Queen’s fourth studio album, A Night at the Opera, became their first #1 on the U.K. album charts. In the U.S., the album peaked at #4 and went on to be certified triple-Platinum.
The album featured the eventual Queen classic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which became their first U.K. #1 single, along with “You’re My Best Friend,” and future live staples “Love of My Life” and “I’m in Love with My Car.”
In addition to the U.K., A Night at the Opera went to #1 in several other countries, including Australia and New Zealand.
The album is often included on lists of the greatest albums of all time and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2018.
It’s always sad when our favorite musicians pass away and 2023 was a doozie, with several beloved artists leaving us.
The year started off with the loss of two two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famers: guitar great Jeff Beck on January 10 at the age of 78 from bacterial meningitis, and David Crosby on January 18 at the age of 81. Although no official cause of death was ever announced for Crosby, the singer’s bandmate Graham Nash revealed in an interview that Crosby died while battling COVID-19.
Another death felt deeply in the music world happened on May 24, when legendary Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll Tina Turner died at the age of 83. Turner, another two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, battled multiple life-threatening illness over the years.
And on August 9, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Robbie Robertson, guitarist and main songwriter for The Band, died at the age of 80 after a long illness. His death came not long after he finished working with his longtime friend and collaborator Martin Scorsese on the score for Scorsese’s film Killers of the Flower Moon.
Here’s a list of the many other music figures who died in 2023, in chronological order:
January 12: Robbie Bachman, drummer for the Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, 69
March 5: Gary Rossington, guitarist and last surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, 71
March 13: Jim Gordon, drummer for Derek and the Dominoes, 77
March 22: Tom Leadon, co-founder of Tom Petty’s early ’70s band Mudcrutch, 70
April 2: Sire Records founder Seymour Stein, who signed artists like Talking Heads, Madonna and Pretenders, from cancer, 80
April 28: Tim Bachman, guitarist and one of the co-founders of the Canadian band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, 71
May 22: Chas Newby, who played bass for The Beatles in their early days, 81
June 1: Grammy-winning songwriter Cynthia Weil (“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”), 82
July 26: Randy Meisner, founding member of the Eagles, due to complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 77
August 4: John Gosling, keyboardist for The Kinks,75
August 16: Music executive Jerry Moss, who co-founded A&M Records with Herb Alpert, the label responsible for albums like The Police’s Synchronicity and Carole King’s Tapestry, 88
August 24: Whitesnake’s original guitarist, Bernie Marsden,72
September 1: Beloved “Margaritaville” singer Jimmy Buffett, after a four-year battle with Merkel cell skin cancer, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer, 76
November 30: The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, 65
December 5: Denny Laine, co-founder of Moody Blues and co-founder and guitarist for Paul McCartney & Wings, from interstitial lung disease, 79
Billie Joe Armstrong is throwing it all the way back to his middle school days.
In an Instagram Story, the Green Day frontman shared a photo of the day he and bassist Mike Dirnt graduated from the eighth grade together. The pic showcases the future Rock & Roll Hall of Famers’ impressive teenage hairstyles, though they were more ’70s rock than punk at the time.
Armstrong and Dirnt, of course, were friends in school before they would go on to form Green Day. Among the band’s many career accomplishments is writing that staple song of school graduations everywhere: “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”
Along with remembering saying goodbye to eighth grade, Armstrong will help say goodbye to 2023 when Green Day performs on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2024, airing December 31 on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.
Green Day is also set to have a big 2024 with the release of their new album, Saviors, on January 19, followed by the launch of a world tour. Additionally, they’ll be celebrating the 30th and 20th anniversaries of their landmark albums Dookie and American Idiot, respectively.
It seems safe to say that Ozzy Osbourne‘s New Year’s resolution for 2024 is to play live again.
As we close the book on the year that saw the Prince of Darkness announce his retirement from touring, Ozzy is once again reiterating his goal to play one-off shows in the future.
“I’m gonna do some more gigs before I’m finished,” Ozzy said on the latest episode of The Osbournes podcast, which was posted on Tuesday, December 26.
Ozzy made his comments while calling out hoax YouTube videos that claim he died.
