Peter Banks, Original Yes Guitarist, Dead at 65

Peter Banks, Tony Kaye, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford, and Jon Anderson of Yes

Peter Banks, best known as the original guitarist of Yes, died last Thursday in his London home from heart failure. He was 65. Banks was reportedly found after failing to show up for a recording session.

After playing with bassist Chris Squire in the Syn, Banks and Squire helped form Yes in 1968. Banks played with Yes through their first two albums, 1969's Yes and 1970's Time and a Word, but disagreements over the direction of Time and a Word led to Banks' dismissal from Yes before the album's release.

2012 In Memoriam: Musicians We Lost

After Yes, Banks formed Flash and released three studio albums with the group: 1972's Flash and In the Can and 1973's Out of Our Hands. He then formed Empire, releasing Mark I in 1973, Mark II in 1974 and Mark III in 1979. Banks also explored solo recordings, releasing his first solo album, Two Sides of Peter Banks, in 1973. He followed up with three more solo works in the Nineties with Instinct in 1994, Self-Contained in 1995 and Reduction in 1997. He was working on the live collection Flash – In Public at the time of his death.

Funeral plans have yet to be announced. A revamped Yes are currently touring behind three of their classic albums, playing Close to the Edge, Going for the One and The Yes Album in their entirety.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Azealia Banks Accuses Stone Roses of Sabotage in Twitter Rant

Azealia Banks attends the OHWOW and HTC celebration of the release of 'Terrywood' with Terry Richardson in Miami. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for HTC

Azealia Banks started off her weekend by picking yet another Twitter fight. After performing at Australia's Future Music Festival on Friday, the rapper accused the Stone Roses, who were also playing the festival, of intentionally sabotaging her set at the request of her former manager.

"Big apologies on behalf of the stone roses to my fans at the festival today," Banks tweeted in the opening shot of her rant. "My ex tour manager made a pact with the stone roses saying they'd sabotage my set because I fired him.. And they decided to check their equipment behind me during my set. Fuck those old saggy white n***as stone roses. I wish them nothing but excrement and death."

Azealia Banks Trips Out in 'Atlantis'

Banks, whose new single "Yung Rapunxel" is due out March 26th, then took a moment to reflect on what the band's alleged actions indicate about her own status in the industry. "Wow! I must really fucking be a superstar... You've got an established band trying to sabotage my lil rap bitch shine," she wrote. "Wow a bunch of old white men trying to bully a young black girl.... What the fuck else is new in this world ???"

In early January, Banks made headlines by engaging in an extended Twitter feud with rapper Angel Haze, which spilled over to include celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. In recent weeks, she also took on Baauer after the DJ had her remix of "Harlem Shake" removed from Soundcloud.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Electronics Review Center

Read more »

Azealia Banks Accuses Stone Roses of Sabotage in Twitter Rant

Azealia Banks attends the OHWOW and HTC celebration of the release of 'Terrywood' with Terry Richardson in Miami. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for HTC

Azealia Banks started off her weekend by picking yet another Twitter fight. After performing at Australia's Future Music Festival on Friday, the rapper accused the Stone Roses, who were also playing the festival, of intentionally sabotaging her set at the request of her former manager.

"Big apologies on behalf of the stone roses to my fans at the festival today," Banks tweeted in the opening shot of her rant. "My ex tour manager made a pact with the stone roses saying they'd sabotage my set because I fired him.. And they decided to check their equipment behind me during my set. Fuck those old saggy white n***as stone roses. I wish them nothing but excrement and death."

Azealia Banks Trips Out in 'Atlantis'

Banks, whose new single "Yung Rapunxel" is due out March 26th, then took a moment to reflect on what the band's alleged actions indicate about her own status in the industry. "Wow! I must really fucking be a superstar... You've got an established band trying to sabotage my lil rap bitch shine," she wrote. "Wow a bunch of old white men trying to bully a young black girl.... What the fuck else is new in this world ???"

In early January, Banks made headlines by engaging in an extended Twitter feud with rapper Angel Haze, which spilled over to include celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. In recent weeks, she also took on Baauer after the DJ had her remix of "Harlem Shake" removed from Soundcloud.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Electronics Review Center

Read more »

Azealia Banks Accuses Stone Roses of Sabotage in Twitter Rant

Azealia Banks attends the OHWOW and HTC celebration of the release of 'Terrywood' with Terry Richardson in Miami. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for HTC

Azealia Banks started off her weekend by picking yet another Twitter fight. After performing at Australia's Future Music Festival on Friday, the rapper accused the Stone Roses, who were also playing the festival, of intentionally sabotaging her set at the request of her former manager.

