Classic Rock 93.9

October will mark the 50th anniversary of Steve Miller’s classic album The Joker, and to celebrate, he’s releasing a new box set with plenty of extras for the Miller fan.

J50: The Evolution of The Joker, dropping September 15, will feature not only the original album but 27 previously unreleased recordings, some of which were taken from Miller’s personal songwriting tapes, along with studio outtakes and more. There will also be six audio commentary tracks with Miller taking fans through the “evolution” of the album.

Miller is giving fans a preview of the extensive set with the release of “The Joker Suite,” a bundle of songs aiming to show how he wrote what became his #1 hit “The Joker.” In addition to the hit single, it features previously unreleased tracks “Lidi” and “Travelin’.” You can listen to “The Joker Suite” now via digital outlets.

J50: The Evolution of The Joker will be released digitally and as a two-CD or three-LP set with a seven-inch single. The vinyl comes with a limited-edition lithograph and a vintage The Joker iron-on.

All formats are available for preorder now.

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On This Day, July 25, 1980…

AC/DC released their seventh studio album Back in Black, which was their first album following the death of singer Bon Scott.

The album featured new lead singer Brian Johnson, and contained such future AC/DC classics as the title track, “You Shook Me All Night Long” and “Hells Bells.”

Back in Black was a massive hit for the Aussie rockers, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. It sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide, and was certified 25-times Platinum by the RIAA.

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Roger Waters is set to celebrate the release of his upcoming album The Dark Side of the Moon Redux with a live performance. 

The album, Waters’ reimagining of Pink Floyd’s classic The Dark Side of the Moon, is dropping October 6; he’ll play his version live at The London Palladium on October 8.

A ticket presale kicks off July 27 at 10 a.m. local time, with the general onsale set for July 28 at 10 a.m. local time.

In announcing The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, Waters said he felt that with the original album celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, it “deserves a reimagining.”

“The message has stood the test of time, the concept has stood the test of time and it’s a really important thing,” he said, adding, it “seemed like a really good way to celebrate” the album’s anniversary.

The Dark Side of the Moon Redux is available for preorder now. It features reworkings of all the tracks on the original album. A double LP edition of the release will include a 13-minute bonus track titled “Original Composition,” which was inspired by the rerecording.

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Metallica‘s debut album, Kill ‘Em All, is now 40 years old.

Released July 25, 1983, the RIAA triple-Platinum Kill ‘Em All proved to be the first chapter in the career of what would become the biggest band in metal.

Metallica was formed in 1981 by frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. After a few personnel changes, including a stint with future Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine on guitar, Metallica solidified the lineup for Kill ‘Em All with guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Cliff Burton joining Hetfield and Ulrich.

Kill ‘Em All showcased Metallica’s early thrash style and would prove to be a seminal album for the metal sub-genre as it expanded in the ’80s with bands including Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax. It also spawned future ‘Tallica classics including “Seek & Destroy” and “Whiplash.”

Metallica would continue to build on their thrash sound with 1984’s Ride the Lightning and 1986’s Master of Puppets. After Burton died in a bus accident later in 1986, Metallica recruited bassist Jason Newsted and released the more proggy …And Justice for All in 1988. They then officially brought metal into the mainstream with the massive Black Album in 1991.

Throughout the ’90s, Metallica’s sound dipped more into hard rock territory with the polarizing Load and Reload, before Newsted left the band in 2001. Leading up to the release of the notorious St. Anger in 2003, which was documented in the 2004 movie Some Kind of Monster, Metallica welcomed new bassist Robert Trujillo.

The foursome of Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett and Trujillo has stayed intact ever since, producing 2008’s Death Magnetic, 2016’s Hardwired … to Self-Destruct and this year’s 72 Seasons. Metallica will launch a U.S. tour in support of 72 Seasons August 4 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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After recently wrapping the European and U.K. leg of their Stadium Tour with Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard is giving fans another behind-the-scenes video from the trek, this time sharing a look at what went down at their show in Switzerland and their massive concert at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Guitarist Phil Collen says the show at Wembley was a “really big deal” for the band because it was their first time headlining the stadium.

“In a way, it’s a journey that’s lasted 45 years ‘Cause when we were growing up and forming the band, we had little goals, but we always knew at the back of our minds, there was the big goal,” bassist Rick Savage adds of the show. “And here we are — this was the big goal, Wembley Stadium. In England, to English people, it doesn’t come much bigger than Wembley Stadium.”

Savage said getting to play Wembley was an “emotional” experience for the band, sharing, “it proves something to us, to ourselves, that we’ve actually made it this far for this long.” 

