Classic Rock News

On This Day, Oct. 6, 2020…

Van Halen guitarist and founder Eddie Van Halen died at the age of 65.

The rocker had battled cancer for several years. In 2000 he received treatment for tongue cancer, in 2019 he was hospitalized after battling throat cancer, and he also battled lung cancer

He died of a stroke at a Santa Monica, California, hospital, surrounded by his wife Janie, son Wolfgang Van Halen, ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli, and brother, Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen.

Eddie co-founded Van Halen with his brother in the ’70s, and they, along with frontman David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony, released their self-titled debut in 1978. They went on to release 12 albums with three different frontmen, selling over 80 million records worldwide.

Eddie was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Van Halen in 2007.

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Bruce Springsteen got his start playing clubs in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and now a hotel in the beachfront community is honoring him with a new Springsteen-inspired hotel suite.

People reports that The Asbury Hotel has teamed with The Boss’ longtime photographer Danny Clinch to create what they are calling “The Boss Suite,” filled with Springsteen photos, music and more.

“People in New Jersey, they love their Bruce Springsteen,” Simon Little, The Asbury Hotel’s area director of sales and marketing, tells the magazine. “We’ve always wanted to do [this suite]. This year seems to be a perfect storm for it.”

The hotel room features a “mini gallery” of Springsteen photos, along with a Springsteen-specific collection of vinyl records guests can play on the room’s turntable. There’s even a mural on one wall featuring a photo from the rocker’s 2024 headlining set at Clinch’s Sea.Hear.Now festival. A shot of Springsteen leaning against Clinch’s 1948 Pontiac is hanging right above the bed’s headboard.

“You’re going to be able to show up in the room, unpack your stuff, throw a Springsteen record on, and there you are in Asbury Park. You can look out the window and you can see the boardwalk,” Clinch says. “For a Bruce fan, I just think it’s going to be so cool.”

The hotel is also channeling Springsteen with its food and drink choices. Guests can order up the rocker’s favorite late-night snack, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of milk, or order the Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out cocktail at their lobby bar.

More info on The Boss Suite can be found at TheAsburyHotel.com.

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Thursday marked the eighth anniversary of Tom Petty’s death, and his Heartbreakers bandmates Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Stan Lynch paid tribute to him with posts on Instagram.

Campbell posted a video that he captioned, “My thoughts on October 2, 2025.” In it, he strums his guitar as he shares his feelings about missing his friend.

“It’s been eight years, and these are my thoughts today. Time passes, things change, memories always remain. Dreams go on forever, from dawn to dawn,” he says. “The music we made together goes on and on and on. I miss you, brother. There is no other like you.”

He thanks Petty for being his friend and believing in him, noting he “will always be grateful for the friendship you gave to me.”

Campbell ends the video by saying, “So wherever you are, near or far. Your vibration lives in my guitar. The music never dies.”

Tench shared a black-and-white photo of Petty in his post, writing that it was taken at Big Daddy’s Cin City Lounge in Gainesville, Florida, with Tench guessing it was in 1973. 

“even eight years later, i still can’t find the words to express how i feel,” he writes. “i owe you, miss you, and love you more than i could ever say. i hope you’re traveling to wonderful places.”

Lynch also shared a photo, one of him and Petty together, writing, “We were kids in 1976. First tour of England. No clue what was in store. Locked together. Bonded by the music. Tommy was my dear friend and I’ll miss him until we meet again.”

Petty died Oct. 2, 2017, at the age of 66.

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R.E.M.’s Peter Buck has once again collaborated with musician Joseph Arthur under the moniker Buck Arthur, releasing their second album, Arthur Buck 2.

Coinciding with the album’s Friday release, Buck Arthur has dropped a video for the track “Where Did You Go?,” a black-and-white clip that follows Arthur as he runs down a tree-lined road while singing the song.

Arthur Buck 2 is the follow-up to the artists’ 2018 self-titled release. The new album was produced by Jacknife Lee, who produced R.E.M.’s 2008 album, Accelerate, as well as their final album, 2011’s Collapse Into Now.

But that’s not the only music we’re getting from Buck. He is part of the new band Drink The Sea, which also features Screaming Trees‘ Barrett Martin, Eleven‘s Alain Johannes and others. The second part of their self-titled debut album, Drink The Sea II, is out now. It features 11 new songs recorded at the same time as Drink The Sea I, which was released in September.

The group is set to launch a U.S. tour in 2026, kicking off Jan. 30 in Seattle. 

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The Beatles have shared yet another tune from their upcoming Anthology reissue.

The legendary band has released an alternate take on the classic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the George Harrison-penned track that originally appeared on 1968’s The Beatles aka the White Album.

The clip, titled “While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Take 27),” opens with Harrison giving someone his meal order. He says, “I’ll just have cheese and lettuce and Marmite sandwich and coffee.” It ends with the band cutting the song short after Harrison tries to hit a high note, with Harrison joking, “It’s OK, I sang, tried to do a Smokey and I just aren’t Smokey.”

A post on Instagram explains that this version has Harrison “attempting to channel his musical hero Smokey Robinson.”

