Classic Rock 93.9

Foghat‘s 1975 album Fool for the City, which gave us both the classic title track and their signature song “Slow Ride,” is getting a 50th anniversary reissue.

Available on double CD and double vinyl, the package includes a remastered version of the original album, as well as a second disc of live tracks from a 1975 show at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom. The CD includes two bonus tracks not included on the vinyl — including a live cover of Chuck Berry‘s “Maybellene” — plus an interview with the band’s Roger Earl and Nick Jameson about the making of “Slow Ride.” 

The package was mixed, mastered and produced by Nick Jameson, who also produced the original album. You can preorder both versions now; they ship on Sept. 12, just a few days before the anniversary of the album’s release.

Fool for the City was the British rockers’ first album to be certified RIAA Platinum. On Aug. 6, Earl and Jameson will appear on TalkShop.Live’s Rock & Roll Channel to talk about the album and the new package. You can preorder autographed versions of the CD and vinyl now via TalkShop.Live.

Foghat launches a tour Aug. 9, and they’re offering their fans a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas for the band’s Sept. 13 show. All you have to do is design your own version of the cover of Fool for the City, which shows Earl sitting on a crate in the middle of a New York City street, fishing down a manhole. You can download the original background now and submit your design to Foghat’s website by Aug. 15.

Here’s the reissue track listing:

Original album:
“Fool For The City”
“My Babe”
“Slow Ride”
“Terraplane Blues”
“Save Your Loving (For Me)”
“Drive Me Home”
“Take It Or Leave”

1975 live show:
“Fool For The City”
“Home In My Hand”
“My Babe”
“Honey Hush”
“Slow Ride”
“I Just Wanna Make Love To You”
“Wild Cherry”*
“Maybellene”*
*CD only

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Some big-name musicians guest star in the new Netflix streaming hit Happy Gilmore 2, but it’s the big names on the movie’s soundtrack who are reaping the benefits.

While Bad Bunny, Post Malone and Eminem all appear in the film, the soundtrack features a number of classic rock staples, which Billboard reports have received streaming bumps since the movie debuted July 25. The biggest winner is “Tuesday’s Gone,” the Lynyrd Skynyrd song that also appeared in the original Happy Gilmore film. 

Billboard reports that according to Luminate data, that song saw a 44% increase in streams in the film’s first four days of release. Streams of Foreigner‘s “Juke Box Hero” increased by 18%, while Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers‘ “The Waiting” earned a 15% bump. Another song, “Swingin’ Party” by The Replacements, more than doubled its streams.

Billboard didn’t provide streaming data on the other songs that appear in the film, which include “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” by The Bob Seger System, “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, “Goodbye to You” by Scandal featuring Patty Smyth and “Magic” by Pilot.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Doors are currently celebrating their 60th anniversary, and guitarist Robby Krieger will mark the milestone with a special show at LA’s Greek Theatre.

Tickets for the Oct. 30 show go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. local time. According to an Instagram post, Krieger will be performing “Morrison Hotel, plus all of the Doors’ hits.” Opening for him will be the band Tripform, whose members include Pablo Manzarek, son of the late Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek.

Morrison Hotel, released in 1970, was the Doors’ fifth album. It features the well-known tracks “Roadhouse Blues,” “Waiting for the Sun” and “Peace Frog.”

According to Krieger’s website, the first 60 tickets sold will cost only $2.50. He notes, “Some of my close friends may also be making special appearances… you’ll have to wait & see!” It’s possible those “friends” may include Doors drummer John Densmore. He and Krieger are the only surviving members of the band; lead singer Jim Morrison died in 1971.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jackson Browne and Marshall Crenshaw are among the artists participating in Join Me in L.A.: The Songs of Warren Zevon, an October benefit concert that will raise money for the several charities, Variety reports.

The Oct. 24 event at LA’s United Theater is presented by Wild Honey Foundation and the Zevon Family. It will feature performances of 25 songs from the late Rock & Roll Hall of Famer. In addition to Browne and Crenshaw, the concert will feature many guest artists, plus some of Zevon’s collaborators, including his co-writer and producer Jorge Calderon and noted session bassist Leland Sklar, who played on multiple Zevon albums.