Drummer Rick Allen also recalls the first time the band was onstage at Wembley, when they were guests at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in 1992. He called it one of his “most incredible mind-blowing experiences,” adding, “it was just friggin’ awesome.”

The Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe Stadium Tour returns to North America on Saturday, August 6, in Syracuse, New York. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com. 

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

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Foo Fighters have premiered a live performance video for “Under You,” a track off their new album, But Here We Are.

The clip was taken from Dave Grohl and company’s May streaming concert, during which they introduced new drummer Josh Freese, who joined the band following the March 2022 death of Taylor Hawkins.

You can watch the “Under You” performance streaming now on YouTube.

But Here We Are, the first Foo Fighters album since Hawkins’ passing, was released in June. It also includes the lead single “Rescued.”

Foo Fighters’ U.S. tour in support of But Here We Are will pick back up August 4 in Spokane, Washington.

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If you’re going to insult Bruce Springsteen, you better be ready for the consequences, as one person on social media recently found out when they dared to question The Boss’ “mental state.”

It all started when someone on Twitter posed a question to E Street Band members Garry Tallent, Steve Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, which was basically a complaint about Springsteen playing very similar sets each night on tour.

“This is a serious question. Is Bruce’s mental state in decline? Is he just unable to perform other songs?” the user wrote. “These rinse and repeat shows are such the opposite of greatness.” 

Tallent was quick to shut the Twitter troll down, and it was clear he wasn’t happy, writing, “You are f****** kidding, right??”

And he wasn’t the only one who clapped back. Kathi Van Zandt, sister of Steve Van Zandt, responded, “Why don’t you stay home and let some real fans take your ticket? Decline? This man and this band play for three hours—performing from an extraordinary songbook most artists only dream about.” 

Fans still have plenty of chances to see just how mentally fit Bruce Springsteen is. He wraps his European tour in Monza, Italy, on Tuesday, July 25, and kicks off a new North American leg with two shows, August 9 and 11 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

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Another long-lost Steely Dan song has hit the internet.

The tune was posted by the Expanding Dan website, although it’s not actually a song, but a jingle Donald Fagen wrote for the Milwaukee beer company Schlitz.

According to Vulture, “The Schlitz Jingle” was recorded before the band began making 1973’s Countdown To Ecstasy, but the commercial never saw the light of day because it includes the Spanish word for “grab,” which apparently sounded an awful lot like a Spanish curse. 

The release of the jingle comes about a month after Expanding Dan released the “The Second Arrangement,” a 1979 Steely Dan song thought to be lost after a studio technician erased it. Like “The Second Arrangement,” the jingle was released by the daughter of the band’s late longtime engineer Roger Nichols.

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It’s never too early or too late to introduce your family to the spotlight. That seems to be Rod Stewart‘s motto anyway.

A few weeks after he brought his 94-year-old sister Mary onstage for one of his shows in Scotland, People reports that during his concert in Spain on Saturday, July 22, Rod brought out his baby grandsons Louie and Otis. The boys, who were born three days apart in May, came onstage with their moms: Rod’s daughter Ruby Stewart and Nicole Artukovich, fiancée of Rod’s son Liam Stewart.

Ruby is Rod’s daughter with Kelly Emberg, who was his partner from 1983 to 1990. Liam is Rod’s son from his marriage to Rachel Hunter, which lasted from 1990 to 2006. 

People reports that Ruby later posted a photo on her Instagram Story of Otis wearing noise-canceling headphones, with his hand over his face. “Grandads production was a little too bright and loud for my liking,” she captioned the photo.

On his own Instagram Story on July 23, Rod posted an adorable photo of himself holding Louie and Otis on his lap, one in each arm. The soccer-loving singer captioned the pic, “Louie on the right wing — Otis on the left wing —Grandad down the middle.”

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The latest edition of Classic Rock magazine celebrates the 50th anniversary of AC/DC, with members of Def Leppard, ZZ Top, Cheap Trick and more sharing stories of the band and their favorite albums. One of those sharing is KISS’ Paul Stanley, who reveals why 1980’s Back in Black is his favorite AC/DC record.

“When Brian Johnson joined AC/DC, I was curious – like everyone was – about how that would impact the band and the chemistry they had with Bon Scott,” Stanley says about the band’s first album following Scott’s February 1980 death. “But what they created with Back In Black was just monumental.” 

He adds, “They were building on what they’d done before, moving forward. That kind of bare-bones grit they had in the early days was replaced with this driving sonic overload. But it was so brilliant. I thought what was gained overrode what was lost.”

Stanley says he knew AC/DC were “the real deal” after the first time he saw them perform at the Whisky A Go Go in the seventies. He notes, “They were so gritty, and the adrenaline level was just crazy. The amount of energy that Angus [Young] was expending on stage was mind boggling.”

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