Classic Rock News

Foo Fighters have shared another new music teaser.

Following last week’s 13-second clip, which featured the phrase “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” displayed against a white background, the latest video lasts a total of 25 seconds, and includes the additional phrases “Are you feeling what I’m feeling?” and “This is happening now.”

If and when new Foos music officially arrives, it’ll be the follow-up to 2021’s Medicine at Midnight album and, more notably, will be the group’s first fresh material following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins in March 2022.

Following Hawkins’ passing, Foo Fighters canceled all of their tour dates before reemerging for two giant tribute concerts to their late bandmate in September. On New Year’s Eve, they announced they intended to continue as a band, and have since scheduled a number of headlining concerts and festival sets for 2023, the first of which takes place May 24 in Gilford, New Hampshire.

A new drummer has yet to be announced.

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Musical taste is certainly subjective, so a list picking the “best of” anything is certainly ripe for debate, and that will likely be the case with Mojo’s recent list of the 50 Greatest Led Zeppelin songs. 

The list was compiled by the magazine’s “world-class team of writers,” noting it’s what they consider “the definitive list of” the best Zeppelin tracks. 

Now if you assumed “Stairway to Heaven” landed at number one, you’d be wrong. Instead, the magazine picks the 1975 Physical Graffiti track “Kashmir” for the top spot, saying it “was dense with everything at which Zeppelin excelled: ancient blues, psychedelic dreaming and signature brawn, charged with new, exotic risk.” 

Coming in at two is 1971’s “When The Levee Breaks,” followed by 1969’s “Whole Lotta Love” at three, 1971’s “Stairway” at four and 1971’s “Black Dog” at five.

Rounding out the top 10 are: “Since I’ve Been Loving You” at six, “Dazed and Confused” at seven, “Achilles Last Stand” at eight, “Ramble On” at nine and “Rock and Roll” at 10.

The complete list of the top 50 greatest Led Zeppelin songs can be found at Mojo4music.com. 

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Sting is extending his time on the road. The singer has added nine new dates to his My Songs 2023 tour, which hits North America this fall.

The new additions, which all feature special guest Joe Sumner, Sting’s eldest son, are in Wantagh, New York; Hollywood, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Reno, Nevada; and Austin, Irving and Woodlands, Texas.

The tour is set to kick off September 5 in Toronto, Canada, with dates now confirmed through October 15 in Woodlands. Tickets for the new shows go on sale Friday, April 21, at 10 a.m. local time. 

Before bringing the show back to the U.S., Sting is set to tour Europe, with dates kicking off June 1 in Bilbao, Spain. A complete tour schedule can be found at Sting.com.

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Back in 2005, Metallica opened two shows for The Rolling Stones — but if you thought the two bands hung out backstage and partied, you’d be wrong. While chatting with Bill Maher for his Club Random podcast, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich revealed the band wasn’t even allowed to make eye contact with Mick Jagger. 

Ulrich says the band was sitting backstage at what is now Oracle Park in San Francisco when an assistant told them Jagger was about to walk through to go to his gym and warm up, telling them, “’When he walks through here, please don’t make eye contact with him or talk to him.’” 

While Lars says the Stones did take a picture with them, they didn’t exactly get a chance to bond. 

“I had dreams, like, I thought, we’re gonna play with the Rolling Stones and you know where I’m gonna spend my whole time, in Keith Richards‘ hotel room, sitting doing those legendary parties ’til nine o’clock in the morning: I’ll be the last one to leave!” Ulrich said. “It wasn’t exactly like that.”

It did have a lasting effect on Ulrich, though, and informed the way he treated opening acts for the rest of their career. “I always go and say hello to our support act. I look them in the eye, I ask them if there’s anything they need,” he says. “It’s a human thing; if somebody comes out and plays on a Metallica stage, I want them to feel at home.”

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The new David Johansen documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only is airing now on Showtime. The film was co-directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, and producer Margaret Bodde says the Academy Award winner Scorsese was the perfect person to help tell the story of the New York Dolls frontman, who went on to have fame as Buster Poindexter.

“Martin Scorsese has really long been an admirer and fascinated by David Johansen,” Bodde tells ABC Audio. “He loved the New York Dolls, that has been an inspiration for him throughout a lot of the filmmaking that he’s done.” She adds, “I think the idea of reinvention was really fascinating for Marty, when David then became Buster Poindexter or channeling that era of swing music.” 

The film is centered around Johansen’s one-man Café Carlyle show, which co-director Tedeschi says gives you a different perspective on Johansen’s career.  

“The show was radically different than anything else I’d ever seen partially because he tells the story of his life between the songs,” he explains, “but also because he wrote the songs in the set list, which is unusual for him. I don’t know if he ever did a show where it’s just his songs.” 

Bodde adds that Johansen “is really like a musical connoisseur,” and him sharing his life in this way is a unique opportunity to learn about him, noting, “I think David is not someone who really courts that kind of attention.”

