When Xavier “X” Atencio was plucked by Walt Disney in 1965 to be one of his early theme park designers, he was slotted on a number of projects that placed him out of his comfort zone.
Atencio, for instance, never would have envisioned himself a songwriter.
One of Atencio’s first major projects with Walt Disney Imagineering — WED Enterprises (for Walter Elias Disney), as it was known at the time — was Pirates of the Caribbean. In the mid-’60s when Atencio joined the Pirates team, the attraction was well underway, with the likes of fellow animators-turned-theme park designers Marc Davis and Claude Coats crafting many of its exaggerated characters and enveloping environments. Atencio’s job? Make it all make sense by giving it a cohesive story. While Atencio had once dreamed of being a journalist, his work as an animator had led him astray of a writer’s path.
Atencio would not only figure it out but end up as the draftman of one of Disneyland’s most recognizable songs, “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me).” In the process, he was key in creating the template for the modern theme park dark ride, a term often applied to slow-moving indoor attractions. Such career twists and turns are detailed in a new book about Atencio, who died in 2017. “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of an Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” (Disney Editions), written by three of his family members, follows Atencio’s unexpected trajectory, starting from his roots in animation (his resume includes “Fantasia,” the Oscar-winning short “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom” and even stop-motion work in “Mary Poppins”).
For Pirates of the Caribbean, Atencio is said to have received little direction from Disney, only that the park’s patriarch was unhappy with previous stabs at a narration and dialogue, finding them leaning a bit stodgy. So he knew, essentially, what not to do. Atencio, according to the book, immersed himself in films like Disney’s own “Treasure Island” and pop-cultural interpretations of pirates, striving for something that felt borderline caricature rather than ripped from the history books.
Xavier “X” Atencio got his start in animation. Here, he is seen drawing dinosaurs for a sequence in “Fantasia.”
(Reprinted from “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” / Disney Enterprises Inc. / Disney Editions)
Indeed, Atencio’s words — some of those quoted in the book, such as “Avast there! Ye come seeking adventure and salty old pirates, aye?” — have become shorthand for how to speak like a pirate. The first scene written for the attraction was the mid-point auction sequence, a section of the ride that was changed in 2017 due to its outdated cultural implications. In the original, a proud redheaded pirate is the lead prisoner in a bridal auction, but today the “wench” has graduated to pirate status of her own and is helping to auction off stolen goods.
At first, Atencio thought he had over-written the scene, noticing that dialogue overlapped with one another. In a now-famous theme park moment, and one retold in the book, Atencio apologized to Disney, who shrugged off Atencio’s insecurity.
“Hey, X, when you go to a cocktail party, you pick up a little conversation here, another conversation there,” Disney told the animator. “Each time people will go through, they’ll find something new.”
This was the green light that Atencio, Davis and Coats needed to continue developing their attraction as one that would be a tableau of scenes rather than a strict plot.
Tying it all together, Atencio thought, should be a song. Not a songwriter himself, of course, Atencio sketched out a few lyrics and a simple melody. As the authors write, he turned to the thesaurus and made lists of traditional “pirating” words. He presented it to Disney and, to Atencio’s surprise, the company founder promptly gave him the sign off.
“Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me),” Atencio would relay, was a challenge as the ride doesn’t have a typical beginning and ending, meaning the tune needed to work with whatever pirate vignette we were sailing by. Ultimately, the song, with music by George Bruns, underlines the ride’s humorous feel, allowing the looting, the pillaging and the chasing of women, another scene that has been altered over the years, to be delivered with a playful bent.
The song “altered the trajectory” of Atencio’s career. While Atencio was not considered a musical person — “No, not at all,” says his daughter Tori Atencio McCullough, one of the book’s co-authors — the biography reveals how music became a signature aspect of his work. The short “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom,” for instance, is a humorous tale about the discovery of music. And elsewhere in Atencio’s career he worked on the band-focused opening animations for “Mickey Mouse Club.”
“That one has a pretty cool kind of modern instrument medley in the middle,” Kelsey McCullough, Atencio’s granddaughter and another one of the book’s authors, says of “Mickey Mouse Club.” “It was interesting, because when we lined everything up, it was like, ‘Of course he felt like the ride needed a song.’ Everything he had been doing up to that point had a song in it. Once we looked it at from that perspective, it was sort of unsurprising to us. He was doing a lot around music.”
Xavier “X” Atencio contributed concepts to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, including its famous one-eyed cat.
(Reprinted from “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” / Disney Enterprises Inc. / Disney Editions)
Atencio would go on to write lyrics for the Country Bear Jamboree and the Haunted Mansion. While the Haunted Mansion vacillates between spooky and lighthearted imagery, it’s Atencio’s “Grim Grinning Ghosts” that telegraphs the ride’s tone and makes it clear it’s a celebratory attraction, one in which many of those in the afterlife prefer to live it up rather than haunt.
Despite his newfound music career, Atencio never gave up drawing and contributing concepts to Disney theme park attractions. Two of my favorites are captured in the book — his abstract flights through molecular lights for the defunct Adventure Thru Inner Space and his one-eyed black cat for the Haunted Mansion. The latter has become a fabled Mansion character over the years. Atencio’s fiendish feline would have followed guests throughout the ride, a creature said to despise living humans and with predatory, possessive instincts.
In Atencio’s concept art, the cat featured elongated, vampire-like fangs and a piercing red eye. In a nod to Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Black Cat,” it had just one eyeball, which sat in its socket with all the subtlety of a fire alarm. Discarded eventually — a raven essentially fills a similar role — the cat today has been resurrected for the Mansion, most notably in a revised attic scene where the kitty is spotted near a mournful bride.
Xavier “X” Atencio retired from Disney in 1984 after four-plus decades with the company. He drew his own retirement announcement.
(Reprinted from “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” / Disney Enterprises Inc. / Disney Editions)
Co-author Bobbie Lucas, a relative of Atencio’s colloquially referred to by the family as his “grandchild-in-law,” was asked what ties all of Atencio’s work together.
“No matter the different style or no matter the era, there’s such a sense of life and humanity,” Lucas says. “There’s a sense of play.”
Play is a fitting way to describe Atencio’s contributions to two of Disneyland’s most beloved attractions, where pirates and ghosts are captured at their most frivolous and jovial.
“I like that,” Lucas adds. “I like someone who will put their heart on their sleeve and show you that in their art.”
ANOTHER TikTok trend has taken off, this time featuring a combo of iconic tracks from different genres and eras.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Beez in the Trap trend, which is clocking up tens of millions of views and spawning hundreds of thousands of videos.
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One of the songs is a 2012 banger by Nicki MinajCredit: GettyThe other is a 4 Non Blondes hit from over two decades agoCredit: Getty
The original songs fuelling this trend come from different genres and eras – Nicki Minaj’s 2012 hip hop single Beez in the Trap and 4 Non Blondes’ 1993 alternative rock hit What’s Up.
Beez in the Trap, featuring rapper 2 Chainz, was released on May 29, 2012 as a single from her second studio album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
Minaj said the phrase “I beez in the trap” means she’s always making money, as she explained on the Graham Norton Show when the song came out.
During the interview, Minaj clarified that “beez” is slang for “I am always” and “the trap” refers to any place where money is made.
The other single, 4 Non Blondes’ What’s Up, was released on June 11, 1993 and went on to become one of the decade’s definitive rock anthems.
Written and sung by Linda Perry, the song’s rallying chorus of “what’s going on?” became ingrained in pop culture.
The mashup has brought both songs new attention on social media.
The clips usually begin with someone lip-syncing the opening line from What’s Up over the beat of Minaj’s track.
The focus then swaps to another participant, who delivers Minaj’s razor-sharp hook.
As of November 28, 2025, the trend has seen over 600,000 TikTok videos created.
