Classic Rock 93.9

After 30 years of eligibility, and one previous nomination, the late Warren Zevon is set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Saturday in the Musical Influence category.

Zevon is best known for such songs as “Werewolves of London” and “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” as well as “Keep Me In Your Heart,” from his 12th and final studio album, The Wind. It was released in August 2003, just weeks before his Sept. 7 death at 56.

Zevon also wrote songs that were recorded by other artists, including Linda Ronstadt, who covered tunes like “Hasten Down the Wind” and “Poor Poor Pitiful Me.”

While “Werewolves of London” was Zevon’s only top-40 hit, he had a devoted fanbase. In fact, Billy Joel wrote a letter to the Rock Hall in support of Zevon in 2023, before his first nomination.

“I just wanted to put in my two cents of supporting Warren Zevon to be included,” Joel told the Los Angeles Times in 2023. “If anyone deserved to be, he did. He was a real original, and I don’t know if that’s appreciated enough.”

That same year, the Rock Hall’s Jason Hanley told ABC Audio why Zevon deserved the recognition, saying “people loved his music,” and that he “influenced so many other artists and songwriters over the years.” 

After revealing he had been diagnosed with cancer, Zevon said his emotional goodbye to the public during an October 2003 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, where he was the sole guest and musical performer. Letterman, a well-known Zevon fan, is scheduled to appear at Saturday’s induction, so there’s a good chance he’ll take part in the artist’s tribute.

The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Saturday in Los Angeles and will stream live on Disney+ starting at 8 p.m. ET. ABC will also air a highlights special on Jan. 1, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET.

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Writer/director Cameron Crowe has offered an update on his long-in-the works biopic on Joni Mitchell.

Crowe, whose memoir The Uncool came out Tuesday, has been attached to the project since 2023 and tells Variety he’s still “working on” it.

“We’re gonna do it next year. And I just feel really confident that we are telling that story in a way that you wouldn’t call a traditional so-called biopic,” he explains. “It’s the telling of her story with amazing input from the artist herself, who is opening her life, her closet, her collection of instruments, her notes, her everything for us to make a movie that is as emotionally authentic as her music.”

He adds, “I just feel really lucky to have spent the last few years finding the way to tell the story that will give you a physical body rush as well as loving her story. … I can’t wait for you to check it out.”

While there have been all sorts of rumors about who’ll play Joni, Crowe says as of now there’s “nothing I can confirm.” But he adds, “I’m just grateful that people are talking about it and that I get to tell the story.”

The movie will be the first one Crowe has written and directed since 2015’s Aloha, although he created the 2016 Showtime series Roadies and directed the 2019 David Crosby documentary David Crosby: Remember My Name.

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The Rolling Stones are giving fans a preview of the upcoming super-deluxe reissue of their 1976 album Black and Blue.

The band just shared a video of a performance of “Fool to Cry” from an unreleased TV broadcast of their 1976 concert at Les Abattoirs in Paris, which is part of a Blu-ray included in the set.

According to a post on Instagram, the performance is “a rare glimpse into the Black and Blue era.”

The five-LP or four-CD super-deluxe Black and Blue box set, dropping Nov. 14, includes a 2025 remix of the album by producer Steven Wilson, along with an album of outtakes and jams. It also includes a recording of a 1976 concert at Earls Court in London, which was part of a six-night residency at the venue.

The Blu-ray that comes with both versions includes the Paris concert, as well as the Wilson remix and the Earls Court concert in Dolby Atmos. The set also includes a 100-page hardcover book and replica tour poster.

The Black and Blue reissue will also be released in a variety of other formats, including a limited-edition five-LP black and blue marbled vinyl set; two-disc and one-disc formats on both vinyl and CD; and a limited-edition zoetrope vinyl.

Released in April 1976, Black and Blue was The Stones’ 13th studio album and the first since guitarist Mick Taylor left the group. His eventual replacement, Ronnie Wood, is featured on three songs.

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The late Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson’s first live album, Brian Wilson: Live at the Roxy Theatre, is set to be reissued on Nov. 7 in celebration of its 25th anniversary, and now fans are getting a look at one of the performances on the album.

A video for the song “This Isn’t Love” has just been released. Brian notes in the clip, “This is a love song with a very beautiful lyric that my friend Tony Asher wrote.”

Brian Wilson: Live at the Roxy Theatre is being released digitally and as a three-LP or two-CD set. It captures recordings from two nights at the West Hollywood venue back in April 2000.

In addition to the original live recordings, the new release will feature newly unearthed performances and tour recordings, some of which have never been released before. It also includes Wilson’s own reflections on making the album.

Originally released in 2000, Live at the Roxy Theatre captured Wilson’s return to the Sunset Strip for the first time in 30 years. He performed songs from his legendary catalog, backed by a 10-piece band.

Brian Wilson: Live at the Roxy Theatre is available for preorder now.

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We now know the actresses who will play the love interests of The Beatles in the upcoming four-film cinematic event centered on the iconic band.

Sony Pictures has announced that Saoirse Ronan, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Anna Sawai and Aimee Lou Wood will play Linda Eastman, Maureen Cox, Yoko Ono and Pattie Boyd in the films directed by Sam Mendes.

“Maureen, Linda, Yoko and Pattie are four fascinating and unique figures in their own right – and I’m thrilled that we’ve managed to persuade four of the most talented women working in film today to join this amazing adventure,” Mendes said in a press release.

