Classic Rock News

Foo Fighters have shared a cover of the song “I Don’t Wanna Hear It,” originally by the influential hardcore outfit Minor Threat.

The instrumentals for the Foos version were first recorded in 1995, while the vocals were recorded 30 years later in 2025. It’s accompanied by a video featuring a slideshow of Foo Fighters photos over the last three decades, which you can watch now on YouTube.

The cover arrives as Foo Fighters have been looking back at their career leading up to the 30th anniversary of their 1995 self-titled debut album. As previously reported, the band launched a Substack account with photos and notes about each of their records, and have also been posting throwback photos and video on social media.

The most recent Foo Fighters album is 2023’s But Here We Are. The band has been through some turmoil since then, including Dave Grohl‘s 2024 infidelity scandal and the firing of drummer Josh Freese in May.

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

(Video contains uncensored profanity.) 



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With the 40th anniversary of Live Aid coming up on July 13, Queen is giving fans a chance to relive their electric set.

The band just announced that on the day of the anniversary they’ll be showing their set on their YouTube channel for 24 hours starting at 6:41 p.m. BST, the same time Queen took the stage at Wembley Stadium.

Live Aid, organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, took place at London’s Wembley Stadium and Philly’s John F. Kennedy Stadium. The benefit concerts, which raised more than $150 million for Ethiopian famine relief, were watched by about 2 billion people in more than 100 countries.

“Of the 16 hours of playing out on over 500 million TV sets, it was Queen’s magical 21-minute set which has come to epitomize Live Aid,” the band says in their announcement. “And when Freddie Mercury, at the climax of his famous call-and-response ‘Ay-oh’ segment, he struck what would become known as ‘The Note Heard Around the World.'”

Remembering the event, guitarist Brian May shares that Mercury “was our secret weapon,” explaining, “He was able to reach out to everybody in that stadium effortlessly, and I think it was really his night.”

Drummer Roger Taylor adds, “The whole day was one of those stand out wonderful days. A great credit to music which can move mountains if it has to! It’s beyond politics and politicians!”

Queen’s Live Aid set included performances of some of their biggest hits, including “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Radio Ga-Ga,” “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”

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On This Day, June 30, 2007…

R.E.M. kicked off a five night residency in Dublin, Ireland, which was billed as a “working rehearsal” for their 14th studio album Accelerate.

The shows took place at the Olympia Theatre, and featured live debuts of songs off that album, many of which were still considered a work in progress.

Throughout the five nights they also played several songs they hadn’t performed live in decades.

In 2009, R.E.M. released a live album Live at The Olympia, featuring performances from the five nights of shows. The two-CD release featured 39 songs, and included an accompanying DVD with a documentary, This Is Now a Show, about the residency.

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On June 30, 2000, 25 years ago Monday, nine people died in a crowd crush during Pearl Jam‘s set at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark.

In a statement published in 2020 marking the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, guitarist Stone Gossard called what happened “our worst nightmare.”

“Every day our hearts continue to ache and our stomachs turn at the thoughts of those young men dying and of what might have been different, if only…but nothing changes,” Gossard wrote. “And our pain is a thousandth of that of the families…. the moms and dads, sisters and brothers, best friends…Our deepest condolences and apologies to the families who lost their boys that day.”

In his audio book, I Am Mine, frontman Eddie Vedder said, “There was at least one person in the band … that thought maybe we should never play again.”

“Everyone failed to live up to what was needed in those hours before and in those days following the tragedy,” Gossard wrote. “The festival, the media, us included. We retreated and became angry after many reports implied PJ was responsible.”

“Our words were nothing to help at that point,” he continued. “We hid and hoped that it wasn’t our fault. We have been trying our best to unhide ever since.”

Pearl Jam eventually did return to the stage for their planned U.S. tour in August 2000, though what happened at Roskilde still remains with them. Their song “Love Boat Captain,” included on the 2002 album Riot Act, references the tragedy in the lyric, “Lost nine friends we’ll never know.” The band members have also met some of the victims’ families.

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The Beach Boys will be spending July Fourth in Washington, D.C.

Mike Love and the band are booked to play A Capitol Fourth, the annual PBS special celebrating Independence Day.

The celebration will air July 4 at 8 p.m. ET and will feature a telecast of the fireworks live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

The program will be hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and will also feature performances by The Temptations, Trombone Shorty, country stars Josh Turner and LOCASH, Yolanda Adams and others. There will also be a special tribute in honor of the 250th anniversary of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as tributes for World War II heroes and first responders.

And speaking of The Beach Boys, following the news of Brian Wilson’s death on June 11 at age 82, music fans have been revisiting the band’s catalog.

Billboard reports that for the first time in over a decade, The Beach Boys have returned to the top 40 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Their 2003 compilation, Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys, climbed to #14.

The last time The Beach Boys were in the top 40 was with their 29th studio album, That’s Why God Made Radio, which was released in 2012 and got as high as #3. It was the last album to feature Wilson.

