Rockblog

Status Quo guitarist Francis Rossi has accused fellow British band Oasis of not being rock and roll.

According to The Sun, Rossi said: “We’re from a generation of acts that are very physical, we put physicality into it.

“But some of the younger bands don’t want to put that physical commitment in, either because it’s not cool at the moment or whatever.

“What always comes to mind is Oasis. They call themselves a rock band and they stand there looking at the floor. Bored shitless they look.I’m not saying they’re a bad band, but that to me isn’t rock ’n’ roll.”

I’m not much of a Status Quo fan, but Francis Rossi has a point. In every video I’ve ever seen of Oasis, they’ve looked more bored than me. And considering I’m watching Oasis at the time, I’m pretty fucking bored.

Sure, all Status Quo songs sound the same, but at least they’re putting some balls behind it. I’ll take that over the bland droning of Oasis any day.

The Sun then reports that later in the same interview Francis Rossi named Muse and Snow Patrol as two of his favourite bands. So while he makes a good point about Oasis not being rock and roll, Rossi then goes on to score an own goal by naming Snow Patrol as a favourite.

All of this leaves the Rockblog wondering what happened to rock and roll. When did it become such shit? Will there ever be another punk rock revolution to come and kick the old boy up the ass or are we going to get lamer and lamer bands being passed off as “rock and roll” until the name means nothing?

Only the other week I was on an internet forum where somebody called Take That a rock band. Something inside of me died when I read it. The fact that rock has come to the point where somebody could even think Take That qualifies as a rock band shows what a sad state rock is in today.

Ever wonder what music you should put on if elephants are coming over for dinner? Unless you want them stampeding through your living room, it better be hard rock.

Staff at the West Midlands Safari Park in Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK, say that a trio of teenage elephants at the park are immediately calmed down when they hear the likes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Metallica and Def Leppard.

The Metro has even gone so far as to come up with a list of songs the elephants might enjoy:

Tusk – Fleetwood Mac
Ebony And Ivory – Paul McCartney and Steve Wonder
Welcome To The Jungle – Guns N’ Roses
Shades of Grey – The Monkees
Born To Be Wild – Steppenwolf
Zooropa – U2
Wild Thing – The Troggs
The Memory Remains – Metallica
The Number Of The Beast – Iron Maiden

One hard rock song I can think of that shouln’t be played when there are elephants around - “Elephant Gun” from David Lee Roth’s Eat ‘Em and Smile.

The Rockblog would like to wish all its readers a Happy Thanksgiving and take this chance to list some of the things the Rockblog has been thnkful for over the past twelve months.

The first thing to be thankful for is the Norton Records release of the Dictators collection Every Day is Saturday. I’m not usually into collections of rarities and alternate versions, but Dictators releases are too rare as it is. It helps that the alternate version of “Sleeping With the TV On” from the Manifest Destiny album pisses all over the original release and most of the Bloodbrothers album that is included sounds great as well. Throw in some very early Dictators songs including the best song ever written about an episode of the original 1950’s Superman TV series, “Fireman’s Friend”, and you’re on to a winner.

Sticking with the Dictators, the Rockblog is not only thankful, but eternally grateful, for the Spanish tour the band did in October and easyjet for providing cheap flights to Spain. The Barcelona show was easily one of the best I’ve ever been to and it was a pleasure meeting Ross the Boss, Handsome Dick Manitoba, and Andy Shernoff after the show.

The Rockblog is also thankful for getting to see Neil Young again at the Hammersmith Apollo and Ace Frehley at the Astoria. Hell, I enjoyed seeing Ace more as a solo artist then I did when I saw him with KISS in 1996.

I’m thankful I got the chance to catch up with old friends in the Grateful Dead tribute band the Cosmic Charlies. It’s a shame the UK market for a Dead tribute band is so small because these guys are good. Hopefully it won’t be so long between shows the next time I see them.

I’m thankful AC/DC added a second date at the O2 in London. I was still trying to buy tickets for the sold out first gig when Ticketmaster notified me tickets were on sale for another date at the arena.

And speaking of the O2, I’m thankful to Metallica for the £5 tickets to their Death Magnetic release party gig held at the arena.

I’m thankful Guns N Roses finally released Chinese Democracy. I may not like the album, but the coverage in the music press became almost as tedious as that of the Presidential election and should die out within the next couple of weeks. I’m also glad Dr Pepper screwed up on their free soda deal. Why should us in the UK not be able to get a free Dr Pepper?

