JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS will release an acoustic album, “Changeup”, on March 25. The 25-track effort features unplugged versions of songs spanning Jett’s entire career, including her work with the pioneering 1970s all-female band THE RUNAWAYS. Among the songs that are set to appear on the LP are “(I’m Gonna) Run Away”, which can be streamed below, her cover of TOMMY JAMES AND THE SHONDELLS’ “Crimson And Clover”, THE RUNAWAYS’ “Cherry Bomb” and an acoustic rendition of “Bad Reputation”, which was initially made available last year.

“Changeup” track listing:

01. (I’m Gonna) Run Away
02. You’re Too Possessive
03. Long Time
04. Victim Of Circumstance
05. Coney Island Whitefish
06. Love Is Pain
07. Oh Woe Is Me
08. You Drive Me Wild
09. Frustrated
10. Bad Reputation
11. Fake Friends
12. Fresh Start
13. Soulmates To Strangers
14. Make It Back
15. Fragile
16. I Love Playin’ With Fire
17. Cherry Bomb
18. I Want You
19. Crimson And Clover
20. A Hundred Feet Away
21. Androgynous
22. You Don’t Know What You’ve Got
23. School Days
24. Good Music
25. Light Of Day

Jett grew up during a time when rock ‘n’ roll was off limits to girls and women, but as a teenager, she promptly blew the door to the boys’ club right off its hinges. After forming her band THE BLACKHEARTS in 1979, with whom Jett has become a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, she has had eight platinum and gold albums and nine Top 40 singles, including the classics “Bad Reputation”, “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll”, “I Hate Myself For Loving You” and “Crimson And Clover”. With a career that has spanned music, film, television, Broadway, and humanitarianism, Jett remains a potent force and inspiration to generations of fans worldwide.

As a producer, she has overseen seminal albums by BIKINI KILL, and the GERMS’ L.A. punk masterpiece “GI”. Jett and co-founder Kenny Laguna (her longtime producer and music partner) founded Blackheart from the trunk of Kenny’s Cadillac after countless rejections from no less than 23 labels. 40 years later, Blackheart is a thriving entertainment company producing music, film, and television, and continues to champion emerging bands.

Jett and THE BLACKHEARTS continue touring the globe with headlining shows alongside fellow rock legends like THE WHO, GREEN DAY, HEART and FOO FIGHTERS.

After two COVID-19 postponements, the group will return to the road in summer 2022 for “The Stadium Tour” with DEF LEPPARD, MÖTLEY CRÜE and POISON.

“Bad Reputation”, a documentary about Jett’s life, premiered to critical acclaim at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and is now available for streaming.

One of the most important aspects of your audio signal chain is how you hear your creations. For those dipping into the home-studio life, here are 10 entry-level options for monitors that balance power, portability, and price. KRK Classic 5Even with a 5″ woofer, this two-way monitor offers a total of 50 watts of power with 30 watts driving the woofer and 20 watts for the tweeter. It has an optional bass boost, front-firing port, and dedicated high- and low-frequency adjustment controls. $134 eachkrkmusic.comSamson MediaOne BT3Portability and wireless features are at the forefront of this design. Each speaker has a 3″ woofer and 1″ tweeter that offers 15 watts per channel. Around back you have Bluetooth capability, RCA inputs, and passive output terminals.$91 pairsamsontech.comJBL 1 Series 104-BTThis set of monitors is powered by an integrated class-D 60-watt amp that distributes 30 watts to each speaker. With a 4.5″ woofer it can kick out up to 104 dB SPL. It offers three sets of inputs (aux, RCA, and TRS) along with Bluetooth connectivity.$199 pairjblpro.comBehringer MS16Aimed for entry-level music creators, this setup is a compact, 8-watt affair with dedicated treble and bass controls on the front panel along with a TRS mic input with level control. A built-in mixer makes playing along with backing tracks a breeze.$99 pairbehringer.comKali Audio LP-6 V2On the higher end of our collection is the latest iteration of the company’s LP-6 which is loaded with an 80-watt class-D amp along with a 6.5″ woofer that can churn out a max SPL of 115 dB. Inputs include RCA, TRS, and XLR, and features include a series of dip switches that help tune the monitors to your specific space. $199 eachkaliaudio.comPresonus ERIS E3.5These portable reference monitors offer a dead-simple control setup with an aux input, a headphone output, and a simple volume knob. They come packed with balanced TRS and RCA inputs. Even with a 3.5″ woofer, a 50-watt engine pushes a peak of 100 dB.$99 pairpresonus.comMackie CR3-XIf space is at a premium, these ultra-portable monitors combine a silk dome tweeter and a 3″ woofer into an extremely affordable package. An easily accessible headphone jack is on front and a trio of inputs (TRS, RCA, and unbalanced stereo in) are featured on the back. $99 pairmackie.comAlesis Elevate 5 MkIICombining a high-precision driver with a custom-designed crossover, this pair offers 40 watts of power in a magnetically shielded enclosure to help with interference from video monitors. Rear controls include a switchable bass boost, RCA and XLR inputs, and a power switch.$139 pairalesis.comTannoy Reveal 502A front-firing bass port allows for placement near walls and aim to keep the low-end in check. Inside is a 75-watt bi-amp design with a custom crossover that puts out 50 watts in the lows and mids and 25 watts in the highs. Naturally, it comes stocked with XLR, unbalanced, and aux inputs.$149 eachtannoy.comM-Audio BX5 D3A 5″ Kevlar woofer (bulletproof?) is the highlight of this affordable monitor set. The front panel is sleek and doesn’t offer any tangible control. All the inputs (XLR and TRS), volume control, and power switch are around back along with a toggle used to tune the monitors to your specific acoustic space.$149 eachm-audio.com

