Classic Rock 93.9

The 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class was announced Sunday, April 21, on American Idol, with Peter Frampton among the rockers getting the nod this year.

The guitar great took to social media to share his gratitude, noting, “This is something I never expected.”

“I am overwhelmed that I will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, especially alongside so many incredible artists who have gone before me,” he wrote. “I can’t thank everyone enough for voting for me. You are the best. Somebody pinch me please!!”

Foreigner is also getting in this year, with Mick Jones telling Billboard, “I think it means more to me now than perhaps 20 years ago.”

“I’ve had a great career, and this is like the whipped cream and cherry on top,” he shares. “It’s something I will savor over the years. It’s a great honor to be included amongst all these great artists that have been inducted over the years.”

As for whether Jones, who revealed in February he has Parkinson’s Disease, will perform, he says, “I do plan to attend. As to whether I get up on stage and perform hasn’t really been decided as yet.” 

Frampton and Foreigner will be inducted alongside Cher, Kool & The Gang, Dave Matthews Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Mary J. Blige and A Tribe Called Quest. In addition, Jimmy Buffett, Dionne Warwick and MC5 will be inducted in the Musical Excellence category.

The 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction will take place October 19 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. The ceremony will stream live on Disney+, followed by a special airing on ABC at a later date.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, April 22, 1993 …

The Who’s Tommy opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre in New York.

The musical was an adaptation of the band’s 1969 rock opera. It was directed by Des McAnuff, with the book, music and lyrics by The Who’s Pete Townshend.

The musical follows a young boy named Tommy, who, after witnessing his father murder his mother’s lover, becomes deaf, dumb and blind. Despite this, he becomes an unlikely celebrity due to his pinball-playing skills and eventually inspires a cult following.

The show, which closed on June 17, 1995, won five Tony Awards, including Best Direction for McAnuff and Best Original Score for Townshend.

After a successful run in Chicago, a new reimagining of The Who’s Tommy opened at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre in March 2024, again directed by McAnuff. Tickets are on sale now.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dave Grohl and Anthrax members Scott Ian and Charlie Benante have premiered the video for their collaborative cover of the Bad Brains song “The Regulator.”

The trio, dubbed G.B.I. for Grohl, Benante and Ian, recorded the track for a Record Store Day single. The release supports Bad Brains member H.R. and his medical needs.

“We ripped ‘Regulator’ live in two takes,” Ian says. “It was so much fun to get to play with Dave on drums and to hear his voice with my guitar.”

You can watch the video — which shows Grohl on vocals and drums, Ian on guitar and Benante moving from behind the kit to play bass — streaming on YouTube.

Record Store Day took place Saturday, April 20.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Before the winner of this season of American Idol is crowned, they’ll be getting advice from a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.

Jon Bon Jovi will serve as a guest mentor for the contestants during the show’s “grand finale” on May 19 on ABC. He’ll be the second Rock & Roll Hall of Famer to be a guest mentor on the show this season: KISS‘ Gene Simmons appeared on the show on Sunday, April 21.

The news comes as Bon Jovi is getting ready to give fans some insight into their story with the new four-part docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, which debuts April 26 on Hulu.

They are also releasing a new album, Forever, on June 7. The record, the band’s first release since their album 2020, is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ozzy Osbourne, Foreigner, Peter Frampton and Dave Matthews Band are among the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, which were announced Sunday, April 21, on American Idol.

Also being enshrined are A Tribe Called Quest, Cher, Kool & the Gang and Mary J. Blige.

“Rock & Roll is an ever-evolving amalgam of sounds that impacts culture and moves generations,” says John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. “This diverse group of inductees each broke down musical barriers and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps.”

Osbourne will be entering the Rock Hall for the second time, having already been inducted with Black Sabbath in 2006.

The Rock Hall will also induct the late Jimmy Buffett and influential proto-punk outfit MC5 with the Musical Excellence Award. Buffett passed away in September 2023; founding MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer died in February 2024.

The other Musical Excellence honorees are Dionne Warwick, and late Motown songwriter and producer Norman Whitfield. Additionally, late blues icon Big Mama Thornton, and British blues musicians John Mayall and the late Alexis Korner are being inducted with the Musical Influencer Award, while music, film and TV executive Suzanne de Passe will receive the industry Ahmet Ertegun Award.

The 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place October 19 in Cleveland and will stream live on Disney+. It’ll air during an ABC special at later date and will be available to watch the next day on Hulu.

The 2024 nominees who were not chosen for induction include Lenny Kravitz, Oasis, Sinéad O’Connor, Jane’s Addiction, Mariah Carey, Eric B. & Rakim and Sade.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann is the latest artist to pay tribute to Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts, who passed away April 18 at the age of 80.

