Author: LRussell

When Chris Jericho first launched Fozzy, he was just looking to have some fun. But after a couple of years, he realized it was something more serious than just a covers band.

“Everything’s changed to a much bigger perspective than we ever thought about when we first started out,” the wrestling legend tells UCR now.

Fozzy is currently in the midst of their 25th anniversary tour, while Jericho continues to dabble in a variety of projects outside of his time in the ring for AEW, including his return to the silver screen this week (Oct. 11) in the latest installment of the gory slasher film series Terrifier. 

During a recent conversation with UCR, Jericho shared his thoughts on the Fozzy milestone, along with some of his favorite underrated Kiss songs and a bit of wrestling talk.

It’s hard to believe we’re sitting here talking about the 25th anniversary of Fozzy. I’d love to hear your memories of the early days and how it eventually crossed a line and became something else for you.
So I’ve always been playing in bands since I was about 13 or 14 years old. Way before I ever got into wrestling, I was playing in rock and roll bands. My high school band was called Scimitar, you know the curved sword that Sinbad uses. We played [iron] Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth covers and we also had a lot of our own original stuff. I always loved playing. I was a bass player in [the band] and I sang. I still continued to always dabble in music. About ‘97 or ‘98, I really started thinking that I wanted to put together something and do a tour and play some shows and focus more on my band stuff. I missed it, because wrestling came along and that kind of kept me really busy, but I still liked playing. There’s nothing like playing with other musicians and playing a song that you wrote or a song that you note. It’s like, “Wow, that sounds really cool.”

I just happened to meet Rich [Ward] backstage at a WCW show in San Antonio. He was there doing some work with Diamond Dallas Page and Stuck Mojo. We just started talking and really hit it off. I was like, “Man, I really want to do something and put together a band.” So he was like, “Why don’t you come to Atlanta? I’ve got this side project thing I do with anybody that’s in town called Fozzy Osbourne and we just play covers and have fun. That’s basically how it started. We did a couple of shows [using that name] and it really worked. Right out of the gate, it was something that had interest, because Stuck Mojo was really popular on the underground scene and Jericho was popular in WCW. I was just about to jump to WWE, so it was really good timing to put together a band. For the first couple of years, obviously we had the storyline, which was kind of a Spinal Tap / Blues Brothers / Traveling Wilburys type of thing. I remember the day we decided to switch. We did the Howard Stern Show and at the time, Howard [had a band] called the Losers and he claimed that his band was better than any celebrity band.

That’s when I was like, “We’ve got to go in there as ourselves. We can’t go in there as characters and we’ve got to play an original. So that’s the day we decided, “Let’s do all original stuff, drop the storyline and characters. That was 2002, so for two years out of 25, we had a different kind of vibe. Then we started doing all of our original stuff. 2010 is when Rich and I said, “Let’s make this a full-time thing and really go for it. Fast forward to 2017 when the Judas record came out, that’s when we became a radio band. Here we are now with seven top 10 radio singles and a gold record. Suddenly, everything’s changed to a much bigger perspective than we ever thought about when we first started out.

I wondered how much you had it in your sights at the time that Fozzy could ever be something like that.
I mean, you never do anything half-assed. Right out of the gate, we did a mockumentary about Fozzy that was on MTV that ran, I don’t know, 20 times. Ozzy [Osbourne] and Zakk Wylde and those guys, when they were on tour, loved watching it. So we always kind of had some mainstream acceptance going on. But when we really started getting played on the radio — when Judas broke on the radio and went to number 5 — I never realized how important rock radio was, until we started getting played. Suddenly, it changed everything and became this really big, massive success. We’d done well, but before that, it was a completely different thing when Judas began. I think that’s when the modern era of Fozzy started, which is where we are right now, where the band is bigger than ever. I mean, we just drew the biggest crowd we’ve ever had on our own, the most tickets that we’ve sold ever as a headlining band, in England. It blew us away, how the band continues to build.

Watch Fozzy’s ‘Spotlight’ Video

Each time I talk to Bruce Kulick, he is over the moon about what you’re doing with your Kiss tribute, Kuarantine. Fans appreciate that you’re out there keeping that era of Kiss music alive. For you, what’s a song or even songs from that era you’d consider underrated?
We’ve recorded so many of them. “Heart of Chrome” is amazing. “Turn on the Night” would be a huge hit, but Paul said that in the ‘80s, radio considered Kiss to be dinosaurs and they didn’t play Kiss on the radio a lot. I think “Heaven’s on Fire” is one of the best written songs of the ‘80s, period. But if you just go through the records, Revenge, “Heart of Chrome.” Hot in the Shade, “Silver Spoon,” we’ve done both of those songs with Kuarantine. Crazy Nights, “Turn on the Night” and “Good Girl Gone Bad,” which just went Top 10 for us, is a great tune that no one really knows. “Who Wants to Be Lonely” is amazing. “Uh! All Night” is amazing.

The list goes on and on. “Under the Gun,” I mean, you can just throw some out there and they’re probably pretty good. People don’t realize how technical Kiss is as well. Those songs from the ‘80s have a lot of pretty difficult parts. There’s been some of them that we’ve dropped, because they’re hard to play live. “Love’s a Deadly Weapon” is hard to play. “Thou Shall Not,” a great Gene [Simmons] song that no one really knows from Revenge is hard to play live. Then we added “All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose,” “Let’s Put the X in Sex,” what a fun and goofy song that is, but it’s f–king great. It’s so much fun to play live. Kuarantine’s a whole other thing and we love doing it, because it’s just fun and the music is great and there’s unlimited resources. We could record another 50 songs from those records and still have some left over to do.

READ MORE: Top 10 Songs Kiss Never Played Live

On the wrestling side, when you develop a gimmick like the Learning Tree, how long do you fight the temptation to change or abandon it?
It’s not really temptation, it’s just knowing when to do that. I think the temptation is to try to hold onto it a little bit longer, because it’s always hard to reinvent, but you have to do it. You know, Learning Tree happened, kind of as a f–k you to internet haters that then caught on and the people that hated it, now they love it. Some of them that hated it, hate it even more, but that’s okay. That’s the idea, right? I never have a problem taking a chance and reinventing.

It’s Kiss, it’s the [Rolling] Stones, U2, Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses, any band that has that longevity changes. You’ve got to change up your stuff and try new things, unless you’re AC/DC, in which case you can play the same song a hundred different times and they’re all great. I’m a huge AC/DC fan. But most bands and performers can’t last 40 or 50 years by doing the same thing. You have to change it up. I’ve never had a problem doing that and I don’t have a problem doing it now. I know when to do it — my gut instinct tells me — and then you come up with something different. That’s the challenge.

Watch Chris Jericho and the Learning Tree

READ MORE: Why Did Chris Jericho Leave the WWE?

How much do you think AEW needs something like The Bloodline, a gimmick that hits nationally to take things to the next level? How close do you think the Devil was to being something like that?
Everybody needs a story like that. You know, we’ve had versions of those stories that really resonated. I think the Swerve Strickland / Hangman Page story is a great example of that. But that’s the secret. You write a story and people like it and it connects or it doesn’t. But the ones that work, you focus on them. The ones that don’t, you come up with new ideas. That’s the secret of wrestling. It’s storytelling. It’s not about flashy moves, bangers and all of that sort of stuff, it’s about telling stories and about creating something that people feel and people relate to. If you can do that, they’ll be super-interested. That goes for anything. It goes for a great movie, a great rock and roll band, you name it in entertainment and show business. If you can connect with the audience, you’ll always have a gig, if you can make people feel something and get excited about what you’re doing, they’ll always be there to support you.

In WWE, the little guys almost never got over. In AEW, it seems to be the opposite. Why do you think guys like Brian Cage, Powerhouse Hobbs, Lance Archer, even Wardlow, for the most part, are not finding themselves featured? Meanwhile, people like Brian Danielson, the Young Bucks and Orange Cassidy have all had huge pushes.
The guys you just mentioned all really know their characters and they all connect with the audience. The guys you mentioned prior to that, it’s not that they don’t connect with the audience, but the business has changed. Size really doesn’t make a difference and it never really did. In the early days when I first started, maybe it did. But I was [doing] Main Events everywhere i went and I’m 5”11. I was 220 at the time and this was the days of your six foot eight behemoths. It’s fine to be big, but you have to be entertaining and understand. Hulk Hogan was the best for that, but Randy Savage was my height and he was even more exciting. It’s always been about storytelling, character and connecting with the audience. Now, it’s just more prevalent. Guys aren’t as big anymore, it’s just the way the business has changed. It’s still the same as it’s always been though. You have to connect with the audience and if you can do that, you’ll get over.

Motley Crue took a walk down memory lane this week with their “Hollywood Takeover,” a series of club shows on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip where they got their start more than 40 years ago.

The stunt took the hard-living rockers to the Troubadour on Oct. 7, the Roxy on Oct. 9 and the Whisky a Go Go on Oct. 11. You can see photos from their Roxy performance below.

From the beginning, Motley Crue knew how to make an entrance and captivate an audience with over-the-top stunts, including lighting bassist Nikki Sixx on fire. They continued this trend for their first Hollywood Takeover show when a garbage truck deposited them on the street outside the Troubadour before a crowd of several hundred fans.

“It was all about music, and putting on the biggest show ever,” Sixx told Classic Rock in 2020. “From the get-go we’ve always been about fashion and melody and songs and energy onstage. There’s really early videos of us playing the Starwood Club in ’81 and we’re giving 150%, and that was right in the middle of new wave, everyone was shaking their heads and doing little handclaps. We didn’t say ‘we’re gonna be different,’ we just were.”

READ MORE: Motley Crue Plays First of Three L.A. Club Shows: Video, Set List

Motley Crue’s New Music and Vegas 2025 Plans

Motley Crue just released a three-song EP titled Cancelled and will perform on Sunday at Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California, for their last currently scheduled show of the year. They’ll pick back up in late March for their third Las Vegas residency, consisting of 11 shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM.

“Motley Crue and Las Vegas have always been the perfect combination of extravagance and decadence,” the band said in a shared statement. “We’ve always loved the idea of the Vegas residency, because we’ve always loved the idea of staying in one location to build a unique show for the fans. We’re excited to get into rehearsals and work up a lot of songs that have been requested by the fans for years.”

Pete Townshend recalled the triumph and tragedy of Thunderclap Newman, the one-hit wonder band he created for three “dear friends” in 1968.

In the foreword to Mark Ian Wilkerson’s new book Hollywood Dream: The Thunderclap Newman Story (via Rolling Stone), the Who guitarist outlined the bigger plans he’d had for the group known for their 1969 single “Something in the Air.”

Townshend said he first met multi-instrumentalist Andy “Thunderclap” Newman at art college in 1963, and with the help of Who manager Kit Lambert, he assembled a group around him including future Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, Who collaborator and later Motorhead producer John “Speedy” Keen, and future Big Country drummer Mark Brzezicki.

READ MORE: Underrated Who Songs

“Andy, with the very young Jimmy McCulloch and John ‘Speedy’ Keen, ended up in Thunderclap Newman, a band I created named after Andy, which — had I had my way — would have had a few more members,” Townshend wrote, saying his list included Arthur Brown of “Fire” fame. “Speedy wrote the divine ‘Something In the Air,’ and became the lead singer and studio drummer for the band – the only three I could keep my grip on, that is.”

He described Thunderclap Newman as “a great adventure and one I try to relive often,” adding: “‘Something In The Air’ saw each of them move on to new lives, and new adventures, some wonderful, some tragic. Who knew that great music could be created this way? Well, I did, even if the three members of the band were unsure at first.”

Hailing Wilkerson’s work as one he planned to reread regularly, Townshend continued: “This book says it all – that creativity and even hit records, sometimes, can be more about play than work. Musicians play, and when the hard work begins as it must, they sometimes fall by the wayside.”

Pete Townshend Says Most Big Stars Are ‘Slightly Nuts’

“The tragedy … is simply that there was only one Thunderclap Newman album, the beautiful Hollywood Dream, recorded entirely in my home studio, which was in a room meant to be a small bathroom,” Townshend continued. “The saddest part of it all is that they don’t exist today.”

Townshend also discussed what the experience meant to him: “My dedication, to help the waifs and strays and eccentrics of the music world together, continues to this day. I must admit that I learn more from working with other artists than I do working alone; and through them all have, like Rick Rubin, produced a philosophy of recording studio craft that sustains me every day. Creativity sparks creativity, and eccentricity in an artist is sublime – look at the list of chart-topping superstars of the past: they are all slightly nuts. They are all slightly brilliant too.”

Hollywood Dream: The Thunderclap Newman Story is on sale now via Third Man Books.

Listen to Thunderclap Newman’s ‘Something in the Air’

Hall & Oates’ 1984 album Big Bam Boom continued the duo’s impressive commercial success – even while foreshadowing the end of their classic era.

At the time, Hall & Oates were one of the biggest acts on the planet. Their three preceding LPs – Voices (1980), Private Eyes (1981) and H2O (1982) – had been multi-platinum triumphs, spawning such memorable hits as “Kiss on My List,” “You Make My Dreams,” “I Can’t Go for That” and “Maneater.”

The duo’s heyday also coincided with technological advancements in electronic instruments. So as Hall & Oates prepped for their twelfth studio album, they were given access to what was then state-of-the-art equipment.

READ MORE: ’80s No.1 Rock Songs Ranked From Worst to Best

“We embraced each new device on its merits as a tool to enhance and integrate into the recording process,” John Oates recalled in his 2017 memoir Change of Seasons. “For us, they were instruments to be used to achieve an end: service and enrich the songs.”

While such a goal was admirable in nature, it proved difficult in practice. There are several points in Big Bam Boom where Hall & Oates seem more excited about showing off their flashy toys than crafting a memorable song. As a result, the LP is a bogged down affair, offering flashy style but little substance.

What Went Wrong on ‘Big Bam Boom’?

Many of the tracks – such as “Possession Obsession” and “Dance on Your Knees” — are so layered with synthesizers and sound effects that their lyrics feel like an afterthought. Hall & Oates also problematically tried to squeeze some hip-hop influences into their sound, but the style was ill-fitting next to the duo’s brand of pop: the staccato hip-hop back beat on “Going Thru the Motions” and Oates’ rap on “All-American Girl” are among the album’s most cringe-worthy moments.

Watch Hall & Oates’ ‘Out of Touch’ Music Video

Despite this, there are times on Big Bam Boom where Hall & Oates’ genius shines through. Lead single “Out of Touch” follows the band’s hit-making formula, melding soaring verses with an irresistibly catchy chorus. Meanwhile, the quirky and upbeat “Method of Modern Love” represents one of the few moments on the album where synth-layered production is actually used in the right proportion, highlighting the duo’s pop prowess rather than overpowering it.

How Was ‘Big Bam Boom’ Received?

Big Bam Boom was released on Oct. 12, 1984 and quickly began flying off shelves. The LP peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard chart, en route to more than 2 million copies sold in the U.S. alone.

Still, the uneven album showed that Hall & Oates were at something of a crossroads. The sound of popular music was evolving, and the duo’s attempts to keep up with changing trends on Big Bam Boom proved to be some of the worst songs on the LP.

READ MORE: John Oates Says Hall & Oates Are Finished

After an extensive tour in support of the release, the musicians took a break. Sure, there was a live EP recorded with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks of the Temptations, and Hall struck out on his own for the 1986 solo album Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine. But it wouldn’t be until 1988 that Hall & Oates returned with a new studio effort, and by then musical tastes had seemingly passed them by. Change of Season was their first commercial disappointment in roughly a decade, a signal that their height of fame was over. The decline would continue into the ‘90s, though Hall & Oates later received renewed appreciation from a new generation of music fans. Their final No.1 single remains “Out of Touch” — the highlight of Big Bam Boom and the beginning of the end.

Ratt have shared “Reach for the Sky,” a previously unreleased track from their classic ‘80s era.

“It took 40 years to get that song heard,” declared a post on the band’s official Facebook page, announcing the tune.

“Reach for the Sky” was originally written in 1982 and was earmarked for Out of the Cellar, the group’s triumphant debut album. The track was recorded during their 1983 sessions for the LP, but ultimately left on the cutting room floor. Ratt later used the name Reach for the Sky for their fourth studio album, released in 1988, however the song of the same name was not included on the LP.

READ MORE: When Ratt Threw Rats at Tawny Kitaen for Their Album Cover Shoot

“Reach for the Sky” features many hallmarks of Ratt’s classic sound, including a blistering dual guitar attack, courtesy of Robbin Crosby and Warren De Martini. Meanwhile, frontman Stephen Pearcy’s powerful vocals soar above the sound as he encourages listeners to “Reach, reach for the sky.”

Listen to “Reach for the Sky” below.

When Will the 40th Anniversary Edition of ‘Out of the Cellar’ Be Released?

“Reach for the Sky” is finally getting its release now as part of an expanded 40th anniversary reissue of Out of the Cellar. The LP version includes the original album on red and black splatter vinyl, along with a neon orange 7” of “Reach for the Sky.” The reissue is also available as a limited edition CD.

The 40th anniversary edition of Out of the Cellar comes out on Nov. 8 (pushed back from an original Oct. 25 release date). It’s available for pre-order now.

If the unusual riff that leads Alice in Chains’ 2009 single “Check My Brain” makes you feel a little seasick, it’s worth knowing that the man who wrote it suffers the same reaction.

Jerry Cantrell came up with the dissonant pitch-bending section as the band prepared their comeback album Black Gives Way to Blue – their first since the death of frontman Layne Staley in 2002.

In a new interview with Rick Beato (video below), the guitarist admitted that “Check My Brain,” the record’s lead single, remained a challenge to perform even after 15 years of experience.

READ MORE: Watch Jerry Cantrell’s New ‘Afterglow’ Video

“It’s slightly out of tune, not quite a full bend,” Cantrell explained. “A lot of my [songs] have big, bendy riffs. It’s something I’ve kind of made part of my signature. I probably get that by listening to Sabbath’s Tony Iommi. And Ace Frehley – Frehley was a big bender, and I was a big fan of his when I was a kid.”

He said of the “Check My Brain” riff: “I remember stumbling across that and I thought it was weird; and I liked that. It makes me feel the same way every time – kind of sick; a little bit seasick! Try playing it live and singing in key over that. It’s pretty tough!”

‘Check My Brain’ Riff Persuaded Producer to Work With Alice In Chains

Cantrell said he’d never heard anything like the riff before, calling it “really interesting,” and adding: “I remember the first time I played that; we were putting material together for Black Gives Way to Blue.

“We were considering taking a real big step – moving on after Layne’s passing, and breathing new life into the band,” he explained. “So that came from that batch of writing.”

And he noted that the riff was what persuaded producer Nick Raskulinecz to come on board the album project. “He heard that riff, and he’s like, ‘I’m in.’ That was it – that’s all he needed to hear.”

Watch Alice In Chains’ ‘Check My Brain’ Video

Watch Jerry Cantrell’s Interview with Rick Beato

Saturday Night Live has been an institution on late-night television for half a century. Although it’s endured through some fallow periods, it’s remained remarkably relevant and funny for most of that time. And the longer SNL remains a fixture on NBC’s schedule, the larger its original cast looms in our collective pop culture memories.

The exploits of that cast — Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtain, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner — in their earliest days are the subject of the film Saturday Night. Directed by Jason Reitman (Juno, Ghostbusters: Afterlife), the film tells the story of the 90 minutes prior to the very first taping of Saturday Night Live (which was called NBC’s Saturday Night in those days), as series creator Lorne Michaels (played by The Fabelmans’ Gabriel LaBelle) struggles to juggle a nervous network, inadequate studio facilities, and that talented but tempestuous cast’s needs and quirks, all while fighting to get his vision for a new kind of late-night comedy series onto the airwaves.

