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Roger Daltrey says contemporary music is suffering from a lack of great lead singers, and TV shows such as American Idol are partly to blame. Speaking to the Associated Press, the veteran frontman said, “A lot of the new people they choose on shows like American Idol and things like that — I don’t ever hear lead singers. They always seem to pick people that are great singers, fabulous singers, but they’ve never got the voice that makes a great lead singer.”

Daltrey went on to cite several examples of lead vocalists he considers top-tier. “You hear ten seconds of Rod Stewart, you know it’s Rod Stewart,” he said. “Ten-seconds of Mick Jagger, that’s Mick Jagger. Ten-seconds of Eddie Vedder, you know that’s Eddie.”

As regards the younger crowd, he did name one exception to what he considers the dearth of great vocalists. “I love Adele,” he said, referring to the British soul singer whose sophomore disc, 21, is the top-selling album in both the U.S. and the U.K. this year. “That’s a lead singer, [she’s] the real deal.”

Daltry performs in Winnipeg @MTS Center Nov. 2.

PINK FLOYD DRUMMER NICK MASON MONDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 ON LATE NIGHT W/JIMMY FALLON

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THE “SHINS” PERFORM “BREATHE” MONDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 ON LATE NIGHT W/JIMMY FALLON

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ROGER WATERS SPEAKS W/JIMMY
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ROGER WATERS PERFORMS “IN THE FLESH” WITH THE FOO FIGHTERS TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 27 ON LATE NIGHT W/JIMMY FALLON!

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MGMT PERFORMING “LUCIFER SAM” WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2011 ON LATE NIGHT W/JIMMY FALLON

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COUNTRY STAR DIERKS BENTLEY PERFORMS “WISH YOU WERE HERE” LAST NIGHT (THURSDAY) SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 ON LATE NIGHT W/JIMMY FALLON!

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The long and adventurous career of Aerosmith is chronicled with words, photos and an impressive display of merchandise and memorabilia in the new book ‘Aerosmith: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Boston Bad Boys.’

The book features 200 oversized pages filled with detailed insider accounts of the band’s rise, fall, resurrection and current drama-filled reign atop the rock and roll mountaintop.

It also includes a ridiculous amount of pictures featuring the band backstage and in action, as well as photos of backstage passes, magazine ads and t-shirts from each of the band’s albums and tours.

Everything from the band’s formation in 1970 to the controversy caused within the band by Steven Tyler taking a job as a judge on ‘American Idol’ last year is covered in great detail by author Richard Bienstock and an extensive list of contributing journalists.

One of the most impressive things about ‘Ultimate Illustrated History,’ in fact, is the way that all eras of Aerosmith’s history are covered in equal detail.

The commercially unsuccessful (and highly underrated) 1985 reunion album ‘Done With Mirrors,’ for example, is explored in full. Both the story behind its creation and an in-depth critical review are included, just as they are for more famous and better-selling albums such as ‘Toys in the Attic’ and ‘Permanent Vacation.’

Because of the comprehensive nature of the text, photos and memorabilia featured in this book, and its willingness to explore the ups and downs of Aerosmith’s career in nearly equal measure, ‘Aerosmith: the Ultimate Illustrated History’ paints a full, complete portrait of the band, and gives even the most knowledgeable fan some new things to look at and think about.

Who would have marked Mick Jagger a Facebook junkie? It’s true. It seems Jagger has moved passed his initial distaste for micro-blogging and social networking sites, confessing he now spends “way too much time” online looking up old chums.

“I spend way too much time on the computer and not enough time playing the guitar,” Jagger told Britain’s Daily Express. “There’s an underlying problem of this screen life taking over all of your life,” he added. “It’s easy to keep in touch with people, some of whom I wish I’d never kept in touch with. But there they are on Facebook.”

The Rolling Stones frontman had previously stated he needed to hire a personal assistant to update his online blogs, because he couldn’t stay current enough keep up with modern technology. So, apparently, those days are over.

Aside from updating his Facebook status, Mick Jagger is taking on his first starring film role in more than a decade, playing a media mogul in the movie TabloidJagged Films. , which he is creating with his own production company,

Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello may love crafting acoustic tracks about politics, war and civil rights, but don’t expect him to write about romantic love. Ever.

