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Ever get the feeling that the open-minded voters for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are welcoming to every genre, subgenre and hybrid of popular and vernacular music — except rock?

A good story about the rise of a new genre of Rock 'n Roll.Something for the rockers on FR. The Blaze article at the link kind of high-lights Madison Rising, but quite a number of other bands and singers are mentioned.

Kiss member Gene Simmons and War founder Howard E. Scott unleashed verbal assaults this week on other acts. Gene Simmons Simmons, the bassist and vocalist for the legendary band, said Madonna is not appropriate to perform at Super Bowl XLVI. When asked for his opinion on the matter, Simmons had a sarcastic response. "I love all karaoke singers," he told TMZ. "I like all the girl singers who get up and sing with tapes. Shame on you."

Legendary musician Jimi Hendrix was named the greatest guitar player in history Wednesday by Rolling Stone magazine in a list compiled by a panel of music experts and top guitar players. “Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be: He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage,” said Grammy-winning guitarist Tom Morello in the magazine, citing Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” as key tracks.

A 50-year-old Swedish man has been charged with harassment after he played a Bob Dylan song for his ex-girlfriend hoping to reignite an abandoned love. It was around 11pm one evening in June 2011 when the 50-year-old would be troubadour stood outside his ex-girlfriend's balcony, guitar in hand, the Metro newspaper reported. The love-sick man had also cobbled together a group of five other men to serve as vocal accompaniment for the late-night live performance, each of whom donned hoodies with their hoods up.

CANADA'S broadcast standards council has amended an earlier ruling that deemed Dire Straits' hit Money for Nothing unfit for radio, saying that while the homophobic slur in the song is inappropriate, it must be taken in context. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission had asked for a review of the song after the standards council ruled in January that the British band's song was unfit for radio because its lyrics include a gay slur. The council had responded to a complaint from a radio listener.

Less than a day after surviving a stage collapse at the Ottawa Bluesfest in Ontario, Canada, the members of Cheap Trick and their manager Dave Frey are feeling glad to be alive. "We are so thankful," Frey tells Rolling Stone. According to Frey, the sudden windstorm that brought down the main stage at the festival came as a surprise. "They said that we should be looking out for a storm but it wasn't really that apparent," he says. "I was actually on stage behind the drummer and I was taking a few pictures right before it happened. The air was...

He is still revered around the world as a peace-loving working class hero. But by the time he died, John Lennon was a closet conservative embarrassed by his radical past, according to his former personal assistant. Fred Seaman claims that the former Beatle was a fan of Ronald Reagan, who went on to become America’s Republican president in 1981 and forged a close political alliance with Margaret Thatcher.

Last week we asked our readers to vote for their favorite ballad or slow jam of all time. Votes were all over the place – from tracks by Pearl Jam to Elvis Presley to Lionel Richie. In the end it was very close, and there was a tie so we had to expand our standard top 10 to a top 12. If this survey has reinforced anything, it's that our readers really, really love Led Zeppelin.

NewsCore - A 20-year-old Oklahoma woman was receiving treatment in a hospital Thursday after being charged with animal cruelty for allegedly killing the family cat and using the blood for an outfit she planned to wear to a Lady Gaga concert. A relative of Angelina K. Barnes returned to her home in Oklahoma City and found the woman wearing a long coat, with her face covered in blood -- later determined to be cat's blood -- ready to attend the concert, KFOR reported. The light switches in the house had been covered in duct tape to make them almost impossible...

There is no way to quantify if a band or artist is overrated. ItÂ’s more of a feeling than anything else. There exists in popular music a hierarchy. ItÂ’s been created, and is constantly altered, by both natural and artificial means. At the top sits The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis, Michael Jackson, U2, and Madonna. At the bottom rests the 8th place American Idol contestant. Everyone else fall somewhere in between. Determining which artists are overrated and which are correctly rated is not a science. ItÂ’s not even an art. ItÂ’s just an exercise to start a conversation. ItÂ’s...

In the new issue of Rolling Stone - on stands and online in the digital archives now (subscription required) — Robert Plant explains to writer Stephen Rodrick why he was unwilling to keep performing with Led Zeppelin after their 2007 reunion concert.

A second Battle of the Alamo is raging in Texas and Rick Perry, the lone star state's governor, has called in an unlikely peacemaker: Phil Collins, the British rock drummer. At home Collins, 59, has been mocked as the purveyor of middle-of-the-road hits such as In the Air Tonight. But in south Texas he is respected as a wealthy collector of Alamo memorabilia qualified to mediate between rival conservationists and historians. He admits he is obsessed with the former mission in San Antonio.

