Year – Page 2 – Gen X Playlist

Brian Setzer Says He ‘Cannot Play Guitar’ Anymore Following Autoimmune Disease Diagnosis (2025)

Brian Setzer Says He ‘Cannot Play Guitar’ Anymore Following Autoimmune Disease Diagnosis (2025)

“I cannot play guitar.” Rockabilly legend Brian Setzer reveals he has an auto-immune disease that prevents him from playing guitar

Setzer said the effects of his illness became apparent during the Stray Cats’ 2024 summer tour, the group’s first road stint in five years

“I’m getting better day by day”: Stray Cats’ Brian Setzer shares health update after auto-immune disease left him unable to play the guitar

March 21, 2025

Brian Setzer is on the mend. After revealing earlier this year that an autoimmune disease had robbed him of his ability to play guitar, the rockabilly icon now says he’s making “excellent” progress and remains hopeful for a return to performing.

Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer’s autoimmune disease has left him unable to play guitar

The Grammy award-winner announced he has an autoimmune disease on his social media

By Elizabeth Stanton
Fox News
Published February 17, 2025

Brian Setzer, the guitarist and singer for the Stray Cats and the Brian Setzer Orchestra, has revealed he has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.

In a recent post to Instagram, Setzer shared close-up pictures of his hands playing guitar, explaining, “Towards the end of the last Stray Cats tour I noticed that my hands were cramping up. I’ve since discovered that I have an auto-immune disease. I cannot play guitar.”

He continued, “There is no pain, but it feels like I am wearing a pair of gloves when I try to play. I have seen some progress in that I can hold a pen and tie my shoes. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I was at a point where I couldn’t even do that.”

Continue reading “Brian Setzer Says He ‘Cannot Play Guitar’ Anymore Following Autoimmune Disease Diagnosis (2025)”

Michael J. Fox’s ‘Back to the Future’ Guitar Has Been Missing For Decades – and a New Documentary is Hunting It Down

Michael J. Fox’s ‘Back to the Future’ Guitar Has Been Missing For Decades – and a New Documentary is Hunting It Down

🎸🎸🎸

The Guitar Michael J. Fox Played In ‘Back to the Future’ Is Missing — And They’re Making A Movie About the Search For It

By Gary Graff
06/3/2025

The hunt is on for an iconic but missing artifact from Robert Zemeckis’ classic 1985 film Back to the Future.

Gibson Guitars, in conjunction with filmmaker Doc Crotzer, have launched Lost to the Future, a search for the Gibson ES-345 Cherry Red guitar that Michael J. Fox, as Marty McFly, played in the beloved film.

As fans well know, Fox picked up the guitar during the movie’s Enchantment Under the Sea high school dance, where he performed the Penguins’ “Earth Angel” and then shredded Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”

The guitar, which was rented as a prop from Norm’s Rare Guitars in Tarzana, Calif., has been missing for several decades. Now Gibson and Crotzer (Road House, Shotgun Wedding, Glee) have begun a “true crime search” for the instrument, and the filmmaker is planning to make a documentary about the endeavor. Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly in Back to the Future

…They aren’t the only ones who were inspired by the scene, of course. When Fox joined Coldplay at last year’s Glastonbury Festival in England, frontman Chris Martin told the crowd that, “The main reason why we’re in a band is because of watching Back to the Future,” adding that Fox is “our hero forever and one of the most amazing people on Earth.” John Mayer and Jason Isbell have also acknowledged the film’s inspiration and will be featured in the documentary.

Those with leads about the guitar’s whereabouts are asked to call 1-855-345-1955 or send a message via www.LostToTheFuture.com.