“I’m not dead, I’m not going any-f******-where,” he said.
Ozzy hasn’t played a full live show since New Year’s Eve 2018. Since then, he’s been hampered by a variety of health issues, and has undergone multiple surgeries after suffering a fall in his home in 2019.
In February 2023, Ozzy announced he was retiring from touring, sharing, “Never would I have imagined that my touring days would have ended this way.” And while it appeared as though he was set to return to the stage for the inaugural Power Trip festival in October, he pulled out of the lineup months before the event due to his health.
After Foo Fighters went through “the most difficult and tragic year that our band has even known” in 2022, Dave Grohl and company made a big return in 2023.
The seemingly unstoppable Foo Fighters machine came to a screeching halt in March 2022 with the unexpected death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. The Foos honored their fallen bandmate with two massive tribute concerts in September 2022, though the future of the band remained uncertain until New Year’s Eve, when they announced they intended to continue.
Soon into 2023, show announcements began. In April, Foo Fighters announced a new album, But Here We Are, alongside the premiere of lead single “Rescued,” which certainly seemed to be inspired by Hawkins.
Meanwhile, rumors flew about who’d been recruited to play drums in place of Hawkins. During a May streaming concert, the Foos finally revealed the identity of their newest member: Josh Freese, a prolific session drummer who’d played with bands including Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’ Roses and The Offspring. He was also among the many guest drummers who joined Foo Fighters during the Hawkins tribute concerts.
Foo Fighters played their first official show back just a few days later, during which an emotional Grohl took a moment to remember Hawkins before performing the song “Cold Day in the Sun.”
But Here We Are dropped in June, and also included the songs “Under You” and “The Glass,” which Grohl wrote about his late mother. The Foos continued to tour, headlining festivals including Bonnaroo and Boston Calling, and playing a surprise set at Glastonbury.
Foo Fighters’ 2023 also included a performance on Saturday Night Live, during which they were joined by H.E.R. for a rendition of “The Glass.”
As for 2024, Foo Fighters will launch a U.S. stadium tour in July. They’ll also compete in multiple categories at the 2024 Grammys, including Best Rock Album for But Here We Are.
The Metallica drummer and metal icon was born December 26, 1963, in Denmark. He’d originally set out to be a professional tennis player like his father, but decided to pursue music instead after moving to California.
As the story goes, once in California, Ulrich placed an ad in a newspaper looking to start a band, which then caught the attention of a young James Hetfield. The pair officially met in 1981, and formed Metallica.
With Metallica, Ulrich would help pioneer the burgeoning thrash subgenre of metal with albums such as Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. The group would then bring metal to the mainstream with their giant 1991 self-titled effort, aka The Black Album, which is certified Diamond by the RIAA and spawned singles including “Enter Sandman” and “Nothing Else Matters.”
A decade later, Ulrich would be in the headlines more for his vocal opposition to Napster than for Metallica’s music. The software platform allowed fans to share files of songs with each other for free — then a novel concept — which, during a 2000 Senate hearing, Ulrich testified amounted to copyright infringement.
Dysfunction in the Metallica camp followed into the new millennium, which was famously documented in the 2004 film Some Kind of Monster. Eventually, the group restabilized, and has released three more albums: 2008’s Death Magnetic, 2016’s Hardwired … to Self Destruct and 2023’s 72 Seasons. In between, Ulrich and Metallica were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.
Today, Metallica remains the biggest band in metal, with Ulrich in particular becoming an ambassador for the genre. The group spent the last year headlining stadiums on their M72 world tour, which will resume in 2024.
George Harrison landed at #1 with the “My Sweet Lord,” which went on to spend four weeks in the top spot.
The chart-topper, produced by Harrison and Phil Spector, made Harrison the first former member of TheBeatles to score a solo #1 in the U.S. The track, which was released as a double A-side single with “Isn’t It a Pity,” also went to #1 in several other countries, including the U.K. and Australia.
“My Sweet Lord” was featured on Harrison’s album All Things Must Pass, which was his first solo album post Beatles breakup. He later released an updated version of the tune, “My Sweet Lord (2000),” for the 30th anniversary reissue of the album.
