Black Ice Signals New AC/DC Blitz

Supergroup is having fun, getting serious

(NEWSER) - Rock’s newest wave-makers aren’t so new, reports USA Today. Chickenfoot is a supergroup, but “not a pre-fab one. This all really grew out of friendships,” says bassist Michael Anthony. Anthony, along with fellow Van Halen alum Sammy Hagar, has been jamming with guitarist Joe Satriani and Red Hot Chili Pepper Chad Smith for years, but they recently decided to make a real go of it. More»

(NEWSER) - In honor of Woodstock—which happened 40 years ago this weekend—and the “seminal documentary” that captured it, John Farr shares his list of the 10 best rock concert/performance films—all of which are “meant to be played loud,” he writes on the Huffington Post. “So crank it!”

• A Hard Day's Night (1964): “The disarming charisma and spontaneous energy of the Beatles made no traditional plot necessary. It was sufficient to portray a day in the life of the world's most talked about rock band.”

When the band's record sales go up, the economy goes down

(NEWSER) - Forget complicated economic indicators—the surest sign that recession looms is that AC/DC is back on top of the charts after 28 years, writes Alexis Petridis in the Guardian. It seems that whenever the Aussie rockers have a best-selling album, at least in Britain, the economy's in the tank. See 1980’s Back in Black and 1990’s The Razor's Edge. Albums in rosier years did less well. More»

Wacky New Wave band releases its first new album in 16 years

(NEWSER) - Sixteen years after the release of their last album, the B-52s are still rocking the cosmic party, this time with the all-new album Funplex. The Georgia band still performs regularly, but "if we're going to keep doing this, we need new material," guitarist Keith Strickland told NPR. "And our fans were beginning to sort of bang on the door." More»

Record will be out in the fall, kick off European tour

(NEWSER) - Freddie Mercury may be long gone, but the rest of Queen still wants to ride their bicycles. The band today said its first album in 13 years will be released in the fall, followed by tours of Europe and Latin America, Agence-France Press reports. The album, which will feature frontman Paul Rodgers, is the band's first recording since Made in Heaven in 1995. The new album is finished but still unnamed. More»