See this photo above?  That is Bon Scott’s grave.  If a seismometer was placed on the ground here, the needles would be flying off the scale.  That is the reading of the millions of revolutions per minute that Bon is spinning here, in his grave, with the news of his latest replacement.

AC/DC have done nothing new in the last 20+ years at best, but still, they have never done anything to cheapen themselves or tarnish their reputation as one of the greatest bands ever…until now.   The announcement of the band finishing out their Rock or Bust tour with Axl Rose fronting the band is simply unacceptable.

No one could truly understand what was happening when the rumors started about Brian Johnson getting ousted from the band a few months back, but no one could have ever seen this coming.  Obviously, things must be falling apart at the seams for Angus to give the thumbs up on this buffoon fronting his band. Why oh why?!

There is no doubt that this is is.  It would have been better to play off the name of their latest album and tour and simply go bust, than allow some turd for hire to jump on board to finish it all out.  This is a very sad way for AC/DC to completely go out with a pfffft rather than a bang.  No way in hell can these guys save face and pull a rabbit out of a hat to wipe the poop off their legacy now.

Its a disgrace, and no, cannot and will not be forgiven.  The ‘Snobs feel for all the unlucky ticket holders out there.  

I love vinyl, always have. I still fondly remember saving up money to buy my first 7” and my first LP.  I love holding records, smelling them.  I swear, to this day, nothing smells as strong and unique as the debut Van Halen album did when it first came out.  The scent of that album was potent, and lasted for years.  Every time I see a copy of that record I want to pick it up and smell it!

I love the sleeves and the artwork.  They are integral to the whole listening experience.   Part of the ritual is to put the record on and listen and look at the sleeve.  Even if you could care less about producers, engineers, studios or guest musicians, you stare at the sleeve over and over while your LP plays its way through.  You read the liner notes again and again and soon enough you may begin to recognize recurring names and places.  It is all part of the process.  There is no fast forwarding.  There is no play list.  There is only the album, its sleeve, and you are in it for the duration.

The ‘Snobs are thrilled that the LP gets stronger and stronger by the day, but what we don’t get is the modern day behavior towards vinyl.  It is frightening to see how it is on the verge on being high-jacked and turned into to just another fad which will be over saturated within a few years time. You vinyl fiends need to take a deep breath, take a step back and simply slow down a bit.  If you behave yourselves, you too can enjoy this for many years to come, and truly appreciate albums for what they really are.  If not, this vinyl craze will simply be last year’s selfie-stick.  

This is a big week for Ace Frehley.  For those taking notes, it was exactly 15 years ago this week that he played his last ever gig as a member of KISS, and if memory is correct, almost 18 years since his last tune written with Paul Stanley.   Ace also releases his new album tomorrow (April 15) and on it features the first song he and Paul have done together in 15 years.  

‘Origins Vol.1′ makes for Ace’s seventh solo album (!), and is basically a covers album.  the 12 song LP takes in covers of Thin Lizzy, Cream, Stones, Hendrix and even his old band, KISS.  The tune that Ace and Paul do is a cover of Free’s “Fire and Water”, and yes…it is surprisingly good!  Upon first listen the question was asked, “who is this singing…?”, well, it’s Paul obviously-but you wouldn’t know it at first.

Ace says he thinks Paul did a “fabulous” job on it, of course he would.  He said Paul jumped at the invitation, mainly because it is something so out of character for him. He describes the take as Paul singing deep from his diaphragm, very different from his typical style, and adds, “Everyone who’s heard it just thinks it’s the shit.”

When Paul was asked about it, he admitted that Paul Rodgers was a huge inspiration to him, and didn’t take it too lightly.  he wanted to pay respect in a proper way, because he said, “…when you’re singing something by somebody who you respect immensely, it’s like me sending it to him.“

Others guesting on Ace’s new album are Slash, Lita Ford, Mike McCready and John 5.

Take a minute (or 3) to listen to their cover of Free, you just might be impressed.

The ‘Snobs were shocked to see news of Merle Haggard’s passing.  He had been in the headlines recently having to cancel some of his current tour dates, and had been recently diagnosed with a double pneumonia.  He died this morning at home, on his 79^th birthday.  Strangely enough, his son Ben had said that a week ago Merle told his family he would die on his birthday. It came true, he died from complications due to the pneumonia. (Also strange to note that Tammy Wynette died on this very day back in ‘98)

Merle had a varied and colorful life, and probably was the man who single handedly brought ‘hoboing’ to the public’s attention.  He was actually born in a converted boxcar, right outside of Bakersfield.  He did time, in San Quentin, for an attempted robbery.  He and another inmate planned to escape, but things went all wrong. Merle got drunk and thrown in solitary while his buddy escaped and shot a policeman.  He was brought back to prison and executed.  This was added stress to Merle’s preoccupation with news that his wife was having another man’s child.  Everything changed for the better though the day Johnny Cash performed his famous concert at the prison.  Merle was in the crowd and decided to turn his life around.  Later, after getting his career well off ground, his criminal record was fully pardoned by Ronald Reagan.

