This Week in Rock

On this day, Judas Priest played New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Rowdy concert goers trashed the venue doing over $250,000 in damage. As a result, Priest was banned for life. Here’s what happened… Before the show even began, the crowd was hurling beer bottles, lighting firecrackers and tossing lit M-80s onto the stage. Several…

Disturbed’s frontman David Draiman has received the joint Jerusalem Post and World Zionist Organization award for outstanding contributions in the fight against antisemitism. Draiman noted that he lost many of his colleagues and friends over his defense of the Jewish people. “The world can seem like a very, very dark place these days,” added Draiman in his acceptance speech on 6/3 in…

Queens Of The Stone Age will be spending the summer touring Europe. But in late September the band will return to the U.S. for a limited number of shows as part of their “The End Is Nero” tour. Founded in ’96 by Josh Homme, the only remaining original member, Queens Of The Stone Age have released…

Battle Beast’s Noora Louhimo took to Instagram in support of June: Pride Month. “WONDERFUL PRIDE month for LBTGQ+ communities and everyone who agrees for equal love, self and sexuality,” posted Louhimo. “I hope that one day we could live in a world where equality would be the norm in all communities.” Louhimo joined Battle Beast in ’12…

Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name“ has joined Spotify’s Billions Club. It’s the band’s second song to have a billion streams on the platform. “Livin’ On A Prayer” reached that milestone last year. “You Give Love A Bad Name,” written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, was the first single from the ’86 album “Slippery When Wet.” The song…

Godsmack’s “Truth” is #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart (dated June 1st). It’s the band’s 13th song to top the chart. The power ballad came about after frontman Sully Erna (pictured above) suffered a relationship betrayal that took a lot of processing to get through. The track is from “Lighting Up The Sky,” Godsmack’s eighth album…

A bat landed on the left leg of The Pretty Reckless singer Taylor Momsen while the band played “Witches Burn“ during a set at Estadio La Cartuja in Seville, Spain, on May 29th. Noticing audience members were pointing at Momsen’s leg she looked down and exclaimed, “There’s a fucking flying bat on my leg right now. Can someone…

A long-lost acoustic guitar used by the late John Lennon sold for $2.9 million at auction on Wednesday (5/29), becoming the highest grossing auctioned guitar in Beatles history. The 12-string guitar, used in the recording of The Beatles’ ’65 “Help!” album and film (notably on “You Got To Hide Your Love Away“) was found in an attic having not…

Hillhaven, a band comprised of members of Ice Nine Kills and From Ashes To New, have released a second single “The God You Think You Are.” The song “is a frontal assault on the manipulative narcissist,” the band stated. “It’s an aggressive, forward, unapologetic ego killer of a song.” The first single was “Damned To Dream.” “We’ve…

Heart has canceled a planned summer European tour so that singer Ann Wilson can recover from what is described as a “time-sensitive but routine medical procedure.” The minimum recovery time is six weeks.  The European leg of the “Royal Flush” tour was scheduled to kick off next month and run through mid-July, with several festival appearances.  “I’m okay! Please…