Classic Rock News

David Bowie fans now have a chance to hear an unreleased version of his classic track “Let’s Dance,” and it’s all for a good cause.

Gala Music has teamed with musician/songwriter/producer Larry Dvoskin, with support from the Bowie Estate,  for a limited series of Bowie digital collectables, which will give fans access to a never-before-heard version of Bowie’s 1983 hit. The new take was recorded 19 years after the original release, and is being made available as part of the 40th anniversary of the tune.  

“This was a creative endeavor David never got to see released during his lifetime. We are honoring his wish by releasing it now,” Dvoskin shares.

As for the new version of the song, he notes, “I am first and foremost a huge Bowie fan. It would have been a mistake to attempt to copy the original,” adding, “This is something different. David simply imagined a more dreamy, electronic version. He is the original disruptor of expectations.”

The digital collectables will be available starting April 14, and proceeds from the sales will be donated to MusiCares, the Recording Academy’s charity that provides health and human services to the music community.

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The Clash bassist Paul Simonon has teamed with Galen Ayers, daughter of the late Soft Machine bassist Kevin Ayers, for a new album, Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?, and the pair, who go by Galen and Paul, have shared a new track from the record, “Room at the Top.”

Simonon tells Rolling Stone the song is “sort of a tribute to Del Shannon,” explaining that before making the tune he tasked his keyboardist Dan Donovan to figure out how to mimic the sounds on Del Shannon tunes.

“I’ve always loved Del Shannon songs like ‘Hats Off to Larry’; they remind me of a kid when you go to the funfair and there’d be like roller coasters and stuff swinging around,” the punk legend tells the mag. “So Dan got a sound, and I thought, ‘We better write a song,'” adding, “So it came partly from inspiration and various English Gothic films.” Simonon notes the lyrics were inspired by the 1945 film of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day? is set to drop May 19. It is available for preorder now.

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Brian May is lending his name to two brand new amps from Vox: the limited edition Brian May MV50 and Brian May AmPlug.

“I want people to be able to get the sounds you make in a stadium show into your living room, and this achieves that,” May says. “I hope that people find them inspiring.” 

Both options come in red and offer what is described as “authentic Queen tone,” with the MV50 featuring Vox’s Nutube technology. The AmPlug is modeled on the classic Brian May Vox AC30 sound, and features a treble booster setting for rockers to get that “instant Brian May tone” plugged directly into their guitar’s output jack.

More info can be found at voxamps.com.

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Guitarist Mick Mars is suing Mötley Crüe.

In docs seen by ABC Audio, Mars alleges that his share of the Crüe’s profits were decreased following his retirement from touring last October, and that the other band members — Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil — played to pre-recorded tapes during last summer’s Stadium Tour.

As previously reported, the “Kickstart My Heart” outfit announced that Mars, 71, was getting off the road due to his ongoing battle his ongoing battle with the inflammatory disease ankylosing spondylitis, or AS. Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 was named Mars’ replacement. A rep for Mars told Variety a day before the announcement that the guitarist “will continue as a member of the band, but can no longer handle the rigors of the road.”

In his suit, however, Mars alleges that, following the retirement announcement, Mötley reduced his share of the profits from 25% to 5%.

The suit also states that bassist Sixx “gaslighted” Mars by telling him his “guitar playing was sub par,” while Sixx himself “did not play a single note on bass” live.

“A significant portion of Neil’s vocals were also pre-recorded,” the suit reads. “Even some of Lee’s drum parts were recordings.”

Mötley Crüe reunited in 2019 with original members Mars, Sixx, Lee and Neil, after playing what was advertised as their “final” show on New Year’s Eve 2015. They announced the Stadium Tour with Def Leppard for 2020, which was delayed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

News of the lawsuit follows a recent interview Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice gave to Ultimate Guitar, in which he claimed that Mars was “not happy” on the Stadium Tour because “everything was on tape.” Sixx responded to Appice by calling him a “washed up drummer.”

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Former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon is mourning the loss of his wife Nora Forster, who passed away at age 80, after suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. The news was revealed on the Twitter account of Lydon’s band Public Image Ltd.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the sad news that Nora Forster – John Lydon’s wife of nearly 5 decades – has passed away,” read the post. “Nora had been living with Alzheimer’s for several years. In which time John had become her full time carer.” The statement continued, “Please respect John’s grief and allow him space. Rest in Peace Nora.” 

Lydon and Forster married in 1979. In 2018, Lydon revealed his wife’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis and in 2020 shared that he had become her full-time caregiver.  

In February, Lydon and PiL competed to represent Ireland in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, performing the tune “Hawaii,” which Lydon wrote about Nora’s battle with the disease. At the time he noted the song was “dedicated to everyone going through tough times on the journey of life, with the person they care for the most.”

