Random music news for Tuesday, May 26, 2026

The Real Housewives of New Jersey has everyone googling the term “slam pig.” Don’t. Just…don’t. Stick with music news for May 26, 2026, instead.

1. Pearl Jam has a new drummer, but they won’t tell us who it is until September.
2. Good news. Phil Collins’ health is improving. He won’t perform at his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, but he doesn’t rule out appearing live again sometime in the future.
3. The Smashing Pumpkins at The Sphere? Possibly.
4. Who is the Festive Owl and why does he(?) know so much about concerts?
5. There’s a new free radio app for Windows that allows for easy streaming of broadcast radio.
6. Caleb Shomo of the band Beartooth comes out as gay–and his wife of 14 years is completely supportive.
7. This certainly would have interrupted the mood of a gig…
8. Dexter Holland of The Offspring delivered the commencement address at USC. Watch it here.
9. Well, isn’t this an interesting synthesizer.
10. Wanna buy a Nirvana t-shirt once worn by Kurt Cobain? One is for sale by an ex-Nirvana drummer.
11. TikTok has signed a long-term licensing deal with Universal. Both companies also pledge to weed out AI slop.
12. Meanwhile, Universal and Spotify are working on a new AI feature that will allow fans to do remixes and covers. It’ll all be licensed, of course.
13. And Google has launched updates to its AI-powered music studio, Google Flow Music.
14. Some Ozzy fans are annoyed at the upcoming avatar project. Son Jack says, “Ozzy would have loved this.”
15. Anthrax’s Ian Scott did what during gigs?

More music news? Go here.

BONUS: Turns out the “steroid Olympics” was a total bust. All those performance-enhancing drugs and just one record was broken.