Music

Chris Stapleton lends his powerful voice to a heavy metal classic on “Nothing Else Matters,” the country star’s submission to an upcoming Metallica tribute album.

The project — which also features cover songs from country performers like Jon Pardi, Darius Rucker and Mickey Guyton — is called The Metallica Blacklist, and celebrates the 30th anniversary of the release of the band’s career-defining, Grammy-winning self-titled project, also called The Black Album. 

It arrives in full on September 10, but fans can hear Chris’ rendition of “Nothing Else Matters” now. If you pre-order Blacklist you’ll automatically receive the song, along with a cover of “Nothing Else Matters” from singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, as well as an alternate mix of the song from Metallica themselves. 

Proceeds from all the songs on Blacklist benefit Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation, with each participating artist also selecting a charity that their song will support. In Chris’ case, that’s Outlaw State of Kind, a charitable fund he and his wife Morgane established in 2016.

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Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke has released a new remix of “Gazzillion Ear,” originally recorded by the late rapper MF Doom.

The updated recording, dubbed the “Man of Fire Remix,” surrounds the beloved masked MC’s lyrics with electronic elements that wouldn’t sound out of place on Kid A. You can download it now via digital outlets.

Yorke has actually remixed “Gazzillion Ear” once before, as a bonus track for Doom’s 2009 album Born Like This. In fact, both remixes were recorded around the same time 12 years ago, though the “Man on Fire Remix” has never been released until now.

While the released piece was simply titled the “Thom Yorke Remix” when it dropped, Yorke himself personally referred to it as the “Monkey Hustle Remix.” Both the “Monkey Hustle” and “Man on Fire” titles reference lyrics from the original song.

Yorke is a big fan of Doom, and collaborated with him multiple times throughout his life. After news broke of his death late last year, Yorke called Doom a “massive inspiration.”

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

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As the frontman of one of the ‘90s biggest rock bands, Hootie & the Blowfish, singer Darius Rucker has had to deal with his fair share of the backlash that comes along with being hugely popular. 

“That’s a problem you have when things get so big, when you get something that’s selling a million records a week, people have to hate it. Or they’re not cool,” the singer explains in a new episode of People’s PEOPLE in the ‘90s podcast. 

For example, Darius once saw a bumper sticker that read “F*** Hootie” while driving down the highway — but the singer says he took it in stride. 

“I laughed my a** off,” he recalls. “I was driving my brand-new truck to my brand-new house and was playing in front of 20,000 people that weekend.”

A bumper sticker with a mean message directed his way was the least of his worries. “I’m good!” he added. 

Since those early days, Darius has racked up lots more experience in making career decisions based on what he wants to do, and ignoring naysayers in the process. 

His move from Hootie & the Blowfish frontman to solo country act surprised many, but he got the last laugh. As a country artist, he’s scored nine chart-topping hits, including his most recent number-one, “Beers and Sunshine.”

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Dua Lipa sure knows how to keep busy.  A day after announcing a joint single with Elton John, she’s now announcing a virtual concert series.

Dua has teamed with Truly Hard Seltzer for the series, called Truly Inspired. She personally selected the three acts who’ll perform on the series: Irish singer/songwriter Dermot Kennedy, U.S. hip-hop duo EARTHGANG, and Yaeji, a Korean-American singer, DJ and producer.  Their shows will stream on the Live Nation Channel on Twitch.

“Each of these artists represents an individual perspective, a distinctive part of the world, an original corner of music, and they all inspire me uniquely,” Dua says in a statement.

She adds, “In addition to the performances, I will be sitting down with each artist, and together we’ll chat, have some fun and maybe even have a couple of drinks, as we explore how” — as Truly’s slogan says — “No One Is Just One Flavor.”

EARTHGANG’s appearance will stream on August 24 at 9:30pm E.T.  Dermot Kennedy appears September 9 at 4 p.m. ET, and Yaeji will play September 21, at a time to be determined.

 

 

 

 

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A jury has been set for the New York sex trafficking trial of R. Kelly.

The jury is comprised of seven men and five women, with six alternates.  Judge Ann Donnelly swore in the jurors on Wednesday.  The trial, set for August 18, will begin with opening statements.

