Classic Rock 93.9

The Beatles’ message of “All You Need is Love” will once again be celebrated June 25 on Global Beatles Day, and this year it’s gotten the official support of The Beatles.

The fan initiative was launched in 2009 by lifelong fan Faith Cohen. It celebrates the anniversary of the legendary band’s 1967 live performance of “All You Need is Love” on the BBC’s Our World special, which marked the first international satellite television broadcast of the song. 

Apple Corps Ltd, the company founded by The Beatles, has now officially recognized the fan celebration. To mark the occasion, on June 25 it will release a colorized version of the Our World performance to YouTube for the first time.

“More than ever, the message of The Beatles, and of ‘All You Need Is Love’ speaks to something vital for community, connection, and the power of bringing people together,” Apple Corps CEO Tom Greene wrote in a recent letter to Cohen. “That is what makes Global Beatles Day so special. It asks nothing more than for people, wherever they are, to stop, listen, and share a little joy.”

Fans can sign up to take part in Global Beatles Day. More info can be found at GlobalBeatlesDay.com.

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Billy Joel spent 10 years performing at New York’s Madison Square Garden, and now he’s lent the title of one of his signature songs to a collection of merch that celebrates the Garden’s other residents — The Knicks — making it to the NBA Finals.

Called the New York State of Mind collection, the collab with the Sportiqe brand is now available online, and inside New York City’s NBA Store. It includes a hoodie and a tee, each one sporting the Knicks logo and the words “New York State of Mind.”

The collection is the start of future Sportiqe Billy Joel merch collabs, which will tie in with other New York teams and venues through 2026. The brand did something similar in 2025 with Frank Sinatra and the New York Yankees.

Sportiqe co-founder Jason Franklin says in a statement, “I started taking piano lessons when I was 8 years old because I loved Billy Joel – the first song I ever learned to play was one of his songs. Thirty-six years later, it’s incredibly meaningful to launch this collaboration during the Knicks’ long-awaited return to the Finals.”

The Knicks will play the San Antonio Spurs at the Garden during games 2, 4 and, if necessary, 6.

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Frampton, a documentary about Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Peter Frampton, will premiere Thursday night at New York City’s Tribeca Festival, and Frampton himself will make an appearance at the screening.

The documentary covers Frampton’s entire life and career, and features commentary from Bill Wyman, Roger Daltrey, Tom Morello, Cameron Crowe, Sheryl Crow, Nancy Wilson of Heart, Alice Cooper and Ringo Starr. While there are plenty of high points — like Frampton Comes Alive! becoming, at one point, the best-selling album of all time — the doc covers many low points as well, like the car crash that nearly killed him, the period when he was flat broke, and his life today, living with a degenerative muscle disease.

Frampton jokes that he was “exhausted” after seeing his whole life onscreen.

“When you see it all in one hour and 50 minutes … it’s a lot of stuff,” he tells ABC Audio. “Y’know, it’s 60 years’ worth, basically, of career and life, and so yeah, it was quite amazing to see it all in one go.”

At one point in the film, Cameron Crowe describes one of Peter’s Frampton Comes Alive! concerts as “the peak of rock.” Frampton says that wasn’t necessarily good thing.

“I knew it was the peak of rock for me,” he laughs. “You can’t get much higher.” But, he admits, “It just got too big for me. The #1 in the charts, the stadium shows — so exciting. But when you become the biggest record in history — I’ll take #2, not #1, in anything, because there’s so much pressure on the #1. And so for me, it was very hard at that point.”

Seeing the results of that pressure is one of the things Frampton wants fans to take away from the documentary.

“I’ve always wanted people to know exactly what was happening at various times when they were just [putting] that album on and [playing] it over and over and again,” he says.

“And also how it affected me, as opposed to them. I think it gives everybody a really good sense of how the business was back then.” 

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Europe has released a second single from their upcoming album, Come This Madness, their first new album in nine years.

The Swedish rockers, best known for their 1986 hit “The Final Countdown,” have dropped the song “The Cult of Ignorance,” along with a star-studded video featuring appearances by The Hives’ Howling Pellet, Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt and Fredrik Åkesson, actress Malin Akerman, tennis champ Stefan Edberg and others.

“I love this track! It’s a straightforward rock anthem with lyrics reflecting the times we live in, written slightly tongue in cheek,” says Europe’s founding member and frontman Joey Tempest. “The title was inspired by a phrase coined by author and biochemist Isaac Asimov. It reflects some of the negative tendencies emerging in our world today, though it is written in a slightly light-hearted tone.”

Come This Madness, Europe’s first album since 2017’s Walk the Earth, will be released Sept. 25.

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Ace Frehley’s most-played guitar brought in big bucks at auction.

The late KISS guitarist’s 1975 Les Paul sold for $512,000 at Julien’s Auctions’ Music Icons auction, which took place May 29-30 at the Hard Rock Café Times Square.

The guitar was described in a press release as Frehley’s “constant companion” from the beginning of his career and was used “more than any other guitar in his arsenal.”

Other Frehley items that sold at auction include: a 1997 Gibson signature Les Paul, which he played at Super Bowl 33, for $57,600; a custom Gibson Les Paul Jr, which he played during the 1996 KISS reunion tour, for $57,600; a life-size stage-worn Destroyer mannequin, which sold for $51,200; and a stage-worn purple jumpsuit, which sold for $11,520.

Other big sellers at the auction include: Eddie Van Halen’s autographed Charvel art series guitar from his last performance with Sammy Hagar, which sold for $115,200 and a belt worn by The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger at their 1969 Hyde Park concert, which sold for $51,200.

