Guitarist Ivar Bjørnson was just 17 years old when his extreme metal band Enslaved toured the U.S. for the first time. He and bassist Grutle Kjellson formed the band as teenagers in 1991, and by 1994 they’d released two albums. Their unique approach to Norwegian metal caught the attention of hardcore icon Peter Steele, who allegedly had a copy of their second album, Frost.
At the time, Steele’s thrash metal band Carnivore had reunited. They played several reunion shows through the mid-90s and had a few lineup changes until Steele’s death in 2010. But in 1994, Enslaved’s tour manager was allegedly friends with Steele, and put Bjørnson in contact.
“[Steele] was really nice, super friendly,” Bjørnson recalled in an October 2026 interview with Metal Hammer. “Some weeks later came the offer: ‘If you want to hang out for another month after the tour, you can support Carnivore.’ I was like, ‘Umm, I think I need to go back to high school.’”
Ivar Bjørnson Regrets Not Taking Peter Steele Up On his Offer to Support Carnivore
Declining an offer to support Peter Steele’s band on tour sounds like sacrilege for a metal musician. While Ivar Bjørnson recognized the unfortunate lost opportunity, he also admitted that 17-year-old him had a point. Being a teenager on tour in a foreign country was a pretty good reason to decline.
When asked if he regretted the decision, Bjørnson immediately said yes. “Then again,” he added, “I was 17, so we were barely allowed to go on tour in the first place! And we’d already stayed two weeks longer than we were supposed to.”
Bjørnson continued, “We made up a story that we were staying with a friend in Dallas, but we actually spent two weeks touring Mexico. I didn’t tell my mum about it until I was 26.”
That 1994 U.S. tour had a few other interesting experiences for the teenage Bjørnson and Kjellson. Beyond the offer from Peter Steele and secretly touring Mexico, they also found themselves in a wickedly uncomfortable van. They often had to resort to underage drinking just to fall asleep. They would frequently drink vodka as a way to lull themselves to sleep in the horrible van. However, that ritual backfired when the van broke down one night.
“Our van broke down while we were driving through the Bronx, so we were told to stay in the van at the garage,” Bjørnson recalled. “When we broke down, we were already quite far into our nightly ritual of getting dozy. At some point, it was like, ‘Where’s Grutle?’ He was running around, with no t-shirt, screaming, ‘I’m Santa Claus!’ Some of the other guys had to go get him.”
Pop-punk peaked towards the end of the 90s and into the early 2000s. You can get a sense of this when re-watching films from the era. It became cliché to use pop-punk hits for transitional scenes. Now, we look back fondly on this era where pop-punk invaded the mainstream. In the 2000s specifically, many pop-punk hits raced the charts, charting higher than ever before or since. These are the three highest-charting pop-punk hits of the late 90s and 2000s.
“All The Small Things” by Blink-182
By the time Blink-182 established their legendary trio lineup, pop-punk had already pushed into the mainstream. The band capitalized on the momentum of bands such as Green Day to become one of the biggest pop-punk acts going into the new millennium. With their third album, the band released a string of hits starting with “What’s My Age Again?”, peaking at No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100. They immediately exceeded expectations with their follow-up hit, “All The Small Things”, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne
By 2007, pop-punk had already dominated the first half of the 2000s. Artists such as Avril Lavigne still had more to offer. Her 2007 hit, “Girlfriend”, became one of the most successful pop-punk songs of all time. Released on February 27, 2007, “Girlfriend” peaked at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Avril Lavigne had been close to a No. 1 hit multiple times before. In 2002, her debut single “Complicated” peaked at No. 2. That same year, “I’m With You” peaked at No. 4, and “Sk8er Boi” peaked at No. 10. In 2004, “My Happy Ending” peaked at No. 9. However, she did earn a No. 1 album in 2004 with Under My Skin, and she achieved this again in 2007 with The Best Damn Thing.
“Sugar, wE’RE Goin’ Down” by Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy was one of the main bands to push emo into the mainstream. Their 2000s variation of emo was categorically pop-punk as well, especially on their debut and sophomore albums. On May 3, 2005, Fall Out Boy released their critically acclaimed sophomore album, From Under The Cork Tree. The album’s lead single, “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down”, peaked at No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100. They brilliantly followed up with “Dance, Dance”, which peaked at No. 9 following its release on October 31, 2005.
Kid Cudi has tried his hand at a wide variety of different creative avenues. He’s a rapper, singer, producer, actor, model, writer, you name it. There’s no telling what he’ll work on next. Now, fans could anticipate him taking on his most ambitious project to date.
In a lengthy post on Instagram, he revealed that he’s directing, writing, and starring in a film about legendary artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. It’s tentatively slated to be finished and released by 2027, made entirely by him and his production company. In the pictures, Cudi shared a vision of what he’s going to look like emulating the late painter.
Additionally, Kid Cudi noted that after years of hearing others imagine him in the role, he decided to stop waiting around and do it himself.
“For years people have asked me about playing Jean Michel Basquiat in a film. But no project actually came to be. This year, I finally said f**k it, ima write it myself,” he wrote in the caption. “Did a wardrobe test, got a wig made… But I wanted to tease what we been cooking a bit. This one im so proud of and excited about.
Kid Cudi Is going to Play The Role of Basquiat in a New Film in 2027
Then, the Cleveland crooner detailed how Basquiat frequently played a pivotal part in inspiring him over the years. Consequently, he wanted to create something to honor the work he provided to the world.
“To write a film about someone who existed was a challenge, but it was a welcomed one,” Kid Cudi added. “A lot of research, books, talks with people that knew him. This film will be a love letter to Jean, the 80s and NY city. Jean has inspired me all through out my career, and it will be the biggest honor to tell his story in a way we haven’t seen before.”
Jean-Michel Basquiat passed away in August 1988 at 27 years old after a fatal drug overdose. He was famously portrayed by acclaimed actor Jeffrey Wright in the 1996 film Basquiat.
Kid Cudi isn’t the only new actor trying his hand at the famous artist either. Kelvin L. Harrison is slated to take on the role of Jean-Michel Basquiat in an upcoming drama titled Samo Lives, directed by Julius Onah. The film will also star Antony Starr as Andy Warhol, as well as other noteworthy names in Hollywood like Kathryn Newton and Dane DeHaan.
