Today's Day in Rock Stories

Guns N' Roses Star To Play Appetite Album In Full On Tour

The drummer toured with John Parr ["St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)"], Belinda Carlisle and The Knack before connecting with bassist Billy Sheehan, singer Eric Martin and guitarist Paul Gilbert to form Mr. Big in 1988.

The new outfit issued their debut album in 1989, and scored a US and global No. 1 hit with the soft-rock ballad, "To Be With You", from their sophomore release, 1991's "Lean Into It."

A series of albums and tours followed before Mr. Big shut down in 2002, only to regroup upon demand from fans in 2009 and go on to issue three more records, including their latest, 2017's "Defying Gravity."

Torpey was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2014, and continued to record and tour with Mr. Big while Matt Starr was brought in to handle lead drumming duties.

"Pat Torpey has been my closest friend in music for over 30 years," posted Sheehan. "Pat was one of the finest human beings I've ever had the privilege of knowing, and the honor of working with. All of us in Mr. Bib had nothing but the highest respect and admiration for him. He is loved by anyone and everyone who ever met him. And surely one of the finest rock drummers the world has ever known.

"Please keep his sweet wife and wonderful son in your prayers. I love you, Pat. You made the world a better place. We will miss you. We will never forget you. Rest in peace, my brother."

"We are all in shock and so sad in the Mr. Big camp," shared Martin on social media. "He was the strongest, kindest and sweetest man that I have ever known. I can't put into words how I feel but just to say I'm absolutely heartbroken as you can imagine. He loved you fans so much - Let's all say a prayer for his wife Karen and his son Patrick Jr."

The office is objecting to a motion by Prince's family in Carver County District Court seeking an order that would compel the release of all law enforcement and medical examiner information related to the death of the legendary musician (via Chanhassen Villager).

The reason for the denial: the information is part of an ongoing criminal investigation surrounding Prince's death. "First, because the law enforcement data collected by the Carver County Sheriff's Office remains under active investigation, the data is classified by law as confidential data.

Borland made the big reveal on Instagram, sharing a video of Barker laying down a funky beat in a recording studio. "Doing drums with the man himself Travis Barker on a yet to be titled new project!," Borland captioned the post.

The 3-week run of theaters opens in Raleigh, NC on February 9, with shows wrapping up in Los Angeles on March 2. Directed by Ryan Mackfall, the clip captures the rocker and his band The Sensational Space Shifters during a November 30, 2017 show at the O2 Apollo in Manchester, England as part of a sold-out fall UK trek in support of the record.

"Carry Fire" features guest appearances by Albanian cellist Redi Hasa, renowned viola and fiddle player Seth Lakeman, and Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde.

"The story of 'Blind' is the story of a bunch of tiny changes over the years creating something that still feels new and something we are really proud of. I wrote the entirety of 'Blind' in the middle of the night in late 2007 or early 2008, sitting on the floor in front of my amp. I really loved that the clean guitar and heavy parts were kind of warring with each other, sort of like a calm vs. storm scenario. The melody and lyrics just came out. The next day, I demoed the song (and played the drums horribly) and the guys were into it. We recorded the song at home and used it as a single back then.

In 2009, we decided to record some songs with someone else in the engineer's chair and decided that 'Blind' was too good of a song to not record the right way. During this session, the engineer pitched a new chorus melody idea that we tried but, ultimately, I wasn't really interested in. Things got a little tense and he told us that, by rewriting the melody, he was 'just trying to make [our] song good.' We ended up tracking it the original way but it definitely makes me think of what could have been and encourages me to try all good ideas but, at the end of the day, don't change just because of someone else's opinion.

Fast forward to a fresh 2012 band line-up preparing to record a new album. Because the 2009 version of 'Blind' never made it to an album, we decided to keep the great sounding drum tracks, clean guitars, and some of the vocals and re-track everything else. At this point, we added the vocal harmonies in the chorus and the dual guitar solo and released it on our album, Aphelion, in 2014.

Finally, between another personnel change to the line-up we have now, we decided to shoot a music video to gain a bit of momentum before heading back into the studio. As if we hadn't used 'Blind' enough, we all agreed that the world needed to hear it and it hadn't traveled far enough yet, so we decided to, yet again, re-tool the song. We re-recorded most of the vocals, all of the guitars except for the solos and cleans, and updated the lyrics to reflect where we are personally today. The final version collects little snippets from most of the band members we've had throughout the years, so it's just a really cool way to showcase the song and still energizes us all these years later.

The music video is about a girl who is being hunted by a surreal force because she's the last creature that can see beauty in the world. The problem is that, through seeing beauty, the evil force's attacks are more potent, so her only defense is the blindfold that she wears. So, in the end, her only way to survive is by becoming blind to the beauty of the world."

"On behalf of Craig MacGregor's family and the Foghat family, it is with great sadness that we are letting you know that we have lost our brother, good friend, husband, father and band mate this morning," posted the band. "He passed peacefully in his wife, Lisa MacGregor's arms after a prolonged battle with cancer. Please respect the privacy of the family and band members at this time. We will be sharing information in the next day or so. Rest in Peace Thunderfingers."

