Watch the first trailer for the ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ sequel, ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’

July 25, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

We are getting our first real look at the upcoming sequel to the 1984 rock mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.

A trailer for the film, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, has just been released, following the band Spinal Tap – Michael McKean as lead guitarist David St. Hubbins, Christopher Guest as frontman Nigel Tufnell and Harry Shearer as bassist Derek Smalls – as they attempt to stage a reunion concert 40 years after the first film.

The clip features snippets of the original film, and gives fans a look at what the band members have been doing for the past 40 years, as they’re once again followed by a documentarian, played by the film’s director Rob Reiner.

The trailer also gives us a glimpse of some of the A-list cameos in the film. Paul McCartney turns up to comment on a lyric from Spinal Tap’s song “Big Bottom,” noting the line “I’d like to sink her with my pink torpedo,” is “literature,” while Elton John joins them on stage for a performance of “Stonehenge.”

The band’s bad luck with drummers continues, as the trailer notes they’re short a drummer because their last one “sneezed himself into oblivion.” The band offers Questlove the gig, but he turns them down, sharing, “I don’t want to die,” while they try to assure him they’ve only lost 11 drummers.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues opens in theaters Sept. 12. In addition to McCartney and John, it will feature cameos by Garth Brooks, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich.

New rings made from Queen drummer Roger Taylor’s cymbals to be released on rocker’s birthday

July 25, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Queen’s Roger Taylor will celebrate his 76th birthday on Saturday, and to mark the occasion a new line of Taylor-inspired jewelry is being released.

Queen announced on Instagram that the rocker’s Taylored of London merch line is set to debut what it’s calling a “Hold Fast” range of limited-edition signet rings inspired by Taylor’s love of sailing. The term hold fast was a command sailors would use during rough weather conditions.

The line will feature two rings, designed by Manuela Gray, each featuring a different tattoo-inspired anchor. They are made from recycled silver, with a bronze disc made out of material taken from a cymbal played by the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.

The rings are each individually numbered and come with a certificate of authenticity.

Both rings will be available for preorder starting Saturday.

This isn’t the first time Taylor’s cymbals have been turned into jewelry. He previously released Taylored Spinner Pendants and Taylored Spinner Cymbal Rings, both constructed from one of his personal cymbals.

Actor Paul Walter Hauser’s surprising connection to Bruce Springsteen

July 24, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Actor Paul Walter Hauser has a role in the upcoming Bruce Springsteen movie Deliver Me From Nowhere, and it turns out he also has a surprising connection to the New Jersey rocker.

Hauser plays Springsteen’s guitar tech Mike Batlan, who helped engineer 1982’s Nebraska. While appearing on The Rich Eisen Show, Hauser said he once lived in a home previously owned by Springsteen.

“What’s crazy is I lived in his old house without knowing it,” Hauser said. “I lived there for six months.”

He said that after living there a week, his brother-in-law informed him that The Boss had owned the place for about 25 years.

Asked whether Springsteen left anything behind, Hauser suggested it’s possible some ghosts, sharing, “The speaker system in the home randomly played ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ and none of us had it on our Spotify or Apple Music or anything.”

Hauser said he has happy memories of the house, because he and his wife conceived their second child there.

“So when I met Bruce, I said, ‘I used to live in your old house.’ He goes, ‘I heard,'” Hauser said. “And I was like, ‘I conceived a child in your old bedroom.’ He goes, ‘So did I.'”

Hauser added, “And we hugged it out. It was insane. It was the funniest, like, first conversation to have with an icon.”

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, starring Jeremy Allen White as The Boss, hits theaters Oct. 24.

Drummer Zak Starkey regrets turning down offer to back Ozzy Osbourne & Black Sabbath

July 24, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

In the wake of Ozzy Osbourne’s death Tuesday at age 76, drummer Zak Starkey is sharing his regret at turning down an offer to play with the Prince of Darkness.

