Every second Sunday in May is reserved for the women who have been around to lend their advice, compassion and hardworking hands to us — aka mom. Then there's mom's counterpart — aka dad — who's celebrated on the third Sunday of every June. Now it's nearing the end of July and we're inching up on yet another holiday that celebrates both the mothers and the fathers — Parents' Day.

Music has long been filled with many celebrity parent/child relationships. There's Coldplay's Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow with Apple and Moses; Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale with Kingston and Zuma Nesta Rock; Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman with Sunday Rose; and who could forget Frank Zappa's unique spawn: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, and Diva Thin Muffin.

To celebrate parents everywhere, in 1994 the National Parents' Day Coalition and former President Bill Clinton signed into law the resolution establishing the fourth Sunday of every July as Parents' Day. According to the resolution, the holiday was established for "recognizing, uplifting and supporting the role of parents in the rearing of children."

So parents, we know sometimes you just don't understand your children and the shenanigans they get into, but for all the trouble you've been through, this GRAMMY playlist is for you.

"With Arms Wide Open" (iTunes>)
Creed, Best Rock Song, 2000

With lyrics written by frontman Scott Stapp in anticipation of the birth of his first child, this Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 track is the embodiment of parenthood and new life. The song was later commercially released as a single to benefit Stapp's With Arms Wide Open Foundation "to promote healthy, loving relationships between children and their families."

"Parents Just Don't Understand" (iTunes>)
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Best Rap Performance, 1988

Psst, hey parents. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince don't seem to think you understand, but check out this tune. It might clue you in on how not to "ruin" your kid's "rep."

"Daddy's Hands" (iTunes>)
Holly Dunn, Best Country Vocal Performance, Female nominee, 1986

Nothing sounds sweeter than a song about a daddy's love. The song also tells the truth about parenting and how it sometimes isn't easy ("Daddy's hands were hard as steel when I'd done wrong"), but that a parent's love for a child never fails ("But I've come to understand/There was always love in daddy's hands").

"My Front Porch Looking In" (iTunes>)
Lonestar, Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals nominee, 2003

The theme of this Billboard No. 1 Country Songs track is simple and true: Home is where the heart is. The father figure depicted couldn't be more qualified for parenting. He's not concerned about meaningless adventures that exist outside of the home. Instead he's focused on the family of three he sees from his "front porch looking in."

"Coal Miner's Daughter" (iTunes>)
Loretta Lynn, GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, 1998

Well, she was born a poor coal miner's daughter, but she had the love of her daddy and the smile of her mommy. That love took her far enough to win three GRAMMY Awards, a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award and a GRAMMY Salute To Country Music honor in 2010.

"In My Daughter's Eyes" (iTunes>)
Martina McBride, Best Female Country Vocal Performance nominee, 2004

McBride's lyrical take on parenting describes the relationship between a mother and daughter as a two-way street. In her daughter's eyes, McBride describes how she herself is seen ("In my daughter's eyes I am a hero/I am strong and wise"), and how she sees herself ("I see who I want to be/In my daughter's eyes"). In the public's eyes, the song was strong enough to break into the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Daughters" (iTunes>)
John Mayer, Song Of The Year, 2004

This is Mayer's best attempt to lend some advice "on behalf of every man, looking out for every girl" on this GRAMMY-winning track, encouraging fathers to nurture their girls as that relationship will often deeply influence future relationships, namely romantic ones. Of course, Mayer's looking out for himself too, because he's left to "clean up the mess" of a relationship tainted by poor parenting. (And this includes mothers too, Mayer points out.)

"Kids" (iTunes>)
MGMT, Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals nominee, 2009

This track takes the playlist on a twist as it's taken from the perspective of kids. "'Kids' was a result of us being 19 years old, in this fantasy college world, which is a little bit like childhood because you don't have much responsibility," Ben Goldwasser told The Independent in 2008. They were responsible enough to garner a nomination for Best New Artist at the 52nd GRAMMY Awards though.

"Daughter" (iTunes>)
Pearl Jam, Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal nominee, 1994

This track claimed the top spot on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart in 1994 despite not exactly painting a picture-perfect home. In the words of Miley Cyrus, "nobody's perfect," not even parents sometimes.

 

"Forever Young" (iTunes>)
Rod Stewart, Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male nominee, 1988

Based on a song with the same title written by Bob Dylan, this song sums up what every parent must say when their children begin talking, walking, dressing themselves, and eventually driving: "May you stay forever young." The song also lends timeless words of advice that wish courage, strength and wisdom for people in all seasons of life.

"Kids Say The Darndest Things" (iTunes>)
Tammy Wynette, Best Country Vocal Performance, Female nominee, 1973

Wynette sings about all the "darndest things" kids say on this track, while dropping hints that lead you to wonder who's teaching the kids to say all these darndest things. There's a child who plays dress-up just to say she "wants a divorce" and a first-grader who learns a four-letter word. There's also a mother who cries all night long and a father who's never home. These kids could use some of the "darndest things" Al Green says, such as "let's stay together."