The trail for the guitar is indeed cold. It was apparently sold, then sold back to Norm’s and then presumably resold again. …

An irony is that while Back to the Future is set in 1955, the ES-345 was not yet in production in 1958, and not made in cherry red until the following year. “Norm has publicly said he knew that guitar was wrong for the era,” Agnesi notes, adding that in ’55 Berry was playing a Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster. But the filmmakers, he says, wanted something slimmer and more streamlined. “They wanted that Chuck Berry 345 look even though it wasn’t the right guitar for the time period,” Agnesi says. “They were willing to take some small liberties and have fun in the movie with it. If not for that guitar, the scene might not have been as impactful.” …

Michael J. Fox’s ‘Back to the Future’ guitar has been missing for decades — and a new doc is hunting it down

By Chuck Arnold
Published June 3, 2025

…Michael J. Fox famously rocked out on guitar to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” in an iconic scene from “Back to the Future.”

But now it’s more like “Johnny B. Gone”: The instrument Fox’s Marty McFly played at the Enchantment Under the Sea high school dance has been missing for nearly 40 years.

Now, as the 1985 blockbuster turns 40 on July 3, the search for the cherry red Gibson ES-345 guitar is being tracked in an upcoming documentary, “Lost to the Future.”

Gibson Guitars, Universal Home Entertainment and filmmaker Doc Crotzer have teamed up for the search for the long-lost axe.

The hunt was launched on Tuesday with a video featuring Fox and his “fellow “Back to the Future” cast members including Lea Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Harry Waters Jr. and Huey Lewis.

Continue reading “Michael J. Fox’s ‘Back to the Future’ Guitar Has Been Missing For Decades – and a New Documentary is Hunting It Down”

A-ha Frontman Morten Harket, 65, Shares Emotional Statement After Parkinson’s Diagnosis

A-ha Frontman Morten Harket, 65, Shares Emotional Statement After Parkinson’s Diagnosis

I am sorry to hear this. A-ha was one of my most favorite bands when I was in high school in the 1980s – they were one of my favorite bands when I heard them on the radio back in the day.

I had NO IDEA what the band members looked like until I bought a .33 vinyl of “Hunting High and Low,” which had their photo on the front.

I had the biggest crush at that point on Harket. I had photos and posters of A-ha on my bedroom wall when I was a teenager.

The media back then tried to pit Duran Duran against A-ha, and I know Duranies were very passionate about their fandom.

Many Duranies thought that Simon Lebon or John Taylor were the cutest guys ever – and they are fine-looking men, but, they could not even begin to compare to Morten Harket in the looks department, sorry lady Duranies!

A-ha frontman Morten Harket, 65, shares emotional statement after Parkinson’s diagnosis

Brooke Ivey JohnsonPublished
June 4, 2025

Morten Harket, the iconic frontman of the 80s band A-ha, has announced that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

The Norwegian band released a statement that read: ‘This isn’t the sort of news anyone wants to deliver to the world, but here it is: Morten has Parkinson’s disease.’

In an interview about the diagnosis that serves as Harket’s statement on the matter, the 65-year-old said: ‘I’ve got no problem accepting the diagnosis. With time I’ve taken to heart my 94-year-old father’s attitude to the way the organism gradually surrenders: “I use whatever works.”‘

He elaborated: ‘Part of me wanted to reveal it. Like I said, acknowledging the diagnosis wasn’t a problem for me; it’s my need for peace and quiet to work that has been stopping me. I’m trying the best I can to prevent my entire system from going into decline.

Continue reading “A-ha Frontman Morten Harket, 65, Shares Emotional Statement After Parkinson’s Diagnosis”

Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley Reflects on 40 Years of ‘Last Christmas’: It’s ‘Part of the Fabric of Christmas’ – ‘Last Christmas’ Makes it To First Place in UK in 2024

Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley Reflects on 40 Years of ‘Last Christmas’: It’s ‘Part of the Fabric of Christmas’

Wham! make chart history as Last Christmas takes festive number one spot for second time in a row

December 20, 2024

Wham! have made chart history, with Last Christmas becoming the first song to be crowned Christmas number one two years in a row.

‘Last Christmas’ Tops UK Charts for Second Consecutive Year as Anniversary of George Michael’s Death Looms

Michael died unexpectedly at the age of 53 on Christmas Day 2016

By Ingrid Vasquez
Published on December 20, 2024

It’s a bittersweet time of the year as Wham!’s “Last Christmas” reaches the top of the UK charts for the second year in a row.

