Classic Rock 93.9

The Frank Zappa compilation ZAPPAtite – Frank Zappa’s Tastiest Tracks is being released on vinyl for the first time.

The record will make its wax debut on July 17. It was previously only available on CD and digital upon its original release in 2016.

The two-LP package is divided into four sections — Appetizers, Entrées, Second Course and Desserts — and is described in a press release as “an inviting entry point into the more rock-oriented side of [Zappa’s] expansive repertoire.”

“This isn’t a greatest hits album, as Frank didn’t really have ‘hits,’ per se, nor is it a ‘best of,’ since it would be impossible to fit so much awesome onto one disc,” Zappa’s son Ahmet Zappa said of the collection back in 2016. “It’s a veritable smorgasbord of musicality for the curious and a buffet of favorites for the fans.”

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Jack Osbourne has shared more info on the vision for the AI-powered interactive digital avatar of his late father, Ozzy Osbourne.

As previously reported, Jack spoke about the avatar at the 2026 Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, saying Ozzy “will exist digitally as himself for as long as we have computers.”

“You can ask Ozzy anything, and he will answer you in his own voice – and the answers will be what Ozzy would have said,” added Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy’s widow and Jack’s mother.

Jack has since answered some more questions about the avatar during a livestream on his YouTube channel.

“It’s going to be so tasteful what we’re doing,” Jack says. “It’s not going to be f****** lame.”

“It’s really complex what we’re doing,” he continues. “This isn’t just, like, hooking up an image of my dad
to chatGPT … this is some, like, high level technology that we’re going to be working with and it’s going to feel very real and it’s kind of wild how it will be utilized.

Jack adds that he thinks Ozzy would approve of the idea.

“We actually talked about it before he passed about doing something like this,” Jack says. “I know he’d be into this.”

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In between wowing audiences with his otherworldly guitar skills, Jimi Hendrix was just a regular person who ordered food and paid his phone bill.

That’s what a new exhibit dedicated to the “Purple Haze” icon opening in London will show.

According to The Guardian, the exhibit includes various documents from Hendrix’s time living in London during the 1960s. Pieces include receipts from meals ordered from the restaurant Mr Love, which was located on the ground floor of the building, and dry cleaning tickets.

“They tell a really important story of this one little moment of domesticity in Hendrix’s life,” exhibition curator Claire Davies tells The Guardian. “He had a very difficult childhood and then, during his four-year career when he was based in London, he was staying with other people or in hotels. So when he was here at 23 Brook Street, it was the only place he called home and the only place with his name on the rent invoices.”

The exhibit will be open at London’s Handel Hendrix House on June 19.

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Paul McCartney thinks Taylor Swift’s global fame is similar to the level of superstardom he once experienced with The Beatles — though he wouldn’t presume to give her any advice about it.

While appearing on BBC Radio 2, McCartney was asked how he perceives Taylor’s fame compared to that of his former group, and whether he’d offer advice to her or any other current pop superstars. “Absolutely, yeah,” the Beatles legend responded. “And 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 we had. But I don’t think she needs any advice, [to] tell you the truth!”

“If she asked for it, I definitely would,” McCartney, 83, continued. “Because I’m like the older brother to that generation, y’know. Or, more like the grandad, actually.”

McCartney also shared that he recently met many of today’s female pop stars at a party thrown by his wife, Nancy Shevell, and daughter, designer Stella McCartney, whom he said are “very good at getting cool people to a party.” Guests included Taylor, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish.

“I ended up chatting to them all,” he said, adding, “They’re really cool people. They’re very good. So basically to answer your question, I like their voices. If they needed any advice, yeah, I would be happy to give it, but I don’t think they do.”

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In February, Neil Young canceled his planned 2026 tour dates, but he returned to the stage on May 22 at a benefit concert in his home country of Canada.

As Billboard reports, Young performed a solo acoustic set at the show in Vancouver, which was held in honor of the 90th birthday of Canadian environment activist David Suzuki. During the surprise set, he treated the crowd to renditions of “Heart of Gold” and “After the Gold Rush.”

The show, which raised money for the David Suzuki Foundation, also featured fellow Canadians Sarah McLachlan and Bruce Cockburn, as well as Jane Fonda and Al Gore.

The performance marked Young’s first live appearance since a benefit concert in October of 2025.

When he canceled his U.K. and Europe tour dates in February, Young explained in a message on his website, “I’m sorry to let you down, but this is not the time.” 

Young’s most recent album is 2025’s Talkin to the Trees, which he recorded with his band the Chrome Hearts. A live album recorded with the Chrome Hearts, As Time Explodes, is due May 29.

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Billy Idol had the honor of closing Monday night’s American Music Awards, as he accepted the AMA Lifetime Achievement Award and then took the stage to perform two of his classic hits.

Idol was presented the award by Grammy-winning R&B star Leon Thomas, who said he became a fan of the newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Famer via his late stepdad, musician Jon Kevin Jones. Accepting his award, Idol, rocking a purple shirt and black leather blazer, thanked the fans, saying, “I’ve been able to live my dream. It’s really because of all of you.”

