Classic Rock 93.9

Another day, another Metallica video.

The latest clip accompanies the song “Crown of Barbed Wire,” and features an animated tale of murder and revenge. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.

“Crown of Barbed Wire” appears on the new Metallica album 72 Seasons, which dropped April 14. Metallica previously shared videos for the 72 Seasons cuts “Lux Æterna,” “Screaming Suicide,” “If Darkness Had a Son,” “Sleepwalk My Life Away,” “Too Far Gone?” and the title track.

The remaining 72 Seasons songs — “Chasing Light,” “You Must Burn!” and the 11-minute “Inamorata” — will also get videos.

Additionally, Metallica is releasing every 72 Seasons video in American Sign Language, or ASL. The ASL edition of the title track is out now, and the remaining 11 videos will premiere April 25.

In other Metallica-related news, ex-bassist Jason Newsted has announced a concert with his namesake solo band for the first time in 10 years. The show takes place May 20 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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A new book is giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry’s 1981 debut solo album KooKoo.

H.R. Giger: Debbie Harry Metamorphosis: Creating the Visual Concept for KooKoo, from Blondie co-founder Chris Stein, is out now, featuring Stein’s collection of photographs showcasing the visual journey of the project, which was a collaboration between him, Harry and innovative artist H.R. Giger.  In addition to photos, the book gives fans insight into the project thanks to notes and sketches from the Giger archives. 

The book serves as a companion for the upcoming Deluxe Edition reissue of KooKoo, which is dropping May 5. Only 6,000 copies of the new reissue will be available on double 180g Crystal clear vinyl, along with a bonus 12-inch disc made up of remixes and extended versions and a Chris Stein art print. It is available for preorder now. 

KooKoo, produced by Chic’s Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards, was originally released July 27, 1981. It peaked at 25 on the Billboard 200 Album chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA.

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On This Day, April 18, 2015… 

A new class of musicians were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Beatle Ringo Starr, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lou Reed, Green Day and Bill Withers. 

Paul McCartney was on hand to induct Ringo, who was the last Beatle to be inducted as a solo artist following McCartney’s solo induction in 1999, John Lennon’s in 1994 and George Harrison’s posthumous induction in 2004. The Beatles were inducted in 1988 as part of the Hall of Fame’s third class.

Other artists on hand for the celebration included Patti Smith, who inducted Reed; John Mayer, doing the honors for Vaughan; and Fall Out Boy, who inducted Green Day.

Miley Cyrus gave the speech inducting Jett, and then later Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl joined Jett for her performance, which included such tracks as “Bad Reputation,” “Crimson and Clover,” and the Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb.”

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Foo Fighters have shared another new music teaser.

Following last week’s 13-second clip, which featured the phrase “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” displayed against a white background, the latest video lasts a total of 25 seconds, and includes the additional phrases “Are you feeling what I’m feeling?” and “This is happening now.”

If and when new Foos music officially arrives, it’ll be the follow-up to 2021’s Medicine at Midnight album and, more notably, will be the group’s first fresh material following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins in March 2022.

Following Hawkins’ passing, Foo Fighters canceled all of their tour dates before reemerging for two giant tribute concerts to their late bandmate in September. On New Year’s Eve, they announced they intended to continue as a band, and have since scheduled a number of headlining concerts and festival sets for 2023, the first of which takes place May 24 in Gilford, New Hampshire.

A new drummer has yet to be announced.

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Musical taste is certainly subjective, so a list picking the “best of” anything is certainly ripe for debate, and that will likely be the case with Mojo’s recent list of the 50 Greatest Led Zeppelin songs. 

The list was compiled by the magazine’s “world-class team of writers,” noting it’s what they consider “the definitive list of” the best Zeppelin tracks. 

Now if you assumed “Stairway to Heaven” landed at number one, you’d be wrong. Instead, the magazine picks the 1975 Physical Graffiti track “Kashmir” for the top spot, saying it “was dense with everything at which Zeppelin excelled: ancient blues, psychedelic dreaming and signature brawn, charged with new, exotic risk.” 

Coming in at two is 1971’s “When The Levee Breaks,” followed by 1969’s “Whole Lotta Love” at three, 1971’s “Stairway” at four and 1971’s “Black Dog” at five.

Rounding out the top 10 are: “Since I’ve Been Loving You” at six, “Dazed and Confused” at seven, “Achilles Last Stand” at eight, “Ramble On” at nine and “Rock and Roll” at 10.

The complete list of the top 50 greatest Led Zeppelin songs can be found at Mojo4music.com. 

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Sting is extending his time on the road. The singer has added nine new dates to his My Songs 2023 tour, which hits North America this fall.

