T-Pain Covers Black Sabbath - And Kills It!

T-Pain, the rapper known for using auto-tune and making big hits, is back with a new kind of album. His new effort is called On Top of the Covers and features songs by Black Sabbath, Journey, Frank Sinatra and more.

T-Pain's version of "War Pigs" is downright amazing. I already knew T-Pain could sing. He even appeared on The Masked Singer and won his season.  T-Pain became famous for tracks like "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)" and "Low" (Flo Rida's debut). He made a lot of money with Jamie Foxx on the song "Blame It." That track won a Grammy and he has another one for the song "Good Life."

T-Pain's finest moment might be his cover of "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath. I'm serious here. It's so freaking good and pays mad tribute to the original. T-Pain has a truly beautiful voice. I hope Ozzy Osbourne and the gang get to listen to this one, too. Seriously - give it a chance! 

His promos for the album are hilarious, too!

My cover album of songs inspired by white people “On Top Of The Covers” dropping tonight at Midnight!!!! Aged to perfection 🍷✨ pic.twitter.com/cywryne9n9

— T-Pain (@TPAIN) March 16, 2023

Rick Allen Attacked In Florida

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen was attacked outside a Four Seasons Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Monday night. He was allegedly ambushed by a 19 year old nut from Ohio (of course) named Max Edward Hartley. Allen walked outside to smoke and Hartley pounced, knocking Allen to the ground. Allen fell and hit his dead. A woman saw the attack and tried to help Allen and then Hartley started attacking and dragging her... by the hair. 

Allen was in Florida for a Def Leppard/Motley Crue tour stop.

All this information comes from a police report. Police arrested Hartley near another hotel - after allegedly smashing some cars, too. Allen wants to prosecute, so we will likely hear more about this incident in the future.

Def Leppard's drummer Rick Allen was attacked by a 19-year-old man outside of his hotel in Florida over the weekend, according to a Fort Lauderdale Police report posted by Daily Mail. https://t.co/o1hiv9N5Id

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) March 16, 2023

Def Leppard Announce 'Drastic Symphonies' With The London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Def Leppard will release a new album May 19 called Drastic Symphonies. The release will feature classic tracks alongside the work of The London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

You already know I love when rock and metal bands work with orchestras. Symphonic Led Zeppelin by the London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of my favorite albums of all time. Now I get a Def Leppard version - but this upcoming release is different! While the Led Zeppelin album - and many orchestral interpretations - just feature the music without lyrics, this new Lep work features the vocals, often in re-imagined or in re-recorded ways. About the upcoming release, Def Lep guitarist Phil Collen says:

"t was an amazingly inspirational process culminating in the live recording of the RPO at Abbey Road studios in London. An absolute team effort that took a good part of a year. It's a new Def Leppard album, it's a greatest-hits-plus album, with some rarely heard songs, it's a live RPO album and we think it's perfect."

You read that correctly: the Leps spent a year on the project. The songs were recorded last March and it's been in production since. I just pre-ordered the vinyl version off Amazon - it was around $40. You can do the same by clicking the image in this post.

Louder Than Life 2023 Lineup Announced

The summer festival lineup announcements just keep coming. Today, Louder Than Life announced the lineup for the September 21-24 event that will take place in Louisville, Kentucky.

Headliners include Avenged Sevenfold, Foo Fighters, Tool and Green Day. Other bands on the bill are Asking Alexandria, Bad Omens, Godsmack, Weezer, Megadeth, Pantera, Rival Sons and a ton more. Tickets are on sale now. Weekend GA is $280. There are VIP options too (of course).

Avenged Sevenfold Announce New Album, Video

It's been seven years since Avenged Sevenfold released new music, but that is all changing. Just this morning, A7X announced Life Is But A Dream... their eighth studio album, due in early June.

The first single from the new album is called "Nobody" and the official video is below. It's stop motion and something else, I tell you:

Buckcherry Release New Party Song

As we head toward spring and warmer weather, Buckcherry is back with a party song. Aptly called "Good Time," the track is on the upcoming album Vol. 10, due in June. To me, the song sounds like throwback Buckcherry and I mean that in a good way. Like, the band is back to just making straight-ahead party songs and we need more of that these days. What do you think?

Sunday Spins: Steely Dan, 'The Royal Scam'

Happy Spring Forward Sunday! As we look forward to more sunlight in the evening hours, another week is in the books. It's hard to believe we are headed toward the middle of March.

For this week's Sunday Spin vinyl review, a look at Steely Dan's The Royal Scam. I found my original 1976 pressing at my beloved antique store for $6. What a steal! The cover has edge wear, but I am not concerned about that - I only care if the album plays clear and mine does! The Royal Scam is a brilliant effort by the "Dan" and ranks right up there are one of my favorites from the band. Well, one of my favorite albums, period. Songs like "Kid Charlemagne" and "The Caves Of Altamira" are very special to me. "Sign In Stranger" is in my top 5 Steely songs and "Don't Take Me Alive" has one of the best guitar solos ever recorded. Larry Carlton was pure genius here! Thanks to Larry's work, The Royal Scam has the most guitar-forward songs of any Steely Dan release. Probably another reason why I love it so much.

The thing about Walter Becker and Donald Fagen is that they were studio perfectionists. They were absolutely obsessed with creating songs with perfect sound. This means any good quality vinyl of Steely Dan is going to sound great, whether an expensive audiophile remaster or just a fun bargain find like my copy of The Royal Scam.

But back to the songs here. Seriously, if you don't own a copy of The Royal Scam on some format, please rectify that immediately. The guitar work and horn sections are just impeccable. The groove on songs like "The Fez" will have you tapping your foot, I swear. Then there's the amazing "Haitian Divorce," largely regarded as one of the finest efforts by the band.

Most critics regard Aja as Steely Dan's most important album, but I would argue The Royal Scam shows an elevated songwriting ability and slickness that proved that Aja was even possible.

The Royal Scam is one of my most-played albums of all-time, and I don't just mean on vinyl format. I know I've listened to Aja more, but I think The Royal Scam will surpass it at some point. The songs are just that good. They never get old to me.