wrestling for women was illegal in America.
Queen Of The Ring was written and directed by Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen, and will be released in cinemas on March 7.
Taylor and Noah Sebastian’s take on the track is a gorgeous reimagining, their two voices working together in a haunting and complimentary way, as each vocalist takes in turns to lead the verses before joining together towards the end, surrounded by moody acoustic guitar strums and atmospheric strings.
Listeners in the comments are similarly enthralled by the cover, with one fan writing: “I never thought I needed to hear Corey Taylor and Noah Sebastian together until listening to this masterpiece”. While another says, “I didn’t think this song could possibly get any more haunting, such a soft beautiful version”.
Later this year, Bad Omens are set to perform at a number of festivals including Sonic Temple, Welcome to Rockville and Louder Than Life Festival.
Slipknot will play Sweden Rock Festival, Rock Im Park, Resurrection Fest and more as part of their 2025 European tour, which kicks off on June 4.
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Listen to the Dust In The Wind below:
Dust in the Wind (From ‘Queen of the Ring – Music From The Motion Picture’) – YouTube
A previously unreleased 1981 by the late electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze is to be released in April.
Bon Voyage (Live Hamburg Audimax 1981) will be released through SPV Recordings on April 25 and you can watch a video teaser for the release below.
The album was recorded at Hamburg’s Audimax on the final night of a short tour of Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and France, on which the former Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel member was supported by his former Ash Ra Tempel and Cosmic Jokers colleague, guitarist Manuel Göttsching.
The album follows SPV’s previous posthumous release of Shulze’s 101, MILKY WAY. Schulze, a former member of both Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, helped pioneer the Berlin School of kosmische music, a lighter, more ambient style of Krautrock. He died, aged 74, in April of last year.
Bon Voyage (Live Hamburg Audimax 1981) will be available as a digipak including double live CD and video recording of the concert on DVD, a double vinyl e, a single vinyl edition with black 180g vinyl and LP booklet and as a 10-track stream and download.
After 13 years of squalling, raging metalcore, Ithaca will cease to be in 2025. But while it’s a heavy blow to the UK metal scene, the fact they leave behind an immense legacy with two spectacular albums – 2019’s The Language Of Injury and 2022’s They Fear Us – and many fond memories of chaotic live shows – including the time they ended up in a hostage situation – they’ve left an immense impact on the UK metal scene.
To commemorate their passing – and celebrate their chaotic brilliance – Hammer caught up with vocalist Djamila Azzouz.
Hey Djamila, how are ya? We can’t believe Ithaca are splitting up…
“I still feel quite emotional! I didn’t really know what to expect; what the reaction would be, if people would be sad or angry about it, or even just like, ‘Boo, you suck!’ We’ve known for quite a long time this was happening, and it’s been really hard to not be able to talk about it and let people know what’s going on. In a way I feel better, but sad.”
What prompted the decision to end the band?
“There’s a whole bunch of reasons, and a lot of it is – a tale as old as time – we can’t afford to be in a band. The point of success we reached with our last album was so amazing, beyond what we ever thought we could achieve, but in order for us to reach the next step up, we would have to sacrifice more than we can. Had this happened when we were in our early 20s, great, we could drop everything. Of course, we never could have written They Fear Us in our early 20s! But we also don’t feel like we are able to put the time into the band that people deserve, and to invest the time we’d need to make another record.”
What band breaking up hit you the hardest?
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“It’s funny, a lot of the bands I was really upset about actually ended up getting back together. So firstly, My Chemical Romance – I was devastated! Then, there was this band called Beecher. They were a metalcore band from the UK, and broke up in 2006, which is a really long time ago! They were such a criminally underrated band – all the good bits of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Every Time I Die. They had the potential to be absolutely massive, but never got there, unfortunately.”
We’re going to have to correct you there – 2006 was only a few years back, and not, as a flier we still have for a long-gone under-18s night suggests, nearly 20 years ago.
“Ah, do they still do those?! We had this under-18s club night once a month at the Underworld in Camden. We went every single month, and would see all the UK metal bands that were coming up – The Eyes Of A Traitor, Azriel, Your Demise… all these 2000s bands! It was really amazing – a real community. Without nights like that, I probably wouldn’t be here! I wonder if nights like that still exist for kids, or if they just worry they’ll all be bussing ketamine in the toilet.”
Ah, the decline of youth culture…
“Do they even know about [drinking games] Edward Ciderhands? Amy Winehands? There are some things AI and TikTok can’t replace, and that is drinking two two-litre bottles of Frosty Jack’s and pissing yourself in a field. I think it’s responsible for why I am the way I am!”
You’ve got one more song coming before the band officially call it quits. What can you tell us about it?
“If you tried to encapsulate all of the music Ithaca have written over the years, all of the emotions and sentiments into one song… it’d be this. I can’t listen to it without crying!”
