Classic Rock News

Tom Petty’s family has paid tribute to the rocker’s former Mudcrutch bandmate Tom Leadon, who passed away March 22 at the age of 71.

Sharing a collage of pictures featuring Petty, Leadon and the rest of the band, Petty’s daughter Adria Petty writes on Instagram, “We are devastated to hear of the passing of Tom Leadon. He was a dear friend of Tom and the fellas in the band and our entire family. He was part of the brotherhood. He was an excellent and accomplished musician and was the reason Tom reformed Mudcrutch, so that the band could enjoy more time and more music together. Tom loved him deeply.”

Petty’s wife, Dana Petty, added, “I am deeply saddened and surprised by this. Tom spent a lot of time staying in our home. He was very sweet with the best memory we’d ever witnessed. He was a unique man. I’m so shocked that he’s gone.”

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Former Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley is currently hospitalized after suffering a heart attack last weekend, and now we have an update about his health. 

A post on Instagram by Mark and Christopher Appleton, who manage and handle bookings for Bayley, reports that he’s in “excellent spirits,” noting he “has certainly not lost his strength & sense of humour.” He will, however, be undergoing triple — and possibly quadruple — heart bypass surgery, with the pair sharing, “This is obviously not a small matter & we should expect that his recovery period will be many months.” 

The surgery will force his tour to be postponed, but they add, “Blaze is looking ahead with optimism for a full recovery with good health & fitness.”

They ask that fans who want to support Blaze purchase merch from his web store, noting that as “a completely independent artist,” postponing the tour is “a particularly big blow” for him. “Your support in that way would be very much appreciated by Blaze & ourselves as the management team,” they write.

Bayley joined Iron Maiden in 1994, and appeared on the albums The X Factor and Virtual XI. His tenure with the group came to an end in 1999, after which longtime vocalist Bruce Dickinson rejoined the band. Dickinson has remained Maiden’s singer ever since. 

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The lineup for the apparent Power Trip festival is getting even more stacked.

As previously reported, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica and Iron Maiden all shared videos Tuesday leading to the website PowerTrip.live, which seems to be teasing a new festival from Coachella producers Goldenvoice. Since then, AC/DC and Tool have shared the same videos.

Additionally, Variety reports that Guns N’ Roses will be on the bill. According to Variety, Power Trip will be held in October at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, California, the same site as Coachella and Goldenvoice’s similarly high-profile Desert Trip festival in 2016, which featured The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Roger Waters and The Who.

If the teasers hold true, Power Trip will mark Ozzy’s first announced show since he revealed he was retiring from touring earlier this year, as well as AC/DC’s first live performance since 2016. It will also mark the “Back in Black” group’s first show back with vocalist Brian Johnson since the beginning of 2016, when he was forced to leave the tour due to health issues. GN’R’s Axl Rose stepped in for Johnson to finish out the run.

According to the Power Trip website, all will be revealed this Thursday, March 30.

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On This Day, March 29, 1980 …

AC/DC’s Malcolm Young called Brian Johnson, former singer of the band Geordie, and invited him to replace their late frontman, Bon Scott.

The band released their first album with Johnson, Back In Black, in July 1980. It went on to become one of the biggest albums in music history, selling more than 25 million copies in the U.S. alone, although it never reached number one in the U.S. It featured future AC/DC classics “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Hells Bells” and the title track.

Johnson, along with the rest of AC/DC, went on to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.  

He temporarily stepped away from the band in 2016 due to hearing problems, but rejoined the group in 2018 for their album Power Up, which was released in 2020.

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March 28 marked the 50th anniversary of Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, and guitarist Jimmy Page marked the occasion by sharing a special treat with fans. 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist shared an early demo he called “The Seasons,” which eventually became “The Rain Song.” He explained that the clip “was a memo to myself as a reminder of the sequence of the song and various ideas I’d had for it in its embryonic stage.”

The more than seven-minute “The Rain Song” was one of many classic tunes that appeared on Houses of the Holy. Others include “The Song Remains The Same” and “Dancing Days.”

