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Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What Democrats Can Learn From Bruce Springsteen
'The America I love, the America I've written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration,' Bruce Springsteen declared from a Manchester, U.K. stage May 14. At the kick-off show of his newly rechristened Land of Hope and Dreams Tour with the E Street Band, Springsteen framed his criticism of Donald Trump in patriotism: 'The America that I've sung to you about for 50 years is real, and regardless of its faults, is a great country with a great people. And we will survive this moment.' More from Rolling Stone Bruce Springsteen Cover Band Told Jersey Shore Gig 'Too Risky' After Real Bruce's Anti-Trump Comments Justin Baldoni Drops Taylor Swift Subpoena in Blake Lively Lawsuit Trump Posts Video of Himself Hitting Bruce Springsteen With a Golf Ball As discussed in the latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Springsteen's multiple onstage speeches, punctuated with on-message songs ('Land of Hope and Dreams,' Bob Dylan's 'Chimes of Freedom') were arguably a masterclass in opposition messaging. His insistence on the existence of another, better version of the country should be instructive to many floundering Democrats — especially considering the extent to which his words captured Donald Trump's attention. To hear the whole episode, which breaks down the Trump/Springsteen war of words and much more, go here for the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play above. Two days after Springsteen's remarks, Trump took to Truth Social to call his critic a 'dried out prune of a rocker' whose 'skin is all atrophied' and warned him to 'KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country,' with the ominous addendum, 'then we'll all see how it goes for him!' The threats escalated at 1:34 a.m. May 19, the night before his scheduled call with Vladimir Putin about Ukraine, 'HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT?' he wrote. 'I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter.' Trump also demanded investigations into Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, and somehow even Bono — who, as Rolling Stone's Andy Greene points out in the new episode, 'played no role in the election whatsoever.' As discussed in the episode, Trump had it backwards: campaigns are actually required to pay fair market value for production costs to avoid undisclosed contributions. (When Rolling Stone asked the White House about the baseless threats this week, a spokesperson shot back, 'accountability for a class of people who act as if they're above the law may be uncomfortable for Rolling Stone, but it's refreshing to the American people.') Of course, it wasn't just Springsteen's eloquent framing of his opposition that irritated Trump — as his inclusion of Swift, Beyoncé, and Winfrey in his threats suggests, he is a creature of fame and showbiz who is exquisitely sensitive to the power of celebrity. He's won two elections, but still faces the irksome reality that pop culture is far from still fully MAGA-fied. The episode also ponders why musicians have been relatively quiet about the Trump Administration since January, suggesting a combination of an atmosphere of fear, a sense that 2017-style Resistance messaging failed, and the fact that it's still more socially acceptable for younger acts to criticize Democrats from the left than to mention Trump. Still, artists including Neil Young and Eddie Vedder have offered support for Springsteen's remarks, and MJ Lenderman covered 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' in an apparent show of solidarity. Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone's weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). Check out eight years' worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth interviews with Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, SZA, Questlove, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Kirk Hammett, Coco Jones, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone's critics and reporters. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'We might just say, 'Let's go back to the '90s again.' It's not a bad idea': Kirk Hammett on the next Metallica album
