On Thursday and Friday of last week, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrated their 25th anniversary of honoring some good bands but forgetting many others. HBO will air the event on November 29th, featuring performances from John Fogerty, Crosby Stills & Nash, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, and many others.

Nevertheless, I know I’m going to forget about it. Thankfully, Sterogum has already posted some footage from both nights. In the video above, U2, the Black Eyed Peas, Mick Jagger, and a string section come together to perform the Rolling Stones classic “Gimme Shelter.” Who’s terrible idea was this?

I’m having a hard time pinning down how this collection of musicians could defile this song. Maybe I’m just put off by Bono’s singing in the second verse. Fergie surprised me, though. Girl can wail.

Nashville rock band Shirock (the last name of front man Chuck Shirock) is a bit different than most of the bands coming from anywhere in the country, let alone Nashville. Their unique brand of anthem-driven rock is way too cool for the Warped Tour crowd, though that’s where they may find most of their fans. In fact, Shirock is more like U2 than any other band – both melodically, musically, and lyrically – as they try to convey positive messages of hope and the desire to make a difference with their music. On the band’s sophomore effort, Everything Burns, each song soars with giant hooks and the vocals of Chuck Shirock as well as female singer Pap, and the instrumentation and arrangements accent each track instead of getting in the way. Really, the best part about Shirock is that they don’t seem like they’re trying too hard to get in everyone’s collective face, and they don’t have to. Standout tracks are the anthemic “Time Goes By” and the Pap-driven “I’ll Take Rain,” as well as the powerful title track, which is about the fact that we should all put time and effort into the things that matter, like relationships and making a difference, and that everything else just burns. Well said, Shirock. (LABEL: self-release)

Shirock MySpace Page

From the UK comes the brooding rock outfit The Veils, with their third LP Sun Gangs. This foursome, complete with female bassist Sophia Burn, makes up one of the most unique and emotionally intoned musical groups since U2 or Radiohead. Their depth on Sun Gangs suggests a certain growth since the last record, and their talent for embellishments and arrangements makes this band one to listen to in 2009.

There’s a certain welcoming property about The Veils. They suck you into their emotionally complex world within seconds of the opener, “Sit Down By The Fire,” which BBC called, “a very modern mixture of prayers, love letters and personal record keeping.”

Another standout on the record is “Larkspur” which Dusted Magazine said, “follows a driving picked riff through swells of noise, returning to calm several times before building to a final eruption.” The orchestration on Sun Gangs is one of the main reasons the record is so intriguing. The twists and turns of melody and harmony, tiny instrumental splashes of color, and emotions that ebb and flow through song after song take this record from mundane and repetitive to interesting and easy to listen to.
As Supreme Management wrote,

“By turns warm and ethereal, thundering and cacophonous, The Veils set Sun Gangs apart from efforts by like-minded peers such as the Arcade Fire by imbuing their lush, at times grandiose arrangements with a sense of youthful honesty and personal reflection that seems to so often get lost under the sea of ideas within similarly ambitious efforts.”

The only down side to Sun Gangs is that it’s incredibly mellow. Don’t expect a head-banger here, but then again, that’s not what The Veils are known for. This band is pure emotion and it shows through each and every one of the tracks on Sun Gangs.

If you like U2, AutoVaughn, Kings Of Leon, or Arcade Fire, make sure to check out the latest release from UK rockers, The Veils.

Consequence of Sound is reporting that U2 will be playing a secret show at Fordham University in New York. The articles they are snagging their information from believe that this “secret show” will coincide with their weeklong  stretch on Letterman. Consequence is also saying:

The performance will likely be packaged as part of the band’s upcoming performance on Good Morning America, which is also to take place on Friday at a “yet to be announced” location. It will mark U2’s first live U.S. show this year.

The work of U2 is never done. And with all their attempts at saving the world they have managed to record a new album, No Line on the Horizon. It comes out on March 3rd. You can read of a review of the record at Bullz-Eye. Or just go to the secret show, make all your friends jealous and come back with a signed copy and a feeling of having just been inspi(red).

Every music lover has been there – in front of the television or a set of speakers, listening for the first time to the work of a critically revered artist whose songs are supposed to change the way you look at the world…only to come away wondering what all the hype was about. For the iconoclastic among us, these moments are opportunities to prove what independent thinkers we are; for everyone else – a group that often appears to include virtually every name-brand music critic on the planet – they’re opportunities to turn off your ears, nod your head, and smile. What kind of self-respecting music writer doesn’t love the music of Bruce Springsteen? U2? Elvis Costello? A total hack, right?

Maybe. Or maybe we tend to forget that one of the most wonderful things about art is the utterly objective way we respond to it. One establishment’s treasure can be one lonely listener’s source of constant befuddlement, consternation or outright rage – and with that in mind, your Bullz-Eye Music staff put its heads together and drew up a list of all the bands and artists we’re supposed to love…but don’t. Each of the writers who contributed to this piece is speaking solely for himself, and you’re sure to disagree with some of the names mentioned here – and, of course, that’s sort of the point. But enough of our introductory babble – let’s break down some critical idols!

The Doors
“…don’t even think about describing their sound as “timeless”; you’ll be hard pressed to find music as trapped in time as these peyote-fueled dirges, and no one summed up the life and legacy of Jim Morrison – whose death was as brilliant a career move as you’ll ever see – better than Denis Leary: ‘I’m drunk, I’m nobody. I’m drunk, I’m famous. I’m drunk, I’m fucking dead.’”

Bruce Springsteen
“Perhaps Jello Biafra put it best when he referred to Bruce Springsteen as ‘Bob Dylan for jocks.’ But I can sum up what I dislike about the majority of the Boss in one word: Glockenspiel.”

