Category: News

Rob Reiner 1947-2025

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Tragic and terrible news from over the weekend, as renowned director, producer and actor Rob Reiner has passed away. He and his wife Michele were found dead in their Los Angeles home. The further details of this case are grim so I’ll just leave them alone other than to say that it was an apparent homicide. Rob was 78 years old, Michele was 68.

Reiner was born to legendary comic actor Carl Reiner and actress/singer Estelle Reiner. Rob got his start in acting during the 1960’s, landing bit parts in many well-known series of the time. He would land what many consider his signature role as Michael “Meathead” Stivic on the beloved sitcom All In The Family, playing foil to Carroll O’Connor’s famous Archie Bunker.

Reiner began his long-running directing career in 1984 with the film that lands his obituary on these pages with the cult classic This Is Spinal Tap. Reiner would go on a run of massive success that kicked off with 1986’s Stand By Me and ran through to 1992’s A Few Good Men, and he would continue to find success through the remainder of his career. He would also be found in several acting roles, including Throw Momma From The Train and The Wolf Of Wall Street.

Reiner’s career spanned a long time and incorporated several elements of movie and TV making, but of course I’m going to use a few more words to expound on the subject I’ve already covered in great detail – the film that both created the “mockumentary” genre and also hit a bullseye in portraying the hard rock and heavy metal scene of the early 1980’s. Spinal Tap was the concoction of Reiner as well as the principal actors – Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest. Invented originally for comedy tv skits, Reiner would secure financing from his old pal Norman Lear (creator of All In The Family) and film in an ad-lib style to let the film essentially write itself. Reiner directed the effort and also portrayed Martin “Marty” Di Bergi, the documentary maker chronicling the hi-jinx of Spinal Tap.

This Is Spinal Tap did not light the world on fire when it was released, but as the years wore on it became a cult classic. Nostalgia only brought the film more fondness and the band became an institution beyond the scope of the initial film. It took 41 years but we did get a sequel in the form of Spinal Tap II – The End Continues, which hit theaters earlier this year and appears to be Reiner’s final film project. He did have one more thing in the can and it does involve Spinal Tap – the band filmed a farewell concert that is set to release sometime in 2026.

It was a senseless, tragic act that took away Rob and Michele. But there is a lot of Rob Reiner to fondly remember. He has any number of classic films to his credit, and his role as “Meathead” was an all-time performance. For me I’ll obviously most remember Spinal Tap, though many of his other films are classic works of art. Rest easy Rob and Michele, and thanks for all the memories.

David Coverdale announces his retirement

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Last week David Coverdale made the announcement that many of us knew was coming – he has retired from music. He posted a short video with the announcement as well as a remixed version of the song Fare Thee Well, from Whitesnake’s 2011 album Forevermore.

David did not offer up a long-winded list of reasons for stepping away, nor did he need to. He has been visited with several health issues over the years which prevented Whitesnake from offering a proper farewell tour. The band’s final show wound up being a performance at France’s Hellfest in 2022, a show that featured a guest shot from former guitarist Steve Vai on the final song.

The writing was on the wall for this retirement for several years now, but does cap the end of a five decade career in rock. Coverdale played in UK bands for a few years before landing with Deep Purple for three albums in the mid-70’s. He would then embark on a solo venture after Purple disbanded. His solo efforts would morph into the band Whitesnake, which became Coverdale’s main vehicle for the remainder of his career. He also had a well-received collaboration with Jimmy Page in the early ’90’s.

I personally came into Whitesnake in their rising heyday in the mid-80’s. Slide It In had stuff in rotation in my area, which had a prominent rock station. Then in 1987 the self-titled album blew up and Whitesnake was off to the races. I would then backtrack to the earlier blues-based Whitesnake and the Deep Purple albums. I never got to see them live but I’ve been along for the ride with the albums over the years and I have really enjoyed the 2000’s Whitesnake output.