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett says that the band's next album could be a return to the style of their late '90s albums Load and Reload - a style that drummer Lars Ulrich liked to describe as 'greasy'. Speaking in the latest episode of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Hammett responded positively to the idea of Metallica making another record in that vein. "Who knows?' Hammett said. 'We might just say, 'Okay, let's go back to the '90s again.' It's not a bad idea.' But he added for clarity: 'We haven't said that to each other yet.' Hammett says that the Load and Reload albums have been reassessed in recent years. 't's interesting, because when Load and Reload came out, there was a lot of derision, there was a lot of backlash. 'It was too much change. We changed our appearance, we changed our sound, we changed the way we recorded. 'I was even playing different guitars and fucking tuning to E flat and listening to a lot of blues and jazz. 'And so all those factors came out on Load and Reload… and [those two albums] are so different from anything that came before it. 'It's interesting, 'cause nowadays I run into fans and they love that era — they love Load and Reload. But when those albums first came out, it was, like, 'Fuck Load!' Fuck Reload!' Fuck Metallica!' But nowadays we play [Reload song] Fuel and people go nuts.' In the same interview, Hammett also claims that he has an enormous stockpile of new riffs for the next Metallica album. "Oh, it's ridiculous, bro,' he says. 'Because, okay, let me see how many riffs I have at this point. Okay. Oh, man. All recordings — 767. New ones. New ones, bro! 'Oh God. It is such a nightmare going through this stuff, too. I can't do it. And I'm the one responsible for all of it, and I can't do it.' He says that the band's bassist Robert Trujillo helps him sort through the material. 'Rob Trujillo is an extremely patient individual, and he doesn't mind taking on a task like that, and I just shake my head and say, 'God bless you, man! You're my bro. There's a reason why you're so much my bro,' because it's just a lot of material to go through." Hammett says of his songwriting process: "I've found over the years that the stuff I don't think about is usually the best stuff, because it just comes to me, and if it just comes to me in a natural way, there's kind of like an organic sort of feel to it. 'And so that's how I come up with everything these days. I just sit there with my guitar and see what happens. 'I refuse to work hard on anything. I mean by 'working hard', just like analysing it and trying to see, 'Oh, if I change this note' and 'this has to work with this' — it feels like I'm doing algebra after a while. "I don't want it. I failed algebra two years in a row. I'm not gonna fucking wanna do algebra when it comes to music. I wanna sit there and see what the universe and the muse sends me. 'And, bro, in the last 10 years I've gotten great results. And all I really have to do, and I do this practically every day, I go, okay, I sit here, clear my mind and start just moving my fingers, moving my hands, and inevitably something comes. And it's a beautiful thing. 'And I feel so blessed and lucky that this is happening, 'cause I'm 62 fucking years old, and a lot of artists, when they're 62 years old, they're winding things down. 'I feel like I'm still fucking climbing the summit, bro. I haven't reached the top of the mountain yet. I still feel like I'm improving and I still have a lot of fricking creative momentum and energy in me, to the point where it's just, like, I'm creating more work for myself.' Hammett also reveals that he is making more solo music to follow on from his 2022 E.P. Portals. "Right now I'm just actively getting ideas together,' he says. 'And I guess the best way for me to describe it is it's gonna be a fusion of all sorts of styles, but not necessarily a fusion album. It's not jazz fusion… 'All of a sudden I'm writing fucking classical progressions and all of a sudden I'm fucking writing more heavy stuff and all of a sudden I'm writing like a funk thing. I'm like going, 'Okay, I guess this is what it is. This is what it is.' It's a fusion of different styles. 'And it's gonna be a full-length album. There will be vocals, because the songs that I wrote just scream for vocals this time around. So I'm, like, 'Okay.' Who's gonna be doing the vocals? I don't know. I hope I'm not, 'cause I already have too much to do on stage.' He continues: 'It's interesting because I started to read Ancient Greek. And I've been obsessed with a lot of ancient Greek texts. 'Pythagoras, he's the father of fucking musical theory! 'And so there's so much reference to music in the ancient text in regards to rite, ritual and magic, and it's so interesting to me because I see parallels. The Greeks used to use music to augment the rituals, their secret rites. And music was so highly regarded back then. 'And I'm reading all this and I'm shaking my head going, 'Yes, I can see how they would use all this.' 'Cause I firmly believe that if there's any true, real true example of what magic is in this world, it's music, bro. 'Music is magic. Magic is music. "Music is magic, because all you need to do is sit in front of someone and play an instrument and they're moved by it. 'You have the ability to change the situation in the room by playing music. When people hear certain types of music, they're transformed. 'If you don't think that's magic, what is it? Science. Come on, give me a break. It's more than that. And so I spend a lot of time thinking about stuff like this. Sorry to say!'