Your Instagram is full of fun snaps from tours. What’s your favourite tour memory?
“Sam [Chetan-Welsh, guitars] will hate me for this, but there’s one we called ‘pizzagate’, before pizzagate became associated with something else! We were staying at someone’s house up North while on tour, and had a pizza the night before. We loaded the van up and Sam put what was left on top of the roof and forgot. He drove away, realised, then tried to reverse and went straight into a tree, totalling our car, and we had to cancel the remaining shows.”
What song do you hope people remember Ithaca for?
“They Fear Us. It’s so difficult to pick one, but it’s the one most people hear first, and was the song that kicked things off on that album cycle. Or if you’ve been following us for a long time, you’ll always remember us for the one time we did a very, very bad Hatebreed cover on one tour. If you were there, you’re very special.”
Twenty-one years ago, the ordinary Chris Cerulli was laid to rest. In his stead, Chris Motionless arose, cracking open his coffin and clawing up through six feet of dirt and worms to front metalcore-via-goth stars Motionless In White. With their love of theatrical horror, the band embraced metal’s passion for the macabre.
But it’s not all bats and belfries; with industrial grit and gothic gloom, Chris’s aching introspection has seared its way into the hearts and minds of Creatures the world over. With a new Motionless record in the works, Hammer sat down with the frontman to reflect on the taxing graveyard shift he’s been working for more than two decades, and learn how he’s trying to start focusing on himself.
SUCCESS DOESN’T ALWAYS EQUAL HAPPINESS
“Focusing on my career has had a huge impact on my personal life. I gravitated towards a one-sided work life for so long; I got lost in how fast all of it moves, the touring, the record cycles… I’ve learned that you’ve got to find ways to exist outside of your career. I don’t want to be left with absolutely nothing once this is all over, y’know? I used to neglect relationships and friendships, but focusing on those people that will stick around after the music stops has been instrumental in feeling fulfilled and happy. It requires time and effort, and I’m still trying to get the balance right, but I’m trying to live a complete life.”
THERAPY IS FOR EVERYONE
“Above everything, make sure you are happy. If you’re not, everything else is going to suffer and crumble down. You’ll just be left with a shell of what you thought your life would be. I’m a very vocal advocate for therapy. It can feel daunting, but it’s vital. For me, therapy feels like opening a door into a dark room – you’re lost and confused, but you have to feel around and find out how to light a fire in there. It’s scary, but it makes me want to open the next door. I want to keep exploring what’s going on in there and find happiness. I’ve made good progress, but there’s a long way to go.”
ENJOY WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT TO
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“People are baffled if I say I love Taylor Swift, and it’s such a closed-minded way of seeing the world. I guess people see what I look like and just take that at face value. I enjoy lots of things outside of the ‘spooky dark’ realm Like, do people not realise that most of their favourite metal artists also enjoy pop music?”
YOU CAN HAVE MANY INTERESTS
“I’ve also been vocal about loving ice hockey, and people just couldn’t grasp that idea. It’s odd that people decide what interests an artist is allowed to have – and even weirder when those people also limit their own tastes. You don’t want to drown in the quicksand and live in a dull, sterilised environment of interests. You can exist on an incredibly wide spectrum! You can find something you like in almost anything. There’s no limit to what you can enjoy – and I think being open to new things can help you live a fuller life.”
TAKE THE REINS
“My life mantra is ‘If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.’ Motionless turned 20 years old last year. Over that time, I’ve been burned by so many people I thought we could rely on – some of whom were paid and appointed to help us on labels or whatever There’s been countless times where I’ve thought, ‘I wish I just did this myself.’ I started to do that around 2012 – I just got so fed up with being taken advantage of or relying on other people. It stings way less to know that if something’s fucked, at least it’s your fault.”
IF IN DOUBT, TAKE A STEP BACK
“The record that we’re working on now is taking longer than any other record we’ve made, and it’s partially because, in the past, we went straight from one album cycle directly onto the next. We were machines. But we had a break in the pandemic and it made me realise how important it is to step away. You need time to process feelings, hang with your friends. It’s easy to get tunnel vision when you’re a perfectionist, but every time I’ve stepped away from the album, I come back and I see the bigger picture.”
TREAT YOURSELF
“Every month, I’ll walk away for a week, two weeks, and do something for myself. It might be going to concerts or catching up on movies… Anything to shift the mental focus somewhere else. If you’re ever feeling creatively fatigued, just leave it for a moment. Come back to it later.”
TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY
“In the past, I’ve been so unhealthy while on tour. Unfortunately, it affects absolutely everything – your body is affected, but there’s also an impact mentally when you’re fighting through sickness all the time. It’s easy to get so invested in a project that you forget to focus on yourself. Everyone should try to be aware of their physical and mental health. It’s crucial. Personally, I’ve been learning how to how to cook better meals and going to the gym more.”
