Classic Rock News

On This Day, Oct. 3, 1990…

The Police released their third studio album, Zenyattà Mondatta, which peaked at #5 on the U.S. charts, making it the band’s highest charting album in the U.S. at that time.

The album produced two hit singles, “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” and “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da,” which both peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, the band’s first two top-10 hits.

Although not released as singles, two other tracks became popular with fans: “Driven to Tears,” which became a top-40 hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and “When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around,” which hit #3 on the Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart.

Zenyattà Mondatta, which was certified double Platinum by the RIAA, earned The Police two Grammy wins: best rock performance by a duo or group for “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” and best rock instrumental performance for the album track “Behind They Came.”

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As previously teased, Green Day has announced a 25th anniversary reissue of their 2000 album, Warning.

The expanded set is due out Nov. 14 as five-LP vinyl and four-CD packages, as well as digitally. The track list includes the original album remastered, along with various demos, rarities and alternate mixes, plus a live recording from a 2001 show in Tokyo.

You can listen to the demo of a song called “Castaway” now.

Warning was first released Oct. 3, 2000, 25 years ago Friday. Although initially considered a commercial disappointment — it was the first Green Day album to not get certified at least Platinum by the RIAA since their Diamond breakout album Dookie was released in 1994 — Warning has since undergone a critical reevaluation, and spawned one of the band’s most played live songs in “Minority.”

Whatever commercial failings Warning might have had at the time, Green Day reestablished themselves as one of rock’s biggest bands with their follow-up album, 2004’s seminal American Idiot.

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Foo Fighters have released a new live EP called Are Playing Where??? Vol. I.

The six-track set was recorded during Dave Grohl and company’s recent run of last-minute pop-up shows, which took place in San Luis Obispo and Santa Ana, California, Washington, D.C. and New Haven, Connecticut.

Those concerts marked the Foos’ first with new drummer Ilan Rubin, formerly of Nine Inch Nails. Rubin replaced drummer Josh Freese, who was let go from the band in May after joining in 2023 following the 2022 death of Taylor Hawkins.

Freese, incidentally, has returned to Nine Inch Nails, with whom he’d previously played from 2005 to 2008.

You can listen to Are Playing Where??? Vol. I now via Bandcamp.

Foo Fighters are currently on tour in Asia.

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Paul McCartney is set to revisit his post-Beatles career with the new book Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, and now fans have a chance to get their hands on a very special edition of the release.

The book’s publisher, Liveright, has announced that 175 numbered copies of the book signed by McCartney will be available throughout the U.S., although getting your hands on one may not be easy.

Liveright has released the list of stores that will carry copies of this rare signed book. Some stores will be auctioning it off, others are making it available for presale and at least one is asking those interested to register for a chance to buy it.

Each limited-edition copy will come in a cloth case with a screen print, and will include a booklet of Wings-era album and single artwork. There’s also an exclusive color vinyl of the upcoming Wings compilation LP, and a special enamel pin and embroidered patch.

Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, out Nov. 4, is described as “a landmark account” of McCartney’s “triumphant musical reinvention in the 1970s and the subsequent rise of one of the decade’s most iconic bands.” It contains over 150 photographs, including some never-before-seen shots, as well as memorabilia, like handwritten lyrics and pages from Paul’s diary.

McCartney is also celebrating Wings with a new anthology album, simply titled Wings, that will be released Nov. 24 digitally and as a three-LP or two-CD set. There will also be a three-LP, limited-edition color vinyl version; a Blu-ray that will feature the first-ever Dolby Atmos mixes of the songs; and one-LP and one-CD versions of the album.

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When Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham released their debut album, Buckingham Nicks, in 1973, it failed to make any sort of significant appearance on the album charts. But more than 50 years later, that has all changed.

According to Billboard, the recent reissue of Buckingham Nicks has made an appearance on several charts, including the Top Album Sales chart, where it debuted at #3 after moving 30,000 copies in the U.S.

Buckingham Nicks did even better on several other charts, including the Top Rock Albums, Indie Store Album Sales and Catalog Albums charts, where it debuted at #1, and the Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Vinyl Albums charts, where it landed at #2.

As for the all-genre Billboard 200, Buckingham Nicks just missed the top 10, debuting at #11.

Buckingham Nicks is the only album the former couple released as a duo. It eventually led to them being invited to join Fleetwood Mac.

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Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page is paying tribute to Chris Dreja, his former bandmate in the Yardbirds, who has passed away at age 79.

“I heard today of the passing of musician Chris Dreja, who passionately played with the iconic Yardbirds, on rhythm guitar and then the bass,” Page wrote on Instagram. “I hadn’t seen him in a while, and I wish I had. RIP Chris.”

Dreja was a co-founder of the Yardbirds, which formed in London in 1963. In addition to Page, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were early members of the group, although they both eventually left. Other members included vocalist/harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty and bassist Paul Samwell-Smith.

