Indiana rocker John Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.
Mellencamp was inducted by Billy Joel, who told him, “Don’t let this club membership change you, John. We need you to be pissed off and restless because no matter what they tell us—we know this country is going to hell in a handcart.”
He added, “People need a voice like yours to echo the discontent that’s out there in the heartland … They need to know that somebody out there feels the way they do.”
Mellencamp then treated the crowd to performances of the Uh-Huh tracks “Pink Houses” and “Authority Song.”
Also inducted on that day were Madonna,Leonard Cohen, and The Ventures.
Michael Tullberg/Getty Images; Disney/Randy Holmes
The Zombies’Colin Blunstone made a surprise appearance in Los Angeles, joining Finneas on stage to perform The Zombies’ classic tune “Time of the Season.”
The band just shared video on Instagram of the performance, which took place Wednesday at the Hollywood Palladium, writing, “An unforgettable moment. Colin joined the incredibly talented @finneas on stage at the Hollywood Palladium for a special performance of Time of the Season—a song that’s resonated for over 55 years.”
“Huge thanks to Finneas for bringing this classic to life in a whole new way!” the post adds.
Back in February, Finneas covered “Time of the Season” for Australian radio station triple J and The Zombies were fans from the start. They previously shared video of Finneas’ cover, writing, “Love this modern take on Time of the Season by @finneas.”
Released in 1968, “Time of the Season,” one of The Zombies’ most well known songs, was a top 5 hit for the band, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe was back on stage with Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy Saturday, when the duo brought their tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s Fables of the Reconstruction to Brooklyn Steel in New York.
Stipe joined the pair to perform the Reckoning track “Pretty Persuasion.”
Stipe previously performed the song with Shannon and Narducy and his R.E.M. bandmates Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry, when the Fables tour hit R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, Georgia, on Feb. 27 and 28.
The Athens shows were only the second time all four members of R.E.M. had performed together since their 2011 breakup. The previous time was at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction in 2024, where they performed “Losing My Religion.”
Shannon and Narducy continue their Fables of the Reconstruction tour Wednesday in Minneapolis, with the tour wrapping with a sold out show March 15 in Evanston, Illinois.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell has announced a special event tied in to the upcoming release of his new memoir, Heartbreaker.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will sit down for a conversation with Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on March 19, one day after the book’s March 18 release.
And it won’t be all talk. The evening will include an acoustic set featuring Campbell and his The Dirty Knobs bandmate Chris Holt, performing songs from throughout Campbell’s career.
Meanwhile, Campbell’s Heartbreakers bandmate Benmont Tench just released a new solo album, The Melancholy Season, and Campbell is urging fans to check it out.
“So proud of my Heartbreaker brother A wizard; a true star!!” Campbell shared on Instagram. “Go listen and make sure you catch him on the road!”
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be bossed around by Gene Simmons? Well, if you’ve got the dough, now’s your chance.
The KISS rocker is offering up what he calls the “ultimate Gene Simmons experience” – a chance to be his personal assistant and band roadie for the day.
The package is only available to one person per show, but that person will become a member of the Gene Simmons Band crew for the entire day. They’ll help load in and set up for the show, and get a GSB crew member shirt, hat and laminate.
They’ll start the day meeting Gene and members of his band to go over the day’s schedule, and they’ll also get to hang out backstage, attend sound check and have a meal with Simmons, who’ll bring them onstage during the show.
The package is good for the purchaser and a guest, and includes a signed set list. They can also bring up to four items for Simmons to sign, plus they’ll receive a signed bass guitar Simmons used for rehersals.
Of course, this package doesn’t come cheap. In fact, it costs $12,495 — and that doesn’t include tickets to the show.
Gene Simmons Band is set to head out on the road starting April 4 in Anaheim, California, with shows booked through Aug. 3 in Sturges, South Dakota. A complete list of dates can be found at genesimmons.com.
Folks are still hitting the theaters to catch the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.
BoxOfficeMojo reports that the film, starring Timothée Chalamet as the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, has grossed over $120 million at the box office worldwide since its Christmas Day release.
According to Billboard, the film is now the eighth-highest-grossing music biopic, just behind Jamie Foxx’s Ray Charles biopic, Ray, which grossed $124 million.
Still topping the list as the highest-grossing music biopic is the Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody, which has a worldwide gross of over $910 million.
And for folks who want to see the movie but don’t want to go to the theater, they can do that, too. A Complete Unknown debuted on digital platforms in late February with never-before-seen bonus extras.
A Complete Unknown follows a 19-year-old Dylan as he arrives in New York from Minnesota and tracks his rise as a folk singer during the ’60s to the top of the charts, ending with his electric rock ‘n’ roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.
L-R: Stephen Graham, Bruce Springsteen and Scott Cooper/Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Peaky Blinders actor Stephen Graham will play Bruce Springsteen’s father in the upcoming movie Deliver Me From Nowhere, and he tells British GQ what it was like to meet the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.