On Friday, Dec. 20, the Official Charts Company announced that the 1984 track, released by the duo made up of Andrew Ridgeley and the late George Michael, had become the first song in chart history ever to clinch two consecutive Christmas Number 1 victories.

The achievement makes the beloved track, written and produced by Michael, this week’s most streamed and physically purchased song.

Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley reflects on 40 years of ‘Last Christmas’: It’s ‘part of the fabric of Christmas’

by Chuck Arnold
Dec. 20, 2024

When Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley first heard George Michael give up his heart on “Last Christmas,” he knew the beloved yule tune was something special. lastChristmasNYP

The magic moment happened when the holiday spirit hit his late bandmate in his childhood bedroom in London.

“We were killing time around his mom and dad’s house. It was a Sunday afternoon, and the soccer was on TV,” Ridgeley, 61, told The Post. “And George disappeared upstairs [where] he had a little Fostex four-track recording studio, which used a cassette tape to record four tracks onto. And [he] came back about an hour later and said, ‘Andy, Andy, you gotta come upstairs and listen to this!’”

What Ridgley heard “written on the spot” was the beginning of the “Last Christmas” journey to 40 years of festive feels.

“He’d written the bare-bones keyboard track, the basic drum track and a bit of the verse and the chorus,” he recalled. “And it was an amazing moment … I knew it was a hit record. We’d had a few by then, so we were able to recognize them when we heard them.”

Continue reading “Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley Reflects on 40 Years of ‘Last Christmas’: It’s ‘Part of the Fabric of Christmas’ – ‘Last Christmas’ Makes it To First Place in UK in 2024”

Prince and Kylie Minogue’s Lost 1992 Collab ‘Baby Doll’ Leaks Online

Prince and Kylie Minogue’s Lost 1992 Collab ‘Baby Doll’ Leaks Online

Kylie Minogue and Prince’s lost song ‘Baby Doll’ leaks online 32 years after it was created

Minogue has spoken about the song in interviews for years and it has lyrics she confirmed were in the song in 2018

By Emma Wilkes
15th December 2024

Kylie Minogue and Prince‘s lost collaboration ‘Baby Doll’ has surfaced online 32 years after it was created. kyliePrince

The funk-laden version that has landed online features lyrics that Minogue confirmed were in the song in 2018: “Let me be your baby doll, sugar and spice and all things nice/ Let me be your paradise.”

… Minogue has spoken about the track’s existence in interviews for years and has mentioned that her record label wasn’t interested in the idea of him producing it all himself, so she never got to record it. She has also mentioned that the Prince Estate might also have a copy.

Prince and Kylie Minogue’s Lost 1992 Collab ‘Baby Doll’ Leaks Online

Originally recorded during Prince’s ‘Diamonds and Pearls’ tour, Minogue’s label reportedly prevented her from recording her own additions to the track.

By Tyler Jenke
12/15/2024

Thirty-two years after virtuosic rocker Prince and Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue teamed up for a collaboration, their-previously unheard efforts have now reportedly been leaked online.

The track, titled “Baby Doll”, has been discussed at length by fans of the Purple One, with its origins tracing back to the Australian leg of Prince’s Diamonds and Pearls tour in April and May of 1992. Recorded at Sydney’s Studios 301 during his visit to the country, Prince and Minogue reportedly connected during the former’s performance at London’s Earl’s Court in June of the same year.

Continue reading “Prince and Kylie Minogue’s Lost 1992 Collab ‘Baby Doll’ Leaks Online”

Unreleased Michael Jackson Tapes Discovered in Abandoned Storage Unit (2024)

Unreleased Michael Jackson Tapes Discovered in Abandoned Storage Unit (2024)

Unheard Michael Jackson music unearthed in abandoned storage unit

Excerpts:

The songs were recorded between 1989 and 1991 and will never be released to public, per his estate mj_Unreleased

Dec 18, 2024
By Surej Singh

A total of 12 tapes were uncovered, dating between 1989 and 1991. According to Musgrove’s inventory list, at total of 15 unheard songs were found on the tapes, some of which had previously been teased, or have had snippets leaked.

