Being a band on tour, according to the plethora of songs that emerged during the era, was especially arduous during the 1980s. Right? Doing what you love to do in front of thousands of adoring fans for months at a time, girls throwing themselves at you, all the drugs and booze you could ask for, all the free swag coming your way, endorsement contracts and signature series…

The ‘80s, as legend has it, was the golden era for a successful band on tour. At the time, labels poured tons of money into a revenue-generating tour machine, and sometimes even would keep a lead singer out of jail for manslaughter charges (that’s you Vince Neil). On the other side of the coin, while labels provided a lifestyle that would make Bob Guccione Jr. envious, labels pushed bands hard to produce hit singles, to look a certain way, and to make money. It was a vicious cycle that often stripped bands of their “artistic freedoms” and forced them to write some female-friendly material, no matter how much we loved the end product as fans.

It’s only natural that our heart-heavy, road-weary rock idols would bear their souls to us about their hardships on the road. Cheesy or kickass, the following five songs epitomize a rock star’s life on the road.

No.5 “Hellraiser” – Ozzy Osbourne

“Hellraiser” appeared on Ozzy’s 1991 album, No More Tears, and was written by Ozzy, Zakk Wylde, and Lemmy Kilmister. In fact, Motörhead also record the track for their 1992 album, March ör Die, and was used for the movie Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth.

At the end of the day though, Ozzy isn’t complaining about being on the road and away from loved ones, he instead embraces it.

No.4 “Beth” – KISS

If KISS’ 1975 live album, Alive! was the band’s launching pad, it was “Beth” from 1976’s Destroyer that catapulted the them into the stratosphere. The album’s Peter Criss, Stan Penridge, and Bob Ezrin-written track, “Beth,” did this by broadening the fan base to include girls.

Three more heavy metal tracks about the tough life of a band on tour after the jump…

Here’s Part II of some great cover songs. Same as stated in Part I, what makes a great cover song is subjective to the listener, so what you’ll find here are songs that I think far exceed, in some respect, what a cover song should do. In some cases, unknowing listeners might even think that these covers belong to the artists performing them.

Depending on your definition, these are cover songs by heavy metal bands (genres vary), and what they’re covering ranges from pop to classic rock to heavy metal.

No.5 Fear Factory “Cars”

In 1998, Fear Factory released their Obsolete album, which contained the cover of the 1979 Gary Numan classic, “Cars.” Appearing as a digipack bonus track, Fear Factory released the track as a single in August 1999. With good reason, the exceptionally awesome single helped to introduce the American industrial band to a wider audience and, consequently, helped the band to achieve their highest charting and best-selling album.

Additionally, Gary Numan provided guest vocals on the track as well as the spoken word on Obsolete’s opening track.

No.4 Motley Crue “Smokin’ in the Boys Room”

Motley Crue was well-established in the heavy metal scene by the time they released their third album, Theater of Pain, in 1985. But certainly the heartfelt ballad “Home Sweet Home” garnered them a great deal of female attention. However, it was the album’s highest-charting single, “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” (Number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100), that gave the Crue widespread crossover appeal.

“Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room” was originally released in 1973 by Brownsville Station, peaking at Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Although Crue’s version didn’t chart as well, it still gave them their first Top 40 hit.

Find out what the top 3 cover songs are on this Part II list…

When you hear about such collaborations so far in advance, the last thing you end up hearing about them is the bottom falling out, which is why we’ll take this news with a grain of salt. But the idea of a John Corabi collaboration with Mick Mars does sound pretty cool.

If you’ve heard the self-titled 1994 Mötley Crüe album, then you know that the songs were tight and, if that’s all you’ve heard of the one-album Motley alum, that Corabi is a formidable frontman. But if you lived that era, then you remember laughing at the album and the lack of Vince Neil.

Obviously the members of Mötley Crüe are a bit busy with the final year of their Farewell Tour, so any future projects for the band members are on hold for a time, a fact Corabi recognizes. Corabi also said of the possible collaboration with Mars:

A lot of people already know about it. Mick and I have had some discussions about possibly going in and doing a record, and maybe going out and doing some shows… I was just talking to him the other day. So we’ll see how that works out.

