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A new docuseries about ’80s hair metal is headed to Paramount+.

Nöthin But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ‘80s Hair Metal is set to premiere later this year and will be based on the similarly titled book/oral history by journalists Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock.

Directed by Jeff Tremaine, the three-part series will dive into the hedonistic and wild world of ‘80s hard rock with interviews from Poison’s Bret Michaels, Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy, Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, Dave “Snake” Sabo of Skid Row, and MTV host Riki Rachtman, along with those who were influenced by the era such as Corey Taylor and Steve-o.

States the press release: “The series delivers a fresh and shockingly candid behind-the-scenes look at one of music’s most iconic eras. Each episode showcases the insanity and blazing ambition that has enthralled generations of music lovers and continues to influence culture to this day.

Lzzy Hale made her debut as Skid Row’s “acting front person” Friday as the glam metal act’s concert in Carterville, Illinois.

The Halestorm singer, who previously called fronting Skid Row her dream gig, led the band through over a dozen of the hits, including “18 and Life,” “Monkey Business,” and “Slave to the Grind.”

“I started listening Skid Row when I was a teenager growing up on the east coast in central Pennsylvania,” Hale wrote on social media in March. “They were one of the Only bands at that...

Sebastian Bach is confident that a reunion with his former band Skid Row will happen if they can sort out a lingering miscommunication.

We recently reported on Bach stating that he can “definitely see” a Skid Row reunion happening, and in a new interview, Baz revealed even more about where things stand with the band’s camp.

Get Sebastian Bach Tickets Here

“I found out something at the very last Kiss show that I did not know before the very last Kiss show. And it’s a major piece of miscommunication,” Sebastian told Eddie Trunk on the latter’s SiriusXM program [as transcribed by Blabbermouth]. “And I need to communicate with those guys because there’s been something that happened that is not accurate. I can’t tell you what it is, but the whole narrative of they don’t like me and I’m too crazy is complete bullshit. It’s not true.

The Masked Singer now has another glam-metal alum among its ranks after ex-Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach was revealed as Tiki on the singing competition show on Wednesday night (December 6th).

Inspired by previous appearances from Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider and Poison’s Bret Michaels on the show, Bach was convinced to don the massive head-to-toe disguise, becoming Tiki — a literal walking tiki cocktail. Fittingly, Bach performed a song by fellow rock legends Kiss (“I Was Made for Lovin’ You”) before the big reveal, as he was eliminated during the semifinals.

Panelist Nicole Scherzinger was correct in guessing that the former Skid Row frontman was Tiki, having previously shared a bill with Bach in 2006 and picking up on a clue related to Skid Row’s “Monkey Business.”

“It was 2006 and I was on the same bill as this legend and we saw the monkey clue for Skid Row’s song ‘Monkey Business,...

This Post Contains spoilers for this week’s episode of Fox’s The Masked Singer.

The Masked Singer panelists dressed the part riding Harleys, smearing red lipstick over dressing room mirrors, and chucking hand horns to the sky during a special rock and roll-themed night. While Group B finalists Tiki, Husky, and Sea Queen gave head-banging performances only Sea Queen would head to the finale. Husky was the first to be sent home and was revealed as R&b legend Ginuwine.

Tiki didn’t go home without a fight, and...

At least for anyone not closely tracking the stars of Disney’s awesomely titled High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Olivia Rodrigo’s smash single “Drivers License” seemed to come out of nowhere. In the latest episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Brittany Spanos and Rob Sheffield join host Brian Hiatt to explore the song’s teen-angst power, its gossipy possible origins, and how it reveals the overwhelming influence of Taylor Swift (and Lorde) on a new generation of artists. The episode also digs into some of...

There’s something utterly unique about all the great new music from the awful year of 2020: Almost none of it has yet been performed in front of a live audience, which makes the recordings feel all the more precious. Our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast rounded up some of last year’s best musical moments over the course of multiple episodes.

To hear the full episodes, press play below, or see all episodes and download and subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.

