Rolling Stone April 20, 2017

MUSIC THE DAMNED TURN 40 Four decades ago, the Damned were the U.K.’s undisputed punk pioneers – the first band of its kind to land a single, an album and a U.S. tour. We catch up with the Damned as they mount a North American tour this summer, sitting down to discuss the anniversary, their lasting legacy and their upcoming new album. POLITICS TRUMP’S WILD FIRST 100 DAYS A look back at all that America has been through in the past 12 weeks – the scandals, the travel bans, the health care disaster, the investigations and the many angry tweet storms. INTERVIEW LIFE AFTER ‘DOWNTON’ Actor Dan Stevens talks about leaving Downton Abbey, his lead role in Beauty and the Beast, the new indie drama The Ticket – and WTF is happening on the sci-fi hit Legion. MUSIC ‘RESISTANCE RADIO’…

Sheeran Shines Patrick Doyle on Ed Sheeran [“Hardcore Troubadour,” RS 1283]. Simple melodies and a normal life: What else do we need from the hardcore troubadour? Gilbert B. Battung, San Ramon, CA grown with each successive album. The first time I watched him performing solo – as he put down one instrumental track on top of another to do the entire song himself – gave me shivers. Johhnny T, via the Internet about Sheeran, this guy has the ability to go in front of thousands of people with just a guitar and a loop pedal and kill it. Jimmy, via the Internet DeVos’ Mission public-school teacher, and I’m appalled by Betsy DeVos, her family and associates [“Betsy DeVos’ Holy War,” RS 1283]. I know I have to have faith in the caring people of the world and cast…

1. Kendrick Lamar “The Heart Part 4” The rap god at his most gloriously pissed off, ripping into everyone from Trump to Kevin Durant: “No peers, no scars, no fear, fuck y’all, sincere.” Can’t front on that. 2. Gorillaz feat. Popcaan “Saturnz Bars” Damon Albarn’s cartoon crew is about to release its first LP in six years. Here they team up with Jamaican dancehall singer Popcaan for some awesomely spacey dub-hop swagger. 3. Craig Finn “Jester & June” The Hold Steady frontman keeps getting closer to his Springsteen ideal, but this darkly majestic tale of dive bars, religion and drug deals gone weird is more Nebraska than Born to Run. 4. Perfume Genius “Slip Away” Singer-producer Mike Hadreas (a.k.a. Perfume Genius) specializes in turning his insecurities into sly synth-pop anthems – and this bright anti-hater banger is the best one he’s…

The Yes frontman – on tour with the Yes offshoot band Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman – is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 2017 class. The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” The Beatles were a very progressive band. It’s a very interesting lyric, dark and strange. No matter how many times you hear it, it still sounds amazing. Nina Simone “I Put a Spell on You” In the early days of my career, I would always carry around a Nina Simone tape. She went through hell to become a great artist. Jimi Hendrix “Purple Haze” I saw him play at a pub in Munich right after his first album came out. This song was really the beginning of powerful rock. Rickie Lee Jones “Magazine” She’s definitely one of the greatest singer-song- writers of all time. My wife and I saw her…

F the upcoming Grateful Dead documentary Long Strange Trip was both moving and unsettling. “It’s charming and it’s heartfelt,” says the drummer. “But it’s sad in some ways. It’s not a date movie. I wouldn’t take my wife to see it.” The four-hour film (which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and will appear on Amazon Prime Video in June) is the first comprehensive documentary to tell the story of the Dead. Directed by Amir Bar-Lev (who previously directed The Tillman Story, about football player-turned-U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman) and executive-produced by Martin Scorsese, it does not shy away from the dark forces that led to the death of frontman Jerry Garcia. At one point, the surviving members theorize what they could have done as he slipped into…

D Sixties and early Seventies, Jimmy Webb was arguably the most successful mainstream songwriter alive, churning out sweeping, richly orchestrated hits for Glen Campbell, Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra, among others. Yet while that success made him famous, it also saddled him with a “middle of the road” reputation that was totally out of step with his actual lifestyle. “I’m out partying for three days at a time and plowing a furrow through London’s underground, and I’m perceived as this squeaky-clean writer,” he says. Webb’s new memoir, The Cake and the Rain, follows his rise from Oklahoma preacher’s son to L.A. pop aristocrat. At the heart is his struggle to carve out his own identity while living a double life as a Middle American song poet with countercultural artistic dreams. One…