BE AUTHENTIC
“I’ve never worried about being myself. As a kid, I remember being at the mall and my dad pointing out the punk kids, and I didn’t fully understand why – to me, they just looked a bit different. When you have a polarising look, people are more likely to stop and acknowledge you, maybe criticise you or make fun of you. But that’s never stopped me. If anything, for a long time, that was a fun thing. I think all of us can relate to a period of our lives where it was fun to piss people off! Everyone deserves that period of discovery – it’s good to take things to the extreme, and then dial it back and find where you’re most comfortable.”
WORK HARD – YOU’LL THANK YOURSELF LATER
“Don’t expect that things are just going to be good right away. With everything, you have to be willing to put the time in. We really grinded to get where we are now. We kind of starved for a bit, and that hunger rumbled and propelled us into the success that we craved. Because of the internet, some artists nowadays can bypass that grind and that’s great, but I think the grind made us appreciate things a lot more. When you know how hard you’ve worked, you find a sense of accomplishment that’s unlike anything else. It just furthers your passion and motivation, knowing where you came from and how much further you want to go.”
KNOW YOUR WORTH
“Every band out there needs to realise: you’re in charge. Sometimes, when you’re younger or just starting out, you feel like you have to go along with things. With Motionless, we were so excited and grateful for the opportunities, that we kind of forgot that the label and all those people back then were working for us. Obviously you can’t kick the door down and tell them how to run things, but, to a degree, you do have the power to speak up for yourselves. You can assert what you want for your band. If you don’t, you may end up at a point where you have a lot of regrets for not speaking up. Recognise that it’s your band. That goes for everything in life – sometimes only you know what will serve you best.”
THE INTERNET HAS RUINED WELLNESS
“The self-care movement has radicalised a lot of people to use it disingenuously. It’s why it can feel cringe. There are people who speak about self-care and self-help as if it’s this weird joke, and there are also people who talk about it without realising the weight of what self-help really has the potential to be. But that’s the fucking internet for you.”
LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES
“It can be really hard to move on from the past and things that you can’t change. I’ve spent every single record writing about how you can’t change the past. While that hurts and stings and plagues me every day, I have come around to the idea that the best way to change the past is to live a better future. You need to focus on not repeating mistakes, implement the lessons learned from your past. I’m trying not to get too poetic here or spit out ‘wisdom quotes’ – but I’m about to say something that sounds corny. Really let those past feelings in – let them fucking burn you, and the better you’ll be when you come out of the ashes.”
(Image credit: Future (cover photo: Jonathan Weiner))
Full-time freelancer, part-time music festival gremlin, Emily first cut her journalistic teeth when she co-founded Bittersweet Press in 2019. After asserting herself as a home-grown, emo-loving, nu-metal apologist, Clash Magazine would eventually invite Emily to join their Editorial team in 2022. In the following year, she would pen her first piece for Metal Hammer – unfortunately for the team, Emily has since become a regular fixture. When she’s not blasting metal for Hammer, she also scribbles for Rock Sound, Why Now and Guitar and more.
“I started crying. I was completely overwhelmed by how special it was that we were there”: How a band of Dutch retro-rockers ended up recording at two legendary recording studios
(Image credit: Satellite June)
“I don’t know when this started,” says Pablo van de Poel, “but a couple of years ago we started seeing every album as an adventure.”
Beneath their veneer as retro-rockers par excellence, DeWolff – Pablo, his drumming brother Luka and their organ-playing best pal Robin Piso – have made a virtue of fearlessly experimenting with how they make, and release, music. Tascam Tapes (2019) was recorded on tour with a vintage four-track recorder. Last year’s Love, Death & In Between tapped into gospel music, with its backing singers and horn players. Nonagon Marathon, an epic nine-concert live video, was released on – would you believe – a USB memory stick.
Continuing that horizon-expanding tradition, DeWolff’s latest musical leap took the band (and touring bassist Levi Vis) from Maastricht in the Netherlands to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Named after that fabled city, Muscle Shoals is their grooviest work to date, by turns soulful, bluesy, fuzzy and gritty, but always rooted in their signature vintage rock sound.
Sitting on the swampy banks of the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals holds a unique place in American musical history as home to two legendary recording studios. Founded in 1959, FAME created the definitive sound of soul and R&B, where Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett cut one hit after another.
In 1969, four members of FAME’s in-house band, nicknamed The Swampers, split off and opened Muscle Shoals Sound Studio across town, attracting the likes of the Rolling Stones, Bob Seger and Lynyrd Skynyrd, all seeking that indefinable Muscle Shoals magic.