It has been embraced by both of the original artists, with 4 Non Blondes’ Linda Perry telling Rolling Stone it is “ridiculous in all the best ways”.
Other major celebs taking part in the trend include rapper Ice Spice with PinkPanthress and Quen Blackwell, while Jennifer Lopez and former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry – who sang the vocal on the original – have joined in on the fun.
ON Christmas Eve, 1956, a 15-year-old boy heads due south on a five-hour Greyhound Bus journey from his home in Hibbing, Minnesota.
Arriving in the state capital, Saint Paul, he meets up with two summer camp friends and they go to a shop on Fort Road called Terlinde Music.
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Folk star Bob Dylan snapped during an early photoshootCredit: SuppliedBob with Suze Rotolo, the girl on the cover of the Freewheelin’ albumCredit: UnknownAmerican folk singer-songwriter Bob singing during his first visit to Britain in 1962Credit: Redferns
Styling themselves as The Jokers, the fledgling trio record a rowdy, rudimentary 36-second rendition of R&B party hit Let The Good Times Roll and a handful of other covers.
The boy, with his chubby cheeks and hint of a rock and roller’s quiff, leads the way on vocals and piano.
Already enthralled by popular sounds of the day from Elvis Presley to Little Richard and the rest, he is now in proud possession of a DIY acetate — his first precious recording.
His name is Robert Allen Zimmerman, Bobby to his family and friends.
Less than seven years later, on October 26, 1963, as Bob Dylan, he takes to the stage in the manner of his folk hero Woody Guthrie, now adopting an altogether more lean and hungry look.
Acoustic guitar and harmonica are his only props as he holds an audience at New York City’s prestigious Carnegie Hall in the palms of his hands.
He performs his rallying cries that resonate to this day — Blowin’ In The Wind, The Times They Are A-Changin’, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.
He calls out the perpetrators of race-motivated killings with The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll and Only A Pawn In Their Game.
He dwells on matters of the heart by singing Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right and Boots Of Spanish Leather.
His 1956 schoolboy shindig and the Carnegie Hall concert, presented in full for the first time, bookend the latest instalment in Dylan’s endlessly captivating Bootleg Series.
Titled Through The Open Window, it showcases an artist in a hurry as he sets out on his epic career.
“I did everything fast,” he wrote in his memoir, Chronicles Vol.1, about his rapid transformation. “Thought fast, ate fast, talked fast and walked fast. I even sang my songs fast.”
But, as he continued: “I needed to slow my mind down if I was going to be a composer with anything to say.”
Among the myriad ways he achieved his stated aim, and then some, was by heading to the quiet surroundings of New York Public Library and avidly scouring newspapers on microfilm from the mid-1800s such as the Chicago Tribune and Memphis Daily Eagle, “intrigued by the language and the rhetoric of the times”.
He’d fallen under the spell of country music’s first superstar Hank Williams — “the sound of his voice went through me like an electric rod”.
Dylan affirmed that without hearing the “raw intensity” of songs by German anti-fascist poet-playwright Kurt Weill, most notably Pirate Jenny, he might not have written songs like The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll.
Then there was Mississippi Delta bluesman Robert Johnson, who Dylan likened to “the scorched earth”. “There’s nothing clownish about him or his lyrics,” he said. “I wanted to be like that, too.”
‘Did everything fast’
We’ll hear more later about the man considered to be his primary early influence, Woody Guthrie, the “Dust Bowl Balladeer” who wielded a guitar emblazoned with the slogan “This machine kills fascists”.
And about leading Greenwich Village folkie Dave Van Ronk, known as the “Mayor Of MacDougal Street”, who had Dylan’s back from the moment he first saw him sing.
On two occasions in recent years, I’ve had the privilege of talking to Joan Baez, the unofficial “Queen” to Dylan’s “King” of the American folk scene in the early Sixties.
She championed him as he made his way, frequently bringing him on stage, their duets on his compositions like With God On Our Side revealing rare chemistry.
They also became lovers as Bob’s relationship with Suze Rotolo, the girl on the cover of the Freewheelin’ album, crumbled.
“He was a phenomenon,” Baez told me in typically forthright fashion. “I guess somebody said, ‘There’s this guy you gotta hear, he’s writing these incredible songs.’
The singer’s real name in his high-school yearbook in 1959Legendary musician Dylan performing on stageCredit: Unknown
“And he was. His talent was so constant that I was in awe.”
A leading figure in the civil rights movement, who marched with Martin Luther King, Baez added: “It was a piece of good luck that his music came along when it did. The songs said the things I wanted to say.”
But she finished that reflection by saying, tellingly: “And then he moved on.”
For Dylan, now 84, has forever been a restless soul, “moving on” to numerous incarnations — rock star, country singer, Born Again evangelist, Sinatra-style crooner, old-time bluesman, you name it.
In the closing paragraph of Chronicles, he admitted: “The folk music scene had been like a paradise that I had to leave, like Adam had to leave the garden.”
But it is that initial whirlwind period, 1956 to 1963, centred on bohemian Greenwich Village and the coffee shops where young performers got their breaks which forms Volume 18 of the Bootleg Series.
Through The Open Window is available in various formats including an eight-CD, 139-track version, and has been painstakingly pieced together by co-producers Sean Wilentz and Steve Berkowitz.
And it is from Wilentz, professor of American history at Princeton University and author of the liner notes accompanying this labour of love, that I have gleaned illuminating insights.
I can’t think of too many modern artists of his stature, if any, who developed that rapidly
Sean Wilentz
He begins with the arc of Dylan’s development, first as a performer, then as a songwriter, during his early years.
Wilentz says: “He came to Greenwich Village in 1961 with infinite ambition and mediocre skills. By the end of that year, he had learned how to enter a song, make it his own, and put it over, brilliantly.
“By the end of 1962, he had written songs that became immortal, above all Blowin’ In The Wind and A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.
“By the time of the Carnegie Hall concert in 1963, the capstone to Through The Open Window, his songwriting had reached the level we can recognise, that would eventually lead to the Nobel Prize.
“And his performance style, for the thousands in that hall, was mesmeric. I can’t think of too many modern artists of his stature, if any, who developed that rapidly.”
One of the show’s striking aspects is the lively, often comical, between-song banter. (Yes, Dylan did talk effusively to his audiences back then. Not so much these days.)
In order to assemble Through The Open Window, Wilentz and Berkowitz had “more than 100 hours of material to draw on, maybe two or even three hundred”.
Their chief aim was to find a way to best illuminate “Bob Dylan’s development, mainly in Greenwich Village, as a performer and songwriter”.
But, adds Wilentz: “Several factors came into play — historical significance, rarity, immediacy and, of course, quality of performance.
‘Good taste in R&B’
“We hope, above all, that the collection succeeds at capturing the many overlapping levels — personal, artistic, political and more.”
Though noting Dylan’s inspirations, Woody, Elvis and the rest, Wilentz draws my attention to “a bit of free verse” written by Bob in 1962 called My Life In A Stolen Moment, which suggests nothing was off limits.
“Open up yer eyes an’ ears an’ yer influenced/an’ there’s nothing you can do about it.”
This is our cue to take a deep dive into the mix of unheard home recordings, coffeehouse and nightclub shows as well as studio outtakes from Dylan’s first three albums for Columbia Records — his self-titled debut, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and The Times They Are A-Changin’.
Of the first track, that primitive take on Let The Good Times Roll, Wilentz says: “Dylan and the other two were obviously enthusiastic, and they had good taste in doo-wop and R&B.
“But if you listen closely, you can hear Dylan, on piano, calling things to order and pushing things along, the catalyst, the guy we know from other accounts who was willing to take more risks onstage.”
I ask Wilentz what he considers the most significant previously unreleased discoveries and he replies: “Most obviously Liverpool Gal from 1963, as it’s a song even the most obsessive Dylan aficionados have known existed but had never heard.
