Classic Rock News

When Iron Maiden was once again passed over for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, metal fans felt it was yet another sign that the institution doesn’t respect their favorite genre. Perhaps those fans can take heart that Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson continues to be disinterested in the honor.

“I don’t want to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!” Dickinson tells The Telegraph. “Because we’re not dead yet!”

Maiden was among the nominees for the Rock Hall’s 2023 class, marking the second time they’ve been on the ballot but passed over for induction. Even though Dickinson, as established, doesn’t particularly care about getting in, he does seem to agree that the reason Maiden hasn’t been inducted is because they play metal.

“Some people feel almost actively threatened by metal,” Dickinson says. “Not by the nature of the music. But by the fact that it doesn’t conform to their worldview of what pop music should be.”

“Pop music is disposable, darling,” he adds. “Well: we don’t make disposable pop music.”

The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees do include Rage Against the Machine, Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Willie Nelson and The Spinners.

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Bruce Springsteen has a reputation for playing three-hour concerts, and it sounds like Paul McCartney isn’t happy about it.

The Beatles legend sat down for a chat with Conan O’Brien at the Tribeca Festival in New York Thursday, June 15, and, according to USA Today, complained a bit about the trend of longer concerts. He joked, “I blame Bruce Springsteen. I told him so. I said, ‘It’s your fault!’”

When Conan noted, “He ruined it for everyone,” McCartney agreed.

“We used to do a half hour. That was like The Beatles’ thing – and we got paid for it. I tried to work out, ‘Why was it so short?’ Well, because there was a lot of people on the (lineup),” he said. “When you went to a thing, if you were a comedian, the promoter would say, ‘How long can you do? Four minutes?’ And the guy would say yes. So we thought, ‘Half an hour – that’s epic!’ But that was it.” 

He adds, “With a Beatles show, we were on and off like that, and it didn’t seem strange.”

Of course, McCartney concerts have gotten longer, with his last show at the U.K. Glastonbury Festival consisting of 38 songs.

McCartney was in New York promoting his new photography book, 1964: Eyes of the Storm, which is out now.

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Pretenders have released the second single off their upcoming album, Relentless. 

The latest is the album’s closing track, “I Think About You Daily,” which features Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, who provided the string arrangement and conducted the 12 Ensemble on the song.

“I met Jonny a couple of times and we’re obviously big fans of him because he’s done some incredible music over the years,” Chrissie Hynde shares, noting she was “thrilled and very surprised” when he said he wanted to do something together.

Relentless, which is now dropping September 15 due to production delays, is the follow-up to 2020’s Hate for Sale. It’s the second consecutive album where Hynde and Pretenders guitarist James Walbourne collaborated on all the songwriting. 

Relentless is available for preorder now.

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Fleetwood Mac’s classic tune “Don’t Stop” is featured in a new short film for Greenpeace, which was executive produced by 12 Years A Slave director Steve McQueen.

Variety reports the song’s writer, the late Fleetwood Mac keyboardist and singer Christine McVie, gave the organization the rights to use the song before she passed away in November 2022. The version in the clip was produced by Fraser T. Smith and is performed by Future Utopia. It features rapper Avelino, vocals from the House Gospel Choir and music from jazz talent development organization Tomorrow’s Warriors.

“This is no ordinary cover: ‘Don’t Stop’ is a contemporary fable about being young in the world today,” reads a description of the clip. “The song is a call to action for people worried about their future and the state of the planet, and a rallying cry for those who dream of a better tomorrow. Together we can stand up to the fossil fuel industry.” 

The video, directed by Samona Olanipekun, is set at an extravagant party where guests are celebrating to excess, although some, including Guardians of the Galaxy 3’s Will Poulter, start to wake up and realize the reality of the situation. 

Olanipekun shares, “My film is a metaphor for the climate crisis – things feel like they’re falling apart around us, while those in power continue with business as usual. The guests who snap out of the trance represent those brave enough to confront the truth. People everywhere are facing climate catastrophe – it’s time for us to wake up, and shake up, the fossil fuel industry. Together, we are stronger, and every voice makes us louder.”

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Dolly Parton has teamed up with some big-name rockers for her upcoming Rockstar album, and we are now getting another taste of the record.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just released two new collaborations from the album, including her cover of Heart’s “Magic Man (Carl Version),” likely a reference to her hubby, Carl Dean. The track features Heart’s Ann Wilson and special guest Howard Leese, a former member of the group.

“I’ve always wanted a reason to sing ‘Magic Man’ by Heart and it was one of my first choices for the album,” Parton says. “I was so happy that Ann Wilson agreed to sing it with me. Nobody can out-sing Ann, but I gave it my darndest, and we added a few lines that were not in the original.” 

Dolly also released the original track “Bygones,” featuring Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, who she met when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame together in 2022. It also features Mötley Crüe‘s Nikki Sixx and John 5.

“It is one of my very favorites on the whole album,” Dolly shares. “The song fits with so many couples and coupling my voice with Rob, one of my all-time favorites, made it even more special.”

Rockstar will be released November 17 as a four-LP or two-CD set. It is available for preorder now.