Browne produced Zevon’s 1976 self-titled album and co-produced his 1978 release, Excitable Boy, which featured the classic “Werewolves of London.”

Tickets go on sale Aug. 8. The proceeds will benefit the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, for which Zevon’s son, Jordan Zevon, is the national spokesperson. Zevon died of an asbestos-related illness, mesothelioma, in 2003 at age 56. Also benefiting will be the Ed Asner Family Center for the Autism Community.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, July 31, 1980…

During a benefit gig in Long Beach, California, Eagles members Glenn Frey and Don Felder spent the show detailing how they planned to beat each other up after it was over.

The show – now known as the “Long Night at Wrong Beach” – was a benefit for California Sen. Alan Cranston’s reelection campaign. The band basically split up after the gig, although they did go on to release a live album of the tour, Eagles Live, in order to fulfill their commitment to Elektra Records.

The band eventually reconvened in 1994, although Felder was kicked out of the group in 1999. Frey passed away in 2016, but the band continued on with Glenn’s son Deacon Frey and Vince Gill joining the group.

In July 2023, the Eagles announced they were going on their final tour, but they are still performing. They kicked off a Las Vegas residency at the Sphere in September 2024 and will return to the venue on Sept. 5, with shows scheduled through November. A complete list of dates can be found at eagles.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Elton John appears in the long-awaited Spinal Tap sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, but before the film hits theaters, you can watch him rock out with the Tap in a new video.

In the sequel, estranged Spinal Tap bandmates David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls — played by Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer, respectively — are forced to reunite for one final concert. In the video, which is a scene from the movie, we see the band onstage, performing their classic “Stonehenge.”

After Tufnel delivers the spoken intro, a piano rises up out of the stage with a caped Elton behind the keys. He throws off his cake and begins singing the song, with the band joining in. At the end, a full-size replica of Stonehenge — not the 18-inch high version that became famous in the first film — descends from the ceiling.

The new version of “Stonehenge” appears on the soundtrack album for the film, which includes nine new songs and four “reinvented” classics. In addition to “Stonehenge,” Elton also joins the band for a remake of their early hit “Flower People,” while Paul McCartney, who’s also in the movie, duets with them on “Cups and Cakes.”

Also on the album, superstar country couple Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood appear on a new version of one of Spinal Tap’s other classics, “Big Bottom.” Yes, you heard that correctly.

Here’s the track list for The End Continues album, due Sept. 12, the same day the sequel hits theaters:

“Nigel’s Poem”
“Let’s Just Rock Again”
“Flower People” with Elton John
“Brighton Rock”
“The Devil’s Just Not Getting Old”
“Cups and Cakes” with Paul McCartney
“I Kissed a Girl”
“Angels”
“Big Bottom” with Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood
“Judge and Jury”
“Rockin’ in the Urn”
“Blood to Let”
“Stonehenge” with Elton John

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

It was 40 years ago that John Mellencamp, then known as John Cougar Mellencamp, released his critically acclaimed eighth studio album, Scarecrow, which was filled with songs about the fading American dream, thanks to the greed of corporate America.

Recorded in his studio in Indiana, Scarecrow was filled with songs speaking to the people of the heartland, like “Rain on the Scarecrow,” which addressed the plight of small family-owned farms during the 1980s, as well as “Small Town,” in which Mellencamp sang about his experiences growing up in Indiana.

The two were among the five singles released from the record, with three of them hitting the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100: “Small Town” and “Lonely Ol’ Night,” which both peaked at #6, and “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.,” which went to #2. “Rain on the Scarecrow” peaked at #21, while the fifth single, “Rumbleseat,” hit #28.

Scarecrow wound up being a commercial success for Mellencamp. It landed at #2 on the Billboard 200 and has gone on to be certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA.

