Classic Rock 93.9

Paul McCartney has paid tribute to his former Wings bandmate Denny Laine, who passed away December 5 at the age of 79.

“I am very saddened to hear that my ex-bandmate, Denny Laine, has died,” McCartney writes, recalling his “fond memories” of the days when The Beatles toured with Laine’s band Moody Blues. “Our two bands had a lot of respect for each other and a lot of fun together.”

“Denny joined Wings at the outset. He was an outstanding vocalist and guitar player,” McCartney shares. “We had drifted apart but in recent years managed to reestablish our friendship and share memories of our times together.”

Finally, he notes, “Denny was a great talent with a fine sense of humour and was always ready to help other people. He will be missed by all his fans and remembered with great fondness by his friends.” 

Laine teamed with McCartney and wife Linda to form McCartney’s first post-Beatles band, Wings, in 1971. Over his 10 years with the group, they released seven studio albums, including the bestselling Band on The Run, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

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Bon Jovi continues to spread the holiday cheer. The band just dropped the music video for the recently released holiday tune, “Christmas Isn’t Christmas.”

The clip is set at a bar called Santa’s Pub, where Jon Bon Jovi is singing for the patrons, including his Bon Jovi bandmates. While some of the folks in the bar seem to be having fun and doing karaoke to the tune, there are others who seem to be identifying with the song’s themes, leaving them blue for the holidays.

“’Christmas Isn’t Christmas’ is a song that I wrote about family,” Jon previously shared. “The sentiment that Christmas really isn’t Christmas without YOU which can bring up a lot of memories for people.” He added, “I also liked to turn it around and know that because of you Christmas IS Christmas.”

Bon Jovi has given fans plenty of ways to get into the holiday spirit in the past, releasing the original Christmas track “I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas” as well as covers of “Please Come Home For Christmas” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

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The 2023 Bowl for Ronnie charity bowling tournament raised $80,000 for the Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund, which supports cancer research and education in honor of the late Ronnie James Dio.

The event took place in November at PINZ Bowling Center in Studio City, California. Among this year’s celebrity bowlers were Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, Lita Ford, Eagles of Death Metal‘s Jesse Hughes, Ozzy Osbourne bassist Rob “Blasko” Nicholson, Toto‘s Steve Lukather and ex-Fuel singer Brett Scallions. 

Dio died of stomach cancer in 2010. He was 67.

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Denny Laine, co-founder of Moody Blues and co-founder and guitarist for Paul McCartney & Wings, passed away Tuesday, December 5, at the age of 79. 

News of his death was confirmed by his wife, Elizabeth Hines, who shared on social media that he had been in the hospital battling interstitial lung disease. She writes that “he fought every day,” but his disease was “unpredictable and aggressive,” noting “each infection weakened and damaged his lungs.” 

Laine co-founded the Moody Blues in 1964 with Graeme Edge, Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas and Clint Warwick. They had their first big hit with “Go Now,” a U.S. Top 10 hit on which Laine sang lead and played guitar. Though Laine left the band in 1966, a year before they released their seminal album Days of Future Passed, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 as a member of the group. 

Following his Moody Blues departure, Laine formed several other groups, including Electric String Band with Trevor Burton, and played in Ginger Baker’s Air Force in 1970.

Then, in 1971, he teamed with Paul McCartney and wife Linda to form McCartney’s first post-Beatles band, Wings. Over his 10 years with the group, they released seven studio albums, including the bestselling Band on The Run, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. 

Other hit singles from the group during Laine’s tenure include the James Bond theme “Live and Let Die,” “My Love,” “Silly Love Songs” and “Let ‘Em In.” Laine left Wings in 1981, and the group disbanded, though he contributed to McCartney’s early ’80s albums Tug of War and Pipes of Peace.

Laine also embarked on a solo career, releasing 12 solo albums, starting with 1973’s Ahh…Laine. In 1996, he released Wings at the Sound of Denny Laine, featuring reworked versions of Wings tunes. His final solo album, The Blue Musician, came out in 2008.

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Dave Mason is hitting the road. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, best known for his work with Traffic, just announced dates for his 2024 Traffic Jam tour, which kicks off February 29 in Tallahassee, Florida, and wraps April 13 in San Antonio, Texas.