And that brings me to some things I’m thankful to look forward to in 2009. A new album from the New York Dolls. Tours from George Thorogood and Lynyrd Skynyrd. And hopefully a tour from Alice Cooper with a full stage production of his latest album Along Came A Spider.

I almost forgot, I’m also thankful to Today.com for providing beer money to blog about something I really love. Check them out, you too could earn some extra cash blogging about something dear to your heart.

Have a happy and rockin’ Thanksgiving.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest travel day of the year in America. For everybody taking a flight tonight, the Rockblog has compiled a list of the Top Ten Rock “Flying” Songs.

Top Ten Rock “Flying” Songs:  

10. Expecting to Fly - Buffalo Springfield

9. Learning to Fly - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

8. Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz

7. Learn to Fly - Foo Fighters

6. Jet Boy - New York Dolls 

5. Fly By Night - Rush

4. Flying High Again - Ozzy Osbourne

3. Jet Airliner - Steve Miller Band

2. Learning to Fly - Pink Floyd

1. Eight Miles High - The Byrds

I nearly cheated and included AC/DC’s “Fly on the Wall”, but that seemed to be stretching it a bit too much. I hope you enjoyed the Rockblog’s Top Ten Rock “Flying” Songs and I also hope any American Rockblog readers taking a flight somewhere for Thanksgiving have a safe journey.

The big news rocking the Rockblog’s world today is the announcement of a Lynyrd Skynyrd European tour in 2009.

The Southern rockers have announced a dozen tour dates around Europe for late May and early June next year.

The 2009 Lynyrd Skynyrd European tour dates are:

May 20 - Kuopio Arena - Kupio, Finland
May 21 - Ice Hall - Helsinki, Finland
May 23 - Spektrum - Oslo, Norway
May 25 - Palladium - Cologne, Germany
May 27 - Auditorium - Glasgow, UK
May 28 - NIA Academy - Birmingham, UK
May 30 - Apollo - Manchester, UK
May 31 - Brixton Academy - London, UK
June 2 - Freilichtbuhne Killisberg - Stuttgart, Germany
June 3 - Palasharp - Milan, Italy
June 4 - Sportzentrum Tagerhard - Wettingen, Switzerland
June 6 - Azkena Rock Festival - Vitoria–Gasteiz, Spain

Tickets for the UK dates go on sale this Friday, November 28th.

Good ol’ southern rock tours are rare enough in the UK, and a Lynyrd Skynyrd tour is even rarer. I’ve been listening to the Whiskey Rock-A-Rollers in the car a lot over the last couple of weeks, so seeing the newly announced tour dates this morning was pretty damn exciting.

This will be the one show next year where I can get drunk and shout “FREEBIRRD!” without people giving me strange looks. Can’t wait.

Today marks the 17th anniversary of the death of one of rock music’s greatest frontmen - Queen’s Freddie Mercury.

Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara in 1946, passed away on November 24th, 1991 (The same day that also saw the passing of KISS drummer Eric Carr).

I first remember hearing Queen when I was 7 and my older brother came home with the We Are the Champions/We Will Rock You single. The next major memory of Queen was being ten years old when “The Game” album came out and one of my best friends at the time being a huge fan.

This was also around the time when MTV first started and Queen songs like Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Another One Bites the Dust were early staples of the channel. 

Another video played heavily in MTV’s early days was the Queen and David Bowie track Under Pressure. This has always been one of my favourite songs featuring Freddie Mercury and Queen, despite Vanilla Ice’s later attempt to ruin my enjoyment of it. That in mind, I’ve chosen a live video from Wembley Stadium in 1986 to remember Freddie by. He uses that 4 octave range to do a little call and response with the crowd before playing Under Pressure.

R.I.P. Freddie Mercury (5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991)

Australian rockers AC/DC see their album Black Ice hold on to the number 1 spot in the combined European album chart for the fourth straight week.

According to Billboard, Black Ice remained on top in Germany and Greece and regained the top spots in Hungary and Sweden after slipping to numbers 4 and 2 respectively. Black Ice held at No. 2 in Switzerland and the Belgian region of Wallony and No. 3 in France and Austria, but fell from 1 to 2 in Denmark and Flanders, 2 to 3 in Norway, 3 to 6 in Italy and 9 to 11 in the United Kingdom.

