Classic Rock News

From 1969 to 1989, CREEM magazine was an essential read for any music fan, showcasing the work of legendary writers like Lester Bangs, Cameron Crowe, Patti Smith and Robert Christgau. On September 15, CREEM returns after 33 years out of print as a subscription-only quarterly with an issue that includes features on Slash, The Who and new artists like punk act Special Interest. And ABC Audio has a first look at one of its exclusive feature stories.

The Who feature is an excerpt from an unpublished book by late legendary tour manager Richard Cole, probably best known for working with Led Zeppelin during their most debauched years — yes, he was an active participant in the infamous incident with a groupie and a mud shark. But before Zeppelin, he worked for The Who, and soon learned the drawbacks of working for a band whose drummer loved blowing things up.

In CREEM’s except from Cole’s book, the year is 1965, and Cole and The Who have just arrived at a beautiful hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland. He’s confused as to why drummer Keith Moon asked them to stop so he could purchase some weed killer and several bags of sugar — and why bass player John Entwistle is so amused by the request.  At the hotel, the band settles in, Cole orders some food…and then all hell breaks loose:

As soon as I had taken the first bite out of my ham and cheese sandwich, I heard the almighty blaring of the fire alarms going off. When I looked over at [my assistant] Alan, he had this big stupid grin on his face, as though he knew something I didn’t. When I opened the door, I was shocked to see smoke steaming out of the emergency-exit door. I then looked the other way and saw the grinning faces of Moon and Entwistle peering around their room door.

As I closed the door behind me, the phone started ringing. I answered it to the irate voice of the hotel manager requesting my presence at the front desk immediately. Alan, who had started up with the band before I came around, was still smirking on his bed when I left the room. To him, it was just another day on the road with the Who.

The fire brigade was just leaving when I walked across the hall to the front desk. The manager had made out our bills, but there were no room charges: just a bill for my sandwiches and the fire brigade. We were then given instructions to get out of his hotel immediately before he called the police to throw us out.

To read even more of Cole’s exploits with The Who, subscribe to get CREEM’s new issue when it becomes available in September.  Digital-only subscriptions are also available.

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The Rolling Stones are in the midst of the first leg of their SIXTY tour, commemorating their 60th anniversary, and frontman Mick Jagger recently chatted with Apple Music’s Matt Wilkinson about the trek.

The current tour leg, which finds The Stones visiting a variety of European cities, is the second the band has played with drummer Steve Jordan, who stepped in for longtime drummer Charlie Watts after Watts passed away last August at age 80.

Jagger tells Wilkinson that Jordan has fit in well with the group, and he feels that’s least partly because Steve shares some important attributes with Charlie.

“If you introduce someone else into a band of people, it’s always going to change the dynamic, but Steve, he’s a great drummer,” Mick notes. “[B]ut also…like Charlie was, he’s a student of drumming. [He’s] not just a ‘wang bash’ drummer, or even just a great drummer. He’s also a student of drumming.”

Jagger adds, “He can listen to Charlie’s performances on record, and live, obviously, and take those and keep the essence of what Charlie did in those songs without changing it very much. Of course, he will interpret them slightly differently, but he’ll keep the great things that Charlie did, and add his own thing to it.”

Meanwhile, Mick says he feels that The Rolling Stones have generally become “a much more consistent performing band” during over the last two decades.

“We always set a standard and try to hit that,” the 78-year-old rock legend maintains. “Of course, some shows are better than others for whatever reason…and they’re different. Maybe they’re not as good in some ways, maybe they’re better than others. You know, every show is a different animal.”

The Stones next show takes place this Friday, July 15, in Vienna.

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While generally considered an “album” band, Emerson, Lake & Palmer did release singles throughout their long career, and now, a new vinyl box set featuring a dozen 45-rpm seven-inch discs replicating various U.S., U.K. and international singles is due out August 26.

The collection, simply titled Singles, features the discs housed in reproduced, original picture sleeves and comes packaged with a booklet boasting detailed notes, rare photos of the U.K. prog-rock trio and a foreword by ELP drummer Carl Palmer. Also included are art cards inspired by the singles’ sleeves.