Some songs have been completely unheard of.

Among those unreleased songs is a collaboration with LL Cool J titled ‘Truth On Youth’ – earlier this year the rapper confirmed they had recorded music together but that the songs weren’t “good enough” to be released.

… According to The Hollywood Reporter, it appears that outside of Jackson’s estate, it seems Musgrove would be the only one to hear the tapes. Musgrove and his attorney approached Jackson’s estate with the tapes, but noted that the late King Of Pop’s estate declined to purchase the tapes.

Unreleased Michael Jackson Tapes Discovered in Abandoned Storage Unit

Excerpts:

by Nicole Fell
December 12, 2024

How one Ventura County stay-at-home dad came into possession of material recorded between 1989 and 1991 by the King of Pop.

When former California Highway Patrol officer turned stay-at-home dad Gregg Musgrove started “treasure hunting,” the 56-year-old certainly never imagined he’d end up with a king’s bounty — the King of Pop, that is.

A trove of cassette and DAT tapes containing unreleased Michael Jackson tracks were found in a storage unit deep in the San Fernando Valley. Musgrove’s journey to the tapes began when an associate contacted him about a storage unit he’d recently bought in Van Nuys. The unit once belonged to Bryan Loren, a music producer and singer (whose current whereabouts are unknown, according to Musgrove).

Continue reading “Unreleased Michael Jackson Tapes Discovered in Abandoned Storage Unit (2024)”

The 200 Best Songs of The 1980s – from Rolling Stone Magazine

The 200 Best Songs of The 1980s – from Rolling Stone Magazine

The 200 Best Songs of The 1980s

Excerpts (only excerpts! I won’t reproduce the entire 200 song list):

The greatest hits of music’s wildest decade–hip-hop, synth-pop, indie rock, metal, Chicago house, Miami freestyle, ska, goth, reggae, acid house, and more

BY ROB SHEFFIELD
November 23, 2023

WELCOME TO THE jungle. We got fun and games. The Eighties are one of the weirdest eras ever for music. It’s a decade of excess. It’s also a decade of INXS. It’s got big hair, big drums, big shoulder pads.

Not to mention massive stars: Prince, Madonna, Michael, Bruce, Janet, Sade, Cher. New sounds and beats explode everywhere. Hip-hop takes over as the voice of young America. Glam-metal rocks the Sunset Strip. New Romantic synth-pop invades MTV. Thriller becomes history’s biggest hit. Music gets louder, crazier, messier. Do you know where you are? You’re in the Eighties, baby. top200_1980s_Songs_RS_2023

So let’s break it down: the 200 best songs of the Eighties, music’s most insane decade. The hits, the deep cuts, the fan favorites. A mix tape of pop classics, rockers, rappers, soul divas, new wavers, disco jams, country twangers, punk ragers, dance-floor anthems, smooth operators, and karaoke room-clearers. There’s all-time legends and one-hit wonders. …

#199 – Nena, ’99 Luftballons’ – 1983

A German girl sings about nuclear apocalypse, in a perky New Wave bop about the end of the world. Yet it’s also a doomy teen romance, at a time when half the hits on the radio were about the end of the world. The English version “99 Red Balloons” still rules the karaoke bars. But Nena sounds even harsher and cooler in German—oh, the way she snarls “Kriegminister.”

#164 – Dexy’s Midnight Runners, ‘Come On Eileen’ – 1983

Kevin Rowland and crew trotted out of the U.K. to score this Celtsploitation banger, with Irish fiddles blazing and “too-rye-aye” chants.

They went right to one-hit-wonder heaven in the U.S. Great line: “At this moment, you mean everything.”

#155 – Billy Idol, ‘White Wedding’ – 1982

Billy Idol lets it rip in “White Wedding,” rebel-yelling about sex and religion and shotguns. billlyIdol_bw

This was the summer-of-‘82 hit that established Billy as one of the Eighties’ great rock & roll fame sluts, and he sure had some stiff competition.