After more than 60 years making music, The Rolling Stones proved in 2023 that they won’t be slowing down anytime soon by releasing their first album of new music in 18 years: Hackney Diamonds.
– The tease of new music started right as the new year began, when guitarist Keith Richards told fans in a January 11 social media message, “There’s some new music on its way and hopefully we’ll get to see you.”
– In August, a mysterious ad was placed in the British paper Hackney Gazette for something called Hackney Diamonds. Fans were quick to speculate it was a tease about a new Rolling Stones album because in the ad the “I” in Diamonds was dotted with the Stones’ signature lips logo. The ad also quoted several Stones song titles, including “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Gimme Shelter” and “Shattered.”
– Fans’ suspicions were finally proven true when The Stones’ social media accounts began directing folks to the new Hackney Diamonds website, teasing “a new era.”
– The official confirmation finally came on September 6, when Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood held a special media launch event in London, hosted by Jimmy Fallon. Theyannounced their 26th studio album, Hackney Diamonds, would be arriving on October 20. They also debuted the album’s first single, “Angry,” with a video featuring Euphoria actress Sydney Sweeney.
– The Stones recruited some very special guests to join them on the record, including their late drummer Charlie Watts on two songs, “Mess It Up” and “Live By The Sword.” The latter also featured their former bassist Bill Wyman. Paul McCartney also played bass on one song, with Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Elton John contributing to tracks, as well.
– The night before the album’s release, The Stones took the stage at the intimate venue Racket in New York City for a surprise album release concert, which featured a special appearance by Lady Gaga for their first performance of their collaboration, “Sweet Sounds of Heaven.”
– Hackney Diamonds debuted at #1 in over 18 countries, including the U.K., although it had to settle for #3 in the U.S. The U.S. chart debut meant the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers became the first act to have albums land in the top 10 in every decade from the 1960s to the 2020s.
– About a month after the release, fans got something else they’ve been dying for — a tour. The eagerly anticipated Hackney Diamonds tour, sponsored by AARP, is set to kick off in April. A complete list of dates can be found at therollingstones.com.
A painting made by all four members of The Beatles is going up for auction at Christie’s.
The untitled piece of art, which has become known as Images of a Woman, was completed in 1966 by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison as they were holed up at Tokyo’s Hilton Hotel during their five-night stand at Nippon Budokan that June and July.
The band was stuck in the hotel for security reasons, and Christie’s notes that after a visitor brought them some top-quality art materials, the Fab Four sat around a table, and a rectangular sheet of paper was placed in the middle. Each Beatle then painted one corner, working their way towards the middle.
According to photographer Robert Whitaker, who was part of The Beatles’ entourage at the time, it took two nights for them to complete the painting.
“They’d stop [painting], go and do a concert, then it was ‘Let’s go back to the picture,’” he said. “I never saw them calmer or more contented than at this time.”
The auction for the painting, which Christie’s calls “the only known substantial piece of art made by the four Beatles in their years together,” is set to happen on February 1, with the auction house estimating it will go for between $400,000 and $600,000.
As the year winds down, a lot of publications will be looking back at the best of the year, but Variety has decided to go in the opposite direction, sharing its picks for the worst songs of 2023.
One artist making the list this year is Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Roger Waters. He earns a prominent spot for his solo remake of Pink Floyd’s classic The Dark Side of the Moon, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.
While the publication notes that it isn’t totally against The Dark Side of the MoonRedux, calling it “interesting,” it does single out Waters’ new take on “Money,” which lands at #5 on the list.
Variety points to Waters’ decision to rid “one of the most-loved songs in the 1970s rock canon” of David Gilmour‘s solos, and replace them with what it calls “a four-minute poem about … boxing.”
Billy Joel also made the list — sort of — thanks to Fall Out Boy’s update of Joel’s 1989 #1 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” which Variety ranks as the third-worst song of 2023.
The mag calls the band out for updating the Joel song that’s “universally considered most annoying — not only in his catalog, but maybe of the 20th century,” and adds that Fall Out Boy made the events mentioned in the song “as jarring as possible,” as opposed to putting them in chronological order, as the original does.
