Motley Crue teams up with Nu-Metal... Uh-oh for a good cause.
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Motley Crue will team up with Linkin Park to help Katrina victims.
Topic: Hair Metal
Yesterday, two people that you would not expect to switch places did.

Nikki Sixx, Motley Crue bassist, said that yesterday, the Crue re-recorded their classic single Home Sweet Home with a new twist---Linkin Park's Chester Bennington. Bennington will be singing the track for a new single that will benifit the New Orleans/Louisianna hurrican area.

Nikki said this on his online diary:
"Tomorrow [Saturday, September 10] will be a long day, but a good day. We need to be at CMT studios in Nashville to cut 'Home Sweet Home' live with Chester [Bennington] from LINKIN PARK at 9 a.m. We're gonna have other players as well — piano, a second guitar, strings, choir etc. We're doing this for the hurricane relief fund. Then we go to a recording studio with everybody in tow and cut it proper for a single to be released to raise more money to help the people of New Orleans, then we have a concert that night.

"Tonight was our 100th show so far...

"Got to go to Nashville now..."

This is going to be hilarious.

KISS! guitarist Tommy Thayer becomes university trustee
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: Former Black N' Blue and current-KISS! guitarist voted in as trustee for Pacific University.
Topic: Hard Rock
From KISS! Online:

"KISS STAR PICKS UP GIG AS UNIVERSITY TRUSTEE
By Sophia Tareen

Straight-laced Pacific University may be loosening up a bit.

The newest member of its board of trustees is the lead guitarist of KISS, the 1970s heavy metal band known for its elaborate makeup and costumes, stadium pyrotechnics and high-volume mantra that spoke of the need to "rock and roll all night and party every day."

Tommy Thayer, a Cedar Hills native and 1978 graduate of Sunset High School, was elected this summer to the board of trustees. He joined business executives, doctors and former Gov. Vic Atiyeh on the board guiding the 2,500-student liberal arts college.

On the road, Thayer wears the sequined black leotard abandoned in 2002 by Ace Frehley, a founding member of KISS. He becomes "The Spaceman," duplicating Frehley's trademark makeup that includes a white base with a silver-and-black mask around both eyes.

He is the only rock star on the Pacific University board.

The board's 37 other members unanimously voted to add Thayer. Trustees said they wanted to notch down the average age of board members — Thayer is 44 — and maybe find a potential donor. And even earn a little attention.

"I made it clear that I expect to see them all at the next Portland concert," Thayer said. "I told them I'd provide the earplugs."

Board members said Thayer's father, Jim Thayer Sr., past president of the Beaverton Chamber of Commerce, recommended his son for the position. The elder Thayer is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and civilian aide to the U.S. Secretary of the Army. He also serves as a trustee at Reed College and on the Tuality Hospital Foundation.

When The Spaceman takes a break from touring and belting out KISS anthems — with lyrics including "I'm a hooligan/I won't go to school again . . ." — Thayer will come to Forest Grove four times a year for daylong budget meetings and debates over the finer details of building design as the school expands to Hillsboro.

"It's an opportunity to get involved in the home front and be a little less conventional," Thayer said. "You never know, maybe I'll end up taking some classes."

This article fails to mention how Tommy Thayer bagan his career in the Portland hair-band Black N' Blue.

Vivian Campbell's Solo Album Postponed
Mood:  sad
Now Playing: Def Leppard's guitarist's solo album postponed until leter this month.
Topic: Classic Rock
Vivian Campbell has a lot of things going for him. He's been both Dio's and Def Leppard's lead guitarist, and now he was supposed to release a solo-album today titled "Two Sides Of If." It's recorded with ZZ TOP's Billy Gibbons, singer Joan Osbourne, and former FRANK ZAPPA and MISSING PERSONS drummer Terry Bozzio. It will be a blues album, if it ever gets released.

Some of Vivian's fans are pretty dissapointed with the news of pushing-back the album.

"Man, Def Lep should just change thier name to "Pushback" or "Delayed". First the covers album and now this. Supposedly albums get pushed back so they don't compete with other releases so they can get max. sales. At this level though, when the glory days are gone, what's the point? Is it really gonna make that big a difference in sales? Those who are set to buy it will get it regardless of what prime release date they "drop" it," one fan saide on Blabbermouth.com.


