Vince Gill is set to announce the 2023 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees on Monday, April 3. 

The announcement will livestream at 10 a.m. CT on the CMA YouTube Channel.

Vince, who became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007, is known for hits like “One More Last Chance,” “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away” and “Go Rest High On That Mountain.”

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Metallica‘s played “Master of Puppets” live a whole lot — a total of 1,689 times, to be exact, according to the band’s website. So perhaps it’s understandable that Kirk Hammett isn’t exactly thrilled to keep playing the song’s famed solo.

Speaking with Total Guitar, Hammett shares, “What I’m going to say people are probably gonna hate, but it drives me nuts having to play that f****** guitar solo in ‘Master of Puppets’ every time.”

“People love that guitar solo and they come to see that. That’s fine,” Hammett continues. “For that part of our career, all those solos are locked in. I don’t view them as solos anymore; they’re parts. I’m freaking bored of it, but it’s exciting for people to hear.”

Hammett then clarifies, “I’m not bored of the solo; I just get bored of playing the same thing all the time.”

“I’m inviting all sorts of criticism and opinions but I don’t f****** care,” Hammett says. “It’s like the solo on ‘Fade to Black.’ I play the first eight bars and then I go on a tangent for like 20, 24 bars and then come back in the last four bars and play parts that everyone knows. That’s one of my most favorite parts of playing that song live because I don’t know what the f*** I’m gonna play.”

If Hammett ever wants to take a break from shredding the “Master of Puppets,” surely countless metalheads would offer to take his place, not to mention Stranger Things fans. “Master of Puppets” was memorably featured in the season 4 finale of the Netflix sci-fi series, leading to a chart resurgence for the 1986 track.

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Mary J. Blige is on a press run to promote her new children’s book, Mary Can!, but if there’s any story she would like to help bring to life onscreen, it’d be that of Nina Simone.

“I always wanted to play Nina Simone because I wanna learn how to play the piano and I love her songs,” she said during an appearance on The Late Show. “They’re very dark and moody and I can always find a place for that.”

Mary’s been a busy woman, with Power Book II: Ghost out now, an upcoming festival and two new Lifetime shows on the way, but she’s still the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. Speaking to Stephen Colbert, she discussed hip-hop’s ability to serve as a form of therapy.

“I think it’s been amazing because hip-hop has given our culture a voice,” Blige said. “It’s given everybody a voice and a place to speak their truth to. From Jay-Z to Nas to Biggie, they’re all speaking their truth through music, from Rakim to KRS-One.”

She continued, “Everybody is speaking what they’ve lived and what they’ve done through their music, and it’s given them some sort of therapy and that’s what hip-hop has done. And I hope it continues to do that, and I hope it stays around for a long time because the new generations are doing the exact same thing.”

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Miranda Lambert and Lone River Beverage Company have teamed up for a multiple-year partnership. 

The foundation of Lone River’s premium brewed drinks, which were inspired by traditional tequila cocktails, was established by Katie Beal Brown, an entrepreneurial fourth-generation Texan.

“I don’t do a ton of partnerships, but I was drawn to Katie’s story, and found so many similarities with my own, so working with Lone River is really special for me,” Miranda shares. “I’m a storyteller first and foremost, and that’s exactly what Katie set out to do with this brand. Lone River was built on honoring her family’s roots and sharing an authentic way of life in West Texas. I’m excited to see what kind of noise us Texas women can make together!”

“Miranda Lambert is the kind of person that makes me proud to be a Texan and I am so honored to have her as a partner on this journey as we continue to grow Lone River,” adds Katie. “She is the embodiment of the trailblazing spirit that built our business, and it is a dream to have the opportunity to see our brand through her eyes. Through her iconic career in country music and beyond she’s played such an important part in modernizing the ideals of the American West. I am so grateful to be a small part of this through Lone River.”

Through a series of upcoming luncheons, networking events and other activities during the course of the collaboration, Miranda and Katie will work together to inspire and support like-minded businesswomen (aged 21 and up) in different cities. More information will be shared in the coming months.

