elvis presley

The guitar Kurt Cobain used in Nirvana‘s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video is up for auction. The left-handed Fender Mustang in the color Competition Lake Placid blue was previously on display at the MoPOP Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. Read more: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden members form new band 3rd Secret, drop album—listen […]

September 1963: A young R&B combo called the Rolling Stones are rehearsing, preparing for a recording session. Their manager, former Beatles publicist Andrew Loog Oldham, was tearing his hair out. They were about to record their second single, a follow-up to their modestly successful remake of Chuck Berry’s “Come On.” But they had one problem: […]

Elvis Presley portrayed by actor Michael St. Gerard performing “Baby Let’s Play House” in 1955 in the 1990 ABC TV series “Elvis”: Rockabilly is the original punk rock, from back in the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s. Nothing is more rebellious and life-affirming than some greasy hillbilly gittin’ real, real gone on […]

A greasy R&B riff rips from the speakers, coated in more fuzz than a peach orchard wearing a 50-year-old wool sweater. A singer with a sneer that could wilt Elvis’ upper lip indicates he’s gonna tell you a story about his town. He snarls about hanging out by the notoriously polluted Charles River, “along with […]

The idea of compiling a list of the greatest punk singers of the ‘80s might seem a bit odd. After all, this was when hardcore rose and quickly dominated all things punk. And let’s face it: Hardcore vocalists are more noted for bellowing than actual singing, per se. Not that late ‘70s punk harbored many […]

1996: President Bill Clinton was squaring off against Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in a successful bid for a second term in the White House. On April 3, former math professor Ted Kaczynski was arrested in his remote Montana cabin, suspected (correctly, it turns out) to be American domestic terrorist the Unabomber. Conservative public policy bulwark […]

Rock ‘n’ roll had, for the most part, lost its “roll” by 1970. It became rock music—self-serious, dour, pompous, filled with pretensions to being “art.” It ceased being fabulous teenage noise, filled with Chuck Berry’s playful swagger and Elvis’ hypersexualized pelvic thrust and rebel sneer. Kids wanted something loud and flashy, full of energy, something […]

Nashville songwriting great Harlan Howard once defined country music as “three chords and the truth.” Many have said that definition could also be applied to punk rock. Therefore, it stands to reason that the figure writhing behind the mic stand might be the most essential member of any punk band. After all, it isn’t the […]

Though all but forgotten by this point—save for documentary films like excellent Vancouver overview Bloodied But Unbowed and recent Teenage Head retrospective Picture My Face—Canada once boasted one of the world’s best punk scenes. The quality/quantity of Great White North pogo-rock acts, plus their music’s sheer ferocity, belied our neighbors’ more mild-mannered and civilized reputation. […]

Even though we’re always on the hunt for new releases, covers of old songs from our favorite artists are always gifts welcomed with open arms. There’s something about a cover song that is always exciting, especially when other musicians are the ones showing their karaoke skills. It’s cool to see the artist put their signature […]

As we exited the ’90s and entered the new millennium, pop divas, prefabricated boy bands and rappers bragging about conspicuous consumption and how poorly they treated women ruled the airwaves. Meanwhile, what passed for “rock” was the white guys who beat you up in high school P.E. class who’d discovered hip-hop and figured it’d sound […]

Punk has a million precedents—musical, spiritual. The basic sound and attitude can be traced back to the wildest, most primitive rockabilly records of the ’50s and the most fuzzed-out garage bands of the ’60s, plus the racket the New York Dolls and Iggy and the Stooges raised in the early ’70s. You see it in […]

You would think television (the medium, as opposed to Television, the band) and punk rock were a match made in heaven. After all, the music and culture are sharp, edgy and visually arresting. This should have made punk flawless televisual fodder, right? Truthfully, punk and TV collisions have more often resulted in mutual incomprehension and […]

The good old days of the closest Broadway ever coming to a rock ’n’ roll experience being Jesus Christ Superstar or Hair are long gone and have been for a long time. While those shows did, and still do, rock and can even be viewed as a harbinger of things to come, the headbanging on […]

Ice Nine Kills have a special bloody treat for fans just in time for Valentine’s Day. This week, they unleashed a haunting new video for their cover of Elvis Presley‘s romantic classic “Can’t Help Falling In Love.” Of course, in typical Ice Nine Kills style, the band have given the hit a sinister new twist. […]

Welcome to Alternative Press’ pick of the 15 best punk albums of 1991. It was a momentous year, one in which underground culture burst into the mainstream, taking punk and all its offshoots with it. Blame it on one album: Nirvana’s Nevermind.  Many punkier-than-thou types will moan when seeing this album’s inclusion. They’d be denying […]

Whether we like it or not, Christmas is here again. And this year, it’s going to be an even weirder one. We’re enduring a holiday season adulterated by limited celebrations with family and friends due to COVID-19. So we need a strong festive playlist to keep our minds off the unusual setting 2020 has handed us. […]

Is imitation a form of flattery? Or is it simply annoying? That’s what some bands and a lot of fans have to consider when faced with album artwork that looked a little too close for comfort. Call it homage, a tribute or straight-up theft, here are nine times when bands were accused of copying album […]

Rock, metal and punk musicians have long been accused of making the devil’s music. While that isn’t true for the vast majority, some have indeed practiced witchcraft in various forms. Whether it’s some of the founding artists behind rock ’n’ roll or modern-day rockers, witchcraft has found its way into the minds of musicians many […]