As depicted in Saturday Night, a lot happens (and goes horribly wrong) in the hour and a half before SNL made its fateful debut. Crew members quit, cast members nearly get killed, and NBC almost cancels the show completely. Sometimes, it seems like it couldn’t all possibly be true.

That’s because it isn’t! Reitman’s film condenses a lot of events that happened throughout the development of SNL into a single night. (It also invents a few things completely.) Below is a list of ten of the more outlandish moments in the movie, along with the true stories behind them, culled from a few of the non-fiction books about Saturday Night Live’s illustrious history.

READ MORE: Our Full Saturday Night Review Is Here

Five years later, Steve Perry is still in a holly jolly mood. He’s expanding 2021’s The Season with six additional songs – including “What a Wonderful World,” which you can stream below.

He first began exploring Yuletide favorites with the Silver Bells EP in 2019. The Season followed as the former Journey frontman’s first new LP since 2018’s Traces, a comeback that was almost 25 years in the making. The deluxe edition of The Season, issued in 2022, was expanded to feature 10 more tracks – including Perry’s first original holiday song, “Maybe This Year.”

This latest edition, now retitled The Season 3, is due on Nov. 8 from Dark Horse Records. Other new tracks include “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Let It Snow” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” and the resonant songbook classic “Call Me Irresponsible.”

READ MORE: Ranking All 52 Journey Songs From the ’80s

Perry initially returned to these songs in an effort to reignite the Christmas spirit after a holiday lost to the pandemic. “The ones I recorded were the ones that touched me most when I was a child, that emotionally meant the most to me and conjured up the spirit of Christmas — that was my decision-making process,” Perry told UCR.

He said he hoped to create a very specific atmosphere: “The spirit of this record is a fireplace burning, sitting in front of it quietly, no media going on, just a cup of eggnog — with ice and a little bit of fresh nutmeg on it. That’s it.”

Sessions for The Season were co-produced by Traces collaborator Thom Flowers, and featured multi-instrumentalist Dallas Kruse. Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta also appeared on several songs.

“When I was really young I heard them being sung, but I never sang them – so this was a first for me. I just needed to sing these songs,” Perry admitted. “It was touching the reverence of the original spirit that I think got me back in the Christmas spirit. I realized how important they are when I started singing them.”

Nick DeRiso is author of the Amazon best-selling rock band bio ‘Journey: Worlds Apart,’ available now at all major bookseller websites.

You Think You Know Journey?

Foghat has written and recorded a new song dedicated to original lead singer and guitarist “Lonesome” Dave Peverett. The single is humorously titled after his familiar stage introduction, “… on tonsils and sneakers, I’m Lonesome Dave.”

“On Tonsils and Sneakers” arrives on streaming services today and will be released on vinyl Nov. 29 as part of the 2024’s Black Friday Record Store Day. Stream it below.

Foghat is riding a wave of momentum courtesy of Sonic Mojo, which spent more than 30 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard blues album chart. The new single’s b-side is “Black Days and Blue Nights” from Sonic Mojo, which pays tribute to original slide guitarist Rod Price.

READ MORE: The Day Jim Carrey Demanded That MTV Play More Foghat

“When Lonesome Dave sang and played with this band, he gave nothing less than 100%,” founding drummer Roger Earl said in a news release. “I loved playing with Dave. All I had to do was have fun playing drums. Yeah – Lonesome Dave on tonsils and sneakers!”

Earl is joined in Foghat by Scott Holt on vocals and guitar, co-producer and engineer Bryan Bassett on slide and Rodney O’Quinn on bass. “This song that the boys came up with really is a brilliant tribute to my Dad,” Peverett’s son Jason added.

Peverett fronted Foghat from its 1971 start in London through the band’s hiatus in 1984 and then again from 1993 until he died in 2000 after being diagnosed with kidney cancer. Holt took over in 2022 for Charlie Huhn, who’d immediately followed Peverett. The single cover image for “On Tonsils and Sneakers” also references the shiny shoes he always wore on stage.

“Every once in a while you meet someone who changes the whole trajectory of your life,” Bassett said. “‘Lonesome’ Dave Peverett was that person for me. From the day we met in the late ’80s, our friendship blossomed. I became his touring partner, I met my future wife and became a part of the Foghat family. This song, ‘On Tonsils and Sneakers,’ is our tribute to him and was his unique way of introducing himself from the stage. Oh, and he loved designing his stage tennis shoes!”

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Inspiration can strike from anywhere, but as many artists will tell you, there is a clear similarity  between songwriting and making movies.

For those hoping to combine their love of music with a passion for cinema, there’s an entire section of the recording industry dedicated to film scoring and writing music specifically for the big screen. We have a whole list, in fact, of rock artists who also penned tunes for movies.

But it works the other way round, too — a film may inspire a songwriter to come up with something brand new, sometimes retelling the story their own way, or in other cases adding their own creative spin to the narrative.

Below, we’re taking a look at 45 Rock Songs Inspired by Movies.

1. “Bad Dance,” Sleater-Kinney
Movie: They Shoot Horses Don’t They?

Here’s the premise of 1969’s They Shoot Horses Don’t They? in a nutshell: it’s mid-Depression and a group of people set their sights on winning a dance marathon. (At the time it was released, the movie received nine Oscar nominations and won only one — Gig Young for Best Supporting Actor.) “I’ve seen that movie, like, 10 times. I find it unfortunately incredibly relevant in almost any era of corruption,” Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney explained to Mojo (via Songfacts), speaking about their 2019 song “Bad Dance.” “I was thinking of that film, that endless cycle of exhaustion. It’s probably why it sounds so denominated in a kind of vaudeville way.”

 

2. “Bad Moon Rising,” Creedence Clearwater Revival
Movie: The Devil and Daniel Webster

“I got the imagery [for “Bad Moon Rising”] from an old movie called The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941),” John Fogerty of CCR told Rolling Stone in 1993. “Basically, Daniel Webster makes a deal with Mr. Scratch, the devil. It was supposed to be apocryphal. At one point in the movie, there was a huge hurricane. Everybody’s crops and houses are destroyed. Boom. Right next door is the guy’s field who made the deal with the devil, and his corn is still straight up, six feet. That image was in my mind. I went, ‘Holy mackerel!'”

 

3. “Barbarella,” Scott Weiland
Movie: Barbarella

“Barbarella” from Scott Weiland‘s first solo album is titled after the 1968 sci-fi movie starring Jane Fonda, in which Fonda’s titular character must stop a mad scientist from destroying the world. There’s also a lyrical reference to the ’60s TV series Lost in Space: “Shoot the bad guys and I’ll gladly sing a tune for you / We’ll watch Lost in Space on my TV.”

 

4. “Beautiful Madness,” Robbie Robertson
Movie: Bigger Than Life

Robbie Robertson both wrote music for movies and found musical inspirations in movies. Such was the case when he saw 1956’s Bigger Than Life, a film about a man whose life falls apart due to his drug addiction. “I was watching it with an eye like, ‘Jesus, that guy’s crazy!’ At the same time…it probably was me saying, ‘I know how he feels!'” Robertson said to Uncut in 2019. “In the ’60s and ’70s, there was a definite madness in the air. At that time, Martin Scorsese and I would watch movies all the time. Bigger Than Life was one of them. I thought, ‘I like riding close to the edge. But I don’t want to go over.'”

 

5. “Beauty and the Beast,” Stevie Nicks
Movie: Beauty and the Beast

For a very brief time in the late ’70s, Stevie Nicks and her bandmate Mick Fleetwood were an item. She wound up writing the song “Beauty and the Beast” about their relationship, based on the 1946 film. “I first saw it on TV one night when Mick and I were first together, and I always thought of Mick as being sort of Beauty and the Beast-esque, because he’s so tall and he had beautiful coats down to here, and clothes made by little fairies up in the attic,” Nicks told Entertainment Weekly in 2019. “And also, it matched our story because Mick and I could never be. A, because Mick was married, and then divorced and that was not good, and B, because of Fleetwood Mac.”

 

6. “Between a Man and a Woman,” Kate Bush
Movie: The Godfather

Francis Ford Coppola’s world-famous 1972 film The Godfather is responsible for prompting Kate Bush to write 1989’s “Between a Man and A Woman.” “It’s about a relationship being a very finely balanced thing that can be easily thrown off by a third party,” she explained of the song to NME in 1989 (via The Quietus). “The whole thing really came from a line in The Godfather, during some family argument, when Marlon Brando says ‘Don’t interfere, it’s between a man and a woman.’ It’s exploring the idea of trying to keep a relationship together, how outside forces can break into it. … Rubbish, really, but I quite like the cello.”

 

7. “Big Daddy of Them All,” John Mellencamp
Movie: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Those with knowledge of the theater probably recognize the title of John Mellencamp‘s “Big Daddy of Them All” as stemming from the 1955 Tennessee Williams play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which was made into a movie in 1958 starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives and more. Ives played the central character of Big Daddy both on stage and on screen. In the liner notes to 2010’s On the Rural Route 7609 box set, Mellencamp drew a comparison to his own life, writing: “This song was more or less a postcard to myself, saying, ‘You think Burl Ives wasn’t so nice? Guess what, John.'”

 

8. “Chain Saw,” Ramones
Movie: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

It’s pretty obvious where Ramones got the inspiration for 1976’s “Chain Saw.” The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, directed by Tobe Hooper, came out two years prior, and though it received mixed reviews, it wound up an incredibly profitable release. “I loved The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it really scared me,” Johnny Ramone once said. “I liked it enough that we used it as a song title.”

 

9. “Chance Meeting,” Roxy Music
Movie: Brief Encounter

“Chance Meeting” is actually just one of several songs on Roxy Music‘s debut, self-titled album that has to do with movies. In this case, it was inspired by the 1945 film Brief Encounter starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. (There’s also “The Bob,” which took its title from 1968’s Battle of Britain.)

 

10. “Chinese Democracy,” Guns N’ Roses
Movie: Kundun

Guns N’ Roses first started performing the song “Chinese Democracy” back in 2001, a whole seven years before it became the title track to the album Chinese Democracy. When the band played it live for the first time, Axl Rose explained that it had been written after seeing the 1997 movie Kundun (directed by Martin Scorsese) about the Dalai Lama. “It’s not necessarily pro or con about China,” he said. “It’s just that right now China symbolizes one of the strongest, yet most oppressive countries and governments in the world. And we [Americans] are fortunate to live in a free country. And so in thinking about that it just kinda upset me, and we wrote this little song called ‘Chinese Democracy.'”

 

11. “Chosen Ones,” Megadeth
Movie: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

At first glance, the names Megadeth and Monty Python may seem like they have nothing to do with one another. But actually, the 1985 song “Chosen Ones” from Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good! borrowed from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Dave Mustaine did some more borrowing from the same movie when he included the line “bring out your dead” in the title track to 2016’s The Sick, The Dying…And The Dead!

 

12. “Cinderella Man,” Rush
Movie: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Rush‘s “Cinderella Man” was based off one of Geddy Lee‘s personal favorite films: 1936’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. “I was a big film guy as a teenager, and as a young man, I was really a film buff – I watched films all the time,” he said to Louder in 2019. “I studied directors because I sort of secretly wanted to be a film director. It was just one of those dreams for when I grow up. And when I realized that most directors have to be part megalomaniac, I think I sort of went off that idea. … So that song is really just about that movie and the kind of themes that movie resonated with.”

 

13. “Debaser,” Pixies
Movie: Un Chien Andalou

Black Francis of Pixies didn’t just dream up the line in “Debaser” about “slicing up eyeballs” — he literally saw the scene in the 1929 short film by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali called Un Chien Andalou, in which a woman’s eye is cut with a razor. “I guess the only thing I put in the lyric that could be considered an original concept was that I just echoed the sentiment of the filmmakers,” Francis explained to Louder in 2021. “Which was: ‘Hey, we’re just doing what we wanna do. It doesn’t make sense and it might be shocking, but to me it’s normal. I am debasing the norm, I am breaking down the societal norm and cutting it up to come up with something surreal and jarring.’ That was the sentiment of the people who were making those films: I am a debaser.”

 

14. “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away),” Motley Crue
Movie: Heartbreak Ridge

As Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx said to Rolling Stone in 2009, the title for 1989’s “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)” came from a film, though at the time he could not recall which one. “I saw that line in a movie somewhere, I can’t even remember what movie,” he said. “I thought, ‘Great idea for a song.’ A little tongue-in-cheek. A little sarcasm there.” Further research has revealed Sixx was likely referring to 1986’s Heartbreak Ridge.

 

15. “Electric Barbarella,” Duran Duran
Movie: Barbarella

Here’s a second song inspired by 1986’s Barbarella: Duran Duran‘s “Electric Barbarella.” And as if that wasn’t enough, the band literally got their name from one of the film’s characters, Dr. Durand Durand. (Fun fact: it was with this 1997 track that Duran Duran became the first major label recording artist to sell a single as a digital download on the internet.)

 

16. “Enough Space,” Foo Fighters
Movie: Arizona Dream

Foo Fighters‘ “Enough Space” is purportedly about the 1993 film Arizona Dream, starring Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis and Faye Dunaway.

 

17. “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve),” Buzzcocks
Movie: Guys and Dolls

Like others on this list, Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks perked up when he heard an ear-catching line in a film. “We were in the Blenheim Guest House with pints of beer, sitting in the TV room half-watching Guys and Dolls,” he told Edinburgh News in 2018. “One of the characters, Adelaide, is saying to Marlon Brando’s character, ‘Wait till you fall in love with someone you shouldn’t have.’ “I thought, ‘fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t have?’ Hmm, that’s good.” He wrote the lyrics to 1978’s “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” the next day.

 

18. “Eyes Without a Face,” Billy Idol
Movie: Eyes Without a Face

“I’ve always had a fascination with the titles of horror films,” Billy Idol wrote in his memoir Dancing With Myself, referring to his song “Eyes Without a Face.” It took its title from a 1960 French film Les Yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face). Idol went on to describe the film as being about “a brilliant plastic surgeon who vows to restore the face of his daughter, who has been horribly disfigured in a car accident. This vow leads him to murder, as he sets out collecting the facial features of his victims, which he then grafts onto his daughter’s hideous countenance, attempting to restore her beauty. Her staring eyes remain the only thing visible.”

 

19. “Godzilla,” Blue Oyster Cult
Movie: Godzilla

The title says it all — even the sleeve in which this Blue Oyster Cult single came featured a still from the 1966 film Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. Interestingly, despite being one of the most popular songs in their entire catalog, “Godzilla” was not a chart hit.

 

20. “Heartlight,” Neil Diamond
Movie: E.T. the Extra Terrestrial

Apparently there is such a thing as being too inspired. To be fair, nowhere in the lyrics to Neil Diamond‘s 1982 song “Heartlight” does he mention E.T. the character or the movie title E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), but he did write the song after seeing a screening of the film with his friends Carole Bayer Sager and Burt Bacharach. It’s not hard to put two and two together considering the adorable little alien’s heart begins to glow at the end of the movie. Years later, Diamond had to settle a lawsuit out of court with MCA/Universal, who felt the songwriter had stepped a bit too close to the narrative they owned.

 

21. “Imitation of Life,” R.E.M.
Movie: Imitation of Life

Sometimes you don’t actually have to see a movie to be inspired by it. Such was the case with R.E.M.‘s “Imitation of Life,” which took its title from the 1959 film of the same name. In the liner notes to In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003, guitarist Peter Buck admitted none of the band members had watched the film. “I thought at the time that the title was a perfect metaphor for adolescence,” he said. “Unfortunately I have come to believe that it is a perfect metaphor for adulthood, too. But that’s another story.”

 

22. “Johnny Thunder,” The Kinks
Movie: The Wild One

Ray Davies found inspiration for the Kinks’ “Johnny Thunder” in the form of the 1953 film The Wild One starring Marlon Brando, which had been banned in Britain up until about a month before the song was released. “I saw him as a Neal Cassady type character,” Davies said to Rolling Stone in 2018. “All rebels look like Marlon Brando on a motorbike.”

 

23. “Juliet of the Spirits,” The B-52’s
Movie: Giulietta Degli Spiriti

In Italian, it’s Giulietta degli spiriti, which translates to Juliet of the Spirits, a title the B-52’s used for one of the songs on their 2008 album Funplex.

 

24. “Man on the Edge,” Iron Maiden
Movie: Falling Down

Iron Maiden has a number of songs inspired by films, several of which appear on this list. “Man on the Edge” from 1995’s The X Factor is based on the 1993 film Falling Down, starring Michael Douglas. “A lot of things happened in that movie,” singer Blaze Bayley once explained to Songfacts. “One of the key lyrics is ‘cannibal state,’ where the system of government consumes the individual and the materialistic society consumes the individual and digests him and spits him out, so his identity is completely gone.”

 

25. “Me and Bobby McGee,” Janis Joplin
Movie: La Strada

Janis Joplin is the name most closely associated with “Me and Bobby McGee,” but it was actually Kris Kristofferson behind the birth of the 1971 song. “For some reason, I thought of La Strada, this [Federico] Fellini film, and a scene where Anthony Quinn is going around on this motorcycle and Giulietta Masina is the feeble-minded girl with him, playing the trombone,” Kristofferson told Wide Open Country in 2022. “He got to the point where he couldn’t put up with her anymore and left her by the side of the road while she was sleeping.” This story became the essence of “Me and Bobby McGee.”

 

26. “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream),” Stevie Nicks
Movie: Twilight

Stevie Nicks is often likened to a witch (the cool, mysterious, not evil kind), but what about vampires? Look no further than “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)” from 2011’s In Your Dreams. Nicks wrote much of the song after watching Twilight. “The second verse,” she later explained to AOL’s Spinner (via Songfacts), “‘She’s lonely, lost, and disconnected’ – was written in Brisbane right after I saw the movie. So the song, really, is ancient times up to today. The chorus – ‘It’s strange, she runs from the ones she can’t keep up with’ – is all about the love affair between Bella and Edward.”

 

27. “Moonlight Shadow,” Mike Oldfield
Movie: Houdini

“Moonlight Shadow” is Mike Oldfield’s most successful single, with vocals by the Scottish singer Maggie Reilly. It was reportedly inspired by the 1953 Tony Curtis movie Houdini.

 

28. “Motorpsycho Nightmare,” Bob Dylan
Movie: Psycho

As its title suggests, Bob Dylan‘s “Motorpyscho Nightmare” draws from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, particularly with its lines about a certain famous murder scene — “She said, ‘Would you like to take a shower? / I’ll show you up to the door’ / I said, ‘Oh, no! no! / I’ve been through this before.'”

 

29. “Nebraska,” Bruce Springsteen
Movie: Badlands

Bruce Springsteen was reportedly inspired to pen the song “Nebraska” after seeing the 1973 crime drama Badlands, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. The film was loosely based on the real-life 1958 murder spree committed by Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate, who killed 10 people in the span of just a few weeks.

 

30. “Night Moves,” Bob Seger
Movie: American Graffiti

Bob Seger‘s “Night Moves” is not technically about a movie, but it was still very much inspired by one. “The album as well as the song were inspired by [1973’s] American Graffiti,” Seger said to Mix in 2001. “I came out of the theater thinking, ‘Hey, I’ve got a story to tell, too! Nobody has ever told about how it was to grow up in my neck of the woods.'”

 

31. “One,” Metallica
Movie: Johnny Got His Gun

Metallica‘s “One” tells a gruesome story of a terribly wounded soldier who has lost his arms, legs and sight. But the band didn’t conjure that up entirely out of their own heads — they were inspired by the 1971 anti-war film Johnny Got His Gun, clips from which Metallica used in the music video for “One,” seen below.

