Classic Rock News

Kurt Cobain may have broken another auction record.

According to Guitar World, a guitar pick belonging to the late Nirvana frontman was sold for $14,678, reportedly the highest winning bid for a pick sold at auction.

Notably, the pick not only belonged to Cobain, but was also signed by him as “Kurdt Kobain.” It features a drawing he made depicting the Dunlop Tortex tortoise logo. According to the seller, the pick is believed to have been used by Cobain during the recording sessions for Nirvana’s 1991 landmark album, Nevermind.

“It feels surreal to own this piece of music history,” auction winner Shaun Ertischek tells Guitar World. “I haven’t seen anything like it before and it is truly one-of-a-kind. Kurt was obviously an incredible singer, songwriter and guitarist. It is beyond rare and special to have something played by his hand and subsequently signed.”

Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E guitar, which he famously played during Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged special, set the record for most expensive guitar sold at auction when it went for $6 million in 2020.

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Gov’t Mule has a busy touring schedule ahead of them this year, but frontman Warren Haynes is finding time to fit in a solo show.

The rocker just announced he’ll be playing The Clubhouse in East Hampton, New York, on August 25, which he’s billing as his only solo show of 2023.

“Solo shows are special to me, and I believe to the fans as well, because it allows me to explore my catalog in different and unique ways. I try to play at least a few each year,” he shares on Instagram. “With all my other touring for the remainder of the year, I’m only able to do this one solo show in East Hampton, NY at The Clubhouse on August 25th. Since this will be my only solo show for 2023, I’m going to make it count!”

Tickets for the show go on sale Friday, July 7, at 12 p.m. ET at murmrr.com. 

As for Gov’t Mule, they kick off their Dark Side of the Mule tour on July 22 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The trek will feature the band playing a set of their own music, along with a tribute to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. A complete list of dates can be found at mule.net.

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Ringo Starr says The Beatles were very amused at the big “Paul is dead” conspiracy theory of the late ’60s, which suggested Paul McCartney had died and was replaced by a lookalike.

“We only ever had one that stuck. That was ‘Paul is dead.’ And there were some songs people pointed out as being ‘secret,'” Ringo, who turns 83 on July 7, tells Vulture when asked to pick his favorite Beatles conspiracy theory. He explains that the whole “secret song” thing was just them being “silly.”  

“John (Lennon), by accident, learned how to play a tape backwards, and we put that to full use. So we’d just do something silly at the end of a track and it’d be all over the newspapers and on the radio,” he explains. “They’re actually singing, ‘Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ It just made us all laugh.”

He notes, “All of those interesting things we said were not that interesting. We had a great laugh about that. Look at what they’re saying now.”

In the same piece, Ringo reveals that the band’s first song, “Love Me Do,” is the track he’d consider his “career-defining song,” even though session musician Andy White is featured on the album, while Ringo’s on the single.

“We were on vinyl. We made a record,” he says. “We were just blessed that George Martin took a chance on us because many record labels sent us down.” He adds that when they heard it on the radio “it was a really big moment. It was magic because we were on this piece of vinyl all to ourselves.”

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Foreigner is ready to kick off their farewell to the road. To mark the occasion, the band has released a brand new companion album.

Farewell – The Very Best Of Foreigner features 11 of the band’s biggest hits, including such classics as “Cold As Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” “I Want To Know What Love Is” and more. 

Farewell – The Very Best Of Foreigner, produced by Mick Jones with Jeff Pilson, is being released as a limited edition gold vinyl with only 5,000 numbered copies available. They’ll be sold at tour stops and independent retailers.

Foreigner’s Historic Farewell Tour kicks off Thursday, July 7, in Alpharetta, Georgia, with dates confirmed through November. A complete list of shows can be found at foreigneronline.com.

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Paul McCartney’s comprehensive book about his music is finally getting a paperback.

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present will get a one-volume, paperback release on November 7. The new edition will include McCartney’s musings on seven songs left out of the original release: “Bluebird,” “Day Tripper,” “English Tea,” “Every Night,” “Hello, Goodbye,” “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Step Inside Love.”