“He only recorded it once, at a friend’s party, and it’s stayed locked away on that tape until now.
Dylan was producing so much strong material that some of it was inevitably laid aside
Sean Wilentz
“While not Dylan at his peak, it’s a fine song. It’s significant lyrically, not least as testimony to his stay in London at the end of 1962 and the start of 1963. That stay had a profound effect on his songwriting, and one gets a glimpse of it here.”
Also included is near mythical Dylan song The Ballad Of The Gliding Swan, which he performed as “Bobby” in BBC drama Madhouse On Castle Street during his trip to Britain.
The only copy of the play set in a boarding house was junked by the Beeb in 1968 but this 63-second audio fragment survives.
Of even earlier recordings, Wilentz says: “I’m drawn to Ramblin’ Round.
“Although known (in his own words) as a Woody Guthrie jukebox, Dylan has never released a recording of himself performing a Guthrie song.
“Here he is, in an outtake from his first studio album, handling a Guthrie classic, and with a depth of feeling that shows why his earliest admirers found him so compelling.”
Wilentz considers other treasures: “There’s an entire 20-minute live set from Gerdes Folk City from April, 1962, concluding with Dylan’s first public performance of Blowin’ In The Wind.
“Then there are two tracks of singular historic importance, the first known recordings, both in informal settings, of two masterpieces, The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll and The Times They Are A-Changin’.”
If these versions shed fresh light on classics, let’s not forget the great Dylan songs that didn’t make it on to his albums, so great was the speed he was moving.
Does Wilentz find it staggering that songs like Let Me Die In My Footsteps and Lay Down Your Weary Tune were discarded?
“Yes and no,” he answers. “Yes, because these are powerful songs that were left largely unknown for years.
“No, because Dylan was producing so much strong material that some of it was inevitably laid aside.
‘Literary genius’
“Sometimes intervening factors kicked in. Take the four songs that, for business and censorship reasons, got cut from Freewheelin’ and replaced with four others.
“The album was actually better in its altered form, including songs like Girl From The North Country.
“But that’s how Let Me Die In My Footsteps was lost, along with a lesser-known song I love that we’re happy to include, Gamblin’ Willie’s Dead Man’s Hand, as well as an amazing performance of Rocks And Gravel.”
So, we’ve heard about songs but who were the key figures surrounding Dylan during his formative years?
Wilentz says: “Among the folk singers, Van Ronk most of all, and Mike Seeger, about whom he writes with a kind of awe in Chronicles.
“There was the crowd around Woody Guthrie, including Pete Seeger (‘Mike Seeger’s older brother,’ he calls him at one point) and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.”
He singles out producer John Hammond, “for signing him to Columbia Records and affirming his talent.
“But most important of all there was Suze Rotolo, who was a whole lot more, to Dylan and the rest of the world, than the girl on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.”
Finally, I ask Wilentz why the singer felt uncomfortable at being labelled king of the folk movement, “the voice of a generation” if you like.
“People misread Dylan from all sides,” he argues. “Never a protest singer in the mould of Guthrie or Seeger, even though he worshipped Guthrie and admired the left-wing old guard by the time he turned up.
“But Dylan wasn’t one of them, though he sympathised, in a humane way, with victims of injustice.”
Dylan’s work springs from a matrix that is emotional, filtered through his literary genius
Sean Wilentz
Wilentz believes the recent biopic A Complete Unknown, with Timothee Chalamet making a decent fist of portraying the young Dylan, “is a little misleading”.
He says: “It wasn’t Dylan’s ‘going electric’ that pissed off the old guard and their younger equivalent as much as his moving beyond left-wing political pieties.
“Hence the song My Back Pages, from 1964: ‘Ah but I was so much older then/I’m younger than that now.’”
Wilentz concludes: “Dylan’s work springs from a matrix that is emotional, filtered through his literary genius.
“It was impossible for someone like him, living through those two years (1962-63), not to respond to the politics in an artistic way.
“How, if you were Bob Dylan, could you not respond to the civil rights struggle, the killing of Medgar Evers (Only A Pawn In Their Game) or Hattie Carroll, as well as the spectre of nuclear annihilation?
“Dylan had a lot to say, but he was never going to be the voice of anyone but himself.”
Maybe he’d already explained himself on Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright:
RAPPER Nelly was accused of taking writer credit on song he didn’t write on his hit albums Country Grammar and Nellyville in a massive $10 million lawsuit.
The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal that the Hot In Herre artist was sued in federal court in May after a lawsuit was initially lobbed at him in a local Missouri court in 2024.
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Nelly was hit with a $10 million federal lawsuit in which he is accused of taking credit on songs he didn’t writeCredit: GettyThe suit, filed by a production company, accused the singer of making a secret agreement to use his name on credits for songs to avoid paying royaltiesCredit: YouTube/Nelly
Production company D2 filed an amended complaint against Nelly, 50, in August.
The suit read “D2 is a production company started in a local community skating rink by twin brothers Darren Stith and David Stith.
“D2 was known for developing producers and talents and giving them an opportunity to further their art and careers.”
The brothers claimed: “They were directly responsible for finding, nurturing, and bringing to the public the music of Nelly and the group known as the ‘St. Lunatics.’”
St. Lunatics was made up of Nelly, Ali Jones, Torri Harper, Robert Kyjuan Cleveland and Lavell Webb, aka City Spud.
In the suit, D2 alleged that they had a contract with both Nelly and the St. Lunatics, separately, but that they released the Ride Wit Me rapper from his contract with them in June of 2000, with a $75,000 payment.
D2 claimed that Nelly, in a secret agreement, claimed a writer credit on songs that weren’t written by him, and were actually written with the St. Lunatics, which made it so the artists were able to avoid paying D2 royalties on those songs.
“The Songs, which were included on the Country Grammar and Nellyville albums, sold over twenty million copies.
“D2 was never paid its portion of the revenues that were legally due to D2 under Lunatic Agreements with Harper, Cleveland, and Jones (and then the Publishing Agreement), but went to Nelly instead under the Secret Arrangement,” the suit went on to allege.
Nelly and the St. Lunatics are being sued by D2 for more than $10,000,000 for breach of contract, fraud, conspiracy and breach of good faith and fair dealing.
D2 is also suing Nelly specifically for tortious interference, which essentially means the rapper putrposely interfered with D2’s business.
The suit said the Air Force One’s rapper “intentionally induced, and caused an interruption of D2’s contractual relationship with, and its business expectancy with, Harper, Cleveland, and Jones, by proposing, negotiating, entering into, and implementing the Secret Arrangement.
“Nelly knew or should have known that his actions would interfere with the Lunatic Agreements and cause D2 to lose revenue it was entitled to receive from the Songs pursuant to the Lunatic Agreements, and later, through the Publishing Agreement,” the suit claimed.
In September, Nelly, along with Cleveland and Harper, attempted to get the suit dismissed.
The case is ongoing.
Earlier this week, Nelly’s wife, Ashanti, was seen sporting a bathing suit on a trip to Barbados just after her 45th birthday on October 13.
Nelly was not seen during the outing, though their child, Kareem Kenkaide ‘KK’ Haynes, was with her for the trip.
A third added: “So here for these two being happy and in love.”
The show’s debut came just hours after The Sun exclusively revealed the truth behind rumors that Nelly had cheated on Ashanti.
Nelly and Ashanti launched a show on Peacock after they rekindledCredit: GettyNelly and Ashanti reconnected and secretly married after more than a decade apartCredit: GettyThe rapper was sued over songs from his smash hit album County Grammar and NellyvilleCredit: Getty
For better or worse, “The Life of a Showgirl,” Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, is unlike anything the megastar has done before.
On the 12-track album, which dropped Friday to mixed critical reception, Swift is uncharacteristically risqué and, for possibly the first time, indulges her inner theater kid without reservation. In that sense, much of the pop record is daringly new.
