Classic Rock News

On This Day, May 5, 1981 …

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers released their fourth studio album, Hard Promises.

The album featured the future Petty classic “The Waiting,” as well as “Insider,” a duet with Stevie Nicks. It was recorded around the same time Petty and Nicks recorded her hit “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which Petty and Mike Campbell wrote. It eventually appeared on Nicks’ debut solo album, Bella Donna, and went to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Hard Promises‘ release was delayed when Petty and his label, MCA, went to war over the album’s list price. MCA wanted to sell it for $9.98, a dollar more than its other releases. After Petty threatened to call the album Eight Ninety-Eight, MCA backed down.

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On Saturday, while Sammy Hagar was in Las Vegas performing Van Halen classics during his The Best of All Worlds residency, the band’s original lead singer, David Lee Roth, was performing them also — in Maryland.

Roth hit the stage Saturday for the first time since 2020, during his headlining show at the annual M3 Rock Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Roth treated crowds to a 16-song set filled with Van Halen tunes.

According to setlist.fm, Roth kicked things off with “Panama,” and went on to perform such classic Van Halen tracks as “Dance the Night Away,” “Running with the Devil,” “Jamie’s Cryin'” “Hot for Teacher” and “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love,” along with the band’s Kinks cover, “You Really Got Me,” “And The Cradle Will Rock,” “Everybody Wants Some” and more.

He ended the night with “Jump,”  Van Halen’s only #1 single.

The M3 Rock Festival set was the singer’s first public performance since March 2020, when he opened for KISS in Lubbock, Texas. A Las Vegas residency that was supposed to begin in December 2021 was billed as his final shows, but it was subsequently canceled.

Roth has one other show booked for this year: He’s set to play The Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California, on Sept. 12.

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The Rolling Stones are set to release their iconic album Exile on Main St. on limited-edition red vinyl.

The reissue is part of The Stones’ #StonesRed series, with only 2,000 copies on double red vinyl available worldwide. The release will be available starting Friday at 9 a.m. at The Stones’ RS No. 9 Carnaby Street store in London and online starting at 5 p.m. GMT.

“Rolling back to where rebellion began,” reads a post about the release on Instagram, calling the album an “essential piece of @therollingstones history, remastered and ready to spin again over 50 years since its original release.”

The Stones have released several albums as part of their #StonesRed series, including 2016’s Blue and Lonesome, 1973’s Goats Head Soup, 1971’s Sticky Fingers and 1976’s Black and Blue.

Released in 1972, Exile on Main St. was a #1 album for The Stones and featured such classic songs as “Happy” featuring Keith Richards on vocals, “Tumbling Dice,” “Rocks Off,” “Rip This Joint” and “All Down the Line.”

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A new book focused on The Who’s early tours of America has just been released, and the rockers are giving one lucky fan a chance to win a copy, along with an exclusive giclée print of the band.

Their Generation: The Who In America 1967-69 features photos from Tom Wright, the band’s official photographer and U.S. tour manager, with a foreword by Pete Townshend. According to the description, Wright’s collection “captures The Who on and off stage, from their raw energy at the Fillmore to quiet moments on the road.”

The print that comes with the book is individually stamped with Tom’s signature and embossed with his estate’s official mark.

Fans have until May 16 to enter the contest, and they’ll need to follow @omnibuspress and @officialthewho on Instagram to be eligible. One winner will be chosen at random.

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Bruce Springsteen is apparently not the biggest fan of his famous nickname.

“‘The Boss’, which dogged me my whole life, still does,” he shared on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast. “I’ve gotten used to it. I’ve given up and gotten used to it, I suppose.”

Bruce added that he got the name after someone heard his crew calling him that when they got paid.

“‘Hey, boss.’ You know? ‘Are we getting paid this week?’ ‘Sure,'” he recalled. “And then some DJ heard it and started using it on the radio and it, you know, went viral, as they say. And so there it is.”

During the discussion, Springsteen also talked about the history of mental illness in his family.

Springsteen said his childhood had been “difficult,” noting it was “exacerbated by the fact that my father was plagued by mental illness most of his life.”

He said he also had a “pretty good breakdown” when he was 32, explaining, “By the time I came out of Born in the U.S.A., I’d been in two years of analysis.”

“And my family was filled with mental illness, my aunts, my uncles, my pop, and it just was in our blood, so I had to deal with it, too,” he shared. “And thankfully, (his manager) Mr. [Jon] Landau had some experience with it and directed me in to get some help, which I did.”

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Neil Young has finally announced details of his new album with The Chrome Hearts.

The rocker and his new band will release Talkin To The Trees on June 13. The album is Young’s first with The Chrome Hearts — organist Spooner Oldham, guitarist Micah Nelson, bassist Corey McCormick and drummer Anthony LoGerfo.

Young released the first single from the record, “Big Change,” back in January and now they’ve shared the second single, “Let’s Roll Again.” This one is a protest song that has Young calling out American car companies Ford and GM, while also taking a dig at Elon Musk by singing “if you’re a fascist, then get a Tesla.”

