Classic Rock News

We’ve got another taste of Bruce Springsteen‘s upcoming album of soul covers, Only the Strong Survive, which is due out November 11.

The Boss has released his take on The Commodores‘ “Nightshift,” a 1985 hit on which the group paid tribute to late soul music legends Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson.  The track inspired Bruce, his producer Ron Aniello and engineer Rob Lebret to dub themselves “The Nightshift” while working on the album. A video of Bruce performing the song in studio with string and horn sections, a small crowd in front, and dancers in the background, is also available now.

“Nightshift” follows the previously released track “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do),” originally recorded by Frank Wilson in 1965.

As previously reported, Only the Strong Survive features Sam Moore of Sam & Dave on backing vocals, along with E Street Band touring member Soozie Tyrell and others.  The covers range from songs by The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Walker Brothers, Jerry Butler and more.

Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Only the Strong Survive”
“Soul Days” — featuring Sam Moore
“Nightshift”
“Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)”
“The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore”
“Turn Back the Hands of Time”
“When She Was My Girl”
“Hey, Western Union Man”
“I Wish It Would Rain”
“Don’t Play That Song”
“Any Other Way”
“I Forgot to Be Your Lover” — featuring Sam Moore
“7 Rooms of Gloom”
“What Becomes of the Brokenhearted”
“Someday We’ll Be Together”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

This Sunday, October 16, marks the 40th anniversary of the release of INXS‘ breakout third studio album, Shabooh Shoobah.

Shabooh Shoobah was the Australian band’s first album to be released worldwide, and its first to garner major attention in the U.S., thanks in large part to popular videos for the singles “The One Thing” and “Don’t Change” that went into heavy rotation on the then-fledgling MTV.

Founding INXS keyboardist Andrew Farriss, who co-wrote most of the band’s songs with late frontman Michael Hutchence, tells ABC Audio, “Shabooh Shoobah, was a very important part of our career.”

Farriss recalls that when the band first toured the U.S. in 1983, in support of Shabooh Shoobah, they were surprised to find that many people were already familiar with their music, and he says he realized that it was because of the “national television exposure” INXS was getting thanks to MTV.

“The One Thing” became INXS’ first top-40 hit in the U.S., peaking at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album reached #46 on the Billboard 200, and wound up being certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 in the States.

“The One Thing” video featured the band at a decadent dinner party, and included scenes of the charismatic Hutchence singing the tune in an outfit reminiscent of something The Doors‘ Jim Morrison might have worn.

Interestingly, Farriss says that when INXS played a music-themed TV show in Los Angeles during that early tour, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek visited them backstage and asked to speak with Hutchence.

Andrew recalls that Manzarek told Hutchence that he’d seen the band on TV and “was overwhelmed,” adding, “You’re the first person I’ve ever seen that reminded me that much of Jim.”

Here’s Shabooh Shoobah‘s full track list:

“The One Thing”
“To Look at You”
“Spy of Love”
“Soul Mistake”
“Here Comes”
“Black and White”
“Golden Playpen”
“Jan’s Song”
“Old World New World”
“Don’t Change”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new compilation from the NOW That’s What I Call Music! folks focusing specifically on well-known classic rock songs spanning from 1971 to 1980 will be released on October 28.

NOW That’s What I Call Classic Rock is a 17-track collection that will be available everywhere on CD and digital formats, and as a two-LP vinyl set sold exclusively via Target.com and at Target stores.

The album includes such memorable rock anthems and classics as Queen‘s “Another One Bites the Dust,” The Who‘s “Baba O’Riley,” Aerosmith‘s “Walk This Way,” Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s “Free Bird,” Rod Stewart‘s “Maggie May” and Cheap Trick‘s “I Want You to Want Me.”

The compilation also features enduring hits from Elton John, Thin Lizzy, Free, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Alice Cooper, Foreigner and The Allman Brothers Band.

NOW That’s What I Call Classic Rock can be preordered now.

