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Since its July 25th release, fans have spent the better part of the last 10 days arguing, meme-ifying, and apparently, listening quite a bit to Snipe Hunter, the latest album from country star Tyler Childers. Produced by Rick Rubin, the Kentucky singer’s sixth album has spawned a TikTok-viral song about rabies, theories about Beyoncé shoutouts, and a glut of predictable discourse about whether or not Childers has abandoned his traditional sound and roots by making a bigger budget, more genre-defiant record.

Plenty of fans seem to love the new record (including Rolling Stone,...

Tyler Childers drops new album ‘Snipe Hunter’ and video for “Eatin’ Big Time”, plus announces London O2 Arena show.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Tyler Childers has just released his highly anticipated new album Snipe Hunter, out now via Hickman Holler Records / RCA Records. The thirteen-track collection is already generating critical acclaim, with GQ calling it “the most visionary country album of the year” and “a masterpiece that bucks genre convention”.

To celebrate the release, Childers dropped the official music video for “Eatin’ Big Time”, the album’s opening track, directed by James Mackel. The video offers a raw, cinematic take on the album’s themes of survival, spiritual journey, and honouring roots while redefining them.

Produced by Rick Rubin, with additional work from Childers and Nick Sanborn (Sylvan Esso), and mixed by Shawn Everett, Snipe Hunter features standout tracks like “Nose on the Grindstone”, which recently marked the strongest radio week of Childers’ career,...

Tyler Childers has always seemed comfortable in his contradictions. He’s an old-soul traditionalist whose throwback ballads regularly go TikTok viral, a recovering alcoholic who still releases some of the 21st century’s best drinking music, a stadium-sized star who hasn’t performed his most popular song in a half-decade.

For the past 10 years, Childers has been preaching his righteous Kentucky gospel (see “Long Violent History,” written in the wake of George Floyd protests). Part of that project is showing that, in contrast to how it’s typically portrayed, Childers...

“People say I need a viral moment,” Tannery Usrey says. “But you know what? That moment happens every time I write a new song, and every time I step onstage. If you chase that viral moment, it’ll eat you to death.”

For a decade, Usrey has toured relentlessly, with the music and hard-partying appeal to sustain a career playing clubs and dance halls in his native Texas. Then, one of his songs, “The Light,” appeared on Yellowstone in 2022, and Usrey landed a deal with Atlantic, releasing his 2023 debut album,...

Tyler Childers has unveiled the tracklist for his upcoming album, Snipe Hunter, and released its second single, “Oneida.” Stream the new song below.

Produced by Rick Rubin with additional production from Childers and Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn, Snipe Hunter spans 13 tracks, including the previous single “Nose on the Grindstone.” See the full tracklist below.

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A country ballad through and through, “Oneida” features flirtatious lyrics like, “Oneida, I know that I’m younger than most/ But I’m willing if you’ve got the time/ To buy us some wine.”

The track is a longtime fan favorite and dates back as far as 2016, when Childers first performed the then-unreleased country ballad on Red Barn Radio. He’s since played the song sporadically during live shows.

Snipe Hunter marks the follow-up to 2023’s Rustin’ in the Rain, and pre-orders are ongoing. Childers will support the album...

Tyler Childers tries in vain to make a connection with an older woman whose taste in music and movies are before his time in the new song “Oneida.” A fan favorite that Childers has played live for years, the studio version of “Oneida” appears on Snipe Hunter, the Kentucky songwriter’s forthcoming album.

“I lay here awake and I laugh at her jokes/She is referencin’ movies I’m too young to know,” he sings in one verse, before acknowledging his youth (and inability to purchase alcohol) in the chorus.

Rick Rubin has written a book about the new phenomenon of ‘vibe coding,’ or giving AI directions in natural language instead of a programming language, which the acclaimed producer calls the “punk rock of coding.” Before you start agreeing with Pete Townshend, the argument does kind of make sense in-context.