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Queen is back with episode 21 of their weekly YouTube series, Queen The Greatest Live, and this week they are delving into what it takes to adapt their studio creations for the stage, turning them into live classics. 

“I think there’s various processes. Sometimes you’re in the middle of writing a song in the studio and you think, ‘How would that be live?’ And it actually informs your recording process because you’ve fashioned it towards being a sort of live-feeling kind of track,” Brian May shares. “Other songs not.”

For example, May discusses the process of rearranging the difficult piano ballad “Love Of My Life” into an acoustic number for the stage, which has become a highlight of Queen’s live show. He also reveals how the classic “We Will Rock You” transformed when performed live.

May notes that while the song doesn’t have any drums on the album, live it has “become a drum extravaganza.”

“The stamping and clapping thing has evolved into a completely incomprehensible situation because some people will go ‘bump bump punch,’ some people go ‘boom, boom, punch,’” he says. “But it doesn’t matter, because the physicality is there and they sing it, and obviously it’s a staple — it’s always going to be with us, same with ‘Champions.’”

He adds, “So yeah, it’s moments of discovery. I love waking up in the middle of the night and thinking, ‘Oh, we can do this. We could do this.’ And you go in, ‘Can we try this?’ And then you go, ‘Actually, yeah, that could work, that can pretty much work.’”

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On This Day, June 16, 1972 …

David Bowie released The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The album featured such future Bowie classics as “Starman” and “Suffragette City.”

The tale of a bisexual alien rock star sent to save mankind initially received mixed reviews, but was later hailed as one of the greatest, most influential albums of all time.

Bowie remained in character as Ziggy for his Ziggy Stardust Tour, with his final performance in character taking place July 3, 1973, at London’s Odeon Theater.

To mark the 50th anniversary of that final performance, a special world premiere screening of a restored version of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture is set to happen July 3 at London’s Eventim Apollo Hammersmith, which was formerly the Odeon. The event will be livestreamed in theaters in the U.K. and Europe, with worldwide screenings planned throughout July.

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The 52nd annual Songwriters Hall of Fame induction took place Thursday, June 15, in New York, with Electric Light Orchestra rocker Jeff Lynne among this year’s honorees.

Lynne’s induction kicked off the evening, with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh paying tribute to Lynne with a performance of the ELO classic “Don’t Bring Me Down.” In his induction speech, Walsh recognized Lynne’s “unmatched talent to bring a great song, bring it to life, and turn it into an incredible record.”

Lynne, who also co-founded the supergroup Traveling Wilburys, which included Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and George Harrison, ended his celebration with a performance of another ELO classic, “Mr. Blue Sky.”

This, of course, isn’t the first honor for Lynne. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 as a member of ELO. In addition to writing the two songs performed, his songs include “Evil Woman,” “Hold On Tight” and “Handle With Care.”

Other songwriters inducted into the Hall of Fame this year include Gloria Estefan, Glen Ballard, Liz Rose and Teddy Riley, with Post Malone receiving the Hal David Starlight Award and Broadway songwriter Tim Rice receiving the prestigious Johnny Mercer Award.

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June 17 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of The Police’s fifth studio album, Synchronicity.

The band’s most successful record, Synchronicity went to #1 on the Billboard 200 Album chart, and topped the chart in the U.K. and several other countries, as well. It went on to be certified eight-times Platinum by the RIAA.

Synchronicity contained several hit singles, including “Every Breath You Take,” which spent eight weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. It wound up being the biggest hit of 1983 in both the U.S. and Canada. The song also topped the U.K. singles chart for four weeks, making it their fifth U.K. #1.

Other hit singles on the record include “King of Pain,” which peaked at #3 on the Hot 100, “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” which went to #8, and “Synchronicity II,” which peaked at #16.

The album turned out to be The Police’s final studio release, and frontman Sting tells ABC Audio he’s happy the band ended on a career high.

“I think that was a pretty good strategy because the legend still lives on, it hasn’t really been tarnished or diminished,” he says. “I’m very proud of the work we did. I think it was a fantastic seven-year adventure and we couldn’t have expected any better result.”

In 2009 Synchronicity was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2023 it was chosen by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” It’s also ranked on several greatest albums lists, including Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, where it ranked at 159 as of 2020.

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It sounds like we may be getting another Bruce Springsteen album soon.

In November, The Boss released Only The Strong Survive, an album of soul and R&B covers. Now David Sancious, an early member of The E Street Band, has revealed in a new interview with Mojo that Springsteen’s getting ready to release another one. 

“I’ve just worked on Bruce’s sequel to Only The Strong Survive. He’s got 18 more covers of Motown and classic R&B,” Sancious tells the mag. “And next year, I should be touring the album with Bruce.”

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about a sequel to Only The Strong Survive. Not long after the original’s release he told Rolling Stone that Volume 2 was “probably three-quarters recorded.” This is the first report of a tour in support of those albums, though.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band are currently on tour in Europe, playing Birmingham, England, on Friday, June 16. The tour returns to North America with a two-night stand at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on August 9 and 11. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

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