The rocker was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2015; a small tumor was first detected during a CAT scan to check for broken ribs after a fall in 2012 but Torpey was never advised of the issue because radiologists and other diagnostic imaging service providers were not required by law, at the time, to report test results to patients.

In the ensuing years, according to Philly.com, the tumor had grown more than 60 times larger, was inoperable, and had spread to the bassist's brain, which led to the MacGregors suing his doctors and the Reading, PA Health System over their failure to alert him to the health issue.

The tune appeared on the group's debut album, "Kill 'Em All", which didn't appear on the US Billboard 200 chart until three years later, where it peaked at No. 66 on its way to eventually selling 3 million copies Stateside.

The first of two shows in Madrid followed Metallica's first live date of the year when they opened the latest leg of their WorldWired tour in support of "Hardwired�To Self-Destruct" in Lisbon, Portugal on February 1 - from which they shared footage of their 1991 classic, "Sad But True."

During the spring trek, the group will return Stateside to be on hand when Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants host the 6th annual Metallica Night at AT&T Park on April 23.

"We'll take a quick break from the European tour to head back to the Bay Area and celebrate one of our favorite hometown traditions," says Metallica. "Members of the band will be on hand to start things off right with the National Anthem and first pitch, sticking around all night to cheer on the team against the Washington Nationals. As is customary, we'll take part in some of the between-inning fun and games as well as an exclusive pre-game VIP event.

"Special Event Metallica ticket packages include a ticket to the game and a limited edition Metallica/Giants baseball cap, with a portion of the proceeds from every Metallica Day Special Event ticket sold benefiting our very own All Within My Hands Foundation.

Since he parted ways with Styx around the turn of the millennium, DeYoung has continued to tour the band's catalog with a new line-up. Now, on the 40th anniversary of Styx's 1977 breakthrough album The Great Illusion, DeYoung has announced Dennis DeYoung: The Grand Illusion 40th Anniversary Tour, which will include all of Styx's hits written by DeYoung, including classics like 'Come Sail Away', 'Babe', 'Mr. Roboto', 'The Best of Times', 'Lady', 'Renegade' and 'Blue Collar Man'.

"I wanted to write a song about my love for dolphins," explains bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes. "Each year thousands of these beautiful souls are murdered by hunters in the coastal town of Taiji Japan. They are drove into the Killing Cove and brutally slaughtered.

"I have been working with Ric O'Barry from the Dolphin Project for four years, and told him I had written a song about this senseless & horrific scenario for BCCIV, that has been happening for decades."

The possibility of live shows with a hologram of Zappa, who died in 1993, first came to light in September 2017. Ahmet Zappa has now confirmed that the Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa shows will feature a core lineup of Ray White, Mike Keneally, Scott Thunes, Robert Martin and Joe "Vaultmeister" Travers.

Digging a little deeper, it looks like there might have been a clue a few weeks ago. In mid-Jan, producer Nick Raskulinecz (Ghost, Deftones, Korn, Rise Against) posted a picture of an instrument flight case with the Alice In Chains name on it, stating "1 more day with AIC!!! Wrapping up record #3! I think this is the best one we've made so far!"

He also posted a couple more pictures from the sessions, of a recording console and, funnily enough, a shot of a WWE telecast on the studio TV. Interestingly, the images he posted were from Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, while guitarist Jerry Cantrell had mentioned that the band were set to record the album in Seattle's Studio X. Perhaps they were simply adding finishing touches in L.A?

A forthcoming new documentary explores his late-70s pivot to gospel music, another turn that left many of his fans unimpressed (at first). Entitled Trouble No More, the film traces Dylan's conversion to Christianity and subsequent tour, based on the Slow Train Coming album.

Koenig wrote "I Promise You," a lighthearted pop-rock track with an arrangement and meter vaguely reminiscent of� Vampire Weekend. Still, Corden brings his marquee charisma to the indie-inflected tune.

Lyrically, the song urges listeners to cheer up in the face of adversity: "Life's rough when you feel confused/ Still rough when you hear the news that/ each day gotta pick and choose�/ No hate, no fear could ever keep us down / We'll stick together."

The new clip was filmed live at Audioworx Studios in Palestine, TX, the Drew McCuistion filmed video features front-man Matt James and lead guitarist Ryan Kiefer performing an acoustic version of the track.

In a preview of the series' fourth season, Leno gets behind the wheel with the Sex Pistols' John Lydon (a.k.a Johnny Rotten). The big catch is that Johnny has never driven a car and doesn't know the first thing about driving. Oh, and he's "half blind."

"I tell you, I got no eyes. I'm half blind so I can't see or read what any of these things say or mean. Is that helpful?" the punk icon asks. Lydon appears perplexed by simple mechanics like the "gas pedal" and "brake," but Leno coaches him through the fundamentals of operating a fast car. "I never truly understood the value of a seatbelt until this very moment," Leno quips.