The Way of Code: The Timeless Art of Vibe Coding is an interactive book created with the AI chatbot Claude. According to Rubin it’s a kind of remix of the Tao Te Ching, a “a 3,000 year-old wisdom teaching combined with cutting-edge technology.” It’s full of Rubin’s observations about AI mixed with Rubin-esque ancient wisdom such as, “Do by not doing, and there is nothing that cannot be done.”

Rubin talked about the book during a May appearance on The Ben & Marc Show, a podcast hosted by the venture capitalists Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen. In a thoroughly...

Tyler Childers has announced his new album with the release of a song he’s never before recorded: “Nose on the Grindstone.” The song about the effects of the opioid crisis on Appalachia dropped on Thursday along with the release date for Snipe Hunter, the Kentucky songwriter’s latest LP. Produced by Rick Rubin, Snipe Hunter arrives July 25 via Childers’ own Hickman Holler Records and RCA.

“Nose on the Grindstone” has turned up regularly in Childers’ live sets. “Daddy worked like a mule minin’ Pike County coal/’Til he fucked...

Tyler Childers has announced a new album, Snipe Hunter, out July 25th. He’s also revealed the new song “Nose on the Grindstone.”

Snipe Hunter serves as Childers’ eighth studio album and was produced by Rick Rubin with additional production from Childers and Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn. It follows 2023’s Rustin’ in the Rain., which further cemented Childers as one of the most dominant figures in alt-country. Pre-orders for Snipe Hunter are ongoing.

Get Tyler Childers Tickets Here

“Nose on the Grindstone” is Childers’ first offering from Snipe Hunter, and it’s already a fan-favorite; Childers has been playing the song on the road since 2017, and now, it’s finally being released as a single. With just Childers, his guitar, and touch of organ, “Nose on the Grindstone” is personal for the Kentucky songwriter, who reflects on crucial advice that his father gave him when he was young: “Keep...

Two years ago, Lil Wayne released a career-spanning compilation, I Am Music. It seems like an impossible task to summarize three decades of music that dates to his febrile debut as one-half of B.G.z in 1995, spans a record-breaking number of entries on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as dozens of official mixtapes and countless unauthorized leaks, and solidifies him as one of the most prolific and influential acts of his generation. But I Am Music largely skips over his heralded early material – there’s nothing from his first...

Daryl Hall doesn’t know how he got involved in the yacht-rock conversation, but he wants out. In a recent interview on Broken Record, the podcast produced by Rick Rubin and hosted by Justin Richmond, the musician slammed the genre’s entire premise and distanced himself from any association with it.

“This is something I don’t understand,” Hall said. “First of all, yacht rock was a fucking joke by two jerk-offs in California, and suddenly it became a genre. I don’t even understand it. I never understood it.

Marvel Studios has conditioned audiences to stay through the end credits and “Thunderbolts*” is no different.

The latest MCU entry unites a ragtag band of misfits, led by Black Widow Yelena (Florence Pugh) and including Bucky (Sebastian Stan), the Red Guardian (David Harbour), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) as they face a bigger, badder threat that will take all of them, working together, to take it down. “Thunderbolts*” is one of the better Marvel movies of the past few years, full of inventiveness and a shocking frankness when it comes to discussions of mental health and depression, and the story doesn’t end when the credits start. But that is a pretty good place to begin.

Let’s talk about the movie’s post-credits scenes.

Major spoiler warning. If you haven’t seen the movie, go watch it. It’s good to get out of the house.

Peter Criss will emerge from a long period of inactivity this year with the release of his first album since 2007’s One for All.

“I want to let the Kiss Army and all my rock fans know that my new ‘rock’ album will be coming out this fall,” Criss tells Rolling Stone. “I’ve got some really great players on it: Michael McLaughlin, John 5 on lead and rhythm guitar, Billy Sheehan, Piggy D [Matt Montgomery] on bass, and Paul Shaffer on B3 and piano. I am on vocals, drums and percussion.

Kesha is back, and ready to party. On Thursday, March 27, the pop hitmaker announced her new album Period. In tandem with the announcement, she shared a new collaboration with fellow party-starter T-Pain called “Yippee-Ki-Yay.”

