Classic Rock News

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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Dead & Company is giving fans yet another way to enjoy the upcoming shows in San Francisco celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead.

The Aug. 1, 2 and 3 shows at Golden Gate Park will now be available to watch on nugs.

Fans will be able to stream each night in either HD or 4K, with pay-per-view tickets priced at $39.99 and $49.99, respectively. There will also be a three-night bundle for $99.99 or $129. Each ticket can be used to stream the concerts live, or within 48 hours of the show.

And in honor of the The Dead’s 60th anniversary, those who buy a pay-per-view ticket will also receive 60 days of streaming on nugs for free.

Tickets for the livestream are on sale now.

In addition to the livestream, Dead & Company’s final concert on Aug. 3 will screen live at 30 IMAX theaters nationwide. Tickets for the screening are on sale now, and each ticket comes with a collectible mini poster and lanyard.

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Heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne passed away Tuesday at the age of 76, and while he may have been known as the Prince of Darkness, KISS rocker Gene Simmons says he was far from a scary person.

Simmons met Ozzy 50 years ago when KISS and Black Sabbath were first starting out. He tells ABC News, “The Ozzy I got to know was decidedly different than the Prince of Darkness that millions of people around the world think of as Ozzy.”

Simmons says Ozzy was a “pure soul” who “never said anything bad about anybody.”

“Even onstage, the Prince of Darkness would jump up and you know what he’d say to his fans? He’d blow kisses at them and saying, ‘I love you,’” Simmons shares. “That’s not the best way to scare people. He was a sweetheart … and that’s what makes it even more devastating.”

For Simmons there was no one quite like Ozzy; he suggests that while many artists are inspired by other musicians, that wasn’t the case with Ozzy.

“There was no Ozzy before Ozzy,” he says. “Ozzy was what scientists call a singularity.”

And while Ozzy never copied anyone, Simmons has no doubt there will be plenty of musicians copying Ozzy.

“Trust me, there are going to be a lot of Ozzys from now on,” he says. “They’re all going to studying him, but he was unique and a giant.”

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A Bob Dylan exhibit highlighting his early career and the political and social messages in his music is set to open at New York University in August.

How Many Roads: Bob Dylan and His Changing Times, 1961-1964 originally opened in 2024 at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It examines how Dylan used his music to respond to current events, particularly the Civil Rights Movement, using archival material, as well as new original documentary films. It also highlights artists who were influential to his career, including Pete Seeger and Joan Baez.

“The exhibit centers on Dylan’s music as a lens through which to view some of the most defining events of the 20th century,” said Mark Davidson, curator of the exhibit. “The early ’60s were a time of rapid change for America, and Dylan paced alongside, documenting—this exhibit shows you how.”

How Many Roads: Bob Dylan and His Changing Times, 1961-1964 will run from Aug. 25 to Oct. 15 at NYU’s Gallatin Galleries in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan.

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If the countless musicians paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne haven’t communicated just how impactful the late Prince of Darkness was, who else would also be honored by Kermit the Frog, Adam Sandler, The Alamo and PETA?

The famed green Muppet posted a statement remembering when Ozzy guested on the 1994 album Kermit Unpigged, during which he covered Steppenwolf‘s “Born to Be Wild” alongside Miss Piggy.

“No one rocked harder than the great Ozzy Osbourne,” reads a letter from Kermit. “Every time we bumped into Ozzy over the years, he made us feel just as cool as he was. We loved having a friend like Ozzy Osbourne and we feel so lucky to have known him, worked with him and experienced his music for so many decades.”

Sandler, meanwhile, worked with Ozzy when he had a cameo in the movie Little Nicky.

“Whether we were in our basements with our brothers, in the woods with our buddies, in the car, at a keg party, on a boat, at football practice, at a sleepover….Nobody was more bada** to crank up on our speakers than the one and only prince of darkness – Ozzy Osbo[u]rne!” Sandler writes. 

