Classic Rock News

R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe is one of the many artists contributing to a new double vinyl compilation called Democracy Forward, dropping July 4.

The double album is being released by the legal organization Democracy Forward and The Bitter Southerner, with Stipe’s contribution listed as “Invocation.”

Other artists on the album include Wilco, Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Jim James, John Prine and Tyler Childers.

Proceeds from the album benefit Democracy Forward, which is dedicated to defending democracy, the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.

“Democracy Forward is committed to using every legal tool available to protect our nation’s values, its people and the rule of law. We are also determined to help people build community, find courage and fight for their rights,” Skye L. Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, shares on the album’s sleeve. “We are grateful to the incredible artists who are supporting these goals with their music and voices. Each of us has a role to play in strengthening our democracy, and every voice can make a difference.”

Democracy Forward is available for preorder now.

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Back in March KISS announced the KISS Army Storms Vegas fan event, which will feature an unmasked electric performance by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, but now Stanley says plans for the event may be changing.

In a new appearance on the Broken Record Podcast, Stanley says they will still perform, but the plan is to make some changes so it more closely represents a KISS Kruise.

“It started off as something, honestly, that Gene and I kind of took a back seat in, and, honestly, we reached a point not too far in the past where we both said, ‘You know what? This isn’t the way we want it,'” Stanley says of the Vegas event. “And it’s going to go through some major changes to be what we think it should be,” noting, “we needed to put our big hands into this and we needed to steer the ship.”

KISS Army Storms Vegas will take place Nov. 14-16 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. In addition to Stanley and Simmons, it will feature KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer, along with former KISS member Bruce Kulick, Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach and others. Stanley says they also plan to add more bands to the bill.

“It doesn’t need a ship. It will have all the familiar touchstones that people love about a KISS Kruise,” he says. “To do it in Vegas at the Virgin hotel, it’s gonna be everything that people want and have been hoping for.”

Tickets for KISS Army Storms Vegas are on sale now.

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Lenny Kravitz has paid musical tribute to Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Sly Stone, frontman of the legendary group Sly and the Family Stone, whose death was announced Monday. He was 82.

Kravitz shared video on Instagram of him playing guitar to Sly and the Family Stone’s classic track “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” captioning the post, “GOOD MORNING and THANK YOU SLY.”

Kravitz had previously shared a tribute to Sly on his Instagram Story, sharing a photo of the musician with the caption “Sly FOREVER.”

The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger also paid tribute, sharing a photo and writing, “Thanks for the inspirational music Sly.”

Other rockers who remembered Stone on social media include KISS’ Paul Stanley, Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes, E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt and Bachman-Turner Overdrive‘s Randy Bachman.

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Bob Dylan appears to be throwing his support behind the upcoming album by Machine Gun Kelly.

Mgk just announced his new album, lost americana, will release on Aug. 8. He shared an album trailer, narrated by what certainly sounds like the “Like A Rolling Stone” singer.

“Lost americana is a personal excavation of the American dream, a journey to find what’s been lost,” the voice-over says. “This album is a love letter to those who seek to rediscover the dreamers, the drifters, the defiant. It’s a sonic map of forgotten places, a tribute to the spirit of reinvention and a quest to reclaim the authentic essence of American freedom.”

It continues, “From the glow of neon diners to the rumble of the motorcycles, this is music that celebrates the beauty found in the in-between spaces where the past is reimagined and the future is forged on your own terms.”

As for why Dylan would be voicing an mgk album trailer, you may recall back in February the folk legend inexplicably posted a video of the “Bloody Valentine” artist performing in a record store some years back. In a May social media post, mgk hinted that he’d since met Dylan.

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Bachman-Turner Overdrive has extended their Roll On Down The Highway 2025 tour into the fall.

The “Taking Care of Business” rockers have announced eight new East Coast dates, kicking off Oct. 23 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The tour hits Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., before wrapping Nov. 3 in North Tonawanda, New York.

Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. local time.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Roll On Down The Highway 2025 tour is set to launch July 13 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Some of the dates are co-headlining shows with The Marshall Tucker Band, featuring Jefferson Starship as special guest.

A complete list of dates can be found at btoband.com.

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It was 40 years ago that Mick Jagger and David Bowie teamed up for their iconic collaboration on the Motown classic “Dancing in the Street.” To mark the occasion, the single is being reissued as a limited-edition white vinyl 12-inch, featuring all of the song’s mixes for the first time.