The festive new single features Kesha tapping into her Nashville roots, with little touches of the Auto-Tuned flair she first stepped into the game with. T-Pain, the Auto-Tune king, matches Kesha’s partying energy as he delivers a scorching verse of his own and garnishes the song with his magical adlibs. “I just got a brand new car / Hose me down at the trailer park We be lit like a bonfire / Singin' yippee-ki-yay, yippee-ki-ya-ya,” the two sing on the song’s chorus.

The collaboration, which is bound to be a contender for the song of the summer, will appear on Period, as well as the previously released tracks, “Joyride” and “Delusional.”

Kesha Begins A Liberating New...

Directed by Fawzia Mirza and Nisha Ganatra and created by Abdullah Saeed, Deli Boys follows the life of two rich brats who happen to be unaware of their father’s multi-million dollar drug syndicate. The 10-episode series makes us privy to what goes down in the lives of the boys once they come to know of the reality and the challenges that come their way after that. So, let’s find out what happened in the series and if the Deli Boys were able to lead their company forward.

Spoiler Alert

How did Raj and Mir become the chief of the company?

Mir Dar saw himself as the heir to his father’s throne because of his qualifications, but his elder brother Raj Dar believed himself to be a natural businessman like his immigrant father, and so he, too, felt he was deserving of becoming the CEO of the company.

Francis Ford Coppola has run out of vineyards to sell. The director of The Godfather, The Conversation, and more iconic films is hard at work on his next movie, but he recently told Rick Rubin on his Tetragammaton podcast that it’s going to have a smaller budget than his previous film, Megalopolis, because “I don’t have any money.”

Coppola described his next project, an adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel Glimpses of the Moon, as a “’30s-style strange musical” when interviewed by the Washington Post last December. Now, he’s facing the budget limitations from Megalopolis’s failure to recoup the $120 million he invested in it. Said Coppola on the podcast:

“It’s as though Noel Coward adapted an Edith Wharton novel in England which is why I’m here in the UK. I’m actually in pre production. I don’t have any money because I invested all the money,...

Andy Kaufman’s legacy is fascinating, considering the tumultuous path of his career. In his heyday, people were both entertained and shocked at his unconventional humor. The joke was almost always played on the audience. Now, Josh and Benny Safdie executive produce Thank You Very Much along with Won’t You Be My Neighbor‘s Morgan Neville. Thank You Very Much is the new documentary that hopes to explore the bizarre and funny world of Andy Kaufman and his alter egos. The trailer has been released from Drafthouse Films and is due to be released in select theaters and digital on March 28.

The official synopsis of the documentary reads,

“Andy Kaufman’s provocative comedy often outraged audiences, challenging them to confront their own presumptions. Through never-before-seen footage and intimate recollections, filmmaker Alex Braverman explores Kaufman’s brief but impactful life and career. As the lines between performance and reality blur in our present age,...

The definitive Andy Kaufman documentary is finally coming to the big screen after almost a decade in the making.

Alex Braverman’s feature directorial debut “Thank You Very Much” charts comedian Kaufman’s life and legacy — with a little help from executive producers Morgan Neville and Josh and Benny Safdie. The film was announced in 2022 and premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival.

The official synopsis reads: “Andy Kaufman’s provocative comedy often outraged audiences, challenging them to confront their own presumptions. Through never-before-seen footage and intimate recollections, filmmaker Alex Braverman explores Kaufman’s brief but impactful life and career. As the lines between performance and reality blur in our present age, Kaufman’s genius resonates more than ever.”

“Waffles + Mochi” helmer Braverman uses never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with the late Kaufman’s friends, family, and colleagues to revisit Kaufman’s career, spanning from sets at the Hollywood Improv to the set of “Taxi.

Irv Gotti, a noted record executive, music producer and entrepreneur best known as the founder of Murder Inc. Records, has died, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. He was 54.

The cause of death has not been announced, but the music mogul did suffer a number of strokes in recent years and had also battled diabetes-related issues.

