Classic Rock News

Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has directed the music video for “Now and Then,” the final song from The Beatles. The song drops Thursday, November 2, at 10 a.m. ET,  with the video to follow on Friday, November 3, at 10 a.m. ET.

Jackson, who also directed the Emmy-winning docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, says he was at first reluctant to take on the project.

“I thought my next few months would be a hell of a lot more fun if that tricky task was somebody else’s problem, and I could be like any other Beatles fan, enjoying the night-before-Christmas anticipation as the release of a new Beatles song and music video approached,” he explains, noting the idea of making the clip “produced a collection of anxieties almost too overwhelming to deal with.” 

Jackson says his biggest worry was that there wasn’t enough authentic footage to use for the video, but his fears were unfounded. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr shot new footage of themselves performing, and Apple had video of Paul, Ringo and George Harrison working on “Now and Then” in 1995. Plus, Sean Lennon and Olivia Harrison sent him unseen home movies, and Pete Best provided some never-before-seen footage. 

“To be honest, while we hope we’ve given The Beatles a suitable final farewell, that’s something you’ll need to decide for yourselves when it’s finally released – only a few days from now,” Jackson says. “Having got to the end, I’m very happy I’m not waiting for the release of somebody else’s ‘Now And Then’ music video. I have genuine pride in what we made, and I’ll cherish that for years to come.”

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On This Day, October 31, 1961…

Laurence Joseph Mullen Jr., better known to rock fans as U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr., was born in Dublin, Ireland. 

It was Mullen who in 1976 posted an advertisement on a bulletin board seeking musicians interested in forming a rock band, which led to the eventual creation of U2. Bono and friend David Evans, aka the Edge, responded to that ad, and they, along with bassist Adam Clayton, went on to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

The Irish rockers have gone on to release 15 studio albums and win 22 Grammy Awards. They’ve sold between 150 million and 170 million records and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 in their first year of eligibility.

While the band is currently in Las Vegas headlining their U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere residency, Mullen is sitting out the shows, as he recovers from surgery. He did, however, appear on the band’s new song, “Atomic City,” and was on hand to film the video on the streets of Sin City.

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Bruce Springsteen is heading overseas again next year. 

The rocker just announced a new set of European dates with the E Street Band, which will see them playing in Wales, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden, London and more.

The trek kicks off May 5 in Cardiff, Wales, and features four dates across Ireland, including a May 19 concert at Croke Park in Dublin. The tour also includes multiple night stands in Milan, Madrid, and Stockholm, with the tour wrapping July 25 at Wembley Stadium in London. 

Ticket onsales begin Friday, November 3, and vary depending on the tour date.

The European tour will follow the 2024 North American leg, which consists of shows Springsteen had to reschedule after postponing his 2023 tour to recover from peptic ulcer disease. The tour is set to kick off March 19, in Phoenix, Arizona. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

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When Elton John was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, he said, “Without Bernie [Taupin] there would never have been an Elton John at all.” He then called Taupin, his longtime songwriting partner, onstage and handed him his trophy. And that, claims Taupin, is why he’s only now being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Speaking to Cleveland.com, Taupin, who co-wrote all of Elton’s most beloved hits, said, “In a lot of people’s minds, that’s the reason I was not inducted before now, because certain elements of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame didn’t like the fact Elton brought me up on stage … and gave me his award.”

“So they just assumed that I already had the award so I didn’t need to be inducted myself — which is pretty puerile, if you think about it, and pretty childish and churlish at the same time,” Taupin added. 

“But, hey, that’s all in the past. What’s gone is gone and it’s all forgotten now and God’s in his heaven and all is good,” Bernie said.

Taupin said that Elton is “ecstatic” about the induction. Elton will also attend the induction ceremony November 3 in Brooklyn, New York, presumably to induct Taupin. The songwriter is being ushered into the Hall under the category of Musical Excellence, along with Chaka Khan and singer, songwriter, producer and keyboardist Al Kooper.

“I had a lot of people pushing for me and having my back,” Taupin says of the campaign to get him inducted. “I’m grateful to all of them.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will stream live on Disney+ at 8 p.m. ET and will be available for viewing afterward. On January 1, a highlights special will air on ABC TV.

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After over 40 years with Mötley Crüe, guitarist Mick Mars is stepping out on his own. The rocker, who retired from the band in 2022, just released his debut single, “Loyal to the Lie.” It’s the first track from his debut solo album, The Other Side of Mars, which drops February 23.

The single has a harder sound than what fans may expect from Mars, based on his Mötley days, and that’s just the way he wanted it. 

“I couldn’t go back to be playing like Mötley or sounding like Mötley, even though when you hear it, it reminds you of Mötley because it’s my guitar tone,” Mars tells ABC Audio. “But I wanted to do something a little heavier and a little more out of the box.” 

While some may wonder if “Loyal to the Lie” is about his former bandmates, considering the accusations that have been flying following Mars’ departure and his lawsuit against the band, that’s not really the case.

“Actually what it’s about is cult leaders, how people listen to one person,” Mars says, mentioning Charles Manson and Heaven’s Gate. “How do these people just listen to one person? Give up their house, give up their money, give up everything for this one guy that lies to them.” 

You can listen to “Loyal to the Lie” now via streaming services and watch the video on YouTube.

