Classic Rock News

Following an initial tribute from Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, more rock musicians have shared their thoughts following the passing of Wayne Kramer. The influential MC5 guitarist died of pancreatic cancer Friday, February 2 at age 75. Here are some of the posts:

Jack White: “We lost one of Detroit’s greatest, brother Wayne Kramer of the MC5. The first guitar solo I ever sat down and learned was Wayne’s from the 5 song ‘Looking At You.’ He was definitely part of the solution as he changed rock and roll and broke the ground wide open in Detroit for the rest of us. Thank you brother Wayne for all that have done and will continue to do forever.”

Slash: “My life was forever changed for the better when I met this man. & I’m going to miss him immeasurably. The embodiment of all things Rock n Roll. & a really f****** great human being. RIP Wayne, you will live on in our hearts.”

Duff McKagan: “Rest in Peace @waynekramer. Just a supremely sweet man, and one hell of a rock and roll fire-starter.”

Alice Cooper: “I’ve known Wayne since 1968 in Detroit, and we’ve worked together often and as late as last year. He had a big life, and I always respected how passionate he was about his charity Jail Guitar Doors which helped give prisoners access to music, guitars and often hope for their future. [Producer] Bob Ezrin and I considered Wayne one of our favorite people, and we will miss collaborating with him tremendously.”

William DuVall: “I’ve been struggling all evening for words about the passing of @waynekramerofficial. He was a childhood idol who became a friend. As rock-n-roll bands go, it just doesn’t get any cooler than the MC5. Brother Wayne on lead guitar was a force of nature onstage – face-melting licks and James Brown splits all in one swaggering turbo-powered Detroit animal machine. Just swipe and you’ll see: Gonzo attitude. Zero compromise.”

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Jon Bon Jovi was honored on February 2 in Los Angeles as the Recording Academy’s MusiCares Person of the Year — with a whole host of A-listers on hand to celebrate the rocker for his philanthropic work.

Bruce Springsteen‘s appearance seemed to be up in the air following the news of his mother Adele’s passing on January 31, but he still attended, which meant a lot to Jon.

“I want to thank my hero, my friend, my mentor Bruce Springsteen,” he said, according to Forbes. “Bruce’s mom passed two days ago. When I first got the news, he was already on the airplane on the way here. But he wanted to be here tonight for MusiCares. And he wanted to be here tonight for me, and I’m forever grateful to you.”

The night kicked off with Bon Jovi performing “Legendary,” a song from their upcoming album, although despite rumors original guitarist Richie Sambora would join the festivities, he was a no-show. The band was then joined by Springsteen for “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” and Springsteen’s “The Promised Land.”

Among the night’s other performances: Melissa Etheridge and Larkin Poe performed “Blaze of Glory”; Jelly Roll performed “Bad Medicine”; Maneskin‘s Damiano David sang “Keep the Faith”; Mammoth WVH played “Have a Nice Day”; Sammy Hagar performed “You Give Love A Bad Name,” and Shania Twain sang “Bed of Roses.”

In addition to the performers, Paul McCartney was in the house for the celebration, with Lenny Kravitz, Gayle King, and Kylie Minogue acting as presenters. Jon also got video wishes from the likes of John Mayer, Pink, Ed Sheeran and others. 

The night ended with Bon Jovi back on the stage, joined by many of the night’s performers, for a finale of the Jersey rockers’ biggest hit, “Livin’ On A Prayer.”

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A painting created by all four members of The Beatles has sold at auction for a little over $1.7 million. 

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. Each Beatle painted one corner of the canvas, working their way toward the middle.

The auction took place at Christie’s on Thursday, with the auction house calling it “the only known substantial piece of art made by the four Beatles in their years together.”

And it was certainly a hot item, selling well above the initial estimate of between $400,000 and $600,000.

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Dead & Company recently announced they’ll be doing a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, and now drummer Bill Kreutzmann has shared his thoughts on the shows in a new Instagram post.

“Historically, it was always a psychedelic circus when the Grateful Dead pulled into Las Vegas,” he writes. “There’s a pulsing beneath those neon lights that Mickey (Hart) and I tapped into while Jerry (Garcia) led us on a wild carpet ride over the Aladdin Theater in the 1980s and down into the bowl of the Sam Boyd Stadium for 14 memorable nights in the 1990s.”

He notes that Grateful Dead shows have always been “about transformative experiences, so now, as our legacy evolves and as we continue to shape-shift into several different forms at once it’s great that that part of the tradition continues, with Dead & Company taking up residence in a transformative venue.”

Kreutzmann sat out Dead & Company’s final tour in 2023, with the band explaining at the time it was the “culmination of a shift in creative direction as we keep these songs alive and breathing in ways that we each feel is best to continue to honor the legacy of the Grateful Dead.” 

While he hasn’t confirmed whether or not he’ll be doing the Vegas shows, he did end his post with a statement that could be interpreted as saying he won’t. He offered, “To all those who make it there, have a blast, my friends.”