Pink Floyd
“If you’re 14 and discovering pot, Pink Floyd’s a must. Hell, Dark Side of the Moon is practically a gateway drug in and of itself. If you’re out of high school and still into ‘em, you’ve got a problem.”

Conor Oberst
“…his songs are duller than a steak knife in a prison cafeteria. I’ve tried repeatedly to ‘get’ Oberst’s work, but each time, I come away further convinced that his music is an elaborate prank hatched by the editors of Pitchfork.”

To read the rest of the bands Bullz-Eye doesn’t get, click here.

U2 is currently tweaking their new album, No Line on the Horizon, and Rolling Stone visited the band to get a preview.

The journey was as spellbinding and energizing as you might imagine, and you’ll be able to read all about it when our new issue hits newsstands on Wednesday, January 7th. To tide you over, here’s a track-by-track preview of 10 choice songs (and you can dig deeper into all our U2 coverage in our archive):

“Get On Your Boots”
The likely first single, this blazing, fuzzed-out rocker picks up where “Vertigo” left off. “It started just with me playing and Larry drumming,” the Edge recalls. “And we took it from there.”

The preview goes through a list of 10 songs in the same manner, but don’t be surprised if titles change or the songs disappear altogether. Apparently, the album is still in a state of flux.

U2 has announced a release date for their new album – “No Line on the Horizon.” Their 12th studio album hits the stores on March 2, 2009.

(Love to the Mayor of Simpleton, for giving me the idea)

The news hit the AP wire today, announcing that four acts from ‘70s and Miles Davis, who died in the early ‘90s at the age of 375, were inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. They’re technically the Class of 2006, but I call them the Class of ’81, since any band whose debut album was released in 1981 or earlier was eligible for inclusion. The very fact that only two of these bands were within sniffing distance of the ‘80s leads me to believe that a ton of also-ran ‘70s bands will get in before any of the truly worthy ‘80s bands will, and that, frankly, disturbs me.

And so, without further ado and in no particular order, I submit my top ten list of ‘80s bands that should be inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame sooner rather than later. U2 is already in, so they’re obviously disqualified.

1) REM. Forget the Bill Berry-less train wreck that the band’s become of late, and remember when they and U2 ruled the rock world the way Darth Vader dreamed of ruling the galaxy with Luke Skywalker. Between 1987 and 1994, they were bulletproof, and there are thousands of bands and nerdy record store clerks who worshiped at their altar.
2) Madonna. If she doesn’t get inducted in the Class of 1983/2008, she will have Guy Ritchie and her children dropped off the Empire State Building. Which is really hard, because there are these tall metal bars on the rooftop deck with sharp points that curl inward. I’m guessing she uses a catapult.
3) The Smiths. Forever changed the face of modern rock, they did. Johnny’s done some good stuff with Electronic and The The, but he has to know that his best work rests within this band’s catalog, feuds with Steven Morrissey be damned.
4) New Order. Simply put, there is no electronic music scene without these guys. Kraftwerk may have gotten there first (something I’ll get to in a minute), but New Order was the band that fused a rock and roll sensibility into those machines, which in turn created a legion of knockoff bands by the late ‘80s. Even the Cure nicked half of their best licks from these guys. “In Between Days,” anyone?
5) Guns ‘n Roses. It may have ended in a haze of lawsuits and coke, but Goddamn, when Guns ‘n Roses was clicking, there wasn’t a band that could come within a thousand miles of them. And forget Appetite for Destruction: their best stuff was all over the Use Your Illusion albums, the greatest single album that never was.
6) Janet Jackson. Because you don’t make it to First Name Only status without earning it, bitches.
7) Public Enemy. Because their records from the ‘80s still scare white people.
Run DMC. The kings of rock. There is none higher.
9) Beastie Boys. It’s safe to say that not even Rick Rubin had any idea what kind of band the Beastie Boys would become. After all, find another band who went from the Juvenile But Massive Debut to Groundbreaking, Trendsetting Sophomore Album.
10) Motley Crüe. If only because they lived the life of rock and roll excess to a degree that would even make Bonzo and Keith Moon go, “Whoa, dudes, let’s not go nuts here.” Few bands embody the spirit of rock and roll more than Motley Crüe. Oh, and they also wrote some kickass tunes.

Bubbling Under: Bands and artists I would like to see inducted but will likely need some help
• Duran Duran
• Depeche Mode
• Stone Roses
• Talk Talk
• The The
• Ministry. The birth of industrial, people.
• English Beat/Madness/Specials. Someone from the ska era has to be represented, dammit.

I didn’t list Nirvana (whose first album Bleach came out in 1989 when none of us were looking) because they’re a no-brainer first ballot inductee. Ditto the Pixies (comment entered after Neil totally faced me on their omission).

Five holdovers from the ‘70s
1) Kraftwerk. Man, how on earth are these guys not in? They were and are light years ahead of their time. Hell, Coldplay’s stealing their songs and claiming them as their own, fer crissakes.
2) Van Halen. And so, a generation of shredders was born.
3) T. Rex. Yeah, okay, Bolan’s dead, so he’ll never know you didn’t induct him, but for crying out loud, bands are still ripping him off. That has to be worth something.
4) Cheap Trick. Few bands have meant so much to so many different genres of music. Cheap Trick is that band. Big Star gets all the love, but Cheap Trick was the better band, by a country mile.
5) Rush. Thrown under the progressive rock bus only because no one knew what to do with them. But they have amassed a body of work that today’s popular bands would be lucky to emulate.

Comments, suggestions, hate mail? Bring it, suckaz.

Post script: It just hit me that I left off the Red Hot Chili Peppers, whom I meant to include, so you Fleabies out there, quit hatin’ right now.