The box set, which features songs spanning from 1971 to 1992, is being released in celebration of ELP’s 50th anniversary. All of the tracks have been remastered by respected studio engineer Andy Pearce.

Among the songs included in the collection are such ELP classics as “Lucky Man,” “C’est La Vie,” “Jerusalem” and the band’s biggest U.S. hit, “From the Beginning,” which reached #39 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. The box set also features the single-edit version of ELP’s adaptation of Aaron Copland‘s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” which peaked at #2 on the U.K. chart in 1977.

“This box set of singles is very important to the development of ELP,” Palmer says. “The music that you will hear opened the door to radio around the world, and then the musical concept of ELP was born.”

You can preorder the Singles box set now. Here’s the full track list:

Single One: A. “Lucky Man”/B. “Knife Edge”

Single Two: A. “Stones of Years”/B. “A Time and a Place”

Single Three: A. “From the Beginning”/B. “Living Sin”

Single Four: A. “Jerusalem”/B. “When the Apple Blossoms Bloom in the Windmills of Your Mind I’ll Be Your Valentine”

Single Five: A. “Fanfare for the Common Man”/B. “Brain Salad Surgery”

Single Six: A. “C’est La Vie”/B. “Hallowed Be Thy Name”

Single Seven: A. “Brain Salad Surgery”/B. “Still…You Turn Me On”

Single Eight: A. “Tiger in a Spotlight”/B. “So Far to Fall”

Single Nine: A1. “I Believe in Father Christmas”/A2. “Jerusalem”/B. “When the Apple Blossoms Bloom in the Windmills of Your Mind I’ll Be Your Valentine”

Single Ten: A. “Canario”/B. “All I Want Is You”

Single Eleven: A. “Black Moon”/B. “Black Moon” (Album Version)

Single Twelve: A. “Affairs of the Heart”/B. “Better Days”

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Mötley Crüe is among the artists featured on the soundtrack for the upcoming thriller film The Retaliators.

The closing track on the compilation is a Crüe song called “The Retaliators Theme (21 Bullets),” which features contributions from Ice Nine Kills, Asking Alexandria and From Ashes to New. The tune appears to be the first new material from the “Dr. Feelgood” rockers since the four tracks they recorded for 2019’s The Dirt soundtrack, which included the Machine Gun Kelly collaboration “The Dirt (Est. 1981).”

The album also includes songs features Mötley Crüe members Tommy Lee, Vince Neil and Mick Mars. Lee contributes his 2020 solo song “Tops,” featuring rapper Push Push. Neil appears on a track titled “Classless Act” by the up-and-coming band of the same name. Mars lends his guitar talents to a song by Hyro the Hero called “Who’s That Playing on the Radio?”

The album also includes songs by Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch and The HU.

The Retaliators — which is being produced by Better Noise Films, an offshoot of the Better Noise Music record label — premieres in theaters September 14, and the soundtrack will be released September 16. Its cast includes Lee and Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix, as well as members of various other bands.

You can watch a new trailer for The Retaliators now on YouTube.

Here’s the soundtrack’s track list:

Papa Roach — “The Ending”
The HU — “This Is Mongol”
Eva Under Fire — “Blow” (featuring Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills)
From Ashes to New — “Scars That I’m Hiding” (featuring Anders Fridén of In Flames)
Asking Alexandria — “Faded Out” (featuring Within Temptation)
Tommy Lee — “Tops” (featuring Push Push)
Classless Act — “Classless Act” (featuring Vince Neil)
Five Finger Death Punch — “Darkness Settles In”
Nothing More — “Tired of Winning”
Crossbone Skully — “Evil World Machine”
The HU – Wolf Totem” (featuring Jacoby Shaddix)
Bad Wolves — “If Tomorrow Never Comes” (featuring Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills)
Cory Marks — “Burn It Up”
Hyro the Hero — “Who’s That Playing on the Radio?” (featuring Mick Mars and Danny Worsnop)
Cory Marks — “Blame It on the Double” (featuring Tyler Connolly and Jason Hook)
All Good Things — “For the Glory” (featuring Hollywood Undead)
From Ashes to New — “Barely Breathing”
Mötley Crüe — “The Retaliators Theme (21 Bullets)” (featuring Ice Nine Kills, Asking Alexandria and From Ashes to New)

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A limited-edition 17-CD Grateful Dead box set featuring six full previously unreleased concert performances that the band played at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden during the early 1980s will be issued on September 23.