Dead Forever – Live at Sphere will consist of 18 shows over six consecutive weeks, starting May 16. Fans can now register for the presale, which starts February 5 at 10 a.m. PT. The general on-sale starts February 9 at 10 a.m. PT.

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Wayne Kramer, the guitarist for the highly influential Detroit proto-punk band MC5, has died. He was 75.

The news was announced Friday, February 2, in a post on Kramer’s Facebook reading, “Wayne Kramer passed away today peacefully from pancreatic cancer. He will be remembered for starting a revolution in music, culture, and kindness.”

Kramer was a founding member of MC5, which formed in 1963. The band was particularly known for their 1969 song “Kick Out the Jams,” the impact of which can be heard throughout the last 50 years of rock music, and they memorably performed for Vietnam War protesters during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

“Brother Wayne Kramer was the greatest man I’ve ever know,” Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello writes in an Instagram post. “He possessed a one of a kind mixture of deep wisdom & profound compassion, beautiful empathy and tenacious conviction. His band the MC5 basically invented punk rock music and was the only act to not chicken out and performed for the rioting protestors at the 1968 Dem National Convention.”

MC5 broke up in 1972, and Kramer fell into drug addiction and spent time in prison. He detailed his life in the 2018 memoir The Hard Stuff, and became a voice for recovery and prison reform in the rock community.

Kramer played in an MC5 reunion show in 1992 and reformed the band again in 2003. In 2018, Kramer spearheaded a tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Kick Out the Jams album, which featured Soundgarden‘s Kim Thayil on guitar.

In a December 2023 Mojo interview, Kramer revealed that he was working on a new MC5 album with guests including Morello and Slash.

“Whenever and wherever any of us kick out the jams, Brother Wayne will be right there with us,” Morello says.

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Billy Joel told his audience on New Year’s Eve that he’d be spending more time in Florida in the future — but apparently, he doesn’t want to spend that time in his Palm Beach-area mansion.

The Palm Beach Daily News reports that Billy has put the mansion, located in Manalapan, near Palm Beach, up for sale for $54.7 million. If that sounds like a lot, keep in mind that he originally listed it in late 2022 for $64.9 million. The listing expired in August 2023, so now it’s back on the market at this lower price.

Billy’s owned the oceanfront mansion on 1.6 acres since 2015, when he bought it for just over $22 million. It has nine bedrooms, a two-bedroom guest house and a 10-car garage, as well as a wine cellar and theater.

As for where Billy plans to live once he sells this house, the paper reports that he bought a $9 million townhouse in Palm Beach in 2021. Other artists who have homes in Palm Beach include Jon Bon Jovi and Rod Stewart, with whom Billy will be touring this year.

Billy will be performing on the Grammy Awards Sunday night, singing his new song, “Turn the Lights Back On,” and one of his classic hits.

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Metallica has launched a new conversation series called The Blending Sessions.

In each episode, the metal legends will speak with distiller Rob Dietrich, with whom they work on their signature Blackened Whiskey.

The first two episodes, titled “Raising the Bar” and “Uniquely Metallica,” are streaming now on YouTube. Future installments will premiere weekly.

The Blending Sessions series follows the 2023 premiere of Metallica’s official podcast, The Metallica Report.

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KISS guitarist Ace Frehley has dropped the video for his latest single, “Walkin’ on The Moon,” from his upcoming album, 10,000 Volts.

The clip has Frehley landing on the moon, where he’s met by an alien who hands him a guitar. He then performs the song with the help of some alien bandmates. It ends with him waking up to realize it was all a dream.

“Walkin’ on The Moon” is the second single Frehley has released from 10,000 Volts, following the album’s title track. The record, Frehley’s first solo release since 2020’s Origins Vol. 2, comes out February 23.

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Green Day earned a new personal-best sales feat with their latest album, Saviors.

According to Billboard, the 14th studio effort from the “American Idiot” outfit sold 18,000 copies on vinyl during its first week out. That’s the highest U.S. vinyl sales week Green Day has ever had in their career.

As previously reported, Saviors debuted in all of its formats at #4 on the Billboard 200. It marks Green Day’s 12th top-10 release.

Green Day will launch a U.S. tour in support of Saviors in July. During the run, they’ll be playing their albums Dookie and American Idiot in full in celebration of their respective 30th and 20th anniversaries.

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The documentary Kiss the Future, featuring Irish rockers U2, is set to open exclusively in AMC theaters in the U.S. starting February 23, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Kiss the Future, directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Sarah Anthony, is based on Bill Carter’s memoir Fools Rush In. It follows a group of underground musicians and creatives during the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted from April 1992 to February 1996. The doc includes footage of U2’s memorable 1997 concert at Koševo Stadium celebrating the country’s liberation, along with interviews with Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton.

In addition to the theatrical release, AMC will host an early screening of the film on February 21, which will include a conversation with The Edge and Clayton.

The film received its world premiere in February 2023 at the Berlin Film Festival and also opened New York’s Tribeca Festival in June. It also screened at Sarajevo Film Festival’s Open Air program, with Bono and The Edge surprising the crowd with an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”

Following the AMC run, Kiss the Future will stream on Paramount+ later in the year.

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