Then, in 2024, DeWolff became the first Dutch band to record there
The way Muscle Shoals happened, Pablo says, was “kind of weird”. They had planned to record album number 10 with Black Crowes guitarist Chris Robinson as producer, but their respective schedules couldn’t be aligned. Pablo had visited Muscle Shoals while on holiday in 2019 and toured both recording studios. The experience planted the seed of one day bringing DeWolff to Muscle Shoals Sound, where Boz Scaggs recorded his self-titled 1969 album – something of a lodestar for the sound the band wanted to capture.
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Then in November 2023, Pablo saw country artist Dylan LeBlanc in concert. Chatting with the singer after the show, Poel mentioned his nascent notion of recording at Muscle Shoals Sound. “He was like: ‘Yeah for sure!’” Pablo says. “But you also have to record at FAME, because FAME has been an operational studio for the past sixty years and it’s a really good vibe, and you should do it with Ben Tanner.’”
But Poel wasn’t completely sold on the idea of FAME. “I wasn’t super-impressed when I did the tour,” he recalls. That’s where Tanner proved vital to the album’s genesis. Born and raised in Muscle Shoals itself, Tanner began his music career as FAME’s chief engineer and studio manager. While his production discography leans towards Americana and country artists such as Jason Isbell, he jumped at the chance to work with the Dutch rockers. And he wanted to take them to his old workplace.
“Ben said: ‘We should record the biggest part of the album at FAME, because anything you want to do at a recording studio, you can do there.’ And [at] Muscle Shoals Sound the options are way more limited,” says Poel. “Also, the sound is weird. The first time we heard our music being played back through the speakers at Muscle Shoals Sound we were like: ‘What is this? What are we listening to?’ It sounded all weird and small and boxy. FAME doesn’t have that. FAME really wants to provide you with the best possible recording experience.”
(Image credit: Satellite June)
Although FAME has a long and deep association with soul music, that wasn’t the vibe that DeWolff were looking for – although the influence of their surroundings undeniably seeps into the seductive soul of Winner (When It Comes To Losing) or the deep bluesy feel of Snowbird. “It wasn’t the plan to make a soul record, and I’m very glad that we didn’t pursue that idea,” says van de Poel. “This is what DeWolff sounds like when they record at FAME and Muscle Shoals.”
Indeed, the history of the city is equally rich in rock: “I think FAME is more the soul place,” he continues, “and Muscle Shoals Sound is more the rock’n’roll place where the Stones recorded, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell. The grand piano that Leon Russell recorded Leon Russell And The Shelter People on was still there. Man, every time he’d walk past the piano, Robin would play the intro to [Russell’s] Of Thee I Sing, and I’d laugh. This is the instrument and the room where it was recorded.”
Despite those early misgivings about using two famous (but very different) facilities, Tanner’s intuition proved right.
“I’m very glad we did both studios, because I wouldn’t have wanted to miss that experience, but for me personally FAME was the best recording experience I have ever had,” says Pablo. “I think it is something in the air. It has such a classic vibe. You hear all these stories, and you’re confronted with the history constantly, but you really feel there is some magical vibe in that room.”
DeWolff – In Love (Official Music Video) – YouTube
While warming up at FAME, the band started playing the songs for their album, before they segued into jamming on tunes that they knew were recorded right where they stood.
“I get goosebumps talking about it now,” says Poel. “We looked at each other: ‘Oh my god, we’re here and it sounds like those recordings!’ Little Richard was there, Wilson Pickett was there. We walked through Studio B and there’s a picture of Duane Allman, Berry Oakley and Jaimoe having the first-ever Allman Brothers rehearsal there in that little room. It’s something else.”
In Muscle Shoals you can literally hold history in your hands, as Poel learned during a break from recording, when DeWolff took a tour through the rest of the building. “There were all these original Duane Allman tapes from 1968/69. We went through [studio owner/producer] Rick Hall’s office upstairs, and I played this acoustic guitar,” says Poel. “Then Spencer, the assistant engineer and tour guide, showed me a picture with that same guitar in the hands of Otis Redding.”
“It’s totally crazy,” he continues, recalling that powerful moment in their Alabama adventure – that sense of themselves, the studio’s first Dutch recording artists, making their own piece of history. “Spencer, he’s been working there for many years, and at one point he said: ‘You guys being here, recording this music in this room, that’s the idea, that’s what it’s supposed to be like.’ I started crying. I was completely overwhelmed by how special it was that we were there. It’s one of the highlights of my life, really.”
Muscle Shoals is out now via Mascot Records
After starting his writing career covering the unforgiving world of MMA, David moved into music journalism at Rhythm magazine, interviewing legends of the drum kit including Ginger Baker and Neil Peart. A regular contributor to Prog, he’s written for Metal Hammer, The Blues, Country Music Magazine and more. The author of Chasing Dragons: An Introduction To The Martial Arts Film, David shares his thoughts on kung fu movies in essays and videos for 88 Films, Arrow Films, and Eureka Entertainment. He firmly believes Steely Dan’s Reelin’ In The Years is the tuniest tune ever tuned.
