Classic Rock News

Kate Bush will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Friday, but she won’t be on hand to accept her honor.

Ahead of the ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the singer shared a statement on her website revealing that she is skipping the festivities.

“I am completely blown away by this huge honour – an award that sits in the big beating heart of the American music industry,” she writes. “Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me. I never imagined I would be given this wonderful accolade.” 

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to attend the ceremony tonight, but for me the real honour is knowing that you felt I deserved it. The RRHOF has welcomed me into the most extraordinary rostrum of overwhelming talent,” she adds. 

Bush also wrote of her love of Elton John growing up and how special it is that she’ll be inducted alongside his writing partner Bernie Taupin, who’ll receive the Musical Excellence Award.

“Congratulations Bernie! Congratulations to everyone who is being inducted tonight!” she writes. “Music is at the core of who I am and, like all musicians, being on the journey of trying to create something musically interesting is rife with feelings of doubt and insecurity.”

Finally, she notes, “I’m only five foot three, but today I feel a little taller.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will stream live on Disney+ starting at 8 p.m. ET and will be available for viewing afterward on the platform.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

There were a lot of shocked fans this summer when Paul McCartney suggested in a June interview that artificial intelligence was used to extract John Lennon’s voice for The Beatles‘ just-released final song, “Now and Then.” 

Although McCartney later clarified his statement, Giles Martin, who produced the new track alongside McCartney, is also setting the record straight: he says AI was not used on the song.

Discussing the fact that backing vocals from earlier Beatles tunes were used on “Now and Then,” Martin tells Variety, “No, it’s not artificial or intelligent. No, it’s the same process that I used, as you say so rightly, in Love,” referring to the soundtrack to the Las Vegas Beatles show. 

Martin, son of former Beatles producer George Martin, says McCartney was conflicted about this process, but he argued his case.

“My thought was this: that I really thought this needs to sound like The Beatles,” he explains. “The band would have probably sang ‘ahhhhs’ in those things, but they’re not around anymore. So I’m not using AI to recreate their voices in any way. I’m literally taking the multitrack tapes of ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ some stuff from ‘Because’ and ‘Here, There, and Everywhere,’ just in the same way The Beatles are splicing that in.”

He adds, “They feel like they’re from The Beatles, and they are from The Beatles. I think if they were from some machine learning program, they wouldn’t sound right.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Iggy Pop sings on a new cover of the Depeche Mode song “Personal Jesus.”

The recording is featured on a new album by producing veteran Trevor Horn called Echoes: Ancient & Modern. It also includes vocals by musician Phoebe Lunny.

You can listen to the cover now via digital outlets. Echoes will be released December 1.

Depeche Mode, meanwhile, put out a new album called Memento Mori in March

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

War wants to get you in the holiday spirit. The ’60s legends just released their first holiday tune, “(Yes It’s) Christmas,” with a Dolby Atmos mix.

You can listen to “(Yes It’s) Christmas” now via digital outlets and on YouTube.

The new release comes as War celebrates the 50th anniversary of their bestselling album The War Is A Ghetto, which went to number one on the Billboard album chart.

On November 24, they will release The World Is a Ghetto: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition as part of Record Store Day Black Friday. The five-LP boxed set features a newly remastered version of the original album, unreleased session outtakes and more. Only 4,000 copies will be available at independent record stores across the country.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Scorpions are headed to Las Vegas to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their album Love at First Sting, which featured their hit tune “Rock You Like A Hurricane.”

The German rockers just announced a new 2024 residency, Scorpions – Love at First Sting Las Vegas, at the Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The residency kicks off April 11 and consists of nine shows, running through May 3.  

“We‘re very excited to return to Las Vegas in 2024 for nine more concerts at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino’s Bakkt Theater,” Scorpions’ Klaus Meine shares. “We can‘t wait to share our new show with our fans in the U.S., celebrating the 40th anniversary of the iconic Love at First Sting album along with our biggest Hits! Get ready for another Desert Sting … it‘s gonna be a Hell of a Ride!!!”

Scorpions previously headlined Las Vegas in 2022 with their Sin City Nights residency.  

A presale for Scorpions fan club members kicks off Monday, November 6, at 10 a.m. PT, with tickets going on sale to the general public starting Friday, November 10, at 10 a.m. PT. A complete list of Scorpions dates can be found at the-scorpions.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jimmy Buffett’s final album, Equal Strain on All Parts, is out now. Speaking to Billboard, the album’s co-producer Mac McAnally says even though Buffett was sick, he never let on that it could possibly be his final release.