What song reminds you of your parent, or if you're a parent, your child? Drop us a comment and let us know.
 

When Pearl Jam threw their hands together on the cover of their debut album Ten, they laid an architecturally sound foundation — to stay unified, unbroken, always honing. Much like their hero (and collaborator) Neil Young, their aesthetic blueprint was established from the jump: on every album in Ten’s wake, they’ve dug a little (or a lot) deeper into that ineffable essence.

Pearl Jam have never made a bad record; they’ve only swung their pickaxe at that mine and been variably rewarded. On 2000’s Binaural, they hit a seam of simmering psychedelia; on its follow-up, the underrated, desolate Riot Act, they stumbled on a yawning, haunted chasm. 2009’s Backspacer, 2013’s Lightning Bolt and 2020’s Gigaton were all hailed as returns to form, yet none of them totally flipped the script.

Enter Dark Matter, their new album, produced by the young wunderkind Andrew Watt, due out April 19. Singer Eddie Vedder has declared, "No hyperbole, I think this is our best work." This time, that really feels apt: Watt’s abundant, kinetic energy and clear love for their legacy clearly knocked a few cobwebs loose.

Just listen to singles "Running" and "Dark Matter" — or album tracks, like the epic ballad "Wreckage," and how they build to neck-snapping fever pitches. Pearl Jam have always had batteries in their backs, but they haven’t sounded this young and hungry in decades.

"I think he loves the band from what he has seen us live. He knows that we, in certain moments, are unhinged," founding guitarist Stone Gossard tells GRAMMY.com of the irrepressible Watt, who’s also whipped the Rolling Stones and Ozzy Osbourne back into fighting shape. "That's part of what we do."

"It’s where rock and roll meets just religious ecstasy, where it's not about anything other than movement and rhythm and noise," Gossard adds. "And it turns into something that's not a song, but a ritual or something… sometimes, as you get older as a band, you can lose touch of that."

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Can you talk about Dark Matter’s sound? It feels so different from past Pearl Jam records, in a great way — it seems to emanate from a dark center, to all sides of the soundfield.

The sonics of it is really Andrew Watt. That’s his dream — of loving rock music, and then being in the pop world, then learning and understanding that world so well. And then going back to all of his favorite bands from when he was a kid and making records with them, which is hilarious. 

Because I keep saying this, "We're just in Andrew's dream and we're just kind of a sidebar. This is really the Andrew Watt story that's actually going on right now, and we're all just part of it."

But he really has a very distinctive sonic style. He has a studio that we just walked into the first day making this record, and it's just gear already out, ready to go: "What kind of guitar do you want? Here's an amp, whatever, the drums are here. We’ve got a microphone in the closet."

Usually, if you're in a band — and especially a band for 20 or 30 years — when you decide to do something, then your gear shows up and your guy shows up, and then all your guys argue with each other about where their stuff's going to go, it's a drama. This was no drama. There was no work involved. We just walked in and played.

It sounded like the record right away. He's running things through the chains that he wants. The way he uses compression, and the way he uses reverb, and the guitar sounds he likes, and how he places things — he's a sonic artist.

So it sounds exciting, and really live. And yet, also you can really hear the details, and it's not a mess.

It’s interesting that you bring up Watt’s pop background. Pearl Jam has always seemed at odds with how things are typically done in the music industry, so it’s great that you’re able to retrieve what you need from the machine.

Well, there's the world of pop music in terms of your perception of it, in terms of what it represents.

But also, the structures that we're dealing with in rock songs and pop songs — basically, the form is still the same. You're starting out with one part and maybe there's a variation, but it's tension and release and it's a few chords and it's a beat and it's a piece of poetry.

Those things can fit together in a lot of different ways, but there's things about pop music that are foundational to all music. There's things about it that work, and work for a reason. It gets bastardized and homogenized and all that.

So, we're still writing rock songs and pop songs — but we like to make them a little hairier, generally.

I see how the Dark Matter sessions could be the Watt show. But I’m sure it was a reciprocal conversation. What references were you throwing back at him, from the millions of miles the band’s traveled together?

Well, he’s a fan. He’s a Ten Club member from way, way back. He fell in love with Pearl Jam when he was 15 years old.

He met [guitarist] Mike McCready outside of a Robin Hood fundraiser in New York. He was with his dad, and Andrew and his dad came up and said, "This is my son Andrew; he's a musician; he really wants to become a rock star. He wants to be in bands and make records. And Mike, do you have any advice you can give him?"