The new additions, which all feature special guest Joe Sumner, Sting’s eldest son, are in Wantagh, New York; Hollywood, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Reno, Nevada; and Austin, Irving and Woodlands, Texas.

The tour is set to kick off September 5 in Toronto, Canada, with dates now confirmed through October 15 in Woodlands. Tickets for the new shows go on sale Friday, April 21, at 10 a.m. local time. 

Before bringing the show back to the U.S., Sting is set to tour Europe, with dates kicking off June 1 in Bilbao, Spain. A complete tour schedule can be found at Sting.com.

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Back in 2005, Metallica opened two shows for The Rolling Stones — but if you thought the two bands hung out backstage and partied, you’d be wrong. While chatting with Bill Maher for his Club Random podcast, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich revealed the band wasn’t even allowed to make eye contact with Mick Jagger. 

Ulrich says the band was sitting backstage at what is now Oracle Park in San Francisco when an assistant told them Jagger was about to walk through to go to his gym and warm up, telling them, “’When he walks through here, please don’t make eye contact with him or talk to him.’” 

While Lars says the Stones did take a picture with them, they didn’t exactly get a chance to bond. 

“I had dreams, like, I thought, we’re gonna play with the Rolling Stones and you know where I’m gonna spend my whole time, in Keith Richards‘ hotel room, sitting doing those legendary parties ’til nine o’clock in the morning: I’ll be the last one to leave!” Ulrich said. “It wasn’t exactly like that.”

It did have a lasting effect on Ulrich, though, and informed the way he treated opening acts for the rest of their career. “I always go and say hello to our support act. I look them in the eye, I ask them if there’s anything they need,” he says. “It’s a human thing; if somebody comes out and plays on a Metallica stage, I want them to feel at home.”

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The new David Johansen documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only is airing now on Showtime. The film was co-directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, and producer Margaret Bodde says the Academy Award winner Scorsese was the perfect person to help tell the story of the New York Dolls frontman, who went on to have fame as Buster Poindexter.

“Martin Scorsese has really long been an admirer and fascinated by David Johansen,” Bodde tells ABC Audio. “He loved the New York Dolls, that has been an inspiration for him throughout a lot of the filmmaking that he’s done.” She adds, “I think the idea of reinvention was really fascinating for Marty, when David then became Buster Poindexter or channeling that era of swing music.” 

The film is centered around Johansen’s one-man Café Carlyle show, which co-director Tedeschi says gives you a different perspective on Johansen’s career.  

“The show was radically different than anything else I’d ever seen partially because he tells the story of his life between the songs,” he explains, “but also because he wrote the songs in the set list, which is unusual for him. I don’t know if he ever did a show where it’s just his songs.” 

Bodde adds that Johansen “is really like a musical connoisseur,” and him sharing his life in this way is a unique opportunity to learn about him, noting, “I think David is not someone who really courts that kind of attention.”

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AC/DC’s Brian Johnson has been immortalized with a brand new statue. Consequence reports that the statue was recently unveiled in Namur, Belgium, the city where Johnson hit the stage with AC/DC for the very first time.

“[Namur is] a very special place for me,” Johnson shared in a video message. “It was the first night I sang with AC/DC, and I was a very nervous boy. So that memory will stay with me forever.” He added, “And now that you’ve built this statue, honestly, I’m not worthy of it. I thank you, and I’ll take it in good grace.”

Johnson, who joined AC/DC after the February 1980 death of BonScott, made his live debut with the band on June 29, 1980, at the Palais Des Expositions in Namur.

The statue, made of Belgian Blue Stone, came to be thanks to three AC/DC fans: Michel Remy, Mike Davister and Georges Boussingault, who started a crowdfunding campaign, with the support of a local radio station. Johnson was not at the unveiling, but has said he plans to visit his statue “in about five, six weeks.”

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Billy Joel gets the Dad of the Week award: He took his young daughters Della Rose and Remy Anne to see Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour over the weekend.

An Instagram slideshow of Billy, his wife and the girls enjoying the concert in Tampa, Florida, over the weekend is captioned, “Rockin’ into our new ‘era’ thank you @Taylorswift we loved the show!” 

One sweet shot shows Billy holding hands with the girls as he walks them into the stadium; in a video, the kids are rocking out in a VIP area and Della is singing all the words to “… Ready for It?”   

Another shot looks like the girls dressed to reflect Taylor’s different eras: Della appears to be channeling a folklore/evermore vibe, while Remy’s wearing purple, the official color of Speak Now.

Fans loved the post and are now clamoring for Taylor to appear at one of Billy’s shows and vice versa, or for the two to do a collaboration. Billy has spoken in the past of his admiration for Taylor, telling USA Today, “She knows music and she knows how to write. She’s like that generation’s Beatles.”

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