Classic Rock News

KISS was celebrated Sunday in Washington, D.C., with the Kennedy Center Honors, with surviving members Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss in attendance.

The band posted a photo from the evening on Instagram and shared their gratitude for the honor, while mentioning their late guitarist, Ace Frehley.

“From the very beginning, KISS has been about proving that anything is possible with hard work and passion. We’re deeply honored to receive the Kennedy Center Honors, and proudly share this recognition with our fans and all those who have been a part of creating this legacy,” they wrote. “This honor would not be possible without the irreplaceable contributions of our founding partner, Ace Frehley. knowing how much this award meant to him, we celebrate this milestone as we mourn his loss.”

As for the ceremony, Billboard reports that KISS was celebrated with performances by Garth Brooks, Marcus King and Cheap Trick. Garth performed the band’s classic “Shout It Out Loud,” while King performed the ballad “Beth,” and Cheap Trick wrapped the tribute with the iconic KISS tune “Rock and Roll All Nite.”

The Kennedy Center Honors ceremony will air Dec. 23 on CBS.

In other KISS news, Simmons discussed Frehley’s death in an interview with the New York Post, blaming it on his “bad decisions.”

“He refused [advice] from people that cared about him – including yours truly – to try to change his lifestyle,” Simmons said. “In and out of bad decisions. Falling down the stairs — I’m not a doctor — doesn’t kill you. There may have been other issues, and it breaks my heart.”

He added, “The saddest thing – you reap what you shall sow, unfortunately.”

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Not long ago Elton John posted a humorous video of himself in his kitchen, but due to fan response, he’s now posted an important follow-up. 

In the original video, Elton poked fun at how ubiquitous “Step Into Christmas” becomes each holiday season. As he stands in his kitchen, he begins opening things — a drawer, the oven, a cabinet, the refrigerator — and the song starts playing, prompting him to scream in horror.  However, the detail some fans seemed to focus on was the fact that the inside of Elton’s oven door was pretty dirty.

“Nice to see even Elton’s oven needs cleaning before Christmas, my oven glass needs an oven doctor too,” one wrote. “I love his house is normal, and his oven door needs a clean inside,” wrote another.

In Elton’s new video, he stands in front of his oven wearing pink rubber gloves with red feather trim. “Look at this!” he announces, before opening the oven, spraying it with cleaner and wiping it vigorously.

“Scrub scrub scrub … no scrubs,” Elton says. “Look! I’ve got the cleanest oven window in Windsor!”

He captioned the video, “Don’t think your comments go unnoticed.”

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David Byrne is bringing his Who is the Sky? tour back to North America in 2026.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will kick off a new leg of the tour with a two-night stand, April 4 and 5, in Vancouver. He’ll also make stops in Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Houston, Indianapolis, Nashville and more before wrapping the tour with two nights in Baltimore, May 16 and 17.

Registration is now open for a presale that begins Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday.

The tour is in support of Byrne’s latest solo album, Who Is the Sky?, which was released in September. He brings the tour to Australia and New Zealand in January, and then Europe and the U.K. starting in February.

A complete list of tour dates can be found at DavidByrne.com.

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On This Day, Dec. 8, 1980 …

Legendary Beatles member John Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment building, The Dakota. He was 40.

Earlier in the day, Lennon signed a copy of his album Double Fantasy for a fan as he and wife Yoko Ono were leaving for the recording studio. When he returned later that evening, the same fan, Mark David Chapman, shot him twice. The musician was rushed to the hospital, where he died.

Chapman did not go on trial for Lennon’s murder, instead pleading guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison and became eligible for parole in 2000, but he still remains in jail.

No funeral for Lennon was held, but his cremated remains were scattered in New York’s Central Park, not far from The Dakota. A memorial for Lennon, Strawberry Fields, was later created in the area.

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Bruce Springsteen got a Golden Globe nomination … sort of.

Nominations for the 83rd annual Golden Globes were announced Monday with Jeremy Allen White earning a nomination for best performance by a male actor in a motion picture, drama for his portrayal of The Boss in the biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.

It was the only nomination the film received. White received one other nomination, in the category for best performance by a male actor in a television series, musical or comedy for his work on The Bear.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, directed by Scott Cooper, follows Springsteen as he makes his 1982 solo album Nebraska. In addition to White, it starred Succession’s Jeremy Strong as Springsteen’s manager, Jon Landau.

Among the other music-related nominations, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood earned a nod in the best original score category for his work on the Paul Thomas Anderson movie One Battle After Another.

The Golden Globes will air live Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and stream on Paramount+.

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Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh has donated over 800 personal items, including over 400 guitars, to an upcoming Julian’s Auction. But the rocker admits it wasn’t easy to part with all the things he collected over the years.

“It was traumatic,” he tells ABC Audio. “We all have stuff. Other people’s stuff, that’s their junk. My stuff, to them, is my junk, but no, that is my stuff.”

