Matthew Wilkening

Aerosmith is blessed with two gifted guitarists, but there’s no question it’s Joe Perry, and not Brad Whitford, who gets the lion’s share of the attention. During his weekend appearance on ‘That Metal Show,’ Whitford insisted that the disparity didn’t bother him. Well, O.K., maybe one time….

How close did the other members of Aerosmith actually come to replacing Steven Tyler (under a new band name) when they found out the singer was going to be spending part of his time judging ‘American Idol?’ Close enough to call Sammy Hagar, apparently.

Lynyrd Skynyrd place one foot in their past and one in the present, with mostly positive results, on their new album ‘Last of a Dyin’ Breed.’

‘Lover Alot,’ one of two new songs released simultaneously today from Aerosmith‘s upcoming album ‘Music from Another Dimension,’ proves the band can still deliver stripped-down rock with the best of their peers.

Heavy metal-loving sports fans in Nashville, Tenn. will be able to spot a fellow headbanger on the ice pretty easily during the NHL’s next season. That’s because Chris Mason, who played with the city’s Predators franchise throughout much of the ’00s, is returning to the team… and bringing along Iron Maiden‘s beloved mascot Eddie.

The Rolling Stones have promised to reveal “big news” to the world shortly, and apparently they’re going to do it via a new mobile device app named uView.

Lemmy from Motorhead joined Slash on stage in Boston, Mass. recently to perform ‘Doctor Alibi,’ their collaboration from Slash’s self-titled 2010 album. You can watch the whole thing right here.

As we reported earlier, fans of the Who and the Kinks‘ Ray Davies were quite disappointed to find out they’d sat through two and a half hours of the pomp that was the 2012 London Olympics closing ceremony, only to be denied the chance to watch their heroes perform at the big event.

Blue Oyster Cult will release a 17-disc box set entitled ‘The Columbia Album Collections’ through Sony Legacy on Oct. 30 in celebration of the 40th anniversary of their self-titled debut album.

Guns N’ Roses will perform a 12-show residency, entitled ‘Appetite for Democracy,’ at the Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fun kicks off on Oct. 31 and runs through Nov. 24.

Getting Eddie Van Halen to talk about the inspiration behind any of his songwriting efforts is rather difficult, in part because he refuses to take much credit for his work. “I’ve said plenty of times, I can’t claim to ever have really written anything. Because I don’t really feel like I’m responsible, it comes through me.”

During their Aug. 8 joint concert in Denver, Kiss and Motley Crue announced that they will be donating $100,000 to a relief fund set up to help victims of the July 20 movie theater shootings in nearby Aurora, Colo.