We do often joke about musician retirements because of, well, the mountain of evidence that retirements aren’t often worth the paper they’re printed on. But in David’s case this one is likely rock solid. He is sadly not up to the rigors of performing his music at 74 years old and with a host of health issues he has faced over the years. It is unfortunate that Whitesnake didn’t get to go out with a final tour or even a planned final show, but Coverdale still gets to bow out and enjoy his years. He has remained active with Whitesnake’s back catalog reissues so I’m sure more is coming from that and hopefully the Covedale-Page album gets its much-needed revisit at some point.

The curtain call has arrived for David Coverdale, but there is a half-century’s worth of great rock music to look back on and celebrate. And with any luck, David will be in a position to look back along with us and share more insights on his illustrious career.

Ace Frehley 1951-2025

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Ace Frehley died yesterday at 74 years old. He was famous most obviously for his two stints in Kiss, being a part of their legendary ascent in the 1970’s as well as the mega-hyped reunion tour of the late 1990’s. Ace also had a prolific solo career in his times away from Kiss.

Ace was a guitar hero to generations of fans as well as many rock and metal musicians. He was a primary influence on a lot of the music I listen to, even some of the heaviest metal guitarists celebrate Ace as the reason they wanted to pick up guitars.

I don’t have much more to say for now. Oddly and sadly enough, this post is pre-empting another tribute post to a recently-deceased musician. But it’s impossible not to note the passing of a rock legend. Rest in peace, Spaceman, and enjoy your travels in the great beyond.

Megadeth – Tipping Point

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Today is a special occasion as we have been granted a new Megadeth song. This isn’t just any song, this is the lead single from what is billed as Megadeth’s final album. We now have this new song to get into as well as more specific info about the album to go over, and we also have a few, uh, curious points that have come up the past week or so to also swing with.

This is obviously, BY FAR the biggest thing going on in music today so let’s get into all of this.

First up we have the new song called Tipping Point. The song has been on streaming services since midnight in various regions, but the music video dropped just a few minutes before I wrote this. This one opens up ferociously and plows on for the first few minutes before the requisite Megadeth guitar solos and then a breakdown section before a more mid-paced finale. While any reactions of mine are very quick at this point, I will say I do very much enjoy this song. It does sound in keeping with the better parts of Megadeth since their 2004 renaissance.

In addition to the new single, we also now have more information about the upcoming album. The album will release on January 23, 2026 and is simply titled Megadeth. The image we got of Vic Rattlehead in flames from the prior retirement announcement is the album’s cover. There was no new press information released when pre-orders went live, the press is mostly reusing the statement Dave Mustaine made in August when announcing the band’s final album and farewell tour.

Now, as I said there are a few things to discuss beyond the song and album info. Tipping Point has actually been in circulation for over a week now. The song was leaked and very briefly uploaded to official streaming platforms. It seemed to hit Spotify in a few international territories but I don’t recall it making the US list. I caught a snippet of the leak but I did not pursue the full song leak, I figured like many that the leak was a mishap and I just waited for the official drop today. Music leaks are a very early 2000’s thing that really hold no true bearing in the modern streaming marketplace.

In addition to the song leak, we actually were also “treated” to an early info drop of the album name and cover. The music retailer Rough Trade had posted pre-order info for the new album a few days ago and their listing did accurately portray the cover and title. Rough Trade did pull the listing and re-list just a bit ago along with the wider retail offerings. Also, having nothing really to do with this post, Rough Trade’s website is so slow that I was waiting for the nostalgic dial-up Internet noise while things were loading. Anyway…

It does seem as if there’s some ill coordination in Camp Megadeth. Music does leak, sure, but like I said earlier, music leaks aren’t a massive deal like they used to be in the download and piracy era. But it does look either like a “planted” leak or some unintentional screw up. I’d personally bet on the latter. The album pre-order going live on one site early is probably a mess up on the part of the retailer and isn’t a massive issue but again, we’ve now had two screw-ups regarding this hotly anticipated final album and it has caused a bit of a buzz in die-hard Megadeth circles. It all probably doesn’t mean much of anything in the end but it’s a semi-interesting side note of this press push into this farewell cycle.

And that pretty well does it for the new Megadeth news. It will be interesting to see how the farewell tour plays out, but the early focus will be on the final record and if it fits well within the Megadeth pantheon. Early returns are promising and we have something to look forward to just a hair into 2026.