 

32. “Pretty Baby,” Blondie
Movie: Pretty Baby

The 1978 movie Pretty Baby starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine and Susan Sarandon got its title from the Tony Jackson song of the same name, which was included on the film’s soundtrack. In turn, Pretty Baby inspired another song with the same name, this time by Blondie and released on 1978’s Parallel Lines.

 

33. “Space Oddity,” David Bowie
Movie: 2001: Space Odyssey

While it is true that David Bowie‘s 1969 song “Space Oddity” was rush-released to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landing, that groundbreaking event was not what had inspired Bowie to pen the number. That distinction goes to the Stanley Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. “I was out of my gourd anyway, I was very stoned when I went to see it [Space Odyssey], several times, and it was really a revelation to me,” Bowie said to Performing Songwriter in 2003. “It got the song flowing.”

 

34. “The Clansman,” Iron Maiden
Movie: Braveheart

“The Clansman” by Iron Maiden was written about the plight of Scottish clans fighting for their independence from the English, as inspired by the 1995 movie Braveheart starring and directed by Mel Gibson. Or, in the words of Steve Harris in Run to the Hills: The Official Biography of Iron Maiden, it’s “about what it’s like to belong to a community that you try and build up and then you have to fight to stop having it taken away from you.”

 

35. “The Crimson Ghost,” Misfits
Movie: The Crimson Ghost

Long before the Misfits formed in 1977, there was the 1946 film The Crimson Ghost. It was from this film’s titular villain that the Misfits borrowed their skeletal iconography. They even wrote a song titled “Crimson Ghost” and included it on their 1997 album American Psycho.

 

36. “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of,” Carly Simon
Movie: The Maltese Falcon

If the title of Carly Simon‘s 1987 song “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of” sounds familiar to you, it may be because you’ve seen the 1941 film The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart. It’s Bogart’s character, the detective Sam Spade, who uses that line, describing the jewel-encrusted falcon statuette as “the stuff that dreams are made of.”

 

37. “The Union Forever,” The White Stripes
Movie: Citizen Kane

Jack White loves Citizen Kane (1941). At one point, he was trying to learn to play one of the songs from the film, “It Can’t Be Love,” and wound up writing an entirely new song with lyrics heavily inspired by the movie’s dialog. “I was trying to play it on guitar,” he explained to Rolling Stone, “and I went through the film and started writing down things that might rhyme and make sense together.” That song became “The Union Forever,” which appeared on the White Stripes‘ 2001 album White Blood Cells. (Two years after the song was released, Warner Bros. considered filing a copyright-infringement suit against the White Stripes for borrowing material as liberally as they did, but it never came to pass.)

 

38. “Tin Man,” America
Movie: The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz (1939) is famous for its phenomenal use of Technicolor — a metaphor, really, for the difference between one’s old life and their new one. This was not lost on Dewey Bunnell of America when he wrote the song “Tin Man,” released in 1974. “It was my favorite movie as a kid and it’s still one of my Top Ten. I probably even would go so far that if someone said ‘What’s your favorite movie of all time?’ I might go there,” he told American Songwriter in 2021. “The song is like surrealism, which was a genre of art that was always mesmerizing for me. There’s the whole psychedelic thing, coming out of the ’60s, the Woodstock generation, opening your eyes, expanding your mind and looking at things differently. We really did, we were a straight culture out of the ’50s. It was all black and white.”

 

39. “Total of the Eclipse of the Heart,” Bonnie Tyler
Movie: Nosferatu

Before Bonnie Tyler got her hands on it, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was written by Jim Steinman as an ode to a classic icon of horror film: Nosferatu. The silent movie, which was based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, was released in 1922 under the title Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. At the time that Steinman wrote “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” he had been planning on making a musical adaption of Nosferatu.

 

40. “Walk This Way,” Aerosmith
Movie: Young Frankenstein

It was during a break from recording 1975’s Toys in the Attic at Record Plant in New York City that Aerosmith found some new inspiration. Most of the band, along with producer Jack Douglas, had gone down to a movie theater in Times Square to see the movie Young Frankenstein starring Gene Wilder — Joe Perry, who had already seen the film, stayed behind. “When the guys returned, they were throwing lines back and forth from the film,” Perry recalled to The Wall Street Journal in 2014. “They were laughing about Marty Feldman greeting Gene Wilder at the door of the castle and telling him to follow him. ‘Walk this way,’ he says, limping, giving his stick to Wilder so he can walk that way, too. While all this was going on, Jack stopped and said, ‘Hey, ‘walk this way’ might be a great title for the song.’ We agreed.”

 

41. “We’ve Got Tonite,” Bob Seger
Movie: The Sting

Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight” began its life as a song called “This Old House.” But things changed when he saw the 1973 film The Sting. In one scene, Robert Redford’s character tells a waitress that he feels as though nobody really knows him. “That just hit me real hard,” Seger told the Detroit Free Press in 1994. “The next day I wrote ‘We’ve Got Tonight,’ this song about two people who say ‘I’m tired. It’s late at night. I know you don’t really dig me, and I don’t really dig you, but this is all we’ve got, so let’s do it.’ The sexual revolution was still going strong then.”

 

42. “Where Eagles Dare,” Iron Maiden
Movie: Where Eagles Dare

Here’s a sort of two for the price of one situation thanks to Iron Maiden. Their 1983 album Piece of Mind includes not just one but two songs inspired by films: “Where Eagles Dare” based on the 1968 film of the same title and “Quest of Fire” based on the 1981 film, again of the same title.

 

43. “Why Didn’t Rosemary?” Deep Purple
Movie: Rosemary’s Baby

Like Aerosmith above, Deep Purple went to the cinema one day and came back with song inspiration. In their case, the film was 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby starring Mia Farrow. At that time, the use of the contraceptive pill among both American and British women was steadily rising, having been introduced into the U.S. and U.K. markets in 1960 and 1961 respectively. In “Why Didn’t Rosemary” Deep Purple cheekily asked the question: “Why didn’t Rosemary ever take the pill?“

 

44. “Year of the Cat,” Al Stewart
Movie: Casablanca

Here’s another song inspired by Casablanca: Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat.” The song’s opening lines came to Stewart after watching the film — “On a morning from a Bogart movie, in a country where they turn back time / You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre contemplating a crime.“

 

45. “2HB,” Roxy Music
Movie: Casablanca

There’s one more Casablanca-inspired song to cover, and that’s Roxy Music’s “2HB,” which stands for “To Humphrey Bogart.” It includes, as one of the lyrics, the actor’s famous line “Here’s looking at you, kid.” Bryan Ferry recorded the song again for his 1976 solo album Let’s Stick Together.

Skid Row guitarist Dave “The Snake” Sabo fondly recalled the V.I.P. treatment his band received when opening for Van Halen in 1995 — including a particularly affectionate and generous Eddie Van Halen.

“They treated us so great,” Sabo recently told radio host Trevor Joe Lennon. “I would see Eddie every day. I made sure — I wanted to see the sound check every day, ’cause I’m just such a fanboy. And I wanted to be around him and his playing as much as I could while we were out on the road. And I used to walk onstage right before his sound check, and he’d walk over to me and we’d hug each other, and he’d give me a kiss on the lips and ask me how I’m doing. And he was just such a sweetheart.”

Sabo said he and fellow Skid Row guitarist Scotti Hill also received incredible gifts from Van Halen on that tour. “We were talking about his amps, and at the time he was working with Peavey and doing the 5150 amplifiers through Peavey and doing the Wolfgang guitars through Peavey as well,” he explained. “And I’m like, ‘Those amps are just incredible.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, really? OK, cool.’

“Well, cut to a couple of days later, we’re playing in Camden, New Jersey at an amphitheater, and we were all still living in Jersey at this time,” he continued. “And so we drove our own cars down there. It was just really cool to be able to pull up in our own vehicles, and a bunch of family and friends were there. And so we’re coming in the back area and he sees Scotti and me. He goes, ‘Hey, hey, guys, come here. I got something for you. And he had two of the 5150 combos there waiting for us as gifts. And I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, man. Eddie Van Halen is giving us his signature amplifier. It’s just crazy.’ And so my heart will always have a special place [for Eddie].”

While Sabo said he also “spent some time” with Sammy Hagar and Alex Van Halen, he especially hit it off with Michael Anthony. “Behind his amp line, he would have a bar set up back there called Mad Anthony’s Cafe,” he recalled. “And we would go back there and do shots with him during the show, of Jack Daniel’s and stuff. And it was just a lot of fun. And I would go golfing with him once in a while. To this day, again, he’s just down to earth and humble and just a sweetheart of a guy. So, my memories are nothing but filled with admiration and respect and gratitude.”

READ MORE: Skid Row Guitarist Says Sebastian Bach Reunion Could Be ‘Toxic’

Skid Row Releases Live Album Amid Search for New Singer

Skid Row recently released their first official live album and concert film, Live in London. Filmed at the O2 Forum Kentish Town on Oct. 24, 2022, Live in London captures Skid Row on the heels of their latest studio album, The Gang’s All Here, which came out earlier that month. The album features singer Erik Gronwall, who sang on The Gang’s All Here and amicably left the group earlier this year.

Since then, Skid Row has played a handful of shows with Halestorm‘s Lzzy Hale on lead vocals and is still searching for a proper replacement. “We are looking at some people. We’ve got a nice list of people that we’re gonna sit down with,” Hill recently said. “A lot of people are getting in touch with us and some of them are really good. Some of them are not really good. But with YouTube and Instagram and such, you can go out and find people quite easily. It wasn’t like the old days where you had to put an ad in every music paper in the country and word of mouth and all that stuff, pre-internet. It’s much easier now.”

Despite an impressive back catalog and incredible rock history, James Hetfield insists Metallica will never become a “legacy band.”

During a recent appearance on the Metallica Report podcast, the frontman discussed what it’s been like adding songs from 2023’s 72 Seasons into their set lists – and why his band will always mix new material into their performances.

“The fact that the 72 Seasons album is well received and some of the songs that we’re playing live work and they kind of fit seamlessly in with all the catalog, all the albums we have. We’re not afraid of [playing new songs], but we’re not overindulging in it as well,” he explained. “We know people want to hear the best of, and you’ve got to challenge them to listen to some of the new stuff as well.”

READ MORE: The Best Metallica Song From Every Decade

Hetfield further noted that Metallica has no intention to ever rely entirely on their back catalog.

“We certainly don’t want to be a legacy band that just plays its greatest hits and then that’s it,” the singer declared. “[Playing new material is] all a part of it.”

‘All Mistakes Are Free’ at Metallica Shows

Reflecting on the M72 tour, while also looking ahead to the band’s 2025 shows, Hetfield noted that Metallica has been playing with very high confidence. The reason, he explained, comes from a comfort in making mistakes.

“All mistakes are a part of the show,” the singer explained. “That’s part of what we say before we go out. ‘Hey, all mistakes are free.’ And it’s not a mistake, really. That word is kinda ridiculous. It’s just a unique way of playing [a song] that night.”

READ MORE: Metallica Lineup Changes: A Complete Guide

Hetfield went on to note that mistakes actually serve Metallica and their fans, ensuring that every concert is unique.

“Everyone gets to enjoy whatever happens right then,” the frontman remarked. “And frankly, I think it’s a challenge, when a song falls apart and it could be devastating to other bands. For us, it’s just, ‘OK, we fucked it up. Let’s start it again.’ Or, ‘Hey, let’s take it from here.’ Or, there’s been times when I’ve edited out a whole middle section and then at the end of the song say, ‘Oh my God, I forgot to play that part. Here, let’s just play it for you.’”

“There’s a freedom up there that the fans allow,” Hetfield continued. “There’s a grace that they allow us to be human. So there is a confidence that you can’t go wrong. You just can’t go wrong. You show up and you do your best and you know it’s from the heart.”

Dream Theater have officially announced their first new album with Mike Portnoy since 2009, Parasomnia, alongside the release of the first song, the nearly 10-minute “Night Terror.”

The prog metal masters reunited with their legendary drummer in late of October of last year, following a five-album run with Mike Mangini behind the kit.

The timing also aligns with what will be Dream Theater’s 40th anniversary in 2025 and they’re getting a jumpstart on the celebrations with a celebratory tour that kicks off later this month in Europe. Meanwhile, fans in North America will get their chance to see this lineup back in action next February and March.

At the time the reunion was made public, Portnoy exclaimed, “I am overwhelmed with joy to be returning home and reuniting with my brothers! There is so much shared history between us all…so many memories, so much music…to think we’re coming up on 40 years since this journey began! The idea of creating new music together is so exciting and I absolutely cannot wait to hit the road and get to play live for a whole new generation of fans that weren’t ever able to see this lineup before…There’s no place like home!!”

READ MORE: The History of Prog Metal in 21 Albums

And while Dream Theater will be observing their 40th anniversary, sights are also set on the future with this new record, their first with Portnoy since Black Clouds and Silver Linings.

Parasomnia will be released on Feb. 7 through InsideOut Music.

Get a taste and check out “Night Terror” directly below (along with the lyrics) and view the artwork and complete track listing further down the page.

Pre-orders for Parasomnia, Dream Theater’s 16th album, will be available starting Oct. 11 and you can get more concert information at the band’s website.

Dream Theater, “Night Terror” Music Video + Lyrics

Spiders seeking shelter
Fading with the dawn
Vanishing at sunrise
As morning light shines on

Sacrificial martyr
Victim dressed in white
Headed for the slaughter
Angels cry for her tonight

To the cross
At the stake
To the lions
On the rack I break
I break

Night terror
Hysteria
Nocturnal trial by fire
Eyes open wide but I can’t see

Mind awake
Body at rest
Drifting through sleep transition
Borderland state
Swimming through waves
Sensory dream condition

Without warning
I fall down the bottomless well
Flesh is crawling
Need to claw my way out of this hell

By the sword
On the wheel
Twisting in the wind
Pierce the silence
With a scream
Why can’t I remember anything?
Anything

Night terror
Hysteria
Nocturnal trial by fire
Eyes open wide but I can’t see

I can’t see

Dream Theater, Parasomnia Artwork + Track Listing

1. “In The Arms Of Morpheus” (5:22)
2. “Night Terror” (9:55)
3. “A Broken Man” (8:30)
4. “Dead Asleep” (11:06)
5. “Midnight Messiah” (7:58)
6. “Are We Dreaming?” (1:28)
7. “Bend The Clock” (7:24)
8. “The Shadow Man Incident” (19:32)

Paul McCartney entered the ’70s with the Beatles in his rearview window. They’d obviously be quite an act to follow. Then McCartney founded Wings and saw 14 more singles reach the Billboard Top 10, including six No. 1 songs.

They’ll never be as celebrated, but Wings created music that defined the decade. In fact, every Wings single – 23 in all – reached the U.S. Top 40. They had 12 Top 10 U.K. singles, too. These hits found a home on celebrated albums, five in a row of which also topped the Billboard chart.

McCartney released some early solo songs, but seven of his nine ’70s albums arrived under the Wings banner. Two core members of Wings, Paul and Linda McCartney, also appeared on 1970’s McCartney and 1971’s Ram. Original Wings drummer Denny Seiwell was on Ram, too.

READ MORE: Top 10 Denny Laine Songs

In keeping, this list of Top 40 Paul McCartney ’70s Songs is dominated by material from Wings. You really can’t talk about this decade – or McCartney after the Beatles – without factoring in their sunny omnipresence.

No. 40. “Heart of the Country”
(Ram, 1971)

If the opening song on Side Two of Ram sounds like it burst from an idyllic rural hillside, that’s because, well, it did. “Heart of the Country” celebrated the quiet life McCartney made for himself with Linda McCartney at High Peak Farm in Kintyre, Scotland, far away from the Fab Four mobs – and it did so in an appropriately simple way: McCartney only used six of the available 16 tracks at CBS Studios in New York, with future Wings co-founder Denny Seiwell playing a homemade drumkit constructed from a nearby plastic trashcan.

 
No. 39. “Rockestra Theme”
(Back to the Egg, 1979)

Despite its all-star cast of sidemen (David Gilmour! John Bonham! Pete Townshend!), the Grammy-winning “Rockestra Theme” somehow starts out as a largely pedestrian piffle, like listening to a group of classically trained orchestra members try to somehow rock out. Until everything breaks down, and the rabble cries out: “I have not had any dinner!” No idea why, but it’s worth listening — every time — just for that.

 
No. 38. “Daytime Nighttime Suffering”
(B-side, 1979)

At one point, this approachable ode to female empowerment was scheduled as the a-side on a stand-alone single that introduced what became the final edition of Wings. Things were still so loose that the McCartneys’ infant son James can be heard crying on the released song just after the two-minute mark. Then McCartney decided to replace “Daytime Nighttime Suffering” with “Goodnight Tonight.” His commercial instincts were correct: “Goodnight Tonight” went to No. 5 in America and the U.K. – even if “Daytime Nighttime Suffering” is the better song.

 
No. 37. “Tomorrow”
(Wild Life, 1971)

For all of their future successes, Wings did not immediately take off. Their debut album was widely panned and barely crept into the U.S. Top 10 – a steep drop off from the chart-topping platinum sales of his first two post-Beatles albums. Still, Wild Life wasn’t without its miniature charms. No McCartney album ever is. “Tomorrow,” featuring a guest turn on backing vocals from Beatles engineer Alan Parsons, is both an album highpoint and a bit of a cheat. The track was actually begun in the summer of 1970, between McCartney and Ram – well before the Wild Life era’s brief creative lull set in.

 
No. 36. “London Town”
(London Town, 1978)

As with Band on the Run, Wings was whittled down to a trio by the time they completed London Town. But the curiously laidback London Town was no Band on the Run. That’s clear from its album-opening title track, which walks right up to the edge of twee. Since-departed guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English took part in the session, but can’t imbue this Denny Laine co-write with the energy and fun of their work on Venus and Mars and Speed of Sound. “London Town” reached the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 but, more tellingly, also No. 17 on the U.S. Easy Listening chart.

 
No. 35. “Magneto and Titanium Man”
(Venus and Mars, 1975)

Impish and ear-wormy, “Magneto and Titanium Man” finds McCartney happily inhabiting the Marvel Universe, decades before that was a thing. He’d nostalgically picked up a comic book on a whim during his regular Saturday trip to the market while on vacation in Jamaica – and found himself hooked all over again. “It took some skill – not to mention perspective and imagination – to pull off these illustrations,” McCartney said in The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present. “So, I decided it would be nice to bring these two comic book characters into a song.”

 
No. 34. “Beware My Love”
(Wings at the Speed of Sound, 1976)

The lesser sibling in a suddenly stable two-album run for Wings, At the Speed of Sound overcompensated in an effort to make McCartney’s second band as democratic as his first, far more talented one. The result was sometimes too much Wings and not enough Paul McCartney. Not so “Beware My Love,” a muscular, surprisingly complex McCartney-sung rocker that simply leaps out of the speakers. Even here, however, he continued to stubbornly inhabit the team player role: McCartney held back a bolder version of “Beware My Love” featuring John Bonham rather than Wings drummer Joe English.

 
No. 33. “Cafe on the Left Bank”
(London Town, 1978)

No surprise that this rare up moment on London Town also features ex-Wings members Joe English and Jimmy McCulloch, even if they don’t appear on the album cover. “Cafe on the Left Bank” was inspired in part by a hitchhiking trip that McCartney took to Paris with John Lennon in October 1961, and includes some of the resonant scenes the future Beatles observed as wide-eyed kids. The setting for the song’s eventual recording explains a lot about the low-key vibes surrounding London Town. Wings’ first pass was made in May 1977 on a 24-track console installed in a yacht called the Fair Carol, stationed at Watermelon Bay in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 
No. 32. “Dear Boy”
(Ram, 1971)

At this point in his disintegrating relationship with Lennon, fans could be forgiven for assuming McCartney was directing “Dear Boy” at his former bandmate. Instead, the song referenced Linda McCartney’s first marriage to Joseph Melvin See Jr., with whom she had a daughter, Heather. They divorced in 1965 and See later died by suicide in 2000. “‘Dear Boy’ wasn’t getting at John,” McCartney confirmed years later. “‘Dear Boy’ was actually a song to Linda’s ex-husband: ‘I guess you never knew what you had missed.'”

