Classic Rock News

The story of The Beatles is about to be told on the big screen in a big way.

Sony Pictures just announced that Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes is on board to direct not one, but four movies about The Beatles, each one told from the point of view of a different band member.

The films mark the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles have granted a studio the rights to the life stories of band members Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison, and their legendary catalog of music. 

“I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” Mendes, best known for such films as American Beauty and Skyfall, shared in a statement.

So far, there’s no word on when production will begin or who’ll be cast in each role. The studio promises an “innovative and groundbreaking” release for the films, which are due out in 2027.

While this is the first time The Beatles have supported a movie about the band, it isn’t the first time they have been depicted on screen. The 1994 film Backbeat chronicled the early days of The Beatles, and in 2009, Aaron Taylor-Johnson played Lennon in the film Nowhere Boy, which focused on the singer’s teenage years. 

The Beatles were also subject of the 2019 comedy Yesterday, about a struggling musician who wakes up after an accident and discovers he’s the only one in the world who remembers The Beatles.

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Van Halen‘s two frontmen, Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth, haven’t been holding back in the press about their feelings toward each other. And while they may not be friends, that hasn’t stopped Hagar from appreciating the music Roth made with Van Halen before he took over.

Van Halen’s sixth studio album, 1984, celebrated its 40th anniversary in January and Hagar has nothing but good things to say about it.

“I was a huge fan of that record,” Hagar tells ABC Audio, noting it made him realize Eddie Van Halen was a “genius.”

Sammy was particularly impressed by Eddie’s synthesizer work on “Jump,” Van Halen’s only #1 single, sharing, “You know, Eddie, I just I fell in love with Eddie with that.”

And Hagar says he was even a little jealous after the success of “Jump,” sharing that prior to its release he always felt he was on the same level as Van Halen.

“You know, I felt I was in competition until I heard ‘Jump’ and the song went, you know, it was such a big hit,” he says. “I just went, ‘Wow, they did it.’ I was mad, I was upset.” He does note that he got over it once Van Halen asked him to join the band. 

Roth left Van Halen after 1984 and was replaced by Hagar. They went on to have four #1 albums with him as frontman. 

And Hagar plans to celebrate his time with Van Halen and more during his upcoming The Best of All Worlds Tour, which kicks off July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at redrocker.com.

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Lenny Kravitz was honored Sunday night with the Music Icon Award at the 2024 People’s Choice Awards.

Kravitz talked about how when he first started out people offered him big deals but only if he changed his music, sharing he turned them down because he couldn’t do something “inauthentic.”  

“An icon, to me, is someone who inspires and teaches others to believe in themselves, and their direction, whatever that direction is,” he said. “It’s never been about how many records I sell, or how many awards I win. It’s not about trying to write hits, or being calculated or formulaic.”

He added, “It’s about enjoying and being grateful for the journey, and using the gifts that God gave you, and that journey goes how it goes. And it will continue, because I’m just doing me.”

After thanking his parents, Roxie Roker and Sy Kravitz, Lenny shared, “Music is about bringing us all together. And the whole reason I create and perform music is to amplify love … Love is the strongest power, and love will win. We are all one — one God, one people, one planet. Let love rule, y’all.”

Kravitz also performed a medley of tunes at the event, including “Fly Away,” “It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over,” “Let Love Rule,” “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” and “TK421” from his upcoming album, Blue Electric Light, dropping May 24.

Kravitz is a newly announced nominee for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2024. Inductees will be announced in late April, with the induction ceremony set to take place this fall in Cleveland. The ceremony is set to stream live on Disney+, followed by a highlights special airing later on ABC.

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Def Leppard has added another tour date to their already busy schedule.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are set to headline Spokane Arena on September 6, the first time they are playing Spokane, Washington, in seven years.

Tickets for Def Leppard Rock Brigade Concert Club members go on sale Tuesday, February 20, with the general sale happening Friday, February 23. 

The Spokane show is one of only a handful of solo Def Leppard dates on their schedule for 2024. They are due to hit the road with Journey starting July 6 in St. Louis, Missouri. The tour features special guests Steve Miller Band, Heart and Cheap Trick.

A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com.

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Paul McCartney is back on the Billboard chart thanks to the 50th anniversary reissue of his Wings album, Band on the Run.

The reissue, which went to #1 on the Billboard 200 chart when it was released in 1974, returns to the same chart at #156 for the week ending February 17.

It has also landed in the top 10 on three other Billboard charts: the Top Album Sales chart, where it reenters at #5; the Vinyl Albums chart, where it debuts at #7; and the Tastemaker Albums chart, where it’s at #6. It also debuts at #37 on the Rock & Alternative Albums chart.

Overall, 8,000 copies of Band on the Run were sold in the U.S. in the first week of the anniversary edition’s release.