Iron Maiden legend Nicko McBrain retired from touring back in 2024, after suffering some serious health battles. Now, in a resurfaced interview, we can hear in his own words how those issues threatened his heavy metal career.
The health battles in question started with a stroke in 2023. This left Nicko paralyzed on his right side, from the shoulder down, for a period of time. The following year, he announced his retirement from tour life.
In July 2025, two years after his stroke, Nicko appeared on Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk to discuss his decision to quit touring. “I had my health issues,” he said at the time. “Which was one of the primary reasons that I decided to hang it up with the guys. And I wasn’t doing the songs justice because of the handicap that I had. And it wasn’t fair on everybody else either in the band.”
Nicko McBrain retired from touring in 2024 after surviving a stroke
He continued, “They supported me 100 percent through the ‘The Future Past Tour’, and that was fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of brothers to support me through my darkest hour.”
Nicko later shared some insight into the physical and personal issues that led to him hanging up his tour kit. “Primarily, I was fed up with touring in terms of the travel and not having days to recoup my body,” he said.
“I wasn’t so much slowing down, although we did play the songs that,” Nicko added, then switching gears, “I got told off at rehearsals [in 2024] because I was playing the songs too fast.” He explained that this was because he had “been playing with Titanium Tart before I went off and did the rehearsals in Australia with Maiden.” Titanium Tart is Nicko’s Florida-based side project that performs Iron Maiden songs.
“I actually got told off for playing too quick,” Nicko continued. “So it wasn’t a question of not being able to drive the band. It was just not being able to drive the band with the drum fills that I’d been used to playing for 42 years. So the question mark was raised about the performance side. And that’s quite right…So that was part of the decision that I made.”
Fast forward to October 2026: Nicko McBrain is about to release his autobiography, “Hello Boys And Girls!” Harper Nonfiction will publish the book on October 22, 2026.
Photo by Francesco Castaldo/Archivio Francesco Castaldo/Mondadori via Getty Images
A good rule of thumb: never trust an artist who says they’re going to retire. They might mean it in the moment, but history has consistently proven that they always come back. Sometimes, they don’t even last a year into their retirement. All of a sudden, they’re back in the mix teasing their next project. The best you’re likely to get is an artist in a position to finally slow down and make something at their own pace, rather than at the industry standard.
Hip-hop has seen an abundance of rappers change their minds about the prospect of retiring. For example, J. Cole admitted that he couldn’t commit to the idea despite teasing it with The Fall-Off for years. Instead, he explained he was just closing the book on the story he wanted to tell across his career. With that finished, he seemed happy to just make anything, whether it’s another album, feature verses, or just producing for someone.
In the spirit of remembering rappers who couldn’t stick to the idea of retirement, we looked back at three hip-hop legends and how they unsuccessfully tried to quit rapping. They already left behind historic resumes to warrant the decision. But they never stuck with it and they still rap today, even if it’s less than they used to.
three Rappers Who Announced Their Retirement But Eventually Went Back on Their Word
Jay-Z
Arguably the most famous example of a rapper trying to retire, Jay-Z wanted out of the rap game relatively early into his career. He already had a couple of genre-defining albums under his belt and built an empire with Roc-A-Fella. Eventually, he reached a point where he wanted to venture out further into the business side of things.
That mindset led to The Black Album in 2003, which was slated to be his grand departure from hip-hop. Clearly, that retirement didn’t last long. He went back on his decision only two years later and continued to vouch for the top spot in hip-hop. Even today, almost ten years since his last solo album and at a point where he doesn’t have to rap, he’s still toying around with the idea of another record.
50 Cent
50 Cent’s big retirement tease came during the height of his career. He went head to head with Kanye West in a sales battle, one 50 felt extremely confident in winning. To prove he wasn’t worried about losing, he put his career on the line. By the end of the rivalry, Ye beat him by over 200,000 copies.
Surely, that meant 50 would be a man of his word, right? Absolutely not. He made two mixtapes and an album two years later. Still, he didn’t have to retire for Kanye West to shift the tides of hip-hop forever and still take the throne from him during that battle.
Nowadays, 50 Cent is more mogul and actor than he is rapper. But every once in a while, he’ll come out of hiding with a verse to show he can still hop on a track with anyone.
Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco always wanted to retire because he was sick and tired of the music industry. He would either get jerked around by his old label or never felt like he got the recognition he deserved as a rapper. Even at the peak of his powers back in 2007, he was “85 percent sure” about walking away from hip-hop.
“I love music, I love performing, I love my fans, but I don’t like recorded music. I don’t like record labels and I don’t like the industry. It’s such an unfair deal,” Lupe Fiasco said at the time.
“It wears and tears on you. It’s not that I’m scared of work, but that work starts to eat away at you and you need to start to make the decision about how you’re going to proceed. At a certain point, you’re going to have to kind of concede to the darker side of doing business to really succeed or you’re going to have to make that song you really don’t feel that you should be making to achieve a certain level of success. It’s like growing up and really looking at the purpose of life and meaning of life and realizing that this is really minuscule in comparison to everything else. Recorded music is the worst, the absolute worst next to probably slavery. In a lot of respects, it can amount to just that.”
Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage for Entertainment Weekly Magazine
Wiz Khalifa has been fighting a Romanian jail sentence after being convicted of a marijuana crime. The rapper just got an unexpected legal lifeline in the case, stemming from a possible court date miscommunication.
Two years ago, in July 2024, Wiz smoked a joint on stage during a concert in Costinesti, Romania. He was charged with a crime over the act. The rapper was found guilty of having weed for his own use and was initially slapped with a fine of 3,600 lei. This is less than $800 USD.
However, the state pushed for jail time. In December 2025, the Constanta Court of Appeal sentenced Wiz to nine months behind bars. Wiz’s legal team tried to get the jail sentence dismissed in February 2026. They were not successful, and the top court forwarded the case to Bucharest in September 2026.
