Classic Rock News

On This Day, September 27, 2016… 

Bruce Springsteen published his autobiography, Born to Run, named after his iconic 1975 album. He began writing it the day after he headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in 2009. 

The book recounted The Boss’ childhood in Freehold, New Jersey, his early days as a musician in Asbury Park, the rise of the E Street Band and more.

Born to Run was released to critical acclaim. The audio book, which Springsteen narrates, received a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album, and also earned him the 2018 Audie Award for Autobiography/Memoir.

The Boss later took the stories recounted in the book and turned them into a Broadway show, Springsteen on Broadway, which opened in October, 2018. The show’s initial run wrapped in December of that year, with another second limited run launching in June, 2021 following the pandemic. Springsteen on Broadway earned the rocker a special Tony Award.

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The Police are the latest artists to join TikTok. 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers just launched their account with a video featuring archival pictures and footage set to some of their biggest hits, including “Every Breath You Take,” “Don’t Stand So Close To Me,” “Roxanne,” “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” and “Synchronicity II.” They also posted a clip from drummer Stewart Copeland welcoming fans to their page.

The band plans to use the account to share original content and never-before-seen archival footage, giving fans a look into the process that went into making some of their biggest hits.

“It is great to continue the legacy of The Police and what better place than TikTok in the time we exist in,” guitarist Andy Summers shares. “We live in – let’s face it, difficult times, but imagine our parents and grandparents then bent over those little radio speakers to hear about the world… As aficionados and fans, we must continue to have faith and believe in the art of music, and we hope our music can bring a positive message to people everywhere.”

The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” is already a big hit on TikTok with over 165,000 creations. Now, fans will have even more music to play with. The band just created an official guest playlist on the app featuring some of their biggest hits for creators to use in their videos.

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The Rolling Stones are teaming up with Major League Baseball for a very special promotion in connection with the band’s upcoming release, Hackney Diamonds.

The band is releasing limited-edition white vinyl versions of the new album, featuring pocket jackets with custom art tailored to each of the 30 MLB baseball teams. Each features the band’s signature lips logo in team colors, with the tongue adorned with stitches like a baseball.

Hackney Diamonds X MLB is available for preorder now on therollingstone.com and will be released on October 20, the same day The Stones’ album comes out.

The Rolling Stones have certainly felt at home at Major League Baseball parks over the years, with several of their tours playing baseball stadiums. Half of the shows on the 1989 Steel Wheels Tour were played at MLB parks, while 1997’s Bridges of Babylon tour hit Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium and 2005’s A Bigger Bang tour played Boston’s Fenway Park.

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Dolly Parton’s upcoming album, Rockstar, is filled with plenty of A-list special guests, but there’s at least one artist Dolly wanted for the album but wasn’t able to get.

In an interview with USA Today, Dolly reveals she had hoped to get Tina Turner on the album and tried to reach out, unaware of Turner’s health issues.

“I love Tina Turner. In fact, I did not know she was ill – or as ill as she was – and I wanted her to sing on my rock ‘n’ roll album,” she says. “Chris Lord-Alge, who mixed the album, knew her. He was going over there to do some business anyway where she lives, so he was going to take that to her. And he told me, ‘You know, she’s not in good health. I don’t think this is going to happen.'”

Turner passed away in May; Dolly says she was sad Tina couldn’t be on the record, noting she picked the “perfect song” for them to do together.

“I didn’t even put it on the album. It was a song I wrote called ‘Stay Out Of My Bedroom,'” Dolly said, referring to a tune she recorded with Sylvester Stallone for the 1984 movie Rhinestone. “Maybe I’ll do it some other time with somebody else.”

Dolly Parton’s Rockstar, featuring special guests Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Stevie Nicks, Sting and more, drops November 17. It is available for preorder now.

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Warren Haynes is bringing back his annual Christmas Jam. The Gov’t Mule frontman announced that his annual charity concert will take place Friday, December 9, at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena in Asheville, North Carolina. 

Information on the full lineup and when tickets go on sale is “coming soon,” but last year’s lineup featured such artists as Phil Lesh & Friends, Tyler Childers, Gov’t Mule and Brothers Osborne.

Proceeds from the concert will benefit Asheville’s Habitat for Humanity and Beloved Asheville. In the more than 20 years of Christmas Jam, Haynes has raised more than $2.8 million, enough to build over 50 homes through Habitat for Humanity.

More info on Christmas Jam can be found at xmasjam.com.

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Live Nation has announced the end of merchandise fees charged to artists playing club shows.