Kid Rock has released the official music video for his new single “We The People”. The track is taken from his upcoming album, “Bad Reputation”, which will be made available digitally on March 21. Physical CDs will arrive on April 6.

“Bad Reputation” included the three songs Kid Rock released in January — “We The People”, “The Last Dance” and “Rockin'” — as well as his November 2021 single “Don’t Tell Me How To Live”, which was recorded with Canadian hard rockers MONSTER TRUCK.

“We The People” features the chorus of “Let’s go, Brandon,” conservative code for “Fuck Joe Biden” (born when a NASCAR reporter misheard a crowd, reporting that they chanted in support of racer Brandon Brown when they were actually chanting expletives toward the U.S. president), and also takes aim at the mainstream media, CNN, TMZ, Twitter and Facebook, as well as mask mandates and COVID-19 restrictions.

“We the people in all we do reserve the right to scream, ‘Fuck you!” Kid shouts in the song. “Wear your mask. Take your pills. Now a whole generation is mentally ill,” he adds.

Elsewhere in the song, he raps: “COVID’s near. It’s coming to town. We gotta act quick, shut our borders down. Joe Biden does, the media embraces. Big Don does it, and they call him racist.

“Inflation’s up like the minimum wage. So it’s all the same. Not a damn thing changed,” he exclaims.

He then calls for politically polarized Americans to come together, saying: “We gotta keep fighting for right to be free. And every human being doesn’t have to agree. We all bleed red, brother, listen to me. It’s time for love and unity.”

The track concludes with sampled crowd chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon.”

In a Facebook video announcing the three tracks in January, Kid Rock described “We The People” as a “hard rock-rap tune.”

“[It’s] about, well, all the craziness going on in our world in the last few years and the politics and the polarization and social justice,” he said. “You know, constantly for just being a Trump fan attacked in the media day in day out.”

He added: “I don’t mind taking a punch, but I hit back, motherfucker, and I hit hard.”

As previously reported, Kid Rock will join forces with FOREIGNER and GRAND FUNK RAILROAD for a U.S. tour this spring summer. JASON BONHAM’S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING will appear on select dates, with a special appearance by Trey Lewis at all shows. The 24-city “Bad Reputation Tour” will kick off on April 6 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, making stops across the U.S. in Nashville, Boston, Chicago, and more before wrapping up with two shows in Detroit.

“Bad Reputation” track listing:

01. Don’t Tell Me How To Live (feat. MONSTER TRUCK)
02. We The People
03. My Kind Of Country
04. Bad Reputation
05. Never Quit
06. Shakedown (feat. Robert James)
07. Rockin’
08. The Last Dance
09. See You Again
10. Still Somethin’
11. She’s Your Baby (Now Rock Her)
12. Never Enough
13. Everything To Me
14. Cold Beer
15. Ala-Fu**In’-Bama
16. Am What I Am
17. The Nashville I Know
18. Fifty

RUSH has just released the official music video for “YYZ” from the upcoming “Moving Pictures – 40th Anniversary” set. Check it out below.

