Classic Rock 93.9

While out promoting his new memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs One Story, Bono has been talking a lot about his dad and says it’s actually changed his feelings about his father.

“I always loved my father,” the U2 frontman shared on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky. “But now, I’m starting to like him even more because his put-downs were funny and he was a funny man, and there was mischief in him.”

He adds, “I had a very, not that unusual relationship with my father. I think a lot of males have difficulty sometimes with their father. I try to be a good father to my kids, but it’s harder if you don’t have that relationship yourself, so I’m working on it.”

Bono’s mom passed away when he was just 14. Since his father didn’t talk about her much after she died, he says he and his brother didn’t have “many memories of our mother.” But, thanks to the book, he says he has “found her again.”

“I have some beautiful memories that I discovered. She was wonderful, and I’ve made peace with all that,” he says. “Through that ache, I filled that hole with music, so I wouldn’t be in U2 and I wouldn’t have the life I have without all the stuff that got me here, so I’m very grateful going into Christmas for everything, from both my father and my mother.”

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Rolling Stone‘s ranking of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time is now available in book form.

A hardcover tome features the most recent edition of the list, which was unveiled in 2020. You can order your copy now via Abrams Books publishing.

The #1 album on Rolling Stone’s ranking is Marvin Gaye‘s What’s Going On, followed by The Beach Boys‘ Pet Sounds at #2, Joni Mitchell‘s Blue at #3, Stevie Wonder‘s Songs in the Key of Life at #4, The Beatles‘ Abbey Road at #5, Nirvana‘s Nevermind at #6, Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours at #7, Prince and the Revolution‘s Purple Rain at #8, Bob Dylan‘s Blood on the Tracks at #9 and Lauryn Hill‘s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill at #10.

The list was voted on by a number of different journalists, producers and industry executives, as well as artists including U2‘s The Edge and Adam Clayton, Stevie Nicks, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Alice Cooper, Nile Rodgers, Questlove, FINNEAS and KISS‘ Gene Simmons.

Rolling Stone will celebrate the release of the book with an event taking place at New York City’s Rizzoli Bookstore on January 31.

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Add Brian May to the list of Yungblud fans.

In an Instagram post, the Queen guitarist shares his reaction to the young English rocker’s recent cover of “We Are the Champions.”

“Every now and then, while idly scrolling in the park, you come upon something that makes you go ‘WOW,'” May writes.

While May enjoyed Yungblud’s spin on the Queen classic, he noticed that some commenters weren’t as impressed.

“I’m smiling quietly at all the ‘noooo’ comments,” May writes. “I remember so clearly the same kind of derision being poured on Freddie [Mercury] when we started out as Queen.”

May adds, “As soon as I see someone who can inspire such strong reactions – positive and negative – I’m sure this person is a star performer.”

Other rock legends who’ve shared their love for Yungblud’s music include The Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger and The Who‘s Roger Daltrey.

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The Rolling Stones are getting ready to release their new live album and DVD, GRRR Live!, next year, and they’ve just shared a video of their live performance of the classic “It’s Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It).” 

The video is taken from their December 15, 2012, concert at Newark’s Prudential Center, which was part of their 50 & Counting tour, celebrating their 50th anniversary as a band. The original show aired as a pay-per-view event.

GRRR Live!, which is a full recording of the concert, is set to drop February 10. It features guest appearances by such big names as Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, John Mayer, Gary Clark Jr., Mick Taylor and The Black Keys.

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Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of the death of The Clash‘s Joe Strummer, and the occasion will be marked with a special tribute in New York. 

Consequence reports that D Generation’s Jesse Malin, Gogol Bordello‘s Eugene Hutz and more will celebrate Strummer by busking at the annual Gates of the West holiday benefit, which kicks off at 6 p.m. outside Malin’s Lower East Side bar Niagara, where there’s a mural of the late Clash frontman. 

Following the tribute, which will move inside Niagara if it snows, there will be an after-party at Malin’s 96 Tears. Proceeds from the event benefit the nonprofit Music & Memory, which “helps individuals with a wide range of cognitive and physical conditions to engage with the world, ease pain, and reclaim their humanity through the use of personalized music.”

Strummer passed away December 22, 2002, at the age of 50, just a few months before the Clash were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. His official cause of death was an undiagnosed congenital heart defect.

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Some big-name rock stars came out in Las Vegas Monday to help magician Criss Angel celebrate his 55^th birthday — and it was all for a good cause.

Blabbermouth reports that KISS’ Paul Stanley, Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander and Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach played the bash at the House of Blues at the Mandalay Bay, along with Lita Ford, Kip Winger, RATT’s Stephen Percy and Faster Pussycat’s Taime Downe.

The birthday bash was actually a benefit concert to raise money for Angel’s Johnny Crisstopher Charitable Foundation, which raises money to fight childhood cancer. The charity also supports Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada. It is named after the magician’s son, who in 2015 was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia.

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Queen has just reached a new milestone. The band announced on social media that their classic track “Bohemian Rhapsody” has just reached 2 billion views on Spotify.

The almost six-minute “Bohemian Rhapsody” was the lead single off the band’s 1975 album, A Night at the Opera, and went on to sell over 6 million copies worldwide. 

The song had a resurgence in popularity in 1992 after appearing in the film Wayne’s World. After the release of the 2018 Queen biopic, also named Bohemian Rhapsody, the song became the most streamed song of the 20th century and was certified Diamond by the Recording Academy.

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The Red Hot Chili Peppers family is getting bigger.

Bassist Flea tells E! News that his wife, fashion designer Melody Ehsani, has given birth to their first baby together. The couple got married in 2019.

“I haven’t been doing a lot of sleeping,” Flea shares. “But I’ve been doing a lot of floating on a cloud of love.”

The newborn is the 60-year-old musician’s third child, joining 34-year-old Clara Balzary and 17-year-old Sunny Bebop Balzary.

Even before becoming a new father again, Flea’s already had a big year. He and RHCP released not one but two albums in 2022, Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen, and he also has a role in the new movie Babylon.

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As we reported, Shirley Watts, widow of the late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, passed away December 16, and now Charlie’s bandmate Ronnie Wood is paying tribute to her.

Next to a picture of a young Charlie and Shirley, Ronnie writes that he and his wife, Sally, are “very sad to hear about the death of our friend Shirley Watts. We will miss you so much, but take comfort that you are reunited with your beloved Charlie.”

He adds, “Our thoughts and prayers are with their daughter Seraphina, granddaughter Charlotte, and son-in-law Barry, much love to you all at this very sad time.” 

Charlie and Shirley wed in 1964, before the Rolling Stones took off, and were together until the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s death on August 24, 2021.

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