Watch an ad for this partnership on Miranda’s Instagram and visit loneriverbevco.com for more information.

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Megan Thee Stallion‘s label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, is showing support for her anticipated onstage return at the NCAA March Madness AT&T Block Party. Ahead of Friday’s event, the company and its CEO, Carl Crawford, shared an Instagram post in which they encouraged fans in Texas to help in welcoming the rapper back to Houston.

“IF YOU THINK YOU SAW MEG PERFORM BEFORE, THINK AGAIN,” the post reads. “Wait till you see her tear down the stage on Friday as she’s gearing up for this New ALBUM, New WORLD TOUR, and New MOTION!”

“We look forward to continuing to support our 1501 artist, Megan Thee Stallion, in all of her future endeavors,” the post continued. “Megan and the Hotties have our full support as we move into this HOT GIRL SPRING & SUMMER 2.0.”

The post from 1501 comes nearly a month after Carl clarified he never had any issues with Megan. The two had gone back and forth over Meg’s desire to renegotiate and later get out of her contract, but Carl blamed the tension on social media.

The 1501 CEO then told TMZ that people won’t “hear me mention Megan Thee Stallion name in the media” unless he’s addressing their past issues. “You not gon’ see me texting or making a post or doing any of that stuff that would cause social media to go crazy,” he said.

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Puscifer has shared a remix of “Apocalyptical” done by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

The Nine Inch Nails duo turns the track, which appears on Maynard James Keenan and company’s 2020 album Existential Reckoning, into an 11-minute, glitchy epic. You can watch its accompanying visualizer streaming now on YouTube.

Reznor and Ross’ remix will be included on the upcoming compilation Existential Reckoning: Re-Wired, which features reworked versions of each song off the original Existential Reckoning. It also includes contributions from Tool‘s Justin Chancellor, Phantogram, Queens of the Stone Age‘s Troy Van Leeuwen and Bring Me the Horizon‘s Jordan Fish.

Existential Reckoning: Re-Wired arrives in full Friday, March 31.

Puscifer will launch a U.S. tour in continued support of Existential Reckoning in May.

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Meghan Trainor inspired Kevin Bacon to put his dancing shoes back on and bust out the viral TikTok dance to “Made You Look.”

Bacon guested on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he opened up about his social media renaissance. Several of the actor’s videos have gone viral, such as clips of him singing hits by Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo and other major stars to his goats.

He also brought the laughs when he participated in Meghan’s “Made You Look” dance challenge, which he performed with his 31-year-old daughter, Sosie.

“That was Sosie’s idea. I didn’t come up with that one,” the Footloose star said. He said his daughter showed him the viral TikTok dance and his first thought was, “That looks really hard.”

Bacon said mastering the dance was a challenge because, surprisingly, dancing is “not really my strong suit.” He credits the tutorials he watched about how to do the dance for helping him look like he knew what he was doing.

“I spent hours on that,” he said, adding his daughter mastered the moves “in like five minutes.”

As for his viral content, Bacon explained he has “been making content … just for the family to see” for years so he can stay creative.

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Cardi B‘s “Ring,” “Thru Your Phone” and “Up” may be double Platinum, but so are her vodka-infused Whipshots. The rapper’s whipped cream brand has sold 2 million cans.

“We just went double platinum! We’re not playing around when we say Whipshots is the best,” Cardi said in a statement, per Billboard. “Boozy and beautiful since day one, and two million cans later, there is no slowing us down. I love the fans supporting our brand – let’s keep this party going!”

Cardi launched Whipshots in December 2021 in a partnership with Starco; it sold its first million cans in 10 months. Starco Brands CEO Ross Sklar says, “The overwhelming demand for Whipshots across the U.S. has been astounding and is a true testament to what’s possible when you have an incredible product and best-in-class retail partners.”

Whipshots will now be available in 26 markets around the U.S., including New Jersey and Georgia. The brand has also teamed up with a new set of retail partners like Walmart, Vons and Giant Eagle, and will distribute Cardi’s whipped cream via delivery apps and their online site Total Wine & More.

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