‘Beijing’s beautiful’ for king of punks

In 1977 Neil Young sang about Johnny Lydon back when the front man was a Sex Pistol. In the song My My, Hey Hey Young laments, “The king is gone, but he’s not forgotten. Is this the story of Johnny Rotten?”

And although the moniker “Rotten” was abandoned long ago, he is still going strong at the age of 57. The “king” isn’t gone; he’s on tour.

On Saturday, a mix of local and international fans, along with a few Chinese rock stars such as Cui Jian, witnessed the Beijing debut of Public Image Limited (PiL), a band whose singer continues to have an indelible influence on the way music is sung, shouted and screamed.

He’s just as relevant today as he was four decades ago, when he was with his first band, the Sex Pistols.

The near two-hour set, played before a packed house at Yugong Yishan, consisted of songs from PiL’s catalogue, beginning with Four Enclosed Walls from the album Flowers of Romance and included songs from their most recent and ninth release, This is PiL.

Although the band played two encores, they did not venture off course or play a Sex Pistols song, as some in attendance probably would have liked.

After the show, Lydon partly explained why PiL’s music is so diverse by describing himself as a “musical explorer” rather than a “musical tourist”.

The band ripped through such classics as Public Image Limited, Rise and This is not a Love Song. Then again they could have played anything and nobody would have been disappointed, as the show also served as an opportunity for Chinese punk rock fans to see someone many thought would never play in China.

Win the Strokes ‘Comedown Machine’ on Vinyl

The Strokes’ new album, Comedown Machine, will be released on March 26th. Only 1,000 white vinyls were made, and they sold out immediately. One lucky RollingStone.com reader will win a copy of this limited edition release.

Official Rules for the “Win The Strokes Comedown Machine Limited Edition Vinyl Sweepstakes”

Al Pacino’s portrayal of Phil Spector in the upcoming HBO biopic about the famed producer is “cheesy,” says Spector’s wife, but she thinks the film could help sway public opinion about her husband’s murder conviction. Rachelle Spector says her husband was convicted more for political reasons than any solid evidence tying him to the 2003 shooting of Lana Clarkson.

“They didn’t get O.J. Simpson, they didn’t get Michael Jackson and they didn’t get Robert Blake, so my husband is it,” Rachelle Spector tells Rolling Stone.

Rod Stewart is New Album Time Due Out May 7th

Rod Stewart will release a new album Time May 7th on Capitol Records, marking his first album of new material in almost 20 years. Stewart wrote and produced 11 of the album’s 12 cuts, while the iTunes deluxe edition – which you can pre-order starting today – will include three extra songs, one of which (“Legless”) is another Stewart original.

Rod Stewart: The Jeff Beck Group Could Have Played Woodstock

The album’s first single, “She Makes Me Happy,” will be released to radio and be available to download today as well. A second single, “Finest Woman,” will make its U.S. radio premiere on April 8th.

Below you can also check out a video preview of Time comprising portions of seven of the new songs, as well as behind-the-scenes footage shot during the making of the album.

Stewart has acknowledged losing his songwriting muse over the past 20 years, but rediscovered the spark while reviewing his life for his recent memoir: “Suddenly ideas for lyrics were piling up in my head,” he said in a statement. “Next thing I knew, I had a song called ‘It’s Over’ about divorce and separation. And now I was getting up in the middle of the night and scrambling for a pen to write things down, which has never happened to me. I finished seven or eight songs very quickly and I still wasn’t done and it became apparent that I would eventually have a whole album of material to record, which had never happened before.”

Beach Boys to make Shanghai debut

Founding member Mike Love leads the latest tour and says the demand for good music will always be a constant.

“I’ve always felt that the Beach Boys have been a sonic oasis. Music styles and performers can change, but we have always had the good fortune to have millions of fans who, if they want to hear a body of music (that) will make them feel good, they can always tune into our music,” he says in an e-mail from the United States.

“Multiple generations within an entire family will collectively agree on the Beach Boys, which is very rare. The music connects generations together positively.”

The founding members of the band were three brothers: Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, along with their cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine.

Their debut album Surfin’ Safari, spent 37 weeks on the Billboard chart, launching the group to international stardom.

Bach birthday bash

Pianist Sheng Yuan and his 13-year-old student Zhang Siying will perform in separate concerts to celebrate J.S. Bach’s 328th birthday.

Sheng, who is hailed as China’s premier interpreter of Bach, will play the Partitas in B-flat major No 1, Toccata in C minor and French Overture in B minor. Zhang started learning piano with Sheng at the age of 4 and soon displayed her talent.

Sheng says to his surprise, the modern prodigy showed great interest in learning Bach’s works. Zhang will play Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues in the concerts.

7:30 pm, March 20 and 23, pianist Zhang Siying gives solo recitals. 7:30 pm, March 21, pianist Sheng Yuan gives solo recital. At Forbidden City Concert Hall, west side of Tian’anmen, inside Zhongshan Park.

