Classic Rock 93.9

Foreigner is taking issue with anyone who doesn’t think they deserve to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 

The band, who received their first Rock Hall nomination this year, shared a new video on social media responding to a February Axios article ranking this year’s potential inductees. In it, Foreigner was listed last, with the author writing they “had a string of hits over two decades that were fun but didn’t impact the course of music history in any substantial way.” 

Well, Foreigner decided to show Axios just how much they impacted musical history. The video points out that they sold over 80 million albums and have 19 Gold/Platinum records, three Grammy nominations and 22 songs in the Billboard Hot 100. Plus, they note that Mick Jones and Lou Gramm were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013.

They captioned the video, posted on April Fools’ Day, “Jokes on Axios.”

The Hall of Fame fan vote is open until April 26, and inductees will be announced later that month. The 2024 induction ceremony will take place in Cleveland in the fall. 

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Sebastian Bach has hopes to one day reunite with his old band Skid Row.

In an interview with Metal Hammer, Bach looks back on his time with the band, noting that it ended way too soon. 

“For me, doing three albums with Skid Row, I was just getting started,” he says. “I didn’t think it would be over and done with so quick.”

Bach was Skid Row’s frontman from 1987-1996, during which they had some of their biggest hits, including the singles “18 and Life” and “I Remember You” and the multi-Platinum albums Skid Row and Slave to the Grind.

While Skid Row and Bach have tried unsuccessfully to reunite in the past, Bach hasn’t given up hope that it may one day happen, sharing that it’s something he’d love to do for the fans. 

“I can definitely see that happening considering they play the same songs I play,” he says. “When I get a substantial royalty check for an album I did with musicians that I haven’t been in the same room with since 1996, I feel like a piece of s***. Because we should be giving something back to the fans that have made this great life possible.”

In the meantime, Bach is getting ready to release Child Within the Man, his first solo album in 10 years, on May 10. He’ll also launch his What Do I Got To Lose? tour in the U.S. on May 10 in Jefferson, Louisiana. A complete list of dates can be found at sebastianbach.com.

Skid Row recently announced that Halestorm‘s Lzzy Hale will step in as their lead singer for their upcoming shows to replace vocalist Erik Grönwall, who’s leaving the band. They have four shows scheduled in May and June.
 

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The Smashing Pumpkins have announced a run of headlining North American dates in between their shows opening up for Green Day‘s summer tour.

The newly added stops stretch from July 31 in Muskoka, Ontario, to September 27 in Las Vegas. Presales begin Tuesday, April 2, at 10 a.m. local time. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, April 5, at 10 a.m. local time.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit SmashingPumpkins.com.

The Pumpkins will be on tour with Green Day from July 29 in Washington, D.C., to September 28 in San Diego. They’ll also play European shows in June and July with Weezer, Interpol and Tom Morello.

Meanwhile, the Pumpkins have been going through submissions after announcing an open application to become the band’s new guitarist in January. The position will presumably fill the absence of longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder, who announced he was leaving the band in 2023.

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[SPOILER ALERT] Bruce Springsteen made a guest appearance on TV this weekend, turning up on the penultimate episode of the Larry David comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In the Sunday, March 31, episode, titled “Ken/Kendra,” Larry dines with The Boss at Jeff Garlin’s home, where they debate about the ratings of restaurants, and Bruce admits that he’d eat at a B-rated restaurant, much to the group’s surprise.

In another part of the conversation, Springsteen reveals that he avoids calls from Eagles’ Don Henley because he once ignored a demo of a band that Henley gave him.

The meal ends with Bruce grabbing for a glass of water that Larry insists is his, prompting Bruce to drink from the one next to it. The next day, Larry wakes up with COVID and finds out that Springsteen has it as well, leading to the assumption that Larry gave it to The Boss. The illness forces Bruce to cancel the final show of his fictional sold-out Farewell tour, and the whole thing results in Springsteen fans getting angry at David and attacking his car as he leaves Springsteen’s home.

Bruce is currently on tour with the E Street Band, although there’s no indiction that it is his farewell trek. He’ll next play two nights at The Forum in Inglewood, California, on April 4 and 5. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

The final episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm airs Sunday, April 7. 

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Eric Clapton has announced his first U.S. tour dates for 2024. 

The three-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is set to play three shows in California this fall: October 8 in San Diego, October 10 in Palm Desert and October 12 in Los Angeles at the iconic Hollywood Bowl.

All three shows will feature guitarist Jimmie Vaughan as special guest.

Tickets for all three shows go on sale Friday, April 5, at 10 a.m.

While these are Clapton’s only U.S. dates so far, he does have several shows booked for 2024. On May 9 in Newcastle, he’ll kick off a U.K. tour, including a four-night stand at London’s Royal Albert Hall. He’ll follow that with a European tour that launches May 26 and 27 in Paris. A complete list of dates can be found at ericclapton.com.