And Mike said, "Finish up your college your dad wants you to, and make sure you got your bases covered." And then Andrew, of course, just went in the opposite direction and said, "Oh, I'm just going to conquer the world and then I'm going to come back and produce your band, Mike McCready."

So I love that. I love that he has that history with us. And I just think that he comes from a place, he's a real fan of the band. His enthusiasm really drove the process and his understanding of the things that he loves about us. He really wanted us to make an aggressive record. He really fell in love with our unhinged side from when he was a kid. But just loved the different ways that we had fit together as a kid.

I think he was encouraging us to find those same sort of things that worked in the past. And he's an experimenter. He's ready for anything. You can say no to him. I mean, you’ve got to be forceful. We were a united front a few times and just said, "No, we're going to do this," or whatever. But he made a lot of good decisions, and helped us make a lot of good decisions.

And I think the record, the arrangements, even just them playing now — when we're just starting to rehearse them, the songs are playing well, they're playing themselves. There's no ambiguity to them, where it's mushy. They're strong — lyrically, melodically, rhythmically. All the stool legs are in place.

As I understand it, there were no demos, and Eddie was reacting to the energy in the room, and writing in the moment. This is a great batch of lyrics. They hit you in the solar plexus.

I think one thing that we've learned over the years is that Eddie is more active and more inspired and will finish more songs — and get more excited about songs — when he's in the process of writing with the band.

So, if it's us against the world, and we're stepping into a studio — someone's throwing out a riff or someone's got an idea, and then it gets tweaked and molded — he's going to do his damnedest to make that thing. If he's in on it and feels part of it, he's going to do his damnedest to make that thing have legs and survive.

You're less likely to have something happen if you send him something than you are if you plan something when he's in the room and you're working it out. Just make it about that moment.

It's like, "I don't care about all the different things you thought your song should be or how many different ways it could go, or if it's reggae… let's try it right now with everybody and see how everyone plays it, and feels it —and do I feel it?"

And a lot of times he does, and we find that. And then once he starts going, then all of us are — phew! The energy goes up.

One of my favorite songs on Dark Matter is "Wreckage." That one builds unbelievably.

That’s really Andrew and Ed back and forth, discovering that arrangement, and the push and pull of where that song could go. I think it hit a sweet spot. All of us are part of it, but it’s understated in a way that I think is really beautiful.

It builds in a way that feels natural; it doesn’t feel gratuitous to me. It feels like a destination: you’ve reached it, and you deserve it at that point. There’s a lot going on harmonically, but the chords are very simple.

The other is "Something Special." Partly because I was looking at message boards, where the peanut gallery was complaining about its naked sentimentality. I was thinking, You don’t get it! This is straight from the heart.

Where you are in your life, and why that lyric means something to you — yeah, it’s different for everyone.

That’s a Josh Klinghoffer composition.  He’s become part of our band in a way that’s so amazing — his voice and his musicality. He’s really almost become our musical bandleader at this point, which is the best, because he’s charming and hilarious and fun to be around and always game.

Josh had this great riff. Immediately, Andrew and Ed changed a bunch of chords and moved it all around, but it turned out great. We’ve been playing it in rehearsals. It’s got great chords; it’s beautiful, sentimental and gorgeous.

And we need that on the record. The record’s pretty bleak. It’s not uplifting, necessarily. So, yeah — sometimes, you go home, and you just hang out, and you’ve got to just tell the people you love how much you love them.

Songbook: A Guide To The Smashing Pumpkins In Three Eras, From Gish To Atum

While in a studio, Andrew Watt bounces off the walls. Just ask Mick Jagger, who once had to gently tell the 33-year-old, "Look, I can deal with this, but when you meet Ronnie and Keith, you have to dial it down a little bit."

Or ask Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard. "He really got the best out of [drummer] Matt [Cameron] just by being excited — literally jumping up and down and pumping his fist and running around," he tells GRAMMY.com.

As Watt's hot streak has burned on, reams have rightly been written about his ability to take a legacy act, reconnect them with their essence, and put a battery in their back. His efficacy can be seen at Music's Biggest Night: Ozzy Osbourne's Patient Number 9 won Best Rock Album at the 2023 GRAMMYs. At the last ceremony, the Rolling Stones were nominated for Best Rock Song, for Hackney Diamonds' opener "Angry."

On Pearl Jam's return to form, Dark Matter, due out April 19. Who was behind the desk? Take a wild guess.

"You want to see them live more than you want to listen to their albums, and they have the ability to look at each other and play and follow each other. I don't like my rock music any other way, as a listener," Watt tells GRAMMY.com. "All my favorite records are made like that — of people speeding up, slowing down, playing longer than they should."

As such, Watt had a lightbulb moment: to not record any demos, and have them write together in the room. "They're all playing different stuff, and it makes up what Pearl Jam is, and singer Eddie [Vedder] rides it like a wave."