In and Out of the Garden: Madison Square Garden ’81, ’82, ’83 features audio of shows that took place March 9 and 10, 1981; September 20 and 21, 1982; and October 11 and 12, 1983.

The collection features a custom box and includes liner notes by acclaimed music journalist David Fricke, who writes about The Grateful Dead’s deep connection to and history with New York City.

In addition to versions of classics like “Uncle John’s Band,” “Fire on the Mountain” and “Truckin’,” the shows featured The Dead performing several songs that would eventually appear on their 1987 album In the Dark, including the hit “Touch of Grey.”

“These performances … are six of the best the Dead played at the Garden, any of which could have been released on their own,” Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux says. “We’re thrilled, though, to allow these six complementary shows to be housed together, each one its own story, its own event.”

Only 12,500 copies of the 17-CD box set, each individually numbered, will be available. You can preorder copies now exclusively from Dead.net. High-res digital versions also are being sold at the website.

In advance of In and Out of the Garden, a performance of “Feel Like a Stranger” from the March 9, 1981, show has been made available digitally and an animated companion video has debuted on The Dead’s official YouTube channel.

Also on September 23, the March 9, 1981, concert will be released individually as a three-CD set, digitally at Dead.net and via traditional retail outlets.

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Move aside, Tony Stark: a different “Iron Man” is coming to San Diego Comic-Con.

Ozzy Osbourne will be making his debut at the famed pop culture convention on July 22. The metal legend and comic book artist and writer Todd McFarlane will reveal artwork for a new comic book included in certain special editions of Ozzy’s upcoming new album, Patient Number 9. Ozzy and McFarlane will also be signing autographs.

McFarlane previously directed the video for the Patient Number 9 title track, which premiered in June. The Spawn creator also designed a variant album cover for Patient Number 9 alongside fellow artist Jason Shawn Alexander.

Patient Number 9, the 13th solo Ozzy album and the follow-up to 2020’s Ordinary Man, will be released September 9.

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Bob Dylan‘s whiskey brand, Heaven’s Door Spirits, has announced the launch of a new limited collection called the Decade Series featuring super-premium whiskeys that have been aged for at least 10 years.

The first in the series, which is available now, is a 100-proof “high-rye” straight bourbon whiskey that was aged for 10 years. According to a press statement, the liquor, which hasn’t been mellowed with charcoal, boasts a bold rye flavor “along with sweet notes of toffee and bitter chocolate followed by a long, silky-smooth finish.”

The creation of the Decade Series collection started more than a decade ago when Heaven’s Door’s founders hand-selected barrels of whiskey from various small producers around the U.S.

“We’ve been patiently waiting on our barrels of aged liquid to mature to the optimal flavor profile for many years, and we are thrilled to release them for our fans to enjoy,” says Heaven’s Door Master Blender Ryan Perry. “When we sourced these barrels from our industry partners years ago, the product was phenomenal, but we purposely let some of them sit for several additional years to get even better.”

Decade Series Release #01 has a suggested retail price of $99 and can be purchased at HeavensDoor.com, ReserveBar.com and select retailers across the U.S.

Future releases in the series will include a wheated bourbon and a rye whiskey.

The Heaven’s Door whiskey portfolio also includes a 92-proof straight bourbon whiskey, a 100-proof double barrel whiskey and a 92-proof straight rye whiskey. They can be purchased at HeavensDoor.com and select U.S. retail liquor stores.

