Classic Rock 93.9

Foo Fighters are making it known that they are not happy about Donald Trump using their hit song “My Hero.”

The tune, from the band’s 1997 album The Colour and the Shape, was played Friday as Trump brought out Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a rally in Arizona, and the band let it be known on social media that they did not approve the song’s use.

When an account posed the question, “Hey @foofighters did you let Trump use ‘My Hero’ to welcome RFK Jr. on stage,” the Foo Fighters official account replied “No.” And if anyone questioned what they meant, they later retweeted the post with the caption, “Let us be clear.”

A rep for Foo Fighters also tells Billboard in a statement, “Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were, they would not have granted it,” adding, “appropriate actions are being taken.” They also indicated that any earned royalties from Trump’s use of the song will be donated to the Kamala Harris/Tim Walz campaign.

Foo Fighters are far from the first artist to oppose Trump’s use of their music. Neil Young has threatened to sue him for using “Rockin’ in the Free World,” and earlier in August, Beyoncé‘s camp threatened legal action when her song “Freedom” was used in an online video for Trump. The estates of both Tom Petty and Isaac Hayes have also been vocal about their opposition to Trump using their music.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Two reel-to-reel audio tapes featuring a soundboard recording of a Toronto Beatles concert may soon be up for sale. 

Billboard reports the owner, Piers Hemmingsen, a Toronto-based Beatles historian and author of The Beatles in Canada, is looking to sell the recordings, which were made at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens on Aug. 17, 1965. 

“I have never offered it for sale before,” Hemmingsen shares. “This is the best recording of any Beatles concert in Canada, if not North America, other than what was professionally recorded for The Beatles themselves.”

The reels include The Beatles’ full half-hour set, including performances of “Twist and Shout,” “Ticket To Ride,” “Help!” and “A Hard Day’s Night,” along with recordings of the day’s opening acts and venue announcements. 

Hemmingsen says he has a copy of the concert on cassette, strictly for listening purposes, and while he’d like to keep it, he’s willing to sell it, as well. He didn’t say how much he wants for the recording, but Dan Muscatelli-Hampson, of U.K.-based music memorabilia and vinyl specialists Omega Auctions Ltd., estimated to Billboard it could be worth between $60,000 and $80,000.

So far Hemmingsen hasn’t put the reels on the market and says he’d prefer to sell it to Apple Corps, so Beatles fans may one day hear it.

“You can’t sit on a thing like this,” he says. “You want to share it with the world. On the other hand, there’s a commercial value to it and the only people that can release it are Apple.”

Hemmingsen plans to use the money toward printing his next two Beatles books, The Beatles in Canada: The Evolution 1964-1970, due out in September, and a follow-up, The Beatles In Canada: The Origins of Beatlemania!

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

KISS is celebrating the 35th anniversary of their album Hot in the Shade with an all-new merch collection.

The line includes special limited-edition bundles; one features a 35th anniversary Hot in the Shade deluxe picture disc, along with a Hot in the Shade track list T-shirt, while another includes a limited-edition color vinyl with a hoodie.

The line also includes various T-shirts, a brown hoodie, tank top, hat, sunglasses and a bandana.

All are on sale now through the KISS store.

Released in October 1989, Hot in the Shade was the 15th studio album by KISS and came out during their non-makeup era. It was the final KISS album to feature drummer Eric Carr on all the songs. Carr was also featured on vocals for the song “Little Caesar,” the first time since 1981’s Music From The Elder that someone other than Paul Stanley or Gene Simmons handled lead vocals on a tune.

The biggest hit on the record was “Forever,” a ballad written by Stanley and Michael Bolton, which was a top 10 hit for the rockers.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Def Leppard fans may debate which of their albums is better, 1983’s Pyromania or 1987’s Hysteria, but you won’t hear frontman Joe Elliott picking a favorite.

Elliott was asked to pick a fav in an interview with the Los Angeles Times and had a very diplomatic answer.

“Obviously, the breakthrough was Pyromania — the memories from that tour of being this band that got out of a bus and walked into a hotel to being this band that got off the bus and we couldn’t even get into the hotel because there were too many kids blocking the way,” he shares. “But by 1987, when it’s the second time, it’s the second time, you know what I mean? So what you had was the first and then the bigger.”

He adds, “Which of them is better? I just blend them together and go, The ’80s were great.”

Elliott also shared his thoughts on Taylor Swift, who the band did a CMT Crossroads with back in 2008. He says while nobody could have predicted the success she’d have, “you look at it now and it kind of makes sense.”

Elliott says in 2008 “there was no such thing as what she accomplished,” comparing her success to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, noting, “for people born this century or in the ’90s, this is a phenomenon that’s never been seen before –  technically bigger than the Beatles and the Stones combined, at least commercially.”