Recently, Campbell had an interview with MondernGuitars.com:

"About twenty years ago, my wife heard me sing," Vivian said. "She said, 'You know, you sing like a blues guy. You play guitar like a blues guy, too. Maybe you should do a blues record.' I laughed, and told her to go away and stop being a silly woman. [Laughs] I didn't think much about it, but I always knew that the way I played was more akin to blues than anything else. I let my left hand do most of the work, and I'm basically a down-stroke picker. I fret pretty hard with my left hand, so that articulates the note. So, a couple of years ago I got roped into playing a blues set at my daughter's school fundraiser. You know how it is, when you have kids, you do these fundraiser events. They had a band, and they asked me to do a blues set. So I got up and did four or five songs. That's where I met Tor, the keyboard player. He had put together the little band because his daughter went to the same school as mine. We did the set, and he told me that he thought I should do a blues record. He also said that he thought I sounded like a blues singer. I said, 'Okay. We'll make it happen.' Tor went out and made a few calls and got a bit of interest, so I said, 'Why not, let’s do it.'"

Twisted Sister, Journey, Styx, and more to appear in VH1's Classic Series on the 5th of Sept.
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: This story from Blabbermouth.net
Topic: Hair Metal
Performance footage of QUEENSRŸCHE, TWISTED SISTER and JOURNEY will air on VH1 Classic as part of the "All Roads Lead to the Chip" special, which premieres Saturday, September 3, Sunday, September 4 and Monday, September 5 at 7:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.

"All Roads Lead to the Chip" focuses on one of the biggest biker rallies and classic rock concerts in the country, "The Chip" in Sturgis, South Dakota.

Hosted by TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider, VH1 Classic goes behind the scenes for this renowned multi-day event. In addition to the performances, Dee Snider sits down for an extensive and exclusive interview with legendary artist Steve Miller who was on-site at "The Chip" to perform with THE STEVE MILLER BAND.

The "All Roads Lead to the Chip" special will also include classic flashbacks to last year's event at The Chip, featuring performances by HEART ("Straight On"), BLUE OYSTER CULT ("Don’t Fear The Reaper"), REO SPEEDWAGON ("I Can’t Fight This Feeling") and STYX ("The Grand Illusion").

Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff (all formerly of GN'R) Have A Complete Stand-off.
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Some of Hair's biggest stars now find their way to the court...
Topic: Hair Metal
Gun N' Roses was once at the top of the charts, with huge hits and record-breaking album sales. Then, in 1995, Axl Rose, lead vocals and the heart of GN'R'R, quit the band. Then, when GN'R reunited in 2002 to do another tour, Axl showed to very few of the concerts, riots took place when he didn't show, and the fan base of Guns N' Roses has steadily decreased since then.

Guns N' Roses was supposed to reunite for one last album---however, it now seems that they are not going to do so.

Slash (Ex-lead guitarist, now of Velvet Revolver) and Duff McKagen (bassist, also of Velvet Revolver)are now suing their former frontman, accusing him of changing the publisher rights for GN'R'R without consent of the band, and therefore collecting all royalties.

This is because of Rose's multimillion-dollar publishing deal with Sanctuary earlier this year, in which he sold the publishing rights to the GN'R'R catalog. Even though it was well reported by the press, Saul Hudson (Slash's real name) and Michael McKagan (Duff) say that Axl " and concealed" what he was doing---and they had no clue about it until their ASCAP (music industry's) royalties were supposed to arrive in the first quarter of 2005. Slash's and Duff's attorney said, "Suffering an apparent attack of arrogance and ego ... Rose recently decided that he is no longer willing to acknowledge the contributions of his former partners and in having created some of rock's greatest hits."

