Classic Rock News

Judas Priest is preparing to relaunch their 50 Heavy Metal Years tour in March, and the legendary British rockers have now revealed that they’re planning to perform as a quartet rather than a five-piece outfit moving forward.

In a new Facebook message, the band says, “We are chomping at the British Steel bit to return to World touring…celebrating 50 Years of Judas Priest as an even more powerful, relentless four piece Heavy Metal band.”

In 2018, longtime Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton announced that he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and would no longer be able to tour regularly with the group. The band’s recent co-producer Andy Sneap was then tapped to take Tipton’s place on the road, although Glenn has frequently made guest appearances at select concerts.

Now, Sneap is stepping away from the Judas Priest touring lineup, although the band notes that Tipton will be “coming out on stage with us here and there as before.”

In the Facebook post, Priest thanks Sneap “for all you’ve done and continuing to be in the production team for our new album.”

As previously reported, Judas Priest was forced to postpone most of its 2021 North American tour dates after guitarist Richie Faulkner suffered an aortic aneurysm onstage during the band’s set at the Louder than Life festival in Kentucky in September.

Thankfully, Faulkner announced in November that his recovery was going well, and he’s expected to be back out with the band when the tour kicks off March 4 in Peoria, Illinois.

You can check out the band’s full itinerary at JudasPriest.com.

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The Rolling Stones, in conjunction with Universal Music Group’s merch company Bravado, have officially sanctioned a new line of high-quality headphones produced in partnership by the high-fidelity audio-device company V-MODA and musical-instrument manufacturers Roland.

The Crossfade 2 Wireless: Rolling Stones Edition over-ear headphones are available in three versions, each featuring a different variation of the band’s famous tongue-and-lips logo on the ear pieces — “Classic Licks,” “No Filter” and “Tattoo You.”

The headphones offer multi-device paring ability, and can be used with both analog and digital devices, including smartphones, computers, turntables, CD players and more. Features of the headphones include large memory foam ear cushions, a sturdy but flexible headband, and the ability to be folded into a small case.

A fourth design will be available in early 2022 exclusively at The Rolling Stones’ RS No.9 Carnaby store in London, and will feature the shop’s updated variant of the band’s logo.

The headphones are being sold for a list price of $279. For more info, visit V-MODA.com.

“We are thrilled for the Rolling Stones to partner with V-MODA and Roland in this category as their world-renowned premium product aligns with the world’s most recognized rock and roll band,” says Bravado executive Frank Bartolotta.

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Elvis Costello has announced that he’ll no longer perform his biggest U.K. hit, 1979’s “Oliver’s Army,” because the song contains a racial slur, and he’s also asking radio stations to stop playing the track.

Costello wrote “Oliver’s Army” about the historic violent conflicts in Northern Ireland, and the song includes the lyric, “Only takes one itchy trigger/ One more widow, one less white [n-word],” a reference to what British soldiers were called by some who opposed U.K. rule in the area.

“That’s what my grandfather was called in the British army — it’s historically a fact,” Elvis tells U.K. newspaper The Telegraph. “But people hear that word…and accuse me of something that I didn’t intend.”

While it wasn’t a hit in the U.S., “Oliver’s Army” is Costello’s highest-charting song in his home country, peaking at #2 on the U.K. singles tally. It appeared on Armed Forces, Elvis Costello’s 1979 studio album with his then-backing group The Attractions.

The tune was played unedited for many years on the radio, but eventually many stations began bleeping the slur.

Costello told The Telegraph that he feels that radio stations that bleep the word are “making it worse…[b]ecause they’re highlighting it then.” He adds, “Just don’t play the record!”

News of Costello retiring “Oliver’s Army” comes a few months after reports that The Rolling Stones had decided to stop performing their chart-topping 1971 hit “Brown Sugar” because of the song’s potentially racially and culturally insensitive subject matter and lyrics.

Costello and his longtime backing band The Imposters will be releasing a new studio album called The Boy Named If this Friday.

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Foo Fighters have debuted the first trailer for their upcoming horror-comedy film, Studio 666.

The clip, which premiered via EW.com, follows Dave Grohl and company as they enter a creepy mansion to record their new album. While the house certainly is unsettling, Grohl is dealing with something even more serious: writer’s block. At one point, he starts playing a new riff that he just wrote, only for drummer Taylor Hawkins to inform him that’s the riff from “Everlong.”

