Classic Rock News

The Rolling Stones are the subject of a new Vevo-hosted YouTube series that launched on Thursday. The Rolling Stones Chronicles, co-produced by BBC Motion Gallery and ABKCO, is comprised of six documentary shorts, with each focused on a different Stones hit from the ’60s.

Each clip features interviews with the band, along with historical documentary footage of world events that were taking place at the time.

The weekly series kicks off with The Last Time (EP1), soundtracked by the top five single of the same name, which reveals how early rock ‘n’ roll and Chicago blues influenced the band. In addition to archival interviews with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it features footage of B.B. King, Little Richard and others.

“The Rolling Stones Chronicles puts the band’s music in context with history,” says Robin Klein, executive producer of the series. “While they were very much of that time, The Rolling Stones themselves served as a vehicle for, and reflected and inspired change.” 

Future episodes will be set against such Rolling Stones classics as “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “She’s A Rainbow,” “Street Fighting Man” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” wrapping March 16 with an episode featuring “Gimme Shelter.” 

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Red Hot Chili Peppers are headlining stadiums during their current tour of Australia, but drummer Chad Smith took a brief detour to play a much, much smaller venue.

In between shows, Smith showed up at Australia’s Cherry Bar to play with a local AC/DC cover band. According to a Facebook post by the Cherry, only 17 people were in the bar to see the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer play.

The Cherry seems to be the go-to place Down Under for big name rockers to stop by. Others who’ve made surprise appearances at the bar include Axl Rose and Arctic Monkeys.

RHCP’s Australian tour, which also features Post Malone on the bill, will wrap up Sunday. They’ll launch a U.S. tour in April.

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Roger Waters has been in the news a lot lately because of his views on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But in case you missed it, in a recent interview with the German magazine Berliner Zeitung, he dropped some big news about his music.

The article, which has been translated on Waters’ website, reveals that he is rerecording Pink Floyd’s classic album The Dark Side of the Moon, which next month will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

“The new concept is meant to reflect on the meaning of the work, to bring out the heart and soul of the album, musically and spiritually,” he tells the mag. “I’m the only one singing my songs on these new recordings, and there are no rock and roll guitar solos.” 

For those who’d rather just listen to the original, Pink Floyd is set to mark the album’s 50th anniversary with a special The Dark Side of the Moon deluxe box set on March 24.

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Graham Nash reveals in a new interview with AARP that he believes his former bandmate David Crosby was trying to mend fences with him before his death last month.

“The fact is that we were getting a little closer at the end. He had sent me a voicemail saying that he wanted to talk to apologize, and could we set up a time to talk,” Nash tells the mag. “I emailed him back and said, ‘Okay, call me at eleven o’clock tomorrow your time, which is two o’clock on the East Coast.’ He never called, and then he was gone.” 

Nash says Crosby tried to contact him about a week and a half before his death, and he believes his bandmate probably knew he was dying. “I wouldn’t put it past him to know that he was actually at the very end,” he says. “The truth is … we’ve been expecting David to pass for 20 years.” 

While the pair had been on the outs for years, Nash is trying to focus on the “good times” they had together and the “great music that we made.” Nash explains, “I’m only going to be interested in the good times, because if I concentrate on the bad times, it gets too weird for me.” He adds, “But if he was willing to call me and apologize for what he had done and how he had hurt me, it made his death a little easier for me to accept.”

As for Crosby’s legacy, Nash offers, “David’s gift was the unbelievable uniqueness of him as a musician. He really was in many ways the heartbeat of this band. I mean, he was incredibly talented and unique as a musician. That’s what he brought.” 

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On This Day, February 9, 1964

The Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which was their first exposure to an American audience. 

The band performed the songs “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You,” and “She Loves You” and then later returned to perform “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” 

The performance was seen by a then-record 73 million viewers, and helped Sullivan top the nightly ratings for the first time in seven years.

The show is considered one of the seminal moments in pop culture and launched Beatlemania in America.

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In 2019, Peter Frampton announced he was retiring from touring after being diagnosed with inclusion body myositis, a degenerative muscular disease that affects his ability to play guitar. COVID forced him to cancel the European dates of his tour, which he didn’t think he was up to rescheduling. But in the new issue of CREEM magazine, he reveals what got him back for those final shows. 

“I had resigned myself to the fact that, two years into the pandemic, maybe we shouldn’t even try and get a tour together,” he tells the mag, noting that even though he was holding a date at London’s Royal Albert Hall he was still unsure.

