Classic Rock 93.9

An autographed copy of Led Zeppelin’s classic album Houses of the Holy sold for big bucks at auction, and it didn’t even contain the actual album. 

According to the BBC, the cardboard sleeve of the 1973 release, featuring the signatures of all four members of the iconic band, sold for over $18,000, well above the estimated selling price of between $1,500 and $2,200.

The inclusion of drummer John Bonham’s signature made the item a rare find, which resulted in what is believed to be the highest sale price for an autographed copy of the album. This is despite the lack of the actual record and the sleeve being slightly worn out in the corners.

“We were thrilled to achieve this astonishing result for this set of Led Zeppelin autographs 50 years on from the original release of Houses of the Holy,” Andrew Smith, music and memorabilia specialist at Gildings Auctioneers in Leicestershire, England, tells the BBC. “Thanks to the extreme rarity of full sets of the band’s signatures, this album cover represented a holy grail for collectors determined to own a very special piece of music memorabilia.”

Houses of the Holy was Led Zeppelin’s fifth studio album. It featured such Zeppelin classics as “The Song Remains the Same,” “The Rain Song” and “Dancing Days.”

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Former Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin is giving fans another preview of his upcoming solo album, Rio, dropping the new track “Push.” 

“For this song I was thinking of the horror of politics and politicians,” Rabin shares. “Once Vinnie Colaiuta played drums on this, it inspired me to redo some of the instrumentation. Vinnie‘s performance lifted this song beyond what I imagined.”

You can listen to “Push” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying video streaming on YouTube.

Rio is Rabin’s first album in 34 years on which he sings; his last album with vocals was 1989’s Can’t Look Away. “Push” is the second song he’s released from the album following “Big Mistakes.”

Rio is due out October 6 and is available for preorder now.

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Paul McCartney’s original Höfner bass guitar has been missing for years, but now some folks are trying to change that. 

The Lost Bass Project is a global search to find the instrument, which has been described as “the most important bass in history.” The two-time Rock & Roll hall of Famer purchased the bass in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961, but eight years later, it disappeared, reportedly after being put away following the filming of 1969’s Get Back.

Nick Wass, who has written articles about the missing instrument, has teamed with two BBC News journalists, Scott and Naomi Jones, to try and track down the bass, which McCartney used on such classic Beatles classics as “Love Me Do” and “She Loves You.” Wass tells the BBC, “For most people, they will remember it… it’s the bass that made the Beatles.”

While Beatles guitars have sold for big bucks at auction, The Lost Bass Project isn’t searching for it for financial gain, even though they realize if someone finds it, they may try to make money off it.

“It would be nice if it could go on public display one day – and if the only way someone is going to come forward is to make some money from it, then so be it, because at least it would be found,” Scott Jones says. “But ultimately we’re just doing this to get Paul his guitar back. We know via Nick and Höfner that it’s what he’s always wanted.” 

Since launching, The Lost Project has gotten hundreds of tips regarding the missing bass. As for how to identify it, it will have the Höfner logo written vertically on the headstock. It also had the pearl pick guard removed and the two pickups mounted in a single piece of black wood.

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Bruce Springsteen has been getting a lot of flack for not changing up his set lists during his current tour with the E Street Band, but he still drops in some surprises for fans, and that certainly was the case for the final night of his three-night stand at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. 

According to setlist.fm, the Sunday, September 3, show featured the tour debut of The River track “Two Hearts,” the first time he performed the song with the E Street Band since 2017. Other set list additions included “Something In The Night,” “Spirit in the Night” and “Atlantic City.” “Spirit in the Night” was also performed during the MetLife show on September 1, marking the tour debut of the track.

The encore also had The Boss veering from the normal show, with the inclusion of “Jungleland” and “Detroit Medley,” ending the night with “Jersey Girl” instead of the usual “I’ll See You In My Dreams.” 

Next up, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band bring their tour to Syracuse, New York, on September 7. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

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Foo Fighters added some extra punk rock energy to their performance at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass festival in Aspen, Colorado, on Sunday, September 3.

Dave Grohl and company invited Billy Idol onstage during the show to cover the Sex Pistols song “Pretty Vacant.” The live collaboration celebrated the birthday of Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, who turned 68 on Sunday.

“Great doing #p[r]ettyvacant with ⁦@foofighters,” Idol wrote in a social media post. Foo Fighters also shared a number of photos from the set on their Facebook.

Foo Fighters have been playing one-off headlining shows and festival sets throughout the year in support of their latest album, But Here We Are. They’ve marked the Foos’ first performances with new drummer Josh Freese, who joined following the 2022 death of Taylor Hawkins.