When asked by CNN if he might someday write a real love song, Morello, reportedly, rolled his eyes in antipathy. “Why do people keep asking me that?” he said, before hurling into a lovey-dovey, tongue-and-cheek jam. “Try making babies to that!”

“That guy’s made plenty of baby-making songs,” Morello added, motioning to singer-songwriter Ben Harper, who was in the other room.

Morello are Harper were together to promote a Chicago show in support of labor unions. Morello recently collaborated with Harper for a track, the soulful “Save the Hammer for the Man,” on Morello’s latest Nightwatchman album, World Wide Rebel Songs.

“We were playing a show in Chicago for some union issue, and some of the other musicians on the bill were grousing about not getting paid,” Morello said. “One of the other musicians canceled the show because he had to return to his vineyard. We were on the phone kind of moaning about this, and Ben said, ‘Tom, you let me know if you want me to put the hammer down.’ And I said, ‘Ben, save the hammer for the man.’ And we’re like, ‘Hold on. One day, that must be a song!’”

Morello says he and Harper come from the same background, “from the ethnicity of our parents to quite a number of things.”

He added that he’ll always felt a bit like an outsider: “I was the only black kid in an all-white town. Then I was the only radical student in a conservative high school. Then I was the only rock ’n’ roll guitar player at Harvard University. Then I was the only dude with a Harvard diploma in a Hollywood rock ’n’ roll band. So in some ways, there’s always been a sense of aloneness…”

Chris Cornell isn’t one to rest on his grunge rock laurels, and following a string of popular Soundgarden reunion shows, the frontman has surprised fans and announced he will release an album of live, solo Songbook tour performances on Nov. 21 via UMe. The set, which proceeds Soundgarden’s upcoming album, will feature some of his original solo songs, Soundgarden and Audioslave tracks plus a few covers. Soundgarden selections on the album include “Black Hole Sun,” “Fell on Black Days” and others, while Audioslave picks count “I Am the Highway” and “Like a Stone.”

Cornell also has jump-started the hype machine by releasing a new single, “The Keepers.” The track comes from the soundtrack to Marc Forster’s Machine Gun Preacher. And Cornell is going out in full-force to promote the album, backing it with a long list of Songbook concerts which has him playing Nov. 1 in Memphis, Tenn., through Dec. 17 in San Diego, Calif.

As for Soundgarden’s upcoming release, Cornell told Artist Direct: “it’s shaping up to be loud and heavy. “… No matter what, Soundgarden is always going to be heavier. However, I also think musically the new Soundgarden stuff is different than anything we’ve ever done,” he said. “Having said that, I think that’s a theme we’ve always had. I think every time we’ve made a record it wasn’t really that easy to compare it to the previous one—other than that we’re the same band. I think may be some moments that are sort of sonically quieter and more stripped-down. On the whole, it’s a rock record. That’s what we do.”

Despite being famed teetotalers, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have announced official KISS wine and KISS beer. The legendary band has partnered with Rewine to bring the alcoholic beverages to Europe. No U.S. release has been revealed yet, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.

KISS Zin Fire is a 2010 California Zinfandel that combines blackberry and pepper. KISS Destroyer Beer is a German beer with “balanced flavor” that will be available in cans and bottles.

“This isn’t just something we put a label on,” Stanley said in a statement. “We wanted wine and beer unique to KISS and we got it. This stuff will set your taste buds on fire.”

Simmons added: “If you love beer and wine, this one is for you!”

The wine is hitting Sweden, Norway and Finland first, then coming to Denmark, The Netherlands and the U.K. The wine is available now, but the beer won’t be available until next month.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of Metallica bassist Cliff Burton’s death. In remembrance of him, the band’s drummer Lars Ulrich (pictured left) gave a personal and emotional account of him in Revolver’s January/February “Fallen Heroes” issue (available here). He had so many great stories about Burton, we couldn’t fit them in the magazine. So, in reverence, here is everything Ulrich had to say about Burton.
REVOLVER What do you remember about the first time you saw him?
LARS ULRICH I had just never really seen anything quite like it. It was just unique and so original. And there was just this incredible stage presence and this uniqueness to the whole vibe. I had just never seen anything like it. It was new, it was different. And obviously you could tell there was an incredible ability, and there was a stage presence, and all this type of stuff wrapped up in this incredible type of personality. And I think we were a little intimidated by him in the beginning because he was just so unique.