...Adapted from Pamela Des Barres' bestselling book... the doc follows Des Barres... as she travels across the country reconnecting and reminiscing with the women who lived up to their reputations. ...“Rock 'n’ roll is art, but it also means sex, so it’s just the perfect combination -- especially for the young teenage girl. I remember when Mick Jagger lit me up when I was 15, and I thought, 'OK, I want some of that.' [But] our relationship was purely sexual.” Des Barres was motivated to log her experiences, and those of her pals, because she felt the word "groupie" had...

Neil Diamond had been eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for several years but never got a nomination to join music's prestigious club. But he was never really worried about it....

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland will induct Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper, Dr. John, and Darlene Love, according to the New York Times. Jac Holzman, who founded Elektra, and Art Rupe, who founded Specialty Records, will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award, which is given to music-industry executives. Pianist Leon Russell will receive the Award for Musical Excellence. The ceremony will be held in March

Ever wondered what it is like to sleep with, service, travel or live with a rock star -- or maybe a whole band of them? Tonight, VH1 introduces you to the groupies who have done just that -- or, should I say, have done just them? Pamela Des Barres -- author of five best-selling books on and about her time as the traveling companion, sometime girlfriend and sometime one-night stand of the most infamous rockers -- tracks down the other groupies who made their names on their backs, backing up the best bands of the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

  Well-wisher ... John Lydon famously railed against the monarchy in Sex Pistols anthem God Save The Queen By SEAN HAMILTON AS snarling punk idol Johnny Rotten, singer John Lydon famously railed against the monarchy in The Sex Pistols' Seventies anthem God Save The Queen. So you might not expect him to join well-wishers queuing to congratulate Prince William and Kate. Here he tells SEAN HAMILTON why he wishes them well. WHEN I heard William had popped the question to Kate, I had a nice cup of tea for them. Later on, I might even put some bucks fizz...

With today’s announcement of the Top 10 Guitar Solos of All Time, another Gibson.com Top 50 list is in the books. Below, check out the full rundown of all 50 solos that made the list. (You can get more information on each of the entries here: #50-41, #40-31, #30-21, #20-11 and #10-1.) Plus, take a look at the readers poll and the guitarists who scored multiple entries further down the page.

It didn’t take much to convince Ken Casey, frontman for the Dropkick Murphys, to jump into one of the state’s most pitched labor battles. “It seems like the right thing to do,” Casey said yesterday about the Boston band’s work with 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, a controversial labor group that represents 35,000 Massachusetts nurses, nursing home assistants and at-home health aides. Labor organizers say The Dropkicks’ shoutout to a Service Employees International Union local is the first time a music group has used a union campaign as a central theme in a video. “It seems like a cruel...

THE Troggs frontman Reg Presley has suffered a serious stroke while on holiday in Spain. The 68 year old, whose band’s hits include Wild Thing, Love Is All Around and With A Girl Like You, was playing with his grandchildren when he fell ill on Friday. Now the singer, pictured, is out of hospital with his wife of 48 years, Brenda, but he has been left unsteady on his feet and with double vision. His voice has also been affected, casting doubt whether the singer will ever perform again. Brenda said: “It was very frightening. He had a serious stroke....

The top 10 1. Van Halen, Van Halen (1978) 2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced (1967) 3. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV (1971) 4. Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) 5. Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction (1987) 6. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II (1969) 7. The Allman Brothers Band, At Fillmore East (1971) 8. Cream, Disraeli Gears (1967) 9. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Ladyland (1968) 10. AC/DC, Back in Black (1980)

Jason Bonham knows better than to promise a Led Zeppelin reunion as part of his "Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience" show that goes on tour this fall. But he's certainly not opposed to the idea. "I'm not going to hide it from them," Bonham, who filled his late father John "Bonzo" Bonham's spot and played with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones at the 2007 Zep reunion concert at London's O2 arena, tells Billboard.com. "I will invite them to every show I can, because my goal and dream is, 'Wouldn't it be cool if I did something that...

Sub Pop art director Jeff Kleinsmith talked to us earlier this week about ideas the label is kicking around about selling physical products (like concert posters and T-shirts) that come with digital downloads of albums as a new way of giving fans a physical item to go along with their digital purchase, beyond the common practice of including a download code along with vinyl sales. Today, Sub Pop's general manager, Megan Jasper, sent us a statement with more on the ideas that are swirling around the label's offices. "Although Sub Pop is primarily known for its many fine artists and...

<p>Nigel Godrich has had no problem working with what some would consider the best artists ever. The real challenge is the acts that never were.</p> <p>"It's always terrible," Godrich said of movies that contain an artificial group. Action-romance "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" has four of them.</p>

Ringo Starr kept his 70th birthday celebration going on Tuesday night (July 7) with a concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall that was positively star-studded, thanks in part to "a little help from his friend," Paul McCartney. The former Beatles bandmates topped off the show by surprising audience members with a performance of "Birthday" from "The Beatles [White Album]," and appropriately so. With McCartney on lead vocals and Starr behind the drum kit, the duo performed with classic rock 'n' roll flair. "Birthday" was preceded by another all-star collaboration, when Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band played "With...