In a statement unveiling its new On the Road Again program, Live Nation says, “Clubs will charge no merchandise selling fees, so artists keep 100% of merch profits.”

The participating venues include New York City’s Irving Plaza, The Wiltern in Los Angeles and various House of Blues clubs throughout the U.S.

The subject of merch fees been a large topic of conversation recently as artists have protested against the practice, which has become more prevalent as touring has returned in full swing.

Live Nation is launching On the Road Again in partnership with country legend Willie Nelson. Its other initiatives include providing artists playing such clubs with a $1,500 stipend for gas and travel for each show.

“Touring is important to artists so whatever we can do to help other artists, I think we should do it,” Nelson says. “This program will impact thousands of artists this year and help make touring a little bit easier.”

For more info, visit RoadAgain.live.

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Grateful Dead‘s Bobby Weir has announced a December residency at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. He’ll be backed by the Wolf Bros, made up of Don Was, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti and Barry Sless.

“Well OK, looks like we’re back at the Cap for five nights this time around in December; this is gonna be big fun,” Weir tells Billboard. “We’re gonna get a chance to get to most everything in the song book – and maybe see if a couple folks are willing to make the hr-or-so trip outta the city to join us.”

Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros featuring The Wolfpack will kick off the residency December 12, with shows booked for the 13, 15, 16 and 17. 

Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday, September 29, at 10 a.m. local time.

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Pearl Jam has teamed up with The Last of Us for the 2023 edition of the band’s annual Halloween shirt.

The tee features PJ’s name printed above an image of a clicker, a particularity nasty type of the zombie-like infected creature featured in the video game-turned-TV series. 

You can order yours now through September 29 via Pearl Jam’s website.

Pearl Jam, by the way, has long been connected to The Last of Us universe. Their song “Future Days” was featured in the 2020 The Last of Us Part II game, while the track “All or None” is on the soundtrack for the HBO adaptation. Eddie Vedder also performed “Future Days” at the 2020 Game Awards, during which The Last of Us Part II won Game of the Year.

Meanwhile, the T-shirt announcement marks the 10th anniversary of Outbreak Day. In The Last of Us universe, the virus that turns people into the aforementioned zombie creatures took hold on September 26, 2013.

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Ozzy Osbourne may be unable to tour, but he’s been busy in the studio, delivering the solo albums Ordinary Man in 2020 and Patient Number 9 in 2022. As the Prince of Darkness tells Metal Hammer, he isn’t planning on slowing down in 2024.

“I’m just starting to work on [a new record] now, and we’ll be recording in the early part of next year,” Ozzy shares. “I want to take my time with this one!”

Ozzy’s also hoping to reunite with producer Andrew Watt, who he worked with on both Ordinary Man and Patient Number 9.

“I want to do one more album and then go back on the road,” Ozzy says.

Ozzy hasn’t played a full live show since 2018 and has been hampered by a number of health issues, including requiring extensive surgery after suffering a fall in his home in 2019, which aggravated injuries he sustained in a 2003 ATV accident. In a September 19 episode of The Osbournes Podcast, Ozzy shared that he was set to undergo what he called his “final surgery” since the fall.

“I’ve had all the surgery now, thank god,” Ozzy now tells Metal Hammer. “I’m feeling okay — it was just dragging on. I thought I’d be back on my feet months ago, I just couldn’t get used to this mode of living, constantly having something wrong.”

He adds, “I can’t walk properly yet, but I’m not in any pain any more and the surgery on my spine went great.”

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A deluxe version of the 1993 Nirvana biography, Come As You Are, will be released on October 24.

Dubbed The Amplified Comes As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, the updated book includes “hundreds of extensive new essay-like annotations” by original author Michael Azerrad.

“Rereading Come As You Are for the annotated edition, I began to notice some patterns that I hadn’t noticed when I was in the thick of writing the original version,” Azerrad says. “Maybe I was too young to see them; maybe I was looking the other way because I was smitten by my subject; maybe I had to work too fast to notice such things.”

“The idea behind The Amplified Come As You Are is to comment on my 1993 book,” Azerrad continues. “To illuminate what’s there, and mine it for insights on Nirvana, its members, and the time in which the band existed.”

The original Come As You Are is often considered the definitive Nirvana biography and is the only book to feature original interviews with Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. It was published just months before Cobain died in 1994.

The Amplified Come As You Are will arrive just ahead of the upcoming 30th anniversary reissue of Nirvana 1993’s In Utero album, due out October 27.

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