What do you think of a possible album between Corabi and Mars? Is it something you’d be interested in?

Rock Hard \m/

Here’s the thing about Motley: We’re not breaking up. Most people think we are, but Motley Crue will still function as Motley Crue. We’ll probably still be putting out music time to time for different things, but we’re just not touring anymore. I don’t think people really understand that. – Vince Neil

There’s a whole different way of recording and everything else. And albums don’t really sell anymore. I feel bad for the younger bands. I guess they don’t really know what it feels like to have several million album sales. Instead, they’re selling a couple of hundred thousand. So I think that the ‘60s are back, with the singles. [Laughs.] – Mick Mars on the state of the music industry with ultimateclassicrock.com

Now that Mötley Crüe has one year of Final Touring under their belt, it’s time to hit it real hard for the final year, which includes global dates. In February, the band takes the show to Japan, and then, in June, to Sweden for the Sweden Rock Festival, Austria for Nova Rock, and the UK for the Download Festival. Ok, Japan in February and then nothing until June? It doesn’t sound like they’re hitting it too hard. However, additional dates should be added. Stay current with Mötley Crüe’s tour schedule on their official site.

In July, the Final North American leg of their tour gets underway in Eugene, Oregon, on the 22nd. The final New York date will be at Brooklyn’s Barclays Arena on August 12th. Also, it’s yet to be announced, but Mötley Crüe will play a final show in Las Vegas.

As per the norm, Mötley Crüe is offering VIP packages for each show through their website. Local pre-sales begin on Thursday, January 22nd, with a public on-sale starting the next day. For the band’s last ever concert in Los Angeles, tickets go on sale Saturday, January 24th, at 10 a.m. local time.

Regarding the Final Tour, Nikki Sixx stated:

In some of the cities, we could only reach a fraction of the fans who wanted to come see us play last year because of ticket demand so we’re coming back to those places to bring them our full production including the Crüecifly drum coaster, as well as all pyro and every other bell and whistle. Even despite the overwhelming fan demand we can only add so many new cities in North America because of our commitment to take the Final Tour global on our final year.

Mötley Crüe’s Final Tour:

* With Alice Cooper
July 22 – Eugene, OR @Matthew Knight Arena *
July 24 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome *
July 26 – Billings, MT @ Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark *
July 28 – Boise, ID @ Taco Bell Arena *
July 29 – Salt Lake City, UT @ EnergySolutions Arena *
July 31 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center *
August 3 – Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Centre *
August 5 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center *
August 7 – Milwaukee, WI @ BMO Harris Bradley Center *
August 8 – Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena *
August 9 – Detroit, MI @ The Palace of Auburn Hills *
August 11 – Hershey, PA @ Giant Center *
August 12 – New York, NY @ Barclays Center *
August 14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center *
August 15 – Worcester, MA @ DCU Center *
August 16 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena *
August 18 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena *
August 19 – Cincinnati, OH @ U.S. Bank Arena *
August 20 – Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse *
August 22 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre *
August 23 – Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre *
August 24 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre *
August 26 – Baltimore, MD @ Royal Farms Arena *
August 28 – Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena *
August 29 – Charlotte, NC @ Time Warner Cable Arena *
August 30 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena *
September 2 – Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena
September 4 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center *
September 5 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
September 6 – San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome
September 15 Monterrey, NL @ Arena Monterrey
September 10 – Mexico City, DF @ Arena Ciudad de Mexico
TBA – Las Vegas, NV @ TBA
December 31 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center

Rock Hard \m/

Well, Motley Crue‘s Nikki Sixx doesn’t expose every detail about the compensation awarded to artists when their tracks are streamed, but he does provide a bit of insight. Fact is, we all know that the music industry isn’t fair. Artists aren’t fairly compensated. Fans don’t pay fair prices for products. And record labels aren’t fair about their cut. But nobody does a thing about it. As fans, the power is within our hands, but for change to happen we’d have to do the impossible task of uniting and acting as a single body… and we won’t do that because we’re all too fucking lazy and comfortable with the status quo.