On April 15, UMe/Mercury and Anthem Records label groups continue the extensive RUSH 40th-anniversary album series with new, expanded editions of the band’s groundbreaking 1981 release “Moving Pictures”, embodying its well-deserved classic album status. “Moving Pictures – 40th Anniversary” will be available to fans in six distinct configurations, including the (1) Super Deluxe Edition, (2) three-CD Deluxe Edition, (3) five-LP Deluxe Edition, (4) one-LP Edition, (5), Digital Deluxe Edition, and (6) Dolby Atmos Digital Edition and can be pre-ordered here.

“Moving Pictures”, RUSH’s eighth studio album, was originally released on February 12, 1981, and its adventurous-yet-accessible music catapulted the forward-thinking Canadian band to even newer heights as it began navigating the demands of a new decade. The album’s seven songs expertly blended RUSH’s intrinsic prowess for channeling its progressive roots into radio-friendly arrangements, a template the band had mastered to a T all throughout its previous album, 1980’s deservedly lauded “Permanent Waves”. “Moving Pictures” was also the second of many RUSH recording sessions at Le Studio in Morin-Heights, Quebec, which was ultimately nicknamed the trio’s own personal Abbey Road recording studio.

The album’s lead-off track, “Tom Sawyer”, became one of RUSH’s most cherished FM favorites in addition to taking its rightful place as a perpetual concert staple for decades to come. Next, the band shifts into the multi-generational dreamscape of “Red Barchetta”, which chronicles the thrills and chills of a high-stakes backroads car race. The instrumental barnburner “YYZ”, lovingly named after the airport identification code for Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, runs the gamut of the band’s forever impressive progressive chops in under four minutes flat. Side A closes out with the observational luminescence of “Limelight”, a timeless, if not prescient look at how introverted artists grapple with public demands while trying to maintain a personal level of earned privacy.

Side B commences with the expansive palette of “The Camera Eye”, a multi-layered, ten-minute-long travelogue that takes a bird’s eye view of the inherent hustle and bustle of New York City counterbalanced with the intense energy and deep-rooted history of London. “Witch Hunt” (subtitled as being “Part III of Fear”) offers a grim view of prejudice and mob mentality, while the album wraps up with the angular, cutting-edge “Vital Signs”, a propulsive track that clearly foreshadows a number of the more adventurous musical directions RUSH would undertake as the ever-shifting 1980s continued to unfold.

The Super Deluxe Edition includes three CDs, one Blu-ray Audio disc, and five high-quality 180-gram black vinyl LPs. The set encompasses the Abbey Road Mastering Studios 2015 remastered edition of the album for the first time on CD, along with two discs of previously unreleased and newly restored bonus live content newly mixed from the original analog live multi-tracks by RUSH’s original producer, Terry Brown, featuring the band’s complete, unreleased Toronto concert from Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, on March 25, 1981 (designated here as “Live In YYZ 1981”). The fourth bonus disc is a Blu-ray Audio disc with the core album newly mixed from the original multi-tracks in Dolby Atmos (a RUSH catalog first!), Dolby TrueHD 5.1, and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound as done by noted producer/engineer Richard Chycki, alongside the previously available PCM Stereo mix. Also included on the Blu-ray are four bonus videos: a brand-new video for “YYZ” plus three remastered vintage promo videos for “Tom Sawyer”, “Limelight” and “Vital Signs”. Additionally, all of the vinyl in the Super Deluxe Edition has been cut via half-speed Direct to Metal Mastering (DMM) (another RUSH catalog first!) on five 180-gram audiophile LPs.

The Super Deluxe Edition of “Moving Pictures – 40th Anniversary” will also include several exclusive items, including a 44-page hardcover book with unreleased photos and new artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme, along with new illustrations for each song; extensive liner notes by Kim Thayil (guitarist, SOUNDGARDEN), Les Claypool (bassist/vocalist, PRIMUS), Taylor Hawkins (drummer, FOO FIGHTERS), Bill Kelliher (guitarist, MASTODON), and Neil Sanderson (drummer, THREE DAYS GRACE); a Red Barchetta model car mounted on a black perch with an MP40 nameplate; two Neil Peart signature MP40 branded drumsticks; two metal-embossed guitar picks, one each with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson’s respective signatures engraved on them; a replica of the “Moving Pictures” 1981 official tour program; an MP40 logo enamel pin; a 3D lenticular “Moving Pictures in motion” lithograph; an 18×24-inch Toronto 1981 concert poster; a replica concert ticket from the 1981 Maple Leaf Gardens show; a 12×36-inch Rush Through The Years 1973-1981 poster; a YYZ luggage tag; and a All Access World Tour ’81 insert. All contents are housed in a premium lift-top box, which features movingly reimagined cover artwork by Hugh Syme.