Our world has no shortage of mysteries: Where did life begin? Who killed JFK? Will the BP oil spill ever end? Why is Ozzy Osbourne still alive? For this last conundrum, at least, we may have an answer. Researchers at the genome sequencing company Knome, based in Massachusetts, are mapping the heavy metal singer's entire genome to get to the bottom of why rock and roll's self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness is still kicking and screaming despite decades of relentless drug and alcohol abuse.

And, so it begins. You voted and so did we, and at the end of a month-long process, we’re ready to start revealing Gibson.com’s Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.

Most (good) history books correctly portray the collapse of communism as due to the efforts of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II. But there were other subversive elements at work, not the least of which was rock and roll, which bled through the Iron Curtain at an unstoppable level. In Seven Events that Made America America, I examined rock’s part in not only providing a source of hope and optimism for those youth locked under communism’s grip, but also how it became a subversive force within the East Bloc. Through interviews with American rock and rollers of...

  If you seek proof that liberal-arts scholarship is mostly a stinking heap of rubbish, behold the Journal of Popular Culture. Here are three recent examples of articles that have appeared in its dispensable pages: “Queer Dress and Biased Eyes: The Japanese Doll on the Western Toyshelf,� by Judy Shoaf (February 2010); “SpongeBob SquarePants: Pop Culture Tsunami or More?� by Jonah Lee Rice (December 2009); and “‘There’s Genderqueers on the Starboard Bow’: The Pregnant Male in Star Trek,� by Stephen Kerry (August 2009). Yet the ultimate testimony to the journal’s shining irrelevance appears in its current issue: “Rockin’ the Right-Wing...

Iranian groupie 'risks life' for book on bedding famous rockers A self-proclaimed "slut" from Iran may become the target of Muslim extremists after she penned a book about having sex with the world's most famous rockers. Roxana Shirazi, who lived in Tehran until she was 10, claims to have had sexual encounters with members of Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue, Velvet Revolver, Papa Roach and Skid Row. Several editors and agents reportedly refused to work with her on the book, titled The Last Living Slut: Born in Iran, Bred Backstage, for fear of enraging the Muslim community. "I haven't attacked...

A LESSER-KNOWN version of the Rolling Stones’ “Loving Cup,” found on the bonus disc of the new reissue of the band’s 1972 album, “Exile on Main St.,” seems to me the best thing the Stones ever did... ...the recordings ...stretched from 1969 to 1972, across the making of two other excellent and, to me, superior records — “Let It Bleed” and “Sticky Fingers.” ...Mr. Richards contributed little to the extra tracks on the bonus disc and distrusted altering even the outtakes and unused tracks... “I didn’t want to interfere with the Bible.” “My job was to enforce the no-fiddling rule,”...

Keith Richards remembers the period in the early 1970s when the Rolling Stones were working on Exile on Main St as a fairly down time. The parts he remembers at all, that is. That's partly due to the fact that the recording sessions took place as the Stones guitarist and songwriter's heroin habit took hold in a big way, a habit that took him nearly a decade to shake. But it wasn't strictly the drugs he was referring to when he spoke recently about that fabled phase in his and the group's life. It's a period he and Mick Jagger...

Message from Wendy Dio Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever. - Wendy Dio

Doolittle: yes please. Metal Machine Music: no thanks. The current vogue for "heritage" acts delivering their best albums live, in their entirety, is a double-edged sword, says Martin Aston. NEXT WEEK, THE WHO (or Who's Left anyway) perform Quadrophenia at London's Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity, while Primal Scream revisit Screamadelica at Olympia in November. At this rate, it's quite possible that every single famous act will have showcased their undisputed "classic" album by the end of 2010. Should we be worried? When I read the headline "Lou Reed Brings Controversial Metal Machine Music To Life"...

Another year, another reason to raise bloody hell over who didn't get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — and who did. Tonight, a fresh class of five historic names will march into the coveted main hall: ABBA, Jimmy Cliff, Genesis, the Hollies and the Stooges.

Dale Hawkins, the rockabilly pathfinder who made a national mark with his 1957 single "Susie-Q," has died after a fight with colon cancer. He was 73. Though he was active in the studio and on stage into his 70s, Hawkins is best known for his clamorous first hit, which featured striking lead work by teenage guitarist James Burton, later a mainstay of Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley's bands. Hawkins, who died Saturday in a Little Rock, AR, hospital, was known for his exceptional ear for guitarists: His other accompanists included Roy Buchanan and Presley's original picker, Scotty Moore. He was...