 
No. 31. “Bluebird”
(Band on the Run, 1973)

No other solo LP so completely underscores the difficult freedom quest McCartney had to undertake, and none is more personal. The unifying theme of escape found throughout Band on the Run is more subtle (and thus more commercial) than the blunt confessional style of former partner John Lennon. McCartney instead uses broader storytelling brushstrokes, skillfully weaving his own desire to break away from the Beatles with outsider stories from those who perpetually wander, the roving eyes of ne’er-do-wells, and (in this case) the soaring freedom of flight.

 
No. 30. “That Would Be Something”
(McCartney, 1970)

A groovy little lovestruck piffle, “That Would Be Something” is emblematic of this debut album’s general aesthetic. McCartney layers in every element, including the sung (not played) drum fills. Like a lot of McCartney, there also isn’t much going on lyrically with “That Would Be Something” – and yet it somehow charms anyway. In this way, McCartney had inadvertently set something of a solo standard. (See “Getting Closer,” found later in our list of Top 40 Paul McCartney ’70s Songs, among others.) Asked what a “pure McCartney song” might be during a 1986 BBC documentary, he at first demurred. Then McCartney admitted: “Something like ‘That Would Be Something,’ I think is very me.”

 
No. 29. “Too Many People”
(Ram, 1971)

Ram, quite obviously, arrived amid a period of very public sniping between McCartney and Lennon. There was the utterly unsubtle cover image of two beetles copulating. Also, the rather silly conceit that his photographer wife was somehow stepping in for John Lennon as a songwriting collaborator. Then McCartney opened with “Too Many People,” a song clearly directed at his former bandmate that risked immediately tanking the whole project with haughty sermonizing. But “Too Many People” rises above its moment, catching a tough groove. It’s helped along by two electric guitar solos that McCartney completed in one take.

 
No. 28. “Let Me Roll It”
(Band on the Run, 1973)

Thankfully, by this point, Lennon and McCartney had found common ground again. (But not before Lennon replied to McCartney’s “Too Many People” with “How Do You Sleep?,” a remarkably nasty diatribe from 1971’s Imagine.) McCartney now felt comfortable enough to appropriate not just Lennon’s instrumental primitivism but also his raw vocal style – right down to a favorite studio effect that Lennon referred to as the “bog echo.” Lennon would subsequently return the favor, embedding the riff from “Let Me Roll It” into his 1974 instrumental “Beef Jerky.”

 
No. 27. “Get On the Right Thing”
(Red Rose Speedway, 1973)

Another Ram-era leftover, this track has Beatles-esque pretensions — and that gives “Get on the Right Thing” much of its continued resonance. There’s a lot to love here. McCartney sings in the style of his old Little Richard send-ups for one of the last times on an original song. His vocals ascend into a rattling fervor, then whoop and call all the way back down, while still tracing a chaptered compositional style that recalls the best moments from Abbey Road. “Get on the Right Thing” also rocks in a way that drive-by fans might never have guessed after wading through the gauzy web of strings on “My Love,” heard earlier on Red Rose Speedway.

 
No. 26. “Soily”
(Wings Over America, 1977)

Unreleased until its inclusion on a double LP celebrating the massive Wings tour of 1975-76, “Soily” was actually one of the group’s first original songs. McCartney couldn’t have come up with something that had more flinty brawn, and the song would have jumpstarted Wild Life. He probably shied away from releasing “Soily,” however, because it makes absolutely no sense at all. “A lot of the lyrics were off the wall, drug stimulated,” McCartney later admitted. “Things like ‘Soily’ – ‘the cat in the satin trousers says its oily.’ What was I on? I think the answer is stimulants.”

 
No. 25. “Junk”
(McCartney, 1970)

“Junk” dated back to the Beatles’ May 1968 Esher demo sessions at George Harrison‘s house in Surrey. McCartney originally sketched out this song in Rishikesh, India, where the Beatles were studying meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They also made a pass at “Junk” during the Get Back sessions in January 1969 at Twickenham, but “Junk” wasn’t properly recorded and released until the subsequent arrival of McCartney. It’s easy to see why he kept circling back: On its surface, “Junk” can be easily mistaken as more patented McCartney romanticism but it’s actually a canny criticism of consumer culture.

 
No. 24. “Letting Go”
(Venus and Mars, 1975)

From its first gnarled riff (courtesy of the underrated, gone-too-soon guitarist Jimmy McCulloch), “
Letting Go” sets a roiling and strikingly dark tone completely at odds with their pop-perfect hit “Listen What the Man Said” from the same album. Instead, McCartney explores that narrow space between love and obsession to great effect – though much fewer sales. “Listen What the Man Said” went to No. 1, while this brassy, blues-soaked gut punch stalled at No. 39.

 
No. 23. “Getting Closer”
(Back to the Egg, 1979)

Is there a more curious moment in the McCartney solo catalog than his use of “my salamander” as a term of endearment during this track? Seriously, a slimy, amphibian wall-crawler? (Later, in a moment of sweeping pop-song myopia, McCartney actually pleas for the DJ to “play a song with a point.”) Even so, because he’s Paul McCartney, “Getting Closer” is still propulsively enjoyable. Credit guitarist Lawrence Juber’s simply monstrous riff. In the end, this song might have crept higher on our list of the Top 40 Paul McCartney ’70s Songs if he hadn’t returned to a now career-long habit of tossed-off finishes. Here, he inexplicably abandons the song’s tightly packed construct after a couple of minutes for a swirling, utterly confusing fade out.

 
No. 22. “Big Barn Bed”
(Red Rose Speedway, 1973)

On the preceding Ram, McCartney returned to “Ram On” with a reprise that connects directly to the first song on Wings’ second album: “Who’s that coming round that corner? / Who’s that coming round that bend?” is also the opening line of “Big Barn Bed.” In fact, this track’s history goes back even further. Yet “Big Barn Bed” is another example, and perhaps the best one, of how McCartney could put everything he had into a song – except a proper conclusion. Thankfully, the first half of this is so perfect, so joyous and loved filled, that it carries Wings past another bad end.

 
No. 21. “Let ‘Em In”
(Wings at the Speed of Sound, 1976)

McCartney scheduled his first U.S. tour since the Beatles’ final bow in 1966 – but only after rushing out the doggedly democratic At the Speed of Sound. The LP shot to the top of the charts over seven non-consecutive weeks as Wings’ blockbuster tour continued into the summer of ’76, powered in no small way by two consecutive gold-selling Top 5 smashes, including the feather-light Grammy-nominated “Let ‘Em In.” Some of those found knocking at the front door were real friends and relatives and some weren’t. Ironically, McCartney later married Nancy Shevell, who has both a “Sister Susie” and a “Brother Jon.”

 
No. 20. “Venus and Mars / Rock Show”
(Venus and Mars, 1975)

Recorded in part at local impresario Allen Toussaint’s Sea Saint Recording Studio in New Orleans, Venus and Mars reflected the settled atmosphere surrounding McCartney (and Wings). He’d firmly established himself outside of the Beatles, so there was suddenly time to look toward the stars. “Rock Show,” featuring local impresario Allen Toussaint on piano, provided a winking travelogue to send fans home as McCartney name checked favorite concert venues. Record buyers pushed the third single from Venus and Mars to No. 12 in the U.S., but U.K. listeners were apparently not into astronomy. “Venus and Mars/Rock Show” didn’t chart at all there.

 
No. 19. “Dear Friend”
(Wild Life, 1971)

Often thought of as a response to John Lennon’s Imagine-era sniping, “Dear Friend” actually dated back to the sessions for Ram – well before the acid-tongued “How Do You Sleep?” hit store shelves. We find McCartney reaching back across the divide, but in a haltingly conciliatory way: This moody, minor-keyed rumination begins with four unanswered questions, underscoring his sad confusion. A series of turbulent, well-placed fills from drummer Denny Seiwell, who’d be a cornerstone of Wings’ first incarnation, only add to the drama. Richard Hewson’s strings arrive with a crescendo, like a heart breaking.

 
No. 18. “To You”
(Back to the Egg, 1979)

A blast of new-wave inventiveness, “To You” finds McCartney employing these Ric Ocasek hiccups and post-punk howls, while guitarist Laurence Juber furiously saws away over a fidgety beat – then runs his guitar, in a moment of smeared brilliance, through an Eventide harmonizer during these totally wackadoo solos. Nowhere else on Back to the Egg is there a greater sense of the fizzy future that never was for the final lineup of Wings. In a few years, of course, this sound would be airing wall-to-wall on MTV.

 
No. 17. “Little Lamb Dragonfly”
(Red Rose Speedway, 1973)

Though included on Wings’ second album, this song’s history is given away in the personnel credits.
Ram-era guitarist Hugh McCracken appears with the McCartneys, Denny Seiwell and Denny Laine. “Little Lamb Dragonfly” was initially inspired by a real life lamb that McCartney couldn’t save at his rural Scottish farm, but the song never came into focus. Then Laine stepped in with a lyrical assist, while Seiwell helped with the arrangement. The orchestration was then completed by Beatles producer George Martin, hinting at the wider reunion to come with “Live and Let Die.” Curiously, despite all of that teamwork, the songwriting credit only mention Paul and Linda McCartney.

 
No. 16. “Helen Wheels”
(Single 1973)

“Helen Wheels” finds the McCartneys rambling in a trusty Land Rover from the farm to London. The single, a pun on “hell on wheels,” had its own circuitous journey. Wings’ three-piece edition recorded “Helen Wheels” during sessions for Band on the Run, then issued it as a stand-alone single. Imagine the surprise felt by McCartney’s American label managers when Band on the Run arrived without this raucous No. 10 hit. Calls were made and McCartney agreed to let Capitol Records slip in “Helen Wheels” as track eight, between “No Words” and “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me).”

 
No. 15. “Back Seat of My Car”
(Ram, 1971)

To be honest, “Back Seat of My Car” is pretty unfocused: It’s too overstuffed with ideas, too reliant on multi-tracked McCartneys, not as rustic as his solo debut and somehow tossed-off sounding anyway, and simply too long. Yet this song still underscores what makes Ram such a wildly inventive gem. It’s gutsy and un-precious at one point and then a testament to McCartney’s enduring pop sensibilities at others. As he bolts from ’50s-era rock to cocktail-lounge crooning to swooning violins, and back again – all inside of this one final track, mind you – there is a sense of limitless possibility.

 
No. 14. “Listen What the Man Said”
(Venus and Mars, 1975)

“Listen to What the Man Said” presents as a breezy romp, but sessions for the smash single were actually a painstaking drag. That is, until a key contributor came in and nailed his part on the very first try. McCartney was trying to work through things with his core group even though Wings were at Sea-Saint Recording Studio in the New Orleans neighborhood of Gentilly, a locale that could have provided a wealth of native and visiting talent. Finally, someone in Sea-Saint mentioned that Tom Scott, the well-known jazz saxophonist, lived nearby. His turn gave “Listen to What the Man Said” the push it needed. Wings’ suddenly had their eighth consecutive Top 10 Billboard smash, and the fourth of their seven total No. 1 singles.

 
No. 13. “Another Day”
(Single, 1971)

McCartney’s debut solo single was another everyman tale that became the first song recorded during sessions for Ram. Drummer Denny Seiwell once accurately described “Another Day” as “Eleanor Rigby in New York City.” McCartney had arrived with this in his back pocket after running through several embryonic versions with the Beatles in January 1969. The completed take, with serrated guitar contributions from David Spinozza, became a Top 5 hit in America and U.K. McCartney described it all as “thrilling,” in The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, “though tinged with sadness. It also felt like I had something to prove, and that kind of challenge is always exciting.”

 
No. 12. “Call Me Back Again”
(Venus and Mars, 1975)

McCartney refused to rest on his laurels after the outsized successes of Band on the Run. Instead, he set about rebuilding Wings in advance of a far more stylistically diverse recording. Venus and Mars didn’t always work but it remains an amiable artifact from a time of deep domesticity for McCartney, an era when – likely, in part, because of those recent multi-platinum sales figures – he finally seemed free of the weight of his Beatles fame. That allowed him to try out things like this simmering deep cut, which may be the best Wings song you’ve never heard. Tony Dorsey’s bright brass blasts send McCartney into howls of pain, as he shreds a lyric reportedly aimed at his missing friend, John Lennon.

 
No. 11. “Arrow Through Me”
(Back to the Egg, 1979)

“Arrow Through Me” might be the most unjustly forgotten McCartney single. How did this R&B-infused soft-rock pastry – featuring a funky keyboard bass line and an endlessly inventive undulating poly-rhythm from final Wings drummer Steve Holly – somehow only peak at No. 29? Holly recorded two drum parts, one at half speed, while McCartney dove headlong into the emerging no-guitar New Wave aesthetic. Couple all of that with a bright blast of horns and the result is a long-awaited update of what had become Wings’ tried-and-true silly-love-song template.

 
No. 10. “My Love”
(Red Rose Speedway, 1973)

Sure, the lyrics are saccharine – and the strings even more so. But McCartney just sells it, and then Wings guitarist Henry McCullough steps forward. He had to fight for that searing solo moment, and then nail it live in the studio. “Paul had this particular thing that he wanted me to play. That was the point of no return,” the late McCullough said in 2011. “I said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do this. I have to be left as the guitar player in the band. I want to have my own input, too.’ He says, ‘What are you going to do?’ I didn’t know.” McCartney’s no-doubt stunned response, he later admitted, was simply: “F—ing great.”

 
No. 9. “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”
(Ram, 1971)

Paul McCartney’s first solo U.S. No. 1 single harkened back to the way he worked toward the end of his time with the Beatles. He’d been the principal architect of a medley that dominated the second side of Abbey Road. Originally titled “The Long One,” it featured a series of joined song snippets. John Lennon later trashed the concept as nothing more than a desk-clearing exercise, but something sparked for McCartney creatively. After following a more stripped-down, personal path on McCartney he completed “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” a technicolor outburst of sewn-together ideas with ever-shifting cadences, styles, collaborators and melodies. This was the Abbey Road assemblage, taken to a fizzy kitchen-sink zenith.

 
No. 8. “With a Little Luck”
(London Town, 1978)

After two monster mid-’70s albums and a celebrated world tour, Wings promptly began falling apart. By the time sessions for London Town were complete, the group was reduced once again to the trio of Denny Laine and the McCartneys – but five years later, they couldn’t pull off another Band on the Run. Instead, London Town often feels small scale and too precious, but not this R&B-influenced synth-driven U.S. smash. “With a Little Luck” taps into a well of emotion not heard elsewhere, hinting at McCartney’s feelings as his band split. Of course, what this project desperately needed was a jolt of punky attitude. McCartney must have realized it, as he subsequently set about restructuring Wings for a final time.

 
No. 7. “Silly Love Songs”
(Wings at the Speed of Sound, 1976)

Oh good, a pop star complaining about his critics. But this is no bitch session – thanks to a creator who’s in complete command of his muse. There’s artistry everywhere within this compulsively listenable confection, from the gorgeous layered vocals to the dancing interchanges between horns and strings. Then there’s a pushed-forward, endlessly entertaining bass line that bears a passing resemblance to “Sha La La” by Al Green. Fans clearly agreed that there was nothing wrong with that, sending “Silly Love Songs” to No. 1 the Hot 100 for five non-consecutive weeks.

 
No. 6. “Live and Let Die”
(Live and Let Die, 1973)

A rock opera crammed into one overstuffed Grammy-winning single, “Live and Let Die” features, in order, a sad requiem for the ’60s, a thunderous George Martin score and a weirdly effective reggae-styled middle eight. Over the top? There simply is no top here. But that mirrors the James Bond viewpoint for which it was written, while pointing directly to the success Wings would have at mixing and matching seemingly divergent elements into a broader theme on the subsequent Band on the Run. Subsequently, “Live and Let Die” would become a fireworks-blasting mainstay of every McCartney concert appearance.

 
No. 5. “Every Night”
(McCartney, 1970)

McCartney quickly came up with the first two lines before stalling out. He seemed to be getting closer to a conclusion during a couple of run throughs with the Beatles in January 1969, but “Every Night” was left on the cutting-room floor. Finally, a burst of inspiration struck in February 1970 during a mixing session for “That Would Be Something” for the McCartney album. He completed “Maybe I’m Amazed” (found later in our list of Top 40 Paul McCartney ’70s Songs) and “Every Night,” the latter of which boasts an intriguing song structure: There’s no chorus; instead, McCartney simply returns to “every night” at the beginning of every verse.

 
No. 4. “Jet”
(Band on the Run, 1973)

It took a surprising amount of time, but with “Jet,” the early-’70s McCartney finally started sounding like the late-’60s McCartney again. Full of soaring Beatles-esque ambition, and no small amount of swagger, this power pop gem is as impossible to decrypt as it is impossible to ignore. Was Jet about a dog? A pony?? In the end, it didn’t matter. The first single from Band on the Run was just that good. Even cut down for radio, “Jet” zoomed into the Top 10 on the Billboard chart.

 
No. 3. “Junior’s Farm”
(Single, 1974)

Following the success of Band on the Run, McCartney took the rebuilt Wings lineup into recording sessions at Nashville, where they stayed at a farm owned by Curly Putman Jr. – and the cool-rocking “Junior’s Farm” was born. Guitarist Jimmy McCulloch makes an explosive debut with Wings, eliciting a happy shoutout from McCartney. He’s joined by an absurd cast of characters that includes a poker man, Oliver Hardy, an Eskimo, an old man at a grocery and a sea lion. That was some farm, apparently.

 
No. 2. “Band on the Run”
(Band on the Run, 1973)

From their lowest moment arose Wings’ greatest triumph, as a band searching for direction after a pair of member defections crafted an ageless Grammy-winning multi-part paean to escape. With the arguable exception of Ram, no McCartney album so successfully blended his interests in the melodic, the orchestral, the rocking and the episodic. Somehow all of that fizzy creativity is found in miniature within its title track, too. And to think, it all started with a throwaway complaint former bandmate George Harrison made as an Apple Corps meeting dragged on: “If we ever get out of here.”

 
No. 1. “Maybe I’m Amazed”
(McCartney, 1970)

McCartney didn’t aspire to the Beatles’ layered achievements on Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band or Abbey Road, but instead came off as a loose, surprisingly unvarnished expression — like someone trying to work out his own sound. That can be the album’s strength, but also a notable weakness. Some of this, quite frankly, just sounds like noodling around. But then there was “Maybe I’m Amazed.” Begun while with the Beatles, the song finally emerged from a very different place: McCartney is simply boiling with emotion, both light and dark. Yet, this moment of tucked-away utter brilliance didn’t initially get its due. Until finally, in 1977, when it did – as a live remake from Wings went to No. 10.

Was Paul McCartney’s ‘Broadstreet’ Doomed to Fail?

George Lynch said he was never paid for the month he spent on the road with Ozzy Osbourne, before being told he wasn’t going to be hired.

The former Dokken guitarist traveled extensively with Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne in 1982, assuming he was about to be given the role vacated by Brad Gillis. But in the end the position went to Jake E. Lee, and Lynch was sent home with nothing.

In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, he provided more details of his unhappy experience – saying he’d had to quit his job to try out for Ozzy at a time when he couldn’t really afford it.

