Classic Rock 93.9

Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic has shared a statement reflecting on the band’s experience getting access to health insurance in response to pop star Chappell Roan‘s Grammy acceptance speech.

In her viral remarks, the “HOT TO GO!” singer called for record labels to provide a livable wage and health care to its artists.

Replying to an article about Roan’s comments, Novoselic posted, “When Nirvana signed with a major label, our accountant suggested we join @sagaftra,” referring to the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists labor union.

“We did and I have had great health insurance for 35 years,” he added.

Roan’s comments also drew a response from music business insider Jeff Rabhan, who published an op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter titled “Chappell Groan,” in which he called her call “wildly misinformed” and said that she should “put your money where your mouth is.”

That also went viral, but for the wrong reasons, and Roan challenged Rabhan to match her $25,000 donation to struggling artists who’ve been dropped. Artists including Noah Kahan and Charli XCX have matched her donation.

Novoselic, meanwhile, reunited with his former Nirvana bandmates Dave Grohl and Pat Smear at the FireAid Los Angeles fire relief benefit concert in January. They played a four-song set with guest vocalists in place of the late Kurt Cobain, including St. Vincent, Sonic Youth‘s Kim Gordon, Joan Jett and Grohl’s daughter Violet.

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Legendary New York Dolls frontman David Johansen is battling cancer.

The musician revealed that since 2020 he has been privately battling an aggressive form of cancer and a brain tumor, and has been dealing with several complications. In addition, he fell over Thanksgiving, breaking his back in two places; even with surgery, he has been confined to his bed ever since. 

After keeping his health issues private for years, Johansen is now sharing his condition due to the financial burden his health care has put on his family, especially since he now needs round-the-clock care. Because of this, on Monday Sweet Relief launched the David Johansen Fund to help raise money for his immediate needs, including full-time nursing and physical therapy.

“We’ve been living with my illness for a long time, still having fun, seeing friends & family, carrying on, but this tumble the day after Thanksgiving really brought us to a whole new level of debilitation,” Johansen shared. “This is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. I’ve never been one to ask for help but this is an emergency. Thank you.”

Johansen rose to fame as the lead singer and songwriter of the legendary punk band New York Dolls. He also had a hit in the ’80s with “Hot Hot Hot” under the name Buster Poindexter.

In 2023 he was the subject of a documentary called Personality Crisis: One Night Only, directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, which featured footage of a January 2020 performance of his cabaret show at the Café Carlyle in New York.

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Bryan Adams’ concert in Perth, Australia, Sunday had to be rescheduled due to a plumbing issue.

Frontier Touring, the promoter of the show,  announced on social media that the concert at RAC Arena had to be postponed “due to an external Perth Water Corporation issue, which was unable to be fixed in time,” adding, “The issue, which impacted all of Wellington Street, meant that it was deemed unsafe for patrons to enter RAC Arena.”

According to a statement posted by Perth Water Corporation Facebook, the issue was a “large blockage of fat, grease and rags,” commonly referred to as a fatberg, “which has caused several wastewater overflows at properties along Wellington Street.”

“The cancellation of show is bitterly disappointing, and we thank fans for their understanding that while every effort was made to proceed, this matter was outside the control of Bryan Adams, Frontier Touring and RAC Arena,” Frontier’s statement continued.

“I’m really sorry we couldn’t make this happen tonight—I was so looking forward to seeing you all,” Adams shared in his own post on social media. “I appreciate your patience and support and can’t wait to be back and play for you as soon as we can reschedule.”

Adams’ next show is scheduled for Tuesday in Sydney.

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Midas Man, about The Beatles‘ manager Brian Epstein, is now streaming. Epstein, a gay man from an immigrant Jewish family, died of an accidental drug overdose at age 32 after shepherding the Fab Four and other music acts to worldwide fame. Queen’s Gambit actor Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, who plays Epstein, says he initially didn’t know much about Epstein — or even The Beatles’ music.

“There was so many songs that I really hadn’t heard properly before. … So, yeah, I spent a lot of time listening,” he tells ABC Audio. “It was like a real perk of the job. I mean, I felt like, ‘I’m listening to albums. That’s my work for the day. … Lucky me.’ But … somehow being familiar [with the songs] felt important.”

Fortune-Lloyd also studied up on Epstein, who died in 1967, and he concludes that Epstein was the “perfect manager” for The Beatles because he “understood what artists needed to create.”

He says, “When people talk about The Beatles and the extraordinary things they were doing … I think without someone like Brian looking after things, being the adult in the room, giving them the space to create and not have to worry about anything else — I don’t think they could do that.”

Midas Man is a sympathetic portrait of a troubled man, and Fortune-Lloyd said he’d “love” for Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to see it, though he suggests it might be “difficult to watch,” seeing as how they were “so close” to Epstein.

“I’ve been made aware that they know about the film, and I really hope that they get to see it,” he says. “I hope they recognize and appreciate that we tried to honor the man and their relationship, and we created a loving portrayal of their friend. So, it’d be beautiful to share it with them.”