"Sexy" is a relative term -- one man's baby-makin' music might be his woman's soundtrack for a snoozefest. But there's nothing subjective about this list. These are, literally, the 50 most popular songs about sex ever, as based on each song's performance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (from August 4, 1958 -- the inception of the Hot 100 chart -- through the Jan. 16, 2010 issue). Some songs are steamy slow-jams, some are hi-octane arena-rockers, but what they all have in common (and what got them on this list) is that the subject matter of each song is directly...

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has revealed he no longer cares if the band continues saying, "Honestly, I couldn't care less if it were over." Watts is famously dismissive of popular music with jazz his widely acknowledged first love. He is currently on tour with The ABC&D of Boogie Woogie jazz-blues band and confirms, "Jazz is my passion. This is the music that I really want to do. The Stones are merely an annoying pastime."

Peter Gabriel has stunned the music world by announcing he won't be joining his former Genesis bandmates onstage for the group's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in March. In fact, the Sledgehammer hitmaker isn't sure he'll even attend the ceremony in New York. Fans were hoping the induction would lead to a reunion for the band's original line-up, but Gabriel insists he has no plans of teaming up with Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks, who reformed as Genesis in 2008 for a world tour. Gabriel tells Rolling Stone magazine, "I’m definitely not going to sing. I...

Robert “Bobby” Charles Guidry, the gifted, reclusive southwest Louisiana songwriter who crafted hits for Fats Domino, Frogman Henry and Bill Haley & the Comets, died early Thursday after collapsing at home in Abbeville, his manager said. He was 71.

Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll would have been 75 years old today. A gyrating young truck driver, who blended “Hillbilly” and “Blues” turned the world of music upside down when he burst onto the national scene in 1956. Music would never be the same. America would never be the same. The world would never be the same.

AUSSIE rockers AC/DC could have to cancel a sold-out concert because their big sound poses a danger to rare birds. Animal rights campaigners are threatening legal action if the veteran band goes ahead with a gig planned for Wels airport in Austria in May.

LOS ANGELES—A couple who said they were assaulted by Gene Simmons sued the KISS bassist for unspecified damages Thursday, court records show. Nathan Marlowe and his wife Cynthia Manzo said Simmons attacked them, threatened them and took their video camera at the upscale The Grove mall on Saturday after they started filming the rocker.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gave a big "Thank You For The Music" to ABBA on Tuesday, announcing that the Swedish pop group would be among its 2010 inductees. British rock band Genesis, reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff, rockers The Stooges, and The Hollies are also among the legends who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony on March 15 in New York. The new members "represent a great cross-section of artists that define the broad spectrum and history of rock and roll," Rock and Roll Hall of...

Bob Keane, who founded the West Coast independent label Del-Fi Records in the 1950s and is best known for discovering and recording rock legend Ritchie Valens, has died. He was 87. Keane, who survived non- Hodgkins lymphoma diagnosed when he was 80, died of renal failure Saturday in an assisted living home in Hollywood, said his son, Tom Keane. "He was like the original independent record man in those days," said Tom Keane, a songwriter and record producer. "He was the guy going out and finding talent and developing it and getting it out to the masses." A clarinet player...

Um, you've got the wrong state, Boss. Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen made an onstage geography goof Friday when he bellowed "Hello, Ohio!" to adoring fans at the Auburn Hills Palace -- in Michigan. The "Born in the USA" crooner referred to the neighboring state several times before trusty E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt whispered their actual location into his ear.

Janis Joplin has an indelible image as a swaggering, boozing rock 'n' roll mama whose blues-based music was a raw outpouring of her angst. The 1979 Bette Midler film The Rose, which depicts a Joplin-like singer, strengthened that view. Very likely it's why a lengthy list of actresses — including Renee Zellweger, Brittany Murphy, Pink, Lili Taylor, Zooey Deschanel and Vanessa Hudgens (!) — have expressed interest in playing her onscreen. But it's an image that Lauren Onkey and Mary Davis hope to dispel, or at least replace with a new respect for her key role in the crossbreeding of...

The unemployment rate may top 10 percent, but there is an opening at the University of California, Santa Cruz, for a Deadhead. The library is advertising for an archivist to handle the library’s Grateful Dead collection. A master’s degree in archives management is required, as is “expert knowledge in the history of and scholarship of contemporary popular music, or American vernacular culture, preferably the history and influence of the Grateful Dead.”

Guitars, keyboards and drums did not topple the Berlin Wall. But for the young people who helped bring down Communist regimes across Eastern Europe in the fall of 1989, pop music was a profoundly subversive force, inspiration and vital tool of protest for challenging and undermining a totalitarian state stricter than any parent. Now middle aged, some of the musicians who played in ostracism during those last gray years of Communist rule gathered in New York over the weekend for the festival Rebel Waltz: Underground Music From Behind the Iron Curtain. Performing at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village......