KISS frontman Gene Simmons has apologized after receiving a barrage of criticism—from Mötley Crüe‘s Nikki Sixx, among many others—for comments about depression that he made last month in an interview with Songfacts.com. “I don’t get along with anybody who’s a drug addict and has a dark cloud over their head and sees themselves as a victim,” Simmons…

If you’re a fan of music videos, today is your day. First up is the latest posthumously released clip from Michael Jackson: “A Place With No Name,” released exclusively on Twitter, is a song about a broke-down Jeep in a remote place. The song gets a video about a Jeep that willingly stops in a remote…

For the first time this century, 80s icons Culture Club are reuniting: the complete original lineup—bassist Mikey Craig, guitarist Roy Hay, drummer Jon Moss, and of course vocalist Boy George—promise a new album next year and are playing a string of U.S. dates in November. Boy George says the band tried writing together a few years…

Riding a wave of early acclaim for his self-titled album (to be released September 9) Ryan Adams has released a deliciously creepy video for single “Gimme Something Good” that features none other than Cassandra Peterson—a.k.a. TV legend Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Tonight, you can catch Adams on Jimmy Fallon’s show. This might not be Peterson’s…

Leonard Cohen will celebrate his 80th birthday next month by releasing his 13th studio album, it was announced at a Cohen fan convention in Ireland. Cohen’s birthday is September 21, and the following day will see the release of Popular Problems, an album of entirely new songs. Some of the new material was previewed on Cohen’s Old…

45 years after the Beatles‘ Abbey Road album, Paul McCartney has returned to the iconic London studio—to record a theme song for a video game. Accompanied by a 120-piece orchestra conducted by Giles Martin—son of the Beatles producer George Martin—McCartney recorded a theme song for the forthcoming first-person alien-shooting game Destiny. McCartney also collaborated on the score for the…

Lorde is only 17, but we’re already plumbing her “early years”: an album by And They Were Masked, a high-school band featuring the New Zealand songstress born Ella Yelich O’Connor, is now available on Bandcamp. According to their Facebook page (“the edge of the universe sent us time travelers here”), their influences included Fugazi, Massive Attack,…

What is Jason Feathers? It is the new project that brings together Justin Vernon, Astronautalis, S. Carey, and produced  by Ryan Olson. A teaser of the group went up online yesterday, check it out and let us know what you think. (The Current) George Harrison explained why everyone should play the ukulele, his hand written…

The Civil Wars‘ have been on an indefinite hiatus since 2012, but the Nashville duo officially ended their partnership yesterday. There was “internal discord and irreconcilable differences of ambition” during 2012 for the 4-time Grammy winning duo, but they were still releasing music. Now, however, they have gone their separate ways to pursue solo careers.…

Thom Yorke dj’d for a group of 30 people at Leopallooza and nearly all of them had no idea who he was. (Pitchfork) Thurston Moore has a new band with former Sonic Youth buddy, Steve Shelley, and Debbie Googe from My Bloody Valentine. It’s pretty much Thurston’s solo project, but he put together the full…