Classic Rock News

When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees were announced earlier this year, Carol Kaye‘s name was on the list in the category of Musical Excellence. But the legendary bassist — who played on The Beach Boys‘ Pet Sounds, influenced Paul McCartney and contributed to thousands of pop songs — is boycotting the November ceremony in LA. In a new interview The New York Times, she explains why.

Kaye, who’s 90, tells the paper, “I don’t do things because other people want me to do them. I have to do things the way I see fit.” The way she sees it, she tells the Times, “First off, I’m not a rocker, I’m a jazz musician. And I’m not a soloist. I worked in the studio as part of a team.”

The “team” who Kaye’s best known for working with is the group of first-call session players known as the Wrecking Crew — a name she finds insulting. The Times speculates that Kaye may be skipping the ceremony because her recognition is overdue: Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine was inducted in 2000, as was fellow bass icon James Jamerson.

Kaye has also been called a crank for criticizing the 2008 Wrecking Crew documentary. She tells the Times, “When you get put on a pedestal, you better say the right things, or else you’re going to be known as nasty. … But I just tell people, listen, this is what happened. This is how I feel. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry.”

Whether she attends or not, Kaye’s legacy is secure. The late Brian Wilson once called Kaye “the best bassist in the world,” while McCartney tells the Times that hearing Carol’s work on Pet Sounds “really changed my style.” 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will stream live on Disney+ Nov. 8. 

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Sammy Hagar is looking back at a memorable Van Halen show from 30 years ago.

The band’s former frontman has shared video of the group performing the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge track “Poundcake” at their Sept. 20, 1995, concert at Denver’s Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre. What made it particularly memorable was that Van Halen had to play during a blizzard, which dropped 8 inches of snow in the area.

“I’ll never forget looking out and it looked like we were playing for 18,000 snowmen,” Sammy writes in the description of the clip. “Eddie (Van Halen) ended up playing half the show with gloves with the fingertips cut out if you could imagine!”

He adds, “We had giant heaters on stage you name it we did the whole show the craziest thing ever.”

Van Halen’s Michael Anthony adds, “The place was packed and everybody looked like a Q-tip out there. It was no big deal for the audience.”

“Poundcake” is one of the many Van Halen songs Sammy performs on his upcoming live album Sammy Hagar & The Best of All Worlds Band – The Residency, dropping Oct. 10. It captures performances from his 2025 Las Vegas residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM.

(Video includes uncensored profanity.)

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Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has shared another track from Lighthouse: Live From London, his upcoming live album and concert film highlighting a show from his Lighthouse Tour ’24.

The latest is a performance of “Fallen Ones,” a track that appears on his third solo album, 2023’s Lighthouse. It is available now via digital outlets.

The album and film capture McKagan’s Oct. 25, 2024, concert at London’s Islington Assembly Hall and feature 19 tracks, including songs from Lighthouse, as well as covers and other songs from McKagan’s career. There’s also an appearance by Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones on covers of David Bowie’s “Heroes” and Johnny Thunder’s “Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory.”

Lighthouse: Live From London will be released Oct. 31 digitally, on CD and as a CD + Blu-ray set that includes the complete Live From London concert film. It will also be released as a two-LP black vinyl set that comes with a replica concert ticket signed by McKagan.

Lighthouse: Live From London is available for preorder now.

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Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford got married to his longtime partner, Thomas Pence, in 2024, and in a new interview he shares that it’s something he’s been wanting to do for years.

During part two of Halford’s appearance on Jake Shear’s Queer the Music podcast, Halford reveals that he would often ask Thomas to get married but would always get turned down. It wasn’t until Thomas asked that they finally wed.

“I stopped asking … just sort of, ‘Let’s get married.’ ‘No, I don’t wanna get married.’ ‘Oh, let’s just get married. We’ve been together forever.’ ‘No, I don’t wanna get married,'” Halford says of his proposals. “And then suddenly on one of our night walks, he goes, ‘I think we should get married.'” Halford says after that he went “straight home” and called a pastor.

As for the wedding itself, Halford says, “It was obviously me and him and an officiant, as they call them, who are legalized to marry people,” noting they were also joined by their friend Jim Silvia, who is Judas Priest’s tour manager, and his wife.

“There was just four of us around the pool, around the cactus, the heavy metal cactus,” he says. “And it was over in an instant. But it was just a beautiful, simple ceremony.”

Halford says it’s up to people to decide for themselves whether marriage is important, but for him and his husband, it’s “just a nice thing.”

“It seems like you’ve completed something in your relationship, more than anything else,” he says. “The commitment goes to another level when you get married. It’s a great thing to do. And if it doesn’t work, that’s life. But I think after being together for 35 years, it’s working.”

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Paul McCartney is taking fans behind the scenes at his three February club shows at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City.

The Beatles legend just released Paul McCartney Rocks The Bowery, an 11-minute tour diary of the shows, directed by Charlie Lightening.

The video highlights the frenzy over the three concerts, with interviews from the staff at the venue and fans who waited in line to get tickets. There’s also footage of soundcheck and snippets of McCartney performing such songs as “Get Back,” “Blackbird,” “The End” and “I’ve Just Seen a Face.” 

McCartney is just days away from returning to the stage. He’ll play a warm-up show Friday at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California, before kicking off the North American leg of his Got Back tour on Monday in Palm Desert, California. The tour wraps Nov. 25 in Chicago.

(Video includes uncensored profanity.)

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Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts are set to headline the Harvest Moon benefit concert in California. This is the second year in a row that Young has performed at the event.

The afternoon concert will take place Oct. 25 at The Painted Turtle camp in Lake Hughes, California. The lineup also includes Beck and Lana Del Rey, with additional artists to be named.

