After weeks of rumors, Genesis confirmed they're reuniting for their first tour in 13 years.
The band will do 10 U.K. dates from November 16th in Dublin, Ireland through December 11th in Glasgow, Scotland. Tickets for the shows go on sale Friday. No North American dates have been announced yet.
Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks appeared on BBC Radio 2 Wednesday morning to talk about the reunion and revealed that they had been rehearsing with bassist/guitarist Daryl Stuermer and Collins 18-year-old son Nick on drums in New York City back in January when they were spotted at a Knicks game. Rutherford said that Collins getting back on stage after years of health issues got the reunion idea rolling.
Mike Rutherford explains why it was the right time for Genesis to reunite:
"It's happened very naturally. Phil's been out on tour the last sort of two and a half years doing his stuff. His son Nick has been drumming, Nicholas, and it sort of seemed to have a natural moment to have a conversation about it. We're all still good friends, we're all above grass and here we are."
And before you ask, Peter Gabriel will not be involved
A new Ozzy Osbourne 8-bit video game called Legend of Ozzy has launched online.
You have to direct a bat outfitted with Ozzy's head through various obstacles like wolves, devils and evil eyes -- and collect blood droplets to keep the Ozzy-bat alive. The game's soundtrack features cuts from his new album, Ordinary Man. Play it at LegendOfOzzy.com.
In other Ozzy news, Sharon Osbourne says that her and Ozzy's children will inherit everything when they die. She mentioned this on her show The Talk in a discussion about Kirk Douglas donating all his fortune to his charity rather than his children. Sharon said, "I just know that my husband's body of work, that he's written, and kept us all in the lifestyle that we love, goes to my children. His name and likeness goes to my children. 'Cause you leave your name and likeness, and I don't want someone that never met my husband owning his name and likeness, and selling T-shirts everywhere and whatever. No, it stays in the Osbourne family."
Jon Bon Jovi celebrates his 58th birthday today (March 2). He says his song "It's My Life" was taken away by fans who made it their own. It peaked at number-33 on the Billboard Hot 100 so not a huge hit single, but it's one of Bon Jovi's indisputable classics. Jon Bon Jovi explains that this happened because of the way fans related to its lyrics, especially the title line.
“They took it away from me, they made it their own. That was a universal and timeless and a beyond our expectations line. I mean, I selfishly said that line, 'Like Frankie said, I did it my way.' I’d just come back from making a movie and said, ‘This is me-me-me.’ Wow! Who knew? It gets out into the consciousness — it’s timeless, classic, it translates to any language, the language of the heart, which is music. And it all goes back to those underlying themes of having faith in faith and hope in hope.”
The Allman Brothers Band are celebrating their 50th anniversary with the release today of a massive boxed set.
Trouble No More: 50th Anniversary Collection contains 61 tracks spread over five-CDs or 10-vinyl discs.
Presented in chronological order, and representing all 13 lineups of the band, it starts with their very first recording, a demo of the Muddy Waters' song "Trouble No More," recorded in 1969, as well as studio recordings, live performances, rarities and seven unreleased tracks.
Appropriately enough it also ends with a live version of "Trouble No More” from their last show at New York's Beacon Theater in 2014.
Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes on the goal of the new Allman Brothers Band box set, Trouble No More, which is out today (Friday).
"Just to honor the legacy and showcase not just all the different eras or line-ups, but kind of the strength that remained throughout the whole thing. It was a lot to choose from, but I think we did a good job of putting it all together."
The set is broken down as follows:
Haynes, along with Allman Brothers founding drummer Jaimoe, will come together with other members of the band and special guests for a 50th anniversary show at New York's Madison Square Garden on March 10th.
On February 27th, 1980, The Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes" won both Song of the Year and Record of the Year honors at the Grammy Awards. It was also a Number 1 hit. It took a writing session with Kenny Loggins to turn a cool piano riff and lyrics written on a napkin into a hit song. Former Doobie Brothers singer and keyboardist Michael McDonald says that "What a Fool Believes" was "nothing more than a piano riff for the first year of its life." He recalls how the events unfolded to get it from there to a completed song.