Strands of Kurt Cobain‘s hair are going up for auction.
Potter & Potter Auctions has listed a new catalog, the The Punks, Monsters, Smut & Madmen: A Countercultural Cross-Section, containing a number of lesser-found items from the rock world.
The auction is set to go live on March 7 at 12am GMT, though is currently accepting absentee bids.
The listing featuring the late Nirvana frontman’s locks has a current bid of $325.00, though is expected to sell for $600.00 – $800.00.
Cobain’s hair was collected by his barber, Tessa Osbourne during a haircut on the Bleach tour on October 29, 1989.
Following the frontman’s death, the hair was gifted to Cobain’s close friend, Nicole DePolo.
Nicole previously auctioned off six other strands of Cobain’s hair for $14,145 (£10,005) in 2021.
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Also up for sale is an original piece by The Simpsons creator Matt Groening in collaboration with fellow cartoonist Gary Panter, a signed CD of the album Satan Takes a Holiday by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, a billiards table previously owned by late influential music engineer Steve Albini and a pair of GG Allin‘s underwear.
The latter item is in used condition and features his signature signed in blood on the groin area, as well as the inscription “suck my ass it smells”. The current bid stands at $400.00, though is estimated to sell for $800.00 – $1,200.00.
Earlier this week, it was announced that the MTV Unplugged series, which includes Nirvana’s legendary 1993 acoustic concert, is scheduled to hit streaming services for the first time on Paramount+.
When one pictures Bob Dylan, a few images likely come to mind: corkscrew curly hair, Ray-Ban sunglasses, perhaps a polka dot button-up shirt.
Those items hail more from Dylan’s mid ’60s era. Just a few years before that, he was often seen sporting a Greek fisherman cap, a jacket far too thin for the cold New York City weather and bootcut jeans.
But bootcut jeans — at least the widely available commercial type — did not exist when Dylan was wearing them. Levi’s and Wrangler, two of the most prominent jean designers in America, both introduced versions of bootcut jeans in 1969, several years after Dylan was wearing them, and that’s thanks to his then-girlfriend, the late Suze Rotolo.
The Origins of Bootcut Jeans
Technically speaking, bootcut jeans can be traced back much further than Dylan to the 19th century. Levi’s patented the first pair of blue jeans in 1873. Back then, jeans were not the common clothing item of today, found in just about everyone’s wardrobe, but usually associated with ranchers, cowboys, miners and other kinds of working men. These jeans needed to fit over cowboy boots and other kinds of labor-intensive footwear. In other words: bootcut jeans before the official title.
Suze Rotolo’s DIY Bootcut Jeans
Fast forward nearly 100 years to 1961, when a 19-year-old Dylan moved from Minnesota to New York City to pursue a career in music. Not long after, he met Rotolo, a young artist who introduced Dylan to a wide array of art, literature and people — and also helped him with his wardrobe.”
“His clothes were sloppy and didn’t fit his body well,” Rotolo said of Dylan’s style when she first met him, writing in her 2008 book A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties. “He wore shirts in drab colors, chinos and chunky boots, which later gave over to slimmer-fitting jeans and cowboy boots.”
That called for a clothing adjustment.
“I slit the bottom seams on his jeans and sewed in an inverted ‘U’ from an older pair so they would slide over his boots,” Rotolo wrote. “He is wearing them on the cover of the Another Side of Bob Dylan album. My solution was a precursor of the bell-bottoms that came on the market not too long afterward.”
Timothee Chalamet’s Jeans
Fast forward another 60 or so years to 2024, when Timothee Chalamet starred as Dylan in the biopic film A Complete Unknown. Naturally, Chalamet’s costume included the famed bootcut jeans. And if you wanted to achieve the look yourself, Levi’s launched a contemporary collection of 501 men’s jeans in the style of Chalamet/Dylan, complete with the ‘U’ shaped insert Rotolo invented all those years ago.
It should again be emphasized that wearing jeans casually was not considered normal in the early ’60s.
“Jeans were relegated for construction or recreational work, like riding a horse, fishing, or playing wear on the weekends,” Arianne Phillips, the costume designer for A Complete Unknown, told Harper’s Bazaar in 2024. “The fact that he was wearing denim all the time, everywhere, was very unusual. And there were dress codes. You couldn’t wear [denim] to most places. Denim is really a signaling of youth rebelling, in a way, like, ‘We’re going to wear these recreational pants wherever we want.'”
Or in Dylan’s words from 1965: “All I can do is be me, whoever that is.”
Bob Dylan at the Movies: A Guide to 10 Films
“In one way I don’t consider myself a filmmaker at all. In another way I do,” Dylan once said.
