Classic Rock News

In addition to being a rock star, Paul McCartney is a husband and father, and those are two roles that are very important to him. In a new post on his website, the Beatles legend responds to a Twitter question about what the two roles mean to him, noting they are “two completely different things.”

“As far as being a dad is concerned, I’ve always just tried to give my kids a bit of guidance, if they seem to need it – but that was mainly when they were younger,” he explains. “Now that they are older, they’re guiding me! They don’t need so much guidance these days but if there’s ever a problem, I’m very happy to be the guy they come to.”

He adds, “You’re just there to help, and I suppose have fun with – we do have a lot of fun. Now they’re older we can have a drink together, for instance!”

As for being a husband, he says the most important thing is “just trying to be good to my wife Nancy (Shevell) and trying to be considerate and romantic.” And it sounds like Nancy can expect something special later this month. 

“I completely overdo Valentine’s Day! I mean, there’s not just one card, there are cards hidden around the room, and sometimes things even spill into the next day – it’s completely silly,” Sir Paul says. “If there’s an excuse to have some fun, I overdo it!” 

McCartney adds that he likes to be helpful to his wife, noting, “I’m always very happy to be the person Nancy relies on, and to be her strength when she goes through tough times. I am very proud, in fact, to be ‘The Guy’ there.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Back in December, a woman named Julia Holcomb filed a lawsuit in California accusing Steven Tyler of sexual assault, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, although at the time she didn’t specifically name the Aerosmith frontman in the suit. Well, that’s changed.

Holcomb initially listed the defendants as Doe 1 and Does 2 through 50, but now Rolling Stone reports the complaint has been amended to include Tyler’s name. 

In the suit, Holcomb claims she and Tyler were together for three years starting in 1973, when she was 16 and he was in his 20s. She noted the rocker got her mother to grant him guardianship over her, which allowed her to live and travel with him. Holcomb claims she “was powerless to resist” the rock star’s “power, fame and substantial financial ability,” and that he “coerced and persuaded” her into believing their relationship was a “romantic love affair.” 

Although Tyler wasn’t named in the initial suit, it was quickly associated with the rocker because Holcomb had talked about her relationship with him in the past. The suit also used quotes about the relationship from Tyler’s memoir Does the Noise in my Head Bother You?

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees is lending her voice to a campaign to end cruel animal testing. The rocker has written a letter to Japanese conglomerate Ajinomoto Corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of monosodium glutamate, or MSG, to urge them to stop doing tests on animals.

“I know that Siouxsie and the Banshees fans around the world—including the thousands who attended our final concert in Japan 20 years ago—will be just as appalled as I was to learn that thousands of dogs, gerbils, guinea pigs, fish, mice, pigs, and rabbits have been tormented and killed in cruel experiments since the 1950s,” she writes in a letter to Ajinomoto CEO Taro Fujie on behalf of PETA U.K. “Japan is a beautiful country, which I have visited many times, but these shameful experiments are a stain on its reputation.”

PETA argues that the tests being conducted are neither relevant to human health nor required by law, with Siouxsie adding, “As a major manufacturer, [Ajinomoto] should be leading the way with compassion, not falling behind. Please, stop being spellbound by bad science and end these cruel tests immediately.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

John Mellencamp is set to kick off his Live and In Person tour this weekend, and one member of his band will certainly look familiar to longtime fans. The “Small Town” singer announced on Instagram that singer/multiple-instrumentalist Lisa Germano is joining him on tour for the first time in 29 years.

Germano toured and recorded with Mellencamp for seven years, appearing on such albums as 1987’s The Lonesome Jubilee, 1989’s Big Daddy and 1991’s Falling from Grace. Her fiddle playing can be heard on such songs as “Paper and Fire,” “Cherry Bomb” and “Check it Out.”

The Live and In Person tour is set to kick off Sunday with a two-night stand in Bloomington, Indiana. The tour has him playing multiple nights in several cities, including Nashville, Chicago and Minneapolis, including four nights at New York’s Beacon Theater. The tour wraps with a pair of shows in South Bend, Indiana, on June 23 and 24. A complete list of tour dates can be found at Mellencamp.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Warren Zevon is one of the artists nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, and a fellow Hall of Famer may have been partly responsible for his recognition. The Los Angeles Times reports that Billy Joel, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999, wrote a letter to the nominating committee campaigning for Zevon’s recognition. 

