A California Superior Court judge ruled on Monday that neither heavy metal band Slayer nor the music industry can be held liable in the 1995 murder of a 15-year-old girl by three teenage boys, Billboard magazine reports. The ruling stated that there was insufficient proof that the band’s music influenced teenagers Jacob Delashmutt, Joseph Fiorella, and Royce Casey to rape and murder Elyse Pahler on July 22. In their defense, the boys claimed that Slayer‘s lyrics had instructed them to stalk and kill Pahler as “a virgin sacrifice to Satan.”
Tyler falls ill, but plans to extend tour
After embarking on their Just Push Play tour in June and playing at Washington D.C.’s United We Stand–What More Can I Give benefit concert on Oct. 21, Aerosmith has been touring pretty much nonstop. Excessive touring is what may have caused front man Steven Tyler to suffer from a temporary breakdown last weekend that forced the band to scrap two shows from their tour. According to SonicNet.com, shows in Pittsburgh at the Mellon Arena on Saturday and one at the Air Canada Centre on Monday were canceled. No word yet as to when the shows will be rescheduled in the future. Although their Just Push Play tour doesn’t end until Dec. 17, the band’s publicist told SonicNet.com that the band is hoping to extend the tour through the end of January.
Billy Corgan returns with “Zwan”
After playing a tearful final show at Chicago’s Metro theatre last Dec. 2, the former vocalist for the Chicago-based rock group, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan, will return to the music business with a new band, Zwan. According to Reuters, Zwan will reunite Corgan with former Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, former Chavez’ singer/guitarist Mathew Sweeney and a bass player who goes by the name of “Skullfisher.” Corgan seems to be staging a low profile return; Zwan will play small venues in Los Angeles and San Diego later this month, the concert hotwire site, Pollstar, reports.
Courtney Love: Unplugged in the restroom
Courtney Love must really want to get back into the music business. The rocker was forced to finish her set early at her Oct. 26 opening gig for Jane’s Addiction because of a strict Hollywood Bowl house curfew established under local noise ordinances, Tas Steiner, Love‘s publicist, told Reuters on Monday. The gig was arranged to give the unnamed label executive a chance to hear Love, who was backed by a new band, play songs the audience never got to see her perform. “Courtney was disappointed,” Steiner said. “She only got to do two of the four new songs that she was planning on singing. She ended up taking an acoustic guitar with her band into a restroom offstage and singing a few songs for a major label president.” Love has added those four songs to a demo tape that she’s been shopping to record labels while she presses on with her lawsuit against Universal Music Group to end her current recording contract.
Stone Temple Pilots record single for charity
The Stone Temple Pilots have recorded a studio version of the Beatles‘ “Revolution” and will donate proceeds from the single’s Nov. 27 release to the Twin Towers Fund, which provides relief to families affected by the Sept. 11 attacks, the band’s official Web site reports. The group first performed the track at TNT’s John Lennon Tribute on Oct. 2.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, AC/DC, NIN to release live DVDs
The Red Hot Chili Peppers will release a 70-minute concert DVD/ VHS titled Off the Map on Dec. 4. According to a Warner Brothers press release, the show will feature 18 songs captured in Portland, Ore., in September 2000, featuring the hit singles “Californication,” “Under the Bridge” and “Give It Away.”
Also on Oct.4, AC/DC will release their Stiff Upper Lip Live (VHS/DVD), capturing a recent 21-song concert and including an extra 140 minutes of special features, Billboard.com reports.
Nine Inch Nails has postponed the scheduled Dec. 4 release of their Nine Inch Nails Live: And All That Could Have Been release on CD, DVD and VHS until Jan. 22 of next year. Vocalist Trent Reznor told Launch.com that the delay was due to production snags in the DVD mastering process. “We edited the film, mini-DV ourselves and learned how to mix in sound and set the studio up in surround. I think it has a home-made quality to it that’s interesting that we wouldn’t have gotten if we went to a film company just to do it,” he said. The collection was filmed on NIN’s last tour, Fragility v2.0 and features songs like “The Wretched,” “Head Like a Hole” and “Closer.”