Jeff Ihaza joined us to go over the year in hip-hop,...

Hipgnosis Songs Fund, Primary Wave, and other firms are on a shopping spree for high-profile music catalogs, snapping up publishing rights from songwriters ranging from Bob Dylan to Stevie Nicks to Neil Young. But Diane Warren, who’s been writing hits for 37 years, from DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night” to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” to Toni Braxton’s “Un-Break My Heart,” says she has no intention of selling her songs to anyone.

Merck Mercuriadis, founder/CEO of Hipgnosis and a music-biz lifer, is...

From Black Lives Matter protests soundtracked by the late Pop Smoke’s “Dior” to the continued triumphs of Megan Thee Stallion to the Drake album we still haven’t heard, we look back at 2020 in hip-hop on the latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now – while also taking a look ahead at 2021. Senior editor Jeff Ihaza joins host Brian Hiatt for the discussion, which also touches on Lil’ Baby’s rise, the mystery of Kendrick Lamar’s next album, the mixed-at-best reception to Eminem’s last two releases, Kanye West...

For a uniquely brutal year, 2020 had more than its share of fantastic music, and in our latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, we look back at the year’s best albums, from Bad Bunny’s Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gan to Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You. (The podcast previously covered many of the albums on Rolling Stone’s list, via interviews with Dua Lipa, Phoebe Bridgers, and Jason Isbell, among others.) Brittany Spanos, Rob Sheffield, and Simon Vozick-Levinson join host Brian Hiatt for the discussion,...

Diane Warren is such a prolific — and relentless — songwriter that she was right in the middle of working on a new composition when she paused to join us for the latest episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. Warren, who has her first solo album, Diane Warren: The Cave Sessions Vol. 1, due later this year (with lead vocals from Darius Rucker, Celine Dion, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, and more), joined host Brian Hiatt to tell wild stories from more than three decades of hit-making. She touched on songs...

When our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast isn’t spotlighting interviews with current stars and music legends, it features music discussions and debates that span genres and eras. Here’s the best of 2020; press play below to listen now, or go to iTunes or Spotify to hear any episode and subscribe.

Claire Shaffer, Brittany Spanos, and Rob Sheffield join us to run through the remarkably consistent catalog of Fiona Apple, from this year’s acclaimed Fetch the Bolt Cutters to 1996’s Tidal.

We celebrate the 20th anniversary of Britney Spears’ second album,...

For most, it’s been almost an entire year without concerts, a previously unimaginable set of circumstances for fans, not to mention the musicians and behind-the-scenes workers who depend on live shows for their livelihood. Our weekly Rolling Stone Music Now podcast addressed the situation in multiple episodes; press play below to listen now, or go to iTunes or Spotify to hear any episode and subscribe.

Rob Sheffield and Andy Greene join host Brian Hiatt to share their picks for the greatest live albums ever made, while engineer Bob Pridden...

From a moving memoir written by one of pop’s greatest voices to a timely account of the life and times of a hip-hop genius, our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast went deep on many of the year’s best music books. Press play on the episodes below to listen now, or hear any episode and subscribe iTunes or Spotify.

Author Marcus J. Moore joins us to talk about his powerful book The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America, which intertwines two deeply related stories:...

Taylor Swift, for one, didn’t let this weird, sad year go to waste. With zero warning each time, she released and recorded two great albums, Folklore and Evermore. (At the same time, she quietly embarked on the task of re-recording her entire early catalog, after the rights to the original recordings landed in the hands of an investment fund, against her wishes.) Here’s how our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast covered a very Taylor Swift-y year — along with some earlier dives into Swift lore.

When Swift suddenly dropped Folklore,...

2020 was a year of painful losses, and the music world was no exception. Our weekly Rolling Stone Music Now podcast spotlighted the lives of some of the many musicians we lost this year, including one of rock & roll’s founders and two of rock’s greatest-ever virtuosos. Press play on the episodes below to listen now, or hear any episode and subscribe iTunes or Spotify.