If you're more of a pop listener, there's tons of Watt for you — he's worked with Justin Bieber ("Hit the Ground" from Purpose), Lana Del Rey ("Doin' Time" from Norman F—ing Rockwell) and much more. Read on for a breakdown of big name rockers who have worked with Andrew Watt.

Pearl Jam / Eddie Vedder

Watt didn't just produce Dark Matter; he also helmed Vedder's well-received third solo album, Earthling, from 2022. Watt plays guitar in Vedder's live backing band, known as the Earthlings — which also includes Josh Klinghoffer, who replaced John Frusciante in the Red Hot Chili Peppers for a stint.

The Rolling Stones

Dark Matter was a comeback for Pearl Jam, but Hackney Diamonds was really a comeback for the Stones. While it had a hater or two, the overwhelming consensus was that it was the Stones' best album in decades — maybe even since 1978's Some Girls.

"I hope what makes it fresh and modern comes down to the way it's mixed, with focus on low end and making sure the drums are big," Watt, who wore a different Stones shirt every day in the studio, has said about Hackney Diamonds. "But the record is recorded like a Stones album."

Where there are modern rock flourishes on Hackney Diamonds, "There's no click tracks. There's no gridding. There's no computer editing," he continued. "This s— is performed live and it speeds up and slows down. It's made to the f—ing heartbeat connection of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Steve Jordan.

"And Charlie," Watt added, tipping a hat to Watts, who played on Hackney Diamonds but died before it came out. "When Charlie's on it."

Iggy Pop

Ever since he first picked up a mic and removed his shirt, the snapping junkyard dog of the Stooges has stayed relevant — as far as indie, alternative and punk music has been concerned.

But aside from bright spots like 2016's Josh Homme-produced Post Pop Depression, his late-career output has felt occasionally indulgent and enervated. The 11 songs on 2023's eclectic Watt-produced Every Loser, on the other hand, slap you in the face in 11 different ways.

"We would jam and make tracks and send them to Iggy, and he would like 'em and write to them or wouldn't like them and we'd do something else," Watt told Billboard. "It was very low pressure. We just kept making music until we felt like we had an album." (And as with Pearl Jam and Vedder's Earthlings band, Watt has rocked out onstage with Pop.

Ozzy Osbourne

You dropped your crown, O Prince of Darkness. When he hooked up with Watt, the original Black Sabbath frontman hadn't released any solo music since 2010's Scream; in 2017, Sabbath finally said goodbye after 49 years and 10 (!) singers.

On 2020's Ordinary Man and 2022's Patient Number 9, Watt reenergized Ozzy; even when he sounds his age, Ozz sounds resolute, defiant, spitting in the face of the Reaper. (A bittersweet aside: the late Taylor Hawkins appears on Patient Number 9, which was written and recorded in just four days.)

Maroon 5

Yeah, yeah, they're more of a pop-rock band, but they have guitars, bass and drums. (And if you're the type of rock fan who's neutral or hostile to the 5, you shouldn't be; Songs About Jane slaps.)

At any rate, Watt co-produced "Can't Leave You Alone," featuring Juice WRLD, from 2021's Jordi. Critics disparaged the album, but showed Watt's facility straddling the pop and rock worlds.

5 Seconds of Summer

When it comes to Andrew Watt, the Sydney pop-rockers — slightly more on the rock end than Maroon 5 and their ilk — are repeat customers. He produced a number of tracks for 5 Seconds of Summer, which spanned 2018's Youngblood, 2020's Calm and 2022's 5SOS5.

Regarding the former: Watt has cited Youngblood as one of the defining recording experiences of his life.

"I had started working with 5 Seconds of Summer, and a lot of people looked at them as a boy band, but they're not," Watt told Guitar Player. "They're all incredible musicians. They can all play every instrument. They love rock music. They can harmonize like skyrockets in flight. They just were making the wrong kind of music."

So Watt showed 5 Seconds of Summer a number of mainstays of the rock era, like Tears for Fears and the Police. The rest, as they say, is history.

Elton John

A year after Britney Spears was unshackled from her highly controversial conservatorship, it was time for a victory lap with the God of Glitter. What resulted was a curious little bauble, which became a megahit: "Hold Me Closer," a spin on "Tiny Dancer," "The One" and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" that briefly launched Spears back into the stratosphere.

"Britney came in and she knew what she wanted to do," Watt recalled to The L.A. Times. "We sped up the song a little bit and she sang the verses in her falsetto, which harkens back to 'Toxic.' She was having a blast."

Blink-182

Watt has also worked with pop/punk heroes Blink-182 — but not after Tom DeLonge made his grand return. He produced "I Really Wish I Hated You" from 2019's Nine, back when Matt Skiba was in the band.