For Your Love, the band’s debut album in the U.S., was released in 1965. The title track became a top-10 hit. Other hit songs by the band include “Heart Full of Soul,” “Shapes of Things” and “Over Under Sideways Down.”

Dreja, who co-authored several of the band’s songs, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds in 1992. He was part of the reformation of the group in 1992 and continued to perform with them until 2012, when he suffered a series of strokes that left him unable to perform.

Outside of music, Dreja had a career as a photographer. He is responsible for the photo on the back cover of Led Zeppelin’s debut album. He also worked with Andy Warhol, and photographed such artists as Bob Dylan, the Righteous Brothers, and Ike and Tina Turner.

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A new photo book dedicated to David Bowie is coming out in November.

Collaboration: Frank Ockenfels 3 x David Bowie is due out Nov. 4, featuring never-before-published photos by famed photographer Frank Ockenfels 3, who met Bowie in 1991.

“This project was his idea,” Ockenfels tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview about the book. “He brought it up to me during one of our final shoots, saying he thought by that point we had enough for a book.”

The book features photos of Bowie from 1991 to 2006, with the description noting they “reflect the many facets of Bowie’s career” and that it “serves as both a visual tribute to a legendary figure and a documentation of a profound artistic connection.”

Talking about his work with Bowie, Ockenfels tells The Hollywood Reporter, “He didn’t come with a look book. He just supported my eye and allowed me to fail, which is what a lot of great art comes out of.”

Ockenfels says he regrets not getting to shoot Bowie for his 2016 album, Blackstar, sharing that he was unaware the singer was sick. Bowie died two days after the album’s release.

“David really allowed me to grow,” Ockenfels says. “An artist like that constantly pushes you: How much further can we go? How much weirder? That’s a unique relationship.”

Collaboration: Frank Ockenfels 3 x David Bowie is available for preorder now.

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Record Store Day has announced the list of releases for its 2025 Black Friday event, taking place in independent record stores on Nov. 28. This year there will be over 170 releases, and here’s a selection of some of the titles:

Bob Dylan will be represented with two new releases, including The Original Free Wheelin’ Bob Dylan, which features four songs that Columbia Records execs pulled from the original 1963 album. There will also be a 7-inch single of “Masters of War,” recorded in Alan Lomax’s apartment in 1962, that includes a conversation between Dylan and Lomax on the B-side. 

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ live collection, The Live Anthology – From The Vaults Vol. 1, will be released on turquoise blue vinyl, marking its first-ever vinyl release

Grateful Dead has three releases, including a recording of their Oct. 4 & 6, 1980, concerts at The Warfield in San Francisco, which will be released on both limited-edition vinyl and CD. They will also release the live album On A Back Porch Vol. 2, a collaboration between The Dead and Dogfish Head Brewery.

RSD Black Friday 2025 will also feature releases from Billy Joel, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Van Halen,  Alice Cooper, Mötley Crüe, Motörhead, Ramones, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Elton John and Brandi Carlile, the late Scott Weiland and more.

For the full list of releases and participating stores, visit RecordStoreDay.com.

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An upcoming yacht rock festival in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, appears to be in danger of cancellation.

Sunset Fest Cabo, scheduled for Oct. 24 through Oct. 26, was initially announced back in August, featuring a lineup that included Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, Rick Springfield, Alan Parsons, Ambrosia and Pablo Cruise.

But now, less than three weeks before the festival is supposed to kick off, several artists on the bill have pulled out. Cross, Loggins, Parsons and Ambrosia all recently announced on Instagram that they wouldn’t be playing the festival, citing “unforeseen circumstances” beyond their control.

Rolling Stone reports that other acts originally on the bill, including Cruise, Al Stewart and Peter Beckett, have also pulled out of the festival. So far there’s been no word from Springfield about his participation.

Sunset Fest Cabo has yet to comment on the cancellations or the status of the festival. 

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Blondie has shared another track from the upcoming reissue of their 1999 comeback album, No Exit.

The latest is a never-before-released extended club mix of their hit single “Maria,” which is available now via digital outlets.

The original “Maria” went to #1 in the U.K. and was a top-10 hit on the U.S. dance charts.

No Exit Deluxe Edition, coming out Oct. 31, will include a remastered version of the original album, with remixes, new liner notes and the bonus track “Hot Shot,” which was previously only available in Japan. It will be released digitally and in two-CD, two-LP black vinyl and two-LP crystal glass clear configurations. This will mark the first time the album’s available on vinyl. All formats are available for preorder now.

Released in February 1999, No Exit was Blondie’s first album after a 17-year hiatus, reuniting band members Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke and Jimmy Destri. The album was a top-20 hit in the U.S. and peaked at #3 in the U.K.

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