On Oct. 20, the Bucharest court allowed one part of Wiz’s appeal bid to move forward, per All Hip-Hop. Essentially, Wiz’s legal team argued that the court failed to meet its own requirements and expectations.
Wiz Khalifa is facing a nine-month prison Sentence in Romania over a marijuana conviction
The bid that cleared is regarding court date notice. The law relates to individuals not told of the court date through proper channels. Interestingly, the law also covers anyone who was told of the court date in the correct manner, but is not able to make their court date. Those individuals can invoke this so that they can explain their reasoning.
To be clear, judges have not determined which of these reasons meet the qualifications in Wiz’s case. Reportedly, the bid cleared so that the court can hear exactly why this bid was entered.
As translated from Romanian, the court’s case record states: “Pursuant to Article 431 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in conjunction with Article 426(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, [the court] admits, in principle, the annulment challenge filed by T.C.J. against criminal decision No. 1222/P of December 18, 2025, issued by the Constanta Court of Appeal in case No. 7777/118/2024.”
The order continues: “Pursuant to Article 432(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, [the court] sets a hearing for the annulment challenge on October 29, 2026, at 1 P.M., for which the defendant’s chosen lawyer shall be notified.” The court referenced Wiz’s name: T.C.J. His legal name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz.
In the late 2000s, the third wave of emo wrapped up. Some suggest this transition from the third wave to the fourth wave of emo occurred around 2008 and 2009. As the third wave saw the genre explode into the commercial mainstream, the fourth wave took steps back. These bands blended elements of second-wave emo and pop-punk to create a wave reminiscent of, and influenced by, the 1990s. As some defining fourth-wave emo bands remain together and touring today, that’s not the case for all. These are the three fourth-wave emo bands that we’re hoping will reunite in 2027.
Title Fight
One of the main groups that bridged the gap between the third wave and fourth wave in Title Fight. Their 2009 EP, The Last Thing You Forget, presented a new direction for emo going into the 2010s. They brilliantly followed up with their debut album, Shed, released in 2011. At this point, the band had distanced themselves from their pop-punk on their EP, and they delivered a fresh new sound to emo. They continued this with Floral Green in 2012, which added elements of shoegaze to their sound. With Hyperview in 2015, the band fully embraced this shoegaze direction, pushing emo into new terrain.
Title Fight became the template group for many bands that emerged during the fourth wave of emo. Though the band never officially broke up or announced a hiatus, they’ve been inactive since 2018. Ned Russin, the band’s vocalist and bass player, has been focused on his band Glitterer. His brother, drummer Ben Russin, joined Citizen, another pioneering fourth-wave band. Guitarist Jamie Rhoden has been focused on personal endeavors, stepping away from major touring while their other guitarist, Shane Moran, joined the band Turnover. They did briefly reunite at Ben Russin’s wedding in July 2026, though no formal reunion has been set.
Modern Baseball
This defining fourth-wave emo band out of Philadelphia was only active for about six years. During this time, they released three defining fourth-wave emo albums. Their debut, Sports, is among the most influential emo albums released in the 2010s. They followed up with You’re Gonna Miss It All in 2014, a title that describes the short-lived band to a T. Their final album, Holy Ghost, was released in 2016.
Modern Baseball went on an indefinite hiatus on 2017 due to mental health issues, burnout from extensive touring and an attempt to preserve their personal friendships among members. They’ve also never announce an official breakup, the band has been inactive since 2017. Members have started other projects such as Slaughter Beach and Dog.
The Brave Little Abacus
One of the earliest bands to contribute to the fourth wave of emo formed in Sandown, New Hampshire. The Brave Little Abacus blended elements of math rock into their brand of emo. Formed in 2007, they self-released two studio albums and split up following the release of their 2012 EP, Okumay.
Members went on to form the power pop band Me In Capris, while keyboardist Zack Kelly-Onett became a modern classical musician. Their drummer, Adam Demirjian, has been active in Me In Capris and in the power pop band Lilith, based in Boston. They’re considered one of the most underrated fourth-wave emo bands, and their return would solidify their place among the emo revivalists of the era.
It’s no secret that it can be hard to make a living in the music industry nowadays. Streaming services make it practically impossible to make real money off of the music. Touring can be complicated if fans can’t pay for tickets. Merchandise can only take an artist so far. It’s not just new artists struggling with this phenomenon either. Even legends in their respective genre can fail to see returns on their art. Consequently, it’s making metal legend Al Jourgensen retreat from the industry altogether and retreat to a farm in the middle of nowhere.
In an interview with Full Metal Jackie for Loudwire, the Ministry frontman revealed that after their final album Hate to Go, he plans on getting out of the spotlight and becoming a farmer instead. “It’s not just Ministry, it’s like the career. We’re wrapping up the whole thing basically, so I can just go herd goats, which is what I’m gonna be doing now. Just a simple goat herder up in Calabasas,” Al Jourgensen said.
Naturally, the interviewer was in shock at the idea, but he explained how much he’s committed to the bit. He built a coyote-proof pen in order to keep his goats safe. Moreover, whenever he gets recognized at the grocery store, he said he’ll blow off anyone trying to claim he’s been a rock legend for decades.
Al Jourgensen Will Soon Leave Music Behind in order to become a Goat Farmer instead
I will be going to the Farm Feed place in Topanga with my goats and they will know me as the goat herder and not as some crazy rocker. This is my goal and this is what I’ve been working towards and now I’m here. It’s time to herd goats,” Jourgensen stressed.
Apparently, these aren’t just your everyday goats either. They’re a special breed that essentially play possum whenever they’re startled. Al Jourgensen found that having the specific breed will eventually make his days on the farm significantly easier.
“The goats I have are beautiful. They’re fainting goats, so all you gotta do is yell at ’em, which makes roundup so easy. You just yell at ’em, and they fall over, and so you just pick ’em up with their legs sticking up in the air, and throw ’em in the truck, and bring ’em home. Work smarter, not harder,” Al Jourgensen added.
Many of us spend our whole lives assuming that we grew up with our biological parents. After all, we wouldn’t think they’d lie to us or that there would ever be any confusion. However, for Lil Jon, a random DNA test unraveled the entire fabric of what he thought he knew about his family.