Where in the rock world will this tender-aged superproducer strike next? Watt knows.

Songbook: The Rolling Stones' Seven-Decade Journey To Hackney Diamonds

Scott Stapp prefers Zoom with the camera off, but for a minute, he flips it on to say hello. The Creed frontman reveals himself to be alone on his tour bus, in near complete darkness, encased in a black hoodie.

"You look like a Jedi," his rep quips in an adjacent Zoom window. "They're training me," Stapp quips back.

Twenty-five years ago, this might be a breeding ground for his inner hellhounds, his unprocessed torments — as he sang, his own prison. But a sweatpants-clad Stapp looks relaxed, grounded, rooted; after this interview, he's eyeing a nap in the belly of this beast.

Stapp is a vocal proponent of recovery culture, and his language is permeated with it — God, squaring up with your ego, taking it one day at a time. "Some of us, we're so allergic to alcohol, so allergic to drugs," Stapp explains, "that when we use them, we break out in handcuffs and end up on the six o'clock news. And that's been my story, no doubt."

You can Google these stories; they're out there. While he's in no mood to recapitulate details to the press — who would be? — his new solo album, Higher Power, out March 15, directly addresses everything he's been through.

The title track begins with the line, "Forty feet down falling/ Headfirst off the edge" — and, well, that happened. (The rapper T.I. saved him, not knowing who he was at the time; Stapp later called him his "guardian angel.") By the chorus, Stapp frames what followed as a resurrection: "The day that I died was the day I came back to life."

At the zenith of Creed's career, Stapp pleaded "Can you take me higher?"; on Higher Power, this request seems to have been greenlighted. Which doesn't mean he has a messianic complex; Stapp doesn't project a shred of solipsism. He's just doing what he's meant to do.

"I don't pay attention to what's going on or try to follow trends, try to write to ride a wave or to catch something that's hot in the moment," he says.

What can he say? He's just Stapp — the same he's ever been, with a new album, a reunited Creed (who are about to head on tour) and a new lease on life.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

The song "Black Butterfly" is a great reminder that recovery isn't a one-and-done thing. It's a continuum, with peaks and valleys. Can you talk about that?

Well, it's absolutely a continuum and I think it not only applies to sobriety, but I think it applies to growth as a human being in general in every aspect of your life.

Just as we try to evolve…it is always five steps forward, three steps back. As long as you're continuing to move forward and learning from every setback, that's where true growth happens.

"Black Butterfly" represents so much, and I don't really want to get into the details of every aspect of what that song meant to me. Clearly, it involves a rebirth, but there's many contextual layers on that song in terms of the depths of the rebirth and what rebirths I'm talking about. But if we want to apply that to sobriety, there's definitely a continual process of cocooning and rebirthing.

Relapse has been a part of my story. It's not a part of everybody's, but it's been a part of mine. And each time that I have, I've definitely learned where a chink in my armor was that I was unaware of.

I also learned that I can't ever get overconfident. I can't ever think I've got it. I have to always stay on guard and continue to take it one day at a time and be vigilant. And then as time goes on, you get into a place where it becomes a lifestyle and a routine.

I'm glad you're on the good foot.

I just continue to grow, man, and take it one day at a time and know that God is doing a work in me in such a profound way, not only through my sobriety, but through my spiritual life.

One thing that you learn in recovery is the key to sobriety is the condition of you as a spiritual being. And for me to finally make that connection and tie it back to the roots of my faith  — that really kind of put a bow and an icing on top of the cake, because everything started making sense.

I've always been interested in spirituality, but we live in a relentlessly anti-spirit world. How do you keep that antenna up when we're all deluged by the "make money and shut up" attitude?

It's a daily commitment to wake up and get into prayer — from my perspective as a Christian, getting in the word of God. Reading, surrounding myself with other like-minded people who do the same thing, as we edify and help each other grow in the spiritual walk that we have together.

When you embrace it and you make it a part of your lifestyle, surround yourself with people who have the same passion, drive, and heart in seeking that, then it creates the perfect storm for spiritual growth. And I'm fortunate to have that around me right now.

*Scott Stapp performing with Creed in 2003. Photo: Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR*

When Creed were on top of the world in the early 2000s, I'm sure your Christian ethics were completely at odds with everything going on around you.

Oh, 100 percent. And I also had this inflated, youthful ego; I thought I could handle it on my own, and didn't have any support around me. And you live and learn.

I help younger artists now who are going through similar situations and entering this business and let them know how important it is to surround yourself with support. And for those that don't have family, like I didn't, we really create a team.

Because this is a gift that we have — this career in music — and we can become so easily dismantled and it can be robbed from us by the trappings that come along from success and the temptations of the world. We're blessed with this opportunity to be creatives for a living. And so to nurture that, cherish it, protect it, look at it with professionalism and gratitude.

