Classic Rock News

Developers in Sydney, Australia, have issued an apology after bulldozing the childhood home of AC/DC rockers Malcolm and Angus Young, the Herald Sun reports.

Burwood Square Pty Ltd purchased the home in February 2023 and recently demolished it, something that shouldn’t have happened because in 2013 the property was added to the National Trust List of Historic Homes. The company claims it was not informed of the home’s historical significance.

“We regret that the previous long-term owner did not share this vital part of the property’s background with us,” Burwood Square Pty Ltd general manager Leon Kmita said. “Learning about this connection after our plans were already underway has shocked us. We are genuinely sorry for this oversight.”

The company went on to share its “heartfelt regret” at the demolition, noting, “[W]e now recognize how deeply this location resonates with the AC/DC community and fans worldwide.”

It also said it is hoping to use material from the site to create a “special space” so fans “can gather to celebrate the band’s enduring legacy.”

“We feel a strong responsibility to honor AC/DC’s legacy and to make amends to all the fans who hold this band in such high regard,” Kmita added. “While we cannot change the past, we are dedicated to celebrating this significant part of their story.”

He adds, “To the global fanbase of AC/DC, please know that we hear you, appreciate your deep admiration for this legendary band, and are devoted to making this right.”

The Young family moved into the home in 1963 after arriving in Sydney from Scotland. The Young brothers went on to found the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band at the home in 1973. Burwood plans to build a residential development on the site.

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On This Day, Jan. 7, 2020 …

Rush drummer Neil Peart passed away following a battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. He was 67.

Peart had been diagnosed with the disease over three years earlier, but kept his condition a secret from the public.

Peart joined Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson in Rush in 1974, six years after it had been formed. They went on to release 19 albums together and sell millions of records, earning 14 Platinum and three multi-Platinum albums in the U.S.

The band released their final album, Clockwork Angels, in 2012. In 2015 Peart announced in an interview that he had retired from music. 

Rush were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.

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If you’ve always “Wanted” a deluxe edition of Bon Jovi‘s Slippery When Wet — “Dead or Alive” — your dream has come true.

The band will release a deluxe version of their world-beating 1986 album on Feb. 28, 2025, as well as various vinyl variations of the original album. Those variations include a limited-edition picture disc and — appropriately, given the LP’s title — a limited-edition liquid-filled disc. If you’re feeling very nostalgic, there’s also a cassette version.

The deluxe edition, available digitally and as a two-CD set, features seven bonus tracks, including an acoustic version of “Wanted Dead or Alive,” four live tracks from the band’s 1987 tour, and previously unreleased mixes of “Raise Your Hands” and “Livin’ On a Prayer.” Of the live tracks, two have never been heard before.

Everything’s available to preorder now at Bon Jovi’s online store.

Upon its release in August 1986, Slippery When Wet debuted at #1 and stayed there for eight weeks. It was the top-selling album of 1987 and has since been RIAA-certified 12-times Platinum. Featuring “Livin’ On a Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive,” the album also includes “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Never Say Goodbye” and “Raise Your Hands.”

Here’s the track listing:

Original Album (Disc 1)
“Let It Rock”
“You Give Love A Bad Name”
“Livin’ On A Prayer”
“Social Disease”
“Wanted Dead Or Alive”
“Raise Your Hands”
“Without Love”
“I’d Die For You”
“Never Say Goodbye”
“Wild In The Streets”

Bonus Tracks (Disc 2)
“Wanted Dead Or Alive” (Acoustic Version)
“Livin’ On A Prayer” (Thank You Goodnight Remix)
“Raise Your Hands” (Extended Obie O’Brien Mix)
“Wild In The Streets” (Live at Cincinnati Gardens, March 18, 1987)
“Livin’ On A Prayer” (Live at Cobo Arena Detroit, March 11, 1987)
“Wanted Dead Or Alive” (Live at Cobo Arena Detroit, March 11, 1987)
“Let It Rock” (Live at Nassau Coliseum, August 9, 1987)

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Blondie‘s Debbie Harry will turn 80 in July. So, how does she feel about celebrating such a milestone birthday?

“I don’t walk around thinking every minute, oh my God, I’m going be 80 — but that’s sort of how I feel,” she tells the U.K. paper The Times. “My mother used to say in her head she was 25 and I’m the same. But thinking about it all the time could be your downfall.”

“And I don’t really want the same kind of life I did when I was younger. I’ve done that!” she says. “That’s the beauty of aging — you know what it’s about. You have it in your heart and soul and your memory bank … or does that sound like an excuse? Should I go out and party every night?”

Harry does plan to celebrate her big day but she says it may be a little bittersweet.

“I’m going to have a whopping great party with everyone there,” she says. “Though one of the bad things about aging is everyone’s gone already.”

“In the 1980s, or maybe 1990s, there was a show at CBGB’s gallery. I went around the room and 50 [percent] of the musicians in the photos were gone and that was years ago,” she says. “It’s what they call diminishing returns.”

But just because she’ll be 80 doesn’t mean Harry will slow down. In fact, Blondie’s Chris Stein has shared that the band is in the studio, with a new album expected this year.

