Classic Rock News

Metallica’s classic tune “Master of Puppets” is the latest track to join Spotify’s Billions Club.

The rockers shared on social media that they are “psyched” by the song’s latest milestone and thanked their fans for the support, adding, “Send it on its way to two billion, and listen to every member of the Billions Club.”

“Master of Puppets” is the title track of Metallica’s third studio album, which was released in 1986. The song was a top-40 hit for the band. In 2015 it became the first heavy metal song to be selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

More recently, the song had a pivotal role in the fourth season finale of Netflix’s Stranger Things, which sparked a renewed interest in the tune and a resurgence on the Spotify charts.

“Master of Puppets” is now the third Metallica track to join Spotify’s Billions Club, after “Enter Sandman” and “Nothing Else Matters.”

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Little Feat is giving fans another preview of their upcoming album, Strike Up the Band, which will be released on May 9.

The latest is the track “Midnight Flight,” which Little Feat’s Scott Sharrard says he wrote shortly after joining the band in 2020.

“Looking back on it, I feel like this song blends the sonic palate [sic] of Freddie King’s albums with Leon Russell and the sound we all love so much, which we heard on Little Feat’s ‘comeback’ album, Let It Roll,” Sharrard says. “It’s got that boogie feel that gets people up.”

“Midnight Flight” is available now via digital outlets.

In addition to the song, Little Feat just announced a three-night festival in upstate New York. Feat Fest 2025 will be held Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 at the Bearsville Theatre in Woodstock and will be recorded for a possible live album.

Tickets for Feat Fest go on sale Friday.

Next up, Little Feat will hit the road for a new tour that kicks off May 5 in Rutland, Vermont. A complete list of dates can be found at LittleFeat.net.
 

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Richie Sambora is opening up about his participation in last year’s Bon Jovi docuseries on Hulu, Thank You Good Night: The Bon Jovi Story, and it doesn’t sound like he had the best experience.

During an appearance on Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast, Richie said he was asked to sit down for an interview that lasted 30 minutes to an hour, noting the questions he was asked were “unintelligent” and “did not demand any depth of answer.”

He also shared that of the things he did say, “none of it really got in the documentary.”

As for what he had hoped the docuseries would show, Sambora says, “So it’s the band’s 40th anniversary, we did some unbelievable things — mention those things, show … what that feeling was like.”

Sambora also discussed his love life during the interview, revealing that he’s been in a “wonderful relationship” for over two years, although he did not identify his partner.

“To fall in love at 63, with the wisdom … and she’s also smart. And she’s also healthy and beautiful and 60,” Sambora shares. “It’s a different way, it invigorates you very much. It’s a different way to fall in love.”

Sambora was married to actress Heather Locklear from 1994 to 2007. They share a daughter, Ava.

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It’s official – Bruce Springsteen is releasing his long awaited follow-up to 1998’s box set Tracks.

The Boss just announced that Tracks II: The Lost Albums, featuring seven previously unheard Springsteen records, will be released June 27. The set will feature 83 songs, all of which were originally recorded between 1983 and 2018. Of those songs, 82 have never been released before and 74 have never been heard before.

“I often read about myself in the ’90s as having some sort of ‘lost’ period or something. Not really, really I was working the whole time,” Springsteen said in a video announcing the project. “During the pandemic, what I did for that period of time, I finished everything I had in my vault. So this is Tracks II. The Lost Albums are records that were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed, and not released.”

And Springsteen is giving fans their first preview of the set with the release of “Rain in the River,” from the lost album Perfect World. It is available now via digital outlets. He also plans to release new singles and content each week at lostalbums.net.

Tracks II: The Lost Albums will be released digitally, and as limited-edition 9-LP and 7-CD sets. The physical copies come with packaging for each previously unreleased record, along with a 100-page hardcover book with rare archival photos, liner notes, a personal introduction from Springsteen and more.

In addition, Springsteen will release Lost and Found: Selections from The Lost Albums, featuring 20 songs from the collection, as a single CD and 2-LP set.

Tracks II: The Lost Albums is available for preorder now.

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren is giving fans a chance to own some of his personal equipment. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is now selling signed guitars, amps, foot peddles and other items on Reverb.

Lofgren revealed on Instagram that the Official Nils Lofgren Reverb Shop now has 50 new items available. He’s used all the gear on tour and in the studio, not only with the E Street Band, but also when backing Neil Young in Crazy Horse and in his solo work.

“Over the last decades, in the studios and on stage, these are great pieces that have served me well,” he shared.

More info can be found at reverb.com.

Lofgren is getting ready to break out his equipment once again. Bruce and the E Street Band are set to kick off a U.K. and European tour on May 14 in Manchester, England. A complete list of dates can be found at BruceSpringsteen.com.