PETA, meanwhile, put out a statement commending Ozzy’s work for animal rights — biting off the head of a bat notwithstanding — while The Alamo addressed the 1982 incident in which he was arrested for public intoxication at the famed Texas landmark.

“At the Alamo, we honor history in all its complexities,” The Alamo says. “Today, we acknowledge Ozzy Osbourne’s journey from regret to reconciliation at the historic site, and we extend our condolences to his family, friends, and fans around the world. May he rest in peace.”

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Ozzy Osbourne‘s former bandmates Jake E. Lee and Bob Daisley have each shared tributes to the late Prince of Darkness.

Lee, who played guitar in Ozzy’s solo band from 1982 to 1987, writes, “Still processing it. The finality of it hits me in waves.”

Lee also shared a text he received from Ozzy two weeks ago, seemingly just after Lee had performed at Ozzy and Black Sabbath‘s Back to the Beginning farewell concert on July 5.

“Hi jake im so sorry i couldnt spend more time with you on the weekend but it was really [chaotic],” the text reads. “I would really like to see you when i eventually get back TO LA just to shoot the s*** its been so long since we saw each other , where have are you living these days , because the last thing i herd was you were living in Las Vegas. How did the gig go for you on Saturday i really hope you had fun anyway i will text you when i eventually get back to LA and we must hook up much love and respect.”

Daisley, who was Ozzy’s original solo bass player, writes, “This is a sad day and it has brought me to tears.”

“When I reminisce about Ozzy’s and my times together, I think about the fun, the laughs and of course what we created together musically, which will live much longer than these mortal bodies that we inhabit,” Daisley continues. “My condolences to everyone who you’ve left behind, Ozzy. Nothing can change the true friendship that we once had; I’ll see you on the other side.'”

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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch has announced the first live shows with his new band The Speaker Wars.

The group, featuring vocalist/guitarist Jon Christopher Davis, is set to play a trio of dates in Texas: Sept. 5 in Austin, followed by Sept. 6 in Houston and Sept. 7 in Dallas.

“This band has the sound of raw authority,” Lynch shares. “Once we got The Speaker Wars in a room, we locked the door and said no one’s leaving. It’s that strong, and it’s good to have my old job back.”

Davis adds, “Playin’ live with Lynch is like slippin’ on a seasoned pair of Levi’s. Smooth, effortlessly-cool, fun, trusty, perfect.”

Tickets for all shows are on sale now.

The Speaker Wars — made up of Lynch, Davis, Jay Michael Smith on guitar, Brian Patterson on bass, Steve Ritter on percussion and Jay Brown on keyboards — released their self-titled debut album in May.

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Billy Joel admits he was a reluctant subject when it comes to the HBO documentary And So It Goes.

In a new cover story for People, Billy says, “I’ve resisted this kind of thing for so long. I’m sick of talking about myself.”

He notes, “My goal was to get it over with. When I do interviews, people just ask you about yourself and you get a little self-conscious about it eventually. It’s almost embarrassing.”

“I was worried, maybe I’m going to hate this thing, because it’s a lot to ask of somebody, a lifetime of work,” he says of the documentary. “[But] at the end, I didn’t hate it, which, to me, is the real compliment.”

In fact, he shares, “There was some stuff I found out about myself. There was some self-revelatory stuff.” For example, Billy says the doc’s co-director Susan Lacy helped him realize that “a lot of the things I was searching for were my father in my life, and I recognized that in the documentary.” 

Billy’s father, Howard Joel, left the family when Billy was 8 years old and moved to Austria, which inspired Billy’s song “Vienna.” The two reconnected years later. 

Part two of And So It Goes debuts on Friday.

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Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have finally revealed the news they’ve been teasing for days.

The former couple, and Fleetwood Mac bandmates, are set to reissue their only studio album as a duo, 1973’s Buckingham Nicks, on Sept. 19.

