Classic Rock News

Green Day is teasing a 20th anniversary reissue of their 2004 album, American Idiot.

In an Instagram post Thursday, the trio writes, “Can you hear the sound of hysteria?” — a reference to a lyric from the title track.

“More info on the American Idiot 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition coming tomorrow,” they add.

American Idiot will officially turn 20 on Sept. 21. Arriving during a relative decline in their popularity, American Idiot reinvigorated Green Day’s career, earning six-time Platinum certification from the RIAA and spawning hits in the title track, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Holiday” and “Wake Me up When September Ends.”

Green Day’s also been celebrating American Idiot‘s upcoming milestone by playing the album in full on their current tour. They’re also playing 1994’s Dookie in its entirety in honor of its 30th anniversary.

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Nothing says Southern rock like bourbon, which is probably why the Allman Brothers Band has teamed up with the Three Chord Bourbon brand to release a signature blend.

The new booze is available for preorder. According to Three Chord Bourbon’s website, it’s an attempt to honor the band’s iconic album Eat a Peach. As such, it’s a blend of straight bourbon whiskey finished with toasted peach wood. The taste is described as “smooth and sweet, with added complexity from toasted peach wood,” while the finish is “long and balanced, with notes of sweetness, spice, and caramel.”

The idea for the bourbon started in 2022, and we’re told that the blend, the label design and the idea for the peach wood were all developed with the band. In a statement, ABB’s Jaimoe said, “If you like whiskey, you will dig our collaboration with Three Chord Bourbon. It’s a celebration of our legacy. Far out man. The Road Goes on Forever.”

The bourbon will be available at select retailers later this year. Three Chord Bourbon, by the way, was founded by Neil Giraldo, the musical partner and husband of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Pat Benatar.

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The ongoing archival series of Joni Mitchell albums continues with Archives, Vol. 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980), due out Oct. 4.

Available as a six-CD, a four-LP or a digital version, the package includes a book with never-before-seen photos and liner notes that include a discussion between Mitchell and filmmaker Cameron Crowe about this five-year period of her career.

You can hear a track from the collection — a live version of “Coyote” from her 1976 album, Hejira, recorded in Montreal in 1975 — now.

The package features early recordings and alternate takes from Joni’s albums Hejira, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter and Mingus, plus the 1980 live album Shadows and Light. The first three albums are experimental, jazz-influenced works featuring top jazz and jazz fusion players, including bassist Jaco Pastorius, guitarists Larry Carlton and John McLaughlin, drummer John Guerin, bassist Stanley Clarke, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and jazz icon Charles Mingus.

Among the many live tracks in the collection are songs Mitchell performed during Bob Dylan‘s Rolling Thunder Revue, a legendary tour that ran from 1975 to 1976 and also included Joan Baez and Roger McGuinn, among others. Other live cuts come from her appearances at the Bread & Roses festival in 1978, a 1979 Anti-Nuclear Rally in Washington, D.C., and Joni’s 1979 tour.

The tracks include live versions of some of Joni’s most popular songs, including “A Case of You,” “Help Me,” “Free Man In Paris,” “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Raised on Robbery” and “The Last Time I Saw Richard.”

Visit Mitchell’s official online store to see the full track listing.

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Tommy Lee insists that Ozzy Osbourne really did snort a line of ants.

The notorious metal tale was said to have taken place in the ’80s while the Prince of Darkness was on tour with Mötley Crüe and was immortalized in the film The Dirt. In a 2023 episode of The Osbournes Podcast, Ozzy himself claimed that the story was true, while Sharon Osbourne remained skeptical. 

Speaking on the This Past Weekend podcast, Lee says the ant snorting did indeed happen while the bands were sharing a hotel on the road.

“At that time it was just kind of a thing everybody was into, like, out-rock star and out-grossing somebody out,” Lee says.

Lee says after seeing Ozzy treat insects like a line of cocaine, Nikki Sixx tried to up the ante by urinating on the deck of the hotel pool.

“Nikki goes to pee on the ground and Nikki’s gonna lick up his own p*** to, like, out-do Ozzy,” Lee says. “Before Nikki could do it, Ozzy f****** beats him to it and licks up his p***.”

“We’re like, ‘Alright Ozzy, you win!'” he laughs.

For what it’s worth, Ozzy’s guitarist at the time, Jake E. Lee, denies the ants part of the story, but says the urine part was true. 

While that whole thing made The Dirt, Lee says that what happened next wasn’t included the film, which involves going #2 instead of #1. We’ll let you hear that for yourself.

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On This Day, Aug. 8, 1987 …

U2 found themselves atop the Billboard Hot 100 for the second time with “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” the second single off their first #1 album, The Joshua Tree. The track spent two weeks in the #1 position.

The Irish rockers had previously topped the chart with the album’s first single, “With Or Without You,” which spent three weeks at #1. 

