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Metallica Fans Commemorate Death of Beloved Bassist with Community-Friendly ‘Cliff Burton Day’

Posted in In Memorium, News, The Visionaries, Videos with tags , on 02/10/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Ex-Bassist Cliff Burton is remembered as a pivotal force in the most popular band of all time
Cliff Burton

For many, today will be somber, sober and sad, as it marks the 40th anniversary of late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Perhaps the fastest-rising star in the metal community, a bus accident cut his life short in 1986 in Sweden. He was only 24 years old. All metal fans, whether or not they liked Metallica, mourned Burton because of the tragic accident and because of his stunning gift at playing guitar. Burton continues to a hero in his hometown of Castro Valley California, the city holiday has received more attention

The city in which Burton lived is hosting Cliff Burton Day 2026, which will tangentially recognize the 40th anniversary of Metallica’s Damage Inc. tour. It’ll take place at the Chabot Theater. Starting at 7 p.m. PT, Burton’s family members, family members and work pals will share stories and memories about the family member so tragically lost. The event will feature live music too. Check out The Chatbot for more info.

That’s all the news we have right now, so we’ll leave you with three rad videos: the first, with Burton crushing it for 25 minutes; a discussion among haters who eventually came around to recognize Burton’ brilliance; and a pro-cam taping of Metallica playing “Orion,” a song primarily written by Burton.

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On Tyranny: Bad Bunny Defeats Racist Hate From ICE, Trump, MAGA with Super Bowl Show for the Ages

Posted in Essays, News, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 02/09/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Occasionally in our On Tyranny series, we deviate from our normal routing of interviewing musicians on the topics of Trump’s tyrannical regime and the ghastly horrors spewing from it like the 1989’s Exxon Valdez oil spill. We do so in order to demonstrate that the tireless efforts of protestors – the textbook definition of unsung heroes – are succeeding tremendously in their efforts to force the corporate media to increase coverage of the resistance’s war against fascism.

Another way the mainstream (let’s be generous and call them unaware) is finding it very difficult to block out or deny Trump’s reign of terror is when famous people join the resistance by proudly speaking out in public, threats of retaliation from Donald “I am your retribution” by damned.

With that in mind, we found it imperative to publish our third post about Bad Bunny, even if he isn’t returning our phone calls. How rude, especially considering that Bad Bunny copped his moniker from our The Bad Penny! And yet how seismically important it was for the Puerto Rican rapper to cancel plans to tour the U.S. due to safety concerns.

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Boise’s Prize Fight Fest to Feature 14 Bands; Tix for All-Ages Show Cost Just 15 Bucks

Posted in Concert Previews, News with tags , , , , , , , , , on 12/19/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

In case you haven’t heard – and really, God bless you if you haven’t – the president of the United States of America and Dana White are planning to stage a UFC fight on the White House South Lawn on June 14 as part of a “celebration” of Trump‘s birthday. Well, Boise’s music scene is planning a vastly more enjoyable, safer and morally legit event of its own: an all-ages battle of the bands referred to “Prize Fight Fest,” happening Jan. 16 at the Shrine Social Club.

“The event commemorates the turning of a new leaf for Mount Orange Records to re-launch as a sister-label of Mishap,” the event organizers said in a statement, noting that it will also serve as a label showcase of sorts. “[We’ll] be ringing in the new year with several new artists and releases, many of which are performing on the following lineup.”

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On Tyranny: Nightrage Guitarist Scolds Complicit Public for ‘Looking the Other Way’ as Democracy Dies

Posted in Interviews, Lists, News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , on 12/18/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Little did The Bad Penny expect that a feature called “The 20 Best Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal Bands of All Time” that we published five days ago would become the most popular post in the history of this 15-year-old website in its entire existence. But that’s exactly what the headbangers ordered, and it’s spurring us to run some spinoff articles about bands made the cut on the list but that we’ve never had the pleasure of interviewing.

Reaching out to the bands on the list that aren’t as popular as your In Flames, Amon Amarth and Dark Tranquillity, we were reminded that Gothenburg is the historic city that birthed more than just three MDM bands. Nightrage guitarist Marios Iliopoulos said he was both flattered to be recognized and that their artistic output is just as strong as many of the other bands included on the rundown.

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Is Gaerea’s New Album ‘Loss’ About Alien Abductions? Or UFOs, at Least? The Clues Are There …

Posted in News, Reviews with tags on 12/18/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The phrase “most anticipated album of the year” is, when actually considered, an absurd thing to say. The phrase is inherently contradictory, given that music has an unwavering subjective appeal even among an artist’s devoted fanbase. Because fans typically don’t know what’s in store on an upcoming release, it’s illogical for fans to froth at the mouth over a record that hasn’t yet materialized. 

A more accurate comment would come from someone who has actually listened to the record in advance. If that arbiter thinks long and hard about the approaching album – and seriously considers the hopes and expectations of the fans of the artist who is putting it out – they might be able to predict, based on their musical expertise, that the album will hit the marks that the artist’s fanbase craves.