The title of the song may sound a bit familiar to Young fans. He had a song on his 2002 album Are You Passionate? titled “Let’s Roll,” which was written about the Sept. 11 attacks and the bravery of the passengers on United Flight 93.

Next up, Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts will set out on a world tour, starting June 18 in Rättvik, Sweden. It hits the U.S. Aug. 8 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Talkin To The Trees is available for preorder now. Here is the track list:
“Family Life”
“Dark Mirage”
“First Fire Of Winter”
“Silver Eagle”
“Let’s Roll Again”
“Big Change”
“Talkin To The Trees”
“Movin Ahead”
“Bottle Of Love”
“Thankful”

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Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were back onstage together Wednesday night for a San Francisco show benefiting Tyler’s organization Janie’s Fund.

Photos from the evening were posted to Aerosmith’s Instagram with the caption, “The #ToxicTwins back in the saddle for a great night benefitting Janie’s Fund in San Francisco!”

The post also thanked the night’s other performers: Cheap Trick’s Robin Zanders, The Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson, drummer Matt Sorum, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, bassist James Lomenzo, guitarist Phil X, singer Suzie McNeil and keyboardist Buck Johnson.

According to the set list shared on Aerosmith’s Instagram Story, Tyler and Perry teamed up for Aerosmith classics “Toys in the Attic,” “Same Old Song And Dance,” “Sweet Emotion,” “Dream On” and “Walk This Way,” with all of the performers joining for the encores of “Train Kept A Rollin’” and The Beatles classic “Come Together.”

This marks the first time Tyler and Perry have performed together since September 2023, when Tyler fractured his larynx onstage during Aerosmith’s Peace Out tour. After rescheduling the dates, Aerosmith canceled the tour in 2024 and announced their retirement from the road.

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The lineup for the upcoming Black Sabbath reunion/farewell concert keeps getting larger.

In an article about the show that includes interviews with Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne for The Guardian, the writer notes, “[W]hen I speak to Sharon, she informs me that Soundgarden and Aerosmith‘s Steven Tyler are the latest additions.”

Presumably, Sharon is referring to surviving Soundgarden members Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd. The trio has performed together multiple times since the 2017 death of frontman Chris Cornell, including at the 2019 Cornell tribute concert and most recently in December with guest vocalist Shaina Shepherd.

Soundgarden was also just announced as an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The Black Sabbath concert, dubbed Back to the Beginning, will take place July 5 in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England. It will be headlined by original Sabbath members Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, and will also feature an Ozzy solo set, all of which will mark the Prince of Darkness’ last-ever live performance.

Ozzy, who’s been dealing with various health issues that have kept him from performing a full live show for nearly seven years, tells The Guardian that he and Sabbath will be “only playing a couple of songs each.”

The rest of the lineup includes Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Slayer, Alice in Chains, Pantera and Halestorm.

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The Silverlake Conservatory of Music, the music education organization co-founded by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, has released an EP paying tribute to Pretenders.

The set includes recordings of the Pretenders songs “The Wait,” “Show Me” and “Talk of the Town” performed by the SCM All-Stars, described in a press release as “an ensemble of the Conservatory’s exceptional youth musicians.”

“Music education! From the lesson room, to the practice at home, to the band rehearsal, to letting it all out in the recording studio. And now, to your earholes!” says Flea, who executive produced the EP. “The kids at the Silverlake Conservatory of Music have recorded something incredible, and the first three songs, an homage to The Pretenders, are out today.”

Flea adds, “Please support the kids, support music education, listen to it and cheer them on. Thank youuuuuuuu!”

You can listen to the EP now via digital outlets. All proceeds will benefit the Silverlake Conservatory, as will Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde‘s mechanical royalties.

The Silverlake Conservatory also plans to release Neil Young and Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute EPs in July and September, respectively.

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R.E.M. has released a new EP to help support a free press.

The Athens rockers, who broke up in 2011, just released the five-track benefit EP Radio Free Europe 2025. The release coincides with World Press Freedom Day, which is Saturday.

The EP includes a never-before-released 2025 remix of the title track from the band’s longtime collaborator Jacknife Lee, as well as the original 1981 mix of the song and one other mix by producer Mitch Easter. It also features the never-before-released demo “Wh. Tornado” and the B-side “Sitting Still.”

The release also celebrates the 75th anniversary of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which currently broadcasts news and information in 27 languages to 23 countries.

“Whether it’s music or a free press – censorship anywhere is a threat to the truth everywhere,” frontman Michael Stipe says. “On World Press Freedom Day, I’m sending a shout-out to the brave journalists at Radio Free Europe.”

“Radio Free Europe’s journalists have been pissing off dictators for 75 years. You know you’re doing your job when you make the right enemies,” bassist Mike Mills adds. “Happy World Press Freedom Day to the ‘OG’ Radio Free Europe.”

Radio Free Europe 2025 is available now via digital outlets. It will also be released as a limited-edition orange vinyl on Sept. 12 via the band’s official store and at independent record stores. Proceeds from the vinyl sales will benefit RFE/RL.

Released in July 1981, “Radio Free Europe” was the first single released by R.E.M. It eventually appeared on their 1983 debut album, Murmur.

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