Rolling Stone January 12, 2017

POLITICS INAUGURATION DAY 2017 On January 20th, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. Follow our complete coverage of his inauguration, including dispatches from the weekend’s celebrations and reports from the frontlines of protests against the new administration. MUSIC A VISIT WITH TOMMY STINSON With the Replacements’ reunion over, and having left Guns N’ Roses, the legendary bassist talks about reigniting his Nineties band Bash and Pop for a new LP. Slenderman doc CULTURE THE STORY OF SLENDERMAN A dive into the new HBO documentary Beware the Slenderman – tracing the terrifying meme that shook America – through interviews with the filmmakers and more. MOVIES INSIDE LOOK AT SUNDANCE From hot docs to cringe comedies, we check out the films creating buzz in Park City, Utah – including the sequel to An Inconvenient Truth and…

Love Letters & Advice Stones Roll Back AFTER SO MANY ISSUES CONtaining tributes to artists we lost in 2016, what a joy to celebrate the end of the year with the Stones [“Back to the Blues,” RS 1275] and their tribute to the blues and their heroes. Robert Ooms Canton, MI I AM A PASSIONATE FAN OF the Rolling Stones, but I admit the prospect of a tossed-off blues-covers album leaves me a whole lot less than salivating, even if Eric Clapton lends his talents to the project. Surprise me, Mick and Keith, like you always have in the past. Ron Jennings, via the Internet ONE THING THAT KEITH Richards has demonstrated over the years is a complete willingness to shoot his mouth off. While this highly intelligent man can be exceedingly charming, candid and insightful, sometimes…

1. Young M.A. “Eat” Brooklyn’s Young M.A. is among the most exciting hip-hop voices to emerge in years – a thugged-out lesbian who chomps through beats like a classic New York rhyme-slayer. On “Eat,” she lashes out at rap homophobes and makes “I beat the pussy like Bam Bam” feel like a call to arms. 2. The Jesus and Mary Chain “Amputation” The noise-rock icons’ influence is still all over. Their first LP in 18 years is on the way, and if this dizzy slice of psycho-candy is any indication, it should be worth the wait. 3. Ryan Adams “Do You Still Love Me?” Adams crushes an over-the-top Eighties power ballad with vocal firepower that recalls Foreigner’s Lou Gramm. 4. At the Drive In “Governed by Contagions” The first new song since 2000 from these Texas metal-punk firebrands adds a welcome…

Taylor Goldsmith My Five Favorite Songs of 2016 The Dawes frontman is heading on a big U.S. tour this year with his band in support of its new LP, We’re All Gonna Die. Cass McCombs “It” He brought in opera singers for this one. It was a really bold move. He says things like, “It is not wealth to have more than others.” He’s fearless. Jim James “Here in Spirit” He wrote this as a protest song after the Orlando shootings. That’s a dicey move in these cynical times, but it’s beautiful. Okkervil River “Frontman in Heaven” This begins as a waltz, and by the end it’s the loudest thing on the LP. You feel like it’s flying out of them without them being able to control it. Leonard Cohen “Leaving the Table” There are lines like “You don’t need a lawyer/I’m not making…

IN LATE NOVEMBER, 40 years to the month after their debut album was released, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers got together to jam at their rehearsal space in L.A. “We mainly did cover songs,” says keyboardist Benmont Tench. “When we get together, we tend to do a lot of Chicago-style blues songs, but Tom was also making up songs on the spot. We were shaking off the rust.” The rust had built after a three-year hiatus from touring, the band’s longest break in 25 years. But the Heartbreakers are making up for lost time in a big way, with a 40th-anniversary tour that begins in April and runs through August. Besides the anniversary, there’s another reason the tour could stand out: It might be, Petty says, “the last big one. I’m…

Guns N’ Roses JAN. 21-SEPT. 8 Against all odds, GNR’s “Not in This Lifetime” reunion tour went smoothly, with no late starts or signs of onstage tension from a band that fought famously. “Every day we do at least an hour soundcheck,” guitarist Richard Fortus recently said, “and we’ll play through different ideas, put stuff down on tape. It’s really organic.” Red Hot Chili Peppers JAN. 5-SEPT. 24 Coming off a European tour that produced their best ticket sales in more than a decade, the Chili Peppers return January 5th for a sweeping North American run. They’ve been playing all the hits, plus deeper tracks like “Aeroplane” and a cover of John Lennon’s “Watching the Wheels.” Bruno Mars MARCH 28-NOV. 11 After hitting Number One with 24K Magic, Mars sold 1 million-plus tickets for his…