In an interview with PEOPLE, the Atlanta legend revealed that the man who raised him actually wasn’t actually his biological father. He only learned this information because one of his cousins wanted to learn more about their extended family. After looking at the map, he found that their information didn’t match.
Consequently, this led him down a rabbit hole. If he’s technically not relatives with his cousin, then what does that say about the rest of his family? With neither parent still alive to answer his questions, Lil Jon was desperate to find out more.
“Neither one of my fathers are here anymore, nor my mother, so I can’t get answers,” he told the publication. “And that drives you crazy as well, until you get to the point where you have to accept that you will never get answers. I have had my brother and sister reach out on my biological dad’s side, but I haven’t been ready to process that yet and have that conversation, because it’s just so heavy, man. It’s just hard to process. It takes time.”
Lil Jon Learned That His Family Life Is Way Different Than He Thought It Was
Still, Jon embraced the fact that Willie, the man who raised him, was still his father even if it wasn’t by blood. He passed away in the early 2000s right when the rapper’s career was starting to take off due to bone marrow cancer. He believed the man who raised him would’ve been proud of who he became, even if Willie didn’t fully understand his love for the drums when he started playing at 6.
As for his mother, she got to witness Lil Jon take the world by storm. Ultimately, she was just happy to see her firstborn son thrive. She passed away in 2013 due to a stroke from diabetes complications.
With the loss of his own son and the new information about his family, the grief allowed him to have a newfound perspective on life. “The No. 1 lesson I tell people now is, don’t feel like you can put something off for tomorrow, because you don’t know how much time you have with people,” Lil Jon said. “Fatherhood has taught me that family is everything.”
When Ozzy Osbourne died, he apparently left behind a collection of unreleased songs. Now, producer Andrew Watt, who worked on Ozzy’s last two records, says that there is “kind of” plans to release those tracks.
Watt is known for having worked with Ozzy on Ordinary Man (2020) and Patient Number 9 (2022). In an October 2026 conversation with Rolling Stone, Watt revealed he’s sitting on tracks that have yet to see the light of day. “There are some songs that we made for a specific reason,” the producer said. “That’s all I can say. They’re hard for me to listen to.”
Watt apparently went over some of that unreleased material a day before Ozzy and Black Sabbath’s big farewell concert “Back to the Beginning” in July 2025, just a couple weeks before he ultimately passed. According to Watt, there are “kind of” plans for that material to be released.
Ozzy Osbourne had one last listening session of his unreleased songs before his passing
Notably, Watt also revealed that the night before Ozzy’s final concert—the Back to the Beginning fest—he and the late Prince of Darkness listened back to some of the unreleased songs.
“The night before the concert, I actually went in Birmingham with Sharon and a couple of people to go get a curry, and I was texting with Ozzy,” Watt recalled. “He was in his hotel room, and he was, like, ‘Come to the hotel, come to the hotel.'”
Watt continued, “I was sitting with Sharon and we were both like, ‘He has a big day tomorrow. Maybe I shouldn’t go, ‘cause he’ll get excited and everything.’ But he was, like, ‘No, you’re coming to the hotel. You are coming.’ So I went.”
“I brought a curry with me and sat with him,” the producer reflected. “And he was drawing like he usually does, and we sat and we listened to the stuff that we’d made, and made notes. That and the next day were the last times I got to see him. But we had a beautiful listening session and talked about a lot of stuff.”
Sadly, Ozzy passed away just weeks later. As for whether or not fans will ever get to hear those songs, Watt was not clear, but seemed to hope so.
Early on a Tuesday evening, I arrived at a local dive bar for a show by Dream Syndicate. There’s no opening act (or rather, as Steve Wynn will later joke, the Dream Syndicate are opening for the Dream Syndicate) and a blissfully early 7 p.m. start time. I greeted the door woman, bought a bottle of water, grabbed a bar stool against the far wall, and opened the book in progress on my phone until the show started.
At the end of September, I walked into the Majestic Theatre to see the Michael Shannon/Jason Narducy R.E.M. tribute. It’s a GA venue that holds a little over 1,000. When the doors opened, I headed for the barrier for no other reason than the volume at that proximity helps drown out what jamband fans refer to as “chompers” — people who view concerts as suitable background for their conversations. Delightfully, I found myself standing with four other women. We killed time before the show talking about what other concerts we’d been to recently, and took turns watching each other’s spot when someone needed a bathroom run. (There was no line at the women’s room for that show, a big reason I wanted to be close so I didn’t run the risk of standing near a dude needing to explain R.E.M. to me, like the guy at the bar where I was eating dinner before the show.)
A few weeks earlier, I pulled up at Trinosophes, a coffee shop / artistic consortium that regularly hosts more experimental / less mainstream musicians — Marisa Anderson played a gorgeous show there earlier this year — to see BASIC, an amazing trio that’s a mix of minimalist jazz and experimental rock. I paid the dude at the counter, who was in the middle of pulling a shot of espresso, and then decided to kill some time at People’s Records, the record store attached to the space, along with other show attendees and a couple of musicians in the opening act. I sat in exactly the corner of the room that sounds the best for my damaged hearing and thoroughly enjoyed the sets.
We absolutely need to abolish the concept that going to a concert alone is any kind of abnormal or undesirable behavior.
What all of these concert activities have in common is that I attended them by myself. And this should absolutely not be news of any kind, but recently a leading music magazine posted a news story that announced: “Going to concerts alone is a top-tier human experience.” The story wasn’t actually about that, but was rather a mashup of reporting on how Phoebe Bridgers’ recent phone-free concerts meant that when an attendee spotted a celebrity at the show, they couldn’t report to a gossip publication that this person was supposedly standing alone in the line for the bar (while there are actually many reasons you could be at the bar by yourself despite arriving with an entourage of a dozen people).
But the writer’s reasoning for why it was okay to be going to a show without a date or a friend(s) actually didn’t make a believable case for it. They offered an awkward and overly exaggerated blather about how solo concertgoing means that you can better participate in “the oneness of things,” which made you wonder if the person writing it had actually been to a concert, much less attended one on their own. And I didn’t realize we had to justify or defend this, or that it was anything out of the ordinary.
