The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band won Album of the Year at the 10th annual Grammy Awards. The record was the first-ever rock album to win in the coveted category.
Sgt. Pepper’s also won Grammys for Best Contemporary Album and Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical, while the album’s iconic cover took home the award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts.
Over the course of their career, The Beatles won seven Grammy Awards and received 23 nominations.
Released in May 1967, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band spent 15 weeks at #1 in the U.S. and 27 weeks on top in the U.K. It featured such classic Beatles tunes as the title track, “With a Little Help From My Friends,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “When I’m Sixty Four.”
Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson wants to make one thing clear about his new solo album, The Mandrake Project: it’s not about “bloody vikings.”
You’d be forgiven for thinking that it might be, given that the record’s opening track and lead single is called “Afterglow of Ragnarok.” If you’re a fan of the Thor movies or God of War video games, you know that “Ragnarok” refers to a world-ending event in Norse mythology.
“When I wrote the song, I was like, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?'” Dickinson tells ABC Audio.
Instead of following in the footsteps of Led Zeppelin‘s “Immigrant Song,” Dickinson was more interested in the themes behind Ragnarok, which sets the scene for the rest of The Mandrake Project.
“Ragnarok’s not about the end of the world,” Dickinson says. “Ragnarok’s about renewal. The world has to end in order for it to be renewed.”
The Mandrake Project does have a non-viking-related narrative concerning a scientist named Dr. Necropolis, which is further explored in an accompanying comic book series. The actual music, meanwhile, bounces from the expected big metal riffs to more surprising sounds, influenced by everything from Westerns to The Beatles.
Overall, Dickinson wants The Mandrake Project to reflect the unlimited nature of a solo project, exploring themes and sounds he couldn’t necessarily do with Maiden.
“There’s some emotional things on the record,” he says. “You couldn’t do a track like [closing song] ‘Sonata,’ for example, with Maiden. You couldn’t do a track like ‘Resurrection Men’ with Maiden with Dick Dale surf guitars, bongos and stoner Hawkwind riffs and stuff like that.”
The new two-part Paul Simon documentary In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon is set to premiere in March on MGM+, and music fans are now getting their first taste of what to expect.
The first trailer for the series has just been released, featuring archival footage of Simon over the years, including clips of him onstage and in the studio, as well as footage of him with his singing partner Art Garfunkel. There is also more recent footage of Simon in the studio recording his 2023 studio album Seven Psalms.
“I’ve never wanted to be anything other than a singer and a songwriter,” Simon says in the clip. He later adds, “What I’ve learned is when you find a thing that produces a feeling of peace or joy, try and hold on to it. It’s like bliss. That’s music for me.”
In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, directed by Oscar winner Alex Gibney, airs March 17 and March 24 at 9 p.m. on MGM+.
Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe and Judas Priest are among the hard rockers confirmed for 2024 Aftershock festival.
Maiden is set to headline the four-day event, held October 10-13 in Sacramento, California, marking their only U.S. festival set of 2024. Mötley Crüe is also set to headline, with Slipknot and a reunited Slayer rounding out the headlining slots.
Aftershock will feature over 130 bands, the festival’s biggest lineup yet, with Priest performing the same night as Maiden. Other artists on the bill include Pantera, Five Finger Death Punch, Evanescence, Breaking Benjamin, Seether, Tom Morello, Marky Ramone, Halestrom and more.
John Fogerty says he’s “bewildered” by the recent announcement that his appearance at Queensland’s Country Fest in March had been canceled.
“I still remain able and ready and willing to do this show,” he tells Billboard. “I take the commitment of playing for the fans very seriously. Throughout my career, practically my whole life, there’s hardly ever been a cancelation.”
Country Fest is scheduled to happen March 30-31. Organizers blamed “unforeseen circumstances” for Fogerty’s cancellation, but he insists he doesn’t know why it happened.
“I was happy to be coming down to Australia to play. It sounded like a really fun event,” he says.
After the cancellation was announced, Fogerty took to social media to address the issue, insisting he was “blindsided” by the news. Country Fest later posted a clarification regarding the situation, explaining they had been in negotiations with Fogerty’s team for months but they “did not reach a final outcome” and talks stopped as of Friday, February 23.
“The matter is now subject to court proceedings in the Supreme Court of Queensland,” the statement continued, adding the case will be heard in March and they “do not intend to comment further.”
Fogerty also addressed his Australian fans in a separate social media post, performing “Bad Moon Rising” for them. He captioned the clip, “To all my loving fans in Australia… I hope to be back there soon!”
E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt stopped by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on Tuesday, where he played teacher using his TeachRock learning curriculum, which uses music history to teach students important lessons.
