Classic Rock News

Happy 50th birthday, Billie Joe Armstrong!

The Green Day frontman was born half-a-century ago today, on February 17, 1972. Growing up in Rodeo, California, Armstrong quickly became interested in music, and formed Green Day with childhood friend Mike Dirnt was he was just a teenager. Their first album, 39/Smooth, dropped in 1990, followed by 1991’s Kerplunk!, which marked drummer Tré Cool‘s debut.

Green Day soon became a local sensation in the local East Bay punk scene, but they exploded into the mainstream with their first major label album, 1994’s Dookie. The now RIAA-Diamond-certified record spawned singles including “Longview,” “Basket Case” and “When I Come Around.”

Dookie was followed by 1995’s Insomniac, 1997’s Nimrod and 2000’s Warning, and a greatest-hits compilation in 2001. With declining sales, some felt that Green Day had reached their peak, but the trio soon turned the doubters wrong with one of the most successful career transformations in rock of the new millennium.

In 2004, Green Day dropped American Idiot, an hour-long punk rock concept album that launched hit singles in the title track, “Holiday,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” American Idiot would become six-times Platinum, earn multiple Grammy wins and nominations, and was even adapted into a Tony-winning Broadway musical.

Green Day then released 21st Century Breakdown in 2009, followed by the 2012 trilogy of ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré! That year, Armstrong entered rehab for substance abuse after an expletive-ridden rant during a live show. He returned to the band in 2013.

Armstrong and Green Day were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. They’ve since released two more albums, 2016’s Revolution Radio and 2020’s Father of All…

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In 2019, Neil Young was offered, and turned down, what he then described as “millions of dollars” to do a tour focusing on his classic 1972 album, Harvest. Now, in a new interview, he explains exactly why he said no to that potentially huge payday.

“I’d rather do a new album with new musicians and not try to play old parts by other musicians who aren’t here anymore,” Neil tells the U.K. magazine MOJO. “You can’t recreate the past. If the past is preserved, you don’t have to recreate it.” 

He adds, “As far as my world, it’s not what I’m interested in.”

Young has a similar opinion about any future work with Crosby, Stills and Nash, saying, “I wish them all the best. But musically, I’m not interested in reliving the past.” However, he gives himself an out, noting, “I’m not saying it will never happen. Why would I say [that?] It just doesn’t make sense.”

“I’m focused on what’s going on on the planet, what’s going on in the world and trying to listen to my musical sense of what my soul wants to do…so I just have to take care of that and keep going,” Neil further tells MOJO. “So I just have to take care of that and keep on going while at the same time be aware of the world and what is happening. And if Crosby, Stills and Nash fit into that, we’ll see what happens.”

Currently, Neil is promoting Barn, his new album with Crazy Horse. As previously reported, a documentary about the making of the album, also called Barn, which was directed by Young’s wife, Daryl Hannah, is streaming for free on Neil’s YouTube channel.  However, he has no plans to tour, telling Rolling Stone late last year, “I don’t want to put people in danger.”

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Originally released in September of 1992, The Police compilation Greatest Hits is being reissued on vinyl for its 30th anniversary.

The album had a limited vinyl release because of course back in the day, all anybody wanted was CDs.  As a result, it’s long been out of print, but it’ll be back on April 15.  The two-LP set was remastered at Abbey Road and cut at half speed. It comes as two heavyweight vinyl discs packaged in a gatefold sleeve. You can pre-order it now.

The album includes 16 tracks spanning the band’s five studio albums, from “Roxanne” from Outlandos d’Amour, to “Tea in the Sahara,” from Synchronicity.

Meanwhile, the three members of The Police are keeping busy: Sting resumes his world tour in March and his Las Vegas residency in June, while Andy Summers will tour his latest photo exhibit this July and his one-man multimedia music show in October.  Stewart Copeland will be performing with an orchestra in North America and Europe this year, and premiere his latest opera, The Witches Seed, in Italy in July.

