Classic Rock News

A new podcast dedicated to The Doors has been announced.

Really?? The Doors? will be hosted by The New Yorker writer Naomi Fry and aims to “use The Doors’ chaotic legend to ask what happens when myth overtakes meaning, and what that reveals about how we talk about American culture and about ourselves.”

Guests will include Billy Idol and Doors drummer John Densmore.

“I’ve been obsessed with The Doors even since I was a young teen,” says Fry. “Over the years, I’ve come to discover that a lot of people think that this obsession is maybe a little embarrassing, and that [frontman] Jim Morrison and The Doors aren’t a worthwhile object of love and curiosity. I’m interested in mining the gap between these perceptions, partly to understand why I’m still obsessed, partly to look at The Doors through a wider cultural lens.”

“This podcast isn’t a straightforward biographical podcast; it’s the work of enthusiasts rather than historians, or, as Morrison might put it, feelers rather than analysts,” Fry continues. “What it will offer are rich, varied, and funny conversations about a really significant if sometimes misunderstood band.”

Really?? The Doors? is set to premiere Nov. 12. That same day, Fry will host a live episode recording with Densmore in Los Angeles.

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Noah Weiland, son of late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, has announced a concert commemorating the 10th anniversary of his father’s death.

The show will take place on Dec. 3 at the Garden Amp in Orange County, California. Jakob Nowell, current Sublime frontman and son of the late Bradley Nowell, will also perform.

“10 years has gone by so fast, but his legacy must continue,” Noah writes in an Instagram post. “We will be performing all of the hits & even some deep cuts.”

For ticket info, visit GardenAmp.com.

Scott Weiland passed away on Dec. 3, 2015, at age 48.

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Foreigner is set to rock the 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The “Juke Box Hero” outfit will perform upon the event’s Stranger Things float. The Netflix series has previously used the Foreigner songs “Cold as Ice,” “Hot Blooded” and “Waiting for a Girl Like You.”

You can tune in to watch the parade on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, on NBC and Peacock starting at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The fifth and final season of Stranger Things will premiere a day earlier, on Nov. 26.

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George Thorogood & the Destroyers have announced a 2026 North American leg for their Baddest Show on Earth tour.

The trek launches March 6 in Highland, California, and will conclude up in Canada on April 4 in Ottawa.

“When we decided to call this tour ‘The Baddest Show on Earth,’ we had no doubt we could back it up night after night,” the “Bad to the Bone” rocker says. “We’re playing great venues in some of our favorite markets, and it’s guaranteed we can make you feel like a teenager again. Time to get on the bus, hit the highway and bring the rock party to the people for 2026.”

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit GeorgeThorogood.com.

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Guns N’ Roses, Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit are headlining the 2026 edition of England’s Download Festival.

The bill also includes Bad Omens, Trivium, Architects, Halestorm, Ice Nine Kills, BABYMETAL, The Pretty Reckless, Black Veil Brides, Mastodon, The All-American Rejects and Static-X.

Download 2026 takes place June 10-14. It’s self-described as “the U.K.’s premier rock festival.”

For more info, visit DownloadFestival.co.uk.

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Former Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay has died. She was 78.

“It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of Donna Jean Godchaux,” reads a post on the Dead’s Instagram. “Her unmistakable voice and radiant spirit touched the lives of countless fans and immeasurably enriched the Grateful Dead family.”

“Her contributions will forever remain part of the tapestry that continues to be woven,” the post continues. “We send our deepest condolences to her loved ones and ask for privacy for her family during this time.”

Godchaux-MacKay was a member of the Dead from 1971 to 1979, and sang on albums including 1974’s From the Mars Hotel and 1977’s Terrapin Station, as well as the 1972 live album Europe ’72. Her then-husband, Keith Godchaux, played piano in the band during that time.

Upon leaving the Dead, the Godchauxs formed the Heart of Gold Band before Godchaux was killed in a car accident in 1980. Both Godchaux-MacKay and Godchaux were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Grateful Dead in 1994.

Outside of her work with the Dead, Godchaux-MacKay was known for providing backup vocals on hits including Elvis Presley‘s “Suspicious Minds” and Percy Sledge‘s “When a Man Loves a Woman.” She also contributed to albums by artists such as Cher and Boz Scaggs.

In 2007, Godchaux-MacKay formed her namesake Donna Jean Godchaux Band.

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Paul Rodgers will no longer be attending Bad Company‘s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Rodgers was set to reunite with former bandmate Simon Kirke, the only other surviving member of the original Bad Co. lineup, at the ceremony, with Kirke recently confirming that they will perform together. However, Rodgers says in a Facebook post published Monday that he won’t be taking part due to health reasons.

“My hope was [to] be at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and to perform for the fans, but at this time I have to prioritize my health,” Rodgers, who’s had multiple strokes over the years, writes. “I have no problem singing, it’s the stress of everything else. Thank you for understanding.”

He adds, “Simon along with some outstanding musicians will be stepping in for me – guaranteed to rock.”

Bad Company last performed live in 2019.

The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place Nov. 8 in Los Angeles and will stream live on Disney+. The other inductees include Joe Cocker, Warren Zevon, Soundgarden, The White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast and Chubby Checker.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News. 

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Paul McCartney looks back at the infamous rumors that he’d died in the 1960s in his upcoming new book, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run. 

As the story went, conspiracy theorists alleged that the Beatles member had actually died in the mid-’60s and had been replaced by a lookalike. As a piece of evidence, they claimed that John Lennon said the phrase “I buried Paul” in the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever,” though Lennon maintained he was actually singing “cranberry sauce.”

In an excerpt from Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run published in The Guardian, McCartney writes, “The strangest rumor started floating around just as the Beatles were breaking up – that I was dead.”

“We had heard it long before, but suddenly, in that autumn of 1969, stirred up by a DJ in America, it took on a force all its own, so that millions of fans around the world believed I was actually gone,” McCartney continues. 

While certainly not dead, McCartney writes that he’s now come to realize that he’d indeed lost a part of himself at the time.

“Now that over a half century has passed since those truly crazy times, I’m beginning to think that the rumors were more accurate than one might have thought at the time,” McCartney writes. “In so many ways, I was dead … A 27-year-old about-to-become-ex-Beatle, drowning in a sea of legal and personal rows that were sapping my energy, in need of a complete life makeover.”

Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run is due out Tuesday.

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Sting has announced a 2026 leg of his Sting 3.0 tour. 

The newly added dates run from May 9 in Durant, Oklahoma, to May 25 in Richmond, Virginia. Members of the Sting fan club will have access to a presale beginning Tuesday. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. local time.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Sting.com.

On the Sting 3.0 tour, the ex-Police frontman performs alongside guitarist and longtime collaborator Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas. A live album recorded on an earlier leg of the tour was released in April.

You can also catch the end of the 2025 U.S. Sting 3.0 tour, running through November.

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Exit light, enter … trespassers?

Two attendees of Metallica’s show at Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia, on Saturday were arrested after allegedly climbing a tower at the venue, News.com.au reports.

According to the publication, a police spokesperson says, “It will be alleged the men climbed up the central tower inside the bowl at the Metallica concert held at Optus Stadium on Saturday.”

The two men, aged 20 and 23, have been charged with trespassing.

Saturday’s concert marked the first on Metallica’s 2025 M72 tour of Australia and New Zealand. During the show’s soundcheck, frontman James Hetfield dressed as a kangaroo in honor of Halloween.

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