LOLLAPALOOZA - WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

I'm talking the '90s version of Lollapalooza, here. I respect the fact that they've totally redefined the festival for a new decade, but playing Lollapalooza doesn't really mean what it used to. From 1991 - 1997, they featured some of the coolest alt-rock and hip-hop artists, plus other artists like Metallica and George Clinton, and managed to avoid having the more clone-y bands like Bush, Stone Temple Pilots and Candlebox on the tour, although it would have been really easy to sign those bands up.

Tomorrow on OutQ, I'll be talking about three Lollapalooza veterans who have new albums out: Pearl Jam, Living Colour and Alice In Chains. But I thought I'd offer a separate post about the whereabouts of some of the other artists:

Jane's Addiction: their summer tour was mind blowing. The went into the studio to re-record two songs from their debut, with Trent Reznor producing, but I have a hard time seeing them do a new full-length album. I bet they'll continue to tour, while pursuing seperate projects.

Nine Inch Nails: toured with Jane's this summer - they were also incredible. After the tour, Trent did a few last NIN club dates and said that that was it. I think this is kind of like what Trent's hero David Bowie has done - left something really successful behind, but he can access it whenever he wants. Bowie "retired" the Ziggy Stardust persona, but still performs songs from that era if he feels like it.

Ice-T: His personality is almost bigger than his music, and he is most visable as an actor these days on Law & Order: SVU.

Henry Rollins: Like Ice-T, most people know who he is, but they probably couldn't name many of his songs. He just got a role on the Sons Of Anarchy show, he hosts his own IFC talk show and does spoken word tours.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers: working on a new album!

Ministry: Al Jourgenson has retired the band, but one of his other bands, The Revolting Cocks. The catch is, he doesn't tour with RevCo anymore but is a special guest on select dates.

Ice Cube: still makes music, but is a much bigger force in film than music these days: he's not just an actor, he directs, produces and writes.

Soundgarden: still broken up! Chris Cornell continues his solo career, and Matt Cameron has been Pearl Jam's drummer for over a decade now.

Primus: one of my favorite bands ever. They broke up in the late '90s and reunited a few years later. I don't think they'll ever do another album, but they'll probably tour here and there. Les Claypool is a very active solo artist, he's also directed a film, written a novel, and is starting his own wine label.

Fishbone: They still tour, but singer/sax player/stone cold entertainer Angelo Moore and bassist Norwood Fisher are the only original members left. Rocky George from Suicidal Tendencies also plays in the current lineup, but there are rumors of a reunion of the originals.

Tool: They toured this summer, and are supposedly going to do a new album. Maynard's main priority is his winery in Arizona, and he's sort of deactivated his other band, A Perfect Circle, but he still has his solo project, Pussyfier.

Rage Against The Machine: I think they will exist as a touring band, I don't see them ever making a new album. Tom Morello is really into his new group, Street Sweeper Social Club, and I think he will continue to do acoustic music as The Nightwatchman. It's been over a year since Zach de la Rocha released his EP with One Day As A Lion, I don't know what's up with that.

Smashing Pumpkins: Still around, it's Billy Corgan and whoever he hires. He also plans to work with other projects.

The Beastie Boys: have been reissuing their catalog, and waiting for Adam Yauch to recover from throat surgery.

A Tribe Called Quest: occasionally perform, but Q-Tip mainly focuses on his solo career now

Green Day: one of the biggest bands in the world!


Hole: kind of like Billy/Pumpkins, Courtney Love says she is Hole, and has hired a new version of the band. But she needs to chill.

NWA BIOPIC IN THE WORKS

According to Entertainment Weekly, there's a N.W.A. biopic in the works, with Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Tomica Wright (widow of Eazy-E) as producers. That whould be a great story. Maybe the surviving members (Dre, Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella, who now produces low budget porn videos) will get together to record a new song or do some shows. I remember there was talk of a reunion tour a few years back, but they didn't actually have the rights to the name, plus I think Dre prefers to stick with what is "hot" and "now" rather than point out how long he has been making records for.

1988: HIP-HOP'S GREATEST YEAR?

RollingStone.com just did a cool feature on the best hip-hop albums from 1988. Indeed, it was a great year for hip-hop. RS cites Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back at #1, and I'd definitely agree. I don't know if I got into that album in 1988 - I think I happened upon it the following year - but, wow, I still remember being blown away by how awesome/different/aggressive the album was. And I'm still knocked out every time I hear it today.

At #2 was Run-DMC's Tougher Than Leather. At the time that it came out, they seemed kind of over, but when the album was reissued a year or two ago, I felt like it was a pretty good album that I "slept on."

Soon after I got into P.E., I also got into Ice Cube and Ice-T, both of whom are represented on this list. N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton is on the list, as is Ice-T's Power. Both are great, but I got into Cube from his solo debut, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, which I actually prefer to N.W.A. I know, blasphemous. My favorite Ice-T albums were The Iceberg/Freedom Of Speech... Just Watch What You Say and O.G. - Original Gangster.

The list also included great albums by EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and even DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. Yeah, it's easy to just say, "Yeah, hip-hop was better back then." But, it was. Still, there are great albums being put out today, look at Kanye West, Common and Nas to name three. Like the No Expiration masthead says, "There's always great new music being made."