With all the chatter about who deserves to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, we’ve noticed that, in recent years, the Hall has been reticent to induct artists who have had successful careers outside their bands. Below you’ll see nine previously inducted artists whose solo work warrants consideration for nomination.
Yet after George Harrison‘s 2004 induction, only a handful of musicians who were already in the Hall of Fame have been enshrined for a second time for their solo careers: Jeff Beck (2009), Peter Gabriel (2014), Lou Reed (2015), Ringo Starr (2015, as the winner of the Award for Musical Excellence) and Stevie Nicks (2019). Rod Stewart took the reverse approach, entering first as a solo act in 1994, with the Faces not inducted until 2012.
Many of the artists we’ve selected reached the commercial peaks of their solo careers in the ’80s, but faded in the ’90s, either as tastes changed or their bands reunited. We realize that last detail could hurt their chances of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but we feel their catalogs are strong enough to warrant consideration.
David Byrne
Inducted as a member of: Talking Heads (2002) Eligible for solo induction since: 2006
David Byrne first broke off from Talking Heads by collaborating with Brian Eno on 1981’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, merging ambient music and sampled vocals with global rhythms. After his band’s breakup, he’s followed his muse, continuing to explore world music while composing scores for films, art exhibits and dance productions. But none of his records have matched his success with Talking Heads.
Phil Collins
Inducted as a member of: Genesis (2010) Eligible for solo induction since: 2006
With the Hall opening itself to artists who’ve sold millions of records but never had critical acclaim, perhaps it should re-examine the career of Phil Collins. From 1981-93, he released six albums, five of which sold more than 3 million copies in the U.S., while putting up simultaneous similar numbers as a member of Genesis. But his lack of output in the past two decades could hurt his chances; since 1996, he’s released only three rock records — one comprised of covers — and a pair of scores for Disney movies.
Sammy Hagar
Inducted as a member of: Van Halen (2007) Eligible for solo induction since: 2001
Sammy Hagar was a rock star before joining Van Halen, having delivered three consecutive albums in the early ’80s that went gold or platinum before he was picked to replace David Lee Roth as the band’s singer. While his time fronting Van Halen took him to even greater commercial heights, Hagar has had difficulty recapturing his chart magic since he left. Chickenfoot‘s 2009 debut is his only gold record since 1987’s I Never Said Goodbye solo LP, although he remains a popular touring attraction.
Don Henley
Inducted as a member of: Eagles (1998) Eligible for solo induction since: 2007
Don Henley and Glenn Frey had hits after the Eagles broke up (and Joe Walsh had them before, during and to a lesser extent after his time with the band), but Henley had the most commercial and critical success. His three ’80s solo records, I Can’t Stand Still, Building the Perfect Beast and The End of the Innocence, merged contemporary sounds with thoughtful, socially conscious lyrics. Onc Eagles reunited in 1994, he put his solo career on the back burner, delivering only two albums since then – 2000’s Inside Job and 2015’s Cass County.
Robert Plant
Inducted as a member of: Led Zeppelin (1995) Eligible for solo induction since: 2007
Of all the artists on this list, Robert Plant had the toughest time establishing himself outside his band. His earliest records found him running from Led Zeppelin and chasing then-current sounds with inconsistent results. But over the years he’s learned to stop worrying about the charts and his past and to explore his musical curiosity. It’s led to some of his most critically acclaimed music.
Iggy Pop
Inducted as a member of: The Stooges (2010) Eligible for solo induction since: 2002
Iggy Pop‘s solo career has had nearly everything one would want from an artist. He’s been prolific and diverse and has worked with a range of collaborators without trying to sound like the Stooges. The problem is that he hasn’t had many hits, with only four songs between 1986 and 1990 denting the Top 40. Arguably his best-known track is 1977’s “Lust for Life,” which only gained fame after being used in the 1996 movie Trainspotting and then featured in other films and advertisements.
Sting
Inducted as a member of: The Police (2003) Eligible for solo induction since: 2010
After the Police broke up, Sting didn’t try to recreate the formula that brought him fame. Instead, he hooked up with some of jazz’s young lions and released The Dream of the Blue Turtles. His subsequent records continued to blend challenging music with pop smarts and intelligent lyrics. But starting in 2006, he made several detours, including an album of lute songs by Renaissance composer John Dowland and a Broadway musical. None resonated with critics or the public.
Pete Townshend
Inducted as a member of: The Who (1990) Eligible for solo induction since: 1997
Pete Townshend‘s solo work was originally a way for him to explore his acoustic side and discuss the teachings of his spiritual guru, Meher Baba – something he didn’t have much of an opportunity to do within the context of the Who. But 1980’s Empty Glass, which featured the hits “Rough Boys” and “Let My Love Open the Door,” and 1982’s All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, became showcases for his best songs, to the detriment of his band. After the Who’s 1982 breakup, Townshend continued pursuing his grand concepts on his own, but the full-time resurrection of the band in the mid-’90s pretty much sidelined his solo career.