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AC/DC’s Brian Johnson has been immortalized with a brand new statue. Consequence reports that the statue was recently unveiled in Namur, Belgium, the city where Johnson hit the stage with AC/DC for the very first time.

“[Namur is] a very special place for me,” Johnson shared in a video message. “It was the first night I sang with AC/DC, and I was a very nervous boy. So that memory will stay with me forever.” He added, “And now that you’ve built this statue, honestly, I’m not worthy of it. I thank you, and I’ll take it in good grace.”

Johnson, who joined AC/DC after the February 1980 death of BonScott, made his live debut with the band on June 29, 1980, at the Palais Des Expositions in Namur.

The statue, made of Belgian Blue Stone, came to be thanks to three AC/DC fans: Michel Remy, Mike Davister and Georges Boussingault, who started a crowdfunding campaign, with the support of a local radio station. Johnson was not at the unveiling, but has said he plans to visit his statue “in about five, six weeks.”

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Billy Joel gets the Dad of the Week award: He took his young daughters Della Rose and Remy Anne to see Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour over the weekend.

An Instagram slideshow of Billy, his wife and the girls enjoying the concert in Tampa, Florida, over the weekend is captioned, “Rockin’ into our new ‘era’ thank you @Taylorswift we loved the show!” 

One sweet shot shows Billy holding hands with the girls as he walks them into the stadium; in a video, the kids are rocking out in a VIP area and Della is singing all the words to “… Ready for It?”   

Another shot looks like the girls dressed to reflect Taylor’s different eras: Della appears to be channeling a folklore/evermore vibe, while Remy’s wearing purple, the official color of Speak Now.

Fans loved the post and are now clamoring for Taylor to appear at one of Billy’s shows and vice versa, or for the two to do a collaboration. Billy has spoken in the past of his admiration for Taylor, telling USA Today, “She knows music and she knows how to write. She’s like that generation’s Beatles.”

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Soundgarden has reached a reconciliation with Chris Cornell‘s widow, Vicky Cornell.

A joint statement posted to Instagram reads, “Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell, on behalf of the Estate of Chris Cornell, are happy to announce they have reached an amicable out of court resolution.”

Notably, the agreement means that the Soundgarden music that was in the works before Chris Cornell’s death in 2017 will be released.

“The reconciliation marks a new partnership between the two parties, which will allow Soundgarden fans around the world to hear the final songs that the band and Chris were working on,” the statement continues. “The two parties are united and coming together to propel, honor and build upon Soundgarden’s incredible legacy as well as Chris’s indelible mark on music history — as one of the greatest songwriters and vocalists of all time.”

The agreement comes after years of legal drama between Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell, which began in 2019 over those final recordings, of which both parties claimed rightful ownership.

Various allegations surfaced amid the proceedings — Vicky accused Soundgarden of trying to buy out her ownership of Chris’ share in the band with a “villainously low” offer, while Soundgarden accused Vicky of misusing charity funds raised from 2019’s Chris Cornell memorial concert — leading up to a “temporary agreement” in June 2021, for which Vicky returned the passwords to Soundgarden’s social media account to surviving members Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd.

In 2020, the Cornell estate released a covers album called No One Sings Like You Anymore, Vol. 1.

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Roger Waters is vowing to continue on with his planned Frankfurt concert, despite the local city council canceling it. 

The Frankfurt concert was announced for May 28, but the city council canceled it because of the Pink Floyd rocker’s political beliefs, calling him “one of the world’s most well-known antisemites.” Rogers threatened to sue over the cancelation, and now he says he plans to go on with the show regardless of what happens.

In a post on Instagram, Waters writes that the Frankfurt council had a deadline of April 14 to respond to his interim injunction but they have no idea whether or not they actually did. Writing in all caps, Waters shares, “Not that it matters much! We’re coming anyway! Because human rights matter! Because free speech matters!” 

After referring to Kristallnacht, the November 9, 1938, attack on Jews in Germany, and anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl, who was executed in 1943 for distributing anti-war leaflets, Waters reiterated his intention to continue with the show, noting, “We’re coming to Frankfurt on the 28 of May.”

In the meantime, Waters’ This Is Not A Drill tour continues through Europe. He’s set to play Copenhagen, Denmark, April 17 and 18. A complete list of dates can be found at rogerwaters.com.

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Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival is returning with a star-studded lineup of guitarists joining him. The seventh installment of the festival will take place September 23 and 24 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the first time the festival is being held since 2019.

Clapton will play both nights of the festival, with the lineup made up of artists like ZZ Top, Robbie Robertson, Santana, Stephen Stills, Gary Clark, Jr., John Mayer Trio, Sheryl Crow, Robert Randolph, Roger McGuinn, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Vaughan, Joe Bonamassa, Jakob Dylan and many more.

Proceeds from the shows, as well as an online auction, benefit The Crossroads Centre at Antigua, a rehab facility founded by Clapton.

Tickets for the festival go on sale Friday, April 21, at 10 a.m. local time. More information, including the complete lineup, can be found at crossroadsguitarfestival.com.

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