“I wasn’t necessarily thinking in terms of this being the last thing he had to say, but I think, in retrospect, he probably was,” says McAnally, who produced the record with fellow Coral Reefer Band member Michael Utley. “But he never let on. He never surrendered to what was actually happening.” 

McAnally says Buffett was deliberate about the order in which the songs appear on the album, noting it begins with “University of Bourbon Street,” about his career start in New Orleans, and ends with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mozambique,” a place Buffett had wanted to visit.

“When he heard the whole album in sequence, he was so proud of this one in a way that I’ve never seen him be,” McAnally shares. “And that may be because he knew it was the last one and he got it right.”

Equal Strain on All Parts may not be the last music we hear from Buffett. While McAnally says it will be “the final complete project,” there are other songs that could see the light of day, including a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Amelia,” which McAnally describes as “gorgeous.”

Buffett passed away on September 1. McAnally says few people he worked with knew he was sick. “He didn’t want anybody feeling sorry for him. He just wanted to be this big ray of positivity that he always was,” says McAnally. “When I went and said goodbye to him the night before he died, he was still smiling just wider than his face.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Gun N’ Roses brought their tour to LA’s Hollywood Bowl on Thursday, November 2, and treated the crowd to something special.

In addition to their usual hits, like “Paradise City,” “Welcome to the Jungle,” “November Rain” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” the rockers surprised the crowd with the live debut of the new song, “The General,” which, according to setlist.fm, they played after the previously released “Perhaps.” 

Fan-shot footage of the performance can be found on YouTube.

“Perhaps” and “The General” are Guns N’ Roses’ first new songs since the 2021 release of “Hard Skool” and “Absurd,” which were reworkings of old demos.

“The General” is actually the B-side of a limited-edition seven-inch vinyl of “Perhaps.” It was supposed to be released on October 27 but is now set to ship on December 8. It is available for preorder now.

Guns N’ Roses played two nights at the Hollywood Bowl to wrap the U.S. leg of their tour. They have one more show on the schedule for 2023: a headlining set at the Hell and Heaven festival in Toluca, Mexico.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

It is now easier than ever for The Who fans to enjoy late bassist John Entwistle‘s solo material. Deluxe editions of the rocker’s six solo albums have just been released to digital services for the first time.

The albums now available include 1971’s Smash Your Head Against the Wall, the first solo album from any member of The Who; 1972’s Whistle Rymes, which featured guitar contributions from Peter Frampton; 1973’s Rigor Mortis Sets In; 1975’s Mad Dog, the debut album by his band John Entwistle’s Ox, and 1981’s Too Late the Hero.

It also includes The Rock, the self-titled debut of Entwistle’s new band, which featured The Who drummer Zak Starkey and Prism’s Henry Small. It was supposed to come out in 1986 but released in 1996 as an Entwistle solo album. 

The deluxe editions of each album come with bonus tracks, including demos, outtakes and early versions of songs.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Queen is giving fans a look at another classic performance in this week’s episode of their YouTube series, Queen the Greatest Live. 

The band shares footage of their performance of the Sheer Heart Attack track “Stone Cold Crazy” at the Rainbow Theatre in London in November 1974. It was the first time the band headlined the famed 3,000-seat venue and the first time their live performance was professionally filmed.

“When I see the footage of us from those shows now, I see so much confidence and adrenaline,” guitarist Brian May said in a 2014 interview with Mojo. “And I think, ‘My God, we were such impatient boys.’” 

This was the second time Queen played the Rainbow Theatre, having previously opened for Mott the Hoople; the show’s deemed the moment they proved they had what it takes to be headliners. 

Next week on Queen The Greatest Live: “Encores.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, November 3, 1992…

Bon Jovi released their fifth studio album, Keep the Faith, which peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and went on to be certified double Platinum by the RIAA.

The album produced two hit singles: the title track, which landed in the top 40, and “Bed of Roses,” which peaked at #10. It also featured the fan favorite, “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.”

Keep the Faith was the last Bon Jovi album to feature all five original members of the band. Bass guitarist Alec John Such was let go from the group in 1994. Such passed away in 2022 at the age of 70.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.