Classic Rock News

It’s 2024 but you can’t stop The Beatles. What’s been called the “final” Beatles single, “Now and Then,” has earned a nomination for Record of the Year at the 67th annual Grammy Awards; nominations were announced Nov. 8.

Released in November, “Now and Then” features vocals John Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s, along with new contributions from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and guitar parts George Harrison recorded in the ’90s during the sessions for their Anthology series.

In that category, the song is up against hits from Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and rapper Kendrick Lamar.

“Now and Then” is also nominated for Best Rock Performance, along with records by Pearl Jam, Green Day and The Black Keys. And in the category of Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Record, one of the nominees is All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words.

Meanwhile, The Rolling Stones‘ Hackney Diamonds is up for Best Rock Album, facing off against Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter, Green Day’s Saviors, The Black Crowes‘ Happiness Bastards and Jack White‘s No Name, among others. Pearl Jam’s “Dark Matter” and Green Day’s “Dilemma” are also up for Best Rock Song.

In the Best Metal Performance category, Judas Priest and Metallica are both nominated: Priest for “Crown of Thorns” and Metallica for “Screaming Suicide.”  

Legendary rock acts also appear in some of the more obscure categories. Dire Straits‘ Mark Knopfler is up for American Roots Song for “Ahead Of The Game,” and Little Feat and The Fabulous Thunderbirds are both up for Best Traditional Blues Album for, respectively, Sam’s Place and Struck Down.

Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, a documentary about E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt, is up for Best Music Film, as is The Greatest Night in Pop, documenting the creation of “We Are the World.”

Here are the main nominees in the rock categories:

Best Rock Album:
Pearl Jam — Dark Matter
The Rolling Stones — Hackney Diamonds
Green Day — Saviors
Jack White — No Name
The Black Crowes — Happiness Bastards
Fontaines D.C. — Romance
IDLES — TANGK

Best Rock Song:
The Black Keys — “Beautiful People (Stay High)”
St. Vincent — “Broken Man”
Pearl Jam — “Dark Matter”
Green Day — “Dilemma”
IDLES — “Gift Horse”

Best Rock Performance:
The Beatles — “Now and Then”
The Black Keys — “Beautiful People (Stay High)”
Green Day — “The American Dream Is Killing Me”
IDLES — “Gift Horse”
Pearl Jam — “Dark Matter”
St. Vincent — “Broken Man”

Best Metal Performance:
Gojira, Marina Viotti & Victor Le Masne — “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)”
Judas Priest — “Crown of Thorns”
Knocked Loose feat. Poppy — “Suffocate”
Metallica — “Screaming Suicide”
Spiritbox — “Cellar Door”

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Sting was recently announced as a mega mentor for the Knockout Rounds of NBC’s The Voice, where he’ll advise Snoop Dogg and Gwen Stefani‘s teams. But he tells People he wasn’t sure about accepting the gig, since he’d never watched the show before.

“I’d never seen The Voice,” he tells People. “When I was given the premise of the show, I was a little bit anxious, but I know Gwen very well. I’m a big admirer of Snoop Dogg, and so I thought, I’m going to take a risk. I’m going to go on the show even though I’m a little trepidatious.”

But he says once he got into it, he found coaching the contestants to be “nourishing and joyful.”

He says, “I really feel good about the show. I feel good about myself, and I feel good about the young singers who are putting themselves through this ordeal. It is an ordeal, but I’ve loved it so far.”

Sting had a unique perspective, given that he was a teacher before he became a rock superstar.

“In teaching, there’s no such thing as teaching, actually. What happens in a classroom is learning and people learn through enthusiasm,” he says. “A teacher’s job is just to be enthusiastic, show appreciation, curiosity. And that’s your job here [on The Voice].”

Sting also welcomed the opportunity to work with Stefani. The two first met when she was a 13-year-old Police fan. In 2003 they played the Super Bowl halftime show together, and she inducted The Police into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that same year.

“I’m so impressed by her ability to communicate with the singers so succinctly and so intelligently, so compassionately,” he notes. As for Snoop, Sting worked with the rapper on his upcoming solo album, Missionary.

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On This Day, Nov. 8, 1971 …

Led Zeppelin released their fourth studio album, which became known as Led Zeppelin IV.

The album featured what became their signature tune, “Stairway to Heaven,” along with such future classics as “Going to California,” “The Battle of Evermore,” “When the Levee Breaks” and “Rock and Roll.” 

