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Photo: Getty Since 1984, when Bruce Springsteen took umbrage to Ronald Reagan’s use of “Born in the U.S.A.,” there’s been a long history of presidential candidates taking a brow-beating from musicians who don’t want their work used as an endorsement. This election season has been full of rockers getting hot under the collar at the thought of their work being co-opted, so here’s a handy guide to the most disgrun...

Live shows are a much better fit for Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes’ ambitions. On record, it can seem like he’s determined to re-create the high points of glam rock using just a drum machine, some zithers, and a selection of powered yard-care tools. And while Of Montreal’s stage set is unmistakably homemade, it’s a platform for Pink Floyd-sized (or at least GWAR-sized) aspirations. At the 9:30 Club, Barnes, dressed lik...

Photo: Getty Earlier this week, Rock Daily caught up with Neil Diamond in the middle of his super-successful tour. We learned the Diamond is almost painfully humble, doesn’t carry money on stage and has a particular passion for Los Angeles staple In-And-Out Burger. Reader brother love (who we hope is not this guy) recognized the entertainment value of the trip to the fast food joint. He summed it up thusly: “Eating a hamburger hasn...

Photo: Blakesberg/Retna Thirty years ago, the Grateful Dead played a series of concerts at the foot of the Sphinx in Giza, Egypt that went down in history both for their ambition and their myriad near-disasters. Hihglights from those concerts are finally getting an official release on the two-disc set Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978. “I went into eternity,” says Bob Weir of the experience. Click below for more on these infamous shows, ...

Art Alexakis and Everclear will likely face a controversy of Fox News-ian proportions with their brand new song, “Jesus Was A Democrat.” “I bet you think of him, as a nice clean long haired republican,” Alexakis sings. “Nah, he would be all locked up in Guantanamo Bay, if he were alive today.” Alexakis was inspired to pen the song as far back as the 1988 elections, as “the Right Wing made people believe ...

Wal-Mart has had a change of heart about dismantling their DRM services, meaning users who bought songs from Wal-Mart’s digital music store before February 2008 will still be able to listen to their music. In an e-mail sent out to customers yesterday, Wal-Mart said “Based on feedback from our customers, we have decided to maintain our digital rights management (DRM) servers for the present time. What this means to you is that our exi...

Photo: Sacha Lecha Album Sir Lucious Leftfoot: Son of Chico Dusty Due Out November OutKast’s Big Boi has been working on his solo debut since 2007, recording mostly in Atlanta and pulling in guests like Raekwon and George Clinton. The result is a freewheeling record with funky electro beats by Big Boi and Organized Noize. On some of the densest rhymes of his career, Big Boi addresses everything from passionate sex (”Backup Plan”...

Photo: Bedder/Getty Roots drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson isn’t new to presidential politics. In 2004, he joined MTV and Rock the Vote in promoting voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, but this year he’s transformed himself into an active “surrogate” for the Obama campaign, making speeches and spinning records at block parties, posting flyers on both coasts and driving vanloads of volunteers. His...

I caught only the last quarter-hour of Dead Confederate’s set opening for R.E.M. at SXSW this year. But even that short shot of the Athens, Georgia, quintet’s buckskin-metal racket was enough to confirm (a) Dead Confederate are even better than their name and (b) could give My Morning Jacket a very hard time in Dixie-guitar-hurricane combat. The Smiths-with-a-sledgehammer jangle of “The Rat” and the slow-blues-Nirvana cru...

Photo: Getty Kanye West feat. Chris Martin, “Homecoming” [Disco Tech Remix] This is, without a doubt, the closest Chris Martin has ever come to a club. Unless it was one of those clubs where they served those tiny sandwiches, and everybody had to wear a jacket with a shield on it. He probably goes to those all the time. Lil Wayne & the Roots, “A Milli” [Live] Q: What’s the difference between Lil Wayne and the Ro...

And you thought 50 Cent couldn’t be in a worse movie than Righteous Kill this year: Behold, the trailer for the upcoming album-inspired film Before I Self Destruct, directed by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson himself. Don’t be fooled by the title: Self Destruct is not a harrowing urban drama about internal struggle or a science-fiction tale about a despondent android. It hits many of the same bases that Fiddy’s video gam...

Photo: Getty Janet Jackson has reportedly recovered from the undisclosed illness that forced her to cancel several concerts the past week. Her Rock Witchu tour will resume tomorrow night in Uncasville, CT. Despite recruiting a cover band singer to fill in when Yes embarks on their 40th anniversary tour, bassist Chris Squires reiterates that Jon Anderson is still part of the band, saying “If Jon is well again next year, he’ll be back....

Photo: Getty Britney Spears sat down with MTV for an in-depth interview as part of an upcoming For the Record documentary dedicated to the pop singer. The doc will air on November 30th, two days before the release of her new album Circus. “So much has gone on over the last couple of years and there’s a lot that people don’t know about me that I want them to know,” Spears said of the documentary. “I wanted to make thi...

Photo: Getty The Beastie Boys have announced their “Get Out and Vote” tour. In an e-mail blast this morning, the activist rappers said,”This election is too important to stay at home. We hope that you can come out, have a nice night, dance, sing, get your freak on, and then wake up the next morning and get everyone that you possibly can to get out and vote.” The group added, “We are very excited about Obama. Hope you...

Photo: Cattermole/Getty John Legend lines up his Evolver tour, the Eagles fly into Philadelphia on the wings of victory and the Mates of State extend their autumn concert plans. Follow the jump for the full set of tour dates for all three treks. John Legend November 19 - Minneapolis, MN @ Northrup Auditorium November 20 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre November 24 - East Lansing, MI @ Wharton Center for Performing Arts November 26 - Detroit, MI @...

Photo: Samad/AFP/Getty The year was 1988. The first George Bush was elected as President, Kirk Gibson of the Los Angeles Dodgers was limping his way across the bases in the World Series and MTV was airing a show dedicated to heavy metal called Headbangers Ball. Even though their flagstaff hard rock program has been relegated to VJ-less MTV2 status in recent years, MTV will still pay homage to the show that gave metal heads stiff necks two decades...

Photo: Bucci/Getty With Election Day approaching, musicians are rolling out politically charged tunes. On October 28th, Against Me! frontman Tom Gabel will release Heart Burns, a seven-track EP of fired-up folk punk, including “Amputations,” about wounded Iraq War vets. Lucinda Williams revisits Sixties anthems on Lu in 08, a digital-only four-song EP (out October 28th) featuring covers of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What I...

Johnny Cash’s life is explored a new in a documentary that will air on the Bio Channel on October 23rd at 9 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT. Johnny Cash’s America will also screen at the Country Music Hall of Fame, the American Cinematheque in Hollywood, the Memphis Indie Film Festival and the Paley Center in New York throughout October before coming to CD/DVD on October 28th. The film features interviews with Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Snoop Do...

Photo: JacksonGetty Is producer Butch Vig working with Green Day on their new album? That’s what Vig’s Garbage bandmate Shirley Manson let slip when she visited Last Call with Carson Daly to promote her role on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. When asked whether Garbage would ever end their “indefinite hiatus” to record a new album, Manson responded “I don’t know, to be honest. We’re sort of doing...

In this week’s video review, Peter Travers explains the ups and downs of the Leonardo DiCaprio/Russell Crowe war thriller Body of Lies, Guy Ritchie’s RockNRolla and the Bill Maher documentary Religulous. But first, a few more words on Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Click below for the full take from the Rolling Stone film critic. • Pete Travers Video Review: Body of Lies, RockNRolla and Religulous Related Stories: • Movie Revi...

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