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What they got wrong is that the “top tier human experience” is simply going to concerts, full stop. (As Neil Young once said, “Live music is better/bumperstickers should be issued.”) The idea that going to see one of the most important concert tours of the year by oneself is “sad” is so idiotic that it should never have been entertained as any kind of news story. And we absolutely need to abolish the concept that going to a concert alone is any kind of abnormal or undesirable behavior.
I’m biased. I’ve been going to concerts alone since I was 14 years old. This wasn’t necessarily by choice, but rather that I wanted to do something important and no one else I knew wanted to do it, and I wasn’t going to let that minor detail stop me. And as I have moved through my life, sometimes I had a friend or companion to go to shows with me, and sometimes — as it happens to normal people in the course of normal life — I did not. If I only attended a concert when I had someone to go with, I would have missed out on far too much. This is a stupid requirement, clearly determined by people for whom live music is just another thing you can do on a given evening, and these are not people anyone who genuinely loves music should be taking direction from.
The first time I went to a concert by myself (which was my second concert), I was dropped off at the venue by my mom (who later would explain that she allowed it because she thought it would “get it out of my system.”) It was not difficult to follow the letters and numbers on my ticket to find my seating location, and when I sat down, the women on one side of me immediately and excitedly introduced themselves, while the two dudes on the other side of me managed to tell me within the first two minutes that they’d be glad to buy me a beer “if you don’t have your ID on you,” wink wink. Everyone was excited to see Bruce Springsteen, even if we were roughly a million miles away from the stage in the upper reaches of the New Haven Coliseum.
Everyone except me had concert stories to tell. Everyone talked about what other concerts they were going to, what radio stations (and which DJ’s specifically) you could count on to be Springsteen-friendly or provide the best info, and everyone swapped information about what other bands were going on tour based on what they had read or heard. I was dropped off when the doors opened, and I thought it would be a long and painful wait until the concert started, but instead I had a dozen new best friends within 15 minutes.
When the concert was over, the girls sitting next to me gave me their phone numbers and told me to call if I was ever going to a show in Hartford. This was an experience that would repeat itself in different formats forever all across the United States, Canada, and multiple European countries, and still happens now if you want that to be your experience. You can also decide you are going to rock up when you feel like it and occupy your time reading a book and not talk to anybody. Or you can limit your socialization to the time-honored tradition of watching someone’s space while they run to the bathroom. This is all incredibly normal, accepted behaviour which anyone who attends a concert regularly already understands.
If I only attended a concert when I had someone to go with, I would have missed out on far too much. This is a stupid requirement, clearly determined by people for whom live music is just another thing you can do on a given evening, and these are not people anyone who genuinely loves music should be taking direction from.
Let’s be honest: while as a teenager I dreamed of the day when I could attend every concert my heart desired with every friend who also loved the band in question, the reality always shook out differently. As an adult, it remains challenging to coordinate schedules and availability, not to mention alignment with other critical details like preferred arrival times and seating/standing location. Sometimes it is far, far easier and more convenient if each person manages their own tickets and concert experience. If you want to hang with your pals, then coordinate a post-show meet-up at the bar or the diner or on the way to the subway. There is absolutely nothing about concert attendance that requires accompaniment!
Admittedly, times have changed, and yes, everyone has a small computer in their pocket and myriad ways to occupy their time before the show starts. And these days, a concert isn’t one of the only ways you’re going to meet people who share similar interests as you. But I hear from younger friends who are going to shows by the likes of Harry Styles or Taylor Swift, and I witnessed myself very recently at a Bikini Kill show locally (where I was one of the older people in the front GA section), the kids are still doing the same thing that I did in 1978: they talk to each other, they swap social handles, they exchange important information. It is all still happening if you are open to the experience, and it should reassure anyone who is hesitant about buying a ticket to a concert if they don’t know anyone else who wants to come with them.
The only way going solo can have a negative impact on you is during the ticket-buying process for reserved seating events. That’s because these days, Ticketmaster will not let you buy one of a pair or will tell you you have to select an adjoining seat (even if there is no adjoining seat at that moment, a thing that has happened to me and countless of my pals). Buying a single ticket used to be the way to game yourself to the best possible seat, as there would always be a leftover hanging around; even if I was going to a show with friends, we still might try for individual tickets as a way to better optimize our chances for a better seat. Thank you, Ticketmaster, for continuing to find ways to make this process painful!
(Caryn Rose) Going solo
The only real downside to solo concert attendance is if you are a single woman and a man in your vicinity has decided it is his solemn responsibility to interrogate anyone who doesn’t look like him to determine their worthiness, e.g., the kind of guys who would talk to whatever man I brought with me to a show and, despite them telling him, “She’s the fan, I just came with because I was interested in checking them out,” there is no way we could possibly be worthy of the space we were occupying. (But that is a completely different essay.)
I’d argue that it is actually an expression of supreme self-love and self-awareness that you’re comfortable enough with yourself to be absolutely content going to a concert as a party of one. Honestly, no one should be waiting for another person to do anything they want to do (except, I dunno, tandem bike riding). But what we absolutely should stop doing is paying attention to other people living their lives the way they want to live them, and that includes making a decision to go to a concert without an entourage. Buy the ticket. Go to the show. I’ll see you there.
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He might look like something found in the dumpster at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. He might shamelessly plunder the sonics of decades of deep-fried and gravy-smothered hits. But despite everything about his presentation and performance, Kid Rock is not actually southern.
If he were, he might have done the friendly thing and warned Eminem off of collaborating on “Heal My Faith,” a song on his recent Christian album “Halfway 2 Jesus.” He might have stopped his longtime friend and fellow Michigander from irreparable reputational damage. Instead, he let Slim Shady learn a hard lesson that true southerners know: You lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.
“Heal My Faith” is genial to the point of being unmemorable, a bit of cringy Christian pablum that encourages loving someone even when you’re outside of the pit. It’s student-athlete core, a mish-mash of choirs, electric guitar noises over pounding drums that all sound like keyboard presets. Kid Rock’s contributions are entirely lifted from inspirational T-shirts, table scraps from rejected Jelly Roll songs. The result is that “Heal My Faith” offers very little to chew on — until Eminem shows up.