The album will be released digitally and on CD, with newly remastered sound. There will also be special vinyl editions released on Rhino High Fidelity audio — one limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies and one that’s limited to 2,000 copies, featuring two replica 7-inch singles. There will also be a variety of colored vinyl variants.

As a preview of the release, the track “Crying in the Night” is now available via digital outlets.

This will mark the first-ever reissue of the album, which has been unavailable for decades. While Buckingham Nicks wasn’t a commercial success, shortly after the release Mick Fleetwood heard a track from the album and was so impressed he invited Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham insisted his then-girlfriend Nicks come with him, and the pair officially joined the band on New Year’s Eve 1974.

Discussing their partnership, Nicks shares in new liner notes, “[We] knew what we had as a duo, two songwriters that sang really well together. And it was a very natural thing, from the beginning.”  Buckingham shares that the album “stands up in a way you hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work.”

Buckingham Nicks is available for preorder now.

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Amid the outpouring of tributes to Ozzy Osbourne following news of the metal icon’s death Tuesday at age 76, even more have arrived to honor the late Prince of Darkness.

Metallica, which originally posted a simple broken-heart emoji when the news first broke, shared a longer statement, beginning, “It’s impossible to put into words what Ozzy Osbourne has meant to Metallica.”

“Hero, icon, pioneer, inspiration, mentor, and, most of all, friend are a few that come to mind,” the post continues. “Ozzy and Sharon [Osbourne] believed in us and transformed our lives and careers. He taught us how to play in the big leagues while at the same time being warm, welcoming, engaging, and all around brilliant. We are heartbroken and devastated by this loss and send our love and condolences to Sharon and their family, bandmates, and his very large circle of friends. He left an incredible legacy and will be sorely missed.”

Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward added his own statement following posts by Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, reading, “Where will I find you now?  In the memories, our unspoken embraces, our missed phone calls, no, you’re forever in my heart. Deepest condolences to Sharon and all family members. RIP Sincere regrets to all the fans. Never goodbye. Thank you forever.”

Def Leppard, Dave Matthews Band and Coldplay all covered Black Sabbath’s “Changes” during shows Tuesday, while Wolfgang Van Halen‘s Mammoth covered Ozzy’s solo song “Mama, I’m Coming Home.”

News of Ozzy’s death also reached the pop world — Lady Gaga wore an Ozzy Osbourne shirt and danced to “Crazy Train” during her show Tuesday in San Francisco.

Here are some of the other tributes:

Foo Fighters: “Rest in peace, Ozzy. And thank you for a lifetime of inspiration. Rock and Roll would not be as loud or as fun without you. You will be forever missed. Our deepest condolences to the entire Osbourne and Sabbath family.”

Judas Priest: “Our hearts are broken like millions around the world – words can’t express the love and loss we are all feeling – Sharon – may God surround you and your beautiful family with love, peace & light – Ozzy you will never leave us – Your music is eternal – God blesses you now more than ever after you blessed us all through your magnificent life.”

Robert Plant: “Farewell Ozzy … what a journey … sail on up there  .. finally at peace .. you truly changed the planet of rock!”

Queen: “Queen is deeply saddened by the passing of the legendary artist Ozzy Osbourne. Sending thoughts to his family, friends and his fans. His music will live on.”

Iron Maiden: “Everyone connected with Iron Maiden sends their sincere condolences to Sharon & the Osbourne Family on the sad announcement of Ozzy’s passing. He helped shape heavy metal as we know it and we will be forever grateful to Black Sabbath for forging the path that so many followed. RIP Ozzy Osbourne.”

Volbeat: “Thanx for everything dear Ozzy, Prince of Darkness. You were so loved and will forever be a huge inspiration. See you on the other side.”

Mötley Crüe‘s Nikki Sixx: “I will forever be grateful he gave our little ratty band from Hollywood our first big break…Thank you for the music, your kindness and wicked wicked sense of humor. Journey well our friend.”

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