We played never-before-heard audio of an interview with Eddie Van Halen, and interviewed biographer Greg Renoff, along with tributes from Tom Morello, Steve Vai, and Gene Simmons.

From hip-hop to Motown, music’s hottest names and some timeless legends stopped (virtually) by our weekly Rolling Stone Music Now podcast this year. Below are some of the highlights; press play on the episodes to listen now, or hear any episode and subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.

Dua Lipa talked about making her chart-topping, critically beloved Future Nostalgia, her reign as the queen of work-from-home pop stars, and more.

Motown legend Smokey Robinson joined us to tell the stories behind his best-known songs, from “My Girl” to “Cruisin’.”

Alanis Morissette...

The latest episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast is a definitive deep dive into Taylor Swift’s second surprise album of the year, Evermore. The discussion breaks down every track on the album, digging into fan theories, musical influences, and much more. Brittany Spanos and Rob Sheffield join host Brian Hiatt for the freewheeling episode, wherein our enthused panel manages to compare moments on the album to the works of Genesis, Mogwai, Natalie Maines, Sally Rooney, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, Carole King, Adam Duritz, and countless others.

To hear the entire episode,...

In the latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, we look back at the best songs from a year where we needed music more than ever. From the Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” to Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now,” Rob Sheffield, Brittany Spanos, Jon Dolan, and host Brian Hiatt discuss the year’s musical highlights.

“What struck me this year was the amount of consensus,” says Dolan, who put Rolling Stone‘s collective list together based on staff votes. “A lot of people really loving the same things. I...

The newest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now podcast is a special Musicians on Musicians edition, drawing on our recent package of one-of-a-kind interviews. The show starts off with Lil Wayne revealing the secrets of his craft to Lil Baby, moderated by Dewayne Gage. Next up is an intimate conversation on songwriting and the bumpy course of the music industry between two artists who are already friends, Brittany Howard and Margo Price, moderated by Marissa R. Moss. Finally, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and Phoebe Bridgers find an unexpected amount of...

In a recent episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Smokey Robinson looked back at his astonishing run of hits at Motown Records in the 1960s, and much more. Some highlights follow; to hear the entire interview with Robinson (who has a new autobiographical Audible release, Smokey Robinson: Grateful and Blessed, out now), press play below, or download and subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.

Decades before Kanye West promised to fix “Wolves” post-release, Motown founder Berry Gordy re-recorded “Shop Around” after it was already in stores.

“The record had...

Billy Idol has always pushed the boundaries of chronological time, starting with the anachronistic 1970s punk look he pushed all over 1980s MTV. Idol turned 65 on November 30th, three days after the release of Miley Cyrus’ new album, Plastic Hearts, which features a brand-new duet with him on the excellent track “Night Crawling,” reviving the synth-punk sound of his classics. In an interview on an episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Idol looked back at some of his formative moments and more. Some highlights follow; to hear the entire episode,...

One of the greatest songwriters ever, Smokey Robinson, looks back on his singular career in the latest episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, breaking down his artistic process and telling vivid tales of how he wrote “Shop Around,” “My Girl,” “My Guy,” “I Second That Emotion,” “Ooo Baby Baby,” and many other classic songs. Robinson, who has a new autobiographical Audible release, Smokey Robinson: Grateful and Blessed, out now, also talks about the early days of Motown Records, his friendships with Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, and Berry Gordy,...

With the Trump era about to come to a messy but definitive end, the latest episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast looks back at four years of bizarre and fraught battles over music. Why does Donald Trump think it’s smart to play Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” at his rallies? What does he think the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” is about? Why were there so few great anti-Trump songs (besides Yg and Nipsey Hussle’s “Fdt.)”?

Brittany Spanos and Rob Sheffield (who recently...

Whether it’s a Godzilla-sized Travis Scott stomping through the world of Fortnite, hit songs breaking through snippets on TikTok, K-Pop conquering the U.S., live-streamed concerts suddenly bringing in serious revenue, or Instagram Live artist battles landing at the center of pop culture, it’s not hard to find signs of a music industry transforming itself faster than ever.