The second configuration of “Moving Pictures – 40th Anniversary” will be released in a three-CD Deluxe Edition digipak that includes the newly remastered original album on CD 1 and the entire, unreleased 1981 Toronto concert on CDs 2 and 3. Extras include a 24-page booklet with unreleased photos and reimagined artwork by Syme, along with the aforementioned liner notes by Thayil, Claypool, Hawkins, Kelliher and Sanderson.

The third “Moving Pictures” configuration will be offered as a five-LP Deluxe Edition, all of it housed in a slipcase including a single-pocket jacket for the remastered original “Moving Pictures” on LP 1, and two gatefold jackets for LPs 2-5 that comprise all 19 tracks from the complete, unreleased “Live In YYZ” 1981 concert. As noted above, all vinyl has been cut for the first time ever via half-speed Direct to Metal Mastering (DMM) on 180-gram black audiophile vinyl. Extras include a 24-page booklet with unreleased photos, Syme’s reimagined artwork and new illustrations, and the complete liner notes.

The fourth configuration is a one-LP eCommerce exclusive edition, featuring the first-ever half-speed DMM vinyl pressing. It comes newly wrapped in a limited-edition premium tip-on style gatefold jacket with printed sleeve, and each pressing comes with one of six randomly inserted Neil Peart hand-drawn lyrics sheets.

The fifth configuration, the Deluxe Digital Edition, features the original album and all 19 bonus live performances from Toronto, and is the digital equivalent to the three-CD Deluxe Edition.

Finally, the sixth configuration, the Dolby Atmos Digital Edition, is the digital equivalent of Richard Chycki’s masterful Atmos mix of all seven tracks from the original album.

RUSH — bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist/vocalist Alex Lifeson, and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart — maintains a large and uniquely passionate worldwide fanbase that acknowledges and respects the band’s singular, bold, and perpetually exploratory songcraft that combines sterling musicianship, complex compositions, and distinctive lyrical flair. RUSH has sold more than 25 million albums in the U.S. alone, with worldwide sales estimated at 45 million (and counting), and has been awarded 24 gold, 14 platinum, and three multi-platinum album distinctions. RUSH has received seven Grammy nominations, and the band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame in 1994 and the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2013.

The much-anticipated STABBING WESTWARD album “Chasing Ghosts” will be released on March 18, marking the influential industrial rock band’s first new LP in more than 20 years. And today, the group tides over fans with the release of a new music video for its latest single, “Ghost”.

Created by frontman Christopher Hall, the video is a gripping art piece featuring all four band members — also including co-founder Walter Flakus (keyboards/programming) as well as Carlton Bost (guitars and programming) and Bobby Amaro (drums) — in their home studios.

Fans who buy the physical or digital edition of the single will be gifted with several additional tracks including remixes of “Ghost” led by Hall and Assemblage 23 along with a reworking of early hit “Why”, from 1996 RIAA-certified gold album “Wither Blister Burn & Peel”.

“Chasing Ghosts” will be out via COP International Records. It features 10 tracks that showcase the industrial rock band’s characteristic sound with a modern sheen that picks up right where they left off with their last full-length in 2001. With the new tracks, STABBING WESTWARD has not only managed stay true to their original sound, but also expanded it to fit the frantic new reality of the 21st century.

“Ghost” follows the single “I Am Nothing” that was released in November 2021, with Loudwire saying, “20 years later, [STABBING WESTWARD] are back in the studio making the same intense electro-goth bangers they were doing two decades earlier. Now, the compressed crunchy guitar riffs, steady pounding beats, and signature wail of singer Christopher Hall highlight a tension that seems to fit perfectly this day and age.”

“Chasing Ghosts” will feature brand-new songs as well as re-workings of the band’s acclaimed 2020 reunion EP “Dead And Gone” that finds original founding members Christopher Hall (vocals/guitar) and Walter Flakus (keyboards/programming) honing in on the incredible partnership that once produced a string of hits that dominated alternative radio and film soundtracks, including “Shame”, “Save Yourself” and “What Do I Have to Do?” — and resulted in two gold records.

