In one day, both iconic stars have died, sending shock waves throughout the world. As one tweet puts it, “MJ and FF is now news at the speed of light”–thanks to Twitter and Facebook.

The King of Pop died of cardiac arrest, reports say. The beautiful and original Angel Ms. Farrah Fawcett succumb to cancer. MJ was 50, Farrah was 62.

If you were already born at those times when both were at the peak of their careers, they drew a lot of attention. Of course, who can forget the lovely Mrs. Majors (yes, of the six million dollar man) and the moonwalk. Since high school, we’ve been attempting to emulate that space walk-inspired move but have failed many times.

And Farrah. Oh my. ‘Nuf said.

I discovered Jackson during his “Thriller” days–same song which inspired hundreds of inmates in a Cebu prison. Every kid back then, including yours truly, admired MJ. He danced, he sang. I tried the former, but failed. I tried the latter and, er, somehow have made some progress. And his music videos were works of art. I’ve never seen so many screaming and crying fans on video when MJ goes on stage. To this day, one of my favorite guitar pieces is “Man in the Mirror.” (Tuck Andress created this beautiful arrangement of that song for the guitar).

When I entered college, my musical taste changed abruptly as I went for heavier sounds that bordered on noise. But while I headbanged to the music of Metallica and jumped around as I copied Van Halen, MJ’s music was always there–(Beat It, for instance, was one song where Van Halen was asked to play a monster riff), hovering.

MJ, has indeed made the world a better place for a lot of people, despite major bumps in his career. His music will live on. Thanks MJ!

By Clarence Yu

With news of the imminent release of Guns N’ Roses’ new album setting the rock music world on fire, I thought it apt to write something about one of its members — to be specific, an ex-member, Slash.

To most of us growing up in the 80’s, Slash was the epitome of the cool, tough, classic rock guitar, refusing to use a whammy bar in an age where ala’ Eddie Van Halen tapping was en vogue, and keeping mostly to Gibson Les Paul’s as his main guitar of choice. He (along with Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi) brought the talk box back to life (a device, when connected to a guitar can make your voice and guitar sound cool and robotic — listen to the intro of “Livin’ On A Prayer by Bon Jovi).

Unknown to most of us then (well, at least to me), Slash wasn’t really that cool at all (at least in my opinion), and he really didn’t bring back classic rock guitar playing (it never really left). In fact, after many listens of their landmark album “Appetite for Destruction,” Izzy Stradlin (the rhythm guitarist) perhaps contributed much more with his sparse, rhythmic playing, and his songwriting (Stradlin wrote most of the good songs).

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It took 17 years, but finally classic American rock group Guns N’ Roses is launching “Chinese Democracy,” Agence France-Presse reports.

The band released Use Your Illussion I and Use Your Illusion II albums in 1991, which were the last original recordings of the band before some members including guitarist Slash left the supergroup. After that, the band has gone through a lot of changes, with frontman Axl Rose remaining as the only original member to date.

Songs like “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and “Paradise City” are now classic tunes that emerged from the hard rocking band from Los Angeles. Of course, who can forget their acoustic composition, “Patience,” which also became a hit.

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By Pocholo Concepcion
Philippine Daily Inquirer

DURAN DURAN bassist John Taylor once tried to go solo. In one of his club gigs, there were 20 people in the audience.

Thursday night at the Araneta Coliseum, Taylor proved he played best with his old band, dubbed the Fab Five at its peak in the mid-1980s. It’s been more than 20 years since and fab might have given way to some flab, especially in the case of front man Simon Le Bon. Still, something must be said about how Duran Duran could give its now middle-aged fans reason to get up and dance — with New Wavish poise.

The fun started on the second song, when Le Bon hinted he was kinda “hungry” — a cue for “Hungry Like the Wolf.” The vocalist, dressed in a dark suit with a slightly loosened tie, sounded in tip-top shape.

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