Classic Rock News

The Beatles legend Paul McCartney turned 83 on Wednesday, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has now taken to social media to thank all the friends and fans who reached out to wish him a happy birthday.

“I wanna thank everyone who sent me beautiful birthday wishes,” he said in a video on his Instagram Story. “There were so many and they were all so soulful and thoughtful and made me have a really happy birthday.”

He added, “I had it with my kids and my grandkids and wife and her family. It was really beautiful. So thank you, people of the world. I love you. Thank you so much.”

Among the messages he received was an Instagram post from Barbra Streisand that read, “To Paul … Happy Birthday. Hope you’re celebrating with a little help from your friends … including me.”

Streisand and McCartney recently collaborated on a new version of his song “My Valentine” for Streisand’s upcoming album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two. The album comes out June 27.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Who’s Pete Townshend is opening up about the drama that led to the band firing their drummer, Zak Starkey.

Problems arose during The Who’s Teenage Cancer Trust shows at Royal Albert Hall in March, with Roger Daltrey calling out Starkey’s playing during “The Song is Over.”

“It’s been a mess,” Townshend shares in a new interview with The i Paper. “I couldn’t see anything wrong. What you see is a band who haven’t played together for a long time. But I think it was probably to do with the sound.”

He adds, “I think Roger just got lost. Roger’s finding it difficult.” He notes, “I have to be careful what I say about Roger because he gets angry if I say anything about him at all. He’ll be sacking me next.”

As for whether it was hard to let Starkey go, Townshend says he wasn’t the one who actually hired Zak in the first place: “Roger invited him in. … And at that time, I don’t know quite why he chose Zak, but Zak is another Keith Moon. He comes with real, real bonuses and real, real difficulties.”

He adds, “I will miss Zak terribly. … But quite what the story is, I don’t f***** know. I really don’t know.”

As for the band’s upcoming final tour of the U.S., Townshend doesn’t sound excited about it.

“I don’t know whether I’ve been up for doing anything with The Who since 1973,” he says. “But I am looking forward to it. Not because it’s the end, but because I hope that we can continue to explore other things.”

But those other things likely won’t be new music. Townshend says he wants to make another album but Daltrey doesn’t.

“He feels that we’ve got enough legacy, and that’s where we differ,” Townshend says.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Mötley Crüe has released a new take on their classic track “Home Sweet Home” featuring legendary singer Dolly Parton.

The release, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the tune, is the first track the band’s sharing from their upcoming album, From the Beginning, a new compilation described as “the story of Mötley Crüe told through their hits — from the Sunset Strip to the biggest stages in the world.”

“For an icon like Dolly Parton to sing on a song that has not only meant so much to us but to all the fans through the years, is a career high that means a lot to us,” the band shares. “We couldn’t be happier to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ‘Home Sweet Home’ in this special way, and we’re excited to share this version of the song with all the Dolly and Mötley fans around the world.”

Dolly adds, “It was an honor and a joy working in the studio on Mötley Crüe’s 40th Anniversary re-release of ‘Home Sweet Home.’ I was so pleased that they would ask me to sing on such a classic.”

“Home Sweet Home” is now available via digital outlets, with an accompanying video on YouTube. A portion of the proceeds from the song will be donated to Covenant House.

From the Beginning, dropping Sept. 12, will feature such songs as “Girls, Girls, Girls,” “Kickstart My Heart,” “Dr. Feelgood,” “Shout at the Devil” and “Smokin’ in the Boys Room,” along with their most recent single, “Dogs of War.” It is available for preorder now.

The album release will coincide with the kickoff of Mötley Crüe’s upcoming Las Vegas residency at Park MGM. These dates were originally scheduled for March, but were postponed due to frontman Vince Neil undergoing an unspecified medical procedure. 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, Jun 20, 1978…

Foreigner released their second studio album, Double Vision, which peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart.

The album featured such future Foreigner classics as the title track, which spent two weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “Hot Blooded,”  which went to #3.

The album was the last with the band’s original bassist Ed Gagliardi, who was replaced by Rick Wills.

Double Vision was a huge commercial success for Foreigner, and went Platinum just a week after release. It has since been certified seven-times Platinum by the RIAA.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bruce Springsteen is giving fans some insight into his upcoming box set with a 17-minute short film, Inside Tracks II: The Lost Albums.

“The Lost Albums are records that were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released,” he says in the clip. “For one reason or another something I felt was missing from some of them, or they just didn’t feel complete at the time.” He adds, “I often read about myself in the ’90s as having some lost period or something … really I was working the whole time.”

Tracks II includes seven albums that have never been released before — LA Garage Sessions ’83, Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, Faithless, Somewhere North of Nashville, Inyo, Twilight Hours and Perfect World — and in the film Springsteen and essayist Erik Flanningan go through each one of them individually, as music from the records play in the background. The black and white film also features archival footage of Springsteen in the studio recording the albums.

Springsteen ends the video by teasing a follow-up to Tracks II.

“During Covid, the pandemic, where what I did for that period of time was I finished everything I had in my vault,” he says. “So this is Tracks II: The Lost Albums, but there will be a Tracks III.”

Tracks II: The Lost Albums will be released June 27. It is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dave Grohl drums on the new Ed Sheeran song, “Drive,” recorded for the upcoming movie F1.