To recreate that original chemistry, the band recruited the legendary producer John Fryer to again helm “Chasing Ghosts”. Fryer, whose production credits include DEPECHE MODE, NINE INCH NAILS, 4AD, COCTEAU TWINS and LOVE AND ROCKETS, originally worked with STABBING WESTWARD on their best-selling early releases “Ungod” (1994) and “Wither Blister Burn + Peel” (1996). “Chasing Ghosts” was also mastered by Tom Baker who, like Fryer, worked with STABBING WESTWARD on their early releases and is part of the reassembled production team on the latest album. The current STABBING WESTWARD band lineup also includes Carlton Bost (guitars and programming) and Bobby Amaro (drums).

With artwork by David Seidman (who has worked with COHEED AND CAMBRIA and is known for his ethereal and surrealistic imagery), formats include digital, six-panel digipack CD, and limited-edition vinyl, including a run of 2,000 double-gatefold 180-gram black vinyl with an additional insert. Exclusive limited-edition merch will also be announced soon.

The full track listing for “Chasing Ghosts” is as follows:

01. I Am Nothing
02. Damaged Goods
03. Cold
04. Push
05. Wasteland
06. Ctrl Z
07. Crawl
08. Dead & Gone
09. Ghost
10. The End

In a new interview with Loudwire, MEGADETH’s Dave Mustaine said that the plan is still for the band’s sixteenth studio album, “The Sick, The Dying And The Dead”, to be released this summer. “I sure hope so,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “I think it’s July 8th. I think that was the latest we heard for a release date. I think it could possibly be scooted forward a little bit, but I think that would actually be worse than if it stayed where it was at. You need every little bit of time to let people get everything all set up with all this COVID shit. It’s been really difficult to ship anything, let alone records.”

Regarding the musical direction of the new MEGADETH material and how the recent return of bassist James LoMenzo has affected the band’s sound, Mustaine said: “I like to push things as far as I can right because of the — not only the ability but the excitement level that Dirk [Verbeuren, drums] and Kiko [Loureiro, guitar] have with their playing ability right now. Our guest bassist that we had [on the new album]” — rumored to be Steve DiGiorgio (TESTAMENT, DEATH, SADUS) — “he was a fantastic player. And having James be part of the band again… I remember there were so many, many wonderful nights playing with him. So when the situation kind of revealed itself that we needed to make a change, James was pretty much the obvious choice.”

Two months ago, Mustaine confirmed that LoMenzo will play bass for MEGADETH when the band returns to the road in April for the second U.S. leg of “The Metal Tour Of The Year”. Joining them will be co-headliners LAMB OF GOD along with special guests TRIVIUM and IN FLAMES.

LoMenzo joined MEGADETH in 2006 and appeared on two of the group’s studio albums, 2007’s “United Abominations” and 2009’s “Endgame”. He was fired from the band in 2010 and replaced with returning original MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson.

In addition to MEGADETH, LoMenzo has played with Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde and WHITE LION. For the past nine years, LoMenzo has been performing with iconic rocker John Fogerty.

LoMenzo played his first show with MEGADETH in nearly 12 years last August in Austin, Texas. The concert took place three months following Ellefson’s dismissal from MEGADETH after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving him were posted on Twitter.

Asked in an interview with Melodic.net what it has been like for him to play with MEGADETH on “The Metal Tour Of The Year” last summer after such a long absence from the band, James said: “Well, I’m really having the best time. Dave’s [Mustaine] been really welcoming and supportive, and the band as a whole is just fantastic. It’s a real powerhouse. Dirk is a dream drummer for this type of music, and Kiko’s just so musically deep. Dave’s playing as good or better than ever and now that he’s on those Gibson guitars, his sound is so much more gut punching then I remember it.”

Regarding how he ended up returning to MEGADETH, James said: “Dave’s management reached out at first to see if I’d even be available, which I really wasn’t, but after a call with Dave, I realized how important for MEGADETH and even for myself this would be. Time was ticking, so I knew it would be a crunch, but having been here once before the re-learning curve was a tad less steep. I made some arrangements with the Fogerty camp, and they were gracious enough to allow me a leave to do this.”

Mustaine has yet to reveal who played bass on MEGADETH’s new album after Ellefson’s tracks were removed from the LP following his exit from the group.

Ellefson laid down his bass tracks on MEGADETH’s sixteenth LP in May 2020 at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee.

In July 2021, Mustaine announced during an episode of his Gimme Radio program “The Dave Mustaine Show” that Ellefson’s bass tracks would not be used on the new MEGADETH album.

In early May 2021, Ellefson released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he “groomed” an underage fan.

On May 24, 2021, Mustaine — who formed MEGADETH with Ellefson in 1983 — announced the bassist’s departure from the band.

Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the group’s inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.