Tomas Lindberg 1972 – 2025

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Today’s news is a tragic update to revelations we were privy to last month, when At The Gates announced they were preparing a new album and that singer Tomas Lindberg had a rare form of cancer. Sadly, that cancer has claimed Tomas’ life. Tomas was 52 years old.

Lindberg was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in October 1972. He would get started in music in the late 1980’s and joined up with the band Grotesque. A bit later Grotesque disbanded and Lindberg teamed up with several others to form At The Gates. From 1992 through 1995, At The Gates released four albums and became one of the beacons of melodic death metal, a movement largely centered on the Gothenburg area. Their fourth album Slaughter Of The Soul is hailed as one of the best albums of the 1990’s and was a massively influential album on heavy metal from the 2000’s, especially death metal and metalcore.

At The Gates unexpectedly broke up in 1996. After this, Lindberg spent the next decade-plus fronting a wide range of bands. He would join up with Disfear, The Crown, Nightrage, LockUp and many others. He also formed his own band The Great Deceiver, showcasing a unique blend of death metal and other styles. And he provided guest vocals to a dizzying array of bands all over the metal spectrum.

In 2008, At The Gates reunited for a series of tours. The band did not expand much upon the touring for several years, but then in 2014 they became a fully active band again and offered up At War With Reality, their first album in 19 years. At The Gates toured regularly and released two more albums in 2018 and 2021.

The information provided in Lindberg and At The Gates’ statement last month outlines the final few years of Lindberg’s life. In 2023 he was diagnosed with a rare form of throat and mouth cancer, which required major surgery. In early 2025 some remnants of the cancer were found, requiring very sensitive treatment that left Lindberg isolated. While we don’t have any further details regarding that, Lindberg died on or around September 16th.

Lindberg’s death has hit the metal community hard. At The Gates are revered as one of the of pioneering forces of the heavy metal that came about in the 2000’s and basically saved the genre from the extinction that almost occurred during the late 1990’s. Lindberg was well-respected among metal fans and artists, as evidenced by his miles-long list of guest contributions and the wave of tributes that have flowed in since the news of his death.

For me, At The Gates has long been one of my favorite bands. I was entirely taken with the concept of melodic death metal and have been on board for over 30 years since I first heard them. Slaughter Of The Soul is one of my favorite albums of all-time and the entire discography is one I go back to with frequency. It took me forever to see At The Gates live, which finally happened in 2018. Seeing them live essentially crossed off the final name on my “concert bucket list.”

Tomas Lindberg’s death will be felt as we go forward, especially given the news that At The Gates do have one final album with his vocals nearly ready for release. Condolences to Tomas’ family, friends, bandmates and fans worldwide.

At The Gates announce new album, reveal health issue

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Update 9-16-2025

I’ve just returned home from work and heard the tragic news that Tomas Lindberg has died at age 52. I will have a post honoring his memory in the coming hours. That tribute post is now live and available to read here.

There were two pieces of significant news last week. One involved the announced farewell album and tour of Megadeth, which I covered yesterday. Today’s post regards pioneering melodic death metal act At The Gates, who announced a new album but also an ominous update.

At The Gates have been back at it for a long time now since reforming in 2008. They have released three studio albums in that span and toured extensively. Things with the band have been pretty quiet since 2021’s album The Nightmare Of Being. For those who don’t recall (everyone but me, I’m sure), that album was my pick for 2021 Album of the Year.

Sadly, we’ve found out why the band has been so quiet the past few years. Singer Tomas Lindberg announced last Friday that he has been in a battle with a rare form of oral cancer. This blabbermouth.net article outlines the issues. He underwent major surgery and radiation therapy for it, and a reoccurence of the cancer was found earlier this year. Lindberg has been largely isolated through this time due to his treatments, and this obviously affects his ability to perform.

Clearly it is troubling times in the At The Gates camp, and Lindberg has stated he will remain secluded and not give interviews or any further information regarding his illness or treatment. This does also preclude the band from being able to perform.

