Classic Rock News

The Beatles are back on the Billboard charts thanks to Anthology 4, the new addition to the band’s Anthology series, which was recently reissued.

Anthology 4 features 36 tracks, including 13 previously unreleased demos, session recordings and more. It debuted in the top 10 on five Billboard charts, including both the Top Albums Sales and Top Current Album Sales charts, where it landed at #9.

The album is also at #7 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, #6 on the Top Rock Albums chart and #3 on the Indie Store Album Sales chart.

Anthology 4 was released as a standalone and was also part of the larger The Anthology Collection box set, with both debuting at #48 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. The Collection includes the first three Anthology releases, which originally came out in the ’90s, and hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and the Top Album Sales chart.

The release of The Anthology Collection coincided with the Disney+ debut of the newly restored and remastered version of the Anthology documentary series, which aired on ABC in 1995. The new version was expanded from eight to nine episodes. A 25th anniversary edition of The Beatles Anthology book was also released in October.

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The Tom Petty estate has released a new ultra-limited edition vinyl of The Live Anthology – From The Vaults Vol. 1.

The new “Cool Blue” pressing of the album is limited to 2,000 individually numbered copies and is available now at TomPetty.com.

This colored variant follows the recent Record Store Day Black Friday release of a special turquoise version, which was limited to 11,000 copies.

The Live Anthology – From The Vaults Vol. 1. is made up of live tracks personally curated by Petty himself. The collection was originally issued as a bonus CD in the 2009 five-CD box set, The Live Anthology, and until now had never been available as a standalone vinyl release.

The album includes live performances of songs like “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” “The Last DJ” and “I Need To Know,” along with deep cuts like “Like A Diamond,” “Think About Me” and “Ballad of Easy Rider.”

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Aerosmith and Yungblud have released a new version of the One More Time track “Wild Woman” featuring country star Lainey Wilson.

Steven Tyler and Yungblud decided to ask Lainey to add her vocals to the track after she joined Tyler to perform the Aerosmith classic “Dream On” at his sixth annual Jam for Janie benefit in February. Joe Perry later went in and added new guitar parts to the track.

“I’m really hyped to have Lainey Wilson jump on this record with us. I have been a fan of her for a while. Her story is inspirational” says Yungblud. “With this record, we really needed a female vocalist who could carry it with the level of authenticity that Lainey embodies. We needed a wild woman and we for sure got one!”

“Wild Woman (Lainey Wilson Version)” is available now via digital outlets.

One More Time, released in November, is the first collaborative EP between Aerosmith and Yungblud. The record debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200 and at #1 on the U.K. Official Chart.

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Pink Floyd has announced a set of pop-ups to celebrate the upcoming release of Wish You Were Here 50, celebrating the 50th anniversary of their iconic ninth studio album.

Starting Dec. 12, the day of Wish You Were Here 50’s release, the Pink Floyd x News & Coffee Studio pop-up stores will open in London, Los Angeles, Barcelona and Paris, transforming each newsstand location into a specially curated space. There will also be pop-ups at stores in Berlin and Milan.

Available at the four main locations will be a Wish You Were Here 50 edition of Pink Floyd’s Brain Damage fanzine, limited to 250 numbered copies, featuring covers exclusive to each city. There will also be a global edition, limited to 1,000 copies, available in Berlin and Milan, and on the band’s website.

Fans can also get their hands on a limited-edition white vinyl anniversary pressing of Wish You Were Here, which will be exclusive to the four newsstand locations.

Details on the exact locations of the pop-ups can be found at PinkFloyd.com.

Wish You Were Here 50 will be released in a variety of configurations, with the original album plus 25 bonus tracks, including six tracks that have never been released before. There will also be a Blu-ray with Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Surround mixes of the album; three concert films from the band’s 1975 tour; and a short film by famed art designer and Hipgnosis co-founder Storm Thorgerson.

All formats are available for preorder now.

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Queen‘s Brian May and Fleetwood Mac‘s Mick Fleetwood are among the artists paying tribute to the late Booker T. and the M.G.’s guitarist Steve Cropper, who passed away Wednesday at the age of 84.

May, who appeared on Cropper and his band The Midnight Hour‘s 2024 album Friendlytown, wrote on Instagram, “We sadly lost one of the great original guitar heroes last night. Steve Cropper was and always will be an inspiration to all of us who bend electric guitar strings to this day.”

“I was fortunate to meet and work with this genial and generous human being – and we all made sure he heard the words that left him in no doubt of the energy we all felt flow from him, and the debt we owed him,” he noted.

Mick Fleetwood called Cropper a “trailblazing musician” and an “incredible human being.”

“I was blessed to have known and shared the stage with many times,” Mick wrote. “The world of music has lost a shinning gem.”