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Timothée Chalamet has landed on the Billboard Album chart for the first time, thanks to the soundtrack to the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

The album, which features Chalamet performing 17 tracks, has debuted at #17 on the Billboard soundtracks chart. It is also at #44 on the Top Album Sales chart and at #29 on the Top Current Album Sales chart, as well as #23 on the Indie Store Album Sales chart.

While this marks Chalamet’s Album chart debut, he did hit the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart in 2023 with his Wonka performance of “Pure Imagination.” It landed at #27.

The A Complete Unknown soundtrack has Chalamet covering a variety of Dylan classics, including “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “The Times They Are A-Changin’” and “Like A Rolling Stone.” His co-stars Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook and Edward Norton appear on the album, as well.

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Def Leppard has released a new music video for their cover of Ben E. King’s classic “Stand By Me,” which is helping to raise money for those affected by the California wildfires.

The video features footage of the band performing the song, cut with clips of them shooting their cameo in the Netflix movie Bank of Dave 2: The Lone Ranger. The band recorded the song for the movie. 

Proceeds from “Stand By Me” will be donated to FireAid, with money being used for those affected by the California wildfires and to support efforts to keep such disasters from happening again.

Bank of Dave 2 is the sequel to the 2023 Netflix film Bank of Dave, which told the real-life story of working-class, self-made millionaire Dave Fishwick, played by actor Rory Kinnear, who set up a community bank to help his town’s local businesses survive.

Def Leppard also had a cameo in the original film, playing themselves performing at a charity fundraiser for the bank. The sequel follows Dave as he takes on payday loan companies.

The sequel debuted in the U.K. in early January. Netflix has yet to reveal when it will begin streaming in the U.S.

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The worlds of Smashing Pumpkins, Rage Against the Machine and Tool will come together at the massive Black Sabbath reunion and farewell concert.

As Ozzy Osbourne‘s wife, Sharon, tells NME, the show will feature a collaboration between Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, Rage guitarist Tom Morello and Tool drummer Danny Carey.

“You’re going to see one icon playing with another icon, doing a Sabbath song and one or two of their own songs, and people playing with each other that you never thought you’d see,” Sharon says of the all-star lineup. “Tom Morello is going to play with [Carey] and they’re going to have Billy Corgan with them. They’re all from Chicago so they’re all doing their bit.”

For what it’s worth, Carey actually hails from Lawrence, Kansas, though both Corgan and Morello have roots in the Windy City.

The Sabbath concert takes place July 5 in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England, and will mark the final performance of their classic lineup, as well as Ozzy’s farewell as a solo artist.

Also on the bill are Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, Disturbed‘s David Draiman, Slash and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, Limp Bizkit‘s Fred Durst and Wolfgang Van Halen, among others.

Morello will be the show’s music director.

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Bruce Springsteen’s iconic anthem “Born to Run,” which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has been reimagined for a new Dove Super Bowl commercial, which focuses on the impact negative body talk can have on girls in sports.

The new version of the track is recorded by R&B star H.E.R. and serves to promote the company’s Body Confident Sport program. The press release notes the song will “serve as an anthem for the next generation of young girls in sports and amplify the commitment to #KeepHerConfident.”

“It’s been an honor to do a version of this iconic song, 50 years after its release,” said H.E.R. “Partnering with Dove on this project means the world to me because I feel like part of my purpose is to empower young girls to go against the grain and hold onto their confidence.”

She adds, “I hope this movement inspires young girls to continue to love what they see in the mirror, stay in sports, and believe in themselves and realize they are truly unstoppable.”

Dove’s 30-second spot will air during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 59, which airs Sunday on Fox.

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Bob Dylan is in the news a lot lately thanks to the biopic A Complete Unknown, and now his music is being celebrated again, this time by Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart.

Stewart is set to release the limited-edition vinyl Dave Does Dylan on April 12 for Record Store Day.

The album features 14 “pure and unedited” live covers of Dylan classics, including “Forever Young,” “Make You Feel My Love,” “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.”

Stewart and Dylan have become friends over the years, and Stewart notes, “I’m so, so grateful for getting to know him personally and to now record this album of songs after years of singing them to friends and to myself.”

“It’s been a long road and these lyrics and melodies have kept me company through the best and the worst of times,” he adds. “I hope my album can do the same for Dylan fans out there—who understand the mastery and the mystery Bob has bestowed on us, and still does to this day.”

And Stewart is planning to play some of those covers live when he tapes an episode of Recorded Live at Analog on March 22 at Analog inside The Hutton Hotel in Nashville. The show will air on PBS in July. 

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Bryan Adams is back with new music.

The rocker has just released the new single “Roll With the Punches,” the title track to his upcoming new studio album, expected later this year.

“‘Roll With the Punches’ is a song about resilience and the spirit of getting back up no matter how hard you’ve been knocked down,” Adams shares. “This song is for everyone who’s ever felt defeated but chose to fight another day.”

He adds, “I believe the song captures the idea of getting through things when confronted with challenges and disappointment by simply rocking out!”

“Roll With the Punches,” co-written by Mutt Lange, is out now via digital outlets. Adams also released a video for the tune that has him and his band performing in an airplane hangar.

Adams is also releasing the song as a picture sleeve 7-inch single, which is available for preorder now.

Roll With the Punches will be Adams’ 16th studio album and his first new release since 2022’s So Happy It Hurts.

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