His family shared a statement on his Instagram writing, “It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved father, Irving ‘Irv Gotti’ Lorenzo, on February 5, 2025. Surrounded by family and friends, he departed this world, leaving behind a legacy that will forever resonate in the hearts of those who knew him and the countless lives he touched. Our dad was an incredible man, a true visionary who transformed the hip-hop industry and changed the game for artists and fans alike. His passion for music and dedication to his craft inspired many, and...

Timothée Chalamet may be known for Dune and its successful follow-up, but the Oscar nominee also has some sequel work on Saturday Night Live worth noting. He could complete two different trilogies when he hosts tonight.

Chalamet already has his plate full when he returns to Studio 8H to host for the third time. He's also serving as musical guest as many believe he'll show off the musical talents he developed to portray Bob Dylan in the biopic A Complete Unknown.

The actor twice proved he's one of the best SNL hosts of his generation. For proof, look no further than the recurring sketches he helped popularize. Tonight, Chalamet could finish off the rare trilogy of sketches for a host with not one, but two different bits.

Will Timothée Chalamet serenade another horse on Saturday Night Live?

As Tracy Morgan so accurately put it in the documentary SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,...

Maynard James Keenan sat down with YouTube personality Rick Beato for a new interview, and was asked by the host to name the “best-sounding” album from each of his three bands: Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer.

The question came toward the latter part of Beato’s one-hour-plus conversation with Keenan, in which he also discussed his 2025 plans (revealing a new Puscifer album is coming), his thoughts on pop stars like Billie Eilish, and a Mars Volta album that he feels fell short sonically, among other topics.

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In asking about the best-sounding albums from each of Keenan’s bands, Beato clarified that he was referring to both the songwriting and the overall recording quality.

“With Tool, I think it would be, I think Lateralus,” responded Keenan (as transcribed by ThePRP). There’s just a balance to it. There’s some sonics attached to Ænima — that...

The year is 2014. Mac Miller has defied hip-hop norms as a successful, independent act whose sound has impressively evolved from easygoing frat-rap to psychedelic hip-hop. He is living in Los Angeles, burrowed in the hills of excess and fame. He’s high nearly every day, hooked on a slew of substances to help manage his improbable rise. As a result, he’s constantly creating new, darker music. He’s still alive, but he’s not sure how. This is where Miller’s second posthumous release, Balloonerism, finds him.

In September...

Legendary film director David Lynch has passed away at the age of 78

News of his death comes courtesy of a post on his official Facebook page.

“It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch,” the statement reads.

Director David Lynch smokes a cigarette as he attends the “Twin Peaks” screening during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 25, 2017 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images)

“We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’

“It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way,” the post concluded.

The last line is a reference to Lynch’s...

Though Trent Reznor helped bring industrial rock to the mainstream as the frontman of Nine Inch Nails, he has revealed himself to be a pop fan in recent years. During a red carpet interview at the Golden Globes, he continued that trend while naming his favorite song of 2024.

This past weekend, Reznor caught an interviewer from the Los Angeles alternative radio station 98.7 off-guard when he chose Sabrina Carpenter’s hit “Espresso” as his song of the year. Sadly, he didn’t elaborate on the choice.

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Last summer, Reznor admitted he previously had a stance that pop music “sucks generally,” but changed his mind after “tearing up” while hearing his daughter sing along to Dua Lipa’s “Levitating.” While appearing on Rick Rubin’s podcast, Tetragrammaton, the artist explained, “It really reminded me of the art of writing a well-crafted song,” and praised the track as...

Questlove and Ed Bahlman at the invitation-only screening of Jacqueline Baylon’s Until He’s Back, hosted by Questlove, seen here holding up Rick Rubin’s first Def Jam Presents flyer with Liquid Liquid, Treacherous Three, and Jesse Malin's Heart Attack Photo: Anne Katrin Titze

Questlove (aka Ahmir Thompson), the director of Summer Of Soul won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar and BAFTA and a Best Music Film Grammy in 2022.

Questlove’s Hip-Hop Is History with Ben Greenman, collection Ed Bahlman

2024 is turning out to be another good year for Questlove, And on 11 June, 2024, Questlove’s Hip-Hop is History with Ben Greenman was published by Auwa Books. On 11 December, it was announced that his Sly Lives! (aka The Burden Of Black Genius) will have its world première at the Sundance Film Festival.