Walsh says he can’t believe he accumulated so many guitars and other things over the years, noting at times he found himself thinking, “What the hell is this?”

“It was a cleansing thing for me cause I’m a hoarder, but there’s stuff I’m never gonna play,” he says. “And there’s stuff underneath my stuff, you know? So it’s time.”

Julian’s Auctions is hosting the Life’s Been Good: Joe Walsh auction Dec. 16-17 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and online. Items up for auction include Walsh’s McLaren Luxury Supercar; the “brick wall” Moschino suit Walsh wore to the Eagles’ 1988 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction; and a stage-played 2014 Duesenberg Joe Walsh Signature semi-hollowbody electric guitar.

“There’s a story in every guitar,” he says of the instruments in the auction. “There’s some real treasures, if you’re a treasure hunter.”

Proceeds from the auction will benefit Walsh’s charity VetsAid, which raises money for veteran-related causes.

Walsh sees an added benefit to clearing out his warehouse, noting, “Then I’ll have room to get more stuff.” 

More information on the auction can be found at JuliensAuctions.com.

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Freddie Mercury’s debut solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, has just been reissued for its 40th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Mercury’s official YouTube channel has debuted the first in a three-part series dedicated to the release.

Each episode in the Mr. Bad Guy series includes clips from music videos for the album’s singles, along with excerpts from a 1985 interview Mercury gave to promote the record.

In episode 1, Freddie tells interviewer David Wigg why he decided to take a hiatus from Queen to make the record.

“It’s something in me that I wanted to do. It’s a challenge, anyway,” he says. “I wanted to write a batch of songs that came out under the name Freddie Mercury, so why not? I think the time and place is right.”

As for the tunes on the album, Mercury says, “They’re all love ballads and things to do with sadness, torture and pain.” He added, “At the same time, it’s frivolous and tongue-in-cheek. That’s basically my whole nature, I guess.”

The new Mr. Bad Guy reissue was released Friday on 180-gram translucent green vinyl featuring a 2019 mix by Queen’s longtime sound team, Justin Shirley-Smith and Joshua J. Macrae. The mix originally appeared on the Mercury box set Never Boring.

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Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Gene Simmons is headed to Washington.

The KISS founding member is set to testify on Tuesday before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Property Subcommittee in support of the American Music Fairness Act. The bipartisan bill aims to ensure radio corporations pay performers for playing their music.

“Having spent my career in the music and entertainment industry, I understand the vital importance of this issue,” Simmons said in a statement. “The American Music Fairness Act represents sound public policy. Artists must be properly compensated for their creative work.”

He added, “I look forward to meeting with both Republican and Democratic Senators to discuss why this legislation is crucial for thousands of present and future American recording artists.”

This isn’t the only reason Simmons will be in DC. On Sunday, he and his KISS bandmates will receive the Kennedy Center Honors. The ceremony will be taped and air Dec. 23 on CBS.

In Simmons-related news … the sons of Simmons and his band mate Paul Stanley are making music together. Evan Stanley and Nick Simmons, who go by Stanley Simmons, just released their debut single, “Body Down.” The song is now available via digital outlets.

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Squeeze has shared another track from their upcoming album, Trixies, which features some of the first songs the band’s Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook ever wrote together.

After previously releasing the first song, “Trixies Pt. 1,” they have now released “Trixies Pt. 2” to digital outlets.

The songs on Trixies, Squeeze’s first album in eight years, are described as a “collection of stories set in a fictional night club, Trixies.” They were written by the duo back in 1974 when recording was beyond their skill set.

“The songs that we wrote then astound me. I’m proud of them now, and I’m particularly proud that it was young us that did that,” Tilbrook said when the album was first announced. “The act of revisiting the Trixies songs had me in tears, partly because they’re so good, but also because I’m aware of all the stuff that I’ve still yet to hear and write.”

Difford added, “It really fills me with joy that at my age we can discover that we wrote such great songs when we were teenagers. I’m very proud of that.”

Trixies is being released March 6 and is available for preorder now.

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The Beatles are back on the Billboard charts thanks to Anthology 4, the new addition to the band’s Anthology series, which was recently reissued.

Anthology 4 features 36 tracks, including 13 previously unreleased demos, session recordings and more. It debuted in the top 10 on five Billboard charts, including both the Top Albums Sales and Top Current Album Sales charts, where it landed at #9.

The album is also at #7 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, #6 on the Top Rock Albums chart and #3 on the Indie Store Album Sales chart.

Anthology 4 was released as a standalone and was also part of the larger The Anthology Collection box set, with both debuting at #48 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. The Collection includes the first three Anthology releases, which originally came out in the ’90s, and hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and the Top Album Sales chart.

The release of The Anthology Collection coincided with the Disney+ debut of the newly restored and remastered version of the Anthology documentary series, which aired on ABC in 1995. The new version was expanded from eight to nine episodes. A 25th anniversary edition of The Beatles Anthology book was also released in October.

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