The album went to #1 in Britain and Canada, and peaked at #2 in the U.S. It is Led Zeppelin’s bestselling album, moving over 37 million copies worldwide.

Led Zeppelin IV is often included on lists of the greatest albums of all time. In 1999 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

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Valerie Bertinelli was married to Eddie Van Halen for more than 25 years, but she isn’t rushing to read Brothers, the new book by Alex Van Halen that came out Oct. 22.

Appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show on Nov. 7, Bertinelli says she was “shaking” just thinking about reading the book, which has been sitting in her house for awhile now. “It’s going to be emotional,” she said. “It’s going to be very emotional, because I love these two men. They are good men and they are very complicated men.”

The actress said Alex told her last year he was writing the book, which surprised her. “He’s a very private man, and for him to do this is extraordinary. And to do it so beautifully — I’m so proud of you, Al. I’m so happy that you wrote your story.”

Brothers is about the relationship between Alex and Eddie, who died of cancer in 2020 at age 65.

“I truly believe that [through the book], people get a different insight into Ed the man, and not the icon, or whatever you think you might know about him,” Bertinelli continued. “He was not that. He was a gentle, gentle soul who went through extreme trauma and Al did, too.”

Bertinelli concluded by congratulating her former brother-in-law on his bestseller.

The One Day at a Time star married Eddie in 1981; they shared a son, Wolfgang Van Halen, leader of the band Mammoth WVH. They were officially divorced in 2007. In 2009, Eddie married Janie Liszewski. Both Janie and Valerie were at his bedside when he died.

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After a month’s worth of teases, you can finally hear what it sounds like when retired NFL star Jason Kelce attempts to sing with two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Nicks.

“Maybe This Christmas,” the duet they recorded for Jason’s annual charity album, which this year is titled A Philly Special Christmas Party, is out now. The whole album, which also features Boyz II Men, Jason’s brother, Travis Kelce, and others, arrives Nov. 22.

The song “Maybe This Christmas,” written by Ron Sexsmith, finds Jason — who can actually carry a tune — joining Stevie for a message of hope and healing this holiday season. “Maybe this Christmas will mean something more/ Maybe this year love will appear,” he sings. Stevie takes the second verse, singing, “Maybe forgiveness will ask us to call/ Someone we love, someone we’ve lost.”

Together, they sing, “Maybe there’ll be an open door/ Maybe the star that shone before/ Will shine once more.”

“There are no words to describe how incredible it is to have Stevie Nicks on this record,” says executive producer Conner Barwin in a statement. “There is so much emotion in this song, and it was thrilling to be with them in the studio and watch her and Jason connect, be creative together, and witness this beautiful song become a reality.”

It’s not clear how the hookup with the former Philadelphia Eagles star happened, but Stevie is a friend of Taylor Swift‘s, and she, of course, is dating Travis.

Proceeds from the vinyl sales will go to support Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s Holiday Toy Drive and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Snowflake Station, among other charities.

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In addition to being an iconic guitarist, Joe Satriani is also a painter. He announced plans to appear live at two Florida galleries to show his new work in December — and serenade the fans who buy them.

Satriani, who recently wrapped up Sammy Hagar‘s Best of All Worlds Tour, will make appearances at the Wentworth Gallery at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on Dec. 6 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and at the Wentworth Gallery in Boca Raton Town Center Mall on Dec. 7 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

His original canvases will be on display, as well as hand-painted guitars. And those lucky fans who show up and buy one of the guitarist’s works will be treated to a private performance in the gallery during the last hour of his appearance at each gallery.

Images that recur in Satriani’s brightly colored paintings include flags, hearts, alien faces and the Statue of Liberty. He says of his art, “Music and art are my passions … challenging the straight line and the concepts of what belongs with what excites me. I want to experience new color combinations to make me see beyond the prevailing reality.”

He adds, “When I paint and play my guitar, I strive to be in a state of exhilaration and communicate that feeling to my fans.”

On Jan. 31, Satriani will release G3 Reunion Live, an album that documents his most recent tour with fellow guitar greats Steve Vai and Eric Johnson.

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A documentary about the late keyboard player Billy Preston — perhaps best known for being the only guest musician ever credited on a Beatles record — will screen at DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary film festival, on Nov. 17

Titled That’s the Way God Planned It, after Preston’s 1969 solo hit of the same name, the film features interviews with Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and George Harrison‘s widow, Olivia, as well as rare footage. It focuses on Preston’s genre-spanning work with Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Elton John and more, as well as his struggle to come to terms with his sexuality and his substance abuse.