READ MORE: 10 Underrated ’80s Hard Rock Guitar Heroes

“My wife and I, we had two kids and were living in an apartment,” Lynch explained. “I had a union job as a truck driver for a liquor distributor. And I liked that job, and it paid the bills and kept our family secure and everything like that. And I had to quit that job.”

He said it had been “really troubling” that, when the Osbourne informed them they didn’t need him, “they didn’t ask me about my situation; they didn’t pay me anything. I didn’t get a nickel for a month at that time.”

He recalled heading home with his wife in their ten-year-old car “that was falling apart,” adding: “we picked up the kids at her mom’s house and went into our apartment, and we had an eviction notification. We couldn’t pay our rent, so we had to move in with her parents.”

Admitting he experienced “hard times” as a result, he recalled thinking of the Osbournes: “They were throwing money around like it was nothing. Sharon traveled with bags of money. It was crazy. We’d go to dinners that were $10,000… and we couldn’t even afford to eat or pay our rent, you know?

“So I thought that was pretty insensitive. But whatever. They live in a different world, and I get that. I took a chance and it didn’t pay off.”

George Lynch and Ratt Guitarist Changed Places For a Moment

Lynch would go on to enjoy success with Dokken – but after his Ozzy misadventure he said he’d been briefly ejected from the band. “Ratt and Dokken practiced right next door to each other at Priscilla’s Rehearsal place in Burbank, and we were all friends. We all kind of grew up together.

“And Juan Croucier was our first bass player, then he became the bass player in Ratt. And Bobby [Blotzer] used to play with Don Dokken. And then Mick Brown played with me, and then me and Mick joined Don.”

He continued: “I got back… and Warren [DeMartini] was playing with Dokken. I was like, ‘What the hell?’ So I joined Ratt for a second… We would talk every single day; we’d hang out in the hallway, and watch each other and talk gear and stuff.

“And I go, ‘Hey, why don’t we just go back to our regular bands? This is stupid.’ So that’s what we did!”

Kiss legend Gene Simmons has been slammed for comments he made last night as a guest judge during “Hair Metal Night” on hit competition TV show Dancing With the Stars.

This week’s episode featured pairs of contestants performing choreographed dance routines to some of the biggest and most popular hits of the hair metal era. The opening sequence even featured a cameo from Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra playing a smoking guitar to a cover of Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite.”

Dancing With the Stars — Hair Metal Night Opening

All-timers by Poison, Warrant, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Scorpions, Aerosmith, Europe and Quiet Riot were among the tunes that were selected.

And while Simmons wasn’t a fixture of the hair metal era, his ultra celebrity status and notorious rocker persona makes him an obvious candidate for a guest appearance.

But what did he say that has others lashing out? We’ll break that down, as well as the responses, below.

Some of Gene Simmons’ Comments

The panel of judges score the routine on a scale of one to 10 and Simmons was booed by the studio audience multiple time for doling out scores that felt off-center.

It’s been noted that Simmons’ feedback was more concentrated on physical appearances rather than the execution of the dance routine. And despite giving one tandem (Phaedra Parks of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Val Chmerkovskiy) a score of five out of 10 — two points lower than the other two judges — the Kiss icon offered little critique.

He later awarded a perfect score to another dancing tandem (model Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko) and seemingly upset viewers when telling 72-year-old actor Reginald VelJohnson of Family Matters and Die Hard fame (via Blabbermouth):

Hey Reggie, you’ve got a beautiful woman right beside you who can twist it and turn it and knows how to move it and all that. But I want to tell you, as a guy that’s been on the stage for half a century around the world, I’m kind of a big deal, Reggie. It’s all in the attitude. And you’ve got something in that beautiful face. They love you.

The producers actually amended Simmons’ score and bumped it from 10 to nine.

This unbalanced and perceived biased approach reaped negative comments from viewers.

READ MORE: Gene Simmons Recalls the First Time Kiss Did Their Makeup

Viewers Slam Simmons Over Remarks

Simmons’ consistent remarks about the physical appearance of women contestants and low scores were called out my countless viewers on social media.

Below is a sampling that reflects a much denser condemnation of the Kiss rocker following his Dancing With the Stars appearance as a celebrity judge.

Many called him “creepy” and felt his attitude was misogynistic.

One person quoted Simmons’ commentary of, “You have a beautiful woman beside you” with a GIF of a man screaming, “Shut the fuck up!”

Other viewers called out the low scores and the perfect 10 they felt was not deserved.

And it looks like some are hoping to never see Gene Simmons back on Dancing With the Stars ever again.

Jack Ponti, a producer and songwriter who worked with Bon Jovi and Alice Cooper, has died. The New Jersey-based musician was 66.

An obituary from his hometown of Red Bank, New Jersey, notes that he died on Oct. 7 and “while widely recognized for his musical genius, it was his boundless love for his family, generosity of spirit and fierce loyalty that truly defined him.”

Ponti was born Giacomo Pontoriero in Newark on Feb. 16, 1958, and started his career in music in the New Jersey area during the late ’70s, when he played guitar in a band called the Rest, which included a pre-fame Jon Bon Jovi as its singer.

READ MORE: Alice Cooper Albums Ranked

In a 2005 interview with Metal Sludge, Ponti said that Southside Johnny and the E Street Band were supporters of his band, but nothing ever came of it. He added that a demo produced by Billy Squier also went nowhere. (“I owe a giant f— you to Billy Squier for making us round up $3,000 for him to produce our demo and then, after he made it big, told me and Jon to stop bothering him,” Ponti recalled to Metal Sludge.)

What Records Did Jack Ponti Work On?

Ponti stayed in touch with his old Rest bandmate, cowriting the song “Shot Through the Heart” from Bon Jovi’s self-titled debut album in 1984. For the next decade, Ponti helped write songs for Alice Cooper, Keel, Nelson, Kane Roberts, Trixter and others.

In addition to cowriting songs for Babylon A.D. and Bonfire during this same period, Ponti produced albums for Louisiana rock band Baton Rouge, Canadian metal band Kittie, Los Angeles meta group Otep and German metal singer Doro Pesch.

Ponti also worked with Skid Row before they signed a record deal. By 1991, he retired from the music business before returning five years later as the manager of R&B singer India.Arie, whose 2001 debut album, Acoustic Soul, was nominated for seven Grammy Awards.

He continued to work behind the scenes as a manager and label executive until his death. “Jack had a rare ability to make people feel seen and valued, whether in the music studio or at home,” the obituary noted. “His generosity extended beyond his family, as he was always ready to offer advice, lend a hand or simply bring laughter to those around him. His warmth and wisdom will continue to resonate through the countless lives he touched, long after the music fades.”

The Cure has released “A Fragile Thing,” the newest single from their upcoming album Songs of the Lost World.

The track begins with haunting piano before bass and drums kick in, giving it a fuller sound. A gradual build leads to Robert Smith’s opening vocals: “Every time you kiss me I could cry, she said / Don’t tell me how you miss me, I could die tonight of a broken heart / This loneliness has changed me, we’ve been too far apart.”

Smith’s distinctive croon continues to resonate throughout the heart-aching tune, leading to the emphatic chorus: “There’s nothing you can do to change it back, she said / Nothing you can do but sing / This love is a fragile thing.” An emotive guitar solo midway through the song echoes previous Cure classics, while the final chorus showcases the band’s unique balance of beauty and heartbreak.

“A Fragile Thing is driven by the difficulties we face in choosing between mutually exclusive needs and how we deal with the futile regret that can follow these choices, however sure we are that the right choices have been made,” Smith explained in a press release accompanying the song. “It can often be very hard to be the person that you really need to be.”

Listen to “A Fragile Thing” below.

When Does ‘Songs of the Lost World’ Come Out?

Songs of the Lost World is due for release on Nov. 1. It marks the Cure’s first new album since 2008’s 4:13 Dream. The 16 year gap between albums marks the longest break in the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers’ history.

READ MORE: The Cure Albums Ranked Worst to Best

“A Fragile Thing” is the second song to be released from the upcoming LP, following “Alone” which arrived in September. The Cure also previewed other new tunes expected to be on Songs of the Lost World during their 2022-’23 tour, among them: “Endsong,” “And Nothing Is Forever” and “I Can Never Say Goodbye.” The album’s full tracklisting has yet to be revealed.

Why Has the Cure Waited So Long to Release a New Album?

Songs of the Lost World has been many years in the making, and Smith blamed himself for the long wait.

“I keep going back over and redoing [the songs], which is silly. At some point, I have to say that’s it. It’s very much on the darker side of the spectrum,” the singer admitted to the Los Angeles Times in 2019.

“I lost my mother and my father and my brother recently, and obviously it had an effect on me,” he continued, discussing the album’s overarching style. “ It’s not relentlessly doom and gloom. It has soundscapes on it, like Disintegration, I suppose. I was trying to create a big palette, a big wash of sound.”

The Best Song From Every Cure Album

What would you do if you found yourself suddenly standing in front of Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and George Harrison? As music fans, we think about fun time travel scenarios like this all of the time.

Because who wouldn’t want to find themselves hanging out with most of the Traveling Wilburys? It’s a pretty complicated journey, as it turns out. But sometimes, it happens as a result of an honest search, mixed in with a bit of dumb luck, as we learned while reading a new book, Langley Powell and the Society for the Defense of the Mundane.

The novel, written by culture writer and editor Jeff Giles (who has written for a number of outlets, including UCR), follows Powell as he finds himself surprisingly rescued from an unfortunate death. Brought right back to Earth, Langley is confronted with a new mission: to save the universe. Is he equipped for this unforeseen challenge? Good question. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s get back to hanging out with Petty, Orbison and Harrison. Our exclusive excerpt from the book will take us there now.

Frank and Langley crept around behind the house, where a swimming pool glinted silently in the sun. In front of them and past the pool, a short distance from the main structure, stood a cottage-sized building that could have been a pool house or a detached office — Langley wasn’t sure which. Off to their right, a giant sliding glass door offered entry into the mansion.

“Eenie meenie minie moe,” said Frank. “We may not have time to look inside both of these buildings. Which one do we trespass our way into first?”

“Hmm,” said Langley. “It’ll take less time to search the smaller one, but I think we stand a better chance of finding something that will lead us to Pemberton if we start with the house.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Frank. “But if you’re wrong, I’m still blaming you.”

“I’d expect no less,” said Langley, and tugged on the handle of the sliding glass door. It slid open easily on its track. After waiting a moment for the shrill cry of an alarm — or worse, a no-face ambush — they stepped inside.

“Looks like a regular old rich person home,” said Frank, and Langley offered a short nod of assent. He was right — as they made their way through, they saw that the place was tastefully designed and outfitted, with modern (but not too modern) art on the walls, glowing in the bright slants of morning sunlight that streamed through the many windows. The ceiling was high and vaulted, with exposed beams that added a rustic (but not too rustic) touch. The kitchen was well-appointed. Upstairs and downstairs, the whole thing had a floor plan that balanced distinctive architecture and sensible design. Just as he had outside, Langley found himself thinking that he’d been in countless celebrities’ houses that were more or less just like it.It offered, in other words, nothing at all that felt connected to Neville Pemberton in any way.

After methodically making their way through, around, and behind every drawer, sofa cushion, and nook or cranny they could find in the mansion’s many assorted rooms, Frank and Langley were almost ready to give up and head to the outbuilding near the pool, but as they made their way downstairs, Langley grabbed Frank’s arm.

“Wait,” he said. “Stop. Be still for a moment. Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Frank asked. “I don’t — oh.”

They looked at each other for a moment in wordless acknowledgment, both hearing a deep, rhythmic rumble coming from someplace in the house.

“What is that?” Frank wondered. “We’ve been through every inch of this house. How did we miss whatever’s making that noise?”

“The garage,” said Langley. “We forgot the garage, and it’s huge — it has to have room for at least five cars.” They descended the stairs and headed for the garage door, feeling the noise’s intensity increase as they got closer. It continued as they stood outside the door, each giving the other a questioning look.

“Keep that backpack handy,” said Frank. “We’re liable to need everything in it if Pemberton’s on the other side of this door.”

“I’m ready,” said Langley, although he didn’t fully believe that.

“Use the lunchbox first,” Frank continued. “Just keep throwing bologna sandwiches at him until he surrenders.”Suddenly, the rumbling stopped.

Langley took a deep breath as Frank grabbed the handle and opened the door.

They saw three men seated in a loose semi-circle on the other side — one blond, one dark-haired, and one graying. Two were wearing dark glasses, and they were all holding what looked like weapons.

Wait, no — those weren’t weapons at all. They were… guitars?

And didn’t he recognize those men?

“Hey, man,” said the blond one, lifting his glasses. “Didn’t I meet you at the Grammys or something one year?”

“Tom Petty?” Langley replied, dumbfounded. “What are you doing here?”

“This is my house,” laughed Tom Petty, strumming a chord on his guitar. “What are you doing here? And who’s the kid?”

“There must be some mistake,” said Langley. “I’m looking for the house where a man named Neville Pemberton once lived.”

READ MORE: Underrated Tom Petty Songs From Each Album

“You found it,” said Tom Petty. “I bought this place after his daughter died, and now we sort of share it. I think she might be around here somewhere. You want me to get her for you?”

“No, no, don’t get up,” said Langley. “I’m sorry to have interrupted you. This is terribly embarrassing.”

“I could use a time out anyway,” said the dark-haired man, who a still- reeling Langley suddenly realized was Roy Orbison. “Smoke break, George?” The gray-haired man, who Langley now recognized as George Harrison, nodded silently. They both placed their guitars on nearby stands.

“George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty,” Langley marveled quietly. “I’ve walked in on the middle of a Traveling Wilburys rehearsal.”

“Not quite,” said Tom Petty, shaking a disapproving finger. “We won’t be the Wilburys again until Dylan and Jeff Lynne get here. As long as it’s just the three of us, we’re something else. Of course, we can’t agree on a new band name, but that’s a different story.”

“This is all very interesting,” said Frank, clearly not meaning a word of it. “Did someone say ‘smoke break’?”

“Follow us, little fella,” said Roy Orbison, nodding toward the garage’s side door. Shooting Langley a brief warning glance, Frank followed him outside.

“It’s been a long time,” said Tom after the other three exited the garage, leaving them alone. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name. Wasn’t it Langston or Longmont or something?”

“Langley. Langley Powell. Again, I’m so sorry to have interrupted you.”

“Eh,” shrugged Tom. “The song we’re working on isn’t going anywhere. Besides, I bet Connie will be happy to see you. From what I’ve been told, this place used to get all kinds of attention from her dad’s fans, but it’s been years since anyone came around here looking for him.”

“He doesn’t live here, then?”

“Hasn’t lived here since he died,” said Tom. “I’ve never even met the guy. I don’t know where he is, either — all Connie’s ever told me is that he’s ‘away.’”

“When you bought the house,” Langley started uncertainly, “did you find any… personal effects of Neville’s?”

“Nah,” said Tom. “By the time I bought it, Connie had already been here on this plane for 20 years or so. No one was living here at all — when she died, the house and the land were controlled by a trust that kept it empty the whole time.”“Odd,” murmured Langley, slipping the backpack over a chair and sitting down.

“And a fat waste of money, too,” agreed Tom. “The only reason it ended up on the market at all was that the trust ran out and had to be dissolved. As soon as I heard it was on the market, I snapped it up, and I haven’t regretted it since. This is one of the best spots in Malibu.”

“It’s a beautiful home,” said Langley. “And you’re so close to the ocean, too.”

READ MORE: Why Tom Petty Refused to Release Some of His Best Songs

“More importantly, it’s a comfortable distance from Johnny Carson’s house,” said Tom. “He treats the entire town like it’s his personal golf course. Just goes around whacking golf balls wherever he wants — off roofs, through windows, whatever.”

“That sounds awful,” said Langley. “But back to — ”

“And he’s always got his eternal sidekick Ed McMahon with him,” continued Tom. “He has a voice like a foghorn and a laugh like an outboard motor that’s on its last few hundred miles, man. You hear ‘Fore,’ and you only have a few seconds to hit the deck before Johnny sends one sailing into your living room. It’s enough to make you want to move to Reseda.”

“Indeed,” said Langley. “Now about — ”

“But anyway, that’s for the folks in the other part of town to worry about. Like I said, this is one of the best spots in Malibu. The weather’s gorgeous, you’ve got the ocean breeze, and there are plenty of great restaurants nearby.”

“Perfect.”

“And no Johnny Carson.”

“Yes, and no Johnny Carson,” said Langley. “It’s just that I’m still wondering about this Connie person. You said she might be here?”“Oh, absolutely,” said Tom, grinning and waving. “She’s standing right behind you. Hey Connie, say hi to Langley Powell. He’s a fan of your dad’s.”

The above is just one part of the story. To find out where it goes and how it ends, get your own copy of Langley Powell and the Society for the Defense of the Mundane by Jeff Giles!

Duran Duran has released a cover of the Electric Light Orchestra hit “Evil Woman.”

The song comes from the band’s Danse Macabre – De Luxe set, which arrives Friday. The album is an expansion of the band’s 2023 record, Danse Macabre, in which it covered other artists’ songs and remade a few of its own to reflect the Halloween season.

The updated version of the album features three tracks not included in the 2023 edition, including the ELO cover and a redo of Duran Duran’s 1984 hit “New Moon on Monday” called “New Moon (Dark Phase).”

READ MORE: 20 Greatest New Wave Bands

The rendition of “Evil Woman” arrives weeks before Duran Duran’s Halloween concert at Madison Square Garden in New York. The annual event, The Danse Macabre Halloween Party, sees the ‘80s legends mixing new music, covers and “darkly reimagined versions” of their classic material.

You can hear it below.

How ‘Evil Woman’ Became an ELO Classic

Originally released in 1975, “Evil Woman” became one of ELO’s signature hits. The track, penned by frontman Jeff Lynne, was one of the last songs written for their fifth album, Face the Music.

“I wrote this in a matter of minutes,” Lynne admitted to Rolling Stone in 2016. “The rest of the album was done. I listened to it and thought, ‘There’s not a good single.’ So I sent the band out to a game of football and made up ‘Evil Woman’ on the spot. The first three chords came right to me. It was the quickest thing I’d ever done. We kept it slick and cool, kind of like an R&B song. It was kind of a posh one for me, with all the big piano solos and the string arrangement. It was inspired by a certain woman, but I can’t say who. She’s appeared a few times in my songs.”

“Evil Woman” has remained a mainstay in ELO’s set lists, regularly appearing early in their concerts. Jeff Lynne’s ELO – as the band has been called since 2014 – is currently out on a farewell tour, with a final show scheduled for Oct. 26 in Los Angeles.

Alex Van Halen has released an audio excerpt from his upcoming memoir Brothers.

The book is described as a “love letter” to the drummer’s brother and Van Halen bandmate Eddie Van Halen, who died in October 2020 after a long battle with cancer.

Entitled “Overture” and read by Alex himself, the four-and-a-half minute clip – which can be heard on Spotify – serves as a eulogy for Eddie. “Music was our heart and soul,” he begins. “That’s what we did, that’s what we loved, that’s what we enjoyed and that’s what we were good at. It’s also the thing that made us as close as two brothers can be. We were connected in every way – genetically, artistically, financially, emotionally and though neither of us stuck with Catholicism, I’m going to go ahead and say spiritually. It’s very difficult to unwind that. It’s been almost four years since you passed, Ed, and sometimes it feels like it just happened this morning.”

Read More: Rockers React to the Death of Eddie Van Halen

After praising his brother’s musical talent and lamenting that Eddie could sometimes be overly sensitive to criticism from the outside world Alex notes that he has watched, “sometimes with anger, sometimes with grief and other times with pride as the world has mourned your passing and other people have claimed to tell your story,” before promising to set the record straight in Brothers.