“I think the first [scene] we did was when we pull up to this big house, and I’m in the ‘50s look, and everything. And he came over, and we had a lovely conversation. He was just like, ‘Thank you so much for being here,'” Graham tells the magazine. “I mean, he’s an icon. He’s an absolute icon. And such a wonderful man. What really touched me … is his humility, and the way he makes time for everybody.”
Graham says that after shooting his final scene as The Boss’ dad he had to quickly leave to get on a plane, but he later got a thank-you text from The Boss regarding the performance.
“It’s better than any award I could ever contemplate, but he said what I did within that scene, he saw his father again, which is just beautiful,” Graham shares.
The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White is set to play Springsteen in the film. Graham says he’s “absolutely f****** unbelievable” as Springsteen, adding, “He’s brilliant. He’s unbelievable. To me he’s the new Pacino and De Niro.”
Deliver Me From Nowhere, directed by Scott Cooper, follows Springsteen’s efforts to make his 1982 solo album Nebraska. The film is based on Warren Zanes‘ book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.
Peter Frampton and Michael McDonald attend the ninth annual LOVE ROCKS NYC benefit concert For God’s Love We Deliver/Getty Images for LOVE ROCKS NYC/photographer Dimitrios Kambouris
The ninth annual Love Rocks NYC concert took place at New York’s Beacon Theatre Thursday, raising $4 million for the nonprofit God’s Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to people who are too sick to prepare them themselves.
The concert featured an A-list lineup of talent, including Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Peter Frampton and Michael McDonald.
According to setlist.fm, McDonald performed The Doobie Brothers tracks “What a Fool Believes,” which he wrote with Kenny Loggins, and “Takin’ It to the Streets.”
McDonald also joined the legendary Mavis Staples, a five-time Love Rocks performer, for a performance of “I’ll Take You There.”
Frampton treated the crowd to his iconic tune “Do You Feel Like We Do” and also performed a cover of “Georgia (On My Mind).” He was then joined by Phish’s Trey Anastasio and 18-year-old guitarist Grace Bowers for a cover of George Harrison’s “My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
Cher performed a trio of tunes at the concert: a cover of Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis,” “(This Is) A Song for the Lonely” and her classic “Believe.” Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart teamed with singer Vanessa Amorosi to perform Eurythmics classics “Here Comes the Rain Again” and “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).”
The evening, hosted by comedians Alex Edelman, Amy Schumer, Susie Essman and Tracy Morgan,also featured performances by Beck, Anastasio, Alicia Keys, The Struts’ Luke Spiller, punk rocker Jesse Malin, Black Pumas’ Eric Burton and more, with the whole lineup coming out at the end for an all-star encore of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.”
The Love Rocks concert launched in 2017 and has now raised more than $50 million, enough to fund 5 million meals for New Yorkers in need.
Fifty years ago Friday David Bowie released his ninth studio album, Young Americans, which was considered a departure from his glam-rock style, focusing more on funk, soul and R&B influences.
The album, which came out less than a year after 1974’s Diamond Dogs, featured backing vocals by a then-unknown singer named Luther Vandross; its first single, the title track, peaked at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Its second single, “Fame,” featured TheBeatles‘ John Lennon on guitar and backing vocals, and became Bowie’s first Hot 100 #1.
“Fame” was actually one of two songs on the album that featured contributions from Lennon; the other was a cover of The Beatles track “Across the Universe.”
Several months after the album’s release, Bowie appeared on the music show Soul Train, performing “Fame” and “Golden Years” from his next album, Station to Station. The appearance by Bowie marked one of the first times a white artist appeared on the R&B music show.
Young Americans turned out to be a breakthrough album for Bowie in the U.S. It debuted in the Billboard 200’s top 10 in the U.S. and remained on the chart for 51 weeks. The song “Fame” was one of four Bowie songs to be included in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s list of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Brian James, founding guitarist of the influential English punk band The Damned, has died. He was 70.
A post to his Facebook Thursday reads, “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of one of the true pioneers of music, guitarist, songwriter, and true gentleman, Brian James.”
The Damned formed in the mid-’70s with James, vocalist Dave Vanian, bassist Raymond “Captain Sensible” Burns and drummer Christopher “Rat Scabies” Millar. Their debut single “New Rose” was considered to be the first official U.K. punk single upon its release in 1976.
“The riffmeister, Brian has gone,” Burns says. “That final act that happens to us all, for most is a sad and miserable affair but while it’s truly awful our mate has been taken I prefer to celebrate the life.. and WHAT A LIFE Brian James had!”
James left the group in 1978, and toured in Iggy Pop‘s live band in 1979 alongside Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock.
“Sad news today about Brian James’ untimely passing,” Matlock says. “Great memories of touring the States together on Iggy’s ’79 tour where he brought the house down every night with his solo on ‘Set ’em up Joe.'”
James returned to The Damned in 1988 and played with them until 1991. He reunited with the band again in 2022.
The current incarnation of The Damned, which features the three other founding members, plan to dedicate their performance Friday in Brazil to James.