In the latest episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Amy X. Wang, Samantha Hissong and Ethan Millman join host Brian Hiatt for a look at these changes,...

Kendrick Lamar is one of the most brilliant artists of the 21st century, but his path to greatness was a long one — and impossible to understand without the context of the struggle of black Americans during his rise to pop stardom. That’s the thesis of Marcus J. Moore’s deeply researched new book, The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America. In the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Moore joins host Brian Hiatt to tell the story of Lamar’s life and music (so far,...

Phoebe Bridgers, who released one of the year’s best albums, the exquisite Punisher, back in June, was the guest on a recent episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. She talked about her songwriting methods, the making of the album, and much more. Some highlights follow; to hear the entire interview, press play below, or download and subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.

She whisper-sings all of her song sketches into her phone’s voice memos app. “One time, my neighbor shouted through my open window, ‘shut the fuck up!

The late Eddie Van Halen — the subject of a special new Rolling Stone tribute package, including a digital cover story — and his bandmates have been at the center of multiple episodes of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast in recent years. Here’s a look at some of the highlights:

Most recently, we played a never-before-heard interview with Eddie, accompanied by a conversation with Greg Renoff, author of the deeply researched early-years biography Van Halen Rising, and tributes from Tom Morello, Steve Vai, and Kiss’ Gene Simmons.

Renoff dug into Eddie’s influences,...

In the new episode of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Brittany Spanos and Rob Sheffield join host Brian Hiatt to discuss Mariah Carey’s revelatory new memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey. The book, co-written by Michaela Angela Davis, reveals a Mariah who is far more complex than the public caricature of her — even as it captures her voice perfectly.

Related: Read Rob Sheffield’s Review of Mariah Carey’s Book

In the episode, we trace her story and revelations: From a childhood even more troubled than anyone knew...

When Sebastian Bach arrived at rock photographer Mark Weiss’ wedding to sing at the reception, he knew he needed to give it his all. He was a then-unknown, 19-year-old singer with mile-high hair and a glass-shattering shriek, and by the time of the wedding — which took place in Red Bank, New Jersey on June 14th, 1987 — he’d been bouncing between hard-rock groups in Canada and the States. He’d hit it off with Weiss at a photo shoot for Bach’s band at the time, Madam X, and the photographer liked him so much,...

Singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, who made one of the best albums of the year with June’s Punisher, talks about her songwriting process, her influences, her many collaborations, her future, and much more in a deep and funny conversation with host Brian Hiatt on the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now.

To hear the entire interview, press play below, or download and subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.

Bridgers, who named her new record label Saddest Factory and has written some of the most sublime sad songs of recent years,...

The new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now pays tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen, with never-before-heard audio from a 2008 interview with the guitarist that traces his early years as a musician and beyond. Why did the electric guitar last so long as rock’s defining instrument? “You can’t bend the strings of a piano,” Van Halen says.

The episode also includes a discussion between host Brian Hiatt and Van Halen scholar Greg Renoff (author of the revelatory book Van Halen Rising, on the group’s origins, as...

The paranoia and icy alienation of Radiohead’s masterpiece Kid A may have seemed like a bit much back to some listeners when it was released in 2000. But in 2020, Kid A (which just landed at Number 20 on Rolling Stone’s revamped list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time) feels exactly like our day-to-day lives.

In the new episode of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Steven Hyden — author of the new book This Isn’t Happening: Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ and the Beginning of the 21st Century — joins host...

Refresh for updates Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx remembers Eddie Van Halen as “the Mozart of rock guitar,” and Jimmy Kimmel writes that a conversation with the groundbreaking guitarist were “two of the best hours of my life.” Van Halen’s ex-wife, Valerie Bertinelli, simply responded to son Wolf Van Halen’s announcement of the death with a row of broken heart emoji.

Actors, musicians, rock critics and fans of all sorts today are praising and mourning Van Halen, whose innovative, lightning-quick and tap-tap playing took him to the top of guitar great lists and made him a breakout star of early MTV, died today of cancer at 65.