In a post on Instagram, Starkey, who has worked with The Who and Oasis, shared a message he once got from Ozzy’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, offering him a gig backing Black Sabbath.

Sharon wrote at the time that they were looking for a drummer to back the band at Download Festival and Lollapalooza, which Sabbath played in 2012. The message also said they needed a drummer to play on an album they were working on with producer Rick Rubin, a reference to 2013’s 13. It would become Sabbath’s final album, which ended up featuring Rage Against The Machine’s Brad Wilk on drums.

Sharon ended the message by joking, “Also, Ozzy wants to have sex with you while he is singing Iron Man.”

“Regrets I’ve had a few -this is one – (not the sex part!),” Starkey shared in a caption to the post. “Ozzy will always be one of the greatest, natural, brilliant singers of all time. I send much love and strength to his family at this sad sad time.”

He added, “If u aren’t familiar with the never say die record – get into it – it’s so far out – X,” referring to Sabbath’s 1978 album.

Paul McCartney adds San Antonio date to Got Back tour

July 24, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Paul McCartney has added another city to the upcoming North American leg of his Got Back tour.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is now set to play the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on Oct. 25.

A ticket pre-sale starts on July 29 at 10 a.m. local time, although fans will need to pre-register for access. Tickets go on sale to the public Aug. 1.

McCartney will now be headlining 20 dates on this leg of the Got Back tour, which is his first North American tour since 2022. The trek kicks off Sept. 29 in Palm Desert, California, and wraps with a two-night stand in Chicago, Nov. 24 and 25.

A complete list of dates can be found at PaulMcCartney.com.

Led Zeppelin celebrates 50th anniversary of ‘Physical Graffiti’ with live EP & deluxe edition

July 24, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Led Zeppelin’s fifth studio album, Physical Graffiti, and the band has announced some new releases to celebrate, including a new live EP and a deluxe edition of the album.

The EP, titled Live E.P. will be released on CD, vinyl and digitally. It will feature performances of four songs: “In My Time of Dying” and “Trampled Underfoot,” both recorded live at London’s Earls Court in 1975, and “Sick Again” and “Kashmir,” both recorded at the Knebworth Festival in England in 1979.

As a preview, the performance of “Trampled Underfoot (Live From Earls Court, 1975)” is now available via digital outlets, with a performance video now on YouTube.

The band will also release an update of 2015’s three-LP Physical Graffiti Deluxe Edition, which includes the remastered version of the album, the bonus album featuring rough mixes and early versions of songs, and a new replica Physical Graffiti poster.

Both releases are due out Sept. 12 and are available for preorder now.

Physical Graffiti, released on Feb. 24, 1975, was Led Zeppelin’s first album to be released under their own label, Swan Song Records. The double album, produced by Jimmy Page, spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and also hit #1 in the U.K. and Canada. It was the first album to go Platinum from preorders alone and has since been certified 17-times Platinum in the U.S.

Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi reflects on last gig with Ozzy Osbourne

July 24, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Ozzy Osbourne‘s Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi reflects on his final performance with the late Prince of Darkness in a new interview with the U.K.’s ITV News.

Iommi reunited with Ozzy, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward for the massive Back to the Beginning concert on July 5, which was promoted as the final live performance by the original Sabbath lineup, as well as Ozzy’s last-ever show. Just over two weeks later, on July 22, Ozzy’s family announced that he had died at age 76.

“I think [Ozzy] must have had something in his head that said, ‘Well, this is going to be it, the last thing I’m ever gonna do,'” Iommi says of the concert, which was held in Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham, England.

“Whether he thought he was going to die, I don’t know,” Iommi continues. “But he really wanted to do it and he was determined to do it.”

Iommi says that hearing that Ozzy had passed “was a shock for us.”

“It couldn’t sink in,” Iommi says. “I thought, ‘It can’t be.'”

Meanwhile, Lita Ford, who collaborated with Ozzy on the 1989 hit “Close My Eyes Forever,” has written an essay for Rolling Stone remembering him.

