Black Sabbath Officially Announce Reunion Tour, Album
On Friday, the members of Black Sabbath held a press conference in Los Angeles amid rabid fan speculation of a reunion. The rumors were confirmed at the conference: The gods of heavy metal have officially gotten back together, and in 2012 they'll embark on an enormous international tour as well as record a brand new album. read more
The Origin of Song: “We Shall Overcome” and Other Songs for the Occupation
Back in the salad days of protest—the ’60s civil rights, free speech, anti-war and black power movements—rewriting the old songs with the intention of forging something new was common practice—it’s called folk tradition. read more
Roger Waters Brings The Wall to Stadiums in North America
Former Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters has mellowed considerably with age: In the 1970s he abhorred playing stadium shows, but now he's chosen to bring his colossal production of The Wall to stadiums all across North America. read more
Jimmy Cliff to Release First New Music in Seven Years
Jamaican ska/reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff, winner of multiple Grammy Awards and the only living musician to hold Jamaica's Order of Merit, announced today that he will release an EP titled Sacred Fire on Nov. 29, a five-song collection produced by Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong. read more
Black Sabbath Reunion Looking More Likely to Happen
In a recent interview with Planet Rock, former Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi divulged that a full-band reunion could happen in the future. read more
Origin of Song: Serge Gainsbourg Meets Bardot and the Barrow Gang
Leave it to a Parisian, Serge Gainsbourg, songwriter and artistic provocateur extraordinaire, to turn Bonnie and Clyde's epic tragedy into a love song for the ages. read more
New Reissue Label Real Gone Music Will Release Live Grateful Dead Albums, More
It was announced today that a new label has formed under the distribution of Razor & Tie that aims to spotlight the works of obscure artists as well as less celebrated works of famous artists. Its name is Real Gone Music, and it was co-founded by longtime music industry pros Gordon Anderson and Gabby Castellana, founders of (respectively) Collector's Choice Music and Hep Cat Records. read more
The Brill Building Sound
“There is a rose in Spanish Harlem / A red rose up in Spanish Harlem / It is a special one / It’s never seen the sun / It only comes out / when the moon is on the run / And all the stars are gleaming” read more
Mickey Hart Forms New Band
Percussionist Mickey Hart, formerly one of the dual drummers in psychedelic rock stalwarts The Grateful Dead, announced Friday that he is forming a new group, The Mickey Hart Band. read more
The Origin of Song: The Wailers and "Get Up Stand Up"
“How long must I protest the same thing?” asked Bob Marley in 1978 about the song he and Peter Tosh made famous with the Wailers. “I sing ‘Get Up Stand Up’, and up till now, people don’t get up,” he said, according to Bob Marley…In His Own Words. “So must I still sing ‘Get Up Stand Up’?...I want people to live big and have enough.” read more
When Bad Things Happen To Great Writers
“Very few people have the balls to talk about ‘rock and roll’ anymore.” Paul Williams, Crawdaddy!, May 1967 read more
My Life Is the Road: Owsley “The Bear” Stanley Was a Friend of the Mac
On Monday, December 8, 1969, Fleetwood Mac began a four-night engagement at Steve Paul’s Scene in New York City. After the sound check, Teddy Slatus, the club’s manager, came into the green room looking for Peter Green.... read more
Crawdaddy! Comes to Paste
When we launched Paste in 2002, we were well aware of the long-tradition of music journalism that laid the groundwork for magazines like ours, including early publications like Crawdaddy!, Creem and Rolling Stone. But first among them—“the first magazine of rock journalism”—was Paul Williams’ Crawdaddy.... read more
Hank Williams Tribute Album Gets a Release Date, Track List
Tribute albums seem to be a monthly thing in the music world, but the upcoming Hank Williams tribute album is definitely not your standard batch of cover songs.... read more
Stevie Wonder Collaborates with Drake on New Album
Young Money rapper Drake recently revealed that Stevie Wonder will appear on his sophomore album, Take Care.... read more
Watch Mavis Staples and Colin Meloy Cover The Band
Located at the mouth of Newport Harbor in the pristine Fort Adams, Rhode Island’s Newport Folk Festival has played host to countless legendary acts throughout its 53-year history. And while spontaneous collaborations aren’t out of the ordinary at the music and arts-focused event, it’s always a unique moment when legends share the stage with their younger colleagues.... read more
And So It Began: Remembering the First Issue
From The Crawdaddy! BookIntroduction to First Issue by Paul Williams, reviews by Paul Williams The first issue of the first American rock music magazine was printed on Sunday, January 30, 1966, in a basement in Brooklyn, New York, on the Qwertyuiop Press mimeograph belonging to and operated by Ted White, a science-fiction fan (and writer and editor). The date on the masthead was February 7, because the 17-year-old founder unreasonably intended it to be a weekly magazine, and he knew that magazines are usually dated according to the day they go off sale (one week after the on-sale date, in... read more
Crate Digger: The Replacements Stink Some More
The Replacements The Shit Hits the Fans (Twin Tone, 1984) It’s a fairly common rock ‘n’ roll tale (I think): kid gets caught bootlegging concert, engineer confiscates tape and delivers it to band, band listens to tape, likes it, and considers releasing it legitimately. That’s basically what happened with the Maxell XL II-S cassette Replacements soundman Bill Mack swiped from some poor schlub at the Bowery in Oklahoma City, OK, on the chilly evening of November 11, 1984. The twist in this version, however, is that the performance in question wasn’t very good—80% of the Replacements’ lethargic, tuneless set that... read more
Folk, Rock & Other Four-Letter Words
Originally printed in Issue 3 of Crawdaddy! March 28, 1966 There has been a great increase recently in the number of popular artists whose songs are influenced by or taken from American folk music—both traditional and modern. The paranoiac need of modern man for a label for anything that comes near him resulted, in this case, in the term “folk-rock” to signify pop music with strong folk influences. Originally “folk-rock” meant pop music that used actual folk material; later, anything folk-influenced that retained a heavy beat, and still later, anything having anything to do with folk that happened to sell... read more
Understanding Dylan
My Blonde On Blonde review (“Understanding Dylan”) was a breakthrough for me as a writer, creatively and professionally. It was soon reprinted in Hit Parader magazine, and then used as the introduction to a songbook published by Dylan’s publisher. I began to feel like a “real” writer. Originally published in the Fourth Issue of Crawdaddy! in August of 1966.... read more
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