One thing it won’t hamper, though, is a new album release. The band have been working on things for a few years and have a series of demo takes Lindberg recorded before his cancer saga. The group had hoped to wait until Lindberg was on the mend to release new music but with this updated news, they will go ahead and release the new album.

The album is also significant in that it marks the return of guitarist Anders Björler, a founding member of the group who had departed in 2017. This reunites Anders with his twin brother, bassist Jonas. Everyone in the band and fans were all looking forward to Anders’ return.

The news about Tomas Lindberg is harrowing, and hopefully he will find eventual healing as he goes along. There is some solace in us getting a new At The Gates album, which at this time we don’t have any details or time frame for. It is hollow in comparison to a cancer battle, but all there really is to do is hope for the best, respect Lindberg’s wishes for privacy, and jam out to the new album when it arrives.

Megadeth announce final album and farewell tours

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Special report time this week, as we got a few pieces of huge news a few days back. The first of which that I’ll cover today involves the impending end of thrash titans Megadeth.

Last week, Megadeth posted a countdown to something on their website. The countdown was only a few days long, it was not some super weeks-long saga. Most people figured the announcement would have to do with a new album, which Dave Mustaine has talked about recording over the past year. Others thought it might have to do with the seminal Rust In Peace record, which was referenced in the countdown announcement and is nearly 35 years old.

But the announcement, that came on August 14th, was far more significant than just a new album. Such an album was indeed announced and is tentatively slated to release in early 2026. The band also announced they would head out on a world tour in ’26.

None of that is shocking or even outside the realm of routine. But the notice that this album and tour would be Megadeth’s last was definitely not anticipated. A video from Megadeth’s mascot Vic Rattlehead announced the album as being the band’s last and Dave Mustaine also released a statement confirming that Megadeth were engaging in a farewell tour. The details of the tour are not prepared yet and it is expected to last a few years.

I was a bit taken aback at the announcement. I honestly wasn’t expecting Dave Mustaine to pull the plug or even entertain the concept anytime soon. But, he is currently 63 years old and has had a share of health battles. He could be 65 or 66 years old by the time this farewell tour wraps up, so it does make some sense when reflecting upon it. Of course it’s also useless for me to speculate on it, as the decision is clearly in the hands of Dave Mustaine and I don’t know a thing about any of it.

This news generated some buzz, obviously, and not all of it was good. One aspect people didn’t like was the use of AI in the Vic Rattlehead video. I do think AI sucks but I also don’t have the same sharply ideological stance against it that many do. There is nothing I can do to halt its spread, as much as it sucks that it’s forcing its way into the art world. But it’s not a massive part of this topic and is very much a conversation for another time.

The other cynical part of this farewell announcement is obvious to any music fan who has been around long enough to see “farewell” tours, and then see the same bands show up again a few years on. We have no way of knowing if Megadeth will “honor” this farewell statement, or if Dave will change his mind mid-stream and keep things running to some degree. It’s especially a point of thought when a band only has rough plans for a years-long world tour instead of a solid list of farewell dates already planned.

The only thing we can really do is wait and see. I really have no reason not to take Dave Mustaine at face value here. Sure, Dave has said a LOT over the years and running him down is one of the heavy metal Internet’s favorite hobbies. But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that this plan holds and Megadeth truly is bowing out in a few years’ time. The truth is that it really doesn’t matter to me that much even if he doesn’t stick to it. My life will go on whether or not Megadeth retires in a bit or if they press on in some form.

Megadeth has been a vitally important band to my musical fandom. Rust In Peace was THE album that cemented my interest in heavy metal and sent me on a quest to find faster and heavier music, a quest that still rolls on to this day. All of the real and perceived negative stuff surrounding Dave and Megadeth pales in comparison to how significant Megadeth has been to me.

So I will do the only thing there is to do – wait, check out the new album and see if Megadeth truly are done. I may take in a show on the upcoming tour, that will remain to be seen. I’ve only seen Megadeth once and that was as an opener for Iron Maiden in 2013. The set was excellent but I would like to take in a full Megadeth show so I’ll keep an eye on upcoming tour dates.