Here’s the Greatest Hits track listing:

Disc One

Side A
“Roxanne”
“Can’t Stand Losing You”
“So Lonely”
“Message in a Bottle”

Side B
“Walking on the Moon”
“The Bed’s Too Big Without You”
“Don’t Stand So Close to Me”
“De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”

Disc Two

Side A
“Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
“Invisible Sun”
“Spirits in the Material World”
“Synchronicity II”

Side B
“Every Breath You Take”
“King of Pain”
“Wrapped Around Your Finger”
“Tea in the Sahara”

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If you’re craving more Dave Grohl metal, we’ve got good news.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the Foo Fighters frontman reveals he’s planning to release an entire metal album under the moniker Dream Widow in connection with the band’s upcoming horror-comedy movie, Studio 666.

In the film, Dream Widow is a fictional band that previously occupied the house where the Foos are recording a new album. In a fit of insanity stemming from creative differences, the Dream Widow lead singer kills his band members and himself, thus bringing demonic forces to the now-haunted mansion.

The Dream Widow album Grohl will release, then, is meant to represent the group’s “lost” album that they were recording before all the murder and demon stuff happens. Grohl tells Rolling Stone that he hopes to have the record ready by Studio 666‘s theatrical premiere on February 25.

“I mean, I work fast, but f***, this deadline is going to kill me,” Grohl says. “Yes, I’ll get it out for the movie. By February 25th, there will be a Dream Widow record.”

For a preview, you can check out the Foo Fighters-as-Dream Widow song “March of the Insane,” which was released earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Grohl and company also talked about Studio 666 on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday.

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After announcing on his socials earlier this month that he’d be touring North America this summer with Cheap Trick, Rod Stewart has now revealed the full list of dates for the trek, as well as the on-sale dates.  But Rod says when it comes to his set list, it’ll pretty much be the hits and nothing but the hits.

The 38-date tour, which officially kicks off June 10 in Vancouver, Canada, is Rod’s first in four years. And while his new album, The Tears of Hercules, came out last year, he says fans may not hear much more beyond its first single at his shows.

“Yeah, ‘One More Time‘ will be in there,” he says of the song he released last year. “But, you know, I give people what they want: They all want to hear the same songs.”

Rod adds, “As much as I’ll try and say, ‘Look, please let me play a few new songs!’ they want to hear the old ones. As would I!” 

That’s right: Rod knows what it’s like to want to hear your favorite artist play your favorite songs, because that’s what he’d want to hear…if he could.

“If my idols were alive today, I would want to hear Sam Cooke sing ‘Cupid,’ Otis [Redding] sing ‘Dock of the Bay,’ David Ruffin sing ‘My Girl,'” he admits. “I’m a give-[’em]-what-they-wanter type of bloke.”

Right now, Rod’s tour is scheduled to wrap up September 17 in Edmonton, Canada. Tickets for most dates go on sale to the public on February 25 at 10 a.m. local time; Canadian dates go on sale March 4 via LiveNation.com.  Details on pre-sales, which start on Monday, can be found at RodStewart.com.

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Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard‘s Stadium Tour just got a bit bigger.

The two bands have announced an additional five dates to their upcoming joint outing, which will also feature Poison and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts on the bill. The new shows will take place August 8 in Toronto, August 16 in Indianapolis, September 2 in Vancouver, September 4 in Edmonton, and September 9 in Las Vegas, which will mark the final date on the tour.

Tickets go on sale next Friday, February 25, at 10 a.m. local time via Live Nation.

The Stadium Tour was first announced back in 2019, and marked the reunion of Mötley Crüe just four years after they played what was billed as their “final” show, effectively voiding the group’s “cessation of touring agreement.”

Originally planned for 2020, the Stadium Tour has been delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s set to finally launch this year starting June 16 in Atlanta.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Motley.com.

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Fender has created a limited-edition replica version of George Harrison‘s 1968 rosewood Telecaster, which the late Beatle used during the 1969 sessions for the band’s Let It Be album and played at the group’s historic rooftop concert in London, as seen in the acclaimed Disney+ docuseries The Beatles: Get Back.

The instrument is available for a list price of $2,900, and only 1,000 copies will be produced.

The original 1968 rosewood Telecaster was a prototype model that Fender gave to Harrison in late 1968.