Still, on each track are sonic echoes from the 14-time Grammy winner’s decades-spanning discography — from the verve of “Reputation” to the romantic whimsy of “Lover.”
Swifties are sure to be playing “The Life of a Showgirl” on repeat today. But if that gets a bit tiresome after the 13th time, here is a list of Swift sister songs to try instead, based on your favorite track from the new album.
(Some song pairings are based on sound, while others are based on shared themes.)
“The Fate of Ophelia”
“Showgirl’s” opening track has a sultry groove and low pulse that could easily be the soundtrack to a flirty nightcap or the series finale of a dark comedy.
Find the same alluring melody with an extra dash of spice in “I Can See You,” a vault track from 2023’s “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).” And for bonus points, head to the music video for a dose of the Swift-signature theatricality dripping from “The Life of a Showgirl.”
“Elizabeth Taylor”
This allusive track boasts the album’s most sweeping chorus, anchored by Swift’s mesmeric alto and a masterfully orchestrated rhythm that uses moments of quiet to its advantage.
“Reputation‘s” slow-burn hit “Don’t Blame Me” follows a similar playbook, using a killer choral backing to achieve the same hymnal quality that complex vocal layering creates on “Elizabeth Taylor.”
Plus, both songs share a secret weapon: Swift’s irresistible enunciation of the word “baby.”
“Opalite”
An immediate inductee into Swift’s “Glitter Gel Pen” song Hall of Fame, “Opalite” is for dancing around your kitchen with a glass of orange wine in hand.
Fuel that infectious joy with the most twirl-worthy — and arguably most underrated — track of Swift’s career, “Sweeter Than Fiction.” Swift released this shimmering tune in 2013 for the “One Chance” film soundtrack, and true to its title, it is sweet as a peach.
Honorary mention: If you prefer a tambourine to a synth, try “Lover” B-side “Paper Rings,” perhaps more suitable for kick-stepping than spinning but nonetheless another “Opalite” lookalike.
“Father Figure”
The natural choice here would be “The Man,” another song wherein Swift adopts a masculine persona to prove just what a boss she is.
But I have no more sage advice than to head to George Michael’s original “Father Figure” (1987), which recently got a streaming boost after being featured in the 2024 erotic thriller “Babygirl.” Swift used an interpolation of Michael’s song in her track of the same name — with a gleeful sign-off from the late singer’s estate.
“When we heard the track we had no hesitation in agreeing to this association between two great artists and we know George would have felt the same,” George Michael’s estate wrote Thursday on his official Instagram.
“Eldest Daughter”
It doesn’t feel entirely fair to compare these two — especially given one of them has Phoebe Bridgers and the other one has the line “I’m not a bad b—, and this isn’t savage” — but “Eldest Daughter” and “Nothing New (Taylor’s Version)” share the same grief for a younger self that a woman in her 20s knows best.
If you need a good cry, these two are here for you.
“Ruin the Friendship”
Speaking of debilitating nostalgia, this one might feel a bit out of place in this album’s universe, but it’s a heartrending gem nonetheless.
For a similar remorseful trip into the past, minus the boppy bass line, try “We Were Happy,” a vault track from “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” about young love lost.
“Actually Romantic”
While this alleged Charli XCX diss track may be more scathing than usual for Swift, the singer is no stranger to shade, as evidenced in “Reputation” B-side “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” — a perfect pairing for “Actually Romantic.”
In both songs, Swift is unapologetically petty, offering her foes a metaphorical bouquet of flowers thick with thorns.
These tracks aren’t everyone’s speed, but every misfit has its fans. And in the case of “Actually Romantic,” Nicki Minaj seems to be one of them.
“Wi$h Li$t”
Showcasing this album’s gentler side, “Wi$h Li$t,” which Swift said may be her personal favorite, is a tender tribute to her fiancé Travis Kelce, backed with ethereal synth sounds and soft vocalization from a clearly smitten showgirl.
“I just want you” is also the mission statement of “Glitch,” a short and sweet pop number from 2022’s “Midnights.” Turn this one on, and in no time you’ll find yourself swaying side to side, daydreaming about the love you never expected but can’t imagine letting go.
Honorary mention: For a more upbeat option, go for “Gorgeous,” a bubblegum–pop anthem just as swoonworthy as the aforementioned tracks.
“Wood”
This raunchy disco track had jaws dropping across the globe upon its release, and for good reason.
While not as high on shock factor, Swift’s “I Think He Knows,” a lesser-known track from “Lover,” is equally dancy and down bad. On top of that, it’s famously set at a perfect strutting pace. What more could you ask for?
“CANCELLED!”
This is the second song in Swift’s oeuvre featuring a title with an exclamation point (we’ll get to that later), and it’s not the best one.
But if you like the dark energy Swift has going on here, you can get plenty more of it in her live rock ’n’ roll version of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which she pulled out for the 1989 World Tour and hasn’t played since.
Here’s hoping the country crossover artist has another genre hop in her.
“Honey”
True to its title, “Honey” is a welcome salve for some of this album’s more sour numbers and shares striking sonic similarities with Swift’s best song adorned with an exclamation point, “‘Slut!’”
The “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” vault track, like “Honey,” uses a name-calling motif to paint a rosy portrait of her romantic partner. Neither is lyrically complex, but if “‘Slut!’” is any indication, “Honey” is sure to wind up a true fan favorite.
“The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)”
Finding a song that sounds like “The Life of a Showgirl” is a tall order, if not an impossible one.
So for a theme-based pairing, try fellow album closer “Clara Bow,” which caps off the original edition of “The Tortured Poets Department” (2024) with a mournful commentary on the constant churn of young female stars.
As Swift and Carpenter say, “You don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe, and you’re never gonna wanna.”
Honorary mention: For another Swift track about the pitfalls of fame, try “The Lucky One,” off 2012’s “Red.”
During a recent interview on the New York Times’ ”Popcast” to discuss her latest solo album, the Paramore lead singer was asked whether she would like to “name names” to reveal who she means when she sings about being “the biggest star / At this racist country singer’s bar” in the title track.
“It could be a couple but I’m always talking about Morgan Wallen,” Williams said. “I don’t give a s—. Find me at Whole Foods, b—, I don’t care.”
In 2021, Wallen was caught on video drunkenly using a racist slur. The Grammy-nominated country star’s This Bar and Tennessee Kitchen, named after one of his songs and paying homage to his upbringing, opened in Nashville last year.
(Video of Wallen’s 2024 arrest for reckless endangerment is making headlines again this week too. In police bodycam video obtained by the Associated Press, Wallen denies throwing a chair off a Nashville bar’s roof but apologizes for “caus[ing] problems.” He took a plea deal after being charged in the case and was sentenced to seven days’ incarceration at a DUI Education Center, two years’ probation, a $350 fine and payment of court fees.)
Williams, who was born in Mississippi, met her future Paramore bandmates after moving to Tennessee as a child. She has been open about her political beliefs and having to navigate her own upbringing as a white southern Christian. Some of her latest music addresses religious hypocrisy and the racial tensions and racist legacy of the South.
“I’m never not ready to scream at the top of my lungs about racial issues,” Williams said in her interview. “I don’t know why that became the thing that gets me the most angry. I think it’s because it’s so intersectional that it overlaps with everything from climate change to LGBTQIA+ issues.”
In addition to her years with Paramore and the inspiration behind her latest solo work, Williams spoke about how proud she is of the diversity of Paramore’s fan base and audience at shows.
“I’m very passionate in that we have a long way to go in making people feel like that they belong in the world,” she said. “The repercussions of people not feeling like they’re a part or they belong, we see it all the time in the news. I think music is not only the easiest but the beautiful way to tap into people’s hearts and their subconscious and change their minds.”