The boilerplate praise chug of the song has one upside: It forces the “Rap God” to slow down. Left to his own devices, middle-aged Eminem has been the hip-hop equivalent to masturbatory guitarists, his late-stage work full of technically impressive displays of chops that nonetheless lack the fun and melody of his radio hits. Hearing him enter the song with a flow that’s not indebted to a J.J. Fad outro offered a glimmer of hope. But it was short-lived.
On “Heal My Faith,” the rapper who first gained mainstream attention by lighting the pop chart’s sacred cows afire wonders why we can’t all just get along. It’s shocking stuff from the rapper who famously mused about dropping an “awfully hot coffee pot” on Donald Trump in a freestyle at the BET Hip Hop Awards in 2017. Now, Slim Shady seems to be saying, “We might believe in fundamentally opposed directions for this country. We might differ on the idea of extending dignity to all people, but can’t we put that aside for the sake of a new single you can buy?”
You don’t need to hear it. You’ve already heard it. It’s the realm of purple state campaign ads and Earthbound Trading Co. bumper stickers. It’s junk, and Eminem seems to know it.
How else can you explain a verse that is 90% throat-clearing and preemptive dodges of the backlash he knows is coming? Eminem spends bar after bar defending his decision to even appear on the song, touting his decades-long friendship with Kid Rock and their intertwined history in the music industry.
He talks about their shared roots in Detroit’s music scene, and how their paths crossed again and again. He details an early CD release party at length, where the more established Kid Rock showed up to lend support to the emerging rapper. It isn’t until the closing lines of his verse that Eminem turns to God and the brotherhood of man.
“Liberal and evangelical can agree,” he raps. “It’s God first, home of the free.”
Reputation-wise, the collaboration does far more for Kid Rock than it does for Eminem. The former has long been fully consumed by Trump World, becoming more of a standby entertainer for MAGA events than a rock star. Eminem, on the other hand, once told fans who supported Trump to stop streaming his music.
(Ke.Mazur/WireImage) Kid Rock and Eminem during Experience Music Project Opening Gala at Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington.
Rock told Billboard that he hadn’t planned to “drag [Eminem] into my political world,” but he had to have known that was impossible. The nod from a supposed Trump critic removes a small bit of the stain on Kid Rock, but it also transfers directly to his collaborator.
Eminem might have been hoping to build a bridge with this collaboration, but at least according to his Instagram comments, his fans aren’t ready to get over it. One commenter assured him that it’s okay to cut off a friendship “over moral differences.” Another said Eminem’s line in the sand against Trump must have been “brushed back into the beach.” The rapper’s newfound neutrality, one wrote, still amounted to “choosing a side.”
You can’t feel too bad for Eminem, who’s had plenty of opportunities to see that who you rap with is who you are. After all, more than a year after her breakout single “What I Want,” which she recorded with the controversial country music star Morgan Wallen, the pop singer Tate McRae is still being confronted by fans and interviewers with questions about the pair’s collaboration.
Wallen, who’s been given about as many second chances as gold records, has never explicitly identified himself as a supporter of the MAGA movement. But his history of using slurs on camera, the general nastiness of his dejected young man music and a massive social media tiff with “Saturday Night Live” have solidified him as an anti-woke warrior in the popular conception.
“It’s crazy to think that one song could define a whole person,” McRae told W Magazine earlier this month.“There are many aspects of my personality that three-quarters of my audience has no idea about. You hope one day you figure out a way to show all aspects of it.”
There’s little chance that Eminem will face such questions in the future, if only because his career as a hitmaker is basically over. He was something exciting and fresh when he pantsed the pop culture landscape in the late 1990s, but joking about how much everything sucks is a young man’s game. Coming from an older man, it just sounds bitter and out-of-touch.
Different listeners draw the start of his decline and the end of his relevancy at different points. Most agree that the zeitgeist of rap started to shift away from the stubbornly anachronistic rapper sometime around the end of the aughts. In 2013, he released a well-received album seemingly purpose-built to cap on his career, and then he just kept going. The 23-year-old McRae, on the other hand, will have her past decisions dug up by what remains of the music press after each new chart smash. Eminem may well be staring down a future where his regrettable decision to record contemporary worship dreck with Kid Rock generated his last real headlines.
It’s something the culturally savvy clown of Eminem’s early career would have been smart enough to avoid.
50 Cent is extremely unserious when it comes to beef. He’ll mercilessly troll his adversaries at any given moment, even if it isn’t the time. Sometimes though, he can be profoundly cruel in how he mocks people and his latest tirade proves that.
In a report from Complex, Rick Ross’s son William Roberts III was attacked outside of Bethune-Cookman University. One night, he was outside with another woman when 20-year-old Don Roberts III stepped out of his vehicle with a handgun. Allegedly, William was dating a woman that Don had previous relations with. Consequently, Don was looking to inflict pain and reportedly told William, “I don’t care who your daddy is, I’ll kill you right here.”
Then, the gunman allegedly pistol-whipped Rick Ross’ son in the head and drove off afterward. He eventually turned himself in after the report was made. In his typical, mean-spirited fashion, 50 Cent had jokes about the whole affair. He joked on Instagram that he would bail the gunman out of jail and said things just got out of hand. Then, of course, he promoted his latest film, Street Fighter.
“I got him he will be out tomorrow I’m sending @drewfindling . This is a big misunderstanding that can easily be resolved. This was a street fight, I mean STREET FIGHTER is in theaters!” 50 wrote in the caption.
50 Cent Jokes About Traumatizing Experience for Rick Ross’ son
The feud between the G-Unit leader and Rick Ross dates back to an alleged incident at the 2008 BET Hip-Hop Awards. Tensions between the two skyrocketed immediately when 50 made it a point to highlight the Miami legend’s past as a correctional officer and mocked the drug kingpin image he crafted.
Ross’s career never suffered too much from 50’s brutal attacks. As a result, the two would spend the next 15+ years sparring back and forth with each other. For instance, back in August 2025, Rick Ross made it a point to make fun of 50 Cent’s past record deals and threatened to buy his masters. That way, he would be the one to profit off of his work, not 50.
