Bush, STP in Lollapalooza Contention

"Should I stay or should I go" should be the official mantra of this year's Lollapalooza, provided there is one. No, there's still no official word whether the summer festival will return this year, but at least a throng of bands are paying it mind for a change.

Bush, or at least their management team, are apparently mumbling the Clash chorus to themselves over and over again. Whether the grunge outfit's anticipated decision determines the fate of Lollapalooza may depend on the interest of another headlining contender, Stone Temple Pilots. If Bush decides it shouldn't go, all eyes will be on the Pilots. According to a source who requested anonymity, Lollapalooza organizers at the William Morris booking agency have "just recently" begun talks with STP about playing the tour.

"They're exploring the opportunity," the source says. STP will likely have its long-awaited quasi-reunion album in stores in late-July, around the time Lollapalooza would launch. Of course, the possibility remains that both Bush and STP -- or neither -- will play the festival.

Other bands that have been in negotiations to play the main stage -- and whose decision will be determined by the presence of a bona fide headliner -- include Luscious Jackson, Kid Rock, Eminem and the Roots. "It's sorta confirmed," says Roots tour manager Toya Day. "It's our option. We're just maybe waiting to see if something bigger comes in."

"It would be silly for us and the promoters to look at a package of STP and five young bands," says Lollapalooza co-organizer Ted Gardner. "I think it needs to be a bit more solid than that. Maybe another kind of co-headlining situation would give an overall bulk to the package, and then [we could] be a bit adventurous with the opening acts."

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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