UFO by Esg, produced by Martin Hannett and mastered by 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman is the most sampled track in hip-hop!

Bright Eyes founder Conor Oberst has revealed himself to be one of Creed’s earliest haters. During a recent appearance on Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell’s Broken Record podcast, the singer recalled his attempt at talking his former label out of releasing the oft-maligned band’s early music.

While sitting down with host Justin Richmond, Oberst remembered his days in the emo band Commander Venus during the mid-1990s. For their second album, 1997’s The Uneventful Vacation, the group was signed to Wind-up Records. He built a close relationship with the “eccentric” owners Alan and Diana Meltzer, who played him Creed’s music before it was released.

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“They were sweet, but I remember them showing me Creed before it even came out,” Oberst said (via Exclaim!). “And I was like, ‘You guys — it sounds like a really bad Pearl Jam.'”

Despite his protestations, the Meltzers believed in Creed.

If there’s a concept that seemed to be on Lady Gaga’s mind as she was making her upcoming seventh studio album, it was chaos. And the legendary pop star went deeper into that world as she dissected the as-of-yet untitled album’s lead single, “Disease,” on the latest episode of Rolling Stone‘s “The Breakdown.”

“It felt like a way into the chaos of the album, which is kind of exercises in chaos — different sides of who I am as a person,” Gaga said. “To me, there’s...

Few bands have made an impact on the modern alternative rock genre like Linkin Park has. Pioneering nu-metal rock bands like Korn, Faith No More, and Public Enemy helped pioneer the rising hip-hop-infused genre of the 1990s with the grunge and hard rock influences of groups like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots. Linkin Park became a result of these two decade-defining pools of rock on the heels of the pioneering electronic rock sound of Nine Inch Nails. Their 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory combined these influences and became one of the most emblematic LPs of the 21st century.

The group's 2003 sophomore effort, Meteroa, is one of the most purchased albums of the 21st century with more than 27 million copies sold worldwide. Despite their iconic original hip-hop/metal sound, mixed with Mike Shinoda's piercing bars and Chester Bennington's even more piercing scream vocals, Linkin Park leaned more...

Pete Townshend has opened up about his battle with “chemical depression” in a new interview. The legendary guitarist and songwriter of The Who even went as as far to reveal that he’s “actually suicidal” upon waking up each morning.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer told The Sunday Times that he used to see a therapist in the 1980s, but he now copes with his depression by writing in journals, among other tactics.

“After the third year [of therapy], I realized that the woman counseling me had only said about three words,” said Townshend. “I was just listening to myself. So now I just write journals. Every morning I rebuild myself in a sense with tea and coffee, and a few vitamin pills.”

He continued, “When I first wake up I’m suicidal, actually suicidal,” adding that he prefers to get up between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., explaining, “I’m...

The Who’s Pete Townshend has taken a jab at Rick Rubin, saying “someone needs to occasionally slap” the producer over his creative methods.

Townshend’s comment came during an appearance with his wife Rachel Fuller on the Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt podcast.

While discussing the idea of creativity, Townshend remarked (as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar), “You see a lot of stuff on YouTube and Instagram, people nagging you about the way that you have to be creative. Somebody needs to occasionally slap Rick Rubin, because, one minute he’s telling us that we need to do whatever we like, and then, on the other hand, he’s telling us that we mustn’t do this, and we mustn’t do that.”

Bringing up Rubin seemed a little random, as the guitarist is not known to have worked with the producer, who has helmed such iconic albums...

Joaquin Phoenix might just be the master architect of one of the best comic book adaptations of all time. With his 2019 film Joker, Phoenix began a silent revolution, and like the streets of Gotham, a splintering rage consumed the fans when the awaited sequel failed to perform well. In many ways, the events of Joker: Folie à Deux mirrored the upsetting downfall of the actor in the real world.

Phoenix was expected to deliver another masterpiece, especially considering how accurately he understood and captured the unbridled insanity of the character. But Todd Phillips, the director extraordinaire, did not visualize a world away from the saturated Batman saga. He simply picked up the script of Martin Scorsese’s 1982 film The King of Comedy and gave it a good dust-off.