THERE can be no cooler claim to fame than to be name-checked in one of the greatest pop songs ever written.
Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks, released at the height of the Swinging Sixties, featured a couple referred to only by their first names — Terry and Julie.
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Terence Stamp with lover Julie Christie in 1967’s Far From The Madding CrowdCredit: Alamy
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Down the boozer with drinking buddy Michael Caine, who he shared a flat with in London before they found fameCredit: Alamy
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Stamp in Paris for the premiere of comedy-drama Song For Marion in 2013Credit: Getty – Contributor
Julie was Julie Christie, the drop-dead gorgeous actress, and Terry was Terence Stamp, her real-life boyfriend.
The accomplished actor died yesterday morning, aged 87, and last night his family led the tributes to him.
They said in a statement: “He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer, that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come.”
Along with a handful of other leading men from humble backgrounds such as Michael Caine and Albert Finney, Stamp epitomised a new breed of screen star.
Ruggedly handsome, uncompromising and from a tough working-class background, he shot to fame with his first movie.
But as the Sixties drew to a close, it looked as though the sun was also setting on his career — and it was almost a decade before he triumphantly reappeared.
The oldest of five children, he was born Terence Henry Stamp on July 22, 1938, in Bow, East London, to mother Ethel and father Thomas, a £12-a-week tugboat stoker.
‘I was in pain. I took drugs – everything’
That made him, according to the saying, a genuine Cockney — “born within the sound of Bow bells”.
His first home had no bathroom, only a tub in the backyard which he would be dragged into on Friday evenings.
He later remembered: “The first one in would get second-degree burns — and the last one frostbite.”
Superman defeats General Zod, played by Terence Stamp, in Superman II
In 2016, he said of his childhood: “The great blessing of my life is that I had the really hard bit at the beginning. We were really poor.
“I couldn’t tell anybody that I wanted to be an actor because it was just out of the question. I would have been laughed at.
“When we got our first TV, I started saying, ‘Oh I could do that’ and my dad wore it for a little bit.
“After I’d said, ‘Oh I’m sure I could do better than that guy’, he looked at me and he said, ‘Son, people like us don’t do things like that’.”
As an 18-year-old, he tried to evade National Service — a year and a half of compulsory duty in the military — by claiming to have nosebleeds but was saved when he failed his medical because of fallen arches.
Determined to realise his dream, Stamp left home and moved into a basement flat on London’s Harley Street with another promising young Cockney actor — Michael Caine. The pair became firm friends and ended up in repertory theatre, touring around the UK together.
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Stamp in the title role of his first hit, 1962’s Billy Budd
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In the 1966 spy comedy Modesty Blaise with Monica VittiCredit: Alamy
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Stamp as an alien in Superman II with Sarah Douglas and Jack O’ HalloranCredit: Alamy
Stamp’s performances soon brought him to the attention of acclaimed writer and director Peter Ustinov, who gave him the lead role in the 1962 historical drama movie Billy Budd. He was an overnight success.
Nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, he also won the hearts of millions of female fans. And with his first Hollywood pay cheque, the image-conscious actor celebrated by buying himself a Savile Row suit and bleaching his hair blond.
Stamp heeded the career advice Ustinov gave him — to only accept job offers when something he really wanted came his way.
That may explain why he made only ten movies between 1962 and 1977.
His most famous role was as Sergeant Troy in Far From The Madding Crowd in 1967 — where he met and fell in love with co-star Julie Christie.
While Stamp was fast becoming a screen icon, his younger brother Chris was making waves in the music biz.
I was someone who was desperately unhappy. I was in pain. I took drugs — everything
Terence Stamp
Stamp Junior managed The Who and Jimi Hendrix, and was friends with many music legends of the time.
Talking about The Kinks’ classic Waterloo Sunset, written by frontman Ray Davies, Terence said: “My brother was quite friendly with him.
“He asked Ray Davies about that lyric and Ray Davies told my brother that, yes, he was visualising Julie and me when he wrote the lyric.”
But by the end of the decade, Stamp’s career was on the wane — and he was devastated when his “Face of the Sixties” model girlfriend Jean Shrimpton walked out on him — beginning what he called his “lost years”.
He said: “I’d lost the only thing I thought was permanent.
“The revelation came to me then — nothing is permanent, so what was the point trying to maintain a permanent state?
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Stamp as tough ex-con Wilson in Steven Soderbergh’s 1999 crime thriller The LimeyCredit: Imagenet
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Stamp with Guy Pearce, left, and Hugo Weaving in Priscilla, Queen Of The DesertCredit: Alamy
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Stamp in 1964 with model Jean Shrimpton, who left him devastated when she ended their three-year relationshipCredit: Getty
“I was someone who was desperately unhappy. I was in pain. I took drugs — everything.”
He clung on to a feeling that “the call would come” — but the wait was a long one.
It finally came in 1977 when he was offered the part of General Zod in Superman.
He took it — mainly because it gave him the chance to appear alongside his acting hero Marlon Brando.
The part brought him to the attention of a new audience — and last night fans paid tribute to his portrayal of the banished alien villain.
In a nod to his role as the evil leader who demanded his enemies show him deference, one fan wrote on X: “Thank you Terry . . . we will kneel today in your honour.”
Another wrote: “Terence Stamp was much more than Zod but at the same time one of the best comic book villains ever.”
‘My present was a box of Star Wars stencils’
Making up for lost time after the 1978 release of Superman, Stamp made dozens of films from then until 2021, showing off his huge range.
He won universal praise for his portrayal of an East End villain in The Limey (1999) and transgender woman Bernadette Bassenger in The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert. Stamp also played Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum in Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace, although the director George Lucas did not give him a huge payday.
He once cornered a producer during the shoot and complained about the pay.
He recalled: “I said, ‘Listen, you’re not paying much money and it’s making hundreds of millions. What goes down? What happens?’
“She said, ‘If the actors are really good, George gives them a present’.
“I thought, ooh, that’s all right. So when I leave the studio I go into my dressing room and there’s a box. It was a box of Star Wars stencils.
“That was my present. I just couldn’t believe it. I thought, may the Force be with you, George. I didn’t keep my stencils. I left them in the dressing room.”
Around that time, he said: “I moved from England some time ago because I wasn’t getting any work.
“I’m getting work in America and my films appear in France but for some reason I’m not getting any offers in Britain.”
But he kept himself busy by launching a successful parallel career as an author, writing five bestselling memoirs and two cookbooks.
Talking about The Kinks’ classic Waterloo Sunset, written by frontman Ray Davies, Terence said: ‘My brother was quite friendly with him’Credit: Supplied
Although he dated some of the world’s most beautiful women, including Julie Christie, Brigitte Bardot and sisters Joan and Jackie Collins, he married only once — to Elizabeth O’Rourke.
The pharmacist was 35 years his junior and the marriage lasted from 2002 to 2008.
He admitted he was upset by the split but added: “I always said I’ll try anything once, other than incest or Morris dancing.
“I’d never been married and I thought I would try it, but I couldn’t make a go of it.”
Looking back on his career, he once said: “I’d be lying if I said I was completely indifferent to the success of all my contemporaries. There are parts I would love to have had a stab at, but I see the decisions I made as invaluable.
“I’m not just chasing an Oscar. I am learning how to die — how to build something within myself that does not become dust.”
WATERLOO SUNSET (extract) by RAY DAVIES
Terry meets Julie Waterloo Station Every Friday night But I am so lazy Don’t want to wander I stay at home at night
Millions of people Swarming like flies ’round Waterloo underground But Terry and Julie Cross over the river Where they feel safe and sound
And they don’t need no friends As long as they gaze on Waterloo sunset They are in paradise
A balladeer in the body of a headbanger, Ozzy Osbourne brought soul and emotion to the heavy-metal genre he helped invent as the frontman of Black Sabbath and which he turned into a global force as an outrage-courting solo act. Osbourne, who died Tuesday at 76 — just weeks after he gave what he billed as his final performance in his hometown of Birmingham, England — sold tens of millions of albums, was twice inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and late in life found an unlikely second career as a pioneering reality-television star. Here, in the order they were released, are 10 of his essential songs.