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The Zombies are set to release their new album, Different Game, on Friday, but it may have been out earlier if the pandemic hadn’t gotten in the way. 

Lead singer Colin Blunstone says the making of the album was “an interesting adventure” for the band because they started working on it before the pandemic. While some artists made records over Zoom during lockdowns, that wasn’t what they were going for.

“We’d already decided that we wanted to record it with everyone in the studio at the same time,” Blunstone tells ABC Audio. “With the pandemic, it made it very, very difficult and so I think this album’s taken two or three years. To be quite honest, I’ve lost track of time.” 

Blunstone says it was important for the band to be together while recording, explaining, “We feel that there’s an energy in the studio when we’re all there playing together that isn’t there if we’re playing separately.”

He says he will “sing differently” when he’s in the studio with other musicians playing live, which gives a different feel to the record. He notes, “You can almost say this is very close to a live album but recorded in a studio environment.” 

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Taylor Swift is certainly gathering masses on her ongoing Eras Tour, including one Geezer Butler.

In an Instagram post, the Black Sabbath bassist reveals he recently attended one of the pop superstar’s concerts with his wife and grandkids.

“Night out @taylorswift,” Butler captions the post, which includes a photo of him and his family.

In other unexpected Black Sabbath crossovers, T-Pain put out a cover of the metal legends’ “War Pigs” last week for his new On Top of the Covers. Butler encouraged fans to check out T-Pain’s rendition, calling it “great.”

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Dead & Company is set to play Cornell University’s Barton Hall on May 8, as previously reported, and now they are giving fans a chance to win a VIP experience at the very special show.

The band has launched a Fandiem sweepstakes: The winner and a guest will nab two VIP Pit tickets to the concert, along with early entry into Barton Hall. They also get admission to the Cornell ’23 VIP reception the night before, which features a special photo exhibit. The prize also includes a limited event poster, an on-site experience concierge, roundtrip airfare to Ithaca, New York, and two-night hotel accommodations.

Proceeds from the sweepstakes, as well as the concert, benefit MusiCares and The Cornell 2030 Project. The deadline to enter is April 25.

The new Cornell show coincides with the 46th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s infamous May 8, 1977, Barton Hall concert, which was a legendary band bootleg before officially being released in May 2017. In 2012, a soundboard recording of the show was chosen by the Library of Congress for the National Recording Registry.

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The Who’s new live album, The Who with Orchestra Live At Wembley, drops Friday, and they have shared one more track ahead of its release.

The latest is their live performance of “Eminence Front,” a song from their 1982 record It’s Hard, which features Pete Townshend on vocals. They’ve also shared a lyric video for the tune, which features some footage of the Wembley performance.

The Who with Orchestra Live At Wembley was recorded during the band’s July 6, 2019, headlining show at the famed London venue. The concert has them performing classic tunes from albums like Quadrophenia, Tommy, Who’s Next, Who Are You and more backed by a 50-piece orchestra.

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Disney Channel’s upcoming movie Prom Pact may take place in the present, but it features an ’80s-themed prom, which means there’s a lot of ’80s music on the soundtrack.

Billboard reports the soundtrack features such classic tracks as David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll,” Billy Idol’s “Mony Mony,” Robert Palmer’s “Addicted To Love” and more. 

“There are so many songs I wanted to include,” the film’s director and executive producer, Anya Adams, tells the mag. “There’s not enough movie for the songs we wanted to use, but I wanted to bring in a multitude of different ’80s music.”

Prom Pact debuts Thursday, March 30, on Disney and will then stream on Disney+. 

Here’s the Prom Pact soundtrack:

“Believer” – Imagine Dragons
“Bad Guy” – Billie Eilish
“Addicted to Love” – Robert Palmer
“Old Time Rock & Roll” – Bob Seger
“What Makes You Beautiful” – One Direction
“Fall on Me” – Great Big World and Christina Aguilera
“Let’s Dance” – David Bowie
“The Promise” – When in Rome
“Mony Mony” – Billy Idol
“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” – Whitney Houston
“Only You” – Yazoo
“Coincidance” – Handsome Dancer
Theme from Ghostbusters

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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