The announcement of the reissue comes 40 years to the day that the Live Aid benefit concert was announced. The two shows, which took place July 13, 1985, in London and Philadelphia, raised money for famine relief in Ethiopia.

The video for “Dancing in the Street,” which has now been upgraded to 4K high resolution from the original negative, debuted prior to Bowie’s set at London’s Wembley Stadium. The official track was released on Aug. 27, 1985, with proceeds also benefiting famine relief. 

“We had such a laugh doing ‘Dancing in the Street’ with both the song recorded in the studio and the video done in one day. Remarkable how we pulled it off really,” Jagger shares. “The video is hilarious to watch now. We enjoyed camping it up and trying to impersonate each other’s moves, making it up as we went along. It was the only time David and myself collaborated on anything, which is a real shame.”

The new reissue is set to drop Aug. 29 and is available for preorder now. Thirty percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Band Aid Charitable Trust, which continues the work to end famine in Ethiopia.

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On This Day, June 10, 1985…

Forty years ago, Talking Heads released their sixth studio album, Little Creatures, which turned out to be the band’s most commercially successful release.

The album featured a slew of radio friendly hits, including the single “And She Was,” which peaked at #54 on the Billboard Hot 100, but also landed at #11 on the Mainstream Rock charts, as well as in the top 40 on two Billboard dance charts.

Thanks to two other popular songs, “Stay Up Late” and “Road to Nowhere,” Little Creatures became a top 20 hit for Talking Heads, and went on to sell over two million copies in the U.S.

Talking Heads went on to release two more albums after Little Creatures, 1986’s True Stories and 1988’s Naked, before breaking up in 1991.

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Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has announced a reworked edition of his 1994 solo album, Balls to Picasso.

Dubbed More Balls to Picasso, the set is described as a “brand-new part re-recorded, remixed and newly mastered version” of the original album.

“While mixing all my catalogue into Dolby Atmos I had a nagging desire to revisit and reinvent the record,” Dickinson shares. “So putting more balls into Balls… was a labor of love.”

More Balls to Picasso is due out July 25. You can listen to the updated recording of the song “Gods of War” via digital outlets.

Dickinson released his latest solo album, The Mandrake Project, in 2024, marking his first solo effort in nearly 20 years. He’ll support the record on a North American solo tour that kicks off in August.

Iron Maiden is currently on tour in Europe.

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Yes is hitting the road this fall.

The progressive rockers — currently made up of Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen — have announced dates for The Fragile Tour 2025, The Album Series. The tour will have them playing their 1971 album Fragile in its entirety, along with other classic hits.

The tour will also incorporate Yes’ iconic visuals, including Fragile’s cover, which was designed by Roger Dean, who also designed other Yes album covers and their logo. The band is set to perform in front of a video, which will show AI interpretations of Dean’s art.

The Fragile Tour 2025, The Album Series kicks off Oct. 1 in Wallingford, Connecticut, and wraps Nov. 16 in Reno, Nevada.

Tickets for most shows go on sale Friday at yesworld.com/live.

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David Byrne is back with his first solo album since 2018’s American Utopia.

The former Talking Heads frontman will release Who Is the Sky? on Sept. 5, and has recruited some special guests to join him, including St. Vincent, Paramore’s Hayley Williams and The Smile drummer Tom Skinner.

The album features songs arranged by the members of New York-based chamber ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra, and Byrne is previewing the record with the release of the track “Everybody Laughs.”

“Someone I know said, ‘David, you use the word ‘everybody’ a lot.’ I suppose I do that to give an anthropological view of life in New York as we know it,” says Byrne. “Everybody lives, dies, laughs, cries, sleeps and stares at the ceiling. Everybody’s wearing everybody else’s shoes, which not everybody does, but I have done.”

He continues, “I tried to sing about these things that could be seen as negative in a way balanced by an uplifting feeling from the groove and the melody, especially at the end, when St. Vincent and I are doing a lot of hollering and singing together.”

Who Is the Sky? is available for preorder now in a variety of formats, including a limited edition cantaloupe orange/strawberry pink split vinyl with a lenticular cover.

Byrne has also announced a new tour in support of the album, which will kick off in North America on Sept. 14 in Providence, Rhode Island, wrapping with two nights in Miami, Dec. 5 and 6.

An artist presale is happening now through Thursday at 10 p.m. local time, with tickets going on sale to the general public starting Friday at 10 a.m. local time. A complete list of dates can be found at DavidByrne.com.

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