“But I always knew she’d be big. And for all the hardships she’s gone though — the people who’ve tried to trip her up over the years at certain parts of her career — she’s just dusted herself down,” he adds. “She’s a fantastic role model for a generation of kids.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

U2 is wrapping their U2 to Love and Only Love – Deep Dives and B-Sides digital series with a new playlist dedicated to “Electrical Storm,” one of two singles the band recorded for their 2002 greatest hits album, The Best of 1990–2000.

The 12th and final installment includes a remastered version of the track, as well as a William Orbit remix, “Nice” and “Nasty” mixes of the All You Can’t Leave Behind tune “New York” and a live medley of the songs “40,” “Bad” and “Where The Streets Have No Name” from a 2004 show in Boston. 

U2 launched the U2 to Love and Only Love – Deep Dives and B-Sides digital series back in April. Since then they’ve released 12 newly remastered collections, made up of songs that until now were only available on vinyl, CD or cassette. 

Previous collections focused on such songs as “Discothèque,” “Staring at the Sun,” “Last Night on Earth,” “If God Will Send His Angels,” “Please,” “Mofo,” “Sweetest Thing,” “Beautiful Day,” “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” “Elevation” and “Walk On.”

The ”Electrical Storm” playlist is now streaming on most digital outlets.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bryan Adams has dropped a video for the song “War Machine,” which is his take on one of two songs he co-wrote in the ’80s with Jim Vallance and Gene Simmons for KISS.

The video opens with Adams walking through a field holding a white flag with a peace sign, and as the camera pans out you realize he’s next to a battlefield. That’s followed by combat footage, including fighter planes flying through the air and soldiers on the ground.

There’s also footage of men in suits in a war room making decisions about what’s happening on the battlefield, and it ends with the man in charge ordering the bombing of the area, only for the missile to turn around and drop on the big white house where the man is calling the shots.

Earlier in August, Adams dropped his version of the other song he co-wrote for KISS, “Rock and Roll Hell.” Both tracks appeared on KISS’ 1982 album, Creatures of the Night.

Adams is set to release both songs as a limited-edition double A-side 7-inch single on Aug. 30. It is available for preorder now at bryanadams.com.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Mötley Crüe has announced a new EP called Cancelled.

The three-track collection is due out Oct. 4. It includes the previously released track “Dogs of War,” the title track and a cover of the Beastie Boys song “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!).” You can listen to the Beasties cover now via digital outlets.

“Dogs of War” premiered in April and marked the first new song from Mötley since guitarist John 5 joined the band in place of Mick Mars. It reached the top five on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

Before that, the Crüe’s most recent release was 2019’s soundtrack to their The Dirt biopic, which featured four new recordings, including the Machine Gun Kelly collaboration “The Dirt (Est. 1981).”

Mötley Crüe will be playing several upcoming headlining shows and festivals, including Louder than Life and Aftershock.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, Aug. 23, 1946 … 

Future The Who drummer Keith Moon was born in North West London.

Moon joined the band in 1964 before they recorded their first single and went on to play on eight of The Who’s albums, with his last being 1978’s Who Are You.

Throughout his musical career, he was known for his destructive nature and turned trashing hotel rooms into an art. 

He dealt with alcohol problems over the years and died in September 1978 from an overdose of a drug that was supposed to prevent alcohol withdrawal.

The Who’s Roger Daltrey has been very vocal about his attempts to make a Keith Moon biopic. In February 2023, he revealed that he had finished the script for the movie, but since then no other details about the film have been revealed.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Back in July, Neil Young released the fifth installment in his Official Release Series, featuring four remastered albums. Now he’s giving fans another way to snag those records.

The four albums featured in the set included 1989’s Freedom, which includes the Young classic “Rockin’ In The Free World”; 1990’s Ragged Glory; and two albums from 1991: the live record Weld and the companion Arc, described as “a 35-minute outburst of feedback, improvisation, guitar solos and vocal fragments.”

Starting Oct. 4, instead of having to get all four in the set, Young will release each album separately on vinyl and CD. The box set release marked the first time all these albums had been remastered for vinyl, and it was Arc‘s first time on vinyl ever.

All four albums are available for preorder now. In addition, the albums will be released on hi-res digital audio at Neil Young Archives and most digital service providers.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde wants people to stop and think before they eat meat again.

The rocker and well-known vegetarian is featured in a new billboard for PETA that just went up in Chicago ahead of the Pretenders’ concert in the city on Friday, urging folks to reconsider consuming animal products. 

“The animal you’re eating wanted his life just as much as you want yours,” the billboard reads. “Don’t pretend any different!”

PETA’s future plans include running the ad in Hynde’s hometown of Akron, Ohio, as well as in cities on Pretenders’ upcoming European tour.

Friday’s show at the Chicago Theatre is the last U.S. date on the Pretenders’ 2024 tour. The European leg kicks off Sept. 6 in Randers, Denmark. A complete list of dates can be found at thepretenders.com.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.