Classic Rock 93.9

In 2014, KISS’ Gene Simmons first told Esquire magazine that rock was dead. But it seems his bandmate Paul Stanley doesn’t share his sentiment.

“It’s a great soundbite, but that’s about all it is,” Stanley tells the United Kingdom publication Louder in a new interview. “My son Evan is playing all around Los Angeles with a rock band that kicks a** and is getting great crowds, with beautiful models coming, and that’s proof to me that rock’s not dead.”

Stanley notes music tastes are always changing: “it ebbs and flows.”

“There’s a lot of rock music being made right now, and some of it may be too derivative to really stake a claim and take it to the next level, but it will happen, it will happen,” he shares. “But the next big rock band won’t be huge because it sounds like a band from the past, it will have its own voice.”

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Queen has just landed a new Spotify milestone: The band’s classic track “We Will Rock You” has surpassed one billion streams on the streaming service.

“We Will Rock You,” written by guitarist Brian May, was featured on the band’s 1977 album, News of the World, and was released as a single on October 7 of that year. It went on to be certified six-times Platinum by the RIAA, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009.

The song isn’t the only Queen track to reach such a milestone on the streaming service: Back in December, “Bohemian Rhapsody” surpassed two billion steams on Spotify.

(A previous version of this story published on February 23 erroneously stated a million streams. The text above has been updated to correct the error.)

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Richie Sambora says he’s proud that the Bon Jovi song “It’s My Life” became an inspiration for Ukrainians as they were dealing with the initial days of the Russian invasion.

“I am proud to be a part of the writing,” Sambora tells People of the song he co-wrote with former bandmate Jon Bon Jovi. “Those songs were about the way we grew up, and it just transpired to be songs that inspired people to be themselves and to take strength.”

Video surfaced last March showing Odessa citizens on a beach filling sandbags while singing along to the Bon Jovi track backed by a drummer. 

“What I found in Ukraine is that these people have heart,” Sambora added. “They’re defending their families, their sovereignty as a country, their elders, their mothers and fathers, and the children that are the future. And that’s a lot of heart.” 

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Robert Trujillo has officially spent two decades in Metallica.

The bassist first joined the metal legends on February 24, 2003. In an Instagram post marking the milestone, Trujillo writes, “Crazy to think it’s been 20 incredible years since James [Hetfield] picked me up from Oakland Airport with Lars [Ulrich] and Kirk [Hammett] as passengers in his big white truck.”

“That night changed my life forever,” Trujillo continues. “Much Love to Lars, James, and Kirk and to the best frikin fans on the planet for the respect, love and support you’ve given me, I can’t wait to take the stage again with my brothers very soon!”

Trujillo is Metallica’s fourth official bass player, following original bassist Ron McGovney, the late Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted. His process of joining the band was memorably featured in the 2004 ‘Tallica documentary, Some Kind of Monster.

Metallica has released two albums with Trujillo — 2008’s Death Magnetic and 2016’s Hardwired…to Self-Destruct. A third, 72 Seasons, arrives on April 14.

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Whitesnake is revisiting their 2008 comeback album, Good To Be Bad, with a new reissue. They’re set to drop the new retrospective Still Good To Be Bad on April 28, just a few days after the original release’s 15th anniversary.

Still Good To Be Bad will be released in a variety of formats, including a four-CD/Blu-ray set that includes a newly remastered version of the original album, along with a newly remixed version. There will also be rare and unreleased studio and live recordings, plus music videos, interviews and performance clips from the world tour that accompanied the original release.

But that’s not all. The 2023 remix album will be released as a two-LP vinyl set, as well.

And fans are now getting their first taste of what to expect from the remixed record, with the release of the new version of “Can You Hear The Wind Blow.”

Good To Be Bad, released April 21, 2008, was Whitesnake’s 10th studio album. At the time it was their first album in over a decade, their first release since 1997’s Restless Heart.

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U2 is set to release their new album, Songs of Surrender, on March 17, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day — but music fans at Notre Dame have an extra special reason to run out and get it. The band is set to release a special vinyl pressing of the album for the college, limited to only 2,500 copies.

The Fighting Irish’s edition will include 16 acoustic and reimagined recordings, and it will come on blue and gold vinyl. It will also include Notre Dame-inspired pictures of the band members, the Notre Dame monogram on the included poster and all four records, a special Notre Dame sticker and more.

The special edition is now available for preorder, while supplies last, with a limited amount to be sold at the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore on March 17.