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Rod Stewart‘s “Legends Slot” performance Sunday afternoon at the U.K.’s Glastonbury festival featured not one, not two, but three different guest stars.

Lately, Rod’s live sets have included his version of the Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes song “If You Don’t Know Me by Now.” So on Sunday, about 15 songs into his set, he was joined by Mick Hucknall of the band Simply Red, who had a #1 hit with the tune in 1989. The two sang the song together.

Rod had previously teased that his former bandmate in the Faces, Ronnie Wood — who now plays guitar for The Rolling Stones — would be joining him at Glastonbury, and so he did: The two teamed up to perform the Faces’ classic song “Stay With Me.”

Wood then stuck around to play on a version of “Hot Legs,” during which Rod was joined by Lulu, the Scottish singer who’s best known in the U.S. for her 1967 #1 hit “To Sir With Love.”

Rod — who performed plenty of his own hits, including “Maggie May,” “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?,” “Some Guys Have All the Luck” and “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” — closed his set with “Sailing,” a song that flopped in the U.S., but is a beloved classic in the U.K.  In fact, it remains his biggest-selling single there.

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Paul Simon has been forced to cancel his June 28 and 29 shows at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music due to back problems.

“Paul has been struggling with chronic and intense back pain,” read the announcement on social media. “Today it became unmanageable and demands immediate attention.”

The post notes that both shows will not be rescheduled immediately.  However, it adds, “We are hopeful after this minor surgical procedure which has been scheduled in the next few days, Paul will be able to complete the tour as well as look into returning to make up these dates.”

Full refunds will be given to those with tickets to the two Philly shows.

Simon is currently on his A Quiet Celebration tour, which is his first full tour since 2018 and his first tour since releasing his 2023 album Seven Psalms. His next show is scheduled for July 7 in Long Beach, California. A complete list of dates can be found at PaulSimon.com.

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Metallica‘s blood drive in Denver ahead of their two shows at the Colorado capital’s Empower Field at Mile High stadium was the biggest in the history of the Denver Red Cross, according to a press release.

The two-day drive, held Monday and Tuesday, marked the finale of Metallica’s blood donation campaign, which took place in cities across the U.S. in connection with the metal band’s M72 tour. Those who donated had the opportunity to receive a limited-edition Metallica T-shirt.

Earlier in June, Metallica announced that the initiative had passed the 1,000 donations mark.

“Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood, and the need for blood donations increases during the spring and summer months,” Metallica said in launching the campaign. “By participating in these drives, the Metallica Family will help trauma victims, those facing cancer, new mothers, people living with sickle cell disease, and so many more.”

Metallica’s Denver shows take place Friday and Sunday, and currently mark the last scheduled U.S. dates on the M72 tour.

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Peter Gabriel has surprised fans with a new live album.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just released In the Big Room to digital services. The album is a recording of an intimate fan club show that took place in November 2003 in the Big Room at his Real World Studios in the U.K.

“I’d not really taken advantage of the Big Room as a performance space myself and when, in 2003, the opportunity came up, we grabbed it and offered the small number of seats to members of the Full Moon club,” Gabriel shares. “It was not part of a big tour so we weren’t as polished and rehearsed as we might have been while on tour, but it made for a more awake and edgy performance, as we were fully concentrating on what we were doing.”

Unlike his usual live shows, Gabriel notes that the performance didn’t include an “elaborate visual show,” instead “the whole focus was about making it sound good.”

The 14-track album features songs Gabriel performed during two tours: the 2002-03 Growing Up Live tour and 2004’s Still Growing Up Live tour. The album features performances of songs like “In Your Eyes,” “Shock the Monkey,” “Digging in the Dirt” and “More Than This.”

Here is the track list for In the Big Room:
“Burn You Up, Burn You Down”
“More Than This ”
“Games Without Frontiers”
“Downside Up”
“Mercy Street”
“Darkness”
“Digging In The Dirt”
“The Tower That Ate People”
“San Jacinto”
“Shock The Monkey”
“Signal To Noise”
“Secret World”
“Father, Son”
“In Your Eyes”

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While making the press rounds ahead of his performance at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, Rod Stewart openly admitted to ripping off one of his most famous songs — but he seems to think it’s OK because he didn’t profit from the theft.

While talking to The Times of London, Rod’s #1 hit “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” comes up. The paper notes that the chorus of the song is “remarkably similar” to the chorus of a song called “Taj Mahal,” by Brazilian singer Jorge Ben. In fact, Jorge sued Rod over it, and the case was settled amicably.

Rod claimed in his 2012 autobiography it was “unconscious plagiarism” because he was at Brazil’s Rio Carnival in 1978 and must have heard it then. But now he’s dropped the whole “unconscious” part of the story altogether.

Speaking to The Times, Rod comes right out and admits, “Oh yeah, I nicked it.” But, he added, “Never earned a penny out of it. All the royalties went to UNICEF.” 

It’s worth noting, though, that Rod only began donating the royalties from the song, which was released in 1978, in 1979, after Ben sued him.

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