Joker: Folie à Deux [Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures]

5 years later, without the safety net of a grand old idea, Phillips and Phoenix veered...

Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for his portrayal of Joker in Todd Phillips’ 2019 film. But a little over a decade before it was released, he says he was approached about taking on the Clown Prince of Crime in Christopher Nolan’s iconic The Dark Knight.

Phoenix sat down for Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton podcast (below), for a more than two-hour conversation, where the actor explained that he spoke to Nolan about taking on the role of Joker years before he actually did.

“That didn’t… wasn’t going to happen for a number of reasons. I wasn’t ready then,” Phoenix said on the podcast. “That’s one of those things sometimes where you go: Why am I not doing this project? What is stopping me from doing this? Well it’s not about me, there’s something else. There’s another person that’s going to do something that’s like,...

Would The Dark Knight (2008) have been so serious without the indelible performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker? Well, according to Joaquin Phoenix, we almost found out, as there was an opportunity for him to portray the iconic DC villain instead of Ledger in Christopher Nolans sequel to Batman Begins. The actor, who finally did take up the villainous mantle in Todd Phillips Joker (2019) 11 years later, opened up and discussed meeting with Nolan while appearing on the Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin podcast. Phoenix said of his chance to play the DC Comics character in The Dark Knight:

Actually, I remember I talked to Chris Nolan about The Dark Knight and that didn't... wasn't going to happen for whatever reason. I think that I wasnt ready then. And thats one of those things, right, sometimes where you're [like], Why am I not doing this? And its not about me... theres something else.

It’s hard to imagine anyone else but Heath Ledger playing the role of the iconic Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. But amid Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker: Folie à Deux bombing at the box office, the actor revealed how he was inches close to changing the DC history that we all adore.

Christopher Nolan | image: HellaCinema, licensed under Cc By-sa 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Well, according to Joaquin Phoenix’s interview on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin, the Oscar winner revealed how he once spoke with Christopher Nolan about playing the Joker in The Dark Knight. Perhaps, prior to Heath Ledger’s casting, Phoenix was being eyed to star opposite Christian Bale. However, the actor turned down the role as he “wasn’t ready”.

Joaquin Phoenix Had Almost Replaced Heath Ledger in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight

Heath Ledger not only won the Oscar (posthumously) for his...

During a recent interview on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin, Joaquin Phoenix revealed he was approached to play the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. However, Phoenix didn’t think he was ready to play the role at the time. Of course, Health Ledger wound up playing Joker and absolutely stole the show, even winning a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

“I remember I talked to Chris Nolan about ‘The Dark Knight’ and that didn’t happen for whatever reason,” Phoenix said. “I wasn’t ready then. That’s one of those things where it’s like, ‘What is in me that’s not doing this?’ And it’s not about me. There’s something else. There’s another person who is going to do something. … I can’t imagine what it would be if we didn’t have Heath Ledger’s performance in that film, right?“

Phoenix continued,...

Whether he knew it or not, Joaquin Phoenix might have been destined to play The Joker. His portrayal of the Batman villain in “Joker” won him his first Oscar for Best Leading Actor — though his return to the role in the musical sequel “Joker: Folie à Deux” turned into a critically panned box office bomb. But years before those projects were a twinkle in the eye of the man who directed “The Hangover,” Phoenix came close to donning clown makeup for another acclaimed take on the character.

In a recent interview on the podcast “Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin,” Phoenix revealed that he was initially in the mix to star in Nolan’s film in the role that ultimately went to Ledger.

“I remember I talked to Chris Nolan about ‘The Dark Knight’ and that didn’t happen for whatever reason,” Phoenix said. “I wasn’t ready then. That’s one...

Joaquin Phoenix has revealed that he could have played the Joker years before he did, starring opposite Christian Bale in The Dark Knight, which did not work out in the end. Phoenix led two Joker movies, with the first one breaking the $1 billion mark to become a major hit. However, Joker: Folie Deux bombed at the box office, seeing mostly negative reviews from critics and the audience alike. Still, Phoenix delivers great performances as Arthur Fleck in both DC movies, and he almost did so years prior.