“I still have trouble believing you’re gone, and probably for me you never will be,” Van Halen declares near the end of the clip. “Outliving my little brother? This just wasn’t the plan. As the older brother, I was supposed to die first. Same as always, Ed… butting in line.”

‘Brothers’ Will Include Eddie and Alex Van Halen’s Last Piece of Music

Brothers will include “Unfinished,” the final piece of music the Van Halen brothers recorded together. Last month Alex shared snippets of the track on his social media accounts, which you can hear below. The book arrives in stores on Oct. 22. Alex will host two book signings and a live conversation event that same week.

Since initially emerging in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, punk has been rock’s rebellious, loud and proudly defiant genre.

Though its roots were doggedly anti-commercial, punk has birthed an impressive array of mainstream successes. From groundbreaking legends like Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Ramones, to modern favorites like Green Day and Blink-182, punk has continued to resonate with generations of fans.

We combed through decades worth of material to find the 30 Greatest Songs in Punk Rock History.

30. Green Day, “Welcome to Paradise” (From Dookie, 1994)

While the ‘90s punk revival was spearheaded by a number of acts, none were bigger than Green Day. Armed with power chords and a brash attitude, the Northern California trio burst to mainstream success on the back of the back of their 1994 album Dookie. One of the standout tracks was “Welcome to Paradise,” a coming of age tune about moving out of your parents home and into a run down apartment (which is exactly what Green Day did). The track had originally been released on 1991’s Kerplunk, but was re-recorded for the group’s major label debut.

 

29. X, “Los Angeles” (From Los Angeles, 1980)

For much of the ‘70s and ‘80s, punk became regional, with distinctive scenes cropping up in cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The band X was one of the acts helping shape the LA sound, led by dual singers John Doe and Exene Cervenka. Their 1980 debut album was named Los Angeles, and its title track captured the dark elements of their hometown. Inspired by a woman determined to get away from the city, “Los Angeles” painted LA in a very un-angelic fashion. Over a chugging, aggressive guitar line, Doe touches on racism, antisemitism and bigotry. Despite such weighty topics, the track was undeniably catchy, particularly the refrain of “Get out.”

 

28. Black Flag, “Rise Above” (From Damaged, 1981)

One of the most influential acts in hardcore punk, Black Flag hit their ground running with their debut album, Damaged. The 1981 LP got off with an emphatic start thanks to opening track “Rise Above.” The defiant song was proudly anti-authoritarian, declaring it was time to escape “society’s arms of control.” This was loud, fist-in-the-air punk at its finest, with dynamic frontman Henry Rollins leading the charge.

 

27. Bikini Kill, “Rebel Girl” (From Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, 1993)

The defining song of the ‘90s riot grrrl movement, “Rebel Girl” offered a musical middle finger to heterosexual norms. Its lyrics were written from the perspective of a lesbian, offering her borderline obsessive observations of a “rebel girl” who she adored. “The power of ‘Rebel Girl’ is that it’s about being a feminist pirate, being an adventurer,” Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna later explained. “It’s not about standing at the back and not participating. It’s about loving and defending your friends and the confusion between friendship and sexuality.”

 

26. Social Distortion, “Story of My Life” (From Social Distortion, 1990)

It’s rare for punk to get nostalgic, yet that’s exactly what Social Distortion did to perfection on their 1990 tune “Story of My Life.” Throughout the song, frontman Mike Ness waxes poetic about his formative years, dreaming of a “rock n’ roll weekend” and fantasizing about his “silly schoolboy crush.” Later, he returns to his old neighborhood, only to see how much it has changed. “Story of My Life” is loaded with the kind of sentimentality usually reserved for pop songs, but Social Distortion’s punk package makes the tune an unabashed rocker.

 

25. Blink-182, “Dammit” (From Dude Ranch, 1997)

The opening guitar riff of “Dammit” was the sound of punk’s next evolution. Once contained to house parties and sweaty clubs, the genre was gleefully adopted by exactly what it used to rebel against: the mainstream. Blink-182 didn’t invent pop punk – the blending of punk’s bratty DIY ethos with catchy, universally appealing song structures – but they may have perfected it. “Dammit” was the band’s breakout single, a cautionary tale of seeing your ex out with someone else. The tune’s “this is growing up” chorus resonated with a new generation of fans, who quickly elevated Blink-182 among rock’s most popular acts. “Dammit” also holds the distinction of being the trio’s lone major hit with its early lineup, featuring Scott Raynor on drums. Travis Barker arrived in 1998 and solidified what would become the group’s classic lineup.

 

24. Violent Femmes, “Add It Up” (From Violent Femmes, 1983)

With the release of their self-titled 1983 debut album, Violent Femmes created a sub-genre all their own. Dubbed “folk punk,” the band’s style blended angst and aggression with organic and acoustic sounds. “Add It Up” was an amalgam of all this and more, a frenzied track bubbling over with lust, frustration and hostility.

 

23. X-Ray Spex, “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” (Single, 1997)

“Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard / But I think ‘Oh bondage, up yours!’” X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene declares at the beginning of this 1977 track. The spoken-word open serves as a defiant rallying cry before the U.K. group launches into the unbridled tune. With Poly Styrene’s raw vocal delivery leading the way – plus some surprisingly effective saxophone – “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” served as both a feminist declaration and a sharp rebuttal of materialism.

 

22. Black Flag, “TV Party” (From Damaged, 1981)

Before Americans were obsessed with staring at their phones, they were staring at their televisions. Black Flag skewered the couch potato phenomenon with their 1981 single “TV Party.” With lines like, “We’ve got nothing better to do / Than watch TV and have a couple of brews,” the lyrics took aim at people who were glued to the boob tube. “It’s about people who stay inside their house and live in a TV kinda world,” Henry Rollins once explained. “It’s basically a satire of people watching TV and partying at home,” echoed guitarist Greg Ginn, “which is a sickness which is very prevalent in LA.” Interestingly, the satire was lost on some listeners. “TV Party” became one of Black Flag’s more popular songs, with many fans interpreting it as a straight-forward party tune.

 

21. Bad Religion, “Infected” (From Stranger than Fiction, 1994)

As the owner of Epitaph Records, Brett Gurewitz has played an instrumental role in the careers of many famous punk acts, including the Offspring, NOFX, Pennywise and Rancid. He’s also had a pretty impressive career of his own as lead guitarist and co-founder of the band Bad Religion. Known for tackling such varied topics as religion and politics, the group forged a passionate fan base since emerging from Southern California in the early ‘80s. Gurewitz penned many of Bad Religion’s most popular songs, including 1994’s “Infected,” a driving, mid-tempo tune about a toxic and obsessive relationship.

 

20. Suicidal Tendencies, “Institutionalized” (From Suicidal Tendencies, 1983)

Even on a list of punk classics, Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized” stands out as especially unhinged. The song – originally released in 1983 – is told from the first person perspective of singer Mike Muir as he argues with his family over mental health issues, drug use and accusations that he needs psychiatric help. The lyrics aren’t sung so much as yelled, while the music behind Muir changes at various points from simmering tension to all out assault.

 

19. Rancid, “Ruby SoHo” (From …And Out Came the Wolves, 1995)

Like fellow NorCal punks Green Day, Rancid emerged in the early ‘90s as punk enjoyed renewed popularity. Led by frontman Tim Armstrong’s distinctively grizzled voice, the band mixed ska and punk influences to perfection. Rancid’s mainstream breakthrough came with their third album, 1995’s …And Out Come the Wolves. One of the LP’s biggest hits was “Ruby Soho,” a buoyant tune about a punk who leaves his girlfriend behind to chase rock n’ roll dreams.

 

18. Clash, “Complete Control” (From The Clash, 1977)

Punk history is littered with instances of bands and record labels butting heads — only natural, considering the differing perspectives of corporate record companies and anti-authoritarian musicians. Arguably the greatest example is the Clash taking on their label, CBS Records, via the song “Complete Control.” The band was infuriated after the label released the song “Remote Control” as a single without their consent. Thus, Mick Jones and Joe Strummer wrote a rebuttal, issuing their new song with the following statement: “’Complete Control’ tells the story of conflict between two opposing camps. One side sees change as an opportunity to channel the enthusiasm of a raw and dangerous culture in a direction where energy is made safe and predictable. The other is dealing with change as a freedom to be experienced so as to understand one’s true capabilities, allowing a creative social situation to emerge.” Released in September 1977, “Complete Control” overflowed with rebellious energy. It peaked at No. 28 on the U.K. chart, 24 spots higher than “Remote Control.”

 

17. Dead Kennedys, “Holiday in Cambodia” (From Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 1980) 

Common hallmarks of great punk songs include: a working class point of view, political undertones and disdain for elites. All of these elements can be found in the Dead Kennedys’ 1980 single “Holiday in Cambodia.” The song addresses rich American college students, unaware of their privileged position in life. The band suggests the students may benefit from a “Holiday in Cambodia,” which at the time was torn apart by the Khmer Rouge, resulting in millions of deaths. Dead Kennedys also used the song as a way to criticize the U.S. government’s response to Cambodia’s genocide, led by dictator Pol Pot.

 

16. Patti Smith, “Gloria” (From Horses, 1975)

Patti Smith is a singular voice in rock history, a powerful and relentless soul who never conformed to expectations. In 1970 she wrote a poem called “Oath,” which featured the memorable line “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.” The poem served as a harsh rejection of Smith’s Jehovah’s Witness upbringing, and organized religion overall. Years later, Smith made Them’s classic “Gloria” a regular part of her set, but the singer would improvise various lyrics over its familiar garage rock. During a gig in 1974, she suddenly launched into the words of “Oath” while her band played “Gloria.” The two works fit together so well that it evolved into its own song. Smith’s powerful, new interpretation of “Gloria” would become the opening track to her 1975 debut album, Horses.

 

15. Misfits, “Die, Die My Darling” (Single, 1984)

In the subgenre of horror punk, no act is more exalted than the Misfits. Led by the distinctive growl of frontman Glenn Danzig, the group carved a dedicated following among generations of rock fans. In 1981, the Misfits recorded “Die, Die My Darling,” a menacing track powered by an onslaught of guitar riffs. Still, the track wouldn’t be released until May of 1984 – nine months after the Misfits’ breakup. The song’s brutal energy captured the attention of listeners everywhere, eventually making it one of the band’s most recognized tunes. Metallica memorably covered “Die, Die My Darling” on 1998’s Garage Inc. and have made it a semi-regular part of their set lists ever since.

 

14. Ramones, “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” (From Rocket to Russia, 1977)

The Ramones fused some surf rock influence into their punk sound for their 1977 single “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker.” The track, penned by singer Joey Ramone, got its distinctive name from the comic book Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. “To me ‘Sheena’ was the first surf/punk rock/teenage rebellion song,” Joey later recalled. “I combined Sheena, Queen of the Jungle with the primality of punk rock. Then Sheena is brought into the modern day: ‘But she just couldn’t stay/she had to break away/well New York City really has it all.’ It was funny because all the girls in New York seemed to change their name to Sheena after that. Everybody was a Sheena.”

 

13. Jam, “In the City” (From In the City, 1977)

In 1977, the world was introduced to the Jam. The Paul Weller-led group released their debut single, “In the City,” a hyperactive coming of age tune that quickly clicked with audiences. In a 2011 conversation with Q Magazine, Weller described the track as “a song about trying to break out of suburbia. As far as we were concerned, the city was where it was all happening; the clubs, the gigs, the music, the music. I was probably 18, so it was a young man’s song, a suburbanite dreaming of the delights of London and the excitement of the city. It was an exciting time to be alive. London was coming out of its post-hippy days and there was a new generation taking over. The song captured that wide-eyed innocence of coming out of a very small community and entering a wider world, seeing all the bands, meeting people, going to the clubs, and the freedom that it held.”

 

12. Green Day, “Basket Case” (From Dookie, 1994)

For Green Day’s 1994 single “Basket Case,” frontman Billie Joe Armstrong drew inspiration from his personal mental health struggles. “I’ve had panic attacks since I was a kid,” the singer explained during an appearance on the Song Exploder podcast. “Writing about it was a way of coping, expressing that feeling of going crazy but ultimately pulling through.” Armstrong’s anxiety oozes throughout the track, from the frantic guitar part to lyrics like “Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me” and “I think I’m cracking up.” “Basket Case” reached No. 1 on the alternative chart and peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, ranking it among the most popular songs in Green Day’s history.

 

11. Replacements, “Bastards of Young” (From Tim, 1985)

“We are the sons of no one / Bastards of young,” frontman Paul Westerberg sings on the chorus to this Replacements’ 1985 single. His lyrics and vocals reflect the sense of alienation consuming young Americans at the time. The topic hit close to home, as Westerberg’s own sister partly inspired the tune. “To me, a part of that song is about my sister who felt the need … to be something by going somewhere else,” the frontman explained, alluding to how his sister left Minnesota to pursue an acting career in New York. “It is sort of the Replacements feeling the same way … not knowing where we fit. It’s our way of reaching a hand out and saying, ‘We are right along with you. We are just as confused.'”

 

10. Stooges, “Search and Destroy” (From Raw Power, 1973)

Another example of punk reflecting young people’s disenchantment with government politics, the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy”” was inspired by a Time magazine article on the Vietnam War. “The lyrics, I just sorta took out of Time magazine, the concept of search and destroy,” Iggy Pop explained to Clash magazine. “I used to read Time obsessively, because they were the representatives of the ultimate establishment to me. They were giving the party line that represented the power people and the powers that be. So I kinda liked to look in there and see what they were talking about, and then I’d use that inventory in other ways. That’s what I was doing in that song.” The lyrics hit heavy, with lines about “firefights,” “nuclear A-bombs” and “radiation.” Meanwhile, the song’s protagonist is a self-described “street-walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm.” Still, it’s the ferocity of “Search and Destroy” that resonates the loudest, as the track’s raw aggression and machine-gun-style guitar drive home its wartime narrative.

 

9. New York Dolls, “Personality Crisis” (From New York Dolls, 1973)

New York Dolls’ impact on punk is sometimes undervalued, yet the genre’s history cannot be written without them. The band flew in the face of societal norms, delivering outrageous live shows, led by the commanding presence of frontman David Johansen. “Personality Crisis,” the first track on New York Dolls’ 1973 self-titled debut, finds the band firing on all cylinders. The song begins with a rousing guitar riff, before honky-tonk piano and Johansen’s wail kick in. Controlled chaos ensues, as swagger and excitement exude with every note. New York Dolls would be regarded as a landmark LP, influencing generations of musicians who followed it. “Personality Crisis” led the charge.

 

8. Iggy Pop, “Lust for Life” (From Lust for Life, 1977)

Iggy Pop collaborated with his friend and fellow rock legend David Bowie for the timeless tune “Lust for Life.” “We were sitting around his digs on the floor, because it was a no-chairs kind of place,” Pop recalled. “We had a production contract and a schedule and he had to get it out of the way, so he said, ‘Let’s get a song here.’ He picked up a little ukulele he had – I think it might have been his son’s – and just came up with that progression, which I thought was great.” Lyrically, the tune reflects Pop’s notorious debauchery, with mentions of “liquor and drugs,” “striptease” and “sleeping on the sidewalk.” Ironically, “Lust for Life” was crafted during a period when Pop and Bowie were (mostly) sober. With its propulsive drums and an earworm chorus, listeners gravitated towards “Lust for Life,” making it one of Pop’s most recognized hits.

 

7. Ramones, “I Wanna Be Sedated” (From Road to Ruin, 1978)

Two separate incidents contributed to the creation of “I Wanna Be Sedated,” one of the most beloved songs in punk history. First, an accident that sent Joey Ramone to the hospital. The Ramones frontman accidentally burned himself while using a humidifier (or teapot, depending on the story) while preparing for a New York gig. He still played the show, then went for care once it was over. Not long afterward, the Ramones were in the U.K. at the end of December, part of their endless touring schedule. “We were there at Christmas time, and in Christmas time, London shuts down. There’s nothing to do, nowhere to go,” Joey once recalled. “Here we were in London for the first time in our lives, and me and Dee Dee Ramone were sharing a room in the hotel, and we were watching The Guns of Navarone. So there was nothing to do, I mean, here we are in London finally, and this is what we are doing, watching American movies in the hotel room.”

 

6. Stooges, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (From The Stooges, 1969)

There’s a primal energy that courses through the Stooges’ punk classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” The carnal track focuses on a man who yearns to be dominated by a woman, a topic that was controversial upon its release in 1969. “Have you ever seen like a really good looking girl, really nicely dressed, and she’s walking down the street with her dog, right? And like her dog is… intimate with her body,” Iggy Pop explained to Howard Stern. “Basically, it’s the idea of, I want to unite with your body. I don’t wanna talk about literature with you or judge you as a person. I wanna dog you.” Despite its taboo subject matter, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” gradually became regarded as a landmark proto-punk tune.

 

5. Sex Pistols, “God Save the Queen” (From Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, 1977) 

Another example of punk rockers’ complete disdain for authority figures, the Sex Pistols took aim at the British monarchy with their 1977 single “God Save the Queen.” The band embodied England’s working class, and their fiery dismantling of Queen Elizabeth’s “fascist regime” stirred up plenty of controversy. “You don’t write ‘God Save the Queen’ because you hate the English race,” Johnny Rotten once explained. “You write a song like that because you love them, and you’re fed up with them being mistreated.”

 

4. MC5, “Kick Out the Jams” (From Kick Out the Jams, 1969)

Powered by its forceful and instantly-recognizable guitar riff, “Kick Out the Jams” was MC5’s defining track. The titular phrase was a favorite of the band’s, even before they turned it into a song. “We were using the expression for a long time, because we would be critical of other bands that came to Detroit that the MC5 would open for,” guitarist Wayne Kramer recalled to Songfacts. “They’d come into town with this big reputation, and then they’d get up on stage and they weren’t very good. So, we used to harass them. We’d yell at them, ‘Kick out the jams or get off the stage, motherfucker!’ Finally, one day we said, ‘I like that expression. We should use that as the title of a song.'”

 

3. Clash, “London Calling” (From London Calling, 1979)

It’s impossible to turn on the news without seeing a story about war, destruction or the latest harbinger of the apocalypse. It’s a feeling that’s all too common in modern times, yet the Clash was feeling the exact same thing back in 1979. Rather than dwelling in the negativity, the band – known for its rebellious nature and socially conscious idealism – decided to write a song about it. “There was a lot of Cold War nonsense going on, and we knew that London was susceptible to flooding,” Joe Strummer recalled to Uncut magazine, explaining how the famous line “London is drowning and I / I live by the river” came about. With “London Calling,” the Clash tapped into an anxiety that was shared by many people at the time, regardless of whether they were punks or not. As the title track and lead single from their third studio album, the track enjoyed worldwide success. More than 40 years later, it remains a hugely influential release.

 

2. Ramones, “Blitzkrieg Bop” (From Ramones, 1976)

Known for their wild live shows, the Ramones yearned to have a chant that they and their fans could enjoy. The idea came from a very un-punk place. “I hate to blow the mystique, but at the time we really liked bubblegum music, and we really liked the Bay City Rollers,” Joey Ramone once explained. “Their song ‘Saturday Night’ had a great chant in it, so we wanted a song with a chant in it: ‘Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!’. ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ was our ‘Saturday Night’.” As the opening track to the Ramones’ self-titled debut album, “Blitzkrieg Bop” was a rallying cry for punk’s leather clad leaders. It helped establish the Ramones’ mythology and remains one of the most celebrated punk songs of all time. Yet, there’s one tune that ranked higher on our list.

