When Tom Waits unleashed the first single along with details from his forthcoming follow-up to Real Gone last month, he scolded those sharing “Bad As Me,” the LP’s title track, before the big reveal. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, Waits is ready to spread an official stream of the cut for all to enjoy, guilt-free. After a couple dozen spins of this funky, Marc Ribot-featuring cut over the past 10 days, I can safely say we have another undeniable Waits classic on our hands — picking up where tunes like “Hoist That Rag,” “Make It Rain,” and “Shake It,” from the aforementioned 2004 set, left off with unhinged beauty and strangely poetic lyrics, such as: “I’m the car in the weeds / If you cut me, I’ll bleed.”
Already a Song of the Year contender, spin “Bad As Me” above.
Just in case any Marilyn Manson fans were afraid his creative partnership with Shia LaBeouf (originally reported to be directing a documentary on Manson) might soften the multi-faceted goth hero’s image, they can rest assured that Manson has found a kindred spirit in the Transformers star: “Born Villain,” Manson’s new LaBeouf-directed video comes replete with Devilish red lighting, self-mutilation, and nightmare-ready imagery.
As Halloween — the official worldwide release date for Lulu — approaches, Lou Reed and Metallica have been revealing bits of information about their somewhat unlikely collaboration. Produced by Reed and Metallica themselves, along with Hal Willner and Greg Fidelman, the LP contains 10 tracks in total, donning the wonderfully disturbing piece of cover art shown to the left. As for the project being dubbed “surprising” by many, the former Velvet Underground leader begs to differ: “An odd collaboration would be Metallica and Cher,” said Reed (who recently