“Heartbroken and speechless,” tweeted Sammy Hagar, who replaced David Lee Roth as the lead singer of the band Van Halen in 1985.

“My heart is broken,” tweeted Kiss cofounder Gene Simmons. “Eddie was not only a Guitar God, but a genuinely beautiful soul.

In the latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, we dig into Rolling Stone’s brand-new list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Brittany Spanos (who will be hosting a separate upcoming podcast series focused on the list, produced with Amazon Music) joins Jon Dolan, Rob Sheffield, and host Brian Hiatt for the discussion. To hear the entire episode, press play below, or download and subscribe on on iTunes or Spotify.

The discussion focuses on the difference between this list (which was topped by Marvin Gaye’s What’s...

For anyone who lived through the Nineties, it’s still absolutely wild that the guitarist of Rage Against the Machine joined the E Street Band for a while, even considering Rage’s “Ghost of Tom Joad” cover. Tom Morello’s first collaboration with Bruce Springsteen was on a live revamp of “Joad” that they performed multiple times, and eventually committed to record on 2014’s High Hopes. When guitarist Steve Van Zandt was busy filming his show Lilyhammer in 2013, Springsteen enlisted Morello to fill his slot for a series of shows.

In this century, Bruce Springsteen’s influence has been wide-ranging and easy to find, with artists from the Killers to Lana Del Rey proudly name-checking him. In the post-Born in the U.S.A. Nineties, it was somewhat rarer to hear musicians cite him, but there was one major exception: Melissa Etheridge, who always declared herself a super-fan, and ended up dueting with Springsteen on “Thunder Road” during her 1995 episode of MTV Unplugged. On Springsteen’s 71st birthday, here’s what Etheridge had to say about her fandom, and that duet,...

Before Bob Marley, Toots Hibbert (with his vocal group the Maytals) was Jamaica’s biggest star. Hibbert, who died earlier this month, was a key figure in the invention of reggae (he may well have named the genre), and lived a life full of triumphs, drama, and pain — including a prison stint just as his career was first peaking that he insisted was the result of a frame-up.

On the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Rolling Stone Editor Jason Fine — who recently published a definitive, months-in-the-making profile of...

Melissa Etheridge, who’s currently seeing pandemic-era success with her Etheridge TV live-streaming subscription platform, discusses her whole life and career on the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now. Among many other topics — including her time with Bruce Springsteen, navigating interviews in the days before she came out as gay, and the time she almost played Janis Joplin in a biopic — she breaks down the making of three of her best-known songs.

To hear the entire episode, which is also available as part of our Rs Interview: Special Edition video series,...

Katy Perry — who just gave birth to her first child, and also released her sixth studio album, Smile — is at a career and personal crossroads, which we discuss in detail in the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now. The episode features Perry’s recent interview with Brittany Spanos (also captured on video for our Rs Interview: Special Edition series), where Perry breaks down the making of Smile, why the whole “purposeful pop” narrative around her previous album, Witness, was overblown, her hopes for her future, and much more.

Axs TV’s “Top Ten Revealed” will resume its third season with 12 new music-themed episodes in October, TheWrap has learned exclusively.

Hosted by Katie Daryl, the first new episode premieres Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. Et/5 p.m. Pt. The first half of Season 3 aired between April 19 to Aug. 9.

Each episode of “Top Ten Revealed” explores a new theme, featuring a rotating roster of icons and experts from across the entertainment industry will share their thoughts on groundbreaking artists, albums and songs that have left their mark on music.

Also Read: Frank Tanki Named General Manager of Axs TV and HDNet Movies

The Oct. 4 episode will explore “Destination Songs” like The Clash’s “London Calling,” the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and Kiss’ “Detroit Rock City.”

Other episodes include “Canadian Recording Artists” on Oct. 11; “90s One-Hit Wonders” on Oct. 18; “Top Ten Devilish Songs” on Oct. 25; “Iconic Political Songs” on Nov.

You just never get over some break-ups, and for fans across generations, the Beatles’ split in 1970 will always be one of the hardest-to-heal musical wounds. In the latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Rob Sheffield — author of Rolling Stone’s September 2020 cover story on the Beatles’ last days — joins Brittany Spanos and host Brian Hiatt to talk about the many interlocking factors that led Paul, John, George, and Ringo to call it quits (no, you can’t just blame it all on Yoko Ono). Sheffield also previews Peter Jackson’s in-the-works Beatles documentary,...

Conservative politicians and media figures absolutely freaked out over Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B’s Numbe One hit “Wap” last week, in the latest of a long series of panics over boundary-pushing lyrics in rap and rock. The new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, with Brittany Spanos and Rob Sheffield joining host Brian Hiatt, digs into the facts behind the “Wap” controversy (Cardi B’s support of Bernie Sanders and other Democrats is a big factor, as is sexism, racism, and election-year opportunism) before looking back at many...

Rage Against the Machine were supposed to be on tour this summer, but instead, their music is coming alive on American streets. In Portland, Oregon, protesters have been chanting the “fuck you/I won’t do what tell me” chorus of 1991’s “Killing in the Name,” Rage’s most enduring anthem.

In the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Rage guitarist Tom Morello — who has a new book due in the fall called Whatever It Takes, along with a retrospective Audible release, Tom Morello at the Minetta Lane — looks...

Folklore is a dramatic step forward for Taylor Swift, and the newest episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast takes an in-depth, song-by-song look at the surprise album. Rob Sheffield and Brittany Spanos join host Brian Hiatt to explain why Swift’s collaboration with Aaron Dessner and other members of the National was less incongruous than it might seem, to delve into the complexities of her three interlocking songs about a high school romance (“meet me behind the mall!”), and much more. Spanos, meanwhile, makes a case for why...

To celebrate the release of Bob Dylan’s excellent new album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, Rolling Stone‘s Dylan experts put together a definitive list of his greatest songs of the 21st century, from “Things Have Changed” to “It’s All Good.” In a new episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Angie Martoccio, Jon Dolan, and Simon Vozick-Levinson join host Brian Hiatt to discuss Dylan’s creative renaissance over the last 20 years, and why the 2000s have been more fruitful decades for him than the Eighties and Nineties.

When Lin-Manuel Miranda debuted the first song from what he was then calling The Hamilton Mixtape at the White House in 2009, Alex Lacamoire was there, accompanying him on piano. Lacamoire, who previously collaborated with Miranda on In the Heights (as well as Bring It On: The Musical), became Hamilton‘s musical director, arranging every song from Miranda’s home demos, leading the pit band, and co-producing the cast album.

With the filmed version of Hamilton on Disney+, and the cast album back near the top of Rolling Stone’s album chart,...

In the latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Alanis Morissette discusses her powerful new album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road, 25 years of Jagged Little Pill, and much more, including a moment when she laughingly addresses years of “shaming” over those dubious examples of irony (a black fly in your Chardonnay?) in her hit song “Ironic.” To hear the entire episode, press play below or download and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Spotify.

In the hit Broadway musical version of Jagged Little Pill (now shuttered indefinitely due...

If Bob Dylan had gotten his way, the Band’s Robbie Robertson would have played on his just-released album Rough and Rowdy Ways, the guitarist says – which would’ve been Robertson’s first performance on a Dylan studio LP since he and the rest of the Band played on 1974’s Planet Waves. But, as Robertson explains on a recent episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, when Dylan reached out to him late last year, he simply wasn’t available. “I was just slammed with work,” he says, noting that he...

With the new documentary Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band now available to stream, Robbie Robertson takes an in-depth look at his time in the Band on a recent episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. Robertson discusses his fraught relationship with Levon Helm, whether the group’s story was a triumph or tragedy, their work with Bob Dylan, and much more.

According to Robertson, writing songs for the group’s multiple singers was much like writing a musical or casting a film. “I saw it almost...