If the end is near for Megadeth, then I salute them for the contributions to this fine form of music over the decades and thank them for everything. And if it isn’t the end, I salute them for the contributions to this fine form of music and thank them for everything. And that’s about all I can really say on it.

Ozzy Osbourne 1948-2025

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Yesterday came the news we knew was coming someday but came much quicker than any of us anticipated. Ozzy Osbourne died at 76 years old after a five-decade long career as the singer of Black Sabbath and ringleader of his own highly successful solo career.

Ozzy had been dealing with a slew of health problems the past several years which deteriorated his quality of life. He had Parkinson’s disease, had injuries sustained in a fall in his home as well as old injuries from an ATV accident.

He had just recently performed his final concert, the massive Back To The Beginning event in his hometown of Birmingham, England, which wound up being biggest money raiser of any charity concert ever. While his mobility was severely impacted, he was able to pull through a short solo set as well as a Black Sabbath stint.

We all knew Ozzy was in rough shape and that we would be writing posts and tributes like this, but it does seem very sudden just a few weeks after he triumphantly bowed down from the live stage. I assumed he would live a comfortable retirement, or as comfortable as possible given his health issues. But this grand, sad day is upon us and now we are left to mourn the legend of rock and metal’s godfather.

Ozzy was one of the most significant figures in music, especially in the realm of metal. From Black Sabbath to his solo career, to his massive and at times monstrous reputation, and to his kinship with many of rock and metal’s iconic figures, Ozzy has loomed large over this scene since the beginning. He drew legions of fans across several generations and his influence on this scene will be felt for time eternal.

Like many I have been massively entertained over the years by Ozzy’s music as well as his crazy and charming personality. It is difficult to truly put it into words now that I have to think about it in terms of his death, but I am one of many who are in this game to any degree largely due to Ozzy Osbourne.

I think Ozzy deserves an extended tribute, and to make that happen I will preempt my planned content for the rest of July to honor the fallen Prince Of Darkness. I’ll cover some of his songs, albums and also try to offer up a more focused post that discusses his impact to me. This will all be on the fly but it’s not like any of us had anything in the can for this dark day.

I will do those posts over the next several days and I’m sure the world will overflow with tributes to Ozzy, that seems to already be happening. Until then, I raise a glass to Ozzy and thank him for everything he brought to us over all these years, and condolences to his family, friends, bandmates and fans worldwide. We have lost a legend among legends.

How Much Is Too Much? Music Releases in the Modern Age

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This piece of news came out around the end of last year and it was something I wanted to discuss. It’s a pretty insane statistic that takes the lead here – more music was released on a single day in 2024 than the entire year of 1989.

This staggering information came from this November 2024 article from Music Radar. The article’s focus is on subscription-based music software models, something that seems unpopular among creators. But the stat about music releases was one the press ran with to discuss in other terms outside of the debate about music software.

It is absolutely crazy to think that a single day last year had more releases than the entire year of 1989. Now, I don’t have the data in front of me to correlate any of this – the original info came from a Spotify executive. But I’m going to operate as though the information is true. It’s not like I have any reason to doubt someone who does have that info, and I’m not going to bother trying to count everything myself.

Of course, we are talking about two different worlds when lining up 1989 with 2024. One main point of the article is the accessibility of music creation now – it’s not all that hard or even necessarily that expensive to set yourself up to record music today. Gone are the days of aspiring musicians recording bedroom demos on tape recorders. The barrier to music creation isn’t really huge, a person could probably pick it up with the same cost as it might be to take up golf.

1989 was a whole different beast. If you wanted to make an album, you needed to be on a record label. It cost more than a house did back then to record an album in a studio with a producer who maybe knew what they were doing. Some independent acts were able to find studio time one way or another without label support, but the home recording market was barely there. The barrier to entry back then was a dragon that was extremely difficult to slay.

And now, of course, a person can release music easily through streaming platforms, where back in the ’80’s it required a physical release of some kind. The best a demo band was going to get was self-recorded cassette tapes. Now it’s an upload.

The difference between then and now leads to a lot of debate and questions. Was it better when acts had to have “something” to access recording technology, or is it better now that it’s accessible to most anyone who wants to give music a whirl? Some insist that we’re better off with more people able to realize their creative visions, while others contend that overall quality has dropped off a cliff and there actually should be some gatekeeping measures to keep “less talented” people out.