During an interview on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin, Joaquin Phoenix revealed that he had talks with Christopher Nolan to play the Joker in The Dark Knight.

According to Phoenix, Nolan came to him about the Batman villain, though the actor does not remember if the director was set on him playing the character. In the end, Phoenix explains that it did not work...

Joaquin Phoenix had his turn at playing the Joker in the Todd Phillips Joker films, but the actor could have played the DC Comics villain in The Dark Knight.

In a new interview, Phoenix revealed he had talked to director Christopher Nolan about giving life to Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime.

“I remember I talked to Chris Nolan about The Dark Knight and that didn’t happen for whatever reason,” Phoenix said on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin. “I wasn’t ready then. That’s one of those things where it’s like, ‘What is in me that’s not doing this?’ And it’s not about me. There’s something else. There’s another person who is going to do something.”

He continued, “I can’t imagine what it would be if we didn’t have Heath Ledger’s performance in that film, right?”

Phoenix said that he didn...

Long before starring in his Oscar-winning performance in Joker, actor Joaquin Phoenix could have played another incarnation of the Clown Prince of Crime. According to Phoenix, he had talks with Christopher Nolan about potentially taking on the role in The Dark Knight, but it just wasn't the right time.

Per Variety, Phoenix commented on his conversations with Nolan for a recent interview on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin. According to Phoenix, the casting didn't work in part because he "wasn't ready" to play a character like the Joker. With that noted, Phoenix pointed out that he doesn't know how much Nolan truly considered him for the role beyond having a chat about the possibility. In any case, the actor agrees with the consensus that Heath Ledger was the perfect person for the part in The Dark Knight, suggesting that it all worked out for the best that he didn't get that role.

After wasting Todd Haynes' time and, subsequently, the precious time of Joker: Folie À Deux's meager audience, Joaquin Phoenix is now just talking about other, better Jokers he may have almost played. Appearing on Rick Rubin's perfectly pronounceable Tetragrammaton podcast, Phoenix claimed that he and Christopher Nolan had talked...

A famous, homicidal clown once said that he thought his life was a tragedy, but then he realized it was a comedy ... and we're starting to think he was onto something. Joaquin Phoenix's two "Joker" movies stand alone as some of the weirdest and most unusual comic book movies of the last several decades, not least of all because of how audiences have responded to both of director Todd Phillips' efforts. 2019's "Joker" beat all expectations and became one of the most successful R-rated movies of all time. Five years later, though, the sequel "Joker: Folie à Deux" fared significantly worse, demolished by weeks of negative word of mouth (/Film's review by Bill Bria being a notable exception) before ending up rejected by most audiences once it hit theaters worldwide.

But as unpredictable as it was that Phoenix (who once came so close to being cast as Doctor Strange...

It’s official: Sabrina Carpenter covers are the new Chappell Roan covers. Not long after Saturday Night Live (with help from Ariana Grande) turned “Espresso” into the ultra-viral “Bridesmaid Speech,” a.k.a. “Domingo,” British singer/songwriter Beabadoobee has jumped in the ring with a reimagined version of Carpenter’s “Taste.”

In the rendition, recorded live at BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, Beabadoobee recasts Carpenter’s acerbic pop-rock hit into something gentler, with a slightly countrified, acoustic-guitar-and-strings arrangement — almost how the Corrs would’ve done it. To underscore the point,...

Thunderclap Newman have largely gone down in rock history as a one hit wonder band thanks to their psychedelic masterpiece “Something In The Air,” which went to number one on the UK charts in 1969 and has been covered by everyone from Tom Petty to Labelle, Eurythmics, and Elbow. But early Seventies rock aficionados know about the profound brilliance of their album Hollywood Dream, and the role that Pete Townshend took in assembling the group alongside Who manager Kit Lambert.

Core Thunderclap Newman members John “Speedy” Keen,” Andy Newman, and Jimmy McCulloch have all died,...