#150 – Young MC, ‘Bust A Move’ – 1989

You want it, baby, you got it. “Bust a Move” sums up that brief moment in the late Eighties when hip-hop was taking over the pop world, and absolutely nobody was mad about it—The Source loved “Bust a Move” as much as Downtown Julie Brown did.
Young M.C.’s rhymes like “you say neato, take your libido, go to the church in your new tuxedo” were too clever to resist, over a slamming Delicious Vinyl beat as Flea wilds out on his bass. Anybody know how long his best friend Harry’s brother Larry’s marriage lasted?

Continue reading “The 200 Best Songs of The 1980s – from Rolling Stone Magazine”

Houdini by Dua Lipa – Music Suggestion for Generation X

Houdini by Dua Lipa – Music Suggestion for Generation X

I recommended several pop songs by Dua Lipa in a previous post.

Dua Lipa is releasing a new album in a few months, and she’s released a song off that new album already.

The song is called “Houdini,” and in my opinion, it has a fairly catchy melody.

It’s also my view that out of all the current pop singers under the age of 40 that Dua Lipa is the only one putting out music that is consistently on par (or that’s similar to) 1980s era music (which is to say, much of her music is catchy and good quality), unlike the other current singers under age 45 – 40, each of whom have 3 or 4 decent songs, but the rest of their catalog consists of very bland or under-whelming songs.

I hope there are many other good songs on her upcoming album.

Dua Lipa’s ‘Houdini’ Unlocks No. 1 Debut on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Chart

The song also sparks her highest career Billboard Hot 100 debut.

by Gary Trust
November 20, 2023

Dua Lipa works her magic on multiple Billboard charts dated Nov. 25 with her new single, “Houdini.” Among other entrances, it begins as her first No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.

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Original Animatronic E.T. Head, Back to the Future Hoverboard, and Michael Keaton’s Full Batman Returns Suit Will Be Up For Auction (2023)

Original Animatronic E.T. Head, Back to the Future Hoverboard, and Michael Keaton’s Full Batman Returns Suit Will Be Up For Auction (2023)

Original animatronic E.T. head and Michael Keaton’s full Batman Returns suit will be up for auction next month

by Brian Gallagher
November 20, 2023

Sci-fi, fantasy and superhero fans with some extra cash burning a hole in their pockets will have a chance to take home some iconic genre items next month.

Julien’s Auctions will debut its Robots, Wizards, Heroes & Aliens: Contemporary Hollywood Auction from December 14-17.

The centerpiece of the auction will be an original ‘hero’ mechanical animatronic head used in the 1982 classic E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, created by Carlo Rambaldi.

A full animatronic E.T. model previously sold at Julien’s Auction for $2.5 million, with this original head expected to fetch between $800,000 and $1 million.

There will also be items from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Comics movies, Harry Potter and much more going under the hammer.

One of the other top-dollar items expected to fetch in the mid-six-figures is the Model B-9 ‘The Robot‘ from the iconic 1960s TV series Lost in Space.

This is one of just two full-scale models of the robot that was made for the show’s three season run, which is still functional and one of the rarest artifacs from the era.

There will also be a number of items going on the block as part of Warner Bros.’ 100 year anniversary celebration, including a film-worn costume from 1992’s Batman Returns.

Continue reading “Original Animatronic E.T. Head, Back to the Future Hoverboard, and Michael Keaton’s Full Batman Returns Suit Will Be Up For Auction (2023)”

Next Big Thing by West Rose – Music Suggestion for Gen X

Next Big Thing by West Rose – Music Suggestion for Gen X

There is very little information about this singer online. Here is one of the pages I found:

West Rose

West Rose is a Canadian musician and songwriter.

Her song “Next Big Thing” is featured in the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law episode Ribbit and Rip It.

I’ve never watched “She-Hulk,” and I don’t remember where I first heard the song.

Continue reading “Next Big Thing by West Rose – Music Suggestion for Gen X”