In a post on Instagram, Kreutzmann writes of the “intertwined past” of the two bands, noting, “[W]e saw ourselves as fellows, part of a movement that was bigger than either band,” calling the Allman Brothers “the southern counterpart to the Grateful Dead.” 

“@dickeybettsofficial was a huge part of the Allman sound and his twin guitar leads with Duane were as influential to southern rock as just about any other single element,” he shares.

He then recalled playing with the Allmans in San Francisco one New Year’s Eve.

“Getting to play behind Betts was just one of those things where you know you are in the company of greatness and you’re just trying to live in that moment,” he concludes. “Well, that moment — and many others — will now live forever in my heart.” He signed the post, “So long, old friend.”

Kreutzmann’s Grateful Dead bandmate Mickey Hart also paid tribute to Dickey, sharing a Dead-inspired drawing of the rocker with the caption, “May the four winds blow Dickey safely home.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Crowded House’s Neil Finn joined Fleetwood Mac in 2018, along with Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, after the band fired Lindsey Buckingham. But Finn admits it wasn’t necessarily easy taking his place.

It seems that while Buckingham was gone, Stevie Nicks didn’t want much else to change.

In a new interview with MOJO, Finn describes Mick Fleetwood as “the heart and soul of the band,” but notes that Stevie is very much the leader of the group, “because Stevie wants it the way Stevie wants it and that’s the way it’ll be.”

And it seems she wanted it to sound just like Lindsey.

“She couldn’t bear to be in a band with Lindsey anymore, but she still wanted to do it exactly the way he would have,” Finn says. “She was really happy with the way it sounded between me and her, but she put a lot of pressure on Mike to be more like Lindsey.” 

He adds, “Sometimes Mike’s solos would go on and Stevie would get exhausted playing tambourine. She’d be, ‘F****** hell, Lindsey only did 12 bars!'” 

As for Lindsey, Finn says he’s never met him, but would like to have dinner with him one day.

“There’s a lot of ill-will, but I don’t think he bears any towards me and I do think he had prior appreciation of the music I’d made,” he says. “Hopefully, once he got over the massive disappointment, he’d have thought, ‘At least someone with something going for them is singing my songs.’”

Finn is getting ready to release a new album with Crowded House. Gravity Stairs, the band’s eighth studio album and the first since 2021’s Dreamers Are Waiting, comes out May 31. It is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Robert Plant has been named patron of Good Shepherd, an English charity that helps the homeless community. 

Plant has been a longtime supporter of the organization and last December invited reps from the group to appear at his local concert at The Halls to help raise awareness of their work. He later visited the charity to learn more about the services it provides. 

“It was good to visit the Good Shepherd and learn more about their work,” Plant shares. “Providing food and a range of other support is a key part of it but something that I think is so important is the focus on rebuilding confidence, self-esteem and spirit.” 

“The Good Shepherd is a small local charity, but we have a big impact in our community,” CEO Tom Hayden says. “Having Robert support our work in Wolverhampton and the Black Country is incredible for our organization, and we’re extremely grateful he has decided to come on board as a patron.”

Plant is helping to support the organization’s new trainee program, which will offer two paid trainee positions to people who have experienced homelessness.

“We cannot thank Robert enough for becoming a patron and underpinning these trainee roles, and we look forward to keeping him updated on how our program develops,” Hayden adds.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Slash guests on a new song called “The End of Tomorrow” from film/TV/video game composer Bear McCreary.

The track, which lasts nearly 11 minutes, boasts a giant solo that would likely feel at home on a Guns N’ Roses album. It also features lead vocals by McCreary’s brother, Brendan McCreary.

“‘The End of Tomorrow’ is my homage to epic, operatic rock anthems I love, like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘November Rain,'” Bear says. “Slash brought his iconic sound to the song, and his solo at the song’s heart will melt your face!”

You can listen to “The End of Tomorrow” now via digital outlets. It’ll appear on Bear’s upcoming album, The Singularity, which also features guest spots from System of a Down‘s Serj Tankian and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor.

The Singularity will be released digitally on May 3 and on physical formats May 10. Bear will play a concert in Los Angeles on May 12; Slash will be among the guest performers.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new photo book dedicated to Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan will be released later this year.

Portraits of Gillan, from Rufus Publications, is a coffee table book featuring rare and unseen photos of Gillan and covering his post-Deep Purple career from 1976 through his brief time with Black Sabbath in the ‘80s. The 240-page book, which comes in a black slipcase with a gold foil logo, features an 8,000 word essay from rock journalist and writer John Tucker, along with a fold out poster. 

The book will be released in two formats. The main edition, limited to 500 copies, costs around $70. There’s also an ultra-limited Black Leather and Metal edition, which is much larger and comes in an aluminum metal slipcase, with a screen-printed logo and a unique lenticular print. Only 50 of those will be available at a cost of about $430.

Both formats will be available for preorder on Wednesday, April 24, with books shipping at the end of June.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.