"I kept playing this piano groove for Ted Templeman, and he kept saying, 'God, you’ve got to finish that song. I tell you, that’s a hit!' I kept saying, 'Well, I just can’t think of anything else to do with it.' And then on an airplane ride, I came up with some lyrics, and wrote them on a napkin. But I didn’t really write the song until I got together with Kenny Loggins. We were going to get together for the first time to co-write, and he was outside my door, and I was playing that riff thinking, 'Well, maybe I’ll play him this. Maybe he’ll help me make a song out of this.' And the doorbell rang, and when I answered it, he didn’t even say hello or anything. He goes, 'Whatever you were just playing, let’s work on that!'"
Hey Jude, a compilation made up of cuts The Beatles had previously failed to release on an album in the U.S., including "Paperback Writer," came out on February 26th, 1970. Paul came up with the idea on a drive to the studio and then thought of forming the song as a letter. Its first appearance on an album was on the 1966 British compilation A Collection of Beatles Oldies, but didn't appear in the U.S. until the 1970 album Hey Jude. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks. Paul McCartney explains how he developed the idea for "Paperback Writer" on the way to Abbey Road Studios.
“I had a long drive out there, so I'd start writing on my way out, start thinking, anyway. I remember I had the whole idea. That was just one that I had. Often John had one. But with 'Paperback Writer', I just had the whole thing. And I virtually came in, had the bowl of corn flakes and said, 'Hey, listen, how's about if we write it like a letter? Dear sir or madam, and then comma, next line, paragraph.' And I just wrote it all out on a little piece of paper. And John just sort of sat there and said, 'Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's good.' That just kind of flowed, and I sort of wrote that."
Today (February 25th) is the 40th anniversary of the release of Bob Seger's Against the Wind album. To date, it's his only number-one album on the Billboard 200. When he wrote it, he thought he was too old back then. Bob Seger was 35 years old when he wrote "Against the Wind." Now that he's more than double that age, he looks back on the song and still relates to it.
"I felt like I made it so late in life. But when I was 35, I had the feeling it could, heck, end at any minute. This is unusual and I'm older now and still running against the wind. I'm older now and still racing sort of against time."
Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album was released 45 years ago today (February 24th). The song "Kashmir" was inspired by a trip to Southern Morocco about a place in the Northern Himalayas that no one in the band had ever visited. Robert Plant has said that "Kashmir" is one of his contributions to the Led Zeppelin catalog that he's most proud of. He tells how it came about.
“‘Kashmir’ was written from my angle. It was written on the road to Tan-Tan in southern Morocco, just off the Atlantic coast. And it’s a place where your mind can really dance and where your imagination is way open. After a while, all the stuff you’ve ever thought about is gone and you got this whole different place that’s giving you a sort of door into a whole different you.”
Finally the question can be answered. It was always suspected but now there is proof. In the Elton John song "The Bitch Is Back" Who is the "bitch" Well, Bernie Taupin reluctantly thanks an ex-wife for coming up with the title. Yes, Elton John was the inspiration for "The Bitch Is Back" -- or at least his behavior on a particular day inspired a song with that title. His lyricist, Bernie Taupin, tells how it came about.
“I don’t really want to give credit to one of my former wives for that title, but I suppose I have to. Elton had just come back from a trip somewhere and we were sitting in his house and he came in and he was just bitching and bitching about something. And my ex-wife just said, “Ugh, the bitch is back.’ And I went, ‘Mmm, good title. Thank you, I’ll take that.’”
The late Walter Becker of Steely Dan was born on February 20th, 1950. The song "Kid Charlemagne" on the Royal Scam contains the stupidest line ever written in a song -- at least according to one New York cabbie. Donald Fagen and the late Walter Becker have said their lyrics to "Kid Charlemagne" were inspired by the adventures of LSD chemist Owsley Stanley. But that's not what Walter wanted to talk about.
“I was in a cab in New York City and the cab driver picked me up in front of the rehearsal hall, so he knew who I was, right? And he started telling me, ‘Yeah, those Steely Dan, y’know, those guys wrote the stupidest line of any song I ever heard.’ And I said, ‘No kidding, what was that?’ And he said, ‘Y’know, in “Kid Charlemagne” where the guy goes “Is there gas in the car?/Yes, there’s gas in the car.”’ I guess that’s quite a distinction for us, to have written the stupidest line in any song that’s ever been written.”