“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” went on to become one of the band’s most iconic tracks and was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1988: Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It has also landed on several best-of lists, including Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

In other U2 facts … Aug. 8 also happens to be U2 guitarist The Edge’s birthday. Born David Howell Evans, the rocker turns 63 this year.

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Bruce Springsteen was a surprise guest at Zach Bryan‘s Aug. 7 show at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.

As captured in fan-shot video, the Boss joined Bryan for a rendition of his song “Atlantic City,” from his 1982 album Nebraska, as well as for their duet “Sandpaper,” from Bryan’s current album The Great American Bar Scene. 

The Lumineers were also special guests at the show, joining Bryan for the song “Spotless.”  Springsteen and The Lumineers returned for Bryan’s closing number, “Revival.”

This was Springsteen’s second guest appearance at a Zach Bryan concert: Back in March, Bruce joined the “Pink Skies” singer for “Sandpaper” — then unreleased — at a show in Brooklyn.

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Eddie Vedder is covering the Tom Petty & The Hearbreakers song “Room at the Top” for the upcoming Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey.

The track will premiere on Friday, but you can hear a clip now via the Pearl Jam frontman’s Facebook.

You may recall that Vedder previously performed “Room at the Top” during the in memoriam segment of the 2018 Oscars. He’s also performed it during his solo shows.

Bad Monkey, starring Vince Vaughn, premieres Aug. 14. It’ll mark the second show of 2024 to spawn a Vedder cover — he previously put his spin on The English Beat‘s “Save It for Later” for the third season of The Bear.

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Paul McCartney and Wings recently released the live album One Hand Clapping, 50 years after they recorded it, and now fans are going to get some insight into the making of the record with a new documentary. 

Paul McCartney and Wings – One Hand Clapping will be released in theaters beginning Sept. 26, featuring footage and interviews with the band, as well as contributions from the creative team behind the album. 

The doc will also include the previously unreleased Backyard Sessions, with footage showing McCartney performing tracks from his catalog on acoustic guitar, as well as an intro by McCartney and Polaroid photos from the recording session.

“It’s so great to look back on that period and see the little live show we did,” McCartney shares. “We made a pretty good noise actually! It was a great time for the band, we started to have success with Wings, which had been a long time coming.”

One Hand Clapping was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in August 1974 as a video documentary and possible live album, although it never officially came out until its recent June release. The album includes live recordings of such Wings hits as “Live and Let Die,” “Band on the Run,” “Jet” and “My Love,” as well as Paul’s solo song “Maybe I’m Amazed” and reworked versions of Beatles songs like “Let It Be,” “Lady Madonna” and “The Long and Winding Road.”

Tickets for the film go on sale Aug. 16.

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Traffic’s Dave Mason is ready to share his story in the upcoming memoir Only You Know and I Know, but it may not have happened if it wasn’t for his fans and his wife.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer tells ABC Audio he was “badgered” into writing the book, noting that for a long time fans have been telling him he should write one. 

“And frankly, if it was up to me, you know, left to my own devices, I probably would never have done it since I’m (a) pretty private person,” he shares. “And then, of course, my wife got on my back, which was, that was the end of that.” 

Mason writes about all the artists he’s worked with over the years, including his Traffic bandmates, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton, but he notes that the book is about more than the music.

“For the most part, I tried to write about a personal journey, a life’s story,” he says. “It just happens to have some major sort of highlights that … normally most people would never get to do.”

The book also contains essays from several of Mason’s friends and colleagues, and he says he was open to include whatever anybody wanted to write about him.

“Write whatever you want is how I left it with everybody,” he says. “If they want to say well it was great, and this was great, but he’s a real a******, I mean, it would have been fine. It would of just lent a little more salt and pepper to the narrative.” 

Only You Know and I Know will be released Sept. 10. It’s available for preorder now.

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In his 1985 solo hit “Lucky In Love,” Mick Jagger sang that he was “a bettin’ fool/ a gamblin’ man.” Well, an actual person who fits that description has now changed his name … to Mick Jagger.

According to the U.K.’s ITV, the 62-year-old man says he ruined his life gambling and has now changed his name to Mick Jagger in an effort to escape his past. The recovering gambling addict started betting on horse races at age 12 and subsequently went through hundreds of thousands of dollars. His family disowned him and he was forced to live on the streets.

“I’ve had plenty of low points when I’ve thought it would just be better to end it all,” Mick told ITV News Anglia. “I’ve had flats. I’ve had jobs. I’ve lost them through gambling. I spent more time in the betting shop than I did at work. I never paid my rent or my bills because I always gambled it away.”

The good news is that five years ago Mick connected with a local homelessness charity. He now lives at the charity’s home base and works in its garden, and he hasn’t gambled in 18 months.

“I’m a new person. Just because we suffer with addiction we’re not bad people,” he tells ITV News Anglia. 

No word on what the real Mick Jagger thinks about this — perhaps he has “Mixed Emotions.”

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