Classic Rock 93.9

Metallica has shared a tribute to late conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, who passed away on Wednesday.

The metal legends had collaborated with Thomas on their 2019 S&M2 concerts, which featured them performing alongside the Thomas-conducted San Francisco Symphony.

“It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of legendary conductor Michael Tilson Thomas,” Metallica writes in a Facebook post. “A towering figure in classical music, many of you became familiar with the man known as MTT when he worked with us as a major driving force in the development and live performances of the S&M2 shows in San Francisco in September of 2019.”

“We cherished our time with MTT and learned so much working with him to prepare the S&M2 performances,” the post continues. “It was a very high honor to have him on the podium for our shows. He will be sorely missed.”

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In a recent post on his website, Neil Young let fans know that a live album with his band The Chrome Hearts was “ready to go.” Well, now we know the details.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is set to release as time explodes on May 29. The 13-track album, recorded during The Love Earth Tour 2025 that hit Europe, the U.K., the U.S. and Canada, features live performances of such classic tracks as “Harvest Moon,” “Cortez the Killer,” “After the Gold Rush,” “Ohio” and “Like a Hurricane,” along with Young’s more recent track “Big Crime.”

As time explodes will be released digitally, and on black vinyl and CD. It was previously released on double clear vinyl for Record Store Day on April 18. It is available for preorder now, and digital and CD preorders come with an instant download of the live performance of “Silver Eagle.”

Young and The Chrome Hearts — Spooner Oldham, Micah Nelson, Corey McCormick and Anthony LoGerfo — launched The Love Earth Tour 2025 in Sweden in June. They were supposed to tour Europe again in 2026, but in February Young announced he was canceling the tour, saying he “decided to take a break” from touring.

Here is the track list for as time explodes:
“Daddy Went Walking”
“Looking Forward”
“Harvest Moon”
“Ohio”
“Name of Love”
“Be The Rain”
“Big Crime”
“Long Walk Home”
“Vampire Blues”
“Cortez The Killer”
“After The Gold Rush”
“Like A Hurricane”
“Silver Eagle”

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R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe debuted an unreleased song off his upcoming debut solo album Thursday night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

The track is called “The Rest of Ever.” Stipe sang lead vocals while backed by the Colbert house band, Louis Cato and The Great Big Joy Machine. 

Stipe also sat down with Colbert for an interview and revealed that the long in-the-works album, which he’s been teasing since at least 2022, is finally set to be released at the end of 2026. He described one song on the record as “the sound of a tree hearing itself for the first time,” which apparently sounds like Daft Punk.

Elsewhere in the interview, Colbert asked Stipe who should play him if R.E.M. ever got their own biopic. After first replying, “Someone really hot,” Stipe thought about it for a bit before suggesting, “Maybe Billie Eilish could do it.”

“She held a door open for me once at a restaurant in Manhattan,” Stipe said of the alt-pop star. “I don’t know if she knew who I was. She’s incredibly polite and sweet, but I didn’t know who she was until she was down the street.”

Colbert then offered to introduce Stipe to Eilish and her brother and collaborator, FINNEAS.

Stipe also released a new song called “I Played the Fool” in March, which is the theme to the HBO series Rooster.

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On This Day, April 24, 1976…

Following rumors of a possible Beatles reunion, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels used a segment of the show to try and make that happen.

Michaels directly addressed Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, noting that a reunion would be “great” and offered them $3,000 to reunite, holding up a check made out to The Beatles, noting they’d have to perform three songs.

Michaels joked about the check, “You divide it any way you want: if you want to give Ringo less that’s up to you. I’d rather not get involved.”

While the reunion never happened, it turns out McCartney and Lennon watched the segment together at Lennon’s New York apartment the Dakota, and thought about the offer, but in the end decided against it.

In the book All We Are Saying, by David Sheff, Lennon said they almost went to the studio but in the end decided they were too tired.

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No need to ask a friend, we can tell you that the new Foo Fighters album is here.

Your Favorite Toy, the 12th studio effort from the “Everlong” outfit, is out now. It’s the follow-up to 2023’s But Here We Are, and arrives after a couple tumultuous years for Dave Grohl and company.

In September 2024, Grohl shared that he’d fathered a child outside his marriage, and the Foos canceled their remaining scheduled show. Then in May 2025, drummer Josh Freese, who’d joined Foo Fighters in 2023 following the 2022 death of Taylor Hawkins, announced that he’d been fired from the band.

The Foos officially reemerged in July 2025 with the single “Today’s Song.” They returned to the live stage in September 2025, which marked the debut of their new drummer, Ilan Rubin, formerly of Nine Inch Nails.

Another new song, “Asking for a Friend,” arrived in October 2025, before the Foos finally announced Your Favorite Toy in February and released its shouty title track. Two more songs, “Caught in the Echo” and “Of All People,” followed.

In addition to working through the tumult in new music, Grohl says he started going to therapy.

“I’ve been in therapy six days a week for 70 weeks,” Grohl told The Guardian in an interview published in March. “I did the math the other day: over 430 sessions.”

Foo Fighters will celebrate the arrival of Your Favorite Toy on Saturday with a performance on Saturday Night Live UK. They will play a one-off show in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on April 28, followed by headlining sets at the Welcome to Rockville and BottleRock Napa festivals in May. They’ll launch a full North American stadium tour in August.

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Ringo Starr’s new album, Long Long Road, which has roots in country and Americana, is out today.