 

1. Sex Pistols, “Anarchy in the U.K.” (From Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, 1977)

When the Sex Pistols announced an unlikely reunion in 1996, Johnny Rotten made a loud proclamation: “We invented punk. We write the rules, and you follow.” It was a bold statement, even for a band known for being outlandish. Suggesting any single act “invented” punk is grounds for debate, however we feel confident in a lesser declaration: “Anarchy in the U.K.” is the most important punk song ever recorded. Everything about the track was designed to instigate shock and awe, from Rotten’s declaration that he is both “an antichrist” and “an anarchist,” to mentions of the MPLA (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola), UDA (Northern Ireland’s Ulster Defence Association) and IRA (Irish Republican Army). The song frightened England’s buttoned-down society and received backlash from many mainstream outlets. Sex Pistols reveled in the controversy, using outrage over the tune to fuel their popularity. Nearly 50 years after its release, “Anarchy in the U.K.” remains the powder keg whose explosion began punk’s mainstream invasion.

Eric Clapton played the first of several scheduled U.S concerts on Tuesday night at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego. Jimmie Vaughan served as the opening act.

As reported by SetList.fm, the fifteen-song concert kicked off with “Sunshine of Your Love” from Clapton’s days in Cream and concluded with his cover of Bo Diddley’s “Before You Accuse Me.” In between he performed a four-song acoustic set that included his 1991 hit “Tears in Heaven” and “The Call,” from his new album Meanwhile.

Clapton’s 1971 Derek and the Dominos classic “Layla” was notably absent from the set. He hasn’t performed it since December 2023, leaving it off the set list of the 22 shows he’s played so far this year.

The guitar legend’s current band consists of bassist Nathan East, guitarist Doyle Bramhall II, drummer Sonny Emory, keyboardists Chris Stainton and Tim Carmon, and backing singers Sharon White and Katie Kissoon.

A complete set list, as well as fan-filmed video from the concert, is available below.

READ MORE: The Moment Eric Clapton Began Turning Away From Pop Music

Clapton has two more solo concert dates slated for this month, also in Southern California: Oct. 10 at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert and Oct. 12 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The following week Oct. 17, he’ll appear as one of the performers at the Life Is a Carnival – A Tribute to Robbie Robertson celebration at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.

Presently, Clapton has no further concert dates scheduled after Oct. 17.

Watch Eric Clapton’s Opening Night in San Diego

Eric Clapton’s New Music

Released digitally on Oct. 4, Meanwhile includes collaborations with Van Morrison (who also will perform at the Robertson tribute show), Bradley Walker, Judith Hill, Daniel Santiago, Simon Climie and the late Jeff Beck on “Moon River.” CD and Vinyl versions of the album hit stores on Jan. 24.

Another new album will arrive on Nov. 29 in the form of Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival 2023, a live LP that also features Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Santana and more.

Eric Clapton, Pechanga Arena, San Diego, California, 10/8/24, Set List:

1. “Sunshine of Your Love”
2. “Key to the Highway”
3. “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man”
4. “Badge”
5. “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”
6. “Running on Faith”
7. “Change the World”
8. “The Call”
9. “Tears in Heaven”
10. “Got to Get Better in a Little While”
11. “Old Love”
12. “Cross Road Blues”
13. “Little Queen of Spades”
14. “Cocaine”
15. “Before You Accuse Me”

Surely you didn’t think Motley Crue was going to make a subtle entrance just because they were playing a small venue, did you?

The self-proclaimed “White Trash Circus” arrived to their Monday show at Los Angeles’ famed Troubadour club in the back of a garbage truck. A new video on their social media shows the rockers hopping out of the back of the vehicle — flanked by a mattress, a bra, a pair of heels and a ton of trash bags — and being greeted by a large crowd on Santa Monica Boulevard before heading into the cozy, 500-capacity club.

You can watch the video below.

READ MORE: Motley Crue Announces 2025 Las Vegas Residency

Motley Crue’s ‘Hollywood Takeover’

Motley Crue’s Troubadour performance marked the first of three shows in their “Hollywood Takeover,” a stunt designed to get them back in touch with their L.A. club roots. They’ll continue the mini-tour on Wednesday at the Roxy and round it out with a show on Friday at the Whisky a Go Go.

Despite the back-to-basics premise of the Hollywood Takeover, Motley delivered their routine greatest-hits set at the Troubadour. The 16-song performance included staples such as “Primal Scream,” “Shout at the Devil” and “Kickstart My Heart,” along with recent single “Dogs of War” and a cover of Beastie Boys’ “Fight for Your Right.”

The latter two tracks appeared on Motley Crue’s new EP Cancelled, which they released on Friday. The three-song EP was rounded out by its title track, which found the band bragging about how they never faced real consequences for their actions.

“There was this article that was like, ‘How did Motley Crue ever not get cancelled?’ And we were like, ‘Fuck, we got to write a song about that because we didn’t ever get it,'” Tommy Lee told Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast last year. “We snuck in under whatever threshold, wherever that was, where we got away with fucking murder.”

Graham Nash has added more than a dozen new tour dates to begin in spring 2025.

The new shows are an extension of Nash’s current tour, which plays Quebec City on Tuesday and runs through the end of the month.

After a five-month break, concerts will resume at the end of March for a new run of North American dates.

READ MORE: Graham Nash, ‘Now’: Album Review

Nash released his first album in seven years, Now, in 2023. The album, his seventh solo LP, includes songs about his long relationship with his Crosby, Stills & Nash bandmate David Crosby, who died in 2023.

Where Is Graham Nash Performing in 2025?

The 2025 tour dates on March 29 with two consecutive nights in Easton, Maryland. The shows then play Charlotte, Raleigh and Nashville before heading to Houston, Dallas and Phoenix. The run concludes on April 22 and 23 with two dates in San Francisco.

You can see a full list of Nash’s concert dates below. More information is available on Nash’s website.

Graham Nash 2024-5 Tour
October 8—Quebec City, QC—Palais Montcalm (Raoul-Jobin Hall)
October 9—Ottawa, ON—National Arts Centre
October 10—Burlington, VT—The Flynn
October 12—Ithaca, NY—State Theatre
October 15—Evanston, IL—Cahn Auditorium
October 16—Evanston, IL—Cahn Auditorium
October 17—St. Louis, MO—The Pageant
October 19—Morgantown, WV—Metropolitan Theatre
October 20—Athens, OH—Ohio Univ. Templeton-
Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium
October 22—Hopewell, VA—The Beacon Theatre
October 23—Vienna, VA—The Barns at Wolf Trap
October 25—Vienna, VA—The Barns at Wolf Trap
October 26—Vienna, VA—The Barns at Wolf Trap
March 29—Easton, MD—Avalon Theatre
March 30—Easton, MD—Avalon Theatre
April 1—Charlotte, NC—Knight Theater
April 2—Raleigh, NC—Meymandi Concert Hall
April 4—Nashville, TN—CMA Theater
April 5—Nashville, TN—CMA Theater
April 6—Sandy Springs, GA—Byers Theatre at Sandy Springs PAC
April 8—Birmingham, AL—BJCC Concert Hall
April 11—Houston, TX—The Heights Theater
April 12—Dallas, TX—Longhorn Ballroom
April 13—Lubbock, TX—Cactus Theater
April 15—Santa Fe, NM—Lensic PAC
April 16—Phoenix, AZ—Celebrity Theatre
April 22—San Francisco, CA—Bimbo’s 365
April 23—San Francisco, CA—Bimbo’s 365

The latest trailer for A Complete Unknown gives fans the most complete sneak peek yet into Timothee Chalamet‘s portrayal of Bob Dylan.

The just-released clip from James Mangold‘s upcoming biopic finds Dylan arriving in New York, where he meets fellow singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), gets involved in a love triangle and then decides to abandon folk music. Along the way, Chalamet can be heard singing Dylan favorites like “Girl From the North Country” and “Like a Rolling Stone.”

There’s also footage depicting Dylan and Baez duetting at the Monterey Folk Festival in 1963. As a romance sparks, the exchanges with Baez prove to be particularly spicy: “Your songs are like an oil painting at the dentist’s office,” Chalamet’s character says. Barbaro’s Baez then responds: “You’re kind of an asshole, Bob.”

READ MORE: Top 10 Bob Dylan Lyrics

Dylan also becomes involved with Sylvie Russo, a fictionalized version of Suze Rotolo played by Elle Fanning. (Rotolo would memorably appear on the album cover of 1963’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.) He meets hero Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook), too.

Mangold’s film was based on Elijah Wald’s 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric!, and that decision gives the trailer its tension. Record label figures express confusion while his tradition-bound fanbase reacts in anger.

A Complete Unknown is set to premiere on Dec. 25. Dylan himself offered notes on the script: “I’ve spent several wonderfully charming days in his company, just one-on-one, talking to him,” Mangold said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “I have a script that’s personally annotated by him and treasured by me.”

This new footage follows a short teaser released in July. The Complete Unknown cast also includes Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie and Dan Fogler as Albert Grossman, among others.

How an Unlikely Collaboration With Bob Dylan Changed Michael Bolton

The 1970s was all about extremes. Fashion was both shockingly tight and incredibly loose, often within the same outfit. It was more than a trend—it was a vibe.

The Grittiest Decade

Just like fashion, popular culture had its own rebellious streak. Films were grittier than ever with scenes that would cause a riot in theaters today (if people actually went to theaters). At the same time, disco might have “sucked” but it ruled the music scene and became the soundtrack to iconic “only in the ’70s” movies like Saturday Night Fever.

Politically, the 1970s were bumpy, to say the least. The Vietnam War officially ended, but shaped much of the culture for years to come. Watergate ruled the nightly newscasts. Movements for women’s and civil rights resulted in massive marches and there was a push to not only save the whole planet but also “Save the Whales.”

Things Got Real in Entertainment

In entertainment, the seeds for the ’80s blockbusters era were planted with game-changing movies like Jaws and Star Wars, which revolutionized both filmmaking and movie merchandising.

On the small (but very clunky) screen, lighthearted and wholesome sitcoms switched to more realistic portrayals of a quickly changing American population, with shows like All in the Family tackling tough issues and using language that I can’t even include here.

READ MORE: How Many of These Objects From the ’70s Can You Identify?

But like any era that saw huge shifts, the ’70s just had a look. You know a ’70s photo when you see one. Below we take a look at 79 such photos, that show scenes from everyday life, to newsworthy events, sports and entertainment which perfectly capture that ’70s vibe.

Motley Crue played the first of three “Hollywood Takeover” club shows Monday night at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.

You can see the full set list and video of the show below.

The mini-tour finds Motley Crue revisiting their past by playing shows on the Sunset Strip clubs where they began their career. Packed together on the tiny stage, the band used the same 16-song set they’ve been performing at recent headlining and festival shows, beginning with “Primal Scream” and concluding with “Kickstart My Heart.”

Read More: Motley Crue Release Defiant New Song ‘Cancelled’

Watch Motley Crue Perform ‘Too Fast for Love’

Motley Crue will continue their walk down memory late Wednesday night Oct. 9 at the Roxy before closing out the series with Friday Oct. 11 show at the Whisky a Go Go. As documented in both a book and a movie named The Dirt, the band emerged from the Hollywood club scene in the early ’80s, performing their very first show at the Starwood Hotel in April 1981.

Watch Motley Crue Perform ‘Wild Side’

Motley Crue Will Return to Las Vegas in 2025

Last week Motley Crue announced another return to familiar stomping grounds, their third Las Vegas residency. “The Las Vegas Residency” will consist of 11 shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM, starting on March 28 and scheduled to conclude April 19. It follows 2012’s “Motley Crue Takes on Sin City” and 2013’s “Evening in Hell” residencies.

Motley Crue Oct. 7, 2024 Troubadour Set List
1. “Primal Scream”
2. “Too Fast for Love”
3. “Wild Side”
4. “Shout at the Devil”
5. “Live Wire”
6. “On With the Show”
7. “Dogs of War”
8. Guitar Solo
9. “Looks That Kill”
10. “Rock and Roll Part 2” / “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” / “Helter Skelter” /
“Anarchy in the U.K.” / “Blitzkrieg Bop”
11. “Fight for Your Right”
12. “Home Sweet Home”
13. “Dr. Feelgood”
14. “Same Ol’ Situation”
15. “Girls, Girls, Girls”
16. “Kickstart My Heart”

Bob Dylan dug a little more deeply into his catalog over the weekend in Prague, performing both “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “Dignity” for the first time in five years. Listen below.

He’s playing a string of European dates after a summer spent on tour with Willie Nelson and the Outlaw Music Festival Tour. Sunday night’s concert was the last of a three-date stand at the O2 Universum.

“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” is originally from 1965’s platinum-selling international Top 5 hit Bringing It All Back Home and became one of Dylan’s most-covered songs. Memorable updates followed from Them (an early garage-band classic), Joan Baez (1965’s Farewell, Angelina), the Byrds (1969’s Ballad of Easy Rider), the Animals (1977’s Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted) and Marianne Faithfull (1985’s Rich Kid Blues).

READ MORE: Ranking Every Bob Dylan Album

Dylan tirelessly worked on “Dignity” with producer Daniel Lanois during sessions for 1989’s Oh Mercy, but they never finished. “Whatever promise Dan had seen in the song was beaten into a bloody mess,” Dylan later admitted in Chronicles: Volume One. “Where we had started from, we’d never gotten back to, a fishing expedition gone nowhere. In no take did we ever turn back the clock. We just kept winding it. Every take another ball of confusion.”

Listen to Bob Dylan’s ‘Dignity’

Other Favorites on Bob Dylan’s Playlist

Dylan later reworked “Dignity” for 1994’s Greatest Hits Volume 3, but hadn’t returned to the song in concert since May 4, 2019, in Fuengirola, Spain. He last played “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” on Oct. 23, 2019, at Ames, Iowa.

The set lists in Prague also included “All Along the Watchtower,” “Desolation Row,” “Every Grain of Sand,” “When I Paint My Masterpiece” and two songs (“I Contain Multitudes” and “False Prophet”) from the tour’s title album, 2020’s Rough and Rowdy Ways.

Dylan is now headed to Germany.

Listen to Bob Dylan’s ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’

Listen to Bob Dylan’s ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’

How an Unlikely Collaboration With Bob Dylan Changed Michael Bolton

On Oct. 4, Iron Maiden kicked off the North American leg of The Future Past tour, delivering a 15-song set in front of a Chula Vista, California crowd.

The run has already taken place in other parts of the world and mostly concentrates on two albums — 2021’s Senjutsu and the 1986 classic Somewhere in Time. Material off the pair of records makes up two-thirds of the set, with one song from five other albums rounding out the setlist.

One of the biggest highlights is the performance of the epic Somewhere in Time closer “Alexander the Great,” which had never been played live prior to 2024. And, as with any tour backing a new record, it could be the only time we see these Senjutsu songs enter the set, especially with a 50th anniversary tour looming. That celebratory trek will only features material from Iron Maiden’s self-titled debut through 1992’s Fear of the Dark.

READ MORE: Iron Maiden Announce 50th Anniversary World Tour With Special Set

Even at 66 years old, singer Bruce Dickinson remains in remarkably youthful form, still reaching all the high notes and belting it all out with a fiery passion, matched by his physically exhaustive presence.

The rest of the group bring an age-defying energy as well, proving why this band has been on top for so long.

See photos, fan-filmed footage and the complete setlist from The Future Past tour kickoff below. Head to Iron Maiden’s website to see all their upcoming dates, too.

Iron Maiden, “Caught Somewhere in Time” + “Stranger In a Strange Land” (Oct. 4, 2024)

Iron Maiden, “Hell on Earth” (Oct. 4, 2024)

Iron Maiden Setlist – Oct. 4, 2024

01. “Caught Somewhere in Time”
02. “Stranger in a Strange Land”
03. “The Writing on the Wall”
04. “Days of Future Past”
05. “The Time Machine”
06. “The Prisoner”
07. “Death of the Celts”
08. “Can I Play With Madness”
09. “Heaven Can Wait”
10. “Alexander the Great”
11. “Fear of the Dark”
12. “Iron Maiden”

Encore:
13. “Hell on Earth”
14. “The Trooper”
15. “Wasted Years”

via setlist.fm

Photos: Iron Maiden Live on Oct. 4, 2024

The Grateful Dead continue to document important periods of their long career with lavish box sets. Ultimate Classic Rock Nights is giving away a copy of the newest entry, Friend of the Devils: April 1978, courtesy of Rhino Entertainment.

As the late Steve Silberman wrote in the liner notes, a consistent thing about the Dead was change. “One of the secret delights of being a Dead Head was discovering your favorite band had morphed into a different band since the last time you saw them, but one that sounded just as fresh, as surprisingly vital and as relevant to the present moment.”

The now-standard “Drums” and “Space” were on their way to becoming a permanent part of the second set during the 1978 performances, a tradition which would continue for the rest of the band’s career. They previewed “Fire on the Mountain” in advance of its appearance that November on Shakedown Street and also performed plenty of established fan favorites like “Bertha” and “Truckin’.”

“You can approach the Grateful Dead in eras and that’s a really fun thing to do,” drummer Mickey Hart told UCR in 2023. “You can see how we evolved from a jug band to a blues band to an experimental music band to a country band to a rock and roll band.”

“These eight shows tell the story of a band that was engaged, inspired and focused on bringing their A-game every single night,” Dead archivist David Lemieux said, regarding the new box set. “If there was ever a tour on which the Dead deliver every single moment, it’s this one.”

Watch David Lemieux Unbox ‘Friend of the Devils: April 1978’

Friend of the Devils: April 1978 includes 19 discs, packaged in an innovative box that features a removable wave drum, plus a 48-page book with liner notes and photos. .

For your chance to win the grand prize copy of Friend of the Devils: April 1978, simply enter your name, email and phone number into the entry form at the top of this page. You will be added to UCR’s daily newsletter mailing list. Additional winners will also be selected to receive copies of the Duke ’78 concert release. The contest ends Oct. 11, 2024 at 11:59pm EST.

Cissy Houston, mother of singer Whitney and a backup singer with Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and others, has died. She was 91.

According to the Associated Press, Houston died Monday in her New Jersey home under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease. She was surrounded by her family.

Houston was born Emily Drinkard on Sept. 30, 1933, in Newark. In 1963, the same year she gave birth to daughter Whitney, Houston formed the Sweet Inspirations, an R&B vocal group that spent more than a half-dozen years as a studio group performing on dozens of classic records.

READ MORE: 25 Great Elvis Presley Songs From the ’70s

The Sweet Inspirations became busy performers in the mid-’60s, working as backing singers on songs by Presley, Aretha Franklin and many others before Houston – who was also an aunt to Dionne Warwick and cousin to Grammy-winning opera singer Leontyne Price – went solo in 1970.

Houston’s singing career started in 1938 when she joined her siblings in the gospel group the Drinkard Four, but it was a quarter century later when she started hitting the charts as the lead singer in the Sweet Inspirations.

What Songs Did Cissy Houston Sing On?

Their voices appeared on recordings by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, the Drifters, Dusty Springfield and Warwick during this period. In addition to appearing on Van Morrison‘s breakthrough solo single “Brown Eyed Girl,” Houston and the Sweet Inspirations had a big role in Franklin’s hit “Ain’t No Way.” They also sang background vocals for the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” in 1967.

Two years later, the Sweet Inspirations were tapped as Presley’s backing group when he returned to live performances in Las Vegas. The quartet backed many of Presley’s comeback performances through 1970. Houston then stepped away from the group to focus on her family and a solo career after a successful run with Presley.

Houston had one chart hit during her solo career, a cover of the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” that reached No. 92. She continued to serve as a backing singer, appearing on Paul Simon‘s “Mother and Child Reunion,” Linda Ronstadt‘s Heart Like a Wheel, David Bowie‘s Young Americans and other recordings.

By the mid-’90s she was performing gospel songs and had collected a Grammy Award for one of her religious albums and had penned books regarding faith.

“Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness,” daughter-in-law Pat Houston said in a statement. “We lost the matriarch of our family. Mother Cissy has been a strong and towering figure in our lives. A woman of deep faith and conviction, who cared greatly about family, ministry, and community. Her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will remain at the forefront of our hearts.”

Kiss is currently working on a five-part documentary about their farewell tour.

Paul Stanley revealed the news in a social media post, with a photo showing his wife Erin being interviewed for the series.

The End of the Road tour kicked off on Jan. 31, 2019 and concluded nearly four years later with two sold-out December 2023 shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Kiss played 250 shows altogether, despite having to postpone dozens of shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read More: Five Weird Things About Kiss’ Final Show

Two concerts from the tour were aired as pay-per-view specials. On New Year’s Eve 2020 the band performed the Kiss 2020 Goodbye concert from Dubai, with a small crowd watching from socially distanced hotel room balconies. The last show of the tour was also aired live on PPV. No live albums or home videos have been released from the tour yet, and there is no word on when or where the five-part documentary will be made available.

Kiss Promise ‘Immersive’ Hologram Avatar Show for 2027

Kiss are also at work on an ABBA-style hologram show. They revealed an early version of the digital avatars that will be used at the end of their final Madison Square Garden Concert. In a recent interview with Billboard‘s Behind the Setlist, Stanley promised it would be more than a concert replication. “The idea of a simulated concert is not what we wanna do. Frankly, I would find that boring. What we’re creating is an immersive experience that Kiss fans will love and people who have never been exposed to Kiss or might not like certain aspects of the band will have to see.”

Former Allman Brothers Band member Johnny Neel has died at age 70. No cause of death was immediately reported. He’d suffered a stroke five years ago but recovered and returned to performing.

Former bandmate Warren Haynes confirmed Neel’s death. “Aside from being an amazing musician and singer, Johnny was one of the funniest people on the planet — a true character,” Haynes said in a social media post. “‘Johnny Neel stories,’ as we refer to them in our little chunk of the music world, are legendary.”

Neel joined the Allman Brothers on keyboards and harmonica before their 20th-anniversary reunion tour in the summer of 1989 then appeared on 1990’s Seven Turns, co-writing four songs including the Billboard mainstream rock chart-topping single “Good Clean Fun.” He also co-wrote “Maydell” from 2003’s Hittin’ the Note, which became the final studio album by the Allman Brothers Band.

READ MORE: The Very Best Dickey Betts Songs

Born blind on June 11, 1954, in Wilmington, Delaware, Neel had already recorded his first single with a group called the Shapes of Soul before reaching his teens. He was listening to “Motown, soul music, pretty much back then. There were a lot of black influences down at the blind school,” Neel later remembered. “I went to the Maryland School of the Blind in Baltimore. Everyone there either played piano or tuned one. Around the Shapes of Soul era, the Stevie Wonder Fingertips album hit me because we were exactly the same age – 12.”

Neel eventually drifted into rock music, recording two regionally well-received independent albums. He then moved to Nashville in the early ’80s and entered the Allman Brothers Band’s orbit after striking up a friendship with fellow resident Dickey Betts.

Neel and Haynes were part of Betts’ solo group before he brought them into the reformed Allman Brothers Band lineup. Neel co-wrote seven songs on Betts’ 1988 album Pattern Disruptive, adding lead vocals on “Far Cry.” He later toured with Gregg Allman, co-writing “Island” for Allman’s solo LP Just Before the Bullets Fly from the same year.

“The first time I met Johnny was at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville when I had just moved there,” Haynes said. “He was sitting in with a band at a blues jam and he sang a song and played harmonica. The first thing I noticed, other than that he was blind, was that he sang better than their singer and he played better harp than their harp player. After he was done, I approached him and introduced myself and told him how much I enjoyed hearing him to which he replied, ‘I’m really a keyboard player but this band doesn’t have keyboards.’ ‘Wow,’ I thought. He must be a helluva keyboard player — and he was.”

Listen to Johnny Neel Perform ‘Good Clean Fun’ With the Allman Brothers

Michael McDonald Pays Tribute to Johnny Neel

“Maydell,” co-written with Haynes, originally appeared on 1994’s Johnny Neel and the Last Word. By then, John Mayall had already covered the track on 1993’s Wake Up Call. Among the many other albums Neel appeared were Haynes’ Tales of Ordinary Madness in 1993; Life Before Insanity from Haynes’ band Gov’t Mule in 2000; and Michael McDonald’s Blue Obsession, also from 2000.

“I was blessed by Johnny’s immense talent on the first record I recorded I Nashville,” McDonald said in a separate social media post. “I remember knowing right off that he was a good soul too. His musical gift was legendary by then and I consider it an honor to have crossed musical paths with him if only briefly.

Neel also worked with drummer Matt Abts and guitarist Allen Woody of Gov’t Mule in X2. Neel, Haynes and Abts appeared earlier this year on Live from the Lone Star Roadhouse, a Dickey Betts Band concert originally recorded in November 1988 in New York City.

Listen to Johnny Neel Perform ‘Blue Sky’ With the Dickey Betts Band

Warren Haynes Remembers the Allman Brothers Band

Ozzy Osbourne recently confessed that he’s been indulging in the sweet leaf after decades of widely reported drug abuse and subsequent attempts at sobriety.

On a September installment of The Madhouse Chronicles, Osbourne’s new online talk show with Billy Idol guitarist Billy Morrison, both cohosts discussed their long, tumultuous histories with drugs. Osbourne, who has been reportedly substance-free for much of the past decade, admitted that these days he is “happier, but I’m not completely sober. I use a bit of marijuana from time to time.”

The 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee attributed his abstinence from harder drugs to his wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne. “I’m lucky: My wife kicked my butt all the time. She would fucking make life so difficult,” he said. “Even the marijuana, she’ll fucking find it and get rid of it.”

READ MORE: Ozzy’s RRHOF Induction to Feature Billy Idol, Jack Black and More

Ozzy Osbourne Is Not a Believer in Microdosing

Morrison asked Osbourne if he’d had any experience with microdosing drugs, a process by which some of his friends and collaborators swear. Osbourne was not convinced of its utility, arguing that microdosing was simply “lighting the fuse” for addicts like himself.

“I went to a doctor recently ’cause somebody I know very well started doing this ketamine,” Osbourne said. “He put a tiny bit in me, but that was enough to spark me. That feeling, that thing came back, that weight in my brain, waiting for somebody to go, ‘Bing.'”

He then added, pointedly: “They don’t make smack-lite.”

READ MORE: Ozzy Osbourne Says Cocaine Was the ‘Meaning of Life’ to Black Sabbath

Ozzy Osbourne Says Drugs ‘Will Bite You in the Balls’

Osbourne and Morrison both noted that Osbourne’s first No. 1 album in the U.S., Black Sabbath‘s 13, was the first album he made while completely sober. Osbourne said drugs would ultimately zap his creativity and memory, and he shared words of encouragement for others struggling to quit.

“The message is: If you’re out there and you’re using dope and you want to get off, there’s plenty of help,” he said. “A.A. [Alcoholics Anonymous] is a 12-step program. It got me sorted out to a certain degree. I don’t go to meetings myself anymore. Maybe I should, I don’t know.”

He ended the episode on a more acerbic note. “If you’re out there [using drugs] and you’re having the blast of your life, my hat goes off to you,” he said. “But I guarantee — and I don’t give a fuck who it is — it will bite you in the balls.”

 

 

Lucinda Williams will release a new cover album, Lucinda Williams Sings the Beatles From Abbey Road, on Dec. 6, 2024.

Williams recorded the 12-track LP at the titular London studio where the Beatles recorded their 1969 opus of the same name.

A complete track listing can be viewed below, along with the first song to be released, a cover of George Harrison‘s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

Lucinda Williams Sings the Beatles From Abbey Road is not the first time the singer-songwriter has paid extensive tribute to a single artist. Her Lu’s Jukebox series kicked off in October 2020, leading to themed concerts and physical albums dedicated to Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and others.

READ MORE: How the Beatles and ‘Abbey Road’ Influenced Beastie Boys

Lucinda Williams’ Stroke Recovery

In November 2020, a month after Williams launched her Jukebox series, she suffered a debilitating stroke, which led to a week in intensive care and many months of rehabilitation.

“The brain and body have a remarkable capacity to heal themselves, but I still shuffle when I walk,” she explained to The Guardian last year. “I haven’t been able to play guitar, which is the big thing. My husband keeps telling me I need to play through the pain. The actual playing is good exercise. I’m still doing shows with my band, just differently, and I can sing fine. Some people tell me I’m singing better than before I had the stroke.”

Despite these health difficulties, Williams has various American tour dates scheduled for the rest of this year.

‘Lucinda Williams Sings the Beatles From Abbey Road’ Track Listing:
1. “Don’t Let Me Down”
2. “I’m Looking Through You”
3. “Can’t Buy Me Love”
4. “Rain”
5. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
6. “Let It Be”
7. “Yer Blues”
8. “I’ve Got a Feeling”
9. “I’m So Tired”
10. “Something”
11. “With a Little Help From My Friends”
12. “The Long and Winding Road”

The Allman Brothers Band‘s epic last show will be celebrated with the 10th-anniversary release of Final Concert 10-28-14 across multiple formats. See the official track listing below.

Held on Oct. 28, 2014, the concert took place in an historically appropriate location at New York City’s Beacon Theatre, where the Allman Brothers Band sold out a remarkable 238 consecutive times. Long-time member Warren Haynes built the set list, with nearly 30 songs that included material from six Allmans albums and three key cover songs.

The digital version of Final Concert 10-28-14 is set for release on Oct. 25, with a three-disc set featuring a 16-page booklet with exclusive liner notes and photos to follow on Nov. 22. Preorders are already underway.

READ MORE: Top 10 Gregg Allman Songs

The band’s final lineup included the late Gregg Allman (Hammond B-3 organ, piano, acoustic guitar and vocals), John Lee “Jaimoe” Johnson (drums), the late Butch Trucks (drums and tympani), Haynes (lead and slide guitar and vocals), Derek Trucks (lead and slide guitar), Marc Quinones (congas, percussion and vocals) and Oteil Burbridge (bass and vocals). With its unprecedented third set, this became one of the longest concerts in Allman Brothers’ history.

“Having joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1991, I had no idea what I was getting myself into as a percussionist joining two drummers on stage,” Quinones said in a news release. “Fast forward 23 years to the last show we played as the Allman Brothers Band, I feel honored to have been part of such a historical musical force that was and is the ABB. Love live the ABB!”

The marathon concert concluded with “Trouble No More,” a song of particular resonance: “We’re going to bookend the Allman Brothers Band – end it with the song we started with,” Trucks said on stage. They’d leave the stage early in the morning of October 29, on the 43rd anniversary of co-founder Duane Allman‘s death in a motorcycle crash.

Allman Brothers Band, ‘Final Concert 10-28-14’ Track Listing
“Little Martha”
“Mountain Jam”
“Don’t Want You No More”
“It’s Not My Cross to Bear”
“One Way Out”
“Good Morning Little School Girl”
“Midnight Rider”
“The High Cost of Low Living”
“Hot ‘Lanta”
“Blue Sky”
“You Don’t Love Me / Soul Serenade / You Don’t Love Me”

Disc 2:
“Statesboro Blues”
“Ain’t Wasting Time”
“Black Hearted Woman”
“The Sky Is Crying”
“Dreams”
“Don’t Keep Me Wonderin'”
“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”
“JaMaBuBu”
“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (Reprise)”

Disc 3:
“Melissa”
“Revival”
“Southbound”
“Mountain Jam (Reprise)”
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken”
“Mountain Jam (Reprise 2)”
“Whipping Post”
Farewell Message
“Trouble No More”

Tedeschi Trucks Band Discuss Their Influences

Like so much rock ‘n’ roll from the earliest and most formative years, Southern rock took a little bit from here and a little bit from there.

Not to be confused with its lighter-touched country rock cousin, Southern rock mixes blues, soul and country and spins it through heavy rock’s affinity for loud guitars and improvisational spirit for a genre truly distinct in tone and style.

In the below list of the Top 35 Southern Rock Songs, as chosen by the UCR staff, the twin pillars of the music – the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd – are well-represented, checking in, in one form or another, with more than a third of the entries. But Southern rock doesn’t end with them, even if the story begins there. Records from the ’70s through the ’00s all find a place. As the late Ronnie Van Zant famously once asked, “What song is it you wanna hear?”

35. The Allman Brothers Band, “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” (From Eat a Peach, 1972)

Two months after Duane Allman died in a 1971 motorcycle accident, his brother Gregg and bandmates laid down this tribute to the late guitarist. Gregg Allman had already written the music for “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” before his sibling died (the group had started recording its third album, Eat a Peach, too); he then penned new lyrics for an anthem about living every day to the fullest and moving on amid tragedy.

 

34. The Allman Brothers Band, “Jessica” (From Brothers and Sisters, 1973)

Rebounding from the deaths of guitarist Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley, the Allman Brothers Band streamlined on their fourth album. The result paid off with their only No. 1. Written by guitarist Dickey Betts for his infant daughter, the instrumental  “Jessica” (shortened by nearly half of its album length when released as the follow-up single to “Ramblin’ Man”) became a concert showcase for Betts and the Allmans.

 

33. 38 Special, “Caught Up in You” (From Special Forces, 1982)

More than any other Southern rock band, Jacksonville, Florida’s 38 Special benefited from MTV’s introduction in 1981. Their pop hooks went a long way to getting the band’s videos in heavy rotation on the nascent music video network. “Caught Up in You,” the lead single from their fifth LP, was their first Top 10 hit and like most of the group’s other chart songs it’s sung by Don Barnes, who cowrote the song with members of Survivor.

 

32. Blackfoot, “Train, Train” (From Strikes, 1979)

Formed by Rickey Medlocke, an early and then later Lynyrd Skynyrd member, Blackfoot rarely reached the commercial highs of many of their Southern rock peers. They hit their peak on 1979’s Strikes, which includes their only Top 40 single, “Highway Song.” For the follow-up, they chose a song written and first recorded by Medlocke’s grandfather, Shorty. “Train, Train” powers along a rhythm as old as the South.

 

31. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Tuesday’s Gone” (From [Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd], 1973)

Southern rock draws as much from the region’s vintage soul music as it does from the boogie-laced guitars that can be traced to rock ‘n’ roll’s blues connection. Three key tracks from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s genre-defining debut are rooted in ’60s soul, starting with “Tuesday’s Gone,” the slow-burning second song on (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) that includes adorning strings supplied by producer Al Kooper‘s Mellotron.

 

READ MORE: Top 35 Country Rock Songs

 

 

30. Hank Williams Jr., “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” (From Major Moves, 1984)

Hank Williams Jr. has always played a tougher form of country music than his peers and trailblazing father. But his 1984 hit “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” grazes the edges of Southern rock with its blazing guitars and raucous subject. The song took on a life of its own later in the decade when it was tapped as the opening theme song to Monday Night Football, a position it held for the next two decades.

 

29. 38 Special, “Hold On Loosely” (From Wild-Eyed Southern Boys, 1981)

38 Special was more pop-oriented than many of their Southern rock brethren, unafraid to go for the big hook when needed. Inspired by an equal mix of the Cars and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the group’s first Top 40 single was one of three songs on their fourth LP, Wild-Eyed Southern Boys, not sung by Donnie Van Zant, the younger brother of late Skynyrd singer Ronnie. Vocal duties here fall to “Hold On Loosely”‘s cowriter Don Barnes.

 

28. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “That Smell” (From Street Survivors, 1977)

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s fifth album was covered in a dark cloud. As band members’ drug and alcohol abuses increased, singer Ronnie Van Zant stood back and assessed the situation in a song that warned of the dangers of their excess. “That Smell” even references an incident where guitarist Gary Rossington wrecked his car. Three days after Street Survivors‘ release, a plane crash claimed the lives of Van Zant and others.

 

27. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “What’s Your Name” (From Street Survivors, 1977)

Using their fifth album to dip into the Southern soul music around them, Lynyrd Skynyrd infused Street Survivors songs with horns and backing vocals, recorded parts of it at Muscle Shoals and enlisted Tom Dowd to produce. The opening track and first single “What’s Your Name” is a life-on-the-road tale punctuated with an R&B base that crosses the line from the band’s usual Southern rock. A new era cut short (see above entry).

 

26. Georgia Satellites, “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” (From Georgia Satellites, 1986)

The Dan Baird-led Georgia Satellites came out of the South in the mid-’90s with a sound equally informed by college radio as the Southern rock of the ’70s. Structured as a basic 12-bar blues, “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” (the band’s debut single) seemed like an anomaly in 1986: a throwback rock ‘n’ roll song with greasy Southern rock grit and even greasier intentions. That it made it to No. 2 is an achievement in itself.

 

25. ZZ Top, “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” (From Deguello, 1979)

When ZZ Top arrived at their sixth LP, Deguello, in 1979, they were returning from a two-year break that marked a world of difference for the Texas trio. No longer chained to the Southern boogie of their first five records, the band, particularly Billy Gibbons, discovered new inspiration in the punk and new wave sounds they were hearing, as well as developing technology. “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” links their old and new styles.

 

24. The Black Crowes, “Hard to Handle” (From Shake Your Money Maker, 1990)

Never shying away from their heritage, Atlanta’s Black Crowes gave Otis Redding‘s posthumous 1968 song “Hard to Handle” a Southern rock makeover on their 1990 debut, Shake Your Money Maker. The band so effortlessly slid into their role that the track is barely distinguishable from their originals. After a couple of tries, the Crowes’ version peaked at No. 26, their highest ranking ever on the main singles chart.

 

23. Little Feat, “Fat Man in the Bathtub” (From Dixie Chicken, 1973)

With two new members (including ace guitarist Paul Barrere) added in 1973, Little Feat arrived at the classic lineup that was together until the death of leader Lowell George in 1979. Their first album as a sextet also set them on a course for a thicker mix of R&B and Southern rock, exemplified by many of their live performances from the era. George’s “Fat Man in the Bathtub,” a highlight of Dixie Chicken, became a live staple.

 

22. Kings of Leon, “Notion” (From Only by the Night, 2009)

Kings of Leon‘s fourth album, Only by the Night, is best known for containing the hits “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody” that helped drive the Tennesseeans into the Top 10 for the first time. The record’s closest tie to the group’s Southern heritage appears later: At a compact three minutes, “Notion” doesn’t seem to share much with the band’s Southern rock forebearers, but the woozy guitar and chugging rhythm are pure South.

 

21. Elvin Bishop, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” (From Struttin’ My Stuff, 1976)

As a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Elvin Bishop had earned his status among modern American blues guitarists a decade earlier. As a solo artist, he’d been blending blues, soul and Southern rock on albums since the late ’60s. Future Jefferson Starship singer Mickey Thomas was a backing vocalist in Bishop’s band at the time and was given the mic on “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” a No. 3 hit in 1976.

 

NEXT: Lynyrd Skynyrd Albums Ranked

 

 

20. ZZ Top, “Heard It on the X” (From Fandango!, 1975)

As ZZ Top entered into the planning stages for their fourth album, and first following the breakthrough of 1973’s Tres Hombres, they were torn between the obligatory live release and their next studio record. So they compromised and made a side consisting of each. The studio half, Side Two, includes their first Top 40 hit, “Tush,” as well as “Heard It on the X,” a fan favorite about influential border radio station X-Rock 80.

 

19. Outlaws, “Green Grass and High Tides” (From Outlaws, 1975)

At nearly 10 minutes, the closing song on Outlaws‘ debut album comes on like a shaggy sibling of both the Allmans and Skynyrd. Named after a Rolling Stones compilation and inspired by late rock ‘n’ roll artists, “