The guitar’s features include a chambered rosewood body, a late-1960s “C”-shaped rosewood neck, a rosewood fretboard, two vintage 1964 Telecaster pickups, “F”-stamped tuners and a neckplate that boasts an engraved George Harrison’s signature and his tradmark Om logo.

In a YouTube video promoting the George Harrison Rosewood Telecaster, Fender product manager notes that the guitar “has a sound all its own, with bell-like highs, smooth mids and punchy lows.”

The guitar comes packaged in a hardshell case.

Visit Fender.com for full details.

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At least one moment in Pam & Tommy didn’t actually happen.

In the most recent episode of the Hulu limited series, which tells the story of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee‘s infamous sex tape, the Mötley Crüe drummer, played by Sebastian Stan, gets into a tiff with Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins, portrayed by Jeffrey Conway.

The scene, which takes place in 1996, finds Lee angry that his band was booked in a smaller studio than where they usually record, which is now occupied by the up-and-coming “Semi-Charmed Life” rockers. When Lee confronts Jenkins and company, he learns both bands are signed to the same record label, Elektra.

“They booked these a**clowns in the big room over us?” Lee exclaims in disbelief.

However, as the real life Jenkins tells Variety, the scene is all fiction.

“Mötley Crüe and I’ve never been in the same studio,” Jenkins says. “I recorded my whole first album in Northern California. So we were across the state from each other at the very least.”

Jenkins adds that he hasn’t watch the Pam & Tommy scene, explaining, “I feel strange watching myself being portrayed.”

“Just the idea is making me kind of smile,” he says. “I hope whoever played me on TV was pretty.”

As for why the Third Eye Blind scene was included if it didn’t happen, Pam & Tommy executive producer Rob Siegel says that he felt the “Jumper” outfit was the “perfect band” to represent where Mötley Crüe was in the music industry at the time.

“I did a little quick Google search…Who else was on Elektra? Third Eye Blind,” Siegel says. “The timing was perfect…So the scene is fictional, but I like to think it absolutely could have happened!”

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Now we know why Journey‘s upcoming North American trek is called the 2022 Freedom Tour. Guitarist Neal Schon took to his Instagram page today to reveal that the band’s new studio album is titled Freedom.

Schon posted a photo that shows Journey’s logo, the title Freedom and the record’s 15-song track list, along with a message that reads, “Teaser…it’s coming and it’s loaded.”

The album includes lead single “The Way We Used to Be,” which was released back in June of 2021, as well as songs titled “Together We Run,” “Still Believe in Love,” “After Glow,” “Let It Rain,” “All Day All Night” and “United We Stand.”

Schon also posted a note today on his Twitter feed about the forthcoming album, writing, “I wanted to stick true artistically to the times and values of older albums where every track means something and it’s meant to be played from top to bottom and take you on a ride…no pun intended ‘JOURNEY FREEDOM.'”

No word yet on a release date.

Freedom will be Journey’s first new studio album since 2011’s Eclipse. It’s also the band’s first new album since the 2020 firings of longtime bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith, who were replaced, respectively, by Randy Jackson and Narada Michael Walden.

Journey’s current lineup features Schon, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, singer Arnel Pineda, keyboardist/backing singer Jason Derlatka, and drummer Deen Castronovo. It’s not clear whether Jackson or Walden will be touring with the band.

Journey’s Freedom Tour 2022, featuring special guest Toto, kicks off February 22 in Pittsburgh.

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A partial list of artists who will perform at the 2022 Beale Street Music Festival was revealed in December, but now the full lineup has been announced for the event, which takes place April 29 to May 1 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Van Morrison, Stone Temple Pilots, Weezer and Elvin Bishop are among the artists who have joined the bill. Other notable new additions to the lineup include Counting Crows, Sarah McLachlan, Indigo Girls, Grace Potter, Patty Griffin, Chevelle, Spoon, and Death Cab for Cutie.

Previously announced artists set to play the festival include Lindsey Buckingham, Foo Fighters, The Smashing Pumpkins, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Modest Mouse, rap star Lil Wayne, and blues guitarist Sue Foley.

This year’s event will take place at the Fairgrounds in Liberty Park, since the Memphis festival’s traditional site, Tom Lee Park, is undergoing renovations.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit MemphisinMay.org.

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