Soon, Grohl starts scribbling away, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”-style, before he’s overtaken by the house’s malevolent forces, turning him into a demonic, murderous monster.

To find out what happens next, you can catch Studio 666 premiering in theaters February 25.

Along with the six Foo members, the Studio 666 cast includes Whitney Cummings, Leslie Grossman, Will Forte and Jenna Ortega. Additionally, the trailer features cameos from Slayer‘s Kerry King and Lionel Richie.

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Stevie Nicks and Robert Plant are among the many acts set to perform at Bonnaroo 2022, taking place June 16-19 in Manchester, Tennessee.

The Fleetwood Mac singer will headline the festival’s final day, Sunday, June 19. The Led Zeppelin frontman will be performing on Friday, June 17, with acclaimed country-bluegrass artist Alison Krauss, with whom he recorded the 2021 duets album Raise the Roof — a follow-up to their Grammy-winning 2007 collaboration Raising Sand.

Other artists headlining Bonnaroo this year include Tool, Machine Gun Kelly, country group The Chicks, and rappers J. Cole, 21 Savage and Roddy Ricch.

The bill also includes Herbie Hancock, CHVRCHES, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Puscifer, The War on Drugs, Billy Strings, All Time Low and Bleachers.

Additionally, hit songwriter, producer and Bleachers frontman Jack Antonoff will lead the annual Bonnaroo SuperJam, which will be inspired by the year 1984.

Tickets go on sale this to the general public this Thursday, January 13, at noon CT. For the full lineup and ticket info, visit Bonnaroo.com.

Bonnaroo 2022 will mark the first time the festival has taken place since 2019. After COVID-19 canceled the 2020 event, Bonnaroo was set to return in September 2021 before being scrapped again due to the effects of Hurricane Ida.

Nicks currently has one other performance on her 2022 schedule, taking place at Colorado’s JAS Aspen Snowmass in early September. Plant’s Bonnaroo performance with Krauss will come at the tail end of a brief U.S. tour that the duo have lined up in June in support of Raise the Roof.

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Royal Mail, the U.K.’s postal agency, is paying tribute to The Rolling Stones with a series of postage stamps and other collectible items to mark the band’s 60th anniversary this year.

Twelve different stamps honoring the British rock legends are being issued, and will be released on January 20.

A main set will feature eight stamps celebrating Rolling Stones live performances, and featuring photos of the band in concert on various tours in different cities.

These stamps boast images from The Stones’ famous concert in London’s Hyde Park in July 1969; in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in August 2019; in Rotterdam, Netherlands in August 1995; in Tokyo in March 1995; in New York City in July 1972; in Oslo, Norway, in May 2014; in Knebworth, U.K., in August 1976; and in Düsseldorf, Germany, in October 2017.

A separate miniature sheet will feature four other stamps, two of which boast photos of the band’s core four members — including late drummer Charlie Watts — while the other two feature images of posters from select Stones tours.

The stamps will be sold in a variety of configurations and sets, some of which are available with collectible ingots or medals commemorating select tours or eras in the band’s history.

All of the various Stones stamp sets and collectibles can be pre-ordered now at RoyalMail.com.

“Few bands in the history of rock have managed to carve out a career as rich and expansive as that of the Rolling Stones,” says Royal Mail official David Gold. “They have created some of modern music’s most iconic and inspirational albums, with ground-breaking live performances to match.”

The Rolling Stones become the fourth rock band to be honored with a series of postage stamps by Royal Mail, following The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Queen.

 

 

 

 

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It was 30 years ago today that grunge officially made it to the big time.

On January 11, 1992, Nirvana‘s Nevermind hit number one on the Billboard 200, ushering in an age of distorted guitars, disaffected lyrics and flannel shirts.

Having been released a few months earlier in September 1991, Nevermind built to its chart-conquering glory thanks in large part to the lead single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and its accompanying high school pep rally-meets-anarchist punk mosh pit music video.

Nevermind‘s ascension to the top of the Billboard 200 even dethroned the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, whose album Dangerous had spent the previous four weeks at number one.

