Free Republic

Amid the media swirl surrounding possible gun control measures after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre just last month, many pro-gun advocates are speaking out. Musicians are no different. Zoltan Bathory, guitarist of Five Finger Death Punch, used his Facebook page to discuss his annoyance at the media and the concern that his guns will be confiscated by the government, despite the fact there is no evidence to back up that fear. Bathory writes: "Let's talk about 'assault' rifles for a second. Anti-gun advocates in the media placing all the emphasis on the word 'ASSAULT' for a reason. It sounds menacing...

"Compressorhead" rehearsing for an upcoming gig at The Big Day Out Festival - Drummer has four arms

LONDON (AP) -- British rocker Jon Lord, former keyboardist for the band Deep Purple, died Monday. He was 71 years old. A statement on Lord's official website says the Leicester, England-born musician suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism in London after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

A satanic rock band from Sweden known as Ghost is planning a 13-stop tour in America beginning in New York City on January 18. The band, whose keeps the names of its members anonymous, is actually a devil-worshiping ministry that features a lead singer who calls himself “Papa Emeritus” and dresses up as a kind of satanic pope in a skull mask and cardinal’s robes. Their “13 Dates of Doom” tour in the U.S. will include two other “doom rocker” bands, Blood Ceremony and Ancient Wisdom. Their flyers advertise the tour in this way: “In the name of Satan, we...

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.

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...

  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...

‘Rockin’ the Wall’ DVD Review: A Splendid Reminder that Rock and Roll Means Freedom! by Ezra Dulis You had to hide it somewhere that no one would find it: your very first record, tape, CD– whatever medium– that Mom and Dad didn’t approve of. You had to listen to it through headphones or when they were out of the house. You had to do this because you knew it was an act of rebellion; your parents did not want you hearing that music performed that way with those lyrics, and you decided that you wouldn’t obey them. According to the...

A founding member of ELO has been killed following a freak accident involving a giant bale of hay.Mike Edwards, 62, who played cello for the band for three years, died when the giant bale weighing 50 stone crashed down on top of his van.Mr Edwards died instantly in the accident after the bale careered down the hill, and flipped over a hedge.             Eccentric: Mike Edwards's bizarre costumes and ability to play his cello with fruit were a major part of ELO's appeal     Bowing out: Mike Edwards, on the far right, played...

Rocker John Mellencamp said on Tuesday that the Internet was the most dangerous invention since the atomic bomb, although new technology could paradoxically delay the inevitable demise of rock 'n' roll. But before then, "some smart people, the China-Russians or something" may have already conquered America by hacking into the power grid and financial system, he warned during a public seminar at the Grammy Museum. Mellencamp, 58, has established a reputation during his career as a bit of a loose cannon disdainful of music industry niceties. He still lives in his home state of Indiana, saying he never fit in...

<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...

Ok, gang, the trailer to our documentary---coming in August---is now available. Among those you see in the trailer are "Mother's Finest," Robby Krieger, David Paich (Toto), Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets), Mark Stein and Vinny Martell (Vanilla Fudge), LA film score composer John Van Tongeren, Voice of America legal counsel Joseph Morris, Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot), Hungarian/Euro star Leslie Mandoki, and me. Glenn Beck did a 15 minute interview with me to air tomorrow, three times, and the trailer is (I think) being played behind me for part of it. Rock on! www.rockinthewall.com

  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...

...The playlist has been hand-selected to annoy the Taliban, according to one US special forces officer. "Taliban hate that music," said the sergeant involved in covert psychological operations, or "psy ops", in the area in Helmand province. "Some locals complain but it's a way to push them to choose. It's motivating Marines as well," he added after one deafening round of several hours including tracks from The Offspring, Metallica and Thin Lizzy. The officer said they also broadcast messages from the Afghan government, as well as threats to the Taliban -- there are no obscenities, "but we tell them they're...

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.

Pink Floyd are suing their record label EMI, claiming that it has no right to sell their songs except as part of full albums. According to a 1999 contract, tunes like Money and Another Brick in the Wall cannot be "unbundled" from the albums on which they appear; EMI alleges this does not apply to downloads. "Pink Floyd [are] well-known for performing seamless pieces," said Robert Howe, the band's lawyer, at a High Court hearing yesterday. "Many of the songs blend into each other." To reflect this, Pink Floyd's renegotiated 1999 contract "expressly prohibits" EMI from selling songs out of...

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.

Freepers: we are in the pre-production phase of a documentary film about rock music and its role in undermining communism and helping to bring down the Berlin Wall. (Please don't inundate me with the significance of Ronald Reagan. We know that. We exploring OTHER factors that also contributed to this). If you have ANY contacts, friends, relatives who were behind the Iron Curtain, 1970-1991, and went to rock concerts or played in a rock band over there, I'd like to be put in touch with them. We'd most certainly like to film them on tape. If you know ANY major...

Bono and The Edge have described their forthcoming Spider-Man musical as "dizzy" and "not a straight take on the myth". Turn Off The Dark, the production the Dublin band has written music and lyrics for, is set to open on Broadway in New York in 2010. They also confirmed American actress Evan Rachel Wood would play the part of MJ and revealed more about the other characters. ...Bono said: "We've got a new villain, it's a girl. It's a very extraordinary role. We've taken it to a much more dizzy place than you'd expect. We've got big tunes. We're very...