Here’s the complete track list:

“Another One Bites the Dust” — Queen
“Baba O’Riley” — The Who
“Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” — Elton John
“The Boys Are Back in Town” — Thin Lizzy
“Walk This Way” — Aerosmith
“All Right Now” — Free
“You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” — Bachman-Turner Overdrive
“School’s Out” — Alice Cooper
“Bang a Gong (Get It On)” — T. Rex
“Feels Like the First Time” — Foreigner
“Free Bird” — Lynyrd Skynyrd
“Ramblin’ Man” — The Allman Brothers Band
“Fooled Around and Fell in Love” — Elvin Bishop
“Maggie May” — Rod Stewart
“Paradise by the Dashboard Light” — Meat Loaf with Ellen Foley
“I Want You to Want Me” (Live at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, JPN – April 1978) — Cheap Trick
“Don’t Bring Me Down” — Electric Light Orchestra

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Humble Pie will release an expansive, eight-CD collection — The A&M CD Box Set (1970-1975) — featuring remastered versions of the seven albums the legendary English blues-boogie band issued on the A&M label, on December 2.

The A&M CD Box Set will be similar to Humble Pie’s nine-LP A&M Vinyl Box Set (1970-1975), which was released in 2017, although the new collection will offer an extra disc featuring 14 bonus tracks, including B sides, rarities and more, five of which are unreleased.

The albums featured in the package are 1970’s Humble Pie, 1971’s Rock On and the Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore live album, 1972’s Smokin’, 1973’s Eat It, 1974’s Thunderbox and 1975’s Street Rats.

Humble Pie was formed in 1969 by Small Faces singer/guitarist Steve Marriott; Peter Frampton, lead singer and guitarist of The Herd; Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley; and drummer Jerry Shirley. Frampton left the group to pursue a solo career in 1971. He was replaced by Clem Clempson, of the band Colosseum, who played with Humble Pie until its 1975 breakup.

Humble Pie’s most successful album was Smokin’, which peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold for sales of 500,000 in the U.S. The album included the song “Hot n’ Nasty,” which reached #52 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song “Big Black Dog,” a non-album track from 1970 that was Humble Pie’s first single released on A&M, has been made available as an advance track from The A&M CD Box Set. The tune also appears on the collection’s disc of bonus tunes.

You can preorder the CD box set now.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

John Waite is the subject of a new documentary titled John Waite — The Hard Way, which will premiere on December 6 via a variety of on-demand streaming services.

The film will also be released on DVD and Blu-ray at Amazon.com.

The documentary features candid interviews with the 1980s pop-rock star shot during the COVID-19 shutdown, while the singer was dealing with the isolation and inability to tour because of the health crisis.

The movie looks at Waite’s whole career, from his years fronting the pop-rock group The Babys, to his successful solo career, to his work with the supergroup Bad English — which also featured Journey‘s Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain — and beyond.

The documentary includes rare archival footage and photos, as well as interviews with award-winning songwriter Diane Warren, guitarist Neil Giraldo and many others. The movie also features footage of Waite touring with Ringo Starr‘s All Starr Band and his collaboration with acclaimed country/bluegrass artist Alison Krauss.

“Opening the front door at the crack of dawn in my boxers to a film crew signified how the documentary would go,” says Waite about the making of the movie. “It’s an unvarnished take on my life, just the cold, hard truth.”

You can check out a trailer for John Waite — The Hard Way now on YouTube.

Meanwhile, Waite has a couple of U.S. headlining gigs in late October that will be followed by a series of dates opening for Christopher Cross next month. Check out his full schedule at JohnWaiteWorldwide.com.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The trailer has been released for the upcoming documentary Let There Be Drums!, which features such famous musicians as The Beatles‘ Ringo Starr, The Police‘s Steward Copeland, and The Grateful Dead‘s Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart.

As its title suggests, Let There Be Drums! spotlights “the world’s greatest drummers” as they “reflect on the art of drumming and how it has shaped their lives.”

In one segment of the trailer, which is streaming on YouTube, Ringo says, “My dream was to play drums, and you know where I ended up … in the best band in the land.”

Other musicians featured in the film include Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith, Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, ex-Guns N’ Roses drummers Matt Sorum and Steven Adler, Green Day‘s Tre Cool and in what’s thought to be his last filmed interview, late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

“The second I sat on the drums, it was like a bolt of lightning went through my body,” Hawkins says in the trailer. “I’ll never forget that day.”

The documentary was directed by Kreutzmann’s son, Justin Kreutzmann.

Let There Be Drums! is set to premiere in theaters, and via Amazon and Apple TV, on October 28.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Red Hot Chili Peppers continue to add to their Billboard chart record with their latest single, “Tippa My Tongue.”

The track has hit #1 on the Alternative Airplay ranking, extending the “Californication” group’s total of leaders on that particular tally to 15. Having already set the record for most Alternative Airplay #1s in the chart’s 34-year history, the Chili Peppers now have a three-song lead over Green Day, who has the second-most Alternative Airplay leaders with 12.

