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B Sides for 12/30/2011

Top 11 of 11

We are wrapping up the year by looking at some of the top stories of 2011 with our Top 11 of 11 specials. Today we look at the Top 11 B-Sides Stories of 11


Why Robert Plant Won't Reunite With Led Zeppelin (No 1 B-Side Stories of 11)
Why Robert Plant Won't Reunite With Led Zeppelin was the no 1 story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: (Gibson) Rolling Stone has a candid Robert Plant interview in this month's issue of the magazine. Plant talks about why he won't be taking part in any more Led Zeppelin reunion shows, why the sessions for his sophomore album with Alison Krauss didn't go well, and why Tony Blair is to blame for his creative block. Plant also spoke of how utterly unimpressed he is with his musical peers.

Of Led Zeppelin's acclaimed reunion show at the O2 in London in 2007, Plant says, "It was an amazing evening. The preparations for it were fraught and intense, but the last rehearsal was really, really good, for all that it represented and all that we were trying to capture.

"But I've gone so far somewhere else that I almost can't relate to it ... It's a bit of a pain in the [expletive] to be honest. Who cares? I know people care, but think about it from my angle � soon, I'm going to need help crossing the street." more on this story

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Axl 86ed Adler From Guns N' Roses Gig (No 2 B-Side Stories of 11)
Axl 86ed Adler From Guns N' Roses Gig was the no 2 story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: (Rock News Desk) Taking Dawn frontman Chris Babbitt has told how he was forced to kick former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler out of an LA venue because Axl Rose refused to perform until he'd gone.

The fiery singer was playing in the Hard Rock Hotel in September 2006 with a new lineup. Adler had bought tickets and was just another member of the crowd, but when Rose saw him in the audience he ordered security to remove him.

And Babbitt was one of the venue staff who gave the sacked drummer his marching orders. more on this story

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Lars Led Metallica Away From Thrash Not Bob Rock? (No 3 B-Side Stories of 11)
Lars Led Metallica Away From Thrash Not Bob Rock? was the 3 no story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: (Rock News Desk) Producer Bob Rock knows many Metallica fans blame him for moving them away from their classic sound by producing 1991′s Black Album but he says it was nothing to do with him.

Instead he insists the band had already made a decision to abandon the thrash musical ethic, and he just helped them go where they wanted to go by persuading them to follow drummer Lars Ulrich more than they'd done in the past. And he admits the experience was so fraught he told the band he'd never work with them again � and he believed the feeling was mutual.

Marking the twentieth anniversary of Metallica's self-titled release, known as the Black Album by most fans, Rock tells MusicRadar: "They had broken through to one level but they still weren't on mainstream radio. When they came to me they were ready to make that leap to the big, big leagues.

"A lot of people think I changed the band. I didn't: in their heads they were already changed when I met them." more on this story

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Foo Fighters Say F*** Glee (No 4 B-Side Stories of 11)
Foo Fighters Say F*** Glee was the no 4 story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: (hennemusic) The Foo Fighters hooked up with some media for interviews at this year's SXSW, and were asked the dreaded "Glee" question. Bottom line: they want no part of the Ryan Murphy-helmed show.

"It's every band's right, you shouldn't have to do f---ing 'Glee,'" head Foo Dave Grohl told The Hollywood Reporter . "And then the guy who created 'Glee' is so offended that we're not, like, begging to be on his f---ing show� f--- that guy for thinking anybody and everybody should want to do 'Glee.'"

Grohl doesn't have as much of a problem with the series as he does with its creator. Recounting anti-"Glee" comments made by Slash earlier this year and subsequent retorts by Murphy, Grohl explained to drummer Taylor Hawkins: "The 'Glee' guy, what a f---ing jerk. Slash was the first one. He wanted to do Guns 'n' Roses and Slash is like, 'I hate f---ing musicals. It's worse than "Grease."' Then [Murphy's] like, 'Well, of course he'd say that, he's a washed up ol' rock star, that's what they f---ing do.' And then Kings of Leon say, 'No, we don't want to be on your show.' And then he's like, 'Snotty little a**holes�' And it's just like, Dude, maybe not everyone loves 'Glee.' Me included." And Taylor's response?

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Sammy Hagar Asked To Join Motley Crue, Pantera, Aerosmith and Velvet Revolver (No 5 B-Side Stories of 11)
Sammy Hagar Asked To Join Motley Crue, Pantera, Aerosmith and Velvet Revolver was the no 5 story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: (Gibson) Sammy Hagar has been on the biggest press junket of his career since the launch of his autobiography, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. Incendiary quotes about former band mate Eddie Van Halen and alien abductions have kept him on the front of music pages for months. Now, Hagar is back in the headlines as a result of comments the Red Rocker made on Forbes.com in which Hagar claims to have been asked (and refused) to join some of the biggest acts in hard rock.

"I was asked at one time to be in M�tley Cr�e," Hagar said. "I was asked at one time to be in Pantera by their mangers. I was asked to be in Velvet Revolver when Scott Weiland quit and went back to the Stone Temple Pilots. I was waiting to be asked to be in Led Zeppelin to say 'no,' since they were the greatest band on earth and no could replace Robert Plant. I was asked to be in Aerosmith and I said 'no.' Certain bands and certain front man singers are more difficult to replace than others. Steven Tyler and that band have stayed together for forty years and you don't to walk into something like that. They had one moment years ago, when they replaced Joe Perry, but it's still always been Steven at the front of Aerosmith. You don't replace that."