For those that don't have an issue with having a few drinks every now and then, do it on your off days. But when it's showtime and when it's a workday, look at it that way — with a vigor and passion of someone who's trying to be the best at what they do with their craft in their job.

That way, you can preserve it and it can be long-lasting, and you won't shoot yourself in the foot with self-sabotage.

Higher Power is such a production bulldozer. Can you talk about crafting the sound of it?

I was just creating those songs with my guys that I write with, in real time, as I was feeling inspired. I was trying to stay true to what I do, how I feel, and just continue to try to lyrically and sonically create cinematic pieces of art.

Fortunately, by the way that it was created, there was a theme and each song kind of bled into the other and were held together by a singular thread — which was the impact that God, my higher power has had in my life throughout the ups and the downs and was always there even at my darkest times.

And I think I addressed that in Higher Power. It's resounding with them in its sonic presentation and lyrical narrative.

You said you're looking to "create cinematic pieces of art." What role does the cinema play in your life? Do you think of great rock songs as being akin to mind movies?

No, I think I refer to that more in terms of how I'm creating the picture, not necessarily any reference points on any films. I'm trying to create something cinematic. I'm trying to create something that when it's heard, well, hopefully when someone connects, paint a picture in their mind of an experience and not only just connect with them on a personal level.

I think that's something I've always tried to do lyrically since I started writing songs. Since my first professional record in 1997, with My Own Prison, I think it's just been a part of the way that I create. And I think I really wanted to intentionally focus on that, in terms of the production and the music beds that went around the themes that I was talking about.

And I definitely think we did. I think my producers, Marti Frederiksen and Scott Stevens, captured that. I'm proud of what we did, and I feel that this is my best solo work to date.

And I've got a song I'm very proud of. It's a duet that I did with the Rock Queen herself, Dorothy, which will be out this Friday. And I'm very excited to share that song and everything that's coming with it because I think it's just a centerpiece of this record and a theme that really is what this album is: the walls talking.

The first line of "Higher Power" reflects a very traumatic event in your life; I don't need to recite it back to you. You're a very candid and honest cat.

I mean, if you go back to 1997 and you listen to "My Own Prison," that's probably one of the most personal and confessional songs I've ever written. That's the only way that I know how to write. That's the only way that the inspiration, the creativity comes out of me.

I bear my soul. I talk about my flaws, my weaknesses, my failures, the dark times. I just speak what's in my heart. I mean, I think that's probably a part of being a child with no filter. And that's kind of translated into how I write lyrics. I just say how it is and how I see it, how I'm observing it, how I'm experiencing it.

And call it what you will, but I call it my style. However you want to interpret that is cool. And I appreciate that you hear the vulnerability and the honesty in that because that's where it comes from.

I remember the early 2000s as a highly macho world — of raunchy comedies, shock jocks, getting called the f-slur on the playground. In the hard rock world of that time, I'm sure vulnerability was steamrolled over.

Well, I know that we came out with a song called "One Last Breath" in 2002, which was clearly a cry for help and vulnerability. So, I don't think I was paying too much attention to what was going on around me and what other people were doing. I never really have, I just do what I do.

And so it was kind of the antithesis of what you just described. You're talking about this macho era, and I'm writing lyrics, "Please come now, I think I'm falling/ I'm holding onto all I think is safe/ I think I found the road to nowhere, and I'm trying to escape."

I don't pay attention to what's going on or try to follow trends, try to write to ride a wave or to catch something that's hot in the moment. I really don't pay attention to the outside world.

That seems to be a throughline of your career.

To be honest with you, I'm a bit of a recluse. And when I was younger, I kind of romanticized that loner poet sitting under a tree, writing lyrics in a book, observing the world around him.

And I guess, looking back, that wasn't so much of a romantic approach, but more of just who I was and me trying to come to grips with it and accepting that that's who I am and being comfortable with it.

I think sobriety and clarity has helped me become comfortable with it — because I think that part of the reason I overindulged at times is because I never really felt comfortable around crowds. I never really felt comfortable around groups of people and socializing and mindless conversation and chit-chat. I think that's fine and that's great for other people, but it never really worked for me.

So, it's nice to be in a place in life all these years later, where you find your tribe and you find the people that speak your language, and are like-minded, and feel comfortable and safe there.

*Scott Stapp performing in 2023. Photo: Jerry Kingwell — Revelry Studios*

Back then, the mean-spirited humor about Creed couldn't have jibed with your psychological state. These days, you take it all in good fun, but back then, it must have been like poison.

You know, it didn't line up with what we were experiencing. It was a media narrative that was created. I can't look back and say that there were times where it didn't hurt and where I didn't understand. You've got stadiums on hold and you're selling out every arena in America, but then you're reading articles that you're this hated band, and it's just not lining up.