For me, I’m way more on the side of accessibility. I think it’s better that more people have the ability to record. Quality isn’t a concern to me because I can simply weed out what I don’t want to hear. It’s not like I’m pressing play on everything that’s released anyway – I won’t even run across 99.9% of this music being released. So it doesn’t really press me if a bunch of people are recording stuff I don’t really want to hear – I’m not exposed to it.

As a fan, it might be concerning to have so much out. It’s hard to keep up with stuff and adding more to the pile doesn’t really help. But again, it doesn’t really matter. Hell, I haven’t heard every album released in 1989, there are most likely records out there I’d enjoy that I just haven’t run across. I certainly can’t worry if exponentially more music is coming out today. It might be a pain in the ass to keep track of and I might miss quality music I would enjoy, but it’s not like I have to the time to keep up with everything anyway. I can’t really sweat it if there’s more music than what I can get to, even if some small percentage of it is stuff I’d truly enjoy.

Some will criticize the sheer amount of music coming out, and there are fair criticisms. Music creation has become kind of a slop content mill, just churn out something with a beat and get it up on Spotify to hopefully draw some streams and money. This is a real issue, though again I feel like the simplest answer is to just ignore it. I’m usually behind on music I actually want to listen to from known quality sources, so I’m not getting caught up in the “slop mill” or whatever we want to call it.

At the end of the day, I’m ok with the crazy volume of music coming out. I’ll risk having to dodge some bad stuff, which is generally easy to do, for the sake of accessibility. It is staggering to think that more music was released in a day last year than in the whole year of 1989. And I assume there were a fair amount of albums released in ’89. But I’ll keep to what I do and use the tried and true method to avoid any low-quality crap that might come out – just plug my fingers in my ears and say “I can’t hear you.”

A Salute to Nicko McBrain

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We’re now nearly two weeks removed from a massive announcement in the Iron Maiden camp. On December 7th, drummer Nicko McBrain played what stands as his final live show with the band in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Maiden were wrapping up their Future Past tour on this date and McBrain announced his intentions hours before the show.

Nicko McBrain was born in the Hackney district of London, England in 1952. He got his start drumming in the 1960’s in various pub bands. Through the ’70’s he would drum with Pat Travers, Gordon Giltrap and others before joining the group Trust. Through Trust, McBrain would meet Iron Maiden and would join that group in 1982.

For 42 years McBrain held down Iron Maiden’s drum throne, appearing on 14 studio albums and countless live shows. Nicko also owns a restaurant in Florida and a music store in England.

Recent years have been challenging for Iron Maiden’s oldest member. He had a bout with cancer in 2021, an early stage incident for which he has been treated. He also suffered a stroke in early 2023, just months before Maiden embarked on their recent Future Past tour. He was able to recover and perform the tour after rehabilitation.

The announcement was a sad yet celebratory matter – Nicko has clearly been through the ringer the past few years and his decision to step away from live performances is totally understandable. He has been a central cog to Iron Maiden’s sound, his unique sense of rhythm played well with Steve Harris’ kinetic bass playing and laid a solid foundation for the band’s music.

This also isn’t a full case of retirement. Nicko remains a member of Iron Maiden and is expected to participate in studio work. He is simply stepping away from live performances, of which Maiden are planning a two-year long tour celebrating their first 9 albums.

This news has caused even more speculation than normal about when the eventual end of Iron Maiden will be. While Nicko is a few years older than the rest of the band, it’s true that everyone is getting up there in age. Nothing has been officially announced or hinted at, only that Steve Harris has said he intends to keep going. News like this will naturally lead fans to wonder about the sad day when Iron Maiden hangs it up, but that does not appear to be on the horizon right now. The new touring drummer for Maiden is Simon Dawson, who has spent the past 12 years performing with Steve Harris in the band British Lion.

It is sad news but it’s also easy to celebrate Nicko’s decades of service to Iron Maiden. Here’s to you Nicko, and long may Iron Maiden reign.