Black Sabbath, ‘Paranoid’ (1970)
As heavy as Black Sabbath was, the band could also be remarkably light on its feet, as in the group’s zippy breakout single, which hit No. 4 on the U.K. pop chart. “Paranoid” is narrated by a depressed young man who “can’t see the things that make true happiness,” as Osbourne sings against Tony Iommi’s chugging guitar riff. Yet the song keeps hurtling forward with a kind of dogged determination. Black Sabbath closed with “Paranoid” — current stream count on Spotify: 1.3 billion — at this month’s farewell concert.
Black Sabbath, ‘War Pigs’ (1970) An antiwar protest song as pointed as John Fogerty’s “Fortunate Son,” “War Pigs” couches its musings on the mendacity of Vietnam’s architects in images of witches and sorcerers poisoning brainwashed minds. The disgust in Osbourne’s sneering vocal is still palpable.
Black Sabbath, ‘Iron Man’ (1970) Leave it to Osbourne to find the empathy in this bludgeoning yet weirdly tender account of a guy who travels through time to save humanity only to be “turned to steel in the great magnetic field” on his return trip. “Nobody wants him / They just turn their heads,” he sings, “Nobody helps him / Now he has his revenge.”
Black Sabbath, ‘Sweet Leaf’ (1971) A love song addressed to weed? Osbourne stretches the bit about as far as it can go as Iommi cranks out the sludgy lick that would later be sampled prominently by the Beastie Boys in their “Rhymin & Stealin.”
Black Sabbath, ‘Changes’ (1972) Osbourne’s most touching vocal performance came in this woebegone piano ballad from Black Sabbath’s fourth album; he sings with so much agony about a romantic breakup that the song doesn’t even bother with guitar or drums. In 2003, Osbourne recut “Changes” as a duet with his then-19-year-old daughter Kelly; a decade later, the soul singer Charles Bradley recorded a wrenching cover not long before he died.
‘Crazy Train’ (1980) Osbourne got the boot from Black Sabbath in 1979 after his bandmates tired of his drug and alcohol abuse. Yet Osbourne quickly rebounded as a solo act, scoring a Top 10 rock radio hit on his first try with “Crazy Train,” which he wrote and recorded with guitarist Randy Rhoads, who’d left Quiet Riot to join Osbourne’s band. Lyrically, “Crazy Train” contemplates the “millions of people living as foes” amid the Cold War — a dark theme that somehow led to Osbourne’s most euphoric song.
‘Mr. Crowley’ (1980) To follow up “Crazy Train,” Osbourne and Rhoads — who would tragically die in a plane crash in 1982 while on tour with Osbourne — revived Black Sabbath’s preoccupation with the occult for this midtempo jam about the self-styled prophet Aleister Crowley.
‘No More Tears’ (1991)
Unlike many heavy-metal elders, Osbourne stayed relevant into the grunge era with hits like the bleakly hypnotic title track from his quadruple-platinum “No More Tears” LP, which showcased his close collaboration with guitarist Zakk Wylde.
‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’ (1991) “No More Tears” yielded another staple of early-’90s MTV in this soaring power ballad that Osbourne and Wylde wrote with Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead.
Post Malone featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott, ‘Take What You Want’ (2019) At 70, Osbourne surprised many with his robust vocal cameo in this trap-metal pile-up from Post Malone’s smash “Hollywood’s Bleeding” LP. The singer’s collaboration with producer Andrew Watt on “Take What You Want” led to Osbourne’s recruiting Watt to oversee his final two solo albums: 2020’s “Ordinary Man” and 2022’s Grammy-winning “Patient Number 9.”
It’s another dry, sweltering morning in Las Vegas, and the guitarist Zoltan Bathory has just left his Gothic castle. Bearded and dressed in black, with a bundle of dreadlocks piled high on his head, he’s now piloting a small boat across a man-made lake filled with tap water, on his way to breakfast at a nearby café.
The newly renovated replica castle is a recent project and perk of Bathory’s 20-year career as guitarist and founder of the multiplatinum heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch. But last year, as the metal act began planning to celebrate those two decades of action, Bathory discovered that their longtime former label, Prospect Park, had quietly sold the masters to the first seven 5FDP albums.
The group, which retained 50% ownership in the masters but not “administrative rights,” was not informed before the sale.
“We were not privy to the deal. It was completely behind curtains. That’s the annoying part of this,” says Bathory. “I wish they had a conversation because we could have done a deal together, or maybe we would have bought it. We didn’t even get an option. We found out from somebody else. Well, wait a minute, what’s going on?”
With that anniversary coming up in 2025, 5FDP adjusted after finding inspiration in the example of pop superstar Taylor Swift, who responded to the sale of her catalog with a hugely successful series of “Taylor’s Version” rerecordings of entire albums. Swift re-created four of her records, each one topping the Billboard Top 200, before she finally bought back the rights to her catalog this year.
Five Finger Death Punch decided to follow that lead, and in January began rerecording the band’s most popular songs. The first batch of new recordings arrived under the title “20 Years of Five Finger Death Punch — Best of Volume 1,” released Friday, to be followed by “Best of Volume 2” later this year.
“When this happened, it came up immediately: ‘Well, this happened to Taylor and what did she do?’” Bathory says of the plan. “She battle-tested it. And she’s a big artist. ‘OK, that’s your move? Now this is our move.’”
It is just the latest chapter in a sometimes turbulent career for the musicians, as the band rose to become one of the most successful hard rock/metal bands of their generation, boasting 12 billion streams, surpassed only by Metallica and AC/DC. During its first decade, 5FDP released four platinum-selling albums in the U.S., beginning with its second release, 2009’s explosive “War Is the Answer.”
The unexpected sale of their masters — to the independent music publisher Spirit Music Group — was perhaps the final round in a frequently contentious relationship with Prospect Park founder Jeff Kwatinetz. In 2016, the label sued Five Finger Death Punch in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging breach of contract over a coming greatest hits package and the recording of a new album.
That lawsuit got ugly, including an accusation in its initial filing that the band was “attempting to cash in before the anticipated downfall of their addicted bandmate,” a blunt reference to singer Ivan L. Moody’s period of self-destruction at the time. The band countersued. The cases were settled out of court the following year.
A request for comment sent to Kwatinetz through his attorney was not returned by press time, but he told Billboard last month that the band’s current management stopped cooperating, so “I sold my half.”
As he settles into the small lakeside café over a glass of organic matcha tea and avocado toast, Bathory expresses little real anger over the suits and the sale, and looks back cheerfully at the band’s long relationship with the label. The guitarist says he actually enjoyed their heated discussions, reflecting not only their conflicts of the moment, but a shared history as the band rose from clubs on the Sunset Strip to stadiums around the world.
“With our former label president, this is probably the funniest relationship. In the past, we were suing each other for various [issues],” Bathory says with a smile. “We get on the phone, and we’re talking about a lawsuit, and he’s like, ‘You guys lost this injunction.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, f— you.’ ‘Oh, f— you!’ We had this back and forth, and then it’s ‘How’s the kids?’ And then we just talk about albums and music and whatnot for like an hour.
“And then, ‘OK, see you in court.’ ‘F— you,’” he adds with a laugh. “It’s a game of life. And I believe in the way of the samurai. The saddest day in the samurai’s life is when your worst opponent dies, because that’s the guy who kept you on your toes.”
Sessions for the new recordings unfolded quickly from 5FDP’s current lineup that also includes baseball bat-wielding singer Moody, longtime bassist Chris Kael, and two newer members, drummer Charlie Engen and lead guitarist Andy James.