With some help from the Foo Fighters frontman’s beat, “Drive” is more of a rock song then you might expect from the “Shape of You” star, though Sheeran has performed with bands including Bring Me the Horizon and The Offspring.

Still, “Drive” falls more into the pop-rock genre — if you’re waiting for metal Ed Sheeran, keep an eye out for his upcoming collaboration with Cradle of Filth, which is a real thing.

You can listen to “Drive” now via digital outlets, and watch its accompanying video streaming now on YouTube.

F1, which stars Brad Pitt as a Formula One racer, hits theaters June 27. 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett is sharing another preview of his upcoming live album, The Lamb Stands Up Live at the Royal Albert Hall, which will be released July 11.

The album is a live recording from Hackett’s U.K. tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legendary Genesis concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. He just released a video featuring a live performance of the track “Fly on a Windshield,” featuring a guest appearance from Marillion’s Steve Rothery.

Hackett calls the performance “one of my favorite moments on the album,” noting, “I very much enjoyed creating my guitar contribution for this track, and on this release is also Steve Rothery’s fabulous contribution, as we exchange licks.”

The Lamb Stands Up Live at the Royal Albert Hall will be released as a special-edition two-CD and Blu-ray set, as well as on vinyl as a deluxe four-LP set. Both are available for preorder now.

Hackett is set to revisit The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway once again this fall when he brings his Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights and Solo tour to North America. The trek kicks off Oct. 4 in Ithaca, New York, and wraps Nov. 22 in Portland, Oregon. A complete list of dates can be found at hackettsongs.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bruce Springsteen fans can look forward to a new album next year. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, The Boss gave an update on what he’s been working on, sharing, “I have a record finished.”

Although he didn’t offer up too many details, he says, “It’s a solo record … I would imagine it will come out in ’26 sometime.”

The Boss also reconfirmed previous reports that he’s recorded a follow-up to 2022’s Only the Strong Survive, which was filled with classic soul and R&B covers.

“It’s been finished for quite a while,” he says. “The covers records are things I make for my own amusement and entertainment when I’m not writing. It was just a project that I had a lot of fun doing. And I love all that music, I love all those songs and those singers.”

He adds, “So I do have another one, and there’s other covers things I’ve done that were not necessarily soul-related, so it’s another project.”

Springsteen also set the record straight about the long-rumored all-band version of his 1982 solo album Nebraska, first insisting to the mag “it doesn’t exist.”

“We tried to do a few songs with the band for a few minor electric versions of Nebraska, maybe something else, I’m not sure,” he says. “But that record simply doesn’t exist.”

But he later corrected himself, leaving a voice message for the journalist he talked to: “I checked our vault and there IS an electric Nebraska record, though it does not have the full album of songs.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Looks like we can expect to hear some new music from ASIA soon.

The band – whose current lineup includes founding member Geoff Downes, drummer Virgil Donati, guitarist John Mitchell and vocalist and bassist Harry Whitley – has just signed a new record deal with Frontiers Music Srl.

“ASIA is thrilled to have recently signed a new deal with Frontiers Music Srl,” Downes shares, noting they are “now entering an exciting new chapter in the band’s 45-year history with a sequence of live albums, DVDs and a brand new studio album scheduled for a 2026 release.”

He adds of the label, “It’s very much a homecoming for the band, and so we are greatly looking forward to a long and fruitful partnership with them in the future. Watch this space!”

Formed in 1981, ASIA was made up of  John Wetton, Steve Howe, Downes, and Carl Palmer, all members of well known prog rock groups.  Their 1982 self-titled debut hit #1 in the U.S., thanks to songs like “Heat of the Moment” and “Only Time Will Tell.”

The band has gone through multiple lineup changes over the years, with the original four reuniting in 2006, until Howe retired from the band in 2013. Wetton passed away in 2016. Different lineups continued to tour over the years, with the new lineup launching their first tour in 2024.

ASIA released their last album, Gravitas, in 2014.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Neil Young launched his love earth tour with his new band The Chrome Hearts in Rättvik, Sweden, on Wednesday, treating fans to some classic hits, as well as tunes he hasn’t played in a while.

According to setlist.fm, Young kicked things off with a solo performance of “Sugar Mountain,” sprinkling the 15-song set with fan favorites like “Harvest Moon,” “Cinnamon Girl,” “F*****’ Up,” “Old Man,” “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” and “Like a Hurricane.”

He also performed a solo version of “The Needle and the Damage Done” for the first time since 2019; the Greendale tracks “Sun Green” for the first time since 2004 and “Be the Rain” for the first time since 2014; and the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song “Looking Forward” for the first time since 2000.

Young ended the night with his iconic track “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Missing from the set were any songs from Talkin To the Trees, Young’s recently released album with The Chrome Hearts.

Young’s love earth tour hits Bergen, Norway, on Friday. He is set to play the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival on June 28. The tour comes to North America Aug. 8 in Charlotte, North Carolina. A complete list of dates can be found at NeilYoungArchives.com.

The tour is Young’s first trek since cancelling his 2024 tour with Crazy Horse due to health issues. Prior to that he went on a small West Coast tour in summer 2023, which was his first since 2019.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.