MARTY BALIN from JEFFERSON AIRPLANE and JEFFERSON STARSHIP has died at 76. There’s no word on the cause of death, but he had been dealing with complications from open-heart surgery in 2016.
PAUL MCCARTNEY says JOHN LENNON only ever complimented ONE of his songs: “Here, There and Everywhere”.
LED ZEPPELIN’s “Stairway to Heaven” is going back to court. In 2016, the band was found not guilty of copying a portion of SPIRIT’s song “Taurus”, but now an appeals court has ordered a new trial because “the lower court judge provided erroneous jury instructions”.
The guitar has really fallen out of fashion in popular music . . . and not surprisingly, METALLICA guitarist KIRK HAMMETT doesn’t like it. He’s hoping it’s just a fad. In an interview with “Metal Hammer”, he said, quote, “People seem to be seeing the guitar in a different light, and passing them up for [effing] samplers and whatnot. Maybe it’s a sign of the times. “Like all instruments, there’s a time when it goes out of fashion. In the early-’80s, the guitar wasn’t as popular as it became again in the mid-’80s . . .”We’ll see what happens, as far as enthusiasm is concerned, with the actual act of making music with a guitar.” He also said that he did NOT like that Metallica intentionally dropped guitar solos from their 2003 album “St. Anger”. Kirk eventually wants to do a solo album, and he says, quote, “[It’s] not Metallica stuff . . . it’d not look like a metal album at all. It’ll be something so weird and far-ranging.”
SHARON OSBOURNE sex is a “bone of contention” with OZZY because, quote, “He’s got a problem. He’s just like a rabbit. [But] I’m [only into it on] like, birthdays, Christmas. At this point in my life, it’s special occasions.”
GENE SIMMONS and PAUL STANLEY are supposed to be the two guys in KISS who get along. But they just traded insults over Paul’s voice, and Gene’s solo tour. Gene started it during a solo show in Australia earlier this month, when he told the crowd, quote, “I’ll sing everything. Because my voice always works! I don’t lose my voice. I don’t lose my voice . . . Paul Stanley.” “Rolling Stone” asked Paul about that, and he acted like it didn’t bother him at all. But he did manage to throw a passive-aggressive counterpunch. He said, quote, “He’s out having a great time. “He’s doing these . . . most of them are free concerts, and when he charges tickets they don’t sell a lot of tickets . . . and I’m sure he’s trying to keep it light for the couple hundred people or whatever, and that’s great!” But he also talked about how close they are, and said, quote, “We have a bond that is enviable . . . we can snit all we want and we can take little potshots, but at the end of the day, nobody would stick up for him more than me, and vice versa.” He also ADMITTED his voice isn’t what it used to be. Quote, “I’ve been doing a lot recently to make sure that my voice is in great form. [But] if you want to hear me sound like I did on ‘Kiss Alive!’, then put on ‘Kiss Alive!’.”
In other KISS news, the band has its own wedding chapel in Las Vegas, and on the weekend of October 26th through the 28th, you can have ACE FREHLEY as your best man. He can also walk the bride down the aisle. Of course, it’ll cost you $6,000.
The most excellent rock flick “Almost Famous” is being turned into a stage musical.