Heaven’s Door Spirits was launched in 2018 as a joint venture between Dylan and the Spirits Investment Partnership company.

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Alice in Chains is the latest band to get the Funko Pop! treatment.

The toy company has teamed up with the grunge rockers to create a new line of its ever-popular big-headed vinyl figures to celebrate the upcoming 30th anniversary of AiC’s 1992 album, Dirt.

“This year marks the 30th anniversary of Dirt, and we’re starting the celebrations early with our Funko Dirt Pop! Collection,” the band says.

The package includes Pop! versions of each member of the Dirt lineup — frontman Layne Staley, guitarist Jerry Cantrell, bassist Mike Starr and drummer Sean Kinney — accompanied by the album artwork. It’s set to be released November 30 and is available to pre-order now.

Dirt, Alice in Chains’ sophomore album, will officially turn 30 in September. The RIAA quadruple-Platinum album spawned AiC classics, including “Them Bones,” “Rooster,” “Would?” and “Down in a Hole.”

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Elton John has won Oscars and Grammys, but he’s also written the scores for three Tony-winning musicals: The Lion King, Billy Elliott and Aida. His latest musical, a stage version of the hit 2006 Meryl Streep/Anne Hathaway film The Devil Wears Prada, opens July 19 in Chicago, but you can hear a preview of some of the new songs he’s written for the project now.

People has a video that features a sneak peek of Elton singing a few of the songs, including the title theme, “When a Legend Is Born” and “Dress Your Way Up.” Elton calls the movie “one of my favorite films,” adding, “The subject matter [the world of high-fashion magazines] screams out for music.”

But speaking to the Chicago Tribune, Elton says some of the elements of the movie — based on the novel by Lauren Wiesberger — have been updated to reflect things that didn’t exist 20 years ago, like social media and #MeToo.

“We thought, we just can’t put in this scenario from 20 years ago. We have to make it modern,” Elton notes. “We have to bring it up to date. And that appealed to me as well because I wanted to make the music modern. And it’s a woman’s story. So I said I’d like to have a woman as the lyric writer.”

Elton co-wrote the score with lyricist Shaina Taub, marking the first time he’s composed with a woman.  “She’s brilliant at bringing characters to life,” he says in People‘s video. He predicts that after seeing the finished product, audiences will “walk out elated.”

Elton plays Chicago’s Soldier Field on August 5 and will likely drop by rehearsals. But there won’t be a performance of The Devil Wears Prada that night: the Chicago Tribune reports that the whole cast is going to Elton’s concert.

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Talking Heads guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison and acclaimed guitarist Adrian Belew, who toured and recorded with the influential New Wave band during the early ’80s, will come together for a special concert and Q&A event celebrating the group’s 1980 album Remain in Light on September 29 in Los Angeles.

The show, which will be held at the famed LA theater The Wiltern, and will begin with a conversation between Harrison, Belew and actress/singer Tawny Newsome about the Talking Heads’ heyday and the group’s influence on the musical and cultural landscape. Harrison and Belew will then perform with a group of musicians that includes former member of the Brooklyn, New York-based band Turkuaz, as well as bassist Julie Slick and percussionist Yahuba Garcia-Torres.

Harrison, Belew and members of Turkuaz previously gave a series of performances celebrating the Remain in Light album in 2021 and earlier in 2022.

Remain in Light, which was Talking Heads’ fourth studio album, peaked at #19 on the Billboard 200, and featured such popular tunes as “Once in a Lifetime,” “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)” and “Crosseyed and Painless.” Belew contributed guitar to the album, while also touring with the band in 1980 and ’81.

Tickets to the Remain in Light event go on sale to the general public this Friday at 10 a.m. PT, while pre-sale tickets will be available starting today at 10 a.m. PT at LiveNation.com.

A limited number of special VIP packages also will be available that include a colored vinyl copy of Remain in Light signed by Harrison and Belew, access to a private soundcheck, a meet-and-greet and a Q&A session with Jerry and Adrian, a limited-edition silkscreen poster, a commemorative laminate and a tote bag.

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