Classic Rock 93.9

The Rolling Stones’ new album, Hackney Diamonds, is out now. It’s the first record they’ve made without drummer Charlie Watts, although he does appear on the songs “Live by the Sword” and “Mess It Up.”

It’s been over two years since Charlie’s death, and in a new interview, Mick Jagger opens up about what he misses the most about his late bandmate.

“It’s a couple of years now, and I still think about Charlie a lot,” Jagger tells The Guardian. “I miss his laconic humor. His taste in music. His elegance. His don’t-care attitude – he didn’t get intense. Keith (Richards) and I get a bit intense.”

Regarding that intensity, Mick says he’s trying to be a bit more like Watts.

“I’m not as intense as I used to be,” he says. “I think about him when I’m playing, and what he would have played; whether he’d have liked this song, because I’d always bounce things off him. I’d be playing him the silly pop songs of the moment, and he’d love all that.” 

Losing friends is hard and Mick says it doesn’t get any easier the older you get. 

“But I hate to say this: as you get older, a lot of your friends die,” he says. “There’s a lot of people around your age, they’re dying all the time. I don’t have any friends older than me, only one. Apart from the band, all my friends are much younger.” He added, “It’s easier that way!”

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David Lee Roth has shared another new song. The former Van Halen frontman has released two versions of the song “The S*** that Killed Elvis” — an “unplugged” and a “technicolor” version.

Roth first mentioned the song in a 2013 Rolling Stone interview, noting it was part of a group of songs he recorded with guitarist John 5, now with Mötley Crüe, for a planned jukebox musical named Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar & Grill.

The track is the second unreleased song Roth’s shared this month. On Friday, October 13, he released the tune “Manda Bala,” which translates to “send a bullet.”

And fans seem to be loving the new track. “Sensational! The Diamond gets better & better !” one fan commented, while another said it was “Catchy as s***.”

Another wondered if all this music is a tease of bigger things to come, writing, “Will we be seeing a new David Lee Roth album?”

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Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic look back at their days in Nirvana in an upcoming episode of Conan O’Brien‘s podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.

The conversation, which also features In Utero producer Steve Albini, will premiere Monday, October 23. You can check out a preview clip now via Billboard.

In the clip, Grohl reflects on how young he, Novoselic and Kurt Cobain were at the time of Nirvana’s explosion following the release of their 1991 album Nevermind.

“We were kids,” Grohl says. “So when you talk about the amount of time that’s gone by, to me it’s not even so much about the years, it’s about the experiences that just kind of led, one after another, going from three kids that were basically living or touring out of a van to then becoming a huge band.”

Grohl and Novoselic’s appearance on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend leads up to the 30th anniversary reissue of In Utero, which drops Friday, October 27. The expanded collection includes remastered audio of the original 1993 record, which would turn out to be Nirvana’s final studio album, along with B-sides and previously unreleased live recordings.

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The Black Crowes have shared one of the unreleased recordings from the upcoming box set celebrating their sophomore album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. 

Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson have released their take on the Memphis soul classic “99 Pounds,” one of 14 previously unreleased recordings featured on the set. The original song was recorded by Ann Peebles and appears on her 1972 album, Straight From The Heart.

“I love Ann Peebles, she’s one of my favorite singers of all time,” Chris shares. “And that’s just a rad song … We always just tried to do different songs that we loved. I always thought it was cool to hip people to stuff they didn’t know and to artists they didn’t know.” 

You can listen to “99 Pounds” now via digital outlets and on YouTube.

The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion box set comes out December 15 as a four-LP and three-CD set, featuring unreleased studio recordings, rare B sides, a 1993 performance from Houston’s Sam Houston Coliseum and a newly remastered version of the original album.

Both come with a reproduction of the original 132-page promotional hymn book that came with the album, lithographs of classic images from the original album, photo sessions and more. 

It is available for preorder now.

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Post Malone has added another grunge cover to his repertoire.

The “Circles” star put his spin on Alice in Chains‘ “Them Bones” during a recent appearance on The Howard Stern Show. You can watch the acoustic-led performance, which also features a backing choir, streaming now on YouTube.

You may recall Post’s viral Nirvana covers set, which he performed virtually with Travis Barker during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s also covered Pearl Jam‘s “Better Man.”

Alice in Chains, meanwhile, recently wrapped a fall tour, which included shows opening for Guns N’ Roses.

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Van Morrison is giving fans another preview of his upcoming album, Accentuate The Positive, which drops November 3.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just released his take on Little Richard’s classic “Lucille,” turning it into a duet with blues musician Taj Mahal. The pair previously worked together on the song “How Can A Poor Boy,” which was featured on Morrison’s 2015 album Duets: Re-Working the Catalogue. 