Proceeds from the concert will benefit both The Painted Turtle, which offers the camp experience to children with serious medical conditions, and The Bridge School, an educational institution for children with severe speech and physical disabilities.

“We’re honored to welcome Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, Beck, and Lana Del Rey to Harvest Moon this year,” said April Tani, executive director of The Painted Turtle. “This gathering, where music, nature, and purpose come together, is a powerful celebration of hope and community. It’s an opportunity for all of us to support two extraordinary organizations making a real difference in children’s lives.”

Tickets are on sale now at harvestmoongathering.com.

Young performed at the 2024 Harvest Moon concert, where he was joined by his Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmate Stephen Stills.

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Rolling Stone is marking the 50th anniversary of Queen’s iconic song “Bohemian Rhapsody” with a special interview with the band’s Brian May and Roger Taylor. The duo talk about the beginnings of the song, and even touch on what, if anything, Freddie Mercury is singing about.

Regarding their first impressions of the song, Taylor notes, “We thought, ‘Well, this is kind of ridiculous, so let’s go.’ We really enjoyed the silliness of it.” He adds that Mercury wrote “a fairly intense, ruminative song. And then we put all these amazingly daft bits in the middle.”

“So many people have been wondering, ‘What’s the secret meaning?'” he shares. “I’m not sure there is one.”

But the band’s manager, John Reid, doesn’t agree and seems to think Mercury was singing about his sexuality.

“I think that’s the key to it,” Reid says, “and a little bit of self-doubt, and the fact that he could never be that open to his parents.”

Elsewhere in the article, May and Taylor discuss Queen’s future, revealing they’ve tried to make music with current frontman Adam Lambert.

“Nothing really materialized so far,” May tells Rolling Stone. “Some things are meant to be and some things are not.”

But even without new music, Taylor says, “I don’t think we’re done.” He insists they won’t do a farewell tour “’cause it never is, is it?”

And it sounds like Queen’s future may include a Las Vegas residency some day.

“ I’m very keen on the Sphere. It’s got my mind working,” May says. “I sat there watching the Eagles, thinking, ‘We should do this. The stuff that we could bring to this would be stupendous.’ So, yeah, I would like to do it. We’re having conversations.”

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R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, The Black Crowes‘ former drummer Steve Gorman and Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker are joining forces for a new supergroup, Howl Owl Howl.

The group formed in 2021 out of a casual jam session between the three longtime friends, with a press release noting that session turned into “something unique.” As for the sound, Howl Owl Howl “fuses organic roots rock with an open-minded alternative flair, matching a fluid, feel-oriented rhythm section to the barrel-chested vocal rasp of an iconic frontman.”

“It feels great to be singing with a rock band again. It’s like buddies getting together, but also getting to play with your idols,” Rucker says. “The stuff we’re writing is so different than anything I’ve tried to do before.”

Mills adds, “You never can explain band chemistry. We all like each other. And we all admire each other musically. All those things come together and if it weren’t fun, we wouldn’t be doing it.”

Music fans will get their first experience of Howl Owl Howl when the band releases their debut track, “My Cologne,” on Oct. 31.

They are also planning to hit the road for the nine-date Howl Owl Howl tour starting Nov. 3 in Indianapolis. The tour wraps Nov. 15 in Athens, Georgia, which is the birthplace of R.E.M. A complete list of dates can be found at howlowlhowl.com.

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The Rolling Stones are revisiting their 1976 album Black and Blue ahead of its 50th anniversary.

The band is set to release a five-LP or four-CD super-deluxe box set on Nov. 14, with both versions also coming with a Blu-ray. The set includes a 2025 remix of the album by producer Steven Wilson, along with an album of outtakes and jams. It also includes a recording of a 1976 concert at Earls Court in London, which was part of a six-night residency at the venue.

The Blu-ray includes the Wilson remix and the Earls Court concert in Dolby Atmos, plus an unreleased TV broadcast of the band’s 1976 concert at Les Abattoirs in Paris.

The six-track album of outtakes include four Stones instrumental jams from the 1975 recording sessions, plus a previously unreleased track, “I Love Ladies,” written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. There’s also a take on Shirley & Company’s “Shame Shame, Shame,” which is out now via digital outlets. A video for the track will be released Thursday.

The set also includes a 100-page hardcover book and replica tour poster.

The Black and Blue reissue will also be released in a variety of other formats, including a limited-edition five-LP black and blue marbled vinyl set; two-disc and one-disc formats on both vinyl and CD; and a limited-edition zoetrope vinyl.

Most formats are available for preorder now.

Released in April 1976, Black and Blue was The Stones’ 13th studio album and the first since guitarist Mick Taylor left the group. His eventual replacement, Ronnie Wood, is featured on three songs. The Stones used the recording sessions as auditions for Taylor’s replacement, with other guitarists like Jeff Beck, Robert A. Johnson and Wayne Perkins taking part.

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On This Day, Sept. 24, 1979…

The Eagles released their sixth studio album, The Long Run, which hit #1 on the Billboard Albums chart.

The album featured the singles “Heartache Tonight,” which went to #1, as well as the title track and “I Can’t Tell You Why,” which were both top-10 hits.

The Long Run was the Eagles’ first album to feature Timothy B. Schmit, who replaced founding member Randy Meisner, who left the group during their Hotel California tour in 1977. Schmit wrote and sings lead on “I Can’t Tell You Why.”

The album was also the last full album to feature Don Felder, who was fired from the group in 2001.

The Eagles would break up less than a year after the release of The Long Run, although they would reunite in 1994. It took them until 2007 to release a new album, Long Road Out of Eden, which would go on to hit #1.

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