Classic Rock 93.9

The Library of Congress has chosen 25 new recordings to join the National Recording Registry, including classics by Blondie, The Cars and ABBA.

The albums were chosen for preservation based on their “cultural, historical or aesthetic importance” and include The Cars’ self-titled debut, which featured such songs as “Just What I Needed,” “My Best Friend’s Girl” and “Good Times Roll,” as well as Blondie’s Parallel Lines, which included their hit “Heart of Glass.” Other albums chosen for preservation include Green Day’s Dookie, Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow and ABBA’s Arrival.

Songs chosen for preservation include ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by Gene Autry and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” 

“The Library of Congress is proud to preserve the sounds of American history and our diverse culture through the National Recording Registry,” Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden shares. “We have selected audio treasures worthy of preservation with our partners this year, including a wide range of music from the past 100 years, as well as comedy. We were thrilled to receive a record number of public nominations, and we welcome the public’s input on what we should preserve next.”

The public can nominate recordings to be considered; this year, the Library of Congress received a record 2,899 nominations. With the new additions, the National Recording Registry titles are now at 650, part of a recorded sound collection of close to 4 million items.

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On This Day, April 16, 1993…

Paul McCartney headlined an Earth Day benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

McCartney’s set featured an appearance by his Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, who joined him to perform The Beatles’ classic “Hey Jude.” k.d. lang also turned up during McCartney’s set to perform “Hope of Deliverance.”

McCartney, who was on his New World Tour when the show was held, also performed such Beatles classics as “All My Loving,” “We Can Work it Out,” “Blackbird” and “Let it Be,” as well as Wings tracks “Live and Let Die,” “Band on the Run” and more.

Other artists who performed sets during the Earth Day concert included Don Henley, Steve Miller Band and Kenny Loggins.

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Courtney Love may just get the entire internet angry with her thoughts on Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and Beyoncé. Spoiler alert: They’re not all great.

Speaking in an interview with the U.K.’s The Standard, the Hole frontwoman says, “Taylor is not important. She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist.”

While some might see a comparison to Madonna as a compliment, Love says, “I don’t like her and she doesn’t like me.”

Shifting gears to Del Rey, Love shares, “I haven’t liked Lana since she covered a John Denver song.”

“I think she should really take seven years off,” Love continues. “Up until ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’ I thought she was great. When I was recording my new album, I had to stop listening to her as she was influencing me too much.”

Love’s jab at Del Rey may be surprising given that she once declared Lana and late husband Kurt Cobain as the only “true musical geniuses I’ve ever known.”

Meanwhile, Love says she “like[s] the idea of Beyoncé doing a country record,” referring to her new Cowboy Carter album, “because it’s about Black women going into spaces where previously only white women have been allowed, not that I like it much.”

“As a concept, I love it,” Love says. “I just don’t like her music.”

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Following a tease on social media earlier this week, The Beatles have finally revealed some big news for fans: Their documentary Let It Be is coming to Disney+.

Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s original 1970 film is set to debut on the streaming service on May 8, marking the first time it’s been available in over 50 years. The film has been restored from the original 16mm negative by Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production.

Originally released in April 1970, Let It Be takes Beatles fans inside the studio as they recorded their album Let It Be and includes footage from their January 1969 Apple Corps rooftop concert. It was released one month after the Beatles officially broke up. Footage from the film was used in Jackson’s 2021 Emmy-winning docuseries, The Beatles: Get Back, which also aired on Disney+.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, Let It Be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” says Jackson. “I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that Let It Be is needed to complete the Get Back story.”

He adds, “I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades.”

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We won’t have to wait much longer to find out which artists are getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for 2024.

It was revealed Monday on American Idol that this year’s inductee class will be announced live on the April 21 episode of the ABC talent competition by Idol judge and Hall of Fame member Lionel Richie and host Ryan Seacrest.

The announcement will happen on what’s being billed as Idol’s “Rock & Roll Hall of Fame” night, with Gene Simmons, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame with KISS in 2014, serving as a guest mentor, and all the competitors performing songs from Hall of Fame inductees.

Nominees for this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class include Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Lenny Kravitz, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band, Jane’s Addiction and Sinéad O’Connor.

The 2024 induction ceremony will take place in Cleveland in the fall and the festivities will stream live on Disney+, with an ABC special airing at a later date.