Then, as tension started to grow between the former legends, Axl's attorney replied, "This is a classic case of premature accusation. If someone had taken the time to investigate or ask about this situation before rushing to judgment they would have learned that ASCAP (the entity that collects money for songwriters) made a clerical error and failed to appropriately divide and distribute the royalty's owed for the first quarter of 2005 to Axl and the former GUNS N' ROSES musicians. The amount ASCAP mistakenly sent to Axl's publisher was never received by Axl nor was he ever made aware of the error. The publisher alerted ASCAP to the error, returned the money immediately and asked ASCAP to remedy the situation by distributing the funds appropriately.

"Rather than pick up the telephone and contact Axl or his representatives, his former partners scurried to file a lawsuit that contained false statements about Axl rather then making an effort to learn the truth regarding ASCAP's mistake. Slash and Duff have an unfortunate pattern over the past few years of filing sensational but baseless lawsuits for the purpose of generating anti-Axl propaganda. It is clear that Slash and Duff are looking for another opportunity to spread untruths about Axl in an effort to hurt his reputation and to alienate his fans while at the same time creating a profile for themselves.

"Contrary to allegations in the lawsuit, Axl has never denied that others made substantial contributions towards the success of GUNS N' ROSES, but there is little doubt as to who was the creative catalyst behind the group's success."

Whatever happened, be sure to check back for more updates, as we will be posting the news as soon as we get it. If you know something that we haven't reported, post a comment by clicking on the "Post Comment" button below this article.

Judas Priest To Headline First US Tour In 15 Years
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Some of the biggest monsters of metal to headline North American Tour.
Topic: Heavy Metal
British metal-invasion monsters Judas priest are to headline their first North American tour in 15 years.

will be the special guests for the tour. The tour dates are, at this time:

2005

24TH SEPTEMBER POST GAZETTE PAVILION/BURGETTSTOWN, PA
25TH RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER/CINCINNATI, OH
27TH ASSEMBLY HALL, CHAMPAIGN, IL
28TH ROCKFORD METROCENTRE/ROCKFORD, IL
29TH WINGS STADIUM/KALAMAZOO, MI

1ST OCTOBER US CELLULAR CENTER/MILWAUKEE, WI
2ND THE MARK OF THE QUAD CITIES/MOLINE, IL
9TH BORGATA CASINO & SPA/ATLANTIC CITY, NJ
11TH MID HUDSON CIVIC CENTER/POUGHKEEPSIE, NY
12TH BELL CENTRE/MONTREAL
14TH CORELL CENTRE/OTTOWA
15TH JOHN LABATT CENTRE/LONDON, ONT.
18TH MTS CENTRE/WINNIPEG
20TH REXALL PLACE, EDMONTON
21ST PENGROWTH SADDLEDOME/CALGARY
23RD PACIFIC COLISEUM

This tour follows their March 1 release, Angel Of Retribution, which is the first with iconic singer Rob Halford since 1990's Pain Killer.

US: http://judaspriestonline.com
UK: http://judaspriest.com

25 Years of Back In Black
Now Playing: It's been 25 years since AC/DC's break-through album, Back In Black.
AC/DC was poised for worldwide breakthrough success, as their last album, Highway to Hell, was Angus and company's first gold-certified stateside release. But, on Feb. 18, 1980, Bon Scott, lead-singer, front-man, and the heart of AC/DC was found dead in his car after an all-night drinking party.

"I was sad for Bon," said Angus Young, lead guitarist for AC/DC.

"We'd been with Bon all that time, and had seen him more than family. I thought, 'Well, f**k this, I'm not gonna sit around mopin' all f**ckin' year. So I rang up Angus, and said, 'Do you wanna come back and rehearse? That was 2 days after Scott's funeral," Malcom Young, guitarist, said. After that, AC/DC became one of the biggest bands in the world.

AC/DC hired Brian Johnson to replace Bon. Scott had seen Brian in concert once before, and said he was good. " knew if Bon liked him, he must be good, Bon didn't like many people," said Angus.

In July of 1980, AC/DC released a tribute to Bon Scott, called Back In Black. Since then, the highly- album has sold 19 million albums, and is one of the top-selling albums of all time.