If you watched the Beatles’ Get Back documentary, you saw Preston jamming in the studio with the Fab Four and playing with them during their final live performance on the rooftop of Apple Records in London in January 1969. The single “Get Back” was credited to “The Beatles featuring Billy Preston.”

Following the rooftop concert, Preston was signed to The Beatles’ Apple Records and scored a hit with “That’s the Way God Planned It.” In his years after leaving the label in 1971, he recorded the hits “Will It Go Round in Circles,” “Outa-Space,” “Nothing from Nothing” and “With You I’m Born Again.”

Preston also co-wrote Joe Cocker‘s classic “You Are So Beautiful,” recorded and toured with George Harrison and The Rolling Stones, and was the first-ever musical guest on Saturday Night Live, among his many other accomplishments. He died in June 2006 after a bout of pericarditis in 2005 caused respiratory failure, which left him comatose.

Preston was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.

The screening of the doc at the festival will include a Q&A with director Paris Barclay.

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Are you ready for yet another cover of Bob Dylan‘s classic “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”?

The song, which Dylan recorded for the soundtrack of the film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, has been covered by everyone from the Grateful Dead and Guns N’ Roses to Avril Lavigne and Eric Clapton. Now Yellowjackets star Sophie Thatcher has recorded her version for the soundtrack of the new A24 horror film Heretic.

In the film, out on Nov. 8, Thatcher and Chloe East play two Mormon missionaries who try to convert a character played by Hugh Grant — who turns out to be a very bad guy. The new version of the song is heard at the end of the film. Thatcher says her version feels “very melancholic and feminine and more dreamy and atmospheric.”

“It works with the movie because Hugh Grant goes on a spiel about religion and Christianity, [and how] they’re all iterations of each other,” she says.

Thatcher also allows that her version sounds very much like Mazzy Star‘s ’90s hit “Fade Into You.” And that’s not the only ’90s alt-rock band that’s referenced in the film: At one point, Grant’s character sings a bit of Radiohead’s “Creep” to illustrate how similar it is to The Hollies‘ “The Air That I Breathe.”

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After launching their co-headlining tour in football stadiums this year, Billy Joel and Sting will continue the party into 2025 by performing in four football stadiums — but they just announced a one-off show for next year in the more “intimate” surroundings of a baseball stadium.

The two Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will perform April 26 at the Milwaukee Brewers’ American Family Field, in what the The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports will be their only baseball stadium show of 2025. It’ll be Billy’s first show in Milwaukee since 2019 and Sting’s first show there since 2016.

American Family Field has a capacity of 41,900. By comparison, a football stadium, like the one they’re performing in on Nov. 9 in Las Vegas, can hold 72,000 fans.

Tickets go on sale Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. local time via livenation.com and ticketmaster.com. Citi cardholders will be able to access a presale beginning Nov. 11 at 10 a.m. local time.

Following the joint concert with Sting Nov. 9, Billy has two more shows left in 2024: a Nov. 23 solo date in Hollywood, Florida, and a New Year’s Eve show at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York, on Dec. 31. As for Sting, his Sting 3.0 tour with his power trio continues through November and ends Dec. 7. 

Billy and Sting’s first show together in 2025 comes on Feb. 8 in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, then Sting resumes his solo tour on Valentine’s Day in South America.

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The cast of the Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere has expanded.

The film, starring The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White as The Boss, chronicles Springsteen’s creation of his 1982 stripped-down album, Nebraska. Variety reports that actor Marc Maron has joined the cast as Chuck Plotkin, the producer who made the songs on the album sound high-quality enough to release. The originally quality of Springsteen’s recordings was dicey, since he’d originally recorded it solo on a cassette, and then damaged it by carrying it around in his pocket for weeks.

In addition, Variety reports that Gaby Hoffmann will play Bruce’s mom, Adele, who passed away earlier this year at age 98. David Krumholtz will portray Al Teller, the record executive who Bruce and his team worked with to release the album.

As previously reported, Jeremy Strong will play Springsteen’s longtime manager Jon Landau. There’s no release date for the film, which is currently in production. Springsteen was recently photographed visiting the New Jersey set and hugging White.

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