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For fans who didn’t catch Queen’s concert movie Queen Rock Montreal in IMAX theaters earlier this year, the band is giving you another opportunity to enjoy it.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers just announced the concert film is set to stream on Disney+ starting May 15.

They’ve also shared another taste of the concert with the just-released video for their performance of “Another One Bites the Dust.”

Queen Rock Montreal captures the band’s November 1981 stand at the Montreal Forum. The tour was in support of their album The Game and featured Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon performing songs from the album, along with classic Queen tunes like “We Will Rock You,” “Somebody to Love,” “Under Pressure,” Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Are the Champions” and more.

Queen will also release Queen Rock Montreal as a double Blu-ray or double 4K Ultra High Definition package as well as a two-CD or three-LP set, featuring a 28-track set list, on May 10. All formats are available for preorder now.

Queen Rock Montreal was released in IMAX in January, bringing in $4.1 million globally in its first weekend, making it the biggest IMAX exclusive event opening ever.

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Jon Bon Jovi is still working on getting his voice back to what it was before he underwent surgery for atrophied vocal cords — and if he doesn’t, that may mean the end of his touring career. 

“This is the first time I’m saying this,” the 62-year-old tells the U.K.’s The Sunday Times. “If the singing is not great, if I can’t be the guy I once was … then I’m done.” He adds, “And I’m good with that.”

Bon Jovi is getting ready to release their new album, Forever, on June 7, and while Jon may sound OK on the record, that doesn’t necessarily mean his voice is ready for a tour yet, and he’s not 100% sure it ever will be. 

“There is a big difference between being in a studio and going out on the road,” he says. “But I want to perform for two and a half hours a night, four nights a week — and I know how good I can be.” 

He adds, “[So] if I can’t be that guy … put it this way, I don’t ever need to be the fat Elvis.”

Jon’s surgery is one of the many storylines in the upcoming four-part Hulu docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story. It’s set to premiere April 26.

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Billy Joel fans will now have another chance to catch his CBS special, Billy Joel: The 100th – Live at Madison Square Garden. 

Fans were in an uproar after its original airing on Sunday, April 14, was not only delayed due to coverage of the Masters Tournament, but was cut short for local news programming, right in the middle of Joel’s signature tune, “Piano Man.” 

CBS has announced that “due to overwhelming demand from his legion of fans” it is rebroadcasting the special in its entirety on Friday, April 19, at 9 p.m. ET.

“A network programming timing error ended last night’s Billy Joel special approximately two minutes early in the Eastern and Central Time Zones,” CBS said in a statement. “We apologize to Mr. Joel, his fans, our affiliated stations, and our audience whose viewing experience was interrupted during the last song.” 

Billy Joel: The 100th – Live at Madison Square Garden was a taped performance of Billy’s 100th residency show at the iconic New York venue. Joel’s due to wrap the residency on July 25, following his 150th show at MSG.

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The Beatles and Disney+ appear to be teasing another project.

A post shared on The Beatles’ Instagram features four white boxes, spaced out in similar fashion to the cover of the band’s 1970 album, Let It Be. On top of the boxes are the words “At Last…,” with The Beatles and Disney+ logos at the bottom. 

The post’s caption reads, “There will be an answer,” another Beatles reference, this time to the song “Let it Be.”

While there’s no other information provided in the post, some fans have offered up guesses as to what’s being teased, with more than one thinking it may mean a reissue of the 1970 Let It Be documentary.

“Is this the Let It Be movie?” one person commented, with another adding, “Please tell me it’s the original movie PLEASE ????”

Whatever it is, it will be the second big collaboration between The Beatles and Disney+. In 2021, the streaming service debuted the docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, which was directed by Peter Jackson and used footage from the original Let It Be documentary. The series went on to win five Primetime Emmys.

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David Lee Roth is gifting fans with some new music.

The rocker recently shared the new song “Scotch and Sofa 4..,” a funky, little, danceable tune that features the addition of horns. Roth revealed the new track with a post on social media, but he didn’t offer up any details regarding when the song was recorded or who else may be on the song.

While Roth hasn’t released a solo album since 2003’s Diamond Dave, he has been dropping random new songs here and there. His most recent new tracks include the holiday tune “Talking Christmas Blues” and “Wash and Fold,” which he dropped in November.

Roth’s also been releasing solo versions of Van Halen classics, including “Jump,” “You Really Got Me,” “Dance the Night Away,” “Panama” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love.”

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