The musicians recorded their parts separately, re-creating songs some of them had by now performed live nearly 1,000 times around the world. The resulting tracks are not exact replicas of the originals, but are faithful to their spirit while leaving room for the natural evolution that happens through years of touring.
The result on “Best of Volume 1” is a potent representation of the band’s history, opening with the snarling riffs of “Under and Over It.” The first volume includes 13 rerecordings and three live tracks. When played side-by-side with the originals, the new self-produced songs never sound like tired retreads but are powered by some contemporary fire in the band’s performances.
The first public glimpse in the project was a rerecording of “I Refuse,” a power ballad from 2018, this time as a duet with Maria Brink (of In This Moment), released as a single in May.
Once news of the project, and its inspiration, began to spread, Five Finger Death Punch began to hear from a new constituency: Swifties.
“What’s kind of crazy is that I see Taylor Swift’s fans on our social media and bulletin board going, ‘Yeah!’ That’s the most bizarre thing,” Bathory says of the new voices cheering the band forward. “We are so far away from each other in style. But it seems like it hit a chord. I guess people who don’t necessarily understand or are privy to the music business and how it works still feel like this is not right.”
While the band is also six songs into recording its next album of new material, Bathory says the new best-of recordings are expected to be fully embraced by the band’s famously intense following.
“Our fans are pretty hardcore,” Bathory says. “They’re very engaged, and they know exactly why we did this. So I think, just to support the band, they will switch [their allegiance to the newer versions] anyway. But these recordings are going to live next to each other.”
Founded in 2005, Five Finger Death Punch was the culmination of the rock star dreams of Bathory that began as teen in Hungary, first as a fan of British punk rock, before turning to metal after discovering Iron Maiden (with early singer Paul Di’Anno). He built his own electric guitar to look like one used by the L.A. heavy metal band W.A.S.P., with a skull-and-crossbones painted onto the surface.
Rock music wasn’t played on TV or the radio in the then-communist country, so Bathory and his friends traded cassette tapes of any punk and metal they got their hands on. “Somebody always somehow smuggled in a record, and we would all copy it,” he remembers. “It created this subculture where we didn’t just look at it as music. It was the sound of the rebellion.”
Bathory also dressed the part, drawing attention for his Def Leppard T-shirt with the Union Jack flag, studded leather jackets and belts, and long hair. Kids who adopted that look and spoke in the language of Western hard rock actually risked arrest, he says.
“I’ve been chased around by the cops so many times,” he recalls with a laugh.
By his early 20s, Bathory moved to New York City with his guitar, about $1,000 in his pocket, and no English-speaking skills. While living in low-budget squalor, he slowly taught himself English, first by translating a random copy of the Stephen King novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.” He played with bands that got nowhere, and after six years relocated to Los Angeles, and things started to change.
For a year, he played bass in the L.A. hard rock band U.P.O., which enjoyed some chart success, then formed Five Finger Death Punch, with a name inspired by the 1972 kung fu film “Five Fingers of Death” and Quentin Tarantino’s two “Kill Bill” epics.
Zoltan Bathory, founder and guitarist of the heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch, pilots a small boat on the man-made lake outside his Las Vegas house.
(Steve Appleford)
“I knew exactly what I wanted. There was a vision,” says Bathory.
That vision got clearer when he first saw singer Moody performing with the nu metal band Motograter. It was Bathory’s good fortune that Motograter would soon break up. He reached out to Moody in Denver.
“He was special — his performance, his voice. That star quality thing is a real thing,” notes Bathory of the growling, emotional singer. “You could tell he was a rock star, right? I’m like, OK, that’s the guy.”
In their first years as a band, the quintet played more than 200 shows annually. “We played every little stage that exists,” Bathory says.
Sitting beside the guitarist now in the café is Jackie Kajzer, also known as radio DJ Full Metal Jackie, who first spotted the band on MySpace. She soon caught an early set at the Whisky a Go Go and was immediately sold on their sound and potential. She was also a junior manager at the Firm, a leading management company at the time representing Korn, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.
Kajzer urged the company to sign the ominously-named Five Finger Death Punch, and after two showcase performances on the Strip, it did. The metal band was soon added to the side stage of the high-profile 2007 Family Values Tour, followed the next year by the traveling Mayhem Festival, leaving a powerful impression among new fans and fellow artists.
“When you find something that makes you feel something, it makes it worth fighting for,” says Kajzer, who has remained part of the band’s management team ever since, now at 10th Street Entertainment. “I had never felt it before. PS: I’ve never really felt that again, that same early feeling. You believe in it and you want to shake everyone else and make them get it as well.”
Five Finger Death Punch’s recording career began by uploading a few songs at a time — early versions of “Bleeding,” “Salvation,” and “The Way of The Fist” — to MySpace, then an essential platform for new acts, or what Bathory now remembers with a laugh as “the center of the universe.”
“It was extremely hard, but in the beginning we knew we had something because there was this instant interaction,” Bathory says of fan response. “We were all in bands before — many, many bands. We all recognized that, OK, there’s something different here. We didn’t have to convince people. It just started happening and it was growing really fast.”
Zoltan Bathory, stands beneath a Turkish lamp in his Las Vegas house.
(Steve Appleford)
“The ones that make it, they’re here for decade after decade,” he says of the larger metal scene, which enjoys a seemingly eternal audience. “The family [of fans] is extremely loyal and they’re there forever. Once you’re in, you’re in.”
The band’s first album, 2007’s “The Way of the Fist,” was largely recorded in Bathory’s apartment near the Sunset Strip. It reached halfway up the Billboard Top 200 album chart and eventually went gold, with 500,000 copies sold. While even greater success follower, there has also been the usual ups and downs in the life of a metal band, with group members coming and going, troubles with substance abuse, and arguments over creative choices.
After two decades together, the singer and the guitarist have survived.
“It’s still a tornado. It’s a band, a bunch of guys, so I don’t think it’s ever going to change. We built this freaking thing like it was a battleship,” says Bathory with a grin, sitting in the castle beneath an ornate Turkish lamp.
“It’s always going to be that we fight and argue, but at the end of the day, we always figure things out. We always climb the next mountain.”
I enjoyed midsummer at a rented beachside cottage in the Skåne village of Bjärred, north of Malmö,with Swedish friends. We ventured to the local church to enjoy the dancing round a midsummer pole decorated with vibrant blue and red flowers, with many local residents adorned in intricately decorated flower crowns. After taking a dip in the Öresund strait along the long jetty with its bathhouse, we towelled off to indulge in deliciously sweet strawberries and sip Briska ciders into the late hours of daylight. Caitlin
A party on Denmark’s northern shores
A sand dune-lined beach in North Jutland. Photograph: Konstantin Kalishko/Alamy
We spent the afternoon paddling with one foot in the Baltic and the other in the North Sea at the top of Grenen, North Jutland, Denmark. Then, we headed southwards along the beaches and through the sand dunes to Skagen to enjoy the midsummer celebration at Vippyfyret, where many hundreds gathered, having travelled mostly on foot or by bicycle to experience an evening of music with songs and recital. Artists, composers and poets were among the throng round a great bonfire which was a sight to behold. Mal Jones
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Pink light at midnight near Stockholm
A ferry leaving Vaxholm harbor in Sweden. Photograph: Alexandre Patchine/Alamy
For an easy midsummer escape from Stockholm, Vaxholm is unbeatable. A fast ferry gets you to the archipelago’s capital in under an hour. My tip is to spend the afternoon exploring the town, with its classic Falu-red wooden houses and gardens overflowing with flowers. But don’t take the last ferry back. Instead, find a spot by the water and watch as the midsummer sun refuses to set, bathing the islands in golden, pink light for hours. It’s a simple, accessible way to experience the magic of Sweden’s endless daylight without straying far from the city. Pamela
Food, friendship and fire in Valencia
People around the bonfire on the beach for the festival of San Juan. Photograph: Ruben Olmo Morales/Alamy
Last summer, while having a break in Valencia, I found out Spanish people mark 23 June as the beginning of summer by celebrating the festival of San Juan. For a few nights around the actual date of San Juan, bonfires, wine and music on the beaches seemed to go on until dawn. The local family I was staying with invited me to choose some old furniture to burn on a beach bonfire and helped me throw it on before we danced round the fire holding hands and singing songs to pagan gods to burn the evil of the previous year! We barbecued anchovies and sausages we had bought at Valencia’s marvellous Mercado Central at midnight before throwing ourselves into the Med at 2am – a feelgood way to celebrate midsummer, full of food, friendship and fire! April
Cycle to the sun … or just Edinburgh
Cramond beach sunrise, as cyclists on Ride to the Sun arrive.