And we didn't have social media to talk back and correct things that were said. Not that I would even do that now, or waste my time.

I definitely feel that some of that did affect me in a negative way, and I didn't handle it appropriately. I would actually say that some of it probably caused some trauma, and the only way I knew how to do that was numb the pain.

We're in a different place now. We've got much thicker skin, and know what's important in life, and know whose opinions matter. But when you're young and that happens, it definitely has a profound impact on you. And I think was a big contributing factor — one of the reasons the band split up. I mean, there were others, but it was kind of a domino effect.

All in all, you seem to be in a really healthy and positive spot. Where do you want to go from here?

Right now, I'm in the moment. The album hasn't come out yet. I feel like we're at the very tip, tip, tip of the iceberg on this record. We've got the Creed stuff in between, and something tells me in my heart that this album's really going to be making continual impact all the way through 2025.

I'll be doing some solo touring and promotion in between the Creed stuff along the way, and then I look at 2025 as a continuation of the Higher Power tour and promotion.

Not to be clichéd, but I think the best is yet to come for this record, and we're at the beginning. So, I'm just taking it one day at a time, man.

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One of Canada's biggest rock stars, Bryan Adams has had a massively successful and sonically diverse career that spans 45 years. With one win and 16 GRAMMY nominations under his belt, Adams' prolific output includes numerous chart-topping albums and big-name collaborations.

Yet, for a man who has sold over 75 million albums and wants his music to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, Bryan Adams doesn't seem to seek the limelight. 

He’s not tabloid fodder, doesn’t date celebrities, and does not court controversy. While he certainly will promote his latest album or tour — and will begin his international tour on Jan. 20 in Montana —  but Adams is an intensely private individual who is selective with the interviews that he gives and in what he speaks about. He is also not a flamboyantly dressed performer, preferring the jeans and t-shirt that he has carried over from his very beginnings. Appropriately enough, he often calls his band the Dudes Of Leisure.

Adams’ most recent studio album is called So Happy It Hurts and recently released a 3-CD box set of live recordings of three classic albums performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall: Cuts Like A Knife, Into The Fire, and Waking Up The Neighbors.

Ahead of his So Happy It Hurts Tour — which will certainly see Adams perform hits "Summer Of ‘69," "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," "Can’t Stop This Thing We Started" — read on for 10 lesser-known facts about the raspy-voiced rocker.

who has befriended and collaborated with an impressive range of artists across numerous media.

He Signed His First Contract For $1

Back in 1978, when was just 18 years old, Adams signed a recording contract with A&M Records who decided to take a chance on the fledgling rocker with a "wait and see" attitude. 

They signed him for the paltry sum of $1 which Adams insisted on receiving so he could frame it. 

While his first two albums, Bryan Adams (1980) and You Want It You Got It (1981) didn’t exactly set the world on fire, his third release Cuts Like A Knife (1983) went platinum in America and triple platinum in his native Canada, selling at least 1.5 million copies worldwide. Seems like A&M got a great return on their investment.

His Breakthrough Hit Was Written For Someone Else

In January 1983, producer Bruce Fairbairn asked Adams and songwriting partner Jim Vallance  to come up with a song for Blue Öyster Cult. Their original version of "Run To You" did not impress the band (or Adams) and they passed — so did .38 Special and other groups. 

When Adams needed one more song for 1984’s Reckless, he pulled out "Run" and taught it to his band. This time, everyone including album producer Bob Clearmountain was impressed. It became the album's lead single and Adams' biggest hit, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. 

Although the previous Cuts Like A Knife had three hits singles and went platinum, Reckless spawned six hits ("Heaven" went No. 1) and turned Adams into a superstar, selling 5 million copies in America and reportedly 7 million more globally.

He’s Penned Dozens Of Songs For Others

Adams has co-written songs for numerous other artists, many of them hard rockers. In 1982, he and Vallance co-wrote "Rock and Roll Hell" and "War Machine" with Gene Simmons for the KISS album Creatures Of The Night; and he worked with Paul Stanley and Mikel Japp on "Down On Your Knees" for KISS Killers. 

That led to credits on albums by Ted Nugent, Motley Crue and Krokus (who used a leftover from Reckless). But the recipients of Adams’ songs span a wide range of artists including Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Bonnie Raitt, Loverboy, .38 Special, and Anne Murray.

He Loves A Good Duet

Bryan Adams' duets often appear on movie soundtracks and tend to do well. His Reckless collaboration with Tina Turner, "It’s Only Love," was a Top 20 hit, peaking at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. But things got bigger from there. 

