Rolling Stone August 24, 2017

TV STRANGE DAYS AHEAD As the world gets ready for another trip to Stranger Things’ Upside Down, we count down the 10 biggest questions we have going into Season Two. HIP-HOP THE FAT BOYS’ SECRET HISTORY The remaining MCs look back on how they brought rap to the mainstream in movies and on TV with their ’87 LP, Crushin’. ROCK CRÜE’S ‘GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS’ Nikki Sixx reflects on the drugs, women and music that defined the hair band’s Mötley-est year ever. DRUGS BEING A GOOD WEED CITIZEN As pot becomes increasingly legal, we offer a handy guide to avoid acting like an ass while getting stoned. REMEMBERING LINKIN PARK’S CHESTER BENNINGTON Producer Don Gilmore – who helmed Linkin Park’s 2000 debut, Hybrid Theory – and Machine Gun Kelly pay tribute to the late singer, as ROLLING STONE’s Kory Grow and Brittany Spanos join host…

The Game Master THE ARTICLE ON EMILIA Clarke offered insight even the most ardent Game of Thrones fans were probably unaware of [“The Queen of Dragons Tells All,” RS 1291/1292]. Jack Hathaway, San Antonio NOTING THE SADNESS OF losing her father at a young age, Clarke says there is “no guide” for the actual experience of grief. Having lost my dad when I was 12 years old, I recall being pleasantly surprised that there actually exist stages beyond plain despair. Richard A. Levine, M.D., Boca Raton, FL CLARKE INTIMATES THAT being treated differently than men on set is akin to racism. That’s an insult to any minority that has had to deal with a whole hell of a lot more adversity than having to arrive early for hair and makeup. Ian Howarth, via the Internet Climate Challenge BILL…

1. Mick Jagger “England Lost” A hard-hitting disco-blues screed about the state of the U.K. post- Brexit. Jagger delivers his news alert with grim resignation over a groove that suggests a mean-spirited “Miss You,” like he’s saying goodbye to an England he’ll never feel at home in again. 2. The Roots feat. Bilal “It Ain’t Fair” The Roots and singer Bilal cram a century of music into this panoramic epic – from gospel to Seventies soul to hip-hop – creating an ode to political struggle and everyday survival that plays like a history of the urban experience itself. 3. Jessie Ware “Midnight” U.K. R&B singer Ware uses her vocal firepower to light up the space between romance and reality – as if giving in to her desires is like falling through a plush trapdoor. 4. Lilly Hiatt “The Night David…

Rundgren just released White Knight, his 27th solo album, and is touring this fall with Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band. The Fixx “Stand or Fall” This is about what’s happening to the planet and how doing nothing is to lose. It has a bleak sound, which adds urgency. Red Rider “Lunatic Fringe” The undercurrent of indigence and violence and hate, as evidenced by the election of Trump, makes this an evergreen song. But now the lunatic fringe is no longer the fringe. The Call “The Walls Came Down” This became an anthem about having a party and fighting the powers that be. It’s got this great celebratory hoot at the end. Elvis Costello and the Attractions “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” He’s angry that people aren’t taking this stuff seriously, as in, “What’s so fucking funny?” It makes you want…

On the afternoon of may 26th, Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington gave a performance unlike any in his career. His close friend, Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, was being laid to rest at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. “My name is Chester,” Bennington told the mourners gathered there. “I had the great privilege of being a friend of Chris and invited to be a member of his family.” Then, accompanied by Linkin Park bandmate Brad Delson on guitar, he sang “Hallelujah.” Bennington had become famous in the early 2000s as the powerhouse voice of one of rock’s biggest bands, expressing himself through an angst-ridden scream, but that day his singing was different: plaintive, somber, fragile. He also paid tribute to Cornell on Twitter: “Your voice was joy and pain, anger…

On a los angeles morning, as the temperature climbs toward the triple digits, Julia Michaels rolls up for breakfast at a spot on Ventura Boulevard not far from her home, wearing a black turtleneck, floral-printed pants and one of the 16 pairs of Doc Martens she owns. “I never know how to dress for the right temperature,” she explains. At the curb sits her gray Ford Escape. “My mom car. I love it.” It’s not exactly the cruising vessel you’d imagine for a 23-year-old who has co-written a string of nine Hot 100 hits, including Justin Bieber’s “Sorry,” Selena Gomez’s “Hands to Myself,” Nick Jonas and Tove Lo’s “Close,” and “Issues,” the song that marked Michaels’ transition from songwriter to singer, and which has been comfortably lodged in the Top 40…