According to the Asbury Park Press, Van Zandt sat in on teacher Allison Hoffman’s class, where she taught her students about segregation using The Beatles’ refusal to play to the segregated South in the 1960s as an example.
Students were also taught about Van Zandt’s 1985 protest song “Sun City,” which featured such artists as Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne and Bob Dylan, and helped draw attention to apartheid in South Africa.
“It’s a lazy way to have your identity to be based on hatred or hate, you know?” the rocker told the class. “It’s a lazy way of going through life and we have a lot of examples of that going on right now.”
As for the students, Van Zandt told the paper, “They’re just smarter than us and faster than us. … It just confirmed for us the reason we started this curriculum was because we need to create a new methodology of teaching for this generation. We got to do it. The old methods are not going to work for these kids.”
Van Zandt will soon be a little too busy to play teacher, as he and the E Street Band are due to join Springsteen on the latest leg of his tour, which kicks off March 19 in Phoenix, Arizona. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.
Sebastian Bach is set to hit the road this spring on a new tour.
The former Skid Row frontman just announced dates for the What Do I Got To Lose Tour, named after his latest solo single.
The trek will kick off in April in Latin America before launching in the U.S. on May 10 in Jefferson, Louisiana. It will hit cities like Baltimore, Indianapolis, Denver, Houston and Dallas before wrapping June 29 in San Diego, California.
“Can’t wait to play live for all of you this summer no tapes no fakes all real all the time that is how we roll!” Bach shares. “See you on the road mothertruckers!”
Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday, March 1, at 10 a.m. local time. A complete list of dates can be found at sebastianbach.com.
Bach released the new single “What Do I Got To Lose?” co-written by Myles Kennedy back in December following his appearance on Fox’s The Masked Singer. He was revealed to be thecelebrity inside the Tiki costume.
L-R: Carlos Santana, Clive Davis/Photo credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
The New York Pops orchestra will honor legendary record executive Clive Davis at its 41st Birthday Gala in April, and many of the artists who’ve worked with Davis over the years will gather to perform at the event at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
John Mellencamp and Carlos Santana are both set to perform, with Santana’s “Smooth” collaborator Rob Thomas also on the bill.
Other artists confirmed for the event include Dionne Warwick, Barry Manilow, Toni Braxton, Melissa Manchester,Fantasia Barrino Taylor,Kenny G, Babyface and even “Ghostbusters” singer Ray Parker Jr.
The concert takes place on April 29, with proceeds going to support the orchestra and its music education programs. You can get tickets via CarnegieHall.org or by calling 212-247-7800.
Over his more than 50-year career, Davis worked at Columbia Records, founded Arista Records and later formed the influential LaFace Records, Bad Boy Records and J Records. He’s been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and has won four Grammys, plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
In addition to the artists who are performing at the concert, the musicians Davis has worked with include Billy Joel, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin.
Bernie Taupin and Elton John, the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song 2024 honorees; Photo Credit: Gavin Bond
Elton John and Bernie Taupin are being honored with the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song this year, and now, we know who’ll be on hand to help them celebrate.
Performers confirmed for the event include Eurythmics’ Annie Lennox, Brandi Carlile, Garth Brooks, Maren Morris, Charlie Puth, Jacob Lusk of Gabriels and hard rockers Metallica.
While Metallica may seem like an odd choice for an Elton and Bernie celebration, the artists have worked together in the past. In fact, Elton covered Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” for their Metallica Blacklist tribute album.
Metallica isn’t the only artist with a past connection to Elton and Bernie. Brandi, a well known friend of Elton, joined him onstage for “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me” at his final U.S. show at Dodger’s Stadium in 2022, while Maren covered Elton’s “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” for the 2018 country compilation Restoration: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
Garth has covered Elton songs in concert and recorded his own version of “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me,” while Jacob joined Elton onstage at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival in 2023; he’s also set to perform at Elton’s annual Academy Awards viewing party on March 10.
Elton John & Bernie Taupin: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song will air Monday, April 8, at 8 p.m. on PBS.
The Gershwin Prize, established in 2007, recognizes artists “whose career reflects the influence, impact and achievement in promoting song as a vehicle of musical expression and cultural understanding.” Previous winners include Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Lionel Richie and Carole King.
Jon Bon Jovi is getting ready to strap in. He will be a special guest at the NTT IndyCar Series season opener: the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Florida, which starts on March 9.
That means Jon gets to take what’s called the Fastest Seat In Sports. He will be driven at high speed in a two-seat car around the 1.8 mile temporary street circuit that leads to the starting line for the first race of the 2024 season. His driver will be four-time Indy 500 winner and former Dancing with the Stars champ Hélio Castroneves.
Jon is no stranger to auto racing: He performed at the 2006 Daytona 500 with Bon Jovi.
The new documentary Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story will stream April 26 on Hulu.