AC/DC knocked Metallica off the number one spot four weeks ago. Metallica’s Death Magnetic was the European number 1 for six weeks before being knocked out of the top spot by Black Ice.  

That makes a total of ten straight weeks of rock at the top of the European charts. With the release of the long awaited Chinese Democracy by Guns ‘N’ Roses this week, there is a strong possibility of an eleventh straight week of rock sitting on top in Europe.

Can AC/DC retain the top spot for a fith week or will Guns ‘N’ Roses make it a hard rock hat trick? While I’m not a big fan of Chinese Democracy, I hope it takes the top spot if Black Ice can’t hold on another week as I’m sure it is better than any of the pop, hip-hop, or R&B alternatives.

KISS bass player Gene Simmons commented on the band’s exclusion from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the fith annual Billboard Touring Conference held at the Roosevelt hotel in New York.

According to Billboard, Gene said “There are disco bands, rap bands, Yiddish folk song bands in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but not Kiss. I believe we have more gold records in America than any other group, but it’s OK.”

I think Gene may have a point. KISS has 24 albums that have been certified at least Gold, with 10 of those going on to be Platinum or Multi-Platinum.

And more important, they are a rock band. Which is what you would think the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be about. But many of the acts being inducted, or at least nominated, in recent years means the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should think about changing its name to the Popular Music Hall of Fame. Either that or the “We’ve Got Our Heads Up Our Asses and Wouldn’t Know a Rock and Roll Band If One Came Up and Busted their Guitars Over Our Hunched Backs” Hall of Fame.

A stupid concept to begin with, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has now proven its incompetence at running that stupid concept.

I don’t find myself agreeing with much of what Gene Simmons says. But if you are going to run a “Rock and Roll” Hall of Fame, how can you seriosly induct Madonna and Grand Master Flash while bands that actually play rock and roll like KISS, Alice Cooper, Rush, and countless other ROCK bands do not get considered? 

The long awaited Guns N Roses album Chinese Democracy is available for streaming from the band’s MySpace page.

That’s right, it’s streaming. Chinese Democracy has not been “released early” as reported by other sources on the web *cough* Yahoo! *cough* who obviously don’t know the difference.

I’ve been sitting here in front of my PC for the past hour or so listening to Chinese Democracy streaming out of my poxy PC speakers. Has the long wait been worth it?

On first listen, no.

It sounds like Axl forgot the first word in rock ‘n’ roll. I keep waiting for this album to rock and, 12 songs in at the time of writing this sentence, Chinese Democracy has so far failed to do so.

Is it a bad album? No. It’s just not what I want out of a Guns ‘N’ Roses album. If Axl released this as an Axl Rose album, and not put the Guns ‘N’ Roses name on the cover, I might say it’s an OK album. But using the Guns ‘N’ Roses name means having to stand up to Appetite For Destruction and the Use Your Illusion releases. Chinese Democracy doesn’t come close.

I’ve been waiting for a standout track to blow me away, but with tracks running thin, it doesn’t look like I’m going to get one. Which is a shame, because I really wanted to like this album before I started listening to it.

Hearing this, I wish Axl would either ditch the Guns ‘N’ Roses name and continue as the solo artist he already is, or put away his ego and reform the band. I know of at least one former member who would be up for it .

Update: I’ve now heard the whole album. Nothing in the final two tracks made me change my mind.

Is being a rock star an hereditary job? It sure seems that way. 

I’m not talking about a rock star’s children following them into show business. This is a common and understandable occurrence. After all, the children grow up in a creative household, know the ups and downs and ins and outs of the business, and are not likely to be encouraged to become doctors or accountants when they show an interest in music or showbiz.

What I’m talking about is stepping straight into your father’s position.

We’ve seen Jason Bonham behind the Led Zeppelin drumkit on a few occasions filling in for his late father, John Bonham. Oliver Wakeman is now on keyboards for progressive rockers Yes in place of his father, Rick Wakeman.

And the latest news out of Russia is of Ritchie Blackmore’s son, Jurgen Blackmore, playing with former Rainbow members in a band called Over the Rainbow.

Have we seen the end of new rock bands as old rockers pass the family business on to their offspring? How long before Jack Osbourne is fronting Black Sabbath, or Nick Simmons wears the Kiss demon makeup and fills his father’s platform shoes?

And the biggest question: Does having a family member take over lend any more credibility to having a replacement in the band?