This is the second bonus track The Beatles have shared from the upcoming Anthology rerelease. They previously released “Helter Skelter (Second Version – Take 17).”

The Beatles will release the Anthology Collection box set on Nov. 21, featuring the original three Anthology albums, plus a new fourth installment, Anthology 4, that includes 13 previously unreleased tracks. The set will be released digitally and as a 12-LP or eight-CD collection.

Anthology 4 will also be released on its own, as a three-LP or two-CD set, featuring 36 tracks, including the previously unreleased recordings.

All formats are available for preorder now.

In addition to the Anthology music collection, a restored and remastered version of the eight-part Anthology documentary, which aired on ABC in 1995, will debut Nov. 26 on Disney+ with a new ninth episode. A 25th anniversary edition of The Beatles Anthology book will be released Oct. 1.

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Guns N’ Roses is set to reissue their first-ever live album.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will drop Guns N’ Roses – Live Era ’87-’93 on Nov. 21, featuring a newly remastered version of the live album, originally released in 1999. The set features 23 live tracks, including performances of such hits as “November Rain,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Welcome To the Jungle,” “Don’t Cry” and “Paradise City.”

The album, remastered from the original stereo analog master tapes, will be released in a variety of formats, including standard four-LP and premium four-LP colored vinyl, the latter coming in an embossed slipcase, with a poster.

The album will also be released digitally, featuring the remastered album, along with the bonus track “Coma,” which was previously only available on the 1999 vinyl release and as a Japan-exclusive bonus track. This will mark the first time the performance is getting a digital release.

Guns N’ Roses – Live Era ’87-’93 is available for preorder now.

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 You’d think folks would be excited to see Bruce Springsteen taking part in some karaoke, but apparently that just wasn’t the case.

Springsteen appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Thursday, where he shared the story of his first and only karaoke experience, noting it happened in a small bar in London.

“I decided I was going to do The Temptations‘ ‘Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,’” The Boss said. “And so I assume, I’m gonna get up there, I’m going to sing a few notes and this place is going to go wild. So I got up there, I started singing and they thought I was just another a****** who got up onstage and was trying to do karaoke.”

He added, “So it was really disappointing. I’ve never done it again.”

Springsteen was on Kimmel with Jeremy Allen White, who plays him in the upcoming movie Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Springsteen was a constant presence on the film’s set and said he feels a little bad about.

“I felt a little guilty about that because I was on the set quite a bit,” Springsteen said. “And I’m going, here’s the guy, the guy’s not only trying, playing me, but he’s got to play me while my stupid a** is sitting in the chair next to him.”

Springsteen then apologized to White, adding, “You did a great job. He really tolerated me on the set.”

But Jeremy said that while he first felt nervous about Bruce being around, “I very quickly realized, like, his presence was permission. And, you know, it would have been strange if he was so close to us the whole time and he wasn’t with us while we were filming. So I’m very grateful for it.”

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere opens Oct. 24.

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On This Day, Oct. 3, 1990…

The Police released their third studio album, Zenyattà Mondatta, which peaked at #5 on the U.S. charts, making it the band’s highest charting album in the U.S. at that time.

The album produced two hit singles, “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” and “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da,” which both peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, the band’s first two top-10 hits.

Although not released as singles, two other tracks became popular with fans: “Driven to Tears,” which became a top-40 hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and “When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around,” which hit #3 on the Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart.

Zenyattà Mondatta, which was certified double Platinum by the RIAA, earned The Police two Grammy wins: best rock performance by a duo or group for “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” and best rock instrumental performance for the album track “Behind They Came.”

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As previously teased, Green Day has announced a 25th anniversary reissue of their 2000 album, Warning.

The expanded set is due out Nov. 14 as five-LP vinyl and four-CD packages, as well as digitally. The track list includes the original album remastered, along with various demos, rarities and alternate mixes, plus a live recording from a 2001 show in Tokyo.

You can listen to the demo of a song called “Castaway” now.

Warning was first released Oct. 3, 2000, 25 years ago Friday. Although initially considered a commercial disappointment — it was the first Green Day album to not get certified at least Platinum by the RIAA since their Diamond breakout album Dookie was released in 1994 — Warning has since undergone a critical reevaluation, and spawned one of the band’s most played live songs in “Minority.”

Whatever commercial failings Warning might have had at the time, Green Day reestablished themselves as one of rock’s biggest bands with their follow-up album, 2004’s seminal American Idiot.

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Foo Fighters have released a new live EP called Are Playing Where??? Vol. I.

The six-track set was recorded during Dave Grohl and company’s recent run of last-minute pop-up shows, which took place in San Luis Obispo and Santa Ana, California, Washington, D.C. and New Haven, Connecticut.

Those concerts marked the Foos’ first with new drummer Ilan Rubin, formerly of Nine Inch Nails. Rubin replaced drummer Josh Freese, who was let go from the band in May after joining in 2023 following the 2022 death of Taylor Hawkins.

Freese, incidentally, has returned to Nine Inch Nails, with whom he’d previously played from 2005 to 2008.

You can listen to Are Playing Where??? Vol. I now via Bandcamp.

Foo Fighters are currently on tour in Asia.

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