With Nevermind leading the way, more and more grunge albums started to pop up on the Billboard 200 throughout 1992. Pearl Jam‘s Ten, which was first released in August 1991, eventually peaked at number two nearly a year later in August 1992. Soundgarden‘s most recent release, 1991’s Badmotorfinger, gave the band what was then their highest-charting release when it reached number 39 on the Billboard 200 in February 1992.

The band Temple of the Dog — featuring Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron with Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, plus guest vocals by Eddie Vedder — released their self-titled debut album to little fanfare in 1991. By September 1992, it had peaked at number five on the Billboard 200.

To date, Nevermind has spent over 550 weeks on the Billboard 200. It’s been certified Diamond by the RIAA for over 10 million in sales. In 2004, the Library of Congress added Nevermind to its National Recording Registry.

Nevermind was reissued this past November in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

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The late Clarence Clemons, founding sax player for Bruce Springsteen‘s E Street Band, was born 80 years ago today.

Known as “The Big Man,” Clemons joined Springsteen’s group in 1972, and his saxophone became an integral part of The Boss’ music for most of Bruce’s career, while the onstage camaraderie between the two men was a key element to the E Street Band’s marathon live shows.

It is Clemons who appears with Springsteen on the cover of Bruce’s seminal 1975 album Born to Run — one of rock’s most iconic images. Clemons’ solo on that album’s closing track “Jungleland” is generally considered one of his finest recorded moments.

Other classic Springsteen tunes that showcase Clarence’s sax prowess include “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” “Born to Run,” “Thunder Road,” “Badlands,” “The Promised Land” and “I’m Goin’ Down.”

In all, Clemons contributed to more than a dozen of Bruce’s studio albums.

In addition to his work with Springsteen, Clarence released several albums as a solo artists and with the backing bands The Red Bank Rockers and Temple of Soul.

In 1985, Clemons scored a top-20 solo hit with the single “You’re a Friend of Mine,” which featured him duetting with Jackson Browne and included backing vocals by Browne’s then-girlfriend, actress Daryl Hannah.

Clemons also played and recorded with many other well-known artists, including Aretha Franklin, Roy Orbison, Ringo Starr and The Grateful Dead.

In one of his final collaborations, Clarence played on two tracks from Lady Gaga‘s chart-topping 2011 album Born This Way, including the top-10 hit “The Edge of Glory.”

Clemons died in June 2011 from complications of a stroke. He was 69.

The Big Man was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band in 2014.

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Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has revealed the track list for his upcoming solo album, Earthling.

The record features 13 songs, including the previously released tunes “Long Way” and “The Haves.” A third cut, titled “Brother the Cloud,” will premiere this Friday, January 14.

Earthling, Vedder’s first solo effort since 2011’s Ukulele Songs, will arrive February 11. It was produced by Ozzy Osbourne‘s Ordinary Man collaborator Andrew Watt.

Next month, Vedder launches a U.S. tour with his solo band The Earthlings, which includes Watt, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, ex-RHCP guitarist and Pearl Jam touring member Josh Klinghoffer, Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney, and singer-songwriter Glen Hansard. The outing kicks off February 3 in New York City.

Here’s the Earthling track list:

“Invincible”
“Long Way”
“Power of Right”
“Brother the Cloud”
“Fallout Today”
“The Dark”
“The Haves”
“Good and Evil”
“Rose of Jericho”
“Try”
“Picture”
“Mrs. Mills”
“On My Way”

Announcing the official tracklist for Eddie Vedder’s upcoming album, Earthling. The next single, “Brother the Cloud,” will be released on Friday, January 14th along with a digital pre-order for the album. Earthling will be released on Friday, February 11th. pic.twitter.com/EF6oQS6dEj

— Pearl Jam (@PearlJam) January 10, 2022

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In his native U.K., Elton John scored three number-one hits in 2021. He wasn’t as lucky in the U.S., but he’s kicking off 2022 with his first stateside top 10 in 24 years.

After its release in August of 2021, Elton’s duet with Dua Lipa, “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix),” has jumped from number 20 to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. The last time Elton was in the top 10 on this chart was back in 1998, with “Something About the Way You Look Tonight/Candle in the Wind 1997.”

“Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” features snippets of four Elton songs — “Sacrifice,” “Rocket Man,” “Kiss the Bride” and “Where’s the Shoorah?” — all mixed together by the Australian dance music act Pnau. It appears on his album The Lockdown Sessions.

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