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RATT’s classic albums are being celebrated with a brand new box set. Ratt: The Atlantic Years’ Limited Edition Box Set, dropping June 9, will feature five studio albums, all remastered on 180g black vinyl. 

Albums in the set include 1984’s Out of the Cellar, which features their classic song “Round and Round,” 1985’s Invasion of Your Privacy, 1986’s Dancing Undercover, 1988’s Reach for the Sky and 1990’s Detonator. They all feature the classic RATT lineup of Stephen Pearcy, Warren DeMartini, Robbin Crosby, Juan Croucier and Bobby Blotzer.

In addition to the remastered albums, the box set will feature a seven-inch single of “Nobody Rides for Free, which was released in 1991 and featured in the Patrick Swayze/Keanu Reeves flick Point Break. The set also includes a 12-page replica tour book, with never-before-seen photos, a poster, bumper sticker, replica backstage pass and a guitar pick. 

RATT: The Atlantic Years’ Limited Edition Box Set is available for preorder now.

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Organizers of Virginia’s FloydFest recently revealed that plans for the fest were up in the air due to problems with their planned location. Well, now they’ve decided to cancel the festival altogether.

This year’s festival, dubbed FloydFest 23: Forever, was supposed to take place July 26-30 in Virginia, featuring The Black Crowes, My Morning Jacket, Sheryl Crow and Goose. Original plans called for it to happen at a new location, FestivalPark, but “final permitting and logistical factors” caused organizers to seek an alternative location, which apparently did not work out.

“To ensure that our beloved patrons receive the best FloydFest experience possible, and to protect the FloydFest vibe that means so much to so many, we have made the difficult decision to cancel FloydFest 2023, after a review and thorough vetting of multiple alternative options,” organizers share. “Make zero mistake — FloydFest is not going anywhere. We hope to see each of you, our FloydFest Family, in July 2024, as we christen your new home, FestivalPark.” 

Ticket holders have the option of holding on to their tickets for next year, or getting a full refund. Fans have until May 5 to decide which option they are choosing.

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On This Day, April 6, 2000…

An A-list group of artists paid tribute to Joni Mitchell at a concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.  

Artists who performed at the event included Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams, Shawn Colvin, James Taylor and more, with Mitchell also performing, backed by a full orchestra. The concert was filmed and later aired on the cable network TNT.

Mitchell quit touring in 2007 and spent several years off the stage, especially after she suffered a stroke in 2015. But that all changed in June 2022 when she performed alongside Brandi Carlile and a group of friends at the Newport Folk Festival.

And she’s set to take the stage again this June, where she and some of her musical friends will headline one night of Carlile’s Echoes Through the Canyon festival at Washington’s Gorge Amphitheatre.

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Diddy‘s 1997 number-one hit “I’ll Be Missing You” is based on the 1983 number-one hit “Every Breath You Take” by The Police, written by the band’s frontman, Sting.  On Wednesday, Diddy revealed just how much money Sting makes from the use of that sample.

After Diddy sampled “Every Breath You Take” without Sting’s permission, the rocker took legal action, earning a much higher percentage of the song’s royalties than he would have if Diddy had simply asked. As a result, the story goes, Sting makes $730,000 in royalties from the song each year — which works out to two grand per day.

Except it turns out he earns even more than that.

Responding to a tweet of an interview clip in which Sting confirms the $2000-per-day figure, Diddy offers a correction: “Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting!”

In the interview clip, Sting says he and Diddy are very good friends: In fact, he even joined Diddy and Faith Evans to perform the song — a tribute to the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. — on the 1997 MTV VMAs.

The person who ended up getting a raw deal was Police guitarist Andy Summers.  In addition to sampling the melody of “Every Breath You Take,” it also sampled Summers’ iconic guitar part for the song, but since he technically doesn’t have a songwriting credit, he didn’t get any money, and he’s still salty about it, having complained about it in several interviews.

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Thursday, April 6 marks another full moon, which means Peter Gabriel is once again treating us to another song off his upcoming album i/o, which is expected out sometime this year. The latest single is the Brightside Mix of the album’s title track, which features the Soweto Gospel Choir.

“This month the song is ‘i/o‘ and i/o means input / output. You see it on the back of a lot of electrical equipment and it just triggered some ideas about the stuff we put in and pull out of ourselves, in physical and non-physical ways,” Gabriel shares, noting it got him thinking about “the interconnectedness of everything.” 

“The older I get, I probably don’t get any smarter, but I have learned a few things and it makes a lot of sense to me that we are not these independent islands that we like to think we are, that we are part of a whole,” he says. “If we can see ourselves as better connected, still messed up individuals, but as part of a whole, then maybe there’s something to learn?”

Gabriel is set to hit the road in support of i/o next month, with his European and UK tour kicking off May 18 in Krakow, Poland. The tour hits North America starting September 8 in Quebec, Canada. A complete list of dates can be found at petergabriel.com.

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