Steve Winwood
Inducted as a member of: Traffic (2004) Eligible for solo induction since: 2002
Steve Winwood‘s solo work eschewed Traffic‘s prog in favor of an updated, synth-heavy version of the blue-eyed soul he made his name with in the pre-Traffic Spencer Davis Group. It crystallized on 1986’s Back in the High Life, which featured four Top 20 hits, with 1988’s Roll With It keeping up the pace. But since 1990’s Refugees of the Heart, Winwood has released only three records of new material.
145 Artists Not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Many have shared their thoughts on possible induction.
Billy Idol’s journey to America is one that changed a lot of things, both for his own career and the fans that would eventually heard many of his hit songs that dominated radio and MTV in the ’80s.
It’s just one part of his impressive career that he’s now revisiting in a few different ways. There’s a forthcoming documentary which has been taking shape over the past few years, which helped to inspire his forthcoming album, Dream Into It. It’s hardly a retrospective victory lap, because the singer has kept diligently working on music in recent years, releasing a pair of strong EPs back to back, 2021’s The Roadside, which was followed a year later by The Cage.
Those projects, combined with similarly innovative excursions like the first-ever live concert that he performed at Hoover Dam in 2023 help to demonstrate Idol’s continued dedication to exploring his craft in new and creative ways. Dream Into It is the next chapter, a conceptual work that takes stock of his entire career, seen through a musical lens. The album is set for release April 25, days before he hits the road for the start of his summer tour with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
The legendary rocker checked in with the UCR Podcast recently for a short chat on the day that it was announced he’d been nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. During the conversation, he offered a preview of the upcoming album and discussed other topics, including 1993’s Cyberpunk and his overall history with concept albums and rock operas.
What did you realize was interesting to you, going through the process of making this record and charting the overall journey you’ve been on? We were doing a documentary and and so when I came to make this album, I just bounced off the documentary because that’s literally what we were doing. You couldn’t help but think about your life and all of the different elements. You know, the punk rock days, coming to America, going solo, becoming a bit of a drug addict…and then getting [sober, I] stopped being a drug addict. We started to write the songs, kind of thinking about [those things]. Writing a song about 1977, writing a song about coming to America — that sort of thing — and what it was like in those days. So the album is a little bit about the story of my life, almost in chronological order. That’s how we’ve even done the track listing. We didn’t do it like that in the old days. You always did it [with] a hit single first and the second single second. But this [album] is telling a story, that’s the story of my life. Really, that’s what Dream Into It is about. The first single, “Still Dancing,” is [the story] encapsulated into one song.
Watch Billy Idol’s ‘Still Dancing’ Video
Yeah, and “Still Dancing” has kind of a cool full circle feeling to it. What do you love about having this be the first thing people are hearing from the album? Well, it’s great, because I think it is a bit of a touchstone thing. It’s not so different from what we’ve done before. And at the same time it, it really does encapsulate my whole life. It’s got the energy and the vitality of my whole life as well, [and] what I’ve put into my life. [It has] the energy we believed things should have when we came out of punk rock.
You mentioned coming to America. How did America change the picture for you? Well, of course, living in England, I knew what English people liked. I had to think a bit more about what [Americans liked] when I came to America. But at the same time, it was about looking into yourself and dragging out whatever it is you wanted to put into music. That was really the core celebrity, if you know what I mean. Also, too, it was the beginning of a new decade when I came to America. So you were thinking about that too, that we were going forward with the music — and we were making the music that was creating the music of that decade, the ’80s.
I appreciate some of the folks you got to collaborate with on this album. Avril Lavigne and Joan Jett, for example. They’re different generations, but they both seem like kindred spirits when it comes to what you do. Yeah, it’s fantastic, working with some female artists. I’ve never really done that many duets before, so it was fantastic. There’s three on this album which is kind of wild and they were really fun to do. The girls really liked the songs and it just worked. As soon as we did it, we could see that it worked and it was the right idea. You can tell almost immediately if it’s going to work or not. Everything happened really easily.
This new album is a conceptual work. One of our favorite records here at Ultimate Classic Rock is Cyberpunk. That album was and is such a groundbreaking piece of work, Billy. You were pushing the limits of technology as you worked on that record. What sticks with you about the experience you had making that album? Well, it was really good fun. It was more like making an indie record. We actually made it in my house. I was using the beginnings of the Pro Tools system, so it was kind of the future of recording and the idea that you could record at home — really, that’s what everybody does today. Even the album I’ve just made, a large part of it was recorded in a very small room at my producer’s house and then we went into a studio to do some of the drums and stuff like that that needed more of a sonic sound. But a lot of it was done just like I did Cyberpunk all of those years ago. That’s the thing about this sort of home recording equipment, so many people could make music because of it. I think it was the future and all of that excited me.