Kelly, 34, whose birth name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, faces state and federal charges for sex trafficking, racketeering, coercion and other charges related to the alleged abuse and exploitation of six women over the course of 25 years.  He could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.  

Kelly’s Brooklyn trial has been postponed at least five times because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the most recent delay was for Kelly to review his case materials with his new legal team.  As previously reported, two of Kelly’s top lawyers withdrew from the case in June.

Kelly also faces a separate indictment in Chicago for allegations regarding child pornography.  That trial is scheduled to begin in September.

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Country star Chris Stapleton has released his cover of “Nothing Else Matters” for the upcoming Metallica Blacklist tribute album.

At eight minutes and 14 seconds, Stapleton’s version is even longer than the original, and includes extra guitar solos and an overall vibe perfect for a twilight journey across the American West. You can download the cover now via digital outlets.

Stapleton’s “Nothing Else Matters” follows Phoebe Bridgers‘ rendition, which was released earlier this week, as well as the Miley Cyrus-led recording also featuring Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Elton John, guitarist/producer Andrew Watt, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

The Metallica Blacklist, which features 53 artists in total, is due out September 10. It’s being released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Metallica’s 1991 self-titled record, aka The Black Album, which, fittingly, is today.

Meanwhile, Metallica has released an alternative version of “Nothing Else Matters,” featuring only the orchestra, clean guitar and vocals mixes. It’s one of many bonus tracks included on the upcoming deluxe Black Album 30th anniversary reissue. That’ll be released September 10, as well.

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Festivals including Life Is Beautiful, Louder than Life, Aftershock and Inkcarceration have announced a COVID-19 vaccination or negative test requirement.

Attendees who are not fully vaccinated — i.e. two weeks after the second of the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna shot, or two weeks after the one-shot Johnson & Johnson jab — must have obtained a negative test within 72 hours of entering the festival.

Danny Wimmer, whose production company Danny Wimmer Presents puts on Louder than Life, Aftershock and Inkcarceration, says, “Before you react negatively to our policy, please consider this: What I see is that the fans feel the world needs music festivals now more than ever.” 

“We need to bring people back together to heal from the past 18 months,” Wimmer continues. “We need to get the people and artists whose livelihoods depend on live events back to work. I am confident that these requirements are what is needed to guarantee that we have fun and safe festivals this fall.”

Other festivals that have previously announced vaccine or negative test requirements include Bonnaroo and Summerfest.

Life Is Beautiful will be held September 17-19 in Las Vegas, and will be headlined by Green Day, Billie Eilish and Tame Impala.

Inkcarceration, Louder than Life and Aftershock will take place September 10-12, September 23-26 and October 7-10 in Mansfield, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, and Sacramento, California, respectively. Metallica is headlining Louder than Life alongside Nine Inch Nails and Korn, and Aftershock alongside Limp Bizkit and Misfits. The Inkcarceration headliners include Slipknot, Rob Zombie and the reunited Mudvayne.

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Halsey has unveiled the track list for her new album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, due out August 27.

Unlike her previous album, Manic, this album doesn’t have any features on it. “It feels very cool to have an album with no features again. It felt like this had to be entirely from my voice, similarly to Badlands,” she tweeted, referring to her 2015 debut. “I can’t wait for you to hear everything.”

When a fan asked if they’d always planned to make the record — produced by Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross — a concept album, Halsey replied, “Weirdly enough it was always supposed to be about mortality and everlasting love and our place / permanence. It was just amplified by me being pregnant. Introduced new themes of control and body horror and autonomy and conceit.”

When another fan predicted that the track named “The Lighthouse” “was gonna hurt,” Halsey replied, “Oh no. You’re gonna LOVE IT.”

Another fan asked what the track called “honey,” is about, leading Halsey to reply, “A wild girl.”

Finally, referring to a tweet from December in which Halsey stated that she was “keeping five secrets,” a fan asked if all the secrets were “out on the open now.”  She replied, “Nope,” with a smile.

Here’s the If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power track list:

“The Tradition”
“Bells in Santa Fe”
“Easier than Lying”
“Lilith”
“Girl is a Gun”
“You asked for this”
“Darling”
“1121”
“honey”
“Whispers”
“I am not a woman, I’m a god”
“The Lighthouse”
“Ya’aburnee”

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