First released in 2021, The Lyrics went to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and earned the Book of the Year honor from Barnes & Noble. It has McCartney chronicling his musical history and the inspirations behind his songs, with tracks arranged alphabetically instead of chronologically. It also includes never-before-seen material from McCartney’s personal archive, including photographs, drafts and more.

“The one thing I’ve always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is to write new songs. I know that some people, when they get to a certain age, like to go to a diary to recall day-to-day events from the past, but I have no such notebooks,” McCartney said at the time of The Lyrics’ release. “What I do have are my songs, hundreds of them, which I’ve learned serve much the same purpose. And these songs span my entire life”

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A new Black Sabbath box set has been announced.

The collection, dubbed Hand of Doom, includes each of the metal pioneers’ first eight albums — from 1970’s Black Sabbath to 1978’s Never Say Die! — on vinyl picture discs, capturing the first and most prolific period of the band’s classic lineup: frontman Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward.

Hand of Doom will be released August 18 and will be limited to just 4,000 copies.

In other Sabbath related news, Iommi has received a replica of the fossil that was named after him. The 469 million-year-old Drepanoistodus iommii was discovered in 2021.

According to the U.K.’s Westside BID, Iommi was presented with the fossil replica by paleontologist Mats Eriksson and sculptor Esben Horn.

“Great to meet Mats and Esben today and receive an amazing replica of the Iommi fossil!” Iommi says.

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Music and movie fans are getting their first look at the upcoming Bob Marley biopic, Bob Marley: One Love.

Paramount has just released the trailer for the film, which stars British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir, who landed the role as Marley after a global talent search. It also stars Captain Marvel actress Lashana Lynch as Marley’s wife, Rita. 

The trailer features clips of Marley performing and living his life in Jamaica with his family, and even includes footage of the assassination attempt on his life. It also features the Marley quote, “One love, one heart, one destiny.” 

Bob Marley: One Love is set to hit theaters January 12, 2024.

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Nikki Sixx got a personalized letter from Dolly Parton following the release of their collaborative single, “Bygones.”

“Well … I guess you’ve heard, we’ve got us a hit record!” the country icon wrote the Mötley Crüe bassist. “We’re #1 from what I hear on ‘Bygones’!”

“You did a fantastic job on that,” Parton continued. “Thank you for joining us, you made it a lot of what it is. I appreciate you. Rock on!”

Sixx shared a photo of the message in a Facebook post alongside the caption, “Gonna have to frame this one.”

“Bygones,” which also features Judas Priest‘s Rob Halford and new Crüe guitarist John 5, premiered in June. It’ll appear on Parton’s upcoming rock album, Rockstar, due out November 17.

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On This Day, July 6, 1977…

At a Pink Floyd show in Montreal, Roger Waters got so upset at fans who were being noisy and setting off firecrackers, he spit on one of them.

That night, he told producer Bob Ezrin he wished he could build a wall between himself and the audience, which went on to inspire Pink Floyd’s next album, The Wall. 

Released on November 30, 1979, The Wall topped the U.S. charts for 15 weeks, went on to sell over 30 million copies and was certified 23-times Platinum.

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Stevie Nicks fans are getting another taste of her upcoming box set, Complete Studio Albums & Rarities, which is due out July 28.

The singer has just dropped a remastered version of “Thousand Days,” which she wrote for her 1985 album, Rock A Little. It wound up as the B-side of “Blue Denim,” which appeared on Stevie’s 1994 album, Street Angel.  It was also included in the 1998 box set, The Enchanted Works of Stevie Nicks. 

Complete Studio Albums & Rarities will feature all eight of Nicks’ solo records, with many of them remastered from the original analog masters. There will also be a Rarities album with 23 non-album tracks.

The box set is being released in a variety of formats, including a 16-LP limited edition set, which will consist of 3,000 numbered copies, pressed on crystal clear vinyl. Three of the albums — Street Angel, Trouble in Shangri-La and In Your Dreams — are making their vinyl debut.

Complete Studio Albums & Rarities is available for preorder now.

Stevie has several tour dates on the book for the rest of the year. Her next show, a co-headlining date with Billy Joel, is happening August 5 in Columbus, Ohio. A complete list of dates can be found at stevienicksofficial.com.

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