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You can say a lot of things about the late Eddie Van Halen, but you can’t deny that he was an incredible guitar player, right? Or maybe you can, if you’re The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Speaking to Stereogum, Jim Reid of the Scottish alt-rock duo talked about how, when it comes to playing guitar, sometimes simpler is better. “I can play guitar, but only just. It’s kinda deliberate. I play guitar to the level that I need to play guitar,” he said. “And sometimes knowing too much about making music gets in the way, and it ends up back to Eddie Van Halen again, do you know what I mean?”

Jim’s older brother and bandmate William Reid then chimed in.

“I think guitar players should never learn scales. I think the worst guitar players in the world, like Eddie Van Halen — I can’t stand Eddie Van Halen’s guitar playing,” said William. “I think he ruined rock guitar all through the ’80s and ’90s ’cause so many people copied him.”

“And I just couldn’t get any of that playing as fast as you f****** can and cramming as many notes in one second as you could,” William went on. 

So whose playing does he admire?

“I listen to Peter Hook’s bass riffs, and I think that’s a thousand times better than anything Eddie Van Halen could ever conjure up,” said William. He was referring to the New Order and Joy Division bass player, who’ll be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame later this year.

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Chrissie Hynde has shared her thoughts on concertgoers who record and take pictures on their phones during concerts, and let’s just say she’s not a fan.

“Question: What is it with people and their phones?” the Pretenders frontwoman writes on social media. “But my real question is: why do people have to film or take pictures at concerts or museums? Why???”

She then mentions discussing the topic with singer Emmylou Harris before Harris’ recent concert in London.

“This is a subject that comes up every time I meet any artist. It’s become like an unpleasant fug hanging over the head of all artists,” Hynde writes. “You can plaster a venue with signs requesting ‘NO CAMERAS’ but people don’t respect it. It’s as if people feel entitled, even though the artist clearly has asked them not to do it.”

She notes that Bob Dylan goes so far as to have fans lock up their phones before his shows, writing, “You would think an artist of his stature could make a simple request and the audience would respect it… no chance.”

Hynde says recording and filming at concerts is “like a weird compulsion that people can’t control,” noting, “no one seems to be able to understand why artists don’t like it.” She then compares it to “a mosquito buzzing around your head when you’re trying to go to sleep.”

Hynde shares that at Harris’ London show she encountered a man who was recording the whole concert and when someone told him it was rude and distracting, he told them to “mind their own business.”

“My conclusion is: if Jesus Christ were to walk into a room, the first thing everyone would do would be to pull out their phone,” she writes. “Can someone please explain?”

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KISS is continuing the 50th anniversary celebration of their fourth album, Destroyer.

To mark the milestone, the band is set to release the new book, KISS Destroyer: The Definitive Visual History, on Oct. 27, described as “an official, authorized retrospective chronicling the band’s first platinum studio album and the legendary tour that followed.”

The book will feature interviews with more than 50 people, including new interviews with KISS members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, and producer Bob Ezrin. The book also contains previously unpublished photos, as well as deep dives into the album’s songs, tour info and more.

KISS is also releasing the Official KISS Tarot Deck and Guidebook on Sept. 29, featuring a one-of-a-kind deck of tarot cards with custom artwork. It comes with a 128-page guidebook offering the meanings and interpretations of each card.

Released March 15, 1976, Destroyer featured future KISS classics “Detroit Rock City,” “Shout It Out Loud,” “God of Thunder” and the ballad “Beth,” which became their first top-10 single. The album peaked at #11 on the Billboard Albums chart, making it the third consecutive KISS record to make the top 40.

Within a year, Destroyer was certified Platinum by the RIAA, making it the band’s first Platinum record; it was eventually certified double Platinum.

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Taylor Swift has met Paul McCartney several times, and she attended his concert in LA in March. Now, she’s promoting his new album on her Instagram Story.

Sharing one of Paul’s posts about his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, Taylor wrote, “Never not inspired by this eternally exceptional artist.”

During an interview last month with BBC Radio 2, McCartney was asked how he perceives Taylor’s global fame and if he’d give her any advice on dealing with it.

“You do see the parallel, y’know, like the fame and the amount of fame and the worldwide fame that Taylor Swift has and that [The Beatles] had,” he replied. “But I don’t think she needs any advice, [to] tell you the truth!”

But in a way, Paul may have inspired Taylor’s Eras Tour. When the two sat down for Rolling Stone‘s Musicians on Musicians series in 2020, she told him that she’d gone to see him around 2010 or 2011.

“The thing I took away from the show most was that it was the most selfless set list I had ever seen. It was completely geared toward what it would thrill us to hear,” she told him. “It had new stuff, but it had every hit we wanted to hear … [a]nd I just remembered thinking, ‘I’ve got to remember that,’ that you do that set list for your fans.”

She continued, “I think that learning that lesson from you taught me at a really important stage in my career that if people want to hear ‘Love Story’ and ‘Shake It Off,’ and I’ve played them 300 million times, play them the 300-millionth-and-first time.”

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R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and producer Andrew Watt were the musical guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Tuesday night, where they performed “I Played the Fool,” the theme song to Steve Carell’s HBO series The Rooster.

The pair was joined by some A-list friends for the performance, with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith behind the drum kit, and former Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer on piano. Klinghoffer appeared on the original recording of the song, while blink-182’s Travis Barker played drums on it.

Stipe and Watt released “I Played the Fool” in March to coincide with The Rooster premiere.

Stipe revealed during an April appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that his long-in-the-works debut solo album is expected out later this year. There’s no word on whether “I Played the Fool” will be on it.

In other R.E.M. news, Peter Buck’s band Drink the Sea, which also features Screaming Trees/Mad Season drummer Barrett Martin, has announced a new set of U.S. dates that begin Aug. 30 in Vashon Island, Washington, and wrap Sept. 24 in Kirkland, Washington. The tour will be in support of their new album, which is due out Oct. 2.

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