Today, February 10, 2012, would have been Cliff Burton’s 50th birthday.

The revered Metallica bassist played on the band’s first three albums — Kill Em All, Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets. His charging, finger-picking basslines added much to the early Metallica and thrash metal music sound.

Burton was tragically killed almost 26 years ago when Metallica was on a European tour to support the Master Of Puppets album. The tour bus skidded off the road and crashed in southern Sweden killing Burton aged just 24 [...]

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Star Wars creator George Lucas talked about his view on making changes to his fan favorite films, and goes so far as to say that “it’s just a movie.”

The filmmaker, who is the mastermind behind the Star Wars mega-franchise, which includes six big-screen live-action movies, has come under fire for decades now due to his propensity to make changes to the films, much to fans’ dismay. In the interview, Lucas said while other movies gets revisions over time without backlash, when he makes “the slightest change, everybody thinks it’s the end of the world.”

One of the most controversial alterations Lucas made was having Greedo the bounty hunter shoot first in his confrontation with the smuggling space pilot Han Solo in the first Star Wars film (Episode IV: A New Hope). Now, Lucas is saying that it was always Greedo who shot first, we just didn’t see it [...]

For the fourth edition of The Geeks Of Doom Round Up, Greg takes a look at the red band trailer for God Bless America, written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, and starring Joel Murray. For our music selection this week, Andy looks at the unique video just released by OK Go, as they use a Chevrolet among other implements to play “Needing/Getting.” [...]

I noticed that the Featured MP3 Song Of The Day over at Amazon today is Rock You Like A Hurricane by The Scorpions for only $.99. That’s cool, I thought, since you know I love the heavy metal and dig that a band like The Scorpions would be spotlighted on a huge site.

But then I noticed that next to the title in parenthesis the song was the “2011 Version” off their new album Comeblack. So I check it out and it turns out that half the album is actually rerecordings of their classic songs like “Rock You Like A Hurricane,” “Still Loving You,” No One Like You,” and “Blackout,” and, man, do these new versions sound awesome! [...]

In honor of Madonna performing at the Halftime show during the Super Bowl today, the MP3 album deal of the day over at Amazon today is Celebration, the singer’s greatest hits album, for only $3.99.

This hits album contains 18 classic songs from Madonna, like “Material Girl,” “Vogue,” “Ray Of Light,” and “Holiday,” — right there, those four songs justify the four dollar price tag, though every tune on the album is a good one and one you’re probably already familiar with. Since MP3 songs typically cost $.99 each, you’ll be saving a lot of money buying the MP3 album today.

If you’d like a physical copy of Celebration, the CD is available for only $12.75 [...]

When a classic film franchise’s prospects of returning to the big screen have forever dried up, its creators look for any remaining possibility of milking every last cent from the property’s dormant viability. So it doesn’t surprise me in the least that the 1985 sci-fi comedy blockbuster Back to the Future might be the latest beloved film of my youth to be resurrected as a Broadway musical [...]

Metallica has posted a video to their official YouTube page simply titled “Save The Date.” The 30-second teaser video mentions how we’ve seen Metallica play festivals all over the world and then displays the names of the various festivals they’ve participated in, like Download and Rock In Rio. But, apparently, whatever is in store for them next, it’ll be new to us and the announcement will come in a few days.

You’ve seen them at festivals across the world
But you’ve never seen them…

The video ends by telling us to tune in Tuesday, February 7 at 11AM PST.

But, what will the big announcement be? [...]

And the meek shall inherit the Earth…

Today is 2-1-12, or 2112… and I couldn’t let this day go by without mentioning this date day, a special one for us Rush fans.

In honor of today’s date, be sure to crank up Rush’s awesome, amazing, fantastic album 2112.

The 1976 concept album was the Canadian’s trio’s four studio effort, and after their previous album, Caress of Steel, was a financial flop, it was also Rush’s final chance with their record label, which was against the band doing another concept album. But the band – bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer Neil Peart, the latter of whom was the main lyricist — stuck to their guns and put out the album they wanted to with 2112. Not only was 2112 the band’s first commercial success, the album also went on to become one of the most popular rock albums of all time, with its Starman emblem as one of the most recognizable symbols in rock [...]

After leaving the rock band Girl in the early 1980s guitarist Phil Collen got the break of his life when he was asked to join Def Leppard. For the past 30 years Collen has been one of the most talented, successful, and underrated axeslingers on the planet.

Recovering from a British tour and festive period, Collen is back in warmer climes chatting to me on the phone from his garden in an “unseasonably hot” California. The Def Leppard and Manraze guitarist had much to talk about including milestone anniversaries for ‘Lep, fantastic second Manraze album Punkfunkrootsrock and, erm, Tom Cruise. No Foolin’.