The tour, which features dates with Pat Travers, Jimmy Hall, The Outlaws and Jefferson Starship, will have Mason performing fan favorites, deep cuts from Traffic and more.

A complete list of tour dates, along with ticket information, can be found at davemasonmusic.com.

The tour news comes just weeks after Mason released a new version of the Traffic classic “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” featuring guitar great Joe Bonamassa.

“‘Dear Mr. Fantasy’ has been a favorite song of mine since its release in 1967,” Mason shared. “I’ve played it live for years in a number of different arrangements. As I’ve often said, there are no old songs, just good songs, and ‘Dear Mr. Fantasy,’ in my mind, is one of the finest examples around.”

You can listen to “Dear Mr. Fantasy” now via streaming services or watch the video on YouTube.

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A Tom Petty classic is featured in the trailer for the latest installment of the popular video game Grand Theft Auto.

The clip for Grand Theft Auto VI features the Petty tune “Love Is A Long Road,” from his 1989 debut solo album, Full Moon Fever. The tune was the B-side to the hit single “Free Fallin’,” Petty’s highest charting Hot 100 hit, which landed at #7. 

While “Love Is A Long Road” wasn’t officially released as a single, it still got airplay and peaked at #7 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. 

Grand Theft Auto VI will be released in 2025.

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Iggy Pop sings with Cat Power on a cover of the song “Working Class Hero” for an upcoming tribute album to English musician Marianne Faithfull.

“Working Class Hero” was originally written by John Lennon and recorded by Faithfull for her 1979 album, Broken English. On their version, Iggy’s gravelly, almost spoken word delivery contrasts with Cat Power’s ethereal vocals.

You can listen to the Pop/Power “Working Class Hero” cover streaming now on YouTube.

The tribute album, titled The Faithful, is due out December 8. It will support Marianne, 76, as she continues to battle with long COVID. She was hospitalized with COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

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Green Day is celebrating the holiday season with new music.

The “American Idiot” trio will drop a track called “Dilemma,” a cut off their upcoming album Saviors, on Thursday, December 7, at 9 a.m. ET.

“Throwing a rager of a holiday party,” Green Day teases. “‘Dilemma’ is out everywhere on Thursday, come by then to check it out.”

“Dilemma” will be the third song released off of Saviors, following lead single “The American Dream Is Killing Me” and the track “Look Ma, No Brains!” The album will arrive in full on January 19.

Green Day will be supporting Saviors on a giant tour in 2024, which launches in the U.S. in July. The bill also includes The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas.

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On This Day, December 5, 1973…

Paul McCartney & Wings released their third album, Band on the Run, which became a huge hit and to this day remains McCartney’s most successful non-Beatles album.

The album produced two hits, the title track and “Jet,” and went to #1 in the U.S. and the U.K.

The cover depicted McCartney, his wife Linda, and guitarist Denny Laine posing with actors James Coburn and Christopher Lee, British boxer John Conteh, U.K. broadcasters Michael Parkinson and Clement Freud, and English entertainer Kenny Lynch, all dressed as escaped convicts.

To celebrate the anniversary, McCartney just announced a special 50th anniversary edition, featuring an album of nine songs without any orchestral overdubs, dropping February 2. It is available for preorder now.

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Geddy Lee is sharing new music with his fans.

The Rush rocker has just released The Lost Demos, featuring the tracks “Gone” and “I Am…You Are,” which were recorded during the sessions for My Favorite Headache, his 2000 solo debut.

“I’m excited to see these two ‘lost demos’ released,” Geddy shares. “I loved the songs when they were written and in some ways they feel as fresh and perhaps more relevant all these years later.”

You can listen to the pair of songs now via streaming services.

Both of these songs have been played during Lee’s current book tour for his memoir, My Effin’ Life. During the opening night show in New York, he revealed they would be included as part of the memoir’s audiobook.

The release coincides with the Tuesday, December 5, premiere of Lee’s new Paramount + docuseries, Are Bass Players Human Too?, which features appearances by such famous bassists as Nirvana‘s Krist Novoselic, Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo, Primus‘ Les Claypool and Hole‘s Melissa Auf der Maur. 

Lee wraps the U.S. leg of his My Effin’ Life book tour on Thursday, December 7, in Toronto. He then heads overseas for some U.K. dates, which kick off Sunday, December 10, in Wolverhampton, England. A complete list of dates can be found at rush.com.

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