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Metallica Are All in Their 60s — But Kirk Hammett Says There's No Retirement Anywhere in Sight
Metallica's members are all in their 60s, and their music is way more physically demanding than anything their classic-rock forebears have had to tackle onstage — but lead guitarist Kirk Hammett tells our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast that he doesn't see retirement on the horizon. More from Rolling Stone Kirk Hammett Has a Solo Album Coming - and 767 Riffs Ready for the Next Metallica Album Kirk Hammett to Share Stories Behind His Legendary Guitars in New Book From Nirvana to Mariah Carey, Here's How to Stream 'MTV Unplugged' Performances Online 'As long as we have our health and our mind, I think we can just keep on going,' says Hammett, whose new coffee-table book, The Collection: Kirk Hammett, dives into his world-class arsenal of vintage guitars. 'Sometimes I forget how old I am, because I don't feel like I'm 62 years old. I feel like I'm still somewhere in my thirties. I go out and surf, I bike, I run, I walk, I do all sorts of fucking crazy stuff, physically. And I'm still able to do everything I do. I do yoga every day, I meditate every day.' (To hear the whole episode, go here for the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play above.) Drummer Lars Ulrich, the member with the most punishing job, 'is in really great shape too,' Hammett continues. 'As long as we're all healthy, I think we can keep going. Rob Trujillo doesn't even have gray hair! I don't know what it is — maybe playing this music, maybe just being in this band — it's a fountain of youth for us. I have no plans to give up anything. This is my life.' In the wide-ranging interview, Hammett explained how 1991's Black Album ended up fitting in so well with the grunge explosion around its release: He had discovered the scene early, and the riff to 'Enter Sandman' was directly inspired by early Soundgarden. 'I remember getting the first Sub Pop singles in like 1987, bro,' he says. 'I still have all those single-of-the-month records — Nirvana, Mudhoney, Tad, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Green River. James [Hetfield] was listening to a lot of it too. I knew things were happening. A couple of years later, I started seeing guys with hairdos that reminded me of what the Sub Pop guys looked like on all these singles. Then all those albums started coming out, and then we were full-on in the grunge era.' Kurt Cobain, in particular, loved Metallica — when he attended one show, standing at the side of the stage, he asked Hammett if they were going to play 1983's 'Whiplash.' 'Kurt [also] told me that he freaking loved 'Ride the Lightning,'' Hammett says. 'There's a riff on Bleach that reminds me of 'Ride the Lightning.'' Hammett's authorship of the 'Enter Sandman' riff has long been clear, but fans have struggled to figure out who wrote what in many of Metallica's other songs — Hammett says online lists of which riffs are his are 'always wrong.' 'It's literally a crowd of riffs and people trying to randomly pick out which ones I wrote,' he adds. 2008's Death Magnetic is 'chock full' of Hammett riffs, he says, while also declaring the bridge riff of 'The Thing That Should Not be' a favorite composition: 'To this day, I still think it's one of the heaviest things we ever did. And I've been chasing that heaviness ever since, trying to write a riff that hits that same way.' Unlike the apparently cutthroat world of horror movie poster collecting, Hammett has found a certain code of honor among guitar-seekers over the years he's spent assembling the collection spotlighted in his new book. He prefers trading guitars rather than buying them outright: 'When you trade, everyone's happy, man. When cash is involved, there's something empty-feeling about it,' he says. A fellow super-collector, blues-guitar virtuoso Joe Bonamassa, even alerted Hammett to a black 1959 Les Paul Standard that the Metallica guitarist had been chasing for a decade. 'I have to thank Joe for that opportunity, for not buying it, 'cause he already has one, and just for being really cool and calling me first,' Hammett says. As a gesture of thanks, Hammett sent Bonamassa a replica of Hammett's most prized guitar, Greeny — another 1959 Les Paul Standard formerly owned by original Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green. Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone's weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). Check out eight years' worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth interviews with Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, SZA, Questlove, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone's critics and reporters. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
