Rock Report Friday May 1, 2015

Russian Politician Calls U2 Cover “Gay Propaganda”

A Russian politician has slammed the cover of U2’s latest album, Songs Of Innocence, as gay propaganda, according to Consequence Of Sound. Alexander Starovoitov of Russia’s far-right leaning LDPR party has asked the country’s attorney general to investigate Apple for distributing illegal gay propaganda to minors when it downloaded the album into every iTunes account in the world.

The so-called “propaganda,” however — a photo of U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. hugging his 18-year-old son Elvis while both are shirtless — wasn’t featured on the initial download and only appeared with the physical version of the record released later.

The band itself said that the photo was a metaphor for “how holding onto your own innocence is a lot harder than holding on to someone else’s.”

Starovoitov, however, doesn’t see it that way and has recruited Russian attorney Evgeny Tonky to prepare a suit against Apple for “moral damages.”

Should Apple be found guilty, the company could be forced to pay up to one million rubles (about $19,365) and made to cease business operations in Russia for 90 days.

Songs Of Innocence was first released last fall as a free download into every iTunes account in the world.

Scott Weiland Slammed For Recent Performances

Former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland has been harshly criticized following several performances on his current tour with his new band The Wildabouts, with one review calling his performance “sluggish” and another stating flat-out that the vocalist “appears to have crashed and burned. Badly.”

Not helping matters is a fan-filmed video of the Wildabouts performing the STP classic “Vasoline” in Corpus Christi, Texas on Tuesday night (April 28th), with Weiland introducing it as a “new song” before launching into a painfully out of tune and apathetic vocal performance.

STP dismissed Weiland in February 2013, claiming that his erratic behavior held back the band’s career. The two parties exchanged lawsuits which have since been settled.

Sammy Hagar Warns Young Fans

(Classic Rock) Sammy Hagar is fronting a campaign to warn teenagers about the dangers of hearing loss. The Red Rocker’s been involved with the Starkey Hearing Foundation in the US for several years. And he’s joined their Listen Carefully campaign to encourage teenagers to turn down the volume of their music to preserve their hearing.

He said this week on International Noise Awareness Day: “So many people are unaware of loud things: city traffic, buses, aeroplanes and you just ignore it. Kids don’t care or don’t think about it until it’s gone.”

The World Health Organization reported that 1.1billion people are at risk of permanent ear problems through listening to loud music, with 43 million people between the age of 12 and 35 currently living with hearing loss.

Green Day Will Take their Time With New Album

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has commented to Rolling Stone on a recent report in which the band’s producer, Rob Cavallo, said that Armstrong had five new songs ready for the trio’s next record. Armstrong said, “I’ve got, like, four or five songs right now. I’m gonna take it really slow. I’m just gonna make sure every moment is inspired and that we have something that’s really special to us. And right now with the songs that we have, it’s going in the right direction.”

Green Day was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month and started jamming together for the first time in over a year prior to the induction ceremony.

Admitting that he “can’t say” whether there will be a new Green Day album out next year, Armstrong remarked, “We’re going to take our time. We’re not going to try and pull off some, like, victory lap over this because I definitely want the music to come from a real place and be inspired, not just because we got honored or anything like that, but because we’re honoring music.”

Green Day’s last release, a triple set of albums titled Uno!, Dos! and Tre!, arrived in late 2012.

Van Halen Hints At Rarities For Upcoming Tour

Van Halen is currently in rehearsals for its summer tour of North America and the band is hinting that it might pull out some rarely played deep cuts from its catalog. According to HenneMusic, bassist Wolfgang Van Halen recently tweeted, “Working on setlist ideas right now. Which ‘deep cuts’ or ‘b-sides’ would you like to hear on this upcoming #VanHalen tour??”

Earlier this week, Wolfgang posted a short video clip on Instagram in which the band could be heard playing “Dirty Movies” from 1981’s Fair Warning album.

In a second clip, Wolfgang wrote, “Another day, another rehearsal, another tune to try out . . . ” while his father Eddie could be heard playing the introduction to the rarely performed “In A Simple Rhyme” from 1980’s Women And Children First.

A third clip featured the intro to “Drop Dead Legs” from 1984.

The Who Offering Downloads Of 2015 Tour

Due to popular demand the Who is once again making each night of their Who Hits 50! tour available to fans featuring the house mix from every show. Back in 2006 and 2007, the Who thrilled fans by making their shows available as both CD’s and DVD’s. This time around, fans are able to log on to TheWho.com and pick their shows and download. The cost is $9.00 for MP3 audio and $14.99 for FLAC — both live downloads are available within two weeks of the selected show, with e-mail confirmations sent to verify which tour date and venue you would like your live download from. Fans should take note that should a concert encounter unforeseen technical difficulties, a live download may become unavailable for that show.

Eagles Co-Founder Denies Wife Is Trying To Kill Him

Former Eagles and Poco bassist Randy Meisner denied the rumor that his wife, Lana, is trying to kill him, according to TMZ.com. Meisner, who’s now 69, squashed the accusations by friend James Newton, who filed courts papers seeking a conservatorship of Meisner, stating that the musician is in desperate need of rehab, suffering from brain damage, and at times goes unbathed for a solid month — while wife Lana squanders Meisner’s royalties, which bring in between $300,000 and $500,000 annually. Newton’s unnamed wife told TMZ.com that Lana feeds Meisner vodka to keep the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer in a “state of near-constant inebriation (because) he is easier to control when he’s drunk.” Meisner, who appeared in 2013’s History Of The Eagles documentary, has been rumored to be dealing with various unconfirmed health issues, including — reportedly — dementia.

The gossip site posted a video of Meisner and his wife responding to the allegations, saying: “I can’t believe that they’re doing something like this, to tell you the truth. They want me to die so they can get the money, but it’s in her name.”