“I got a question,” he said. “50 Cent, after your first album went diamond, no one around you thought it would be a good idea to renegotiate that horrendous contract you was in for ownership of your master’s after that first album? The second album? Third album? The fourth album?”
In 1981, Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat coined the term straight edge. It became a movement within the hardcore punk community, abstaining from the use of drugs and alcohol. This movement vehemently rejected the use of drugs and alcohol, citing a silent class war that was destroying ghetto neighborhoods. With this movement catching on, the hardcore punk community rehabilitated countless hardcore fans throughout the decade.
Straight edge hardcore carried over into the 90s but slightly dissipated towards the end of the decade. Due to this, there was a full straight edge revival in the 2000s. These 3 hardcore punk bands were at the forefront of the revival of straight edge in the 2000s.
Have Heart
One of the main bands to introduce straight edge to a new generation was Have Heart. Fronted by Patrick Flynn, they were a primary fixture in the Boston hardcore scene. Formed in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 2002, Have Heart released their first EP in 2004, What Counts. With this EP release, the band helped usher in a new era of youth crew hardcore. Additionally, they contributed to the straight edge revival with songs such as “Something More Than Ink”.
They became hardcore icons with their 2006 debut album, The Things We Carry. Their track “Armed With A Mind” became a straight edge anthem. For their sophomore release in 2008, the band transitioned into a post-hardcore sound while carrying over their straight edge ideals. Songs To Scream At The Sun was the band’s final release before their legendary final show on National Edge Day, October 17, 2009. Patrick Flynn and drummer Shawn Costa are now members of the post-hardcore band Fiddlehead, which also features members of Basement.
Champion
Formed in 1999, Champion was also signed to Bridge 9 Records, much like Have Heart later on. Members of Champion were in other hardcore punk bands hailing from Seattle, Washington, in the late 90s and early 2000s. These included Betrayed, fronted by Champion guitarist Aram Arslanian. Champion released only one studio album, three EPs, and a compilation album before disbanding in 2006. Their only album, Promises Kept, became a defining and foundational straight edge album in 2004.
Their final show was filmed, recorded, and released in 2007 as a DVD/CD combo. This last live performance film will give you a special glimpse into the straight edge movement in Seattle in the mid-2000s.
Carry On
While Champion emerged from the northern Pacific coast, bands like Carry On emerged in Southern California to help continue the straight edge movement. Formed in 1997, the band released a string of EPs in the late 90s and early 200s. In 2001, they released their only studio release, A Life Less Plagued. It was the first album released by Bridge 9 Records, which became a massively influential hardcore punk label in the 2000s. Members of Carry On went on to form or join bands such as Stand & Fight, Betrayed, Terror, Go It Alone, Internal Affairs, and Piece By Piece.
Many will know these artists as being the icons of 90s grunge. When grunge broke into the mainstream in 1991, the genre dominated the alternative music world for the next five years. During this time, some members of leading grunge acts created side projects. These three side projects may have been forgotten after 30 years.
The Jury
Before Nirvana broke into the mainstream, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic created a forgotten side project with Mark Lanegan and Mark Pickerel of the Screaming Trees. Both Nirvana and Screaming Trees were part of the Pacific Northwest grunge scene in the late 80s and early 90s. Cobain and Lanegan shared a love for Lead Belly, an American folk and blues musician from the early 20th century. They created the acoustic-driven project The Jury, in contrast to the heavy sounds of their respective bands. Originally, Cobain wanted to name the band Lithium, a name he later used for a track on Nevermind in 1991.
The Jury recorded four songs in August 1989 with producer and engineer Jack Endino. They recorded four covers of Lead Belly songs, including “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” This version later appeared on Mark Lanegan’s 1990 solo album The Winding Sheet. Nirvana recorded their own live version on MTV Unplugged in 1993.
M.A.C.C.
One of the most notorious side projects of 90s grunge is Temple Of The Dog. In 1990, members of Soundgarden and future members of Pearl Jam released a tribute album for their friend and grunge pioneer Andrew Wood. These same members, excluding Eddie Vedder and Stone Gossard, came together for another side project. In 1993, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready and bassist Jeff Ament teamed up with Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and drummer Matt Cameron. Together, they recorded a cover of “Hey Baby (Land Of The New Rising Sun)” for the tribute album Stone Free: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix. It was the only song recorded and released by this group.
Brad
In 1992, Pearl Jam rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard formed a side project with Regan Hagar. Hagar was a member of the band Satchel. He had previously played drums in Malfunkshun, a pioneering grunge band that featured Andrew Wood, whose death inspired the creation of Temple Of The Dog. Gossard, Hagar, and vocalist Shawn Smith of Satchel released two albums in the 90s and four in the 21st century. The core of the group has been Gossard and Hagar, though vocalist Shawn Smith performed with the group until his death in 2019.
Spotify somehow became an industry standard for music streaming when we weren’t looking, and now artists and listeners alike are looking for alternatives. The platform has a tight grip on the music industry, to the point where it often feels like the only choice. But the past few years of layoffs, insulting artist payouts, AI features, and questionable investments are catching up. Here are three platforms that could send Spotify toppling from its throne.
Subvert
Subvert is a cooperative music marketplace that gives ownership directly to artists, independent labels, and supporters. It was formed in 2022 as a response to layoffs when Bandcamp was sold. An essay titled “A Collectively Owned Bandcamp Successor” garnered support from artists, labels, and others in the industry. From there, the platform started taking shape as a music platform owned by those who actually use it.
It officially launched in 2026, with three free sign up options for artists, labels, and listeners. There’s also a lifetime support membership for $100. The tiers offer different benefits, like discounts on purchases, zero platform fees for artists, co-ownership of Subvert, access to forums and more. The co-op model offers fair payouts for artists and complete business transparency, putting Subvert at a unique advantage over Spotify.
Vocana
Vocana was founded in 2021 with the idea of user-centric music streaming. The platform went public in August 2025, with more than 40 million tracks in its library. But Vocana’s unique angle is that it only hosts independent artists. Its indie-only model has the benefit of 100% human-based music discovery, with no algorithms or AI features.