Jimi Hendrix Earns Highest Chart Debut Since 1969

What appears to be the late guitar hero’s final studio album, consisting of unreleased tracks recorded with a variety of musicians between 1968 and 1970, sold 72,000 copies and made its debut at Number Two. It’s a little creepy to have to report this, but People, Hell & Angels is Hendrix’ highest-charting album since 1969. Unsurprisingly, it seems to be a physical-CD phenomenon – it reached only Number Five on iTunes Top Albums chart, with Luke Bryan’s Spring Break.

Here to Party, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ The Heist, Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox and Imagine Dragons’ Night Visions placing higher. It’s not often these days that the iTunes and Billboard 200 charts suggest such a clear-cut dichotomy between older-artists-equals-physical-sales and younger-artists-equals-download-sales.

New music. Luke Bryan’s Number One album Spring Break.Here to Party makes its debut with 145,000 copies – impressive since almost none of these tracks are new. They came out between 2009 and 2012 via four online-only EPs. (This business model, putting out a bunch of online music then later packaging it as a physical CD, doesn’t often happen in country music – it’s associated with alternative-rockers such as Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead.

Bruno Mars tops Billboard 200 chart

Industry magazine Billboard said 64,000 units of the album were digital downloads following a one-day sale of $1.99 on Amazon.com’s MP3 site.

Atoms for Peace, the rock group fronted by Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, claimed the second spot with their debut album “Amok” entering the chart at No 2, selling 50,000 units.

Mumford & Sons’ Grammy-winning album “Babel” fell from the top spot last week into third, while the same Amazon MP3 online sale that helped Mars also vaulted hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ album “The Heist” from No 16 to No 4.

Hillsong United, the band from Australian megachurch Hillsong, rounded out the top five with the album “Zion,” selling 34,000 units in its first week.

Three of the top four albums are distributed by independent companies rather than large conglomerates, the first time it has happened since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991, Billboard said.

Alternative Distribution Alliance distributed albums for Atoms for Peace and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. RED Distribution released “Babel” for Mumford & Sons.

On the digital songs chart, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ cheeky rap “Thrift Shop” held at No 1 for the eighth consecutive week with 326,000 downloads, a 10 percent decline from last week.

Hawaii Senate passes Steven Tyler Act on privacy

The Hawaii state Senate passed the so-called Steven Tyler Act Tuesday, a bill that seeks to protect celebrities from overeager paparazzi by creating a civil violation if people take unwanted photos or videos of others in their private moments.

The Aerosmith frontman from Massachusetts asked Sen. Kalani English to sponsor the legislation after unwanted photos were taken of him and his girlfriend last December and published in a national magazine, causing family drama.

Tyler owns a multimillion dollar home in Maui, which is part of English’s district. English said the proposal could help increase celebrity tourism in Hawaii.

Twenty-three of the state’s 25 Senate members voted in favor of the bill, which now goes to the House for consideration.

Sen. Sam Slom, the body’s only Republican, opposed the measure.

“We have been the butt of many editorials and jokes across the country for this proposed legislation,” he said.

Lamb of God Singer Randy Blythe

Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe’s manslaughter trial resumed on Monday in Prague, where the singer stands accused of violently pushing Daniel Nosek, a teenage fan, offstage in 2010, resulting in his death. Experts testified that the singer may exhibit aggressive and asocial tendencies under stress but he does not suffer from a personality disorder, citing the results of psychological testing conducted while he was remanded in custody for five weeks last summer.

“Every one of us could in their lifetimes get into a situation in which we act without mercy, but this is not a personality trait of his,” criminal psychiatrist Alena Gayova, appointed by the defense, said of Blythe, adding that the singer tested within “normal” ranges on various stress tests even while held in a Prague jail. The presiding judge, Tomas Kubovec, said a verdict will likely be handed down tomorrow.

Leonard Cohen Brings Fresh Intensity to Old Ideas Tour

I was looking at life expectancy tables, and I could probably do another seven or eight years.” So Leonard Cohen claimed as he introduced “The Future” – the second song kicking off the major North American leg of his Old Ideas World Tour, which commenced in December 2012 with two New York dates and resumed for an additional 19 shows at Oakland, California’s Paramount Theatre last night. “I don’t know, friends, when we’ll ever meet again – no one can know that – but tonight we’ll give you everything we’ve got.” And that’s exactly what the Canadian genius poet-songwriter and his nine-piece backing band did, despite the omnipresent air of mortality – only reinforced when Cohen sang “I know my days are few” during “Darkness.”

With every tour jaunt, gossip inevitably centers on the possibility that it will be Cohen’s final such outing. Indeed, when you’re a 78-year-old with decades of decadence under your belt, there’s a significant chance that each performance might be your last. But Cohen’s spry sprint onto the stage to launch into “Dance Me To The End Of Love” at the beginning of the show seemed to mock such talk, resulting in the first of many standing ovations of the night. Three hours and 28 songs later, Cohen had entered Springsteen endurance territory, making clear he wasn’t going away anytime soon.