I’ve really enjoyed Ride to the Sun – a 100-mile overnight bike ride from Carlisle to Edinburgh held on 21 June. It’s inclusive, joyous, community-filled and fabulous. From the Moffat chippy queue to the midnight rave to the toasting of the sunrise on Cramond beach, it’s the best way to spend the shortest night. Vicky
Red wine and cola on the beach in Asturias
The harbour at Cudillero. Photograph: kavram/Getty Images
We stumbled upon the midsummer Noche de San Juan in Cudillero in Asturias. Religious processions gave way to paganistic bonfires where people tossed mementoes of their year to forget. Next up were fireworks and a Brazilian samba troupe. Locals explained that the mayor could justify the expense because it was a prerequisite of getting re-elected. After midnight we headed to the beach for a party fuelled by calimocho (red wine and cola, don’t ask). We retired at 8am for a breakfast of chorizo and fried eggs just as a live DJ started up. Kieran
A nightingale in song. Photograph: Biosphoto/Alamy
Our midsummer stay in Le Pin, a hamlet in southern France between Bordeaux and Toulouse was rich with natural wonders, not always seen but very much heard. From shrieking swifts diving through the 19th-century market hall in nearby Auvillar to a turtle dove purring beside a rural road, it was this bird lover’s idyll. We heard nightingale melodies throughout the day as well as after dark, and caught the calls of cirl buntings, hoopoes and black redstarts. And it wasn’t just birds. One night, crickets and frogs provided a chirruping and croaking medley – a memorable midsummer nocturne. Sharon Pinner
Bands on every corner, Paris
A band playing in Ménilmontant, Paris, during the Fête de la Musique. Photograph: Hemis/Alamy
Hiring a bike and exploring Paris for Fête de la Musique was a brilliant way to spend an urban solstice. Every year on 21 June, the city turns into one big free festival, with stages of all sizes springing up outside famous landmarks and local neighbourhood bars. Beginning in the heart of the city to catch some psychedelic guitar outside the Centre Georges Pompidou, we then pedalled past brass ensembles outside jazz bars near Jardin du Luxembourg, classic French techno along the banks of the Seine and scuzzy metal bands in squares of the 13th arrondissement. Lizzy C
The golden light in Italy’s Piedmont
The vineyards of Serralunga d’Alba. Photograph: Alamy
In the golden light of midsummer, Serralunga d’Alba’s rolling vineyards (about 35 miles south-east of Turin) come alive. Staying at Cascina Meriame, a working winery with panoramic views, I savoured barolo and barbaresco wines during intimate tastings led by passionate hosts. Evenings were spent watching the sun set over the Langhe Hills, a Unesco world heritage site, while enjoying local cheeses and nebbiolo wines. The nearby medieval castle added a touch of history to the serene landscape. For a tranquil midsummer retreat blending culture, cuisine and nature, this Piedmont gem is unparalleled. Mr Ifan Morgan ap Dafydd
Winning tip: a fine place for a picnic, northern Iceland
Grímsey is an island that straddles the Arctic Circle line. Photograph: Oleg Senkov/Alamy
We travelled to Grímsey from Akureyri for the island’s summer solstice festival. Arriving early, we hiked to the marker sign and received official certificates to confirm we had crossed the Arctic Circle. Celebrations began at Krian, the only restaurant on the island, and continued well into the night at the schoolhouse. The drink flowed and there was a treasure hunt, dancing, traditional songs and homemade food. Families came together for picnics on the wildflower-covered hillsides, outdoor chess tournaments were played at midnight and, local or stranger, all were welcomed. It was truly magical. Elizabeth
The Eurovision Song Content 2025 is finally here, and fans are flooding into Basel, Switzerland for the latest blockbuster TV extravaganza – and now you and your friends can come up with your own live scoreboard during the show
Eurovision is finally here – and you can play along by rating the performances with our very own interactive scoreboard. Play along with your friends and family to compare your final ranking after a winner has officially been crowned!
Fans will have to wait until near the end of the evening to see the bookies’ favourite, KAJ of Sweden, who is 23rd in the lineup.
Meanwhile, British hopes rest with the country pop group Remember Monday. Band members Charlotte Steele, Holly-Anne Hull, and Lauren Byrne are sixth in the lineup with their energetic song, What the Hell Just Happened?
After the UK finished 18th last year, and 25th in 2023, Remember Monday will be hoping they can return to the successes of 2022, when Sam Ryder came second.
Now, as you watch the action unfold, you can keep track of your favourite performances by playing along with our interactive widget. Simply rate the artists out of 10 to choose your favourite. Then check back to see how your score tallies with the opinions of other Eurovision fans.
Hosts Hazel Brugger and Sandra Studer speak during the rehearsal(Image: Getty Images)
Meanwhile, as fans wait for the excitement to start on Saturday, why not take our quiz to test how well you know Europe’s premier song contest?
Can you recall the year Bucks Fizz performed Making Your Mind Up, when Abba met their Waterloo, or even as far back as Sandy Shaw and Puppet on a String? Or perhaps you came late to the Eurovision party and have fond memories of more recent winners Netta, Maneskin, and last year’s champion Nemo?
To help get you in the mood for Eurovision we’ve prepared a quiz testing your knowledge of all the cheesiest Eurovision classics.
All you have to do is guess the year of the song and performer. Use the slider to choose the year. Points are awarded for how close you get to the right answer, with 10 for being spot on, nine for one year out, eight for two, seven for three, and so on until you get to 10 years out.
Eurovision 2025 lineup (in running order)
1. Norway: Kyle Alessandro – Lighter 2. Luxembourg: Laura Thorn – La Poupée Monte Le Son 3. Estonia: Tommy Cash – Espresso Macchiato 4. Israel: Yuval Raphael – New Day Will Rise 5. Lithuania: Katarsis – Tavo Akys 6. Spain: Melody – ESA DIVA 7. Ukraine : Ziferblat – Bird of Pray 8. United Kingdom : Remember Monday – What The Hell Just Happened? 9. Austria: JJ – Wasted Love 10. Iceland: VÆB – RÓA 11. Latvia: Tautumeitas – Bur Man Laimi 12. Netherlands: Claude – C’est La Vie 13. Finland: Erika Vikman – ICH KOMME 14. Italy: Lucio Corsi: Volevo Essere Un Duro 15. Poland: Justyna Steczkowska – GAJA 16. Germany: Abor & Tynna – Baller 17. Greece : Klavdia – Asteromáta 18. Armenia: PARG – SURVIVOR 19. Switzerland: Zoë Më – Voyage 20. Malta: Miriana Conte – SERVING 21. Portugal: NAPA – Deslocado 22. Denmark: Sissal – Hallucination 23. Sweden: KAJ – Bara Bada Bastu 24. France: Louane – maman 25. San Marino: Gabry Ponte – Tutta L’Italia 26. Albania: Shkodra Elektronike – Zjerm