The Beatles films will star Harris Dickinson, Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn and Barry Keoghan. The project marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film about the band.

Mendes will direct four different films, each told from a different member of the band’s point of view. They will all intersect to tell the full story of the band’s history, according to the release.

All four of The Beatles films will arrive in theaters worldwide in April 2028.

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Foo Fighters performed on Thursday’s episode of Amazon Music Live, and you can watch their rendition of “All My Life” streaming on YouTube.

The set found Dave Grohl and company rocking on a floor in the round without any elevation from a stage. They also played songs “Everlong,” “The Pretender,” “Best of You” and “My Hero,” plus a cover of Motörhead‘s “Ace of Spades.”

The performance also showcased the skills of new drummer Ilan Rubin, who made his debut with the Foos in September.

You can watch a rebroadcast of Foo Fighters’ Amazon Music Live for a limited time via Amazon Music.

Foo Fighters will launch a U.S. stadium tour in 2026.

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R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, The Black Crowes‘ former drummer Steve Gorman and Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker recently announced they were joining forces for a new supergroup, Howl Owl Howl, and now they’re sharing their first single.

The band has just released the track “My Cologne,” and Mills explains on Instagram that it was actually inspired by pop star Ariana Grande.

Mills says in the video, “Ariana Grande put out a record not long ago and her first single was called ‘R.E.M.,’” referring to the track on her 2018 album, Sweetener.

Despite it being his band’s name, Mills didn’t think much of it. He says, “OK, sure, it’s the dream stage of sleep, that’s where we got it. You know, it’s universal, that’s fine.”

Ari went on to launch a cosmetics line called r.e.m. beauty, and Mills notes that one of the fragrance containers was shaped like a cassette tape with R.E.M. on the cover.

“And then I said, OK, that’s going over the line. I gotta say something about that,” he says. “So, you know, we’re not upset or anything, but I thought it was just funny.”

His response is “My Cologne,” featuring a line in the chorus, “I wanna smell like Ariana Grande and I think she wants you to smell like me.”

Says Mill, “It’s all in good fun and I hope she likes it.”

“My Cologne” is now available via digital outlets.

Howl Owl Howl is set to hit the road for a nine-date tour starting Nov. 3 in Indianapolis. The tour wraps Nov. 15 in Athens, Georgia, which is the birthplace of R.E.M. A complete list of dates can be found at howlowlhowl.com.

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Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Queen’s iconic track “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and to commemorate the occasion, the band has launched Queen The Greatest Special, a five-part weekly YouTube series.

In this week’s episode, The Path to Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor discuss the band’s journey to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” noting that while  the public may have been surprised by such a grand song, for them it was just something they came to expect from their frontman Freddie Mercury.

They give earlier examples of Freddie’s experimentation, including “My Fairy King,” from their debut album, as well as “The March of the Black Queen” and “The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke” from Queen II.

“It’s interesting. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is viewed as a giant step for Queen creatively, but from the inside, it didn’t really look that way, it didn’t feel that way,” May says. “It’s one of the threads of Queen in our development. This is the stuff that Freddie brings to the table. We’re used to it and we love it. It’s very entertaining. It’s quite off the wall.”

May adds, “You don’t always know where he’s going, but that’s the thing people love most about Freddie.”

The video series also launches on the same day Queen has released “Bohemian Rhapsody” on transparent blue heavyweight 12-inch vinyl, as a 12-inch picture disc and as a blue cassette single. It is available now.

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Blondie is revisiting their past with Friday’s reissue of their 1999 comeback album, No Exit. But in a new interview with NME they’re looking at their future, and they sound unsure about what’s to come.

Frontwoman Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein are the only surviving founding members of the band, following Clem Burke’s death in April. While they plan to release a new album in 2026, the future beyond that looks uncertain.

Harry previously said she wasn’t sure about returning to the stage as Blondie, and she stands by that statement.

“Well it was Chris, Clem and myself who were the only original members doing live shows,” she tells the outlet. “We just lost Clem, and Chris isn’t playing anymore … but maybe that could change.”

“Essentially, I don’t know. I’ve never liked it when there was just one original member performing and everybody else there is a stand-in,” she continues, although she says she’d “be tempted” to tour again if it was under a different name, “like ‘Blondie Presents.’”

“But, I just don’t feel comfortable marching out on stage without my original guys and calling it Blondie,” she says. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

As for new music, Blondie’s new album, High Noon, is due out in 2026 and could be their last.

Stein says he doesn’t know about making more records, explaining he’s been dealing with health issues, but adds, “[H]opefully at some point I’ll get back at it.”

Harry says her thoughts are the same as the ones she has about doing more shows, noting, “[M]aybe it would be ‘Blondie Presents’ or something like that.  I haven’t really ironed it out yet.”

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Rocker Alice Cooper is teaming with magician Criss Angel for a new Las Vegas show, Welcome to Our Nightmare, at The Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

The two-night limited engagement, March 6 and 7, 2026, is described as “an unprecedented ninety-minute revolutionary concert spectacle of magic, music, and mayhem,” with Cooper playing hits like “Poison,” “I’m 18” and “School’s Out.”

A ticket presale begins Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PT, with tickets going on sale to the general public Nov. 6 at 10 a.m. PT. 

Cooper wrapped a co-headlining tour with Judas Priest on Sunday and is next scheduled to head to Germany for a run of shows that start Nov. 28. The Welcome to Our Nightmare shows are currently the only U.S. dates on his schedule. A complete list of dates can be found at AliceCooper.com.

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