Watch Billy Idol’s ‘Shock to the System’ Video
How much did you grow up as a fan of concept albums, rock operas and things like that? We were growing up during the time of the ’60s when there were [albums like] Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or Tommy and all of the Who [albums], Lifehouse, Quadrophenia — a lot of people were making concept albums. Even David Bowie and Ziggy Stardust, you know? It was always part of what we grew up listening to [musically]. The music was very eclectic. People didn’t make one album just doing one thing. They made very different songs in amongst the album. I think that’s what we tried to do, even ourselves. When we made albums, we’d try to make music that covered a number of different styles. I certainly did that in my solo music. I deliberately did that. I think even the Clash were doing that, [making] dramatically different music, one minute doing a blues song, then a reggae song and a punk rock song. That’s kind of what we grew up with, we grew up with people making eclectic albums.
You’re going to be out with Joan Jett this summer. I wondered what your memories are about the moment you met Joan? I met Joan in 1978. I was coming to America to do a Generation X press tour. I went to New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, I hung out at the Whisky a Go Go, watching the Germs and Black Flag. After that, I hung out with Joan around the corner in a room with 20 other girls all dressed like the ’60s. They were all dressed in go-go gear and little go-go boots. It was pretty fun. I was the only guy. Pretty exciting.
As we consider your recent Rock Hall nomination, one cool thing you got to be a part of last fall was paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. What do you appreciate about Ozzy as a fellow artist and creative person and just the overall legacy that he has, both personally and with Black Sabbath? Well, I saw Ozzy when I was 12 or 13. It was like one month before the first Black Sabbath album came out in England. I was sitting there watching Ozzy and his tassels were touching me during the gig, because we were right at the front. That was the music that was really inspiring us. Things like “Paranoid” went on inspiring us into punk, you know. Those guys were sort of leading the way. We watched them putting their music together and then later on, taht’s what we sort of did in punk. We did our own version of our own scene and sort of took music on, just like they did.
Listen to Billy Idol on the ‘UCR Podcast’
Rock’s 20 Most Far-Out Concept Albums
Let’s return to some of the most ludicrous, messy, weird and wild records, originating from all corners of the pop music globe.
One of the most versatile and beloved actors in Hollywood history has died. Gene Hackman, who played parts ranging from comedy to drama, from character work to leading men, and won two Oscars during his long and acclaimed career, was found dead on Wednesday. He was 95 years old.
According to Variety, Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and their dog, were all discovered dead on Wednesday at the family’s home in New Mexico. Their report claims “there is no immediate indication of foul play, per authorities, though the Sheriff’s office did not immediately provide a cause of death.”
Born in California in 1930, Hackman enlisted in the Marines when he was still a teenager, then studied television production and journalism via the G.I. Bill at the University of Illinois. By the mid-1950s he was an aspiring actor, one of a whole generation of up-and-coming talents who began making waves in the New York theater scene in the 1960s. He did some work in television (and at one point he was up for the role of Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch), and then got his breakthrough — and his first of five Academy Award nomination — as the older brother of Warren Beatty’s Clyde in the watershed 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.
By the start of the 1970s, Hackman was one of the most respected and popular actors in Hollywood. He won his first Oscar for 1971’s The French Connection, another hugely popular and influential movie. (It also won the Oscar for Best Picture that year.) In the film, directed by William Friedkin, Hackman played tough New York cop Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle. Hackman later reprised the role in a sequel, 1975’s French Connection II.
After The French Connection, Hackman was a fixture in movie theaters until his retirement from acting in 2004. The list of Hackman’s famous work reads like a list of the best and biggest movies of the last few decades of the 20th century: The Conversation, The Poseidon Adventure, Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Hoosiers, Mississippi Burning, The Firm, Get Shorty, Crimson Tide, The Birdcage, The Royal Tenenbaums, and on and on.
Hackman won his second Oscar in 1992, this time as a supporting actor, for his role as “Little Bill” Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven.
Hackman formally retired in 2004, following his role in the comedy Welcome to Mooseport. He spent the next 20 years enjoying retirement and writing — Hackman became an author in 1999 and then wrote several more novels over the next 15 years. Although he narrated several documentaries, he never acted in a fiction film again after Welcome to Mooseport.
Despite two decades of retirement, the strength of Hackman‘s body of work meant that people continued to remember and talk about him — and to hope he might come out of retirement for one final role — right up until the day he died. Now that he’s gone, I suspect Hackman’s reputation will only grow, if it’s even possible for someone who’s already considered one of the greatest actors of his generation to improve their reputation from there.
Movies We Love Because They’re Always On Cable
There’s something fun about surfing through TV channels later at night and happening upon something you’ve never seen before.