Geeks of Doom: First of all I want to say Happy New Year!

Phil Collen: Thank you, you too. Cheers!

Geeks of Doom: How was your Christmas and New Year? [...]

Dark Horse Comics and Dark Horse Digital are currently offering a “Rock & Roll” Sale with collections and 99-cent single issues of Tom Morello‘s Orchid and Gerard Way‘s The Umbrella Academy.

Dark Horse is having a nice weekend of sales, huh? Well, following their Star Wars Mega Bundle Sale, the publishing company is offering us a rock & roll sale that features former Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello’s brand new Orchid comic book and My Chemical Romance lead vocalist Gerard Way’s The Umbrella Academy, and you can get every single issue from these comics for a mere 99 cents each [...]

In December composer Michael Giacchino was a guest on “Movies on the Radio,” a popular program spotlighting film composers that airs on the New York-based classical radio station WQXR. Best known for providing the scores to movies such as The Incredibles, Star Trek, and the last two Mission: Impossible sequels, Giacchino gave listeners of the show a special treat by previewing three tracks from his score to Disney’s upcoming mega-budget intergalactic adventure John Carter.

You can listen to all three tracks here below. [...]

For episode 3 of The Geeks Of Doom Round Up, Andy takes a look at the trailer for The Grey, directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Liam Neeson. For our music selection this week, Greg pays tribute to Etta James, who sadly passed away last week – we remember her with her signature song At Last.” [..]

When it comes to matters pertaining to the band KISS, I always confess quite a level of bias, having been a fan since 1987 – and particularly a fan of late drummer Eric Carr. Besides this meaning I’ve been a member of the KISS army for 25 years now, I always keep my eyes peeled for something of interest when it pops up on the web.

Look no further than a video I stumbled across today that I’m sure even rock fans in general, drummers, and our regular readers here at Geeks of Doom may find will bring a smile to your face. [...]

After an ocean of angry protest, massive websites taking drastic measures, and even the artists they weren’t meant to protect standing against them, Congress has been forced to put an end to the proposed SOPA (Stop Online Piract Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP) acts.

Both the Senate, who was getting ready to hold a procedural vote on PIPA next week, and the House of Representatives have taken notice to the extremely negative response to their plans, and have decided to put it all on hold until something a little bit more agreeable can be put together. [...]

The MP3 album deal of the day over at Amazon today is Janis Joplin’s Greatest Hits for only $3.99.

This hits album contains 12 classic songs from the late singer Janis Joplin, like “Piece Of My Heart,” “Me And Bobby McGee,” “Ball And Chain,” and “Down On Me,” — right there, those four songs justify the four dollar price tag, though every tune on the album is great.

If you’d like a physical copy of Janis Joplin’s Greatest Hits, the CD is available for only $7.27 [...]

A group of artists have written an open letter to Washington regarding the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP) acts that have led numerous websites to go dark in protest today.

Artists include American Gods, Sandman, and Neverwhere author Neil Gaiman, comedian/actor Aziz Ansari, and Nine Inch Nails frontman and Oscar winning composer Trent Reznor, just to name a few.

The letter was posted on the Stop The Wall website, and you can read it in full below, including a list of those who have signed it. [...]

For 2nd edition of The Geeks Of Doom Round Up, Greg takes a look at the trailer for West Of Memphis, produced by Peter Jackson, which focuses on the long-running West Memphis Three case. For our music selection this week, Andy takes a listen to Pogo, and his Fresh Prince mashup song, “Jaaam.” [...]

You might recall recently, on the last day of 2011, we had a look at the music from 25 years ago – our personal choices from the albums of 1986.

Now we’re into 2012, the Social Blend podcast has decided to look at the music from 25 years before now: 1987 in music, which was a huge years for the rock and metal scenes.

Craniumelody, which is the music issue of the SB podcast, travels back in the time machine with some tunes from 1987 – including The Cult, Choirboys, Celtic Frost, Midnight Oil, Grateful Dead, Sonic Youth, and more [...]

The Round Up podcast returns, and now in its new home at Geeks of Doom! For those who are new to this mini-podcast, we take a look at some movies, music, and podcast previews from around the web.

For our new episode 1 (reboot, if you will) of The Geeks Of Doom Round Up, Andy takes a look at the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Christian Bale. For our music selection this week, Greg takes a listen to Stepdad, and their trippy but unique song, “My Leather, My Fur, My Nails” [...]

As part of Amazon’s monthly $5 MP3 album deal for January 2012, Van Halen‘s 1984 is on sale for only $5.00.

If you’d like a physical copy of 1984, the CD version is available for only $7.99.

The album, released in the year 1984, was the band’s final effort with charismatic frontman, singer David Lee Roth, and also spawned chart-topping hits “Jump,” “Panama,” and “Hot For Teacher.” [...]