From 1972.

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be, but hell, neither is rock and roll. Remember in the mid-nineties when people who weren't your typical rock band types found genuinely new things to do with guitars (not effects, guitars) and had their little corner of MTV on 120 Minutes on Sunday nights? When I pop in my hearing aid and watch this video of Chapel Hill, NC's Archers of Loaf on the internets with my one good eye, it all comes rushing back.

The twelve nominees for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced today -- six are new, and six return hoping for better luck this year. Newbies the Kiss, Red Hot Chili Peppers, LL Cool J, The Hollies (yeah!), Jimmy Cliff, Kiss and Genesis join returnees ABBA, The Chantels, Darlene Love, The Stooges, Donna Summer and the incredibly deserving Laura Nyro. Inductees will be chosen in January and honored at the big annual party on the Ides of March.

John Lydon will always be best known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, but after the Pistols incredibly short and much hyped rise and fall, Lydon had a much longer (and arguably more interesting) run with Public Image Ltd. Their debut Public Image was a couple years ahead of their new wave soon-to-be contemporaries whose synths and deep basses would flood the airwaves in the 1980s. Compelling second acts are not the most common thing in rock and roll, and Lydon's with PiL makes the short list.

PiL has been on hiatus since 1992, but Lydon is reforming the group for a short UK tour in December. It's difficult to not hold one's nose a little at the sporadic Pistols reunions that have taken place since the mid-nineties. Music so firmly rooted in the attitude of being certain age at a certain time doesn't always seem as authentic thirty years later. PiL's music, happily divorced from youthful abandon, stands to hold up far better. Come to the US, please.

There are few who have steered the course of an art form the way Les Paul did. Had he not invented the solidbody electric guitar or the multi-track recorder, I'd still be writing an homage to a great innovator in jazz and pop guitar playing today, but fortunately for musicians and listeners alike, he was much more.

Les Paul (nee Lester William Polfus) heard sounds in his head that was beyond the technology available, and was ingenious and determined enough to chase after them. The result is the basic tools that make up rock and roll as we know it. I defy you to find any nonclassical recording after say, 1960, that wouldn't sound quite different if not for his contributions.

A musician foremost and a scientist second, Paul continued to play a weekly gig at New York's Iridium well into his nineties, frequently letting younger up and coming musicians and big names alike join him onstage for a chance to jam with a legend. It's an openness, lack of pretense and clear demonstration of a love of music that any performer who can claim .01% of Paul's impact would do well to learn from.

Les Paul died today at 94 from complications from pneumonia. The cliche about his work living on can not be understated.

Note: I apologize for the horribly sexist Listerine commerical midway through the clip, though it's kind of hilarious.

(h/t Heather)

I had no clue of Head East's existence until Heather here at C+L recommended this song, which is sending me on a rock and roll archaeological dig through clips of 1970's also-rans to find other gems like this downstate IL combo who according to my not so exhaustive research made a minor splash in the Midwest before fading into obscurity.

John Schlitt, like many rockers before him, crashed and burned on drugs and booze and then found God. Like still many but a smaller few, he started making music about it. Like no one I can think of off the top of my head, he had far more success than he ever had in his secular rock career once he joined Christian rock pioneers Petra, a band often credited with being the band that mainstreamed the idea of ministry through rock and roll. I'm sure readers are lining up to thank them . I've always been grudgingly grateful to them since one of my favorites, King's X, met in a Petra-related project that never got off the ground.

Enjoy this clip and ponder the question, "What makes someone edit grainy footage of a band over the track of a different one?" If you have any suggestions for my classic rock also-ran excavation, fire away!

Wichita, KS is home to the greatest rock and roll dive bar in the whole country, and Split Lip Rayfield, America's finest alt-bluegrass band. The band suffered a brutal blow in 2007 when founding guitarist Kirk Rundstrom in 2007 succumbed to esophageal cancer. This was one of his final performances.

Every Monday night, C&L's Late Nite Music Club will feature an act from every state, alphabetically by state, as part of LNMC's 50 State Strategy. Know a band or artist that you think is the best in their state? Email suggestions to latenitemusicclub [at] gmail.com. Next week: Kentucky. Will we get bluegrass two weeks in a row?

I really wish I had seen Anvil: The Story of Anvil before the success of the documentary, and then the band, ruined the central emotional element of the film: that these lovable Canadians keep trying even though they'll never get their due.

Either way, it's totes heartwarming that they have:

Anvil, the Canadian heavy metal band that spent more than 30 years in near obscurity before the documentary about its struggles became a surprise hit, is getting the ultimate rock and roll salute this summer. AC/DC, arguably the most successful hard rock band in history, has personally selected Anvil as the sole support act for two arena shows -- July 28 at Gillette Stadium in Boston and July 31 at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

You have to hand it to these guys for not giving up.

Though most icon-meets-icon collaborations are a tad underwhelming, it doesn't really get any bigger than this.

UK rag The Daily Express reports:

Just weeks after Bob Dylan announced he wanted to collaborate with fellow legend Sir Paul McCartney, moves are afoot to bring the two superstars together.

Industry insiders say Macca is set to team up with Dylan in California over the summer, where the pair are expected to work on new songs as a duo.

The news comes after Dylan declared this month that he found the idea of working with the former Beatle “exciting”.

McCartney’s spokesman then declared their man would be “very interested” in a collaboration.

“Paul has a home in California not too far from Bob’s so the idea is for the two to meet when Paul is in California over the summer,” says a well-placed mole.

Both artists are no strangers to collaboration, even the notoriously reclusive Dylan. McCartney teamed with Michael Jackson for "Say, Say, Say" (remember that one?) and Dylan has a long list ranging from great (Traveling Wilburys) to WTF (Michael Bolton).

Hopefully the two most accomplished living songwriters in Rock and Roll will yield something more like Dylan's version of "Yesterday" and less like Bolton's "Steel Bars", which Dylan co-wrote (really). We'll know soon enough.

Have a favorite Dylan or McCartney collaboration? The club is open!

Green Day's new album 21st Century Breakdown is a three part concept album supposedly even more haughty than the last one. This means it's either going to be really fantastic or grandiose rock and roll gasbaggery. The first single, 'Know Your Enemy', thankfully pushes the odds toward the former.

The album follows a young couple through their trials in the modern world through three parts: "Heroes and Cons," "Charlatans and Saints," and "Horseshoes and Handgrenades." Like Zen Arcade if the protagonist had a girlfriend? And cost more that $3200 to record? Maybe.

It's Green Day's first with producer Butch Vig, who helmed little albums like Nirvana's Nevermind and Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream, as well as lesser known gems like Freedy Johnston's This Perfect World and L7's Bricks are Heavy. There's no discernable grunge stamp on 'Know Your Enemy' that I can hear, but Breakdown will most certainly go beyond Green Day's traditional format on display here.

21st Century Breakdown comes out May 15th.

Note: Sorry about the ad. WB kills all YouTubes.