But then as we got to know him a little bit, and I sort of started courting him to try and jump ship [from his band Trauma], then I started realizing he was a pretty chill dude. But he was also pretty firm on the fact that L.A. was not for him. ’Cause me and James were trying to get him to come down to L.A., and he just wasn’t into that. He was really rooted up here [near San Francisco], he really was a kind of a Northern California…almost a hillbilly like. I mean, there’s a lot of different vibes up here, and there’s definitely a kind of unique vibe in Castro Valley and Hayward and stuff. And he was a real, really rooted where it came from. And he was probably, certainly speaking for myself, I was much more of a gypsy. When we traveled and stuff like that, he was the first guy to want to go home. And he was the one who was probably at the strongest of roots of all of us. He had family and kind of a history. Me and James were more loners.

He seems like he was laidback.
He didn’t hurt people. He didn’t cross the line, but he was certainly always up for being part of stirring some shit up. But more like a rascal point of view then someone who was out to hurt people. So it was more fun and games. He would fake fight or whatever, throw some kind of fake punches, but he would never throw any real punches. I don’t think I ever saw Cliff in a fight. I don’t think I ever saw Cliff get into heated exchanges or anything. I mean, he was a pretty chill guy. And it never got nasty or unpleasant.

What are your fondest memories of him?
My fondest memories of Cliff are his total disregard for convention and his total disregard for playing things out the way you expected them. He was up to challenge the normalcy, to challenge the status quo, to just fuck with things musically, attitude-wise—the way he dressed, the way he carried himself, his sense of humor, his relationship with the music that inspired him, the music that he played. It was always very unconventional, and it was very unusual. You could certainly argue that me and James [Hetfield] at that time were more kind of the squarer guys, ’cause we were more like, “Motörhead, Iron Maiden!” Heavy metal T-shirts, and long hair and bang our heads into the wall. Cliff was just so fast in his palette of things that he was into and things that were inspiring him and the things that he was doing. So it was definitely his music, and his attitude, and his approach towards life that really inspired me and James to broaden our horizons, broaden Metallica’s horizons musically. So when I think of Cliff, that’s what I think…that’s just kind of variety and unpredictability, you know.

What are some of the bands he turned you on to?
First of all, he was classically trained and really knew his way around classical music. He actually studied classical music at college. So he’s sitting there talking about Johann Sebastian Bach, talking about some of these kind of cool classical things. And I had heard some of these words thrown around when Richie Blackmore was talking about his influences, but it was not something I had ever been exposed to.

Then he was also really…you know, this whole Southern thing. I mean, obviously I was aware of Skynyrd and had an appreciation for some of their heavier moments. But he was so immersed in Skynyrd and .38 Special and ZZ Top and the Allman Brothers and all of these things that kind of came in the wake of that Black Oak Arkansas. And the Outlaws and all that stuff, there was a whole kind of thing there.

He was also really into a lot of kind of progressive stuff like Yes, and Peter Gabriel, and a lot of f prog rock. And he was a hardcore Rush fanatic. Certainly I had an appreciation of Rush, but not to the level that he did. So there was a whole kind of array of things.

When I met Cliff in ’81, I had been through a lot of different musical experiences myself. But at that time, the things that were inspiring me to play music and so on were…I can’t say that Lynyrd Skynyrd was a particularly big inspiration for me to start playing drums. It was much more narrow. Iron Maiden and Deep Purple and Judas Priest and Diamond Head and Angel Witch, and the stories been told a thousand times. And the New Wave of British Heavy Metal stuff, and Cliff was just so wide in his scope. I played him Diamond Head. He liked some of their stuff, he liked some of Iron Maiden’s energy. He liked Witchfinder General, some of that stuff. But he also, he was a little more selective in what he liked, where me and James were more sort of like, Dude, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, it rocks! Where some of it you can argue 20, 30 years later was not as good some of the other stuff. There were hit and misses in there.