"All For Love," his song with Sting and Rod Stewart for the Three Musketeers film soundtrack (1993) went No. 1 in at least a dozen countries, selling nearly 2 million copies globally. He’s also duetted with Bonnie Raitt ("Rock Steady"), Barbra Streisand ("I Finally Found Someone" which went Top 10), and Melanie C from Spice Girls ("When You’re Gone"). He’s also recorded with Chicane, Pamela Anderson, Emmanuelle Seigner, Loverush UK, and Michael Bublé.

In recent years, Adams has said that he would like to duet with Beyonce and Lady Gaga. And in case you missed it, Taylor Swift once brought him onstage to perform "Summer Of ‘69."

The Reckless Video Album Is A Story Of Unrequited Love

With its six videos slightly out of order from actual release, the Reckless video compilation (1984) charts a melancholy story. In "This Time" (the final video from Cuts Like A Knife), Adams is seeking out a woman in a desert town who's only shown with glimpses of her legs and heels. At the end, he finds her in the back of his van and they hook up — or is it just a mirage? 

"Summer Of ‘69" intercuts black and white footage of Adams and a young woman during their teen years with color images of their separate lives today. At the end, his old flame drives by with her current boyfriend who sees her eyeing the rocker, gets angry, and violently stops the car. In "Somebody," she escapes the car as he screams at her, and then she and Adams wander in different locations as they recollect one another. 

In "Kids Wanna Rock," Adams jumps onstage for a high energy performance, while in "Heaven," his old flame’s new guy has been pulled over for drunk driving, so she ditches him to see the Bryan Adams show conveniently happening across the street. He is unaware she is there, mesmerized by him. 

After he races off the stage he finds himself locked inside the venue with snow coming down outside. In "Run To You," actually the album’s first single, Adams performs in wind and snow-swept environs and fantasizes about the same woman who finally walks up to him at the end. But they never embrace or kiss.

He’s An Acclaimed Photographer

Adams has been taking photos for most of his life, but it’s no longer a hobby. — he has photographed everyone from rock stars to royalty, and even himself for his own album covers. He got a lot of good pointers about photography and darkroom work when the famed Anton Corbijn shot the cover for 1987’s Into The Fire.

While Adams’ memorable portraits of people like Pink, Mick Jagger, Amy Winehouse, Rammstein, and yes, Queen Elizabeth II, he has also published books of portraits of homeless people, wounded war veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, images of sand from the Island Of Mustique, and American women dressed in Calvin Klein. He uses proceeds from these books to benefit various charitable causes. He also shot the 2022 calendar for the Pirelli Tire Company to help them celebrate their 150th anniversary. 

These days, Adams told Louder Sound that he is "a photographer moonlighting as a singer."

He’s A Longtime Vegan & Animal Rights Advocate

The singer first became vegetarian at age 28 and later turned vegan, citing animal cruelty in the face of human food consumption. Adams has said that he gets an abundance of energy from his plant-based diet, noting he no longer gets sick. 

Adams has promoted his lifestyle to fans through positive posts, and he joins other famous musicians who are also vegan including Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish, and Stevie Wonder.

He Is Staunchly Committed To Humanitarian & Charitable Causes

Adams has lent his voice and face to a variety of causes. It all started with his appearance at the Live Aid Festival in 1985, which raised many for Ethiopian famine relief. That was followed by the two-week Amnesty International A Conspiracy of Hope tour in 1986, the 1988 Peace Concert in East Berlin, and many others. From earthquake and tsunami relief to climate change to the Mideast peace process, he has been involved in many causes, and he is an LGBTQ ally as well.

In 2006, he co-founded the Bryan Adams Foundation with the goal of improving quality of life around the world via financial grants. Funds "support specific projects that are committed to bettering the lives of other people. The Foundation seeks to protect the most vulnerable or disadvantaged individuals in society." A big goal is "to advance education and learning opportunities for children and young people worldwide."

He Co-Wrote A Broadway Musical

Adams is known for having hit songs from movies including Don Juan DeMarco, The Three Musketeers, The Mirror Has Two Faces, and Robin Hood, Prince Of Thieves. Some people might not know that he and Jim Vallance co-wrote the score to the Broadway adaptation of "Pretty Woman," which ran for 420 performances over a year starting in August 2018. It is currently touring the UK and U.S. 

None of the movie’s pop songs were used; the score was entirely theirs. And it turns out he and Vallance had to audition their work to producers. Adams told Billboard in 2016 that the duo crafted three songs and presented them to the producers, who responded with a "don’t call us, we’ll call you" approach. Thirty minutes later, Adams got the call.

He Tours Places Other Western Artists Don't Visit

Bryan Adams has performed in places other Western artists don't often visit. He has toured India several times; Adams first played Mumbai in the early ‘90s and was impressed with the loyalty of Indian audiences. He was reportedly the first Western artist to play Karachi, Pakistan after the Sept. 11 attacks, and toured in Syria and Lebanon in December 2010. He said Syria had a great audience and had never hosted a Western artist before. 

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