Additionally, Vocana’s payout method is interesting, and overall a refreshing change from the industry standard. Instead of money from subscribers going into a global pool and distributed across the platform, like Spotify’s model, Vocana subscriptions go directly to the artists a listener streams. No money pool, no measly payouts. Your money goes to your artists.
Bandcamp
When all else fails, there’s still ol’ reliable Bandcamp. While there have been some shakeups at the platform, its model is still one of the best compared to Spotify. There’s a decent mix of independent artists and small to mid-sized labels in their library. Plus the ability to purchase physical albums and merch right from the artist page.
Bandcamp has a distinctly human touch in its editorial section, especially the genre highlight posts. One of the most beloved features of the platform might be the ability to purchase a digital album and download the mp3s. In a throwback to iTunes in its prime, you can buy an album one time and then own the files forever. The way music ownership was meant to be.
In 1991, Alice In Chains got the opportunity of a lifetime. They got to go on tour as the opening act for one of their favorite bands. By 1991, Van Halen had already dominated the 1980s with two lead singers. Well into their Sammy Hagar “Van Hagar” era, the band released their third album with Hagar on June 17, 1991. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge had a bit of a rougher edge than their previous albums, 5150 (1986) and OU812 (1988).
By this point, a grunge band out of Seattle had released a defining album in 1990. It’s one of the main tracks that helped push grunge into the mainstream. Grunge officially broke with Nirvana in September 1991, but many forget Alice In Chains’ “Man In The Box” went to No. 18 on the Mainstream Rock Chart in January 1991.
Sammy Hagar saw the music video on MTV and decided to bring the young band along as the opener for their North American tour. Alice In Chains, their guitarist Jerry Cantrell in particular, were huge fans of the band, so they gladly accepted.
An ON-STAGE Prank War Unfolds
In one single night, Van Halen pulled multiple pranks on Alice In Chains. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell spoke about these pranks in a 2013 interview with Jim Dunlop, later reported by Loudwire. “A lot of pranks get pulled on stage; it’s kind of a tradition to f*** with each other at the end of the tour, especially the opening bands.”
Cantrell went on to tell, “I remember the Van Halen guys got us like four times in one set, back in 91, at the end of that tour. When we came out on stage, they had taken a bunch of three-foot strips of duct tape and put them all over the stage, face-up. So we walked out, and within a couple of seconds we were all dragging around huge wads of duct tape on stage. They sent out some strippers, not very attractive ones, who stayed out there for a whole song. Then they sent out one of their techs. I think he was a guy named Zeke. He was in a Little Bo Peep outfit with some live sheep.”
“And at the very end of our set, we were playing “Man In The Box,” Cantrell explained. “Their crew came out and started dismantling our entire set around us. They left Sean with a kick and snare, left me with one cab, and they just unplugged Mike Starr. And that was all in one set! I don’t think anyone has ever topped that commitment to f***ing with the opening act.”
Alice In Chains Retaliates
Jerry Cantrell then explained that they did get Van Halen back. “On the flip side of that, there’s a photo, which I think some people have seen, but I don’t think it’s necessarily public knowledge… So Van Halen used to do this signature walk across the stage, and at the time they had these skimpy panties that they would sell to the chicks in the audience.” Cantrell then explained that they wore these to do the signature Van Halen walk across the stage, though it didn’t fully cover their private parts. It was enough to throw Eddie Van Halen off with laughter, missing a few notes on guitar in the process. This was a rarity for the legendary guitarist, and it made Cantrell feel their retaliation prank was a success.
Photo by Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Acclaimed shoegaze band They Are Gutting a Body of Water has canceled their planned fall tour. The news comes as frontman Doug Dulgarian announced he was diagnosed with cancer.
In a lengthy Instagram post caption, Dulgarian shared the unfortunate news. He found out the same day the band released their new mixtape, KOOL FAITH / LOOSIES II. “Damn. Super bummed to have to talk about this. And super bummed to do this,” Dulgarian wrote. “I was diagnosed with cancer last Friday, same day we put out Kool Faith. Crazy day, every possible emotion lmao.”
“We obviously can’t do the tour, as I need to get this figured out,” he continued. “I have treatment in a couple weeks. I have a feeling it will all work out. Been [through] a lot of things in my crazy and (atp) relatively long existence, and I’m no stranger to putting my best foot forward and facing some difficult s**t.”
Dulgarian then added, “I wanna make this clear. I’m not seeking pity. I do not want to sway your emotions to feel bad for me; I just want to inform you. I genuinely believe this will work out just fine. There are many people with much worse problems, and my life has been so infinitely blessed and privileged & I never lose sight of that.”
They Are Gutting a Body of Water Frontman Doug Dulgarian has been diagnosed with cancer
As a result of Dulgarian’s cancer diagnosis, TAGABOW has canceled their upcoming tour. However, they are keeping three December dates: two shows in Brooklyn on December 9th and 10th and one hometown Philly show on December 18th.
A GoFundMe has been started for Dulgarian to help mitigate the financial burden of his medical issues, as well as make up lost income from the band’s canceled tour.
A description of the fundraiser explains where the funds will be going. “Douglas Dulgarian of the band They Are Gutting a Body of Water was diagnosed with cancer last Friday. Douglas needs to undergo treatment immediately, which means TAGABOW has to cancel their tour that was supposed to start next week.”
“The hope is that Douglas will be recovered by their NYC and Philly shows in December,” the description adds. “But everything is up in the air right now. This has left Douglas and the band in a financially precarious spot.”
“Douglas has already paid for thousands of dollars of medical bills out of pocket to get the cancer diagnosis,” The GoFundMe goes on to explain. “There are upfront tour-related costs that can’t be reimbursed, and the profits from the tour was supposed to be the band’s income for the rest of the year. We are praying for a speedy recovery and asking for donations at this time to cover medical bills and living expenses while he navigates cancer treatment and recovery.”
At the time of this writing, the GoFundMe has raised more than its $40,000 goal.
Photo by Samantha Tellez/Rolling Stone via Getty Images
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