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Bruce Springsteen is set to make a guest appearance on a brand new album from The Waterboys.

Life, Death and Dennis Hopper, the band’s 16th record, is set to drop April 14, with Springsteen lending his voice to the track “Ten Years Gone.” The album also features guest appearances by Steve Earle, Fiona Apple, The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith and others.

The 25-track album is described in a press release as an ode to the late Oscar-winning actor Dennis Hopper, noting it’s “the epic story of the trailblazing American actor and rebel told through a song cycle depicting not only Hopper’s story but the saga of the last 75 years of western pop culture.”

Life, Death and Dennis Hopper is The Waterboys’ first album of new material since 2022’s All Souls Hill. It is available for preorder now.

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The Black Crowes are set to play Boston Calling this year. The three-day festival is happening Memorial Day weekend, May 23-25, in Allston, Massachusetts.

The band is part of the May 24 bill, which will be headlined by Fall Out Boy and also feature Avril Lavigne, Cage the Elephant and others.

Luke Combs and Dave Matthews Band are the festival’s two other headliners, with the lineup featuring over 50 acts, including Sheryl Crow, TLC, Spin Doctors, Vampire Weekend and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. 

A presale for tickets kicks off Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET. More info on tickets and the full lineup can be found at bostoncalling.com.

Boston Calling is one of two shows The Black Crowes have confirmed for 2025. The other is FloydFest, happening July 23-27 in Floyd County, Virginia. They wrapped their Happiness Bastards (The Reprise) tour in December.

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U2 frontman Bono received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Saturday, and in honor of the occasion he’s penned a new essay for The Atlantic, titled The Gorgeous, Unglamorous Work of Freedom.

“Freedom is a word that turns up with embarrassing frequency in rock-and-roll songs,” he writes. “How we love to free-associate about freedom. On occasion, we’re good for a ‘Chimes of Freedom’ (at least Bob Dylan is), but if we’re honest, the freedom musicians are most interested in is our own.”

“Rock and roll promised a freedom that could not be contained or silenced, an international language of liberation,” he adds. “The freedom songs of the folk singers went electric, the coded messages of gospel music burst into the full flower of funk and soul.”

Bono writes about the activist work he’s done over the years and ponders the state of freedom now, in particular in the U.S. after the recent election, in Ukraine, in the Israel/Gaza conflict and more. 

“Is the Medal of Freedom a nostalgia act? Is freedom itself a nostalgia act?” he asks. “Maybe the idea of freedom as a guarantee. But not freedom as a mighty, worthy struggle.”

Bono also writes of working with then-senator Joe Biden 25 years ago on canceling developing-world debt, noting, “That’s the kind of fighter you want on your side.” He adds the fight for freedom needs “faithful, stubborn, unselfish effort.”

“Lincoln spoke of a ‘new birth of freedom,'” he concludes. “I think he meant that freedom must be re-won by each generation. That is a fine call to action for a new year.”

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Rush launched their final tour in 2015, which hit only the U.S. and Canada, and surviving band members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reveal they regret they couldn’t bring their show to other countries.

“I’d pushed really hard to get more gigs so that we could do those extra shows and I was unsuccessful,” Lee tells Classic Rock in a new interview. “I really felt like I let our British and European fans down.”

He adds, “It felt to me incorrect that we didn’t do it, but Neil (Peart) was adamant that he would only do thirty shows and that was it. That to him was a huge compromise because he didn’t want to do any shows. He didn’t want to do one show.”

“Ged and I were disappointed that Neil demanded playing only a limited number of dates which precluded a U.K. and European run,” Lifeson adds. “I think a dozen or so more dates would have made us a bit more accepting.”

He says Neil almost agreed to do more shows but his health got in the way, sharing, “[H]e got a painful infection in one of his feet.”

“I mean, he could barely walk to the stage at one point,” Lifeson says. “They got him a golf cart to drive him to the stage. And he played a three-hour show, at the intensity he played every single show.” 

He adds, “That was amazing, but I think that was the point where he decided that the tour was only going to go on until that final show in LA.”

The R40 Live Tour wrapped Aug. 1, 2015, and Peart announced his retirement that December. He passed away Jan. 7, 2020, following a battle with brain cancer. He was 67.

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Jerry Cantrell‘s new solo album, I Want Blood, features contributions from Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo. In an interview with Metal Hammer, the Alice in Chains vocalist/guitarist raises the possibility of collaborating with another ‘Tallica member.

“[Frontman] James [Hetfield] and I have talked about it, kind of,” Cantrell shares. “We never had a formal conversation but I’ve jammed with him at [guitarist] Kirk [Hammett]’s place. I’ve even spent a night or two at his house, and we’ve ended up with guitars in the kitchen and on the porch.”

“It’s something I’d be really curious about, even to just write a song with [Hetfield],” the grunge rocker adds. “As for whether it’d turn into something more than that, he’s got a pretty demanding day job. … So I’d understand if it never comes to be.”

If Cantrell and Hetfield do find the time to jam together in the future, maybe they could record a mashup called “(Enter Sand)Man in the Box.”

In the meantime, Cantrell is getting ready to launch a solo tour in support of I Want Blood, kicking off Jan. 31 on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

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