Leading up to the Grammy nominations on Nov. 8, Rolling Stone is breaking down 13 different categories. For each, we’re predicting the nominees, as well as who will (and who should) win on Grammy night.

With many of Americana’s biggest recent Grammy winners (Jason Isbell, Rhiannon Giddens) absent from this year’s proceedings, the Best Americana Album nominations are anyone’s guess — especially since this year’s releases could conceivably be nominated in other categories (Folk, Rock, Country, and Alternative, among them). Says Margi Cheske, co-president of Concord Records, who...

Beabadoobee took the outdoor stage Thursday at Jimmy Kimmel Live to a rousing applause as she geared up to perform “Beaches” from her Rick-Rubin-produced third album, This Is How Tomorrow Moves.

Bea, born Beatrice Lause, played an acoustic guitar as she sang sang about finding peace in the unknown backed by an electric guitarist, bassist, and drummer whose kit seemed to have a childhood portrait of the artist pasted to it.

She took a brief break from strumming to emphasize the top of the second verse: “Find it hard to say,...

Eminem practically changed the rap game from the moment he stepped foot in the industry. Credited with popularizing the hip-hop genre, the rapper has paved the way for many artists to make a name for themselves. From Lose Yourself to the most recent Houdini, Eminem has proven time and again why he is the ultimate Rap God, no matter how many rappers may be on the list.

Eminem in the music video for Rap God | Credits: EminemMusic / YouTube

Another rapper whose songs make us want to jump straight to the dance floor is Kendrick Lamar. He and Eminem collaborated back in 2013 and while the song is a total and absolute banger, it wasn’t easy for Kendrick Lamar to seal the deal. Why? Well, he had to go through a sneaky little test Eminem had for him when he showed up at the recording studio.

Eminem’s Test for Kendrick...

Exclusive: Acquisition news out today will have comedy fans giving thanks — Thank You Very Much, the documentary about the late Andy Kaufman, has been picked up by Drafthouse Films.

The film directed by Emmy winner Alex Braverman is presented by Morgan Neville’s Tremolo Productions, Elara Pictures, and Jenifer Westphal’s Wavelength. The acquisition deal covers North American theatrical and digital rights; Drafthouse plans an early 2025 release in select cities, followed by a digital release on select streaming platforms. Thank You Very Much premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival last year — where it won the Venice Classics Award for Best Documentary – followed by a U.S. premiere at the Telluride Film Festival.

“Thank You Very Much traces the life and career of legendary performance artist Andy Kaufman, exploring the enigmatic legend’s gonzo, boundary-shattering comedy which provoked and often outraged audiences,” notes a synopsis. “The film reveals a nuanced...

Lady Gaga has previewed a new song from her forthcoming LP, Harlequin, out Sept. 27. The album is a companion piece to her film Joker: Folie à Deux, a musical of sorts in which the singer plays Harley Quinn.

Gaga shared a clip of the dramatic tune on Instagram along with a video shot in the Louvre museum in Paris, where her character defaces the Mona Lisa with red lipstick. “There’s always a Joker,” she wrote in the caption. Although she did not clarify the song’s title, it appears to be titled “The Joker.

That’s life! Lady Gaga will drop Harlequin, a companion album to Joker: Folie à Deux, out Sept. 27.

Harlequin will contain jazz standards like “Oh, When the Saints” (made famous by Louis Armstrong) and “Get Happy” (Judy Garland), and marks her first jazz release since the death of her collaborator Tony Bennett (the duo released 2014’s Cheek to Cheek and 2021’s Love for Sale). It’s a fitting companion to Todd Phillips’ Joker sequel, out Oct. 4, which is reported to be a jukebox musical.

Harlequin is undoubtedly the “surprise project...

Lady Gaga has finally spoken out about old rumors that claimed she was born a man. During an appearance on Netflix’s What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates, she addressed the speculation directly, telling Gates she never felt the need to respond because she “didn’t feel like a victim.”

“When I was in my early 20s there was a rumor that I was a man,” Lady Gaga told Gates in the episode. “I went all over the world. I traveled for tours and for promoting my records...