“‘Close My Eyes Forever’ is something a lot of people play at funerals,” Ford writes. “A lot of people have love for that song because it’s beautiful. In Ozzy’s name, keep rocking. Great rock stars never truly die.”

Additionally, artists are continuing to pay tribute to Ozzy during their concerts, including Judas Priest, David Lee Roth and Rod Stewart.

On This Day, July 24, 2022: Joni Mitchell surprises with performance at Newport Folk Festival A

July 24, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

On This Day, July 24, 2022 …

Joni Mitchell was the surprise musical performer at the Newport Folk Festival, joining Brandi Carlile for a special set that featured the legendary musician performing with a variety of guests.

The so-called Joni Jam was Joni’s first public performance since surviving a brain aneurysm in 2015.

During the set, a seated Joni was joined by artists like Wynonna Judd, Marcus Mumford and Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, performing 13 songs, including some of her classic tunes like “Both Sides Now,” “A Case of You” and “Big Yellow Taxi.”

An album from the performance, Joni Mitchell at Newport, was released in July 2023.

The appearance turned out to be the catalyst for more Joni Jams. She held one in June 2023 at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, and then headlined two similar concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in October 2024.

Documentary about the making of Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’ coming to Blu-ray

July 24, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

The 2021 documentary about the making of Tom Petty’s second solo album, Wildflowers, is getting its first-ever physical release.

Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers, directed by Mary Wharton, will be released on Blu-ray Sept. 12. It features 30 minutes of extra material made up of outtakes and music videos.

Originally released on YouTube, the film follows Petty as he works on Wildflowers with producer Rick Rubin. It features archival footage of the pair in the studio, which was unearthed following Petty’s death in 2017.

The making of Wildflowers will also be chronicled in a new book being released in December. Also titled Wildflowers, the limited-edition book will feature rare photography, handwritten lyrics and personal stories from Petty, the Heartbreakers and his musical collaborators.

It is available for preorder now.

Released in November 1994, Wildflowers was the first of three albums produced by Rubin. Although credited to just Petty, Heartbreakers members Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein played on the record, which peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200. It featured the singles “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “You Wreck Me” and the title track.

Metallica members remember the first time they heard Black Sabbath

July 23, 2025 by Classic Rock 93.9

Metallica has shared a video in which each of the four band members remember the first time they heard Black Sabbath.

The video was first filmed ahead of the Back to the Beginning concert on July 5, which marked the final live performance by the original Sabbath lineup and Ozzy Osbourne. Metallica decided to post it now following Ozzy’s death Tuesday at age 76.

“We all have very vivid memories of the first time we listened to Black Sabbath,” Metallica writes in the caption. “It changed all of our lives. We love you, Ozzy, and will miss you so, so much.”

Here are some of the other tributes that have come through:

Slash: “It’s with a heavy heart that I mourn the passing of the great Ozzy Osbourne. I know a great many people cried all around the world at this profound loss. I’m with you. He was an awesome motherf*****. We all loved him dearly. I’ll miss him as a friend. & a pillar of the spirit of rock n roll. But I’m so happy Ozzy had that last show that we all could share with him, it truly meant the world to one of the greatest of all time. RIP.”

Aerosmith: “We’re heartbroken to hear about the passing of our brother in rock, Ozzy Osbourne. A voice that changed music forever. From Black Sabbath to his solo work, Ozzy redefined what it meant to be heavy. He did it all with heart, grit, and that wild spirit only he could bring. Our love goes out to Sharon, his family, his band, and the millions around the world who felt his fire. Rock on, Ozzy. You will be missed, but never forgotten!”

Zakk Wylde: “THANK YOU FOR BLESSING THE WORLD w/YOUR KINDNESS & GREATNESS OZ – YOU BROUGHT LIGHT INTO SO MANY LIVES & MADE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE – YOU LIVED w/THE HEART OF A LION – I THANK THE GOOD LORD EVERY DAY FOR BLESSING MY LIFE w/YOU IN IT.”

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