The next Foo Fighters show is scheduled for September 7 in Brazil. They’ll be back in the U.S. for Chicago’s Riot Fest on September 15.

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On This Day, September 5, 1998…

Aerosmith scored their first and only #1 hit with “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,” which was written by Diane Warren. 

The song was the theme to the hit action flick Armageddon, which starred Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler’s daughter Liv.

Three other Aerosmith songs were included on the movie’s soundtrack, “What Kind of Love Are You On,” a cover of The Beatles‘ “Come Together” and a remix of “Sweet Emotion.” 

“I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” spent four weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 and also topped the charts in several other countries, including Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and more.

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Metallica‘s second concert at Phoenix’s State Farm Stadium has been postponed due to frontman James Hetfield catching COVID-19.

The show, which was originally set to take place on Sunday, September 3, will now take place Saturday, September 9. All previously purchased tickets for September 3 will be honored for the rescheduled date.

If you need proof of Hetfield’s diagnosis, you can check out a photo of his positive COVID test via Metallica’s Facebook.

Metallica is currently on their M72 world tour in support of their latest album, 72 Seasons. For each stop on the tour, Metallica is playing two shows with completely different set lists.

The first Phoenix show, which took place Friday, September 1, was slightly shorter than the past M72 shows, featuring only 14 songs played instead of the usual 16.

In other, happier Metallica news, the metal legends’ All Within My Hands charity foundation has teamed up with the dessert company Enlightened to create a signature ice cream bar to raise money for local food banks.

The frozen treat will be available starting Wednesday, September 6, and is shaped like Hetfield’s signature ESP Truckster guitar.

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Nirvana‘s third and final album, In Utero, is being reissued in honor of its 30th anniversary.

The set will be available in various formats on October 27, the most expansive of which being the super deluxe eight-LP vinyl and five-CD editions. In those, you’ll find the original album remastered, various bonus tracks and B-sides, such as the Dave Grohl-written song “Marigold,” and a total of 53 previously unreleased recordings, including full live shows from a 1993 Los Angeles show and a 1994 New York City performance, which notably took place just months before Kurt Cobain‘s death.

Originally released September 21, 1993, In Utero had the difficult and unenviable task of following Nirvana’s world-conquering 1991 album Nevermind, which launched Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl into superstardom and brought the grunge scene into the mainstream. The album lived up to the task, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 and spawning the singles “Heart-Shaped Box” and “All Apologies.”

Cobain died by suicide in April 1994, effectively ending Nirvana. Grohl soon went on to form Foo Fighters.

If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Songwriter Desmond Child had a hand in co-writing some of the biggest stadium anthems and sing-alongs of our time, including Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer” and Aerosmith’s “Dude Looks Like A Lady.” But some of those may never have happened had it not been for KISS’ Paul Stanley. 

Child tells ABC Audio that Stanley was his “main mentor,” noting, “He taught me how to write stadium anthem songs the KISS way. … Songs had to be uplifting. The singer could never be a victim. They couldn’t be a loser. It was always about victory and success.” 

But while Stanley supported Child, KISS’ Gene Simmons didn’t feel the same way about him. Child co-wrote one of the band’s biggest hits, “I Was Made For Lovin’ You,” but he says Simmons was initially very resistant to the tune.

“I think that he appreciates my contribution to KISS now, but at that time that song was a kind of oddball,” Child says, noting Simmons thought the song sounded like dance music. And he wasn’t completely wrong.

“It was a dance beat with rock guitars, and it actually changed the course of pop music,” Child says, suggesting it paved the way for artists like Prince and Madonna to experiment with all types of sounds.  

“From that moment on, all things were possible,” he says. “I just think that that song was revolutionary.”   

You can read more tales of Child’s work with Bon Jovi, KISS, Aerosmith and more when his new memoir, Livin’ On A Prayer: Big Songs Big Life, comes out September 19. It is available for preorder now.

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After weeks of speculation, The Rolling Stones have confirmed their new album will be called Hackney Diamonds.

But fans will have to wait a little bit longer for the full details. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood are expected to share full details about the album during a press conference on Wednesday, September 6, that will be moderated by Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon.

The event will be held in East London’s Hackney district and streamed live globally on YouTube starting at 9:30 a.m. ET. In a post on social media The Stones promised they’ll be, “Talking new album, new music, new era.”

Hackney Diamonds will be The Rolling Stones’ first album of original songs since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. They first started teasing the new album in late August with a cryptic newspaper ad in the British paper the Hackney Gazette.

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