Idol, who started his career 50 years ago as part of the U.K.’s burgeoning punk rock scene, said, “We believed in what we were doing. And we thought that if we just dreamed into this life and gave it everything we had, it would give it back to us in spades. And that’s exactly what happened.”

He concluded by offering a message to “any kid out there” who is interested in music and is “inspired to create that feeling of freedom and pursue a life of art.”

“All I can say is, pick up an instrument, find out who you are, and be it!” he advised. He then took the stage with his longtime musical partner, guitarist Steve Stevens, to perform “Eyes Without a Face” and “Dancing with Myself.”

Idol and Stevens will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame together November 14 in LA; the ceremony will air in December on ABC and Disney+.

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Rush has a lot of emotional baggage associated with the Forum in Los Angeles. The band wrapped their R40 Live tour at the venue in 2015, which marked their final show with drummer Neil Peart before his death in 2020. Then in 2022, bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson reunited at the Forum to play a tribute concert to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

Now, Rush is preparing to return to the Forum again to launch their highly anticipated Fifty Something tour, which will mark their first since Peart’s passing. Speaking with Classic Rock magazine, Lee calls beginning the tour at the Forum a “supremely stupid idea.”

“It’s a massively stupid idea, because we’re going to be so emotional already, that first show without Neil, and then to be in that building,” Lee says. “What the f*** was I thinking?”

As emotional as that first night back might be, Lee and Lifeson are looking forward to the tour, which will feature Anika Nilles on drums.

“Well there’s only one thing you look forward to, and that’s playing,” Lifeson says. “I’m looking forward to that feeling of being on stage and playing and getting lost in the song and hitting every note correctly.”

“I’ve got one goal, and that’s to be better than I was ten years ago,” Lee adds. “Which is tough. It’s a real challenge.”

“But that’s the goal,” Lifeson continues. “And honestly, that’s what is driving me in this whole thing. We’re at this stage now where I’ve committed to it. And all I want at the end of the day is for us to be Rush and to be amazing.”

The Rush Fifty Something tour kicks off June 7 with the first of four shows at the Forum and is currently scheduled into 2027.

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You may not know saxophonist Dick Parry’s name, but if you’re a Pink Floyd fan, you’ve heard his work on some of the band’s best-known tracks. Guitarist David Gilmour has paid tribute to Parry, who he says passed away on May 22 at 83 years old.

“My dear friend Dick Parry died this morning. Since I was seventeen, I have played in bands with Dick on saxophone, including Pink Floyd,” Gilmour wrote on Instagram. “His feel and tone make his saxophone playing unmistakable, a signature of enormous beauty that is known to millions and is such a big part of songs such as Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here, Us and Them and Money.”

Gilmour continued, “He played in the last band I had that included Rick Wright for the On An Island Tour and at Live 8 with Pink Floyd.” 

Gilmour also shared several photos of him playing with Parry throughout the years, including one of a performance in Cambridge, England in 1963, years before they’d experienced any success.

In addition to the songs that Gilmour named, Parry also played on the 1994 Pink Floyd album, The Division Bell, and joined the band for every live performance from 1973 to 1977, and again in 1994.

Floyd wasn’t the only legendary band Parry played with: He toured as part of The Who’s brass section in 1979 and 1980, and played on Who bassist John Entwistle’s 1975 solo album, Mad Dog.

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Paul Mescal is portraying Paul McCartney in the upcoming quartet of Beatles films being made by Sam Mendes, so Amazon Music has tapped Mescal to interview McCartney about his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane.

The Boys of Dungeon Lane: In Conversation with Paul McCartney & Paul Mescal premieres Monday on Amazon Music and Amazon Live, and there’s a sneak peek of it on Instagram. In it, McCartney and Mescal sit in the “Dungeon Lane Cafe,” have tea and chat.

“There’s this actor, Peter Ustinov,” McCartney says. “And he said he liked doing interviews, because it allowed him to know what he was thinking.”

“About a project?” Mescal replies. “About anything,” McCartney answers.

“How do you feel about being interviewed?” Mescal asks McCartney. “You know what? It depends if I like the person,” smiles McCartney. 

“OK, bro,” laughs Mescal, as McCartney continues, jokingly, “Which is where we’re running into a problem.”

And yes, Mescal really called Sir Paul McCartney “bro.”

The Boys of Dungeon Lane is out May 29.

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Tommy Lee has released a new song called “Stupid World.”

The track is included on Tommyland Rides Again, a reimagined version of the Mötley Crüe drummer’s 2005 solo album, Tommyland: The Ride.

Lee recorded “Stupid World” alongside musician and former pro skateboarder Chad Tepper. They’re both featured in the song’s accompanying video, as is Mötley guitarist John 5.

Tommyland Rides Again boasts a new mix of the original Tommyland: The Ride album, which “brings new depth and energy to every track, delivering a sonic experience that simply wasn’t possible back in 2005,” a press release says.

The album includes collaborations with Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, Joel Madden of Good Charlotte, Something Corporate’s Andrew McMahon and Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, as well as the single “Good Times,” which was the theme song to the 2005 reality series Tommy Lee Goes to College.

Tommyland Rides Again is out now on digital platforms and will be released on physical formats Sept. 18.

Mötley Crüe will launch their Return of the Carnival of Sins tour in July.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.) 

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