Sixx made two posts regarding this topic on his Facebook page. In the first he addressed the “pink elephant” and described the situation, which included a thing called “breakage,” which basically means that the artists don’t get a cut from streaming revenue. Sixx was careful not to just call out Spotify, but to also include YouTube. Here’s his first post:

I’d like to talk about the pink elephant in the room for a minute.
A lot of artist’s are talking about Spotify right now and some might say its because they have new albums out. It could also be considered a good marketing tool because to be honest with you, it gets picked up a lot in the press. Just to be clear I too have a new album out and a new video for Sixx:A.M Any smart artist should know how to use the internet just like Bono, Taylor Swift and Dave Grohl are right now but that being said the pink elephant in the room is that YouTube is playing all of their music and they aren’t getting paid for it. They are making even less money from YouTube than Spotify so let’s not just target Spotify here.
A big unaddressed issue (and more important in my opinion) is that artists aren’t getting paid because of a term called “BREAKAGE”. That’s where the record companies have equity or take advances from the different streaming companies and never recoup them. Thus, never paying the Bono’s, Taylor’s, Dave’s and many, many, more. These artists should really be talking about that. But I think they may not know or are afraid that their labels (or distribution companies) won’t promote them if the tell that “dirty little secret.”
Also what are we doing to help new artists? We were all new artists once too. We’ve been around long enough that we should be addressing these issues to help new artists; exposing the things that are more than just roadblocks, the things that are actually sinkholes.
I don’t understand why the press never writes about it but hopefully they will start talking about breakage and how new artists can get more exposure. We have the power as the artists to raise awareness and change the future of the music business. Let’s use our brains to not only promote our music but to address the pink elephant in the room…
Nikki Sixx

Sixx was then flooded with responses, and probably more questions that anything. The next step for him was to detail what “breakage” is and to make a call to action for the media and artists to investigate and to expose the practice. Here’s his second post:

The business of streaming music for artists.
I wanna break this down into simple terms for everybody since I’ve been getting calls from press and artists. This can be confusing and I believe clarity is important. So here it goes.
A record label signs an artist to a recording contracts to sell their music at different destinations.
An example of that would be a one stop-shopping destination like iTunes where you can download music. They also license the music to streaming companies like Spotify etc. When they do that they get around 70% of the money. Now on downloads (just like on hard good’s i.e. CD’s etc) they pay a royalty to the artist but on streaming they don’t. They use a legal loophole called “Breakage” and they get advances, which they don’t recoup and hence don’t pay the artist.
This is something artist lawyers need to address. They need to be strong and protect the artist and not the labels. We should all get paid for our music and force an honest payment plan that will ensure new artist’s have a future as well as established artist’s who should also get paid for there whole catalog. Some might say the bigger artists have made enough money but that being said we still wrote the music, performed the music and promoted the music. But what about the new bands, singers, and songwriters? If we continue allowing this one-sided business model to continue they really don’t have a hope in hell do they? I’d like ALL artist’s to do what their manager’s and lawyers for the most part haven’t done and stand up and force a change…I still don’t understand why a majority of reporters haven’t investigated and report this in a robust way.

So what do you think? What are you going to do?

Rock Hard \m/

World-renowned rock photographer Gene Kirkland, in collaboration with Black Lightning Gallery, has opened his vault to reveal some rare and never-before-seen images from rock, hard rock, and heavy metal’s golden age, circa the ‘80s and ‘90s.

But the images aren’t just being put out there for us to gawk at, they’re also being offered to us as restored, signed, and limited-edition prints for purchase. And whether you’re a fan or a collector, you better act fast, because once the numbered, limited-editions sell out, there will not be reprints! However, more historic images will be added over time.

The first selection of images from the collection have been unveiled and include Guns N’ Roses during the “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” video shoot, Ozzy Osbourne backstage with a white dove, Iron Maiden at Long Beach Arena in 1985, Motley Crue during the “Girls, Girls, Girls” video shoot, Randy Rhoads, Steve Vai with David Lee Roth, Metallica with Cliff Burton, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Van Halen, and many more.

Visit Black Lightning Gallery to make your purchase and to see all that’s on offer there. The prints are available in various sizes, and it should be mentioned that they’re not cheap.

Gene Kirkland states:

I hope you enjoy looking back at these amazing memories as much as I enjoyed capturing them. These photographs hold very dear memories of a glorious time and I am proud to have them available to fans worldwide.