Hag was considered one of the main architects of the ‘Bakersfield Sound’, a more raw and dirty honky-tonk sound flying in direct opposition of the slick sound Nashville was putting out.  He, Buck Owens and Wynn Stewart were the gang kicking up dust with this new style of country music.  Merle actually played a short stint as a bassist in Buck’s band before starting out on his own and it was a song by Wynn that gave him his first hit, “Sing A Sad Song” in 1964.

Hag has at least a #1 hit in the charts for 10 years running, from 1966 to 1976, and had his last #1 in 1987.  All in all, he had 38 songs hit the top of the charts.  He had countless awards throughout his career and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994.  In his acceptance speech, the first person he thanked was his plumber. More recently, Merle was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor, for his contribution to American culture.  

Hag’s last album came out last year, a duet with Willie Nelson, ‘Django & Jimmie’.  The album was an ode to Django Reinhardt and Jimmie Rodgers, both major influences on Willie and Hag.  The album hit #1 on the country charts and #7 on the Top 200. Hag released over 47 studio albums and 14 collaborations (6 with Willie Nelson).

Merle was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008.  He had surgery to remove a part of his lung, but still went on the road to play over 100 shows a year.  Is health had become a concern over the last several months, with intermittent shows having to be canceled.  At one point a photo was published of a fan praying outside his tour bus.  He was a giant in country music and fiercely patriotic, a real working man’s man.  

It’s no surprise of the outpourings and tributes that have been flowing since David Bowie’s sudden passing.  For a man who influenced over 4 decades of music and popular culture, you would expect nothing less.  However, what none of us were prepared for is the idiocy on parade, all in Bowie’s name.

Bowie was a consummate showman, but there was more to it than just costumes and make up.  He had integrity, and in his death he showed great dignity.  These very important aspects to Bowie seem to have been tally disregarded when it comes to the handful of recent tribute shows.  Lady Gaga was the first to show us all how one does not try and pay tribute to Bowie. Lorde came soon after, but she was only slightly better than a nervous, over dramatic thespian.  For the recent shows in New York City, its as if there was simply an open call to anyone with a zany idea and a crazy costume to come and jump on the Bowie bandwagon.

In all fairness, the recent shows in NYC were organized before Bowie’s death, and it was even rumored he was to attend the original show at Carnegie Hall. His death took everyone by surprise, and the onslaught of super fans allowed for the promoter to now have two shows instead of one.  

Obviously, there are those who were not paying attention to the missteps of Lady Gaga.  There is no doubt that Bowie had influenced Wayne Coyne and his band of pranksters known as The Flaming Lips.  Sadly though, Wayne missed the memo that this was not a silly Miley Cyrus spin-off gig, but this was an actual tribute to a man who has an outstanding legacy of work.  Wayne thinks its another beach party and decides to show up wearing a blinking cape and sits atop of a guy in a Chewbacca costume while singing “Life On Mars”.

Bowie wasn’t one to suffer fools lightly, he had no time for silliness,  just ask the Red Hot Chili Peppers.    

Wayne’s antics were no better than Lady Gaga’s faux pas.  Likewise, whoever the gate keepers were let one idiot slip in who thought he must have been attending a Bernie Sanders rally.  No one told Joseph Arthur to leave his politics at the door.  He does his sprawling version of “The Man Who Sold The World”, then tops its off by unfurling an American flag with “F*ck Trump” scrawled across it.  He drapes it on his shoulders along with donning a devil mask and teeters about the stage, like he is making some grand statement. He was; look at what a clueless dipshit I am!  This was cringeworthy.  We never got political preaching from Bowie, so why drag it into a celebration of the man?

Had Bowie known he would be featured in country awards shows, he would have been tickled, and perhaps slightly confused.  Eric Church showed his fandom by bringing an ‘unexpected’  Bowie tribute to the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM) in Vegas last night.  Church had his sights on showing just how cutting edge he was.  He performed his “Record Year” song (a heartbreak tune with constant vinyl references) complete with a “DJ” on stage and two sets of turntables.  Midway through the tune, he yells out to his DJ who then lets spin Bowie’s “Changes”.    The camera zooms in to show the hot turntable action and we see a copy of ’Young Americans’ between the turntables. Too bad it was only a prop,  guess Eric didn’t know that “Changes” isn’t on that album though.  Church opens his arms and faces a giant screen where images of Bowie are shown, then scuffles over to the opposite table to then have snippets of Stone Temple Pilots, Motorhead and The Eagles blast out as a tribute to his other fallen heroes. Odd, perhaps unexpected and definitely hard to follow the line of Bowie and country music. This was not the place for a Bowie tribute, but if Eric is that big of a fan, then so be it. At least it was not as pathetic as the other overblown egos trying to one up each other as bonafide Bowie super fan.

It is unavoidable that with every fallen icon that Twitter blows up with an endless loop of testimonies of fandom and how their lives were changed forever by said artist.  However, when it is time to take the stage (or recording studio) to pay homage to another artist, remember it is about the other guy’s work, not yours and your pathetic ego.  

These tributes have proven one thing:  if some of these performances wouldn’t have killed Bowie, they definitely would have him exiled for eternity.  There is no way on earth he would have sanctioned or appreciated some of these performances.