2023 Hall of Fame Inductee:  R.E.M.

2023 Hall of Fame Inductee: R.E.M.

R.E.M. got together in the spring of ’80. Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass), Bill Berry (drums) and Michael Stipe (vocals) were students at the University of Georgia but weren’t real interested in their education.  Their first gig was in a rundown church that had been converted into apartments. Shortly thereafter, they were playing clubs,…

Metallica Tops Rock Songs Chart

Metallica Tops Rock Songs Chart

“Lux Æterna,” the lead track from Metallica’s upcoming “72 Seasons” album (pictured) is #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart.  2022 The song was played live for the first time on December 16th during Metallica’s “Helping Hands Concert & Auction“ at the Microsoft Theater in L.A. The third edition of the concert/auction opened with a set…

2022 Rock Tour Revenues

2022 Rock Tour Revenues

The Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Def Leppard/Mötley Crüe (pictured) were, according to Billboard, the top-grossing touring Rock artists during the 12-month period ending on October 31st. The Stones took in a combined gross of $179 million from 20 reported concerts. The band sold 950,000 tickets around the world. Red Hot Chili Peppers…

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Califonication

Californication Garners a Billion Views

Red Hot Chili Peppers’ video for “Californication” has surpassed one billion views on YouTube. The Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris directed clip placed the band inside a fictional video game depicting each members’ California-based adventure. “Californication,” the title track and fourth single from the band’s ’99 album (pictured), has already been certified 5-times platinum in…

Ghost Goes Gold

Ghost Goes Gold

Ghost‘s “Mary On A Cross” has been certified gold by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) for accumulating 500,000 certified units (based on sales, on-demand audio and/or video streams. The track originally appeared in 2019 on the two-track EP/single “Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic.”

“Fallen” is a Diamond Album

“Fallen” is a Diamond Album

Evanescence‘s “Fallen” album has been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) for sales and streams of ten million units in the United States. With the songs “Bring Me To Life,” “Going Under,” “My Immortal” and “Everybody’s Fool,” Evanescence won 2004 Grammys for “Best New Artist” and “Best Hard Rock Performance.”

Classic Rock Still Rocks

Classic Rock Still Rocks

Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” (released in 1977) is the best charting Rock album on the Billboard 200’s year-end tally holding the #30 slot – just ahead of Queen’s “Greatest Hits” at #31. Nirvana’s “Nevermind” (#57) and AC/DC’s “Back In Black” (#84) are the only two original Rock albums listed in the Top 100.  All the others…

Queen Rules Spotify

Queen Rules Spotify

Queen amassed 2.3 billion song streams this year via Spotify. According to Spotify Wrapped’s year-end survey Queen had 120.7 million fans spending over 139.2 million hours listening to the band’s music via the streaming service.  The only other Rock act with more than a billion streams this year was Machine Gun Kelly (1.7 billion streams). …

Ghost, Machine Gun Kelly & Måneskin are American Music Award Winners

Ghost, Machine Gun Kelly & Måneskin are American Music Award Winners

Ghost won the Favorite Rock Album category for “Impera.” Machine Gun Kelly was the Favorite Rock Artist. Måneskin’s “Beggin’” earned the Favorite Rock Song honor. The 50th Annual American Music Awards were held on November 20th at the Microsoft Theater in L.A. in recognition of the most popular artists and music within the eligibility period…

Judas Priest Is In!

Judas Priest Is In!

Finally, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has inducted Judas Priest! Reunited with guitarist K.K. Downing and drummer Les Binks, Priest performed a three-song medley of “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’,” “Breaking The Law” and “Living After Midnight” at the Hall of Fame ceremony (November 5th) at the Microsoft Theater in L.A. Priest members inducted, with Alice Cooper handling the honors,…