Classic Rock News

Jon Bon Jovi is getting real about some of the vocal issues he’s been dealing with over the past few years.

The rocker, who was criticized for the sound of his voice during Bon Jovi‘s 2022 tour, appeared at the Pollstar Live conference in Los Angeles on February 7. Fan-shot footage posted to YouTube shows him opening up about the work he’s had done to fix the issues.

“It’ll become public knowledge now, but I’ve had major reconstructive surgery in my vocal cords, and I never had anything like this, ever,” he says. “So it’s been a difficult road, but I found a doctor in Philadelphia who did something called a medialization, because one of my cords was literally atrophied.”

Suggesting that some artists have vocal problems due to the rock star lifestyle, Jon insists that wasn’t the case with him, noting, “The only thing that’s ever been up my nose has been my finger. So it was very difficult this last decade to have to contend with something that was out of my control.”

Jon says over the past two years he’s been working in rehab to get his voice back to what it once was, sharing, “But I’m getting very close.” He notes his recent performance at his MusiCares celebration was his first live performance in two years.

“So now I just want to get back to 2 1/2 hours a night, four nights a week, before I’m gonna go out there on the road for real,” he adds. “But I’m confident in my doctor.”

Jon and the band’s past few years will be covered in the upcoming docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, debuting April 26 on Hulu. It will have its premiere at South by Southwest on March 14.

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Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin released his latest album, Rio, back in October, and now, he’s giving fans some more music.

The rocker is out with a deluxe edition of the album featuring three new songs: “Spek & Polly,” “Georgia” and the just released demo version of song called “Fragile.”

“I’m particularly pleased with the space, in terms of production, and happy with the simplicity of the lyric,” Rabin says of “Fragile.” “Life is harsh, fickle and Fragile. My intention regarding the guitar solo was for it to drip onto the ‘page’ so to speak.”

You can listen to “Fragile (Demo)” now via digital outlets or on YouTube.

Rio is Rabin’s first solo album of vocal material in 34 years, his last being 1989’s Can’t Look Away. The deluxe edition is available as a limited edition CD+Blu-ray set and as a red two-LP + Blu-ray set. Both are available to order now.

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Bob Dylan has added more dates to the spring 2024 leg of his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer announced five new shows, starting April 1 in New Orleans. The tour will then hit Lafayette, Louisiana, and Dallas, Texas, before wrapping April 5 and 6 in Austin, Texas.  

Dylan’s spring tour kicks off March 1 with a two-night stand in Ft. Lauderdale, one of five Florida cities on this leg of the trek. It will also hit Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Tickets for the new shows go on sale Friday, February 9, at 10 a.m. local time. A complete list of dates can be found at bobdylan.com.

Dylan launched his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour in November 2021. The trek supports his album of the same name, which he released in June 2020.

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Elton John has announced the talent for his annual Academy Awards viewing party, which raises money for his Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Entertaining the crowd will be the R&B/Soul trio Gabriels, whose frontman, former American Idol season 10 contestant Jacob Lusk, joined Elton onstage when he performed at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival in 2023. 

As previously reported, the co-hosts for the 32nd annual party are Neil Patrick Harris and his husband, David Burtka, as well as Tiffany Haddish. In a statement, Elton said, “As a father and an AIDS advocate for over three decades, I want to see my sons grow up in a world where AIDS, and the stigma and inequality that drives it, are history.”

He added, “Everyone deserves to live a healthy life, free from violence and discrimination. I’m so grateful to my big-hearted friends Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka and Tiffany Haddish, and one of my favorite fresh acts, Gabriels, for stepping up to help us raise funds at this year’s Oscar Party to further my Foundation’s mission.”

The Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, air March 10 on ABC.

As previously reported, ahead of the Oscars, Elton’s massive collection of belongings from his Atlanta apartment are being auctioned off by Christie’s. In a preview of the auction that aired on ABC’s Good Morning America February 8, David Furnish, Elton’s husband and manager, said of Elton, “He always liked to go out to do shows to earn money to collect more things that he loved and that inspired him.”

“It was a place he felt safe and comfortable and really, really inspired,” David added. “So it was a very magical chapter in our lives, so it is very emotional.”

Visit Christies.com for all the auction information.

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Do you have the time to listen to Billie Joe Armstrong break down Green Day‘s “Basket Case”?

Armstrong guests on the latest episode of the Song Exploder podcast, in which musicians explain how a particular song of theirs came together. For his appearance, Armstrong speaks about “Basket Case,” the hit single off Green Day’s massive 1994 album, Dookie.

During the episode, Armstrong revisits the earliest demo of “Basket Case,” which can be heard on the 30th anniversary reissue of Dookie. That recording had completely different lyrics from the released version of “Basket Case,” as Armstrong originally envisioned it as a “grand song about a love story.”

He soon ditched those lyrics because, as he puts it, “I was on crystal meth.”