The Other Side of Mars features contributions from former Alice Cooper keyboardist Paul Taylor, who co-write many of the tracks, Korn drummer Ray Luzier and bassist Chris Collier, with vocals by Jacob Bunton on eight tracks, including “Loyal to the Lie,” and Brion Gamboa on two tracks.

The Other Side of Mars will be released as an LP and CD, both signed and unsigned. It is available for preorder now.

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The Rolling Stones have reached a new milestone on the Billboard chart. 

With the band’s latest album, Hackney Diamonds, debuting at #3 on the Billboard 200 this week, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are now the first act to have albums land in the top 10 in every decade from the 1960s to the 2020s.

Overall, The Stones have had 38 top 10 records, the most of any artist in the history of the list. They had their first top 10 in 1964 with 12 x 5; prior to Hackney Diamonds, their last was 2010’s Blue & Lonesome.

Since the ’60s, nine of The Stones’ 38 top 10s have gone to #1, although none since the ’80s. They include: 1965’s Out of Our Heads, 1971’s Sticky Fingers, 1972’s Exile on Main St., 1973’s Goats Head Soup, 1974’s It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll, 1976’s Black and Blue, 1978’s Some Girls, 1980’s Emotional Rescue and 1981’s Tattoo You.

Barbra Streisand is the only other artist to come close to The Stones’ feat. She has had a new top 10 in each decade from the 1960s to the 2010s.

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Jimmy Buffett may be gone, but his band plans to live on. Songwriter Mac McAnally, a longtime member of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, tells Billboard that the band plans to continue on, despite Buffett’s passing on September 1. 

“The Coral Reefer Band is second family to all of us. We are a family. And Jimmy wants us to continue and we want to continue,” McAnally shares. “There’s ongoing discussions about the best way to do that, the most practical way to do that and how to do it in a way that is worthy of the legacy that we’re part of.” 

He adds, “I can’t wait until we [figure it out] because we miss being out there, playing his songs to people and feeling that alternating current go back and forth from the stage to the crowd. I don’t know who’s got more energy, them or us.” 

Buffett’s last time on a stage was in June when he surprised the audience at McAnally’s show in Rhode Island, where they played the Buffett/Alan Jackson tune “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.”

“I looked back around at him because he was coming up behind me and he was 100% the happiest person on earth,” McAnally says, “because I don’t think he knew if he was going to feel it again and I don’t think he knew that he was never gonna feel it again after that.”

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Every day may be Halloween for Alice Cooper, but the “School’s Out” rocker is celebrating the spooky season with a new video.

The clip, streaming now on YouTube, accompanies the song “Dead Don’t Dance,” a cut off Cooper’s new album, Road. If features backstage and live footage of Alice and his live band on tour, and features various Halloween-esque imagery, including at least one decapitated head.

Road was released in August. It was recorded with Cooper’s live band and marks the studio debut of guitarist Nita Strauss on an Alice album.

Cooper toured in support of Road alongside Rob Zombie. The outing concluded Saturday, October 28, in Las Vegas, though Zombie did not perform due to a bout of laryngitis.

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Bruce Springsteen was on hand to help celebrate his wife Patti Scialfa’s induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame on Sunday, October 29, People reports.

“I met Patti at Stone Pony. Where else? She was sitting in with the house band, Cats on a Smooth Surface, and I heard that voice of hers and I wondered, ‘Who is that girl?’ I went to find out,” Springsteen told the audience at the 15th annual induction ceremony at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. “We went out for cheeseburgers at The Inkwell in my ’60 Corvette and the die was set for many cheeseburgers to come.”

Scialfa joined the E Street Band in 1984; the pair went on to marry in 1991 and have three children. Springsteen called his wife “a street-smart, fascinating, lovely, sexy, beautiful redhead with a sound completely her own,” adding, “So this is long-deserved, I love her. She’s a Jersey girl through and through.”

In accepting the award, Scialfa noted, “That was like really a lot of compliments, all in a row.” She joked, “I’m going to record him … saying this before I go to sleep or ask him to say it again.”

Springsteen was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2008.

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Founding members of The Guess Who, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman, are suing two of their former bandmates. 

The pair has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court against original members Jim Kale and Garry Peterson, accusing them of misleading fans into thinking that they are included in the current lineup.

Peterson is the only original member still performing with the group; the suit accuses him and Kale of “concocting a deceptive scheme” that has tricked fans into buying tickets to Guess Who shows thinking Burton and Cummings are still performing with the band. Burton and Cummings say fans are instead getting “a cover band.”

The suit also accuses Kale and Peterson of replacing original photos of The Guess Who with pictures of Peterson’s version on streaming services and of using songs written by Burton and Cummings to promote the current lineup’s tour. They say all of this has left them unable to tour and has “tarnished the band’s legacy.”

Cummings and Bachman are seeking in excess of $20 million; they want a judge to force Kale and Peterson to inform the public and venues of the truth of who’s performing.

“With this lawsuit, Randy and I hope to set the record straight and protect fans from imposters trying to rewrite history,” says Cummings. “Even after we’re gone, the legacy of The Guess Who will live on, and we want to make sure that legacy is restored and preserved truthfully.”

Bachman adds, “Anyone presenting and promoting themselves as The Guess Who are clones who are ripping off our fans and tainting the legacy of the band. It’s about time for the real story to come out.”

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