Death Rebel Music

02/21/2025

02/16/2025

Many first knew him as "the cake man," a joyful presence who went door to door selling slices of delicious cakes. After he opened a bakery, Steve Himelfarb created a king cake that helped usher in a new era of Carnival creativity around the tradition.

02/13/2025

HAPPY 64th BIRTHDAY HENRY ROLLINS 📸: Fernando Natalic

02/13/2025

NIRVANA bassist KRIST NOVOSELIC sides with CHAPPELL ROAN after her CONTROVERSIAL Grammy acceptance speech.

While accepting a Grammy for “Best New Artist” earlier this month, Chappell Roan called out the music industry for how record labels treat artists - specifically how they fail to provide things like health insurance.

“I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists,” she said in front of an arena filled with music executives. “Because I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor, and when I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt, and like so many people, I had a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and could not afford health insurance.”

She continued: “It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and so betrayed by the system and so dehumanized to not have health. And if my label would’ve prioritized artists’ health, I could’ve been provided care by a company I was giving everything to. So record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection. Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”

While her speech was largely praised, Roan did get some criticism from music executive Jeff Rabhan. In a Hollywood Reporter op-ed, Rabhan wrote, in part, that Roan is “far too green and too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today.”

Since Rabhan’s article was published, many artists have come to the defense of Roan. One unlikely person to chime in on the situation was Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, who wrote on Nirvana’s official Twitter/X account about how he and his bandmates Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl were only able to get health insurance by joining an actors union.

“When Nirvana signed with a major label, our accountant suggested we join SAG-AFTRA. We did and I have had great health insurance for 35 years. — Krist,” he wrote, making the point that the music business treats their artists far less favorably than the movie and TV business.

Roan has since put her words into action, donating $25k to “struggling dropped artists,” and challenging Rabhan to do the same.

02/11/2025

🔗: bit.ly/3WXf9W9
David Johansen, the singer from the seminal punk band New York Dolls, has stage 4 cancer, his daughter shared in a statement announcing fundraising efforts to care for his illness. l 📷: Getty

01/19/2025

01/12/2025

01/11/2025