“I just wanted to put in my two cents of supporting Warren Zevon to be included,” Joel tells the paper. “If anyone deserved to be, he did. He was a real original, and I don’t know if that’s appreciated enough.”

Joel says he didn’t think Zevon “got the attention he deserved,” explaining, “Well, he was a piano player, and we all tend to get lumped into this thing of ‘They’re not real rock guys’ — which I don’t think is fair, but I understand why it happens. Piano is perceived to be this middle-of-the-road instrument only played by dorks.”

Joel says seeing Zevon play proved that thought wrong, noting, “He was kind of breaking the piano to pieces, little by little, which I thought was an interesting style.” He added, “He banged it, and he banged it good. Even without amplifiers, he was getting the most volume he could get out of that thing.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The day Bruce Springsteen fans have been waiting six years for is finally here. Springsteen and the E Street Band launch their new tour Wednesday, February 1, in Tampa, Florida.

The trek hits such cities as Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston and Seattle, with four shows in the New York area, before wrapping April 14 in Newark, New Jersey. 

This is Bruce and the E Street Band’s first tour since 2016, when they hit the road in support of The Ties That Bind: The River Collection, which celebrated the 35th anniversary of The Boss’ 1980 double album, The River.

Since then, Bruce has starred in his one-man Broadway show, Springsteen on Broadway, and also released two solo albums, 2019’s Western Stars and 2022’s Only The Strong Survive. He also released Letters To You with the E Street Band in 2020.

This new tour hasn’t been without controversy, though. When tickets went on sale many fans were unhappy about either not being able to get tickets or the high prices that were being charged thanks to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing option. In response, Bruce said in an interview with Rolling Stone that while he usually charged under market value for his concerts, this time he decided to do what his “peers” were doing. He argued that “most of our tickets are totally affordable.” 

And if fans can’t actually make it to a show, they can still enjoy the music. The Boss is releasing official multiple-track audio recordings from every stop on the tour right after each show. They will all be professionally mixed by Chiller Sound’s Jon Altschiller.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The details of the annual Cliff Burton Day stream, which celebrates the life and legacy of the late Metallica bassist, have been announced.

The online event will take place on February 10, which would’ve been Burton’s 61st birthday. Host Nicholas Gomez will be interviewing Burton’s friends and family, including his sister Connie Burton and Metallica producer Flemming Rasmussen.

You can tune in to watch via Gomez’s YouTube channel at 10 p.m. ET.

Burton was born February 10, 1962. He played on Metallica’s first three albums — 1983’s Kill ‘Em All, 1984’s Ride the Lightning and 1986’s Master of Puppets — before he was killed in a 1986 bus accident at age 24.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Louise Harrison, the older sister of George Harrison who has been credited with helping The Beatles break in America, passed away Sunday at an assisted living facility in Florida, The Mirror reports. She was 91.

The news was revealed on Harrison’s Facebook page, where friends, including Marty Scott, a member of Beatles tribute group Liverpool Legend, wrote that Louise died “painlessly and peacefully.”

Louise moved to the U.S. with her first husband in the 1950s, and she helped promote The Beatles in the U.S. as they were just starting out. She’d contact radio and TV stations trying to get them a break, which finally happened when an Illinois radio station played “From Me To You” in 1963.

It would only be a matter of months before they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, which helped propel them to stardom.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bryan Adams is bringing his tour to North America this year. The “Cuts Like A Knife” singer just announced dates for his So Happy It Hurts tour, featuring special guest Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

The tour kicks off June 6 in Baltimore, Maryland, and hits big cities like Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Nashville and Los Angeles before wrapping August 3 in Seattle, Washington. 

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 3, at 12 p.m. local time. A complete list of tour dates can be found at bryanadams.com. 

The tour news comes as Bryan kicks off a four-night stand in Las Vegas February 1 at the Encore Theater at the Wynn Las Vegas. He’s there through Saturday, February 5.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The lineup for Sunday’s Grammy Awards just got bigger, with the latest talent helping the show pay tribute to some of the artists we lost in the past year.

This year’s In Memoriam segment is set to feature a special tribute to Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, featuring a performance of her classic tune “Songbird” by her bandmate Mick Fleetwood, along with Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt.

The show will also include tributes to Loretta Lynn, with Kacey Musgraves performing “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” and Migos rapper Takeoff, featuring Quavo and Maverick City Music performing “Without You.” 

The 65th annual Grammy Awards air Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBS live from Los Angeles.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.