VH1's Best Metal Anthems
Mood:  incredulous
Now Playing: VH1 to release a CD entitled "Metal Mania: Stripped Volume 2: The Anthems"
Topic: Heavy Metal
VH1 is to release a new CD, called "Metal Mania: Stripped Volume 2: The Anthems." Here is the track listing:
01. SCORPIONS – "Rock You Like A Hurricane"
02. WHITESNAKE – "Here I Go Again"
03. NIGHT RANGER – "Don't Tell Me You Love Me"
04. POISON – "Talk Dirty To Me"
05. Tom Keifer/Fred Coury of CINDERELLA – "Shake Me"
06. JANI LANE (ex-WARRANT) – "Cherry Pie"
07. TESLA – "Heavens Trail (No Way Out)"
08. STEPHEN PEARCY (ex-RATT) – "Round and Round"
09. KIP WINGER – "Madelaine"
10. DOKKEN – "Into the Fire"
11. SLAUGHTER – "Up All Night"
12. BULLETBOYS – "Smooth Up In Ya"
13. GREAT WHITE – "Rock Me"
14. NELSON – "(Can't Live Without Your ) Love And Affection"
Bonus Ballad:
15. QUEENSRŸCHE – "The Killing Words"

Comments from visitors:

"COMMENT |
posted by : RiotAct666
8/23/2005 10:10:07 AM
The best bands on the album are.......
Scorpions
Whitesnake
Tesla
Dokken
Queensryche
All of their songs on the album will be good.
The others just Suck."

"COMMENT |
posted by : jackcake
8/23/2005 10:10:42 AM
There's more metal in a lettuce leaf."

"COMMENT | ???
posted by : manata
8/23/2005 1:08:44 PM
where is judas priest might i ask?

stay metal, support the scene. (Except Ozzfest)
judas priest rules the world."


"COMMENT | BS compilation
posted by : Neeman
8/23/2005 11:38:27 PM
O.k..is it just me or can anyone of us make this compilation by alreadying having these bands's CD's in our collection? Thank you VH-1 for telling us what to listen to....idiots. Oh, and I like how they throw QRyche in the end and if you notice, their style and music is 180 degrees from the rest of the groups. Way to go...I'm sure all of us have better compilations in our CD players!!
\m/......\m/"

Well, I think its time for me to go.
Only-Rock

Time for the weekly Only-Rock update.
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Only-Rock News
What's up fellow long-haired headbangers! Its time for the weekly website update.

During the past week, Only-Rock has seen a ton of additions to the site. For example, in Album Reviews, Kix, Poison, Van Halen, and KISS have been added with more on the way. In Guitarist Paradise, 10 new tabs have been added from bands like ZZ Top, Alice Cooper, and Skid Row. The Hall Of Rock has seen both Poison and Bon Jovi being inducted, and The Rock News Blog has told the story of Iron Maiden from two different vantage points.

What can you expect next week? Guitarist Paradise will add Ibanez to the Guitar Reviews, and Album Reviews will be expecting ZZ Top and Alice Cooper to be added to the already awesome section. The Hall Of Rock is scheduled to induct Van Halen tomorrow (Aug. 30).

The Ultimate Albums page has gotten so far 33 visitors! It will be re-done, and starting Sept. 1, You will have to go to Album Reviews to check it out. Be sure to visit it again in September, since tons of new albums and bands will be added/deleted now that About.com does not own the copywrite.

However, How To Be An Ultimate Hair-Metal Star only has 19 vistors. To keep it, it must have over 25 vistors on September 1. If you haven't checked out either How To Be An Ultimate Hair-Metal Star or Ultimate Albums, then be sure to do it before they get tossed!

Until later,
Only-Rock.

AOL's Battle of The Bands
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: In the sixth round, Def Leppard proves that it has enough to win.
Topic: Hair Metal
AOL Music's summer event, Battle of the Bands, can be a huge reputation booster for a band. Fans just like you vote for which band is the better of the two bands competing. In Def Leppard's case, though, there is no need for a reputation increase. Having knocked-out bands like Motley Crue in Round 4 (the Crue with 47% and Def Leppard with 53%), their current battle with Sir Paul McCartney seems like a nice cruise. Which band will rise from the boxing-ring safely? Go to AOL Music to vote.