Mellencamp’s interest in the plight of the American farmer didn’t end with Scarecrow. The same year as the album’s release, he, Willie Nelson and Neil Young organized the benefit concert Farm Aid to raise money to help U.S. farmers.

The first concert was held on Sept. 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois, and the Farm Aid organization has raised nearly $80 million since then. The 40th anniversary concert will be held Sept. 20 in Minneapolis. Mellencamp, Young and Nelson, who are all part of the Farm Aid board, are headlining, along with Dave Matthews and Margo Price, who joined the board in 2001 and 2021, respectively.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails have reportedly traded drummers. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dave Grohl and company have recruited longtime NIN drummer Ilan Rubin to man the kit after parting ways with Josh Freese in May. THR also reports that Freese is rejoining Trent Reznor‘s band after previously playing with the “Closer” outfit from 2005 to 2008.

Nine Inch Nails seemingly welcomed Freese back in an Instagram Story reading, “Let’s f****** go @joshfreese.”

ABC Audio has reached out to reps for Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails.

Freese joined Foo Fighters in 2023 following the 2022 death of Taylor Hawkins. In the post announcing the end of his Foos tenure, Freese shared that the band told them they decided “to go in a different direction with their drummer.”

“No reason was given,” Freese wrote.

As for Rubin, he first played with Nine Inch Nails from 2008 to 2009 before returning in 2013, and remained the band’s live drummer through the European leg of their Peel It Back world tour, which just concluded in July. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with NIN in 2020.

Rubin also plays in Tom DeLonge‘s Angels & Airwaves project.

Foo Fighters are set to return to the live stage in October for a run of dates in Asia.

Nine Inch Nails’ Peel It Back tour continues with the U.S. leg in August.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The current lineup of Foreigner doesn’t include any founding members, but that will change in December, when original vocalist Lou Gramm joins the band for some songs during their upcoming Foreigner 4 Deluxe Tour. Lou says he’s participating in the tour, in part, because founding guitarist Mick Jones‘ health won’t allow him to.

Appearing on the Beyond the Vibe podcast, Gramm explained, “Well, I know that since we were inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame, there’s been a lot reinterest in the band … the early band and the band as it currently is. And I know Mick is not in good health. I think if he was in good health, he would be out there with this band, and maybe I would be joining him.”

In February 2024, Jones revealed he had stopped performing because he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Gramm continued, “But he’s not well enough to play, and I feel like I want to help fly the flag for the band — the original band, and the current band right now — in these waning moments and moments when we’re getting so much attention for what we’ve accomplished over the years. I want to be out there as one of the original members to wave the flag.”

Gramm went on to say that he’s most looking forward to playing “Juke Box Hero,” “Hot Blooded” and “Double Vision” with the band, adding, “The old ones, they don’t get tiring to me because they’re standards. They’re the songs that I think will be around forever.”

Foreigner 4 Deluxe, dropping Sept. 12, is a five-disc CD/Blu-Ray package that includes newly remastered stereo and Atmos remixes of the album. There’s also a whole host of extras, including unreleased songs, alternate versions, instrumentals and live performances.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

If watching the HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes has you fired up about Billy’s music, now’s your chance to jam with the members of his band, past and present.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp is hosting a Rock ‘N’ Soul Camp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in December. While there, you’ll be able to play some of Billy’s biggest hits with Billy’s former drummer Liberty DeVitto; his current keyboardist and musical director David Rosenthal; and Crystal Taliefero, the multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who’s been working with Billy since 1989.

In other Billy Joel news, he continues to roll out new archival performances on his YouTube channel. The latest is an a cappella performance of his 1984 hit “The Longest Time,” recorded by Billy and his then-bandmates in the locker room showers at the Capital Centre, a sports arena in Landover, Maryland. DeVitto is seen providing percussion by thumping on a book.

A snippet of the performance can be seen in the documentary, but this is the entire song. More archival performances will be posted to Billy’s YouTube channel in the coming weeks. You can also find the audio versions of these performances on the 155-track digital companion to the doc, which is now available on streaming services.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.