Hagar says there is a difference between the Aerosmith job and the Van Halen gig he took in 1985. "When I came into Van Halen, it was easy because Dave wasn't a great singer, but he was a good front man. In those times, I was selling out the same arenas they were, so it was like the combination of two forces and it worked�but it's a rare thing. We were all lucky that the fans accepted it and it got bigger. I would avoid bands that are going to break up pretty soon." more on this story

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Judas Priest Almost Hired Sebastian Bach (No 6 B-Side Stories of 11)
Judas Priest Almost Hired Sebastian Bach was the no 6 story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: (hennemusic) In recent months, we've heard stories of 'name' singers turning down offers to join huge bands: Steven Tyler claims he turned down Led Zeppelin, while Sammy Hagar claims he turned down everyone from Aerosmith to Motley Crue to Velvet Revolver. Now, we hear a story of an offer that was only considered, but never made.

At one point in time, Judas Priest considered Sebastian Bach for their lead singer role, but never got around to making the offer. This news came to light thanks to a Facebook posting Sunday by Bach. Along with a photo of Sebastian with Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton and Rita Haney, the longtime girlfriend of late Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, taken at the Rainbow Bar & Grill in Hollywood, California, was the following note by Bach:

"Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, Rita @dimebagzhag & me at the Rainbow last night. Glenn & I talked about me almost being the singer of Judas Priest he told me it almost happened! Wow. What a great guy." more on this story

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Steven Tyler Rips Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab (No 7 B-Side Stories of 11)
Steven Tyler Rips Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab was the no 7 story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: Steven Tyler Rips Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab (No 7 B-Side Stories of 11)

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Ozzy Wants To Record The Ultimate Black Sabbath Album (No 8 B-Side Stories of 11)
Ozzy Wants To Record The Ultimate Black Sabbath Album was the no 8 story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: (Gibson) Though deep in the trenches of a massive solo tour, Ozzy Osbourne still has thoughts of his once and future band, Black Sabbath. Speaking on Los Angeles' KLOS, Osbourne talked about the possibility of another Sabbath album.

"I often get asked this question," said the Prince of Darkness, who will be playing at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California on February 1.

"'Will there ever be a [new Black Sabbath studio] album?' One thing I can say for definite [is that] we are all talking, we are all friends. But the pressure on my half is, it's been 30 years since we did a studio album. If it's not something extra, extra special, the people are gonna go, 'We waited 30 years [for this??!]' But before my life's over, I would love... my dream is to do the ultimate Black Sabbath album. I would love to do that." more on this story

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Iron Maiden Could Care Less About Grammy Win (No 9 B-Side Stories of 11)
Iron Maiden Could Care Less About Grammy Win was the no 9 story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: (Rock News Desk) Bruce Dickinson says Iron Maiden couldn't care less about winning a Grammy Award and they're more excited about having just played in Indonesia for the first time.

The singer, who's flying the band round the world on their Final Frontier tour, maintains they'll never listen to industry peer groups and are only interested in what their audience has to say.

Asked if the band threw a party to mark their win, Dickinson tells Rolling Stone: "Good God, no. We did have a bit of a party when we got an Ivor Novello award. That was quite nice because it's for songwriting and it's awarded by a songwriters' society. So that was cool more on this story

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Why Guns N' Roses Dropped Queen's Brian May From CD (No 10 B-Side Stories of 11)
Why Guns N' Roses Dropped Queen's Brian May From CD was the no 10 story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: (Gibson) Queen legend Brian May recorded a solo for a song on Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy album but fans were dismayed when the solo didn't make the album. It turns out that there was a very good reason for the omission. Gibson has the story:

In 1999, former Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker reached out to his old working partner, Brian May, to contribute to the long-awaited (and would wait for many more years thereafter) Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy. May, who was friendly with Axl Rose since the band's performance at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in 1992, happy accepted the invitation to play a solo on the track, "Catcher N' the Rye." May told Uncut magazine, "It was fun, to throw something in there to help out a friend."

According to Rose, though, May's solo was left off the record, mainly due to his own post-production work with co-producer Sean Beavan. "Brian's solo itself is a personal fave of mine and I really couldn't understand, as he's such a rock legend, why it wasn't openly appreciated more at the time. In actuality, all that feel and emotion referred to now had a lot to do with Sean and I and the parts I chose out of Brian's different runs, versions, practice runs, etc., to make sure we had those elements in one version. It's entirely constructed from edits based around one specific note Brian hit in a throwaway take. And though Brian seems to have warmed a bit to it, at least publicly, he was unfortunately none too pleased at the time with our handiwork. I remember looking at Brian standing to my left and him staring at the big studio speakers a bit aghast saying, 'But that's not what I played.' Sean Beavan and I were not in any way trying to mess with Brian, we just did what we do and then try and do our best to stand up for our decisions." more on this story

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Vinnie Paul Addresses Pantera Reunion Effort (No 11 B-Side Stories of 11)
Vinnie Paul Addresses Pantera Reunion Effort was the no 11 story in our countdown of the Top 11 B-Sides stories of 11. Here it is: (Rock News Desk) Former Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul has made his strongest statement yet to shout down rumors of a band reunion without his brother Dimebag, who was shot dead on stage in 2004.

Paul says: "It's ridiculous � Dime was such a huge part that it would be asinine to even consider it. I think it's pretty disrespectful of people to even suggest it. Dime's amazing legacy is going to be left untouched.

"I don't know where the idea comes from� it might have been some other clowns who used to be in that band, but not me."

[The idea appears to have come from a Facebook campaign which is encouraging a reunion as a tribute to Dimebag rocknewsdesk.com

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