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The Who’s Roger Daltrey recently stepped down as curator of the annual Teenage Cancer Trust charity shows after 24 years, and he’s now opening up about why he decided to retire from the position.

“I have to be realistic. I’m on my way out,” the 80-year-old rocker wrote in a backstage diary for U.K.’s The Times. “The average life expectancy is 83 and with a bit of luck I’ll make that, but we need someone else to drive things.”

Daltrey isn’t stepping away from the charity completely but will stick to working behind the scenes.

For his final year, The Who headlined two of this year’s shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and Daltrey headlined a third show with a series of guests to celebrate his tenure as curator.

The rocker revealed that before taking the stage for those shows, he was actually worried “about how many words” he needed to remember for them.

“We haven’t done anything for seven months and this winter’s been brutal. I’ve been in hibernation. For the whole of January, I lost my voice completely,” he wrote. “I live like a monk and if I went on tour for a week I’d be fit as a butcher’s dog again, but tonight, for the first time in my career, I think, ‘Blimey, this is hard.’”

While Daltrey seems ready to hang it up, his bandmate Pete Townshend has indicated he was up for at least one more tour. In a recent interview with The New York Times, he shared, “It feels to me like there’s one thing the Who can do, and that’s a final tour where we play every territory in the world and then crawl off to die.”

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On This Day, April 1, 2008…

The Rolling Stones released Shine A Light, the soundtrack to their Martin Scorsese-directed concert film of the same name.

The concert doc featured performances from the band’s two-night stand at the intimate Beacon Theatre in New York, which took place October 29 and November 1, 2006. The shows took place during their A Bigger Bang Tour.

The movie featured special guests Jack White, Buddy Guy and Christina Aguilera performing with the Stones; they also appeared on the soundtrack.

Performances on the release included “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Symphony for the Devil,” “Brown Sugar” and “Start Me Up.” 

The Rolling Stones are getting ready to hit the road once again later this month. They’ll kick off their Hackney Diamonds tour on April 28 in Houston, Texas.

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Guitarist Joe Satriani is set to join Sammy Hagar on his Best of All Worlds tour this summer, where they’ll be playing, among other things, songs from the Van Halen catalog. And despite his expertise with the instrument, Satriani doesn’t expect it to be easy.

“My task right now is trying to unravel the mystery of Eddie Van Halen‘s strange guitar playing,” Satriani tells Classic Rock in a new interview. “I spent decades avoiding how to learn this stuff so I wouldn’t copy it, and now all of a sudden I’m doing a crash course on the idiosyncrasies and the genius of his guitar work.”

He adds, “I know these songs but I’ve never actually played them. It’s a task.”

And while it won’t be easy, Satriani is happy to do it, sharing, “I can’t think of a (Van Halen) song that doesn’t put a smile on my face – it’s just a question of figuring out how to play them.”

Satriani says he can guarantee that fans who come to the shows will “see someone who’s hell-bent on being the most respectful guitar player to the legacy of Eddie and his playing.” 

He adds, “I have every intention of nailing everything, and when I can’t I’ll wink to the audience and they’re gonna know that one’s just gonna slip by.”

Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds tour, which also features Van Halen’s Michael Anthony on bass and Jason Bonham on drums, kicks off July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at redrocker.com.

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The Zombies, former Eagles guitarist Don Felder and Foghat are among the artists booked to perform on the Rock Legends Cruise XII.

The trip is happening February 13-17, 2025, on Royal Caribbean’s Independence from the Sea, departing from Miami.

Other musicians ready to set sail on the cruise include the Gregg Rolie Band, Guess Who’s Burton Cummings and Procul Harum’s Robin Trower. 

Information on the itinerary and how to book a cabin can be found at rocklegendscruise.com.

The 2024 Rock Legends Cruise took place last February, with a lineup that included Sammy Hagar, ZZ Top‘s Billy F Gibbons and The Immediate Family.

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Paul McCartney’s rep is disputing a claim by an artist who suggested that a portrait he made of The Beatle legend was banned for being unflattering.

As previously reported, London artist Wilfrid Wood created a sculpture of McCartney’s face for the cover art for “Pipes of Peace,” McCartney’s contribution to War Child U.K.’s annual Secret 7” auction, but shared on Instagram that it was “BANNED by Macca and the gang because it was TOO UNFLATTERING.”

McCartney’s spokesperson has since denied Wood’s claim, telling NME the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer “never saw this artwork.”

In the end, a positive thing did wind up coming from the portrait. Wood sold it on eBay for over $1,700 and plans to donate all proceeds to War Child U.K. in their mission to help children affected by conflict in various war zones, including Gaza and the Ukraine.

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