It took a visit to an ENT to change his mind. When he expressed his ambivalence about performing again due to his condition, Frampton shares, “He said, ‘Do it. The people want to see you.’ Then he said, and it was important the way he put it, ‘They’ll understand.’”

He notes, “It took a stranger to make my mind up. Isn’t that wild?”

Another thing that got him excited about playing again was recording a guest appearance on Dion’s most recent album, Stomping Ground, which got him out of his “doldrums” and smiling again.

Frampton describes that Royal Albert Hall show as magical with an amazing audience. “They were super supportive in every possible way. It was a wonderful feeling,” he says.

And it may have been enough to keep Frampton from totally saying goodbye to performing. “The audiences really helped me see a way forward,” he says. “They were wonderful everywhere. I really can’t thank them—and Dion and my ENT, don’t forget—enough.”

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When Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” beat out Beyonce, Harry Styles and Adele for Song of the Year at Sunday’s Grammys, there were a lot of people who were baffled — and some who didn’t even know who Raitt was. But apparently there were plenty of folks out there who decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Billboard reports the Grammy win resulted in a huge bump for the song, jumping from just 10,000 daily on-demand streams two days prior to the Grammys to 697,000 the day after the awards show. That’s a jump of 6,700%. 

And it’s not just streams. Sales of the song jumped 10,000%, from negligible amounts before the awards show to 4,550 copies the day after, launching it to number two on the iTunes real-time sales chart.

Music fans were also checking out some of Raitt’s other tunes. Songs from her catalog saw a 161% increase in on-demand streams, from 333,000 before the Grammys to 869,000 the day after.

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We’ve been hearing a lot about the legal battles between Journey members Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain, but it seems there’s even more drama going on with the band. In case you missed it, Journey’s current lead singer, Arnel Pineda, recently posted a series of cryptic tweets that suggest he’s unhappy with how things are going with the group. 

“(I’)m with the band to sing the legacy..if some of them are tired of me being with them, with all means, they can fire me anytime..,” he tweeted. “and don’t lecture me about spiritual BS..#walkthetalk.” 

And that’s not all. He followed up with, “all i know? is #ivepaidmydues so stop reminding me where i came from..coz it’s in my heart everyday..”

He added, “you just don’t pay attention..im not a slave..im a human being like anybody else..#wrongiswrong #rightisright that simple..” 

So far none of the current Journey members have commented on Pineda’s remarks, although Jeff Scott Soto, who had a short stint as Journey’s lead singer from 2006 to 2007, did respond.

“You have NOTHING or NO ONE to answer to brother, you’re a kind, gentle and huge heart with a huge talent to match, it’s the age old crap when you achieve success and happiness, there are many who want to break you down! Stay the course, YOUR course, I’m proud to be your friend!” he tweeted.

Regardless of all the drama, Journey continues on their 50th anniversary tour. The trek hits Savannah, Georgia, on Wednesday.

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Roger Waters made a Zoom appearance at the United Nations Security Council Wednesday after being invited by Russian diplomats. He called for an “immediate cease-fire” to Russia’s war on Ukraine during his speech, saying he was speaking for the voiceless majority.

“The voiceless majority is concerned that your wars — yes, your wars, for these perpetual wars are not of our choosing — that your wars will destroy the planet that is our home,” the Pink Floyd star said in the speech. “And along with every other living thing, we will be sacrificed on the altar of two things: profits from the war to line the pockets of the very, very few and the hegemonic march of some empire or other towards unipolar world domination. That road leads only to disaster.”

The focus of the meeting was Russia’s war with Ukraine. Waters called Russia’s invasion illegal, but argued it was not unprovoked. 

“I condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” Waters said. “I condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms.”

Waters called the Security Council a “toothless chamber,” but suggested that was a good thing: “I can open my big mouth on behalf of the voiceless, without fear of my head getting bitten off. How cool is that?”

He also shared some advice he heard from his mom as a young child, offering, “Read, read, read. Find out everything you can about whatever it is.”

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The handwritten lyrics to David Bowie’s 1972 Aladdin Sane single “The Jean Genie” have brought in big bucks at auction. The BBC reports that the lyric sheet sold for over $68,000 at Omega Auctions in England this weekend.

Bowie gave the lyric sheet to Neal Peters, the founder of the Davie Bowie fan club, in the ’70s. It includes 18 handwritten lines on a piece of A4 lined paper. It is autographed and dated by the rock legend.

According to Omega Auctions’ Dan Hampson, the original owner was “in possession of this incredible set for a few years,” noting he “decided to sell after seeing the amazing price achieved when we sold the ‘Starman’ lyrics last year.” The “Starman” lyrics went for over $245,000.

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