“Tippa My Tongue” is the lead single off RHCP’s upcoming album Return of the Dream Canteen, due out this Friday. Return of the Dream Canteen is the second Peppers albums of 2022, following April’s Unlimited Love, which also spawned a #1 Alternative Airplay single in “Black Summer.”

Along with “Tippa My Tongue,” Return of the Dream Canteen features the song “Eddie,” which is a tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Here’s wishing a very happy 75th birthday to the Red Rocker himself, Sammy Hagar.

In celebration of the milestone, Hagar will be playing the third and final show of his annual Birthday Bash concert series on Thursday night at his Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Hagar first found rock stardom in the early ’70s as the lead singer of Montrose. After leaving the band in 1975, Sammy forged a successful solo career that saw him score such hits as 1982’s “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy” and 1984’s “I Can’t Drive 55.”

Hagar found even greater success when he joined Van Halen in 1985, replacing founding frontman David Lee Roth. Sammy appeared on four chart-topping albums with the group before exiting Van Halen in 1996.

Since then, Hagar has toured and recorded with his longtime backing band The Wabos, the supergroup Chickenfoot — featuring ex-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani — and, most recently, The Circle, which also features Anthony, plus drummer Jason Bonham and Wabos guitarist Vic Johnson. If that wasn’t enough, Hagar is a business mogul whose interests have included Cabo Wabo Tequila and the Sammy’s Beach Bar & Grill franchise.

Hagar’s latest album, which was recorded with The Circle, is titled Crazy Times and was released last month.

As previously reported, AXS TV is celebrating Sammy’s 75th birthday with a 24-hour programming block that kicked off Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. During the marathon, 41 episodes of Hagar’s AXS TV show Rock & Roll Road Trip will be shown.

In between episodes, AXS TV is airing special content that includes birthday wishes from some of Sammy’s friends, among them Sebastian Bach and Foreigner/Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The fall U.S. leg of Judas Priest‘s 50 Heavy Metal Years Tour gets underway Thursday night in Wallingford, Connecticut.

The treks begins about two months after guitarist Richie Faulkner underwent his second heart operation in less than a year, to correct a complication that developed following the life-saving surgery he had in September 2021 after suffering a near-fatal aortic aneurysm at the end of the band’s performance at the Louder than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky.

Priest frontman Rob Halford notes that Faulkner had the follow-up operation just a few days after the band finished its European summer trek, and he marvels at how quickly the 42-year-old guitar slinger has recovered and is ready to hit the road again.

“[He’s] got the turbo double-barrel scars,” Halford tells ABC Audio. “[I]it’s just remarkable. He’s a remarkable man, in terms of his strength, his physical and mental strength, to deal with the second procedure. And of course, the great news is that … it worked out really well.”

Reflecting on how Faulkner has handled the health scare, Rob says, “[It’s] definitely a very, very powerful story. Full of metal. You know, full-on metal — resilience, determination, not holding anything back. Just full-on heavy metal power of … putting the horns up and getting on with it.”

Meanwhile, about halfway through the tour, on November 5, Judas Priest will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

“It’s going to be fun,” Halford declares about the event. “We’re gonna be red hot as it is with the roadwork.”

The U.S. tour runs through a November 29 show in Houston, and Priest then heads to Mexico and South America in December.

Check out the band’s full tour schedule at JudasPriest.com.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elton John, The Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters are among the veteran rock artists who will compete for honors at the 2022 American Music Awards.

The Chili Peppers have received nominations for three awards — Favorite Rock Artist, Favorite Rock Song for “Black Summer” and Favorite Rock Album for Unlimited Love.

Elton is nominated for Collaboration of the Year for his Dua Lipa duet “Cold Heart” and for Favorite Touring Artist, making him the longest-recognized artist in AMA history: He was first nominated back in 1974, at the very first American Music Awards, for Top Pop/Rock Male.

The Rolling Stones are also in the running for the Favorite Touring Artist prize, while Foo Fighters scored a Favorite Rock Song nod for “Love Dies Young.”

Leading all nominees this year is Latin superstar Bad Bunny, with a total of eight.

Fan voting is open now at VoteAMAs.com and via Twitter in nearly all the award categories.

The American Music Awards air Sunday, November 20, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

For the full list of nominees, visit TheAMAs.com.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.