The 50th anniversary release of Band on the Run featured a half-speed remastered single LP vinyl of the original album, as well as a special two-LP vinyl set comprised of the half-speed remastered original album and an additional LP, Underdubbed Mixes Edition, featuring the album’s nine songs without any orchestral overdubs.

Band on the Run was the third album released by Paul McCartney & Wings and McCartney’s fifth post-The Beatles release. It featured such classic songs as the title track, “Jet” and “Bluebird.” 

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Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has announced a one-off U.S. concert ahead of his upcoming international solo tour.

The show will take place April 15 in Santa Ana, California. It’ll mark the debut of Dickinson’s newly reworked solo band lineup, which will feature guitarists Philip Naslund and Chris Declercq. They will fill in for longtime Dickinson collaborator Roy Z, who will be staying home from the tour due to personal commitments.

“We’re not afraid of doing some growing up in public,” Dickinson says. “This show will be a close to a rehearsal as you can get — it’s exciting to think what these musicians can do — and will do, when there are over one thousand fans in the room!”

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, February 20. For more info, visit Dickinson’s website, TheMandrakeProject.com.

Dickinson will release a new solo album, The Mandrake Project, on March 1. Following the Santa Ana concert, which marks the lone U.S. date on his calendar, Dickinson will head to Mexico, Brazil and Europe.

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Queen’s Roger Taylor is selling his Los Angeles home. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer has put his Spanish-style villa in the Hollywood Hills on the market, according to the Robb Report. 

Taylor purchased the 4,300-square-foot home in the early 1980s for $352,000 and has now listed it for close to $6.2 million.

So, what do you get for that price tag? The two-story house sits on a third of an acre of land. The home, which the listing says has been “remarkably restored and lovingly maintained,” features four bedrooms and five baths, with a formal living room with vaulted ceilings and a black marble fireplace.

There’s also an all-white kitchen with high-end appliances, a wine closet, dining room and a den with a stone fireplace. The master bedroom has its own fireplace, a private balcony, walk-in closet and a spa-like bathroom.

The grounds include a lagoon-style pool and a hillside spa, and there’s also a motorcourt, plus a two-car garage out front.

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Sunday, February 18, marks the 50th anniversary of the release of KISS’ self-titled debut album, and the band has now launched a new line of 50th anniversary merchandise to mark the occasion. 

Items in the collection include a 50th anniversary limited-edition KISS picture disc with an anniversary jacket featuring the KISS logo in rhinestones, as well as a limited-edition gold nugget-colored KISS vinyl, with a 50th anniversary long-sleeve shirt.

There are also a variety of 50th anniversary T-shirts and a separate 50th anniversary jacket, along with a banner, woven blanket, wing-zipped hoodie, socks, gin tumbler set, pin set, sticker, belt buckle and more.

All items are on sale now at shopkissonline.com.

Released February 18, 1974, the band’s self-titled debut featured such future KISS classics as “Strutter,” “Black Diamond,” “Deuce” and “10,000 Years.” It only sold about 75,000 copies when it was first released, but after it was rereleased in 1997 it was certified Gold by the RIAA.

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The Black Crowes are giving fans another preview of their upcoming album, Happiness Bastards.

Following the release of the album’s debut track, “Wanting and Waiting,” brothers Chris and Rich Robinson have dropped the second single from the record, “Cross Your Fingers,” which is described as having a “rhythmic chorus infused with the funk and soul of the Robinson Brothers’ Georgia roots.”

You can listen to “Cross Your Fingers” now via digital outlets and on YouTube.

The Black Crowes will release Happiness Bastards on March 15. It is their 10th studio album and their first album of new music in 15 years. 

They will also be heading out on the Happiness Bastards tour this spring, hitting 35 cities starting April 2 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. A complete list of dates can be found at theblackcrowes.com.

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There’s no doubt that artificial intelligence is changing the music industry. For one example, watch the video for Billy Joel‘s new song, “Turn the Lights Back On.” It uses what’s described as “groundbreaking technology” from a company called Deep Voodoo to transform Billy from the 74-year-old man he is today to the man he was in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. 

The video starts with a shot of the sheet music of “Famous Last Words,” the last song on Billy’s last pop album, 1993’s River of Dreams. It then shows him performing the song in the present day on an empty stage in a theater.

As he continues to sing the song, he suddenly transforms into how he looked in the ’70s, and then he turns into ’80s-era Billy, around the time of “Uptown Girl.” Next, he’s wearing shades and looks like he did in the early ’90s. As the clip ends, Billy is back to the way he looks now, and we see real-life footage of him through the years.

The video for “Turn the Lights Back On” was co-directed by Freddy Wexler, who also produced the song and co-wrote it with Billy, Arthur Bacon and Wayne Hector.

“Turn the Lights Back On” has returned Billy to the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts — as an artist, not just a writer — for the first time since 1998.

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