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Pearl Jam is celebrating the 25th anniversary of their fifth studio album, Yield, and they’ve got lots of treats for fans. 

The celebrations kick off with the just-released new spatial audio mix of the album, produced and mixed by Josh Evans and Nick Rives, who have worked on Pearl Jam’s previous spatial audio releases. 

That will be followed by a deluxe 25th anniversary 12-inch vinyl reissue of the album from Vinyl Me, Please and the band’s Ten Club. The anniversary edition marks the first time the album will be released on two LPs; it will come out on 180g translucent red and black hi-melt vinyl. It is also the first pressing to be done at VMP’s new audiophile-grade pressing plant in Denver, Colorado. Fans can preorder it at Vinyl Me, Please and the Pearl Jam website. The item is expected to ship this summer.

Plus, as previously reported, Pearl Jam is also releasing the live album Give Way on vinyl for the first time for Record Store Day on April 22. The 17-track set was originally recorded in 1998 in Australia during the Yield tour.

Originally released on February 3, 1998, Yield features such future Pearl Jam classics as “Given To Fly,” “Do The Evolution” and “Wishlist.” The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 Album chart and went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAA.

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The band Elegant Weapons, which features Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner and Rainbow vocalist Ronnie Romero, has a released a new song called “Blind Leading the Blind.”

The track marks the first single from the group, which also features Uriah Heep bassist Dave Rimmer and Accept drummer Christopher Williams.

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

“Blind Leading the Blind” will appear on the debut Elegant Weapons album, Horns for a Halo, due out May 26. The record also features contributions from Priest drummer Scott Travis and Pantera bassist Rex Brown. It was produced by touring Priest guitarist Andy Sneap.

“[Elegant Weapons is] a mix of Jimi Hendrix, Priest, Sabbath, solo Ozzy and Black Label Society, but with a lot of melody, sort of old school and modern at once if that makes any sense, and actually down-tuned a whole step,” Faulkner says. “There are a lot of guitar solos and the songs are on the heavier side. And even though there’s a lot of melody, it’s still going to shake your bones.”

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Back in 2007, Elton John told a crowd of 300,000 fans in Kyiv, Ukraine, that he would help them end their AIDS crisis. Once again, he’s putting his money where his mouth is.

In a new op-ed for The Guardian, Elton writes, “The promise I made from a Kyiv stage still stands more than ever: I’ll be there for the people of Ukraine. I said I would do everything to help and renew that pledge today.”

Elton says his AIDS Foundation is providing new funding to make sure progress isn’t being lost in “Ukraine’s impressive advances in ending its HIV epidemic.” And there is progress: Since 2007, AIDS-related deaths in Ukraine fell by 81% and infections decreased by more than half.

Elton explains that since the war started, his foundation has awarded more than $1 million to community organizations across Ukraine. However, he notes, “This support keeps people alive, but it isn’t enough. Which is why now, on the anniversary of the invasion, I am announcing new funding. We want to ensure the efforts of the past decade and a half have not been in vain.”

Specifically, Elton’s foundation is now donating $125,000 to UNITED24, the country’s official fundraising platform, to buy 10 biochemistry analyzers for use in the care and treatment of Ukrainians living with HIV.

Elton concludes, “I do not know when, if ever, I will stand on a stage in Ukraine again, but my promise still stands: I will do everything I can, wherever I can, to fight for the agency and health of people at risk of HIV, all in the hope that one day we will end AIDS everywhere, for everyone, for good.”

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The latest issue of MOJO magazine has a six-page tribute to the late Jeff Beck, who passed away January 10 from bacterial meningitis at the age of 78. The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood takes part in that tribute, sharing how hard it has been dealing with Beck’s death and what made the guitarist so great.

“It was such a surprise because he’s part of the furniture,” Wood, who played in the Jeff Beck Group, says of the guitar great’s passing. “He’s always at the Christmas parties I go to, with the wonderful Sandra, and we always have a giggle. He never seemed to age or change.”

As for why Beck was so special, Wood notes, “He was always creating something new, putting a new angle on something. Sometimes he’d go too far, but that was Jeff.” 

Wood also addressed rumors about Beck joining The Stones and says there’s a good reason it never happened. “He wouldn’t have kept up with the timetable!” Wood explains. 

Wood says the last time he got to see Beck play was at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club 2018 for Wood’s Chuck Berry tribute album: “On-stage, he liked to take the foreground. He liked to be heard. I’m really gonna miss him.”

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