So let’s put it another way: Gaerea’s fifth album, Loss, is already positioned to be one of the most devastating and glorious (those words are interchangeable in the metal community) – and perhaps one of the best, metal records of 2026. We can base that theory on three principle pieces of evidence. 

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Megadeth Charging $950 a Pop for Listening Party as Part of ‘Retirement’ Scam; Will Trump Award Dave Mustaine a Medal of Freedom?

Posted in Essays, News with tags , , , , on 12/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Megadeth fans can’t be too pleased with the mastermind numskull behind the undeniably iconic metal band, the irascible Dave Mustaine – you know, the guy who cried a river and played the victim card in the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster way back when.

Once again, the self-described “born-again Christian” is saying “fuck you” to the Ten Commandments by not admitting his wrongdoings, refusing to atone for the insults he’s volleyed toward marginalized groups, and robbing fans who are either too trustworthy of him or too ignorant of his latest greedy schemes. Like the good little megalomaniacal narcissist that he is, Mustaine is unnecessarily causing even more damage to a legacy he has had countless opportunities to rehabilitate following misstep after misstep.

From accusations of racism and homophobia to the general douchebag attitude with which he makes offensive, uninformed and asinine comments on major media outlets like Fox, the guy just can’t seem to be content with his net worth of $14 million and restrain himself from insulting whomever he pleases. And you won’t believe what he’s up to now.

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Clemy’s Crew Supporting Idaho Families of Pediatric Patients With Saturday Benefit Event

Posted in Concert Previews, Interviews, News with tags , , , on 11/26/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

As more than 8,000 families in Idaho have kids with special healthcare needs, the nonprofit organization Clemy’s Crew is rallying the citizens of the state to provide much-needed assistance by staging a benefit concert at Treefort Music Hall on Saturday.

Dubbed the “Concert for Compassion,” the inaugural event will support families of Idaho pediatric patients going through medical crises. It will run from 5 to 9 p.m. and feature performances by local bands, a silent auction, raffle prizes, pizza and a full bar.

Clemy’s Crew has helped more than 30 families of pediatric patients during medical crises in its first year. President and founder [editor’s note: and all-around great guy] Scott Thompson recently told us that Clemy’s Crew aims to help far more families next year – but will need substantial community support to accomplish that goal.

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On Tyranny: Transcending Obscurity Works Around Trump’s Tariffs With Innovative Move

Posted in Features, News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , on 11/24/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

It doesn’t take an economic genius to know that Donald Trump’s deranged obsession with tariffs – a fixed charge on an imported good that citizens of the country importing the good ultimately bear the cost of paying – is wreaking havoc on America’s economy. Not to mention the economies of many other countries across the world.

The policy is so plainly dumb and illegal – it’s the U.S. Congress that authorizes tariffs, not the executive branch – that it appears likely even the U.S. Supreme Court, which has failed to rein in Trump to the severe, perhaps irreversible detriment to our country – is going to strike down Trump’s unilateral move, which appears to be the only be the only kind he can make due to, you know, that whole separation of powers thing. (Hence the reason why this post is part of our On Tyranny series.)

Anyway, one of The Bad Penny‘s favorite record labels – Mumbai, India-based underground extreme metal specialists Transcending Obscurity – declared Monday that they’re executing a workaround to Trump’s moronic policy.

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Exclusive: Courtney Love Freaked Out Over Supposed Child Abductions at US Airports, Ex Reveals

Posted in News with tags , , , , , on 11/18/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Much like news headlines about the goon in the White House, stories that appear in the press about Courtney Love often reveal she has managed to sink even lower, causing more collateral damage to other people and continuing to shock a benumbed nation into deeper states of catatonia, exasperation and hopelessness.

The latest Love update comes courtesy of Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum, who briefly dated her in the ’80s and just released his first memoir earlier this month. Titled The Royal We and revolving heavily around Bottum’s decision to come out of the closet way back in 1993, the 275-page read contains many anecdotes and vignettes of the front woman of her on-again, off-again band Hole.

Back in the good ol’ days, Love and husband Kurt Cobain used to rail against prejudice, misogyny, corporate greed, overconsumption and America’s addiction to consumerism. But after the couple’s halcyon days were cut far too short due to the couple’s heroin use (which Love has denied), it didn’t take long for them both to plummet back down to earth in shambles.

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Bad Penny Post #1,000: Your Top 10 Favorite Reads Thus Far

Posted in Lists, News, Polls with tags , , , , , , , , , on 11/13/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Tom Hardy Thumbs Up GIF

The proverbial “they” said it couldn’t be done, but with these words, The Bad Penny has reached its thousandth post since launching way back in 1862 (the same year rock ‘n’ roll was invented!). In celebration of what is still a smaller number than the grand total of songs released by Guided by Voices (no, we didn’t do the math, but are you gonna challenge that assumption?), here are the top 10 most popular posts in the modest history of this website:

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