It’s the second straight album he’s done with producer T Bone Burnett. At a recent listening party in Los Angeles, Ringo said Burnett made making the album easy, noting, “There’s a lot of great players in Nashville, and he knows most of them.”

Ringo said Burnett would send him “tracks with some meat on” them, and he would send back his drum and singing parts. Then Burnett would “complete the deal,” which Ringo describes as “a great way of working.”

And it was just as easy for Burnett, who said he’s been listening to Ringo play drums for so long that “his feel is in my DNA at this point. It’s in my cells, you know.”

“I’ve always thought of him as a Texas musician because he played so Texas,” he added. “He’s the swinginest drummer in the history of the United Kingdom. I can tell you that.”

Ringo said the title of the album represents “the road I’ve taken,” adding, “You know all of those stop marks on your walk of life, it’s so far out.”

He said that the title track “is me going through my things about my life.” And while he said some of it may have been bad, most of it wasn’t.

“I’ve been a lucky human being,” he said. “I got to do what I love to do.”

Long Long Road is the follow-up to Ringo’s 2025 country-inspired album, Look Up. It features guest appearances by Sheryl Crow, St. Vincent, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle and Sarah Jarosz.

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More than 300 Grateful Dead-related instruments and memorabilia went up for auction Thursday in San Francisco, with a custom acoustic guitar one of the tops sellers.

Treasures From The Golden Road Featuring Property From “Big Steve,” “Ram Rod” & Trixie Garcia featured instruments, keepsakes and more from the personal archives of members of the Grateful Dead’s inner circle, including crew chief and Jerry Garcia Band manager “Big Steve” Parish, Jerry Garcia’s daughter Trixie Garcia and Grateful Dead head roadie Lawrence “Ram Rod” Shurtliff.

The top seller was an Alvarez Yairi acoustic guitar, custom made for Jerry Garcia in 1988, which brought in $256,000, three-times more than the estimated price. Another guitar, Garcia’s 1939 Gibson Super 400 N Archtop, also sold for $256,000, two-times more than the estimate.

Other sale highlights include a Grateful Dead signed 1993 New Year’s Eve concert poster, which sold for $35,200; a Jerry Garcia handwritten set list from a 1989 Jerry Garcia Band show, which sold for $22,400; and a Winterland Grateful Dead dressing room plaque, which sold for $19,200.

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We’re getting our first look at a new documentary about legendary Allman Brothers Band founder Gregg Allman.

A new teaser for Gregg Allman: The Music of My Soul, from Grammy- and Golden Globe award-winning filmmaker James Keach, has just been released. The clip opens with Cher, who married Allman in 1975,  introducing him on what appears to be her variety show. It’s followed by archival photos and footage of the rocker throughout his career, including snippets of old interviews.

The film is described as “a profound portrait of Gregg Allman, a luminous figure whose life and songs mirror his struggles and salvation,” told through archival recordings, interviews and live performances. The description notes that the film includes some rarely seen footage of the Allman Brothers Band “at their creative peak.”

Gregg Allman: The Music of My Soul will premiere in New York on June 9, and feature an acoustic performance by Devon Allman and Duane Betts, sons of Greg and fellow Allman Brothers Band member Dickey Betts. That will be followed by a June 11 premiere in Macon, Georgia, which will include an appearance by Allman Brothers Band member Chuck Leavell. Both premieres will feature a Q&A with the filmmakers.

The film will also have one-week exclusive engagements in Los Angeles and New York, before its full theatrical release on June 17.

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Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the Ramones’ self-titled debut album, and the milestone will be celebrated throughout the year.

One of those celebrations is the July 4 world premiere of the only authorized exhibition dedicated to the Ramones at The Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas. The exhibit was organized and curated by the museum in collaboration with Linda Ramone, wife of the late Johnny Ramone, and Ramones Productions Inc. It will include performances, artist conversations and interactive experiences.

According to a press release, the exhibit “connects audiences to the Ramones’ legacy, cultural impact, and continuing aftershock across music, art, design, and public memory.”

The upcoming year will also include physical Ramones releases and reissues from Rhino. In addition, newly remastered videos for “I Wanna Be Sedated,” “Rock N Roll High School,” “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” and more have now been released on the Ramones’ official YouTube page.

Released April 23, 1976, Ramones was recorded in one week, opening with what would become a Ramones classic: “Blitzkrieg Bop.” While Ramones wasn’t a commercial success, only making it to #111 on the Billboard charts, it was a hit with critics and went on to be considered one of the most influential punk records in the U.S. It has also landed on several best-of lists, including Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

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David Lee Roth has revealed that he’s sold his publishing.

In an interview with The Associated Press at the Coachella Festival, which was just published to YouTube, the former Van Halen frontman reveals he sold his publishing catalog “eight months ago.” He didn’t reveal who he sold it to.

He then told the reporter, “Ask me how I feel.” When they did, he replied with a laugh, “Rich,” noting, “For the first time in my life I can rub two coins together and create a little interest. No, really.”

Roth was the surprise guest during both weekends off Coachella, coming out to perform “Jump” with Teddy Swims.

Roth is currently on a U.S. tour, where he’s been performing a set filled with Van Halen classics. He’s even been performing the track “Little Dreamer” from Van Halen’s 1978 self-titled debut, which is the first time he’s performed the song since 2003.

Roth’s Don’t Love Me, Rent Me tour hits Austin, Texas, on April 29. A complete list of dates can be found at DavidLeeRoth.com.

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