Rock Hard \m/

Motley Crue‘s Tommy Lee has taken the position behind the kit on the upcoming Smashing Pumpkins album, Monuments to an Elegy. But is it a good pairing?

There’s no doubt that Lee could handle the task, but he and Billy Corgan just seem like polar opposites. On the one hand, we have Lee, a brash and vulgar rock star if there ever was one, and on the other we have Corgan, a pretentious and whiney wanna-be rock star if there ever was one. Dude, you’re not a damn poet or some existential philosopher, you’re a third-rate rocker in a third-tier grunge band. Of course, that’s my own decades-long contempt for Corgan shining through.

I suppose stranger things have happened than Lee playing on a Smashing Pumpkins album, but considering the Smashing Pumpkins were a part of the grunge scene that buried bands like Motley Crue, I’d rather see a headline like, “Tommy Lee Tea Bags Billy Corgan!”

And who knew that the Pumpkins were working on a new album, let alone still together? Shocker of the year, Monuments to an Elegy (see what I mean about pretentious?) will be their ninth studio album!

Given that the Crue is going on a two-year Final Tour, it’s unlikely that Lee will join the Pumpkins on tour. It’s not known whether or not Mike Byrne will be the touring drummer.

The Smashing Pumpkins announced the pairing and posted a picture (above) on May 7th, via their website:

Here’s a shot from the mission out west. Just finished round 1 of tracking drums with Tommy Lee for the new the Smashing Pumpkins album. Shockla-locka-boom. Yes, that T Lee for all 9 songs of ‘Monument[s] To An Elegy.’

What do you think of Tommy Lee playing on the new Smashing Pumpkins album? Is it weird?

Rock Hard \m/

The feud between Motley Crue‘s Nikki Sixx and Godsmack’s Sully Erna seems to be escalating, and we just can’t ignore it anymore because it’s a classic, juicy Heavy Metal hate-fest. As much as it makes a part of the media trying to capitalize on dirt between others, this is the kind of beef that was all too familiar to us growing up (Dave Mustaine vs. Metallica, David Lee Roth/Sammy Hagar vs. Van Halen, Axl Rose vs. Slash/everybody, Dee Snider vs. the Government, etc.).

The feud might not actually be escalated, so much as more information is being revealed.

It all starts back in 2009, when on the Crue Fest 2. Some issue happened back then, Godsmack went on to write and record “Cryin’ Like a Bitch,” which is reportedly about Sixx, and now the two are at odds.

On April 30th, Sixx Tweeted:

So @godsmack begged to be on @Sixxsense to promote their shit new album.Good luck touring phonebooths.Whos crying like a bitch now?

Shortly after the Tweet, Sixx piled more onto it on an episode of Sixx Sense:

Yesterday somebody came into the studio and they said, ‘Hey, Godsmack would really like to be on this show.’ And I said, ‘Over my dead [expletive] body.’ And they said, ‘Well, you know, they wanna be on the show because their record’s coming out.’ And I go, ‘Did you forget the fact that they wrote a song about me called ‘Cryin’ Like a Bitch’ and that there’s probably 15 festivals that Motley Crue is headlining and that we said if Godsmack’s on ‘em, we’re not doing them?’

And that was just the beginning of my revenge. And that I take every opportunity to slander them and be very immature? And then they wanna be on the show? Dude, have some credibility. I mean, Jesus Christ! I’m so embarrassed for you. At least you can go, ‘We’ve got a new record and we don’t wanna be on that [expletive]‘s radio show. Well, we actually need some help now.’ Have you ever burned a bridge and looked back and went, ‘I can use a lifeline right now?’

And there it is from the horses mouth, Motley Crue has threatened to withdraw from shows and festivals, up to 15, if Godsmack is added to the bill. Ouch!

The odds of this feud going on for decades is highly unlikely. One reason being that Motely Crue will soon be “semi-retiring.” Another reason being that Sixx knows that it’s silly and “immature.” It’s just a beef and probably neither party remembers what started it all. It’s still entertaining though. I’d be interested in hearing Sully’s response and take on it, but so far the Godsmack camp has been mum.

Source: Blabbermouth

Rock Hard \m/