But Cliff was sort of into Peter Gabriel, the Police. Some of the stuff, I mean, it wasn’t the enemy because I was aware of the fact that there was musical integrity there. But I can’t tell you I knew much about what the Police were doing other then five songs I’d heard on the radio. But all of the sudden, in between the Diamond Head tapes and the Iron Maiden tapes being played on the tour buses and in the shitty vans, the fuckin’ Police album Zenyattà Mondatta would come on. Or what was that Yes album? 90125 or whatever. Some of that stuff would come on. It would just be nice. He loved to play some early ZZ Top. I just didn’t really know my way around Tres Hombres or the rest of those albums until Cliff started pounding them in our direction.

What do you think of him when you look back at it all now?
He was really cool. It was, obviously other than losing a brother, it would’ve been the more… I would’ve been interested to see what else he could’ve contributed, because it felt like we were just getting started. We just started playing “Orion” again on the last run, in the last two weeks [when Metallica were preparing for the Big Four concert in April]. So playing “Orion,” I think we played it like three times in the last two weeks. You sit there and all of a sudden go, Fuck! What a, just, incredible piece of music. And just so unique. And it would’ve been interesting to see what else would’ve been in that vast well of stuff that he could’ve shared with the rest of us. That will forever be the curiosity element. But I’m so glad that I got a chance to play with him for a couple, three years. And got a chance to know him, and got a chance to drink with him, and all the shenanigans that probably shouldn’t be printed in a nice, family publication like Revolver. But it definitely was a pretty nutty time, and at the time we certainly embraced what life was offering us. And accelerated it to a “mach 10,” as James used to say on stage.

Bob Dylan‘s latest collection of paintings has come under fire by art buffs. The works of art for the singer’s ‘The Asia Series’ collection went on display at the Gagosian Gallery in New York City on Sept. 20 and quickly came under question as being possibly plagiarized.

Dylan was reportedly inspired by his travels to the Far East for this paintings, but The New York Times reports that art critics are raising their eyebrows and are calling the paintings direct copies of photographs that are from the 20th century and are widely available. Case in point: Dylan’s ‘Trade,’ which is said to be influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photo from 1948. The similarities are striking. If you view both images, they look like two slightly different renderings of the same scene.

The Gagosian issued a statement on the matter on Monday, saying: “While the composition of some of Bob Dylan’s paintings is based on a variety of sources, including archival, historic images, the paintings’ vibrancy and freshness come from the colors and textures found in everyday scenes he observed during his travels.”

Dylan himself isn’t forthcoming when questioned about his sources of inspiration. In the exhibition’s catalog, Dylan said, “I paint mostly from real life. It has to start with that. Real people, real street scenes, behind the curtain scenes, live models, paintings, photographs, staged setups, architecture, grids, graphic design. Whatever it takes to make it work. What I’m trying to bring out in complex scenes, landscapes or personality clashes, I do it in a lot of different ways. I have the cause and effect in mind from the beginning to the end. But it has to start with something tangible.”

The day after a seriously rocking performance of a track from “The Wall” on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Tuesday – with the Foo Fighters, no less (see it here) – comes news that Roger Waters will be bringing his live show of the Pink Floyd classic back to the States for a return engagement next year.

And it’s occasionally going to be a super-size trip, including some U.S. stadium shows in cities like New York, Chicago and Boston.

“There are quite a few markets we didn’t cover last time, like Austin,” Waters tells Rolling Stone. “But we want to base the tour around Saturday nights in baseball stadiums. As we speak, I’m at my office working on an outdoor version of the show.”

Pink Floyd played live versions of The Wall in 1980 and 1981, and Waters spent the last year reviving it – but it’s always been an indoor show. “We’re going to be projecting over 140 yards,” he says. “So now it’s going to be 1,500 pixels wide. We’ve done light tests and Fenway Park and Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium just to see what the ambient light is like. And it’s fine. It works. We’ve taken part of the Wall and the projectors into those three places.”

When the American tour ends next summer, Waters will have been on the road for nearly two years. “They’re trying to get me back to Europe next year,” says Waters. “But I think I’ll be completely cooked by the end of July next year.”

This may be Waters’ last big tour. “I’m not sure I want to go out and do the greatest hits again,” he says. “Which just sucks. What I love to do is theater in a rock & roll context. I think if I did any more in the future, it might well be smaller.”

A massive Pink Floyd reissue campaign launched this week, one which sees the re-release of 14 of the band’s studio albums covering 1967-1994…including “The Wall,” of course.