You can listen to “Lucille” now via digital outlets and YouTube.

Accentuate the Positive, Morrison’s 45th studio album, has him covering some of his personal rock ‘n’ roll favorites, like the already released singles “Shakin’ All Over,” originally recorded by Johnny Kidd, and “Problems,” made famous by The Everly Brothers in 1958.

Morrison is set to celebrate the release of the new album with a series of concerts. He’ll headline three hometown shows at Limelight in Belfast, Ireland, November 3, 4 and 5, and two shows at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, November 27 and 28. 

Accentuate the Positive is available for preorder now.

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Neil Young is revisiting some old tunes for a new album.

On December 8, the rocker is set to release the new album Before and After, a solo acoustic record made up of reworked songs, designed to be listened to as one whole piece. It also features one previously unreleased tune, “If You Got Love.”

“Songs from my life, recently recorded, create a music montage with no beginnings or endings,” Young shares. “The feeling is captured, not in pieces, but as a whole piece — designed to be listened to that way. This music presentation defies shuffling, digital organization, separation. Only for listening. That says it all.”

Young fans are getting their first preview of the record with the release of three songs, “I’m the Ocean,” “Homefires” and “Burned,” which are out now.

Before and After is available for preorder now in a variety of formats, including black vinyl, limited edition clear vinyl, CD and Blu-ray featuring Atmos mix, Binaural mix and Hi-Res 96/24 stereo. 

Here is the track list for Before and After:

“I’m The Ocean”
“Homefires”
“Burned”
“On The Way Home”
“If You Got Love”
“A Dream That Can Last”
“Birds”
“My Heart”
“When I Hold You In My Arms”
“Mother Earth”
“Mr. Soul”
“Comes A Time”
“Don’t Forget Love”

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Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has premiered the video for his solo song “I Just Don’t Know,” which features Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell.

The clip finds McKagan and Cantrell sitting in a dark room beneath a flickering screen as they strum acoustic guitars. The songs itself may not be what you’d expect from a collaboration between GN’R and AiC members, though things get more electric toward the end.

You can watch the “I Just Don’t Know” video streaming now on YouTube.

“I Just Don’t Know” appears on McKagan’s new solo album Lighthouse, which is out now. The record also includes contributions from McKagan’s GN’R bandmate Slash and Iggy Pop.

By the way, Alice in Chains just wrapped a run of shows opening for Guns N’ Roses. During a show in Vancouver Monday, October 16, McKagan joined AiC onstage for their closing performance of “Rooster.”

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Green Day‘s last-minute club show in Las Vegas Thursday, October 19, featured the live premiere of their upcoming new single, “The American Dream Is Killing Me.”

The set, which the “American Idiot” trio announced with just a day’s notice, also included a full-album performance of 1994’s Dookie, which was recently reissued in honor of its forthcoming 30th anniversary.

“We just played Dookie in full, thank you for that Las Vegas AND our new single ‘The American Dream Is Killing Me’ comes out October 24th!” Green Day writes in a Facebook post. “Set those wake up calls, ya hear??”

Over the past couple weeks, Green Day had been posting video teasers on the website TheAmericanDreamIsKillingMe.com, one of which featured Billie Joe Armstrong waking up in a bed and looking at a calendar with the date October 24 circled.

“The American Dream Is Killing Me” is set to be the first single off Green Day’s next album, the follow-up to 2020’s Father of All… The group also has big tour plans in the works. As Rolling Stone reports, Armstrong announced during the Vegas show that Green Day will be hitting the road alongside The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas.

An official tour schedule is still forthcoming. Perhaps, we’ll find that out when “The American Dream Is Killing Me” drops Tuesday.

Before that, though, Green Day will headline Vegas’ When We Were Young festival, taking place October 21-22.

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On This Day, October 20, 2001…

The Concert for New York City was held at Madison Square Garden to honor the city’s NYPD and NYFD first responders in the wake of the September 11 attacks. 

Alongside many of the first responders, victims’ families and colleagues attended the concert, which raised $35 million.

The concert, organized by Paul McCartney, featured performances by The Who, Elton John, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, David Bowie and Billy Joel, among others.

The Who’s set — their final one with bassist John Entwistle, who died eight months later — was among the best-received.

New York native Joel performed his classic “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out On Broadway),” telling the crowd that when he wrote it 25 years ago, “I thought it was gonna be a science fiction song. I never thought it would really happen.” He added, “But unlike the end of that song … we ain’t going anywhere.” 

The concert was broadcast on VH1, and an album and DVD of the event were released in January 2002.

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