“I thought I was writing the greatest song ever,” Armstrong shares. “With drugs, they wear off, and then I felt like I’d written the worst song ever. I thought that the lyrics were just embarrassingly bad.”

Armstrong abandoned the song but decided to revisit it when Green Day began recording Dookie. He then reworked the lyrics to be about his experience with panic attacks.

“I just got the courage to get into it again trying to write the lyrics, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made probably as a songwriter,” Armstrong says.

Green Day released a new album, Saviors, in January. They’ll launch a U.S. tour in support of Saviors in July, during which they’ll also be playing Dookie and their American Idiot album in full.

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Imagine arranging for dozens of the world’s biggest singers to be in one room at the same time without the use of email or cellphones? That’s what happens in the Netflix documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, which chronicles the creation of the all-star 1985 charity single “We Are the World.” And apparently, it’s compelling enough to make people want to go and revisit the song.

Billboard reports streams of the song increased by 342% in the three days following the January 29 premiere of the documentary, while digital song sales went from basically nothing to 2,300.

“We Are the World” featured Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, Cyndi Lauper, Hall & Oates, Huey Lewis, Kenny Loggins, Journey‘s Steve Perry, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, The Pointer Sisters, Dionne Warwick, Bette Midler, Willie Nelson and dozens more. 

Recorded to raise money for African famine relief, it hit #1, became the fastest-selling pop single in history and won four Grammys. It raised some $80 million — $240 million in today’s money — for the cause and for humanitarian aid in the U.S.

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U2 and Jon Bon Jovi were among the artists honored at the 35th annual Pollstar Awards, which took place Wednesday, February 7, in Los Angeles. 

Jon was honored with the Milestone Award, in recognition of his band Bon Jovi’s 40th anniversary. He was also a keynote speaker at a Pollstar Live conference panel named How To See A Million Faces and Rock Them All, where he discussed his career, touring schedule, the current state of the band and more.

U2 was honored with Residency of the Year for their Las Vegas show, U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere, with the state-of-the art Sphere winning New Concert Venue of the Year (Over 5,000 Capacity). 

Other Pollstar winners included Metallica, whose M72 World Tour was named Rock Tour of the Year, and Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Festival, which was named Music Festival of The Year (Global; under 30K attendance).

A complete list of winners can be found at pollstar.live.

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Sammy Hagar continues to add to his business ventures outside of music. The rocker just announced that his first-ever beer, Red Rocker Lager, is expanding into California.

The beer, described as a golden, medium-bodied Mexican-style lager, was first launched in Detroit in October through Sammy’s Red Rocker Brewing Co. It’s now available in Northern California and will coming to Southern California by the end of February.

“Red Rocker Lager is inspired by California’s chill attitude and beach lifestyle,” Hagar, a California resident, shares. “From Huntington Beach to the San Francisco Bay and across the Sierra Nevada, this is the perfect beer for chilling, grilling, skiing, and surfing, as well as for cheering for your favorite team in the Super Bowl!”

Red Rocker Lager is far from the first beverage Hagar has launched. He debuted his Cabo Wabo Tequila back in 1996 and has since gone on to add Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum, Santo Spirits and Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktail Co. to his alcohol offerings.

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Blue Öyster Cult is following up their recent 50th anniversary celebration with a brand new album, which appears to be their last. 

The album, Ghost Stories, will drop April 12, with the press release noting it “marks a fitting finale to the recording legacy of one of rock’s most iconic fixtures from the past 50 years.”

Ghost Stories features a collection of “lost gems” that were recorded between 1978 and 1983. There’s also one track, “If I Fell,” that was recorded in 2016 and a live cover of the MC5 classic “Kick Out The Jams,” the only known recording of BOC’s take on the song.

The tracks on the album were transferred from reel-to-reel analog tape to digital audio by the band’s original audio engineer, George Geranios, with producers Steve Schenck and Richie Castellano using artificial intelligence to complete the songs.

And Blue Öyster Cult is giving fans their first preview of what to expect from the record, with the release of the track “So Supernatural,” along with an AI-generated video for the track.

Ghost Stories is available for preorder now.

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In celebration of The Beatles first landing in America on February 7, 1964, ANALOGr has launched a new auction, featuring unique items and memorabilia from the Fab Four.

The Beatles Experience features a collection of pieces spanning from the legendary band’s arrival at New York’s JFK Airport to their solo careers and more. Items up for auction include an official Pan Am photo of the band during their JFK press conference, signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and an official invitation to their first American press conference for their film A Hard Day’s Night.

Other items include shirts worn by the band during their 1964 tour, McCartney’s handwritten draft lyrics for “Goodbye,” Lennon’s 1965 tweed suit, a limited-edition McCartney 1965 Epiphone acoustic guitar and Ringo’s signed bongo drums from the mid-1990s. 

Preview bidding is currently open, with the live auction set to begin on February 29 at 10 a.m. PT. More info on the auction can be found at analogr.com.

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