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The Doors drummer John Densmore has paid tribute to actor Val Kilmer, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 65.

Kilmer starred as The Doors frontman Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s film The Doors, and Densmore shared a photo of himself with the actor on social media.

“The gifted actor, Val Kilmer, who miraculously played Jim (Morrison) in The Doors movie, has broke on thru to the other side,” he wrote, quoting the band’s famous song “Break on Through (To the Other Side).” “RIP.”

Released in 1991, The Doors grossed $34 million in the U.S. In addition to Kilmer, it starred Meg Ryan as Morrison’s girlfriend Pamela Courson, Kevin Dillon as Densmore, Kyle MacLachlan as keyboardist Ray Manzarek and Frank Whaley as guitarist Robby Krieger.

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The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood doesn’t seem too keen on modern music.

Wood and The Who‘s Roger Daltrey recently attended a launch event in London for a new book about Buddy Holly. During a Q&A Wood shared his thoughts on music today, The Standard reports.

“We were throwing s*** at the wall and some of it stuck,” he said of The Stones’ music. “There’s something about the technology I feel personally, we’re losing the essence of the heartbeat.”

He added, “Maybe it’s because I’m older, but there’s not much new music.”

Words Of Love: Buddy Holly was conceived in 2017 by Daltrey and features cover art from Wood. It shares Holly’s life and legacy through never-before-seen photos and personal items, along with stories by his widow, María Elena Holly, and contributions from artists like Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Pete Townshend, Van Morrison and Queen‘s Brian May.

The book is being released April 8, with proceeds going to Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America, the cancer charities co-founded by Daltrey and Townshend.

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Joan Jett & The Blackhearts and Cheap Trick are set to headline the main stage at the upcoming Taste of Minnesota festival, July 5 and July 6 in downtown Minneapolis.

The rockers will play opening day of the festival, with rapper Ludacris playing day two.

Taste of Minnesota, an outdoor music and food festival, is free and open to the public. More info can be found at taste-of-minnesota.square.site.

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ next show is April 12 in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. They are also set to join Billy Idol on his It’s A Nice Day To …Tour Again tour, starting April 30 in Phoenix, Arizona. A complete list of dates can be found at JoanJett.com.

Cheap Trick is currently on Heart’s Royal Flush tour, which hits Montreal on Wednesday. They also have several other dates on the schedule, including an appearance at New Orleans’ Jazz Fest on April 25. A complete list of dates can be found at CheapTrick.com.

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Who Believes in Angels?, Elton John‘s collaborative album with Brandi Carlile, comes out on April 4. And Elton says he really hopes it will make people all over the world sit up and take notice of his Grammy-winning pal.

Speaking to Billboard, Elton says, “My ambition for her with this album was to break her internationally. She’s a well-known artist in America, but in the rest of the world, she has a lot of work to do.”

Noting that Brandi “blew people away” when she performed in England last year, he adds, “This album hopefully will open all those doors that she deserves to walk through and become the international artist that she should be.”

Elton says as much as he hopes they’ll make another album, he wants her to do her own album first, “because we don’t want to become Steve and Eydie.” Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé were a married pop vocal duo who were popular in the ’60s. 

And as far as his own recording plans, Elton is clear that Who Believes in Angels? won’t be his last album — especially because the final song, “When This Old World Is Done With Me,” is about his own mortality.

“I don’t want it to be the last song people hear about me,” he says. “I’ve got more songs in me than that.”

In other Brandi/Elton collab news, a New York City pop-up store will be open Friday and Saturday, selling Who Believes in Angels? vinyls and merch, as well as archival Elton merch. The pop-up at 19 E. Houston St. will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET.

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Bruce Springsteen has confirmed that the cryptic tease he posted on Tuesday had to do with the release of the long-awaited Tracks II.

Although he didn’t share full details, The Boss’ latest Instagram post reveals he will be sharing news of what he’s calling Tracks II: The Lost Albums on Thursday.

Springsteen first teased fans with news of an announcement by posting a recording session log from his Thrill Hill Recording company, with the date April 3 written on the top. Written on the document was the statement, “What was lost has now been found.” The name “Springsteen” is stamped at the bottom.

The original Tracks, released in 1998, was a four-disc set that contained 66 songs, comprised of single B-sides, demos and alternate versions of already-released material. Many of the songs on the set had never been released before.

A possible follow-up is something Springsteen has talked about in the past. When asked about it in 2022, he told Rolling Stone, “Yes. I have a box set of five unreleased albums that are basically post-1988.”

The project was also teased in a December press release from his publicist, which noted, “Upcoming releases in 2025 will include a look back at Springsteen’s storied recording career, featuring never-before-heard material.”

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