"Big apologies on behalf of the stone roses to my fans at the festival today," Banks tweeted in the opening shot of her rant. "My ex tour manager made a pact with the stone roses saying they'd sabotage my set because I fired him.. And they decided to check their equipment behind me during my set. Fuck those old saggy white n***as stone roses. I wish them nothing but excrement and death."

Azealia Banks Trips Out in 'Atlantis'

Banks, whose new single "Yung Rapunxel" is due out March 26th, then took a moment to reflect on what the band's alleged actions indicate about her own status in the industry. "Wow! I must really fucking be a superstar... You've got an established band trying to sabotage my lil rap bitch shine," she wrote. "Wow a bunch of old white men trying to bully a young black girl.... What the fuck else is new in this world ???"

In early January, Banks made headlines by engaging in an extended Twitter feud with rapper Angel Haze, which spilled over to include celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. In recent weeks, she also took on Baauer after the DJ had her remix of "Harlem Shake" removed from Soundcloud.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Electronics Review Center

Read more »

Azealia Banks Lobs Gay Slur, Diss Track

Azealia Banks performs at Spin And Refinery 29 Present Azealia Banks And Hunters at Wythe Hotel in New York City.

Azealia Banks got her weekend off on a caustic note, engaging in a Twitter beef with up-and-comer Angel Haze that soon spilled over to involve celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and a gay slur.

The battles began on Thursday, when Haze, a Michigan-born rapper who released her EP Reservation, in July, apparently took exception to Banks' tweeted assertion that people who were not born and raised in New York should not claim to be New Yorkers. Haze tweeted a diss track, "On The Edge" to Banks, and Banks responded on Friday morning with her own track, "No Problems." On Friday afternoon, Haze released "Shut The Fuck Up," which she called the "last diss track you'll ever hear from me." Between tracks, the two rappers fired insults at each other, with Haze referring to Banks as a "charcoal-skinned bitch" and Banks declaring, "I'm bout to rip this bitch's head off and toss it in the cauldron." Other Twitter users weighed in on the dispute, including Perez Hilton, who took Haze's side.

Azealia Banks Trips Out in 'Atlantis'

This prompted the inflammatory post from Banks: "lol what a messy faggot you are." She soon attempted to clarify her use of the slur: "A faggot is not a homosexual male. A faggot is any male who acts like a female. There's a BIG difference," she explained. She later refined her message with a word that she recently told Rolling Stone was a sign of her affection for her gay fans: "When I said acts like a female I should've said acts like a cunt."

By Saturday afternoon, Banks – who released a proper single, "BBD," just before the diss-track feud began – attempted to dismiss the controversy. "Really not as moved by this f word thing as u all want me to be," she tweeted. "As a bisexual person I knew what I meant when I used that word."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

Azealia Banks Lobs Gay Slur, Diss Track

Azealia Banks performs at Spin And Refinery 29 Present Azealia Banks And Hunters at Wythe Hotel in New York City.

Azealia Banks got her weekend off on a caustic note, engaging in a Twitter beef with up-and-comer Angel Haze that soon spilled over to involve celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and a gay slur.

The battles began on Thursday, when Haze, a Michigan-born rapper who released her EP Reservation, in July, apparently took exception to Banks' tweeted assertion that people who were not born and raised in New York should not claim to be New Yorkers. Haze tweeted a diss track, "On The Edge" to Banks, and Banks responded on Friday morning with her own track, "No Problems." On Friday afternoon, Haze released "Shut The Fuck Up," which she called the "last diss track you'll ever hear from me." Between tracks, the two rappers fired insults at each other, with Haze referring to Banks as a "charcoal-skinned bitch" and Banks declaring, "I'm bout to rip this bitch's head off and toss it in the cauldron." Other Twitter users weighed in on the dispute, including Perez Hilton, who took Haze's side.

Azealia Banks Trips Out in 'Atlantis'

This prompted the inflammatory post from Banks: "lol what a messy faggot you are." She soon attempted to clarify her use of the slur: "A faggot is not a homosexual male. A faggot is any male who acts like a female. There's a BIG difference," she explained. She later refined her message with a word that she recently told Rolling Stone was a sign of her affection for her gay fans: "When I said acts like a female I should've said acts like a cunt."

By Saturday afternoon, Banks – who released a proper single, "BBD," just before the diss-track feud began – attempted to dismiss the controversy. "Really not as moved by this f word thing as u all want me to be," she tweeted. "As a bisexual person I knew what I meant when I used that word."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »