Classic Rock News

After more than 60 years making music, The Rolling Stones proved in 2023 that they won’t be slowing down anytime soon by releasing their first album of new music in 18 years: Hackney Diamonds. 

– The tease of new music started right as the new year began, when guitarist Keith Richards told fans in a January 11 social media message, “There’s some new music on its way and hopefully we’ll get to see you.”

– In August, a mysterious ad was placed in the British paper Hackney Gazette for something called Hackney Diamonds. Fans were quick to speculate it was a tease about a new Rolling Stones album because in the ad the “I” in Diamonds was dotted with the Stones’ signature lips logo. The ad also quoted several Stones song titles, including “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Gimme Shelter” and “Shattered.” 

– Fans’ suspicions were finally proven true when The Stones’ social media accounts began directing folks to the new Hackney Diamonds website, teasing “a new era.”

– The official confirmation finally came on September 6, when Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood held a special media launch event in London, hosted by Jimmy Fallon. They announced their 26th studio album, Hackney Diamonds, would be arriving on October 20. They also debuted the album’s first single, “Angry,” with a video featuring Euphoria actress Sydney Sweeney.

– The Stones recruited some very special guests to join them on the record, including their late drummer Charlie Watts on two songs, “Mess It Up” and “Live By The Sword.” The latter also featured their former bassist Bill Wyman. Paul McCartney also played bass on one song, with Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Elton John contributing to tracks, as well. 

– The night before the album’s release, The Stones took the stage at the intimate venue Racket in New York City for a surprise album release concert, which featured a special appearance by Lady Gaga for their first performance of their collaboration, “Sweet Sounds of Heaven.”

– Hackney Diamonds debuted at #1 in over 18 countries, including the U.K., although it had to settle for #3 in the U.S. The U.S. chart debut meant the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers became the first act to have albums land in the top 10 in every decade from the 1960s to the 2020s. 

– About a month after the release, fans got something else they’ve been dying for — a tour. The eagerly anticipated Hackney Diamonds tour, sponsored by AARP, is set to kick off in April. A complete list of dates can be found at therollingstones.com.

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A painting made by all four members of The Beatles is going up for auction at Christie’s.

The untitled piece of art, which has become known as Images of a Woman, was completed in 1966 by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison as they were holed up at Tokyo’s Hilton Hotel  during their five-night stand at Nippon Budokan that June and July.

The band was stuck in the hotel for security reasons, and Christie’s notes that after a visitor brought them some top-quality art materials, the Fab Four sat around a table, and a rectangular sheet of paper was placed in the middle. Each Beatle then painted one corner, working their way towards the middle.

According to photographer Robert Whitaker, who was part of The Beatles’ entourage at the time, it took two nights for them to complete the painting. 

“They’d stop [painting], go and do a concert, then it was ‘Let’s go back to the picture,’” he said. “I never saw them calmer or more contented than at this time.”

The auction for the painting, which Christie’s calls “the only known substantial piece of art made by the four Beatles in their years together,” is set to happen on February 1, with the auction house estimating it will go for between $400,000 and $600,000.

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As the year winds down, a lot of publications will be looking back at the best of the year, but Variety has decided to go in the opposite direction, sharing its picks for the worst songs of 2023.

One artist making the list this year is Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Roger Waters. He earns a prominent spot for his solo remake of Pink Floyd’s classic The Dark Side of the Moon, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.

While the publication notes that it isn’t totally against The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, calling it “interesting,” it does single out Waters’ new take on “Money,” which lands at #5 on the list. 

Variety points to Waters’ decision to rid “one of the most-loved songs in the 1970s rock canon” of David Gilmour‘s solos, and replace them with what it calls “a four-minute poem about … boxing.”

Billy Joel also made the list — sort of — thanks to Fall Out Boy’s update of Joel’s 1989 #1 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” which Variety ranks as the third-worst song of 2023. 

The mag calls the band out for updating the Joel song that’s “universally considered most annoying — not only in his catalog, but maybe of the 20th century,” and adds that Fall Out Boy made the events mentioned in the song “as jarring as possible,” as opposed to putting them in chronological order, as the original does.

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The end is never really the end when it comes to KISS.  When the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers said goodbye to the road earlier this month, they introduced fans to their next chapter: KISS avatars. Well, now we finally know when that next chapter will officially begin. 

On December 22, KISS shared a post on Instagram that teases, “2027 … A show is coming,” along with the caption, ”50 years is a long time, and what the future holds is in the making.” 

KISS wrapped up their End of the Road tour at New York’s Madison Square Garden on December 2, and closed the show with the surprise reveal of their avatars for Demon, the Starchild, Catman, and Spaceman. All come courtesy of San Francisco-based Industrial Light & Magic.

“The future is so exciting,” Gene Simmons said in a behind-the-scenes video on the making of the avatars, with Paul Stanley adding, “We can live on eternally.”

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The Rolling Stones are at #1 again. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s latest release, Hackney Diamonds, is the U.K.’s 2023 Official Christmas #1 album. 

“It’s a wonderful way to round off 2023,” the band shares. “Thank you to everyone for listening to Hackney Diamonds. Have a very happy Christmas and New Year!”