And Dan Ackroyd, who worked with Cropper in the Blues Brothers, called the guitarist “a musical giant,” adding, “The Blues Brothers would not exist without him. It was an honor to have shared studios and stages with ‘The Colonel’.”

Other musicians who paid tribute to Cropper include The Kinks’ Dave Davies, retired Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale and guitarist Joe Bonamassa.

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Grateful Dead has earned a new Guinness World Record.

The band’s most recent Dave’s Pick, Dave’s Picks Vol. 56: Rainbow Theatre, London, England – 3/20/81 & 3/21/81, debuted at #25 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it their 66th top-40 album. That earns them the Guinness record for the most top-40 albums charted on the Billboard 200.

The Dead have been the sole record holder for the most top-40 albums since February 2024, when they earned their 59th top-40 album with Dave’s Picks, Volume 49: Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford U., Palo Alto, CA  – 4/27/85 & 4/28/85. Prior to that they were in a tie for the record with Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

“This Guinness World Records title is something that no one could have anticipated 60 years ago when the Grateful Dead began,” David Lemieux, Grateful Dead legacy manager and archivist, said in a statement. “But the record demonstrates the dedication, passion, and loyalty of the massive legion of Dead Heads, as well as the consistent quality of the Grateful Dead’s recorded output and archival activities over the past six decades.”

The Guinness record caps off a big year for The Dead, who celebrated their 60th anniversary in 2025. The year included a celebration of The Dead as the MusiCares Person of the Year; three shows in San Francisco by Dead & Company; and the release of their first official greatest hits compilation, Greatest Hits, as well as a 60-CD collection, Enjoying The Ride.

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The Masked Singer is going heavy metal in honor of Ozzy Osbourne.

The singing competition show has announced its upcoming 14th season will include an episode titled “Ozzfest” paying tribute to the late Prince of Darkness.

The episode will feature Ozzy’s daughter and past The Masked Singer contestant Kelly Osbourne, who “joins the show to pay heartfelt homage to her father and his iconic career and long lasting impact on the history of music,” a press release says.

The Masked Singer season 14 premieres Jan. 7 on Fox. Participants will be wearing costumes including Eggplant, Queen Corgi and The Croissants.

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Yes has released a new track from their upcoming super-deluxe reissue of 1973’s Tales from Topographic Oceans.

The latest is a newly remastered single version of “The Remembering (High the Memory),” which cuts down the album’s 20-minute song to just under three minutes.

Tales from Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Edition), dropping Feb. 6, will be released as a package of 12 CDs, two LPs and a Blu-ray. It includes a newly remastered version of the album, along with several new mixes by producer Steven Wilson, including a Dolby Atmos mix. It will also include rarities, and previously unreleased studio and live recordings.

Tales from Topographic Oceans, Yes’ sixth studio album, was the first to feature drummer Alan White, who had replaced Bill Bruford. Frontman Jon Anderson came up with the idea for the album after reading a footnote in Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. The album featured four songs, all of which were at least 18 minutes in length, taking fans on a “four-part musical journey through ancient Hindu scriptures.”

The album went on to hit #1 in the U.K. and was a top-10 hit in the U.S.

Tales from Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Edition) is available for preorder now.

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A new round of cast members have been announced for Sam Mendes’ upcoming films about The Beatles, The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event.

The latest additions round out the members of The Beatles’ entourage and include Paul McCartney’s father, Jim McCartney, who’ll be played by The Walking Dead’s David Morrissey.

Other cast members include British actress Leanne Best, who played Jamie Tart’s mom on Ted Lasso, as John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi; The Covenant’s Bobby Schofield as road manager Neil Aspinall; Sherwood’s Daniel Hoffmann-Gill as roadie Mal Evans; Broadchurch’s Arthur Darvill as publicist and friend Derek Taylor; and Happy Endings’ Adam Pally as music manager Allen Klein.

The studio also confirmed previous reports that House of Guinness’ James Norton would be playing Beatles manager Brian Epstein, and Game of Thrones’ Harry Lloyd has been cast as their longtime music producer George Martin. It also announced that casting for John Lennon‘s first wife, Cynthia Lennon, and musician Ravi Shankar will be revealed “in due course.”

The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event, which is scheduled to hit theaters in April 2028, stars Paul Mescal as McCartney, Harris Dickinson as Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. Each film will be told from the point of view of one of the band members.

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On This Day, Dec. 4, 1980…

A little over two months after the death of their drummer John Bonham, Led Zeppelin released a statement announcing their breakup.

“We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend, and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were,” read the statement.

The surviving members of Led Zeppelin – Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones – reunited three times following the split.

The first reunion happened in 1985 at Live Aid in Philadelphia, while the second occurred on May 14, 1988, at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert, with Bonham’s son, Jason Bonham, behind the drum kit.

The third and final reunion took place Dec. 10, 2007, at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at the O2 Arena in London, again with Jason Bonham behind the drum kit.

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