Hackney Diamonds, the band’s first album of new material in 18 years, originally debuted at #1 on the U.K. chart back in October. The return to the top spot follows the recent release of Hackney Diamonds (Live Edition), which includes the seven songs the band performed at their surprise New York City record release concert in October.

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An animated short film inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s classic holiday tune, “Happy Christmas (War Is Over),” is officially in the running for an Oscar nomination.

War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko is one of 15 films that made the Oscar shortlist in the Animated Short Film category.

The 11-minute film, executive-produced by Yoko and the couple’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, follows a game of chess, with a heroic carrier pigeon helping the game continue across enemy lines. It ends with the classic tune playing over the closing credits.

The final nominees for the 2024 Academy Awards will be announced on January 23. The ceremony airs March 10 on ABC.

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While the bells may be ringing out for Christmas Day, The Pogues‘ “Fairytale of New York” won’t be the #1 Christmas single in the U.K.

The beloved 1987 tune came in at #6 on the latest edition of the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart, which will cover the week of Christmas. The #1 spot went to the Wham! holiday classic “Last Christmas” — a journey which took 39 years.

Getting the #1 single on the Official Singles Chart for Christmas is a coveted accomplishment in the U.K., and fans often organize campaigns to get their favorite songs to the top. You may recall such a campaign successfully made Rage Against the Machine‘s “Killing in the Name” the #1 Christmas single in 2009.

Several fan initiatives for “Fairytale of New York” to be the Christmas #1 have been launched over the years, but the closest it came was #2 in 1987. With the death of Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan on November 30, fans hoped 2023 would finally be the year, and the Irish band even supported the campaign with a reissued vinyl single, which raised money for charity.

There had also been a fan campaign to get AC/DC‘s “Thunderstruck” the Christmas #1 this year, but organizers ended up postponing the initiative so that “Fairytale of New York” could have a better chance of securing the top spot, in honor of MacGowan.

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While some people are lucky enough to have a fireplace to gather around on Christmas, others have to settle for watching the televised Yule log for that warm and toasty holiday feeling. But not everyone likes to listen to Christmas music on a loop, and if you’re a Deadhead, there’s another option.

The Grateful Dead has just gone live with their annual holiday Yule log, a tradition they started in 2021. This year’s Yule log is labeled PNW ’74, and features concerts that appeared on the group’s Pacific Northwest 73-74: The Complete Recordings box set, which was released in 2018.

Last year’s Yule log featured music from their three-night stand at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, California, which took place November 9-11, 1973. The inaugural Yule log featured recordings of their 1972 shows at London’s Lyceum Theatre.

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On This Day, December 22, 2014 …

British singer Joe Cocker died of lung cancer in Colorado at the age of 70.

Known for his raspy voice and expressive body movements while performing, Cocker first gained commercial success thanks to his soulful cover of The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends,” which appeared on his debut album. His performance of the song at the 1969 Woodstock festival is often cited as a highlight of the subsequent 1970 Woodstock film.

The song, which featured Jimmy Page on guitar, hit #1 in the U.K. and was later used as the theme song for the ABC series The Wonder Years.  In 2001, the track was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Cocker’s best-selling tune was “Up Where We Belong,” a duet with Jennifer Warnes that the two recorded for the Richard Gere movie An Officer and a Gentleman. The song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and earned the pair a Grammy for Best Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The song also won the Golden Globe and Academy Awards for Best Original Song.

Other Cocker hits include covers of Billy Preston‘s “You Are So Beautiful,” which peaked at #5 in the U.S.; Dave Mason‘s “Feelin’ Alright?;” the Ray Charles hit “Unchain My Heart;” Leon Russell‘s “Delta Lady;” and Randy Newman‘s “You Can Leave Your Hat On.”

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Paul McCartney had a busy year, and he’s wrapping up his 2023 by answering 23 questions from fans.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer responded to questions posted to his Official Fan Group on Facebook, sharing insights into the new Beatles tune “Now and Then,” Christmas, his Got Back tour and more.

When it comes to “Now and Then,” McCartney says he was “very emotional” the first time he heard John Lennon’s clear voice on the track, adding that his favorite part of the video was “John goofing around.”

He reveals that “Hey Jude” was his favorite song to play live — “Just to see all those thousands of people singing in harmony with each other,” he says — and teases a possible release of covers he performs during soundcheck.

“It’s a thought!,” he replies. “We have the ‘jams’ — we always start the soundcheck with a made-up piece, and there’s a lot of them. So, we might go through those and do something someday.”

McCartney also shares that he’d love to collaborate with Bob Dylan one day, noting, “But I don’t know if we’ll ever get around to it.”

As for Christmas, McCartney’s favorite gift was a 1956 Telecaster guitar from his wife Nancy Shevell, and says the smell of cigars is something gives him a feeling of Christmas.

“My dad didn’t smoke them except at Christmas, and my brother and I used to buy him a little pack each,” he says. “Then one year our dad said, ‘Don’t buy me the pack, just get me one really good one.’”

Finally, McCartney reveals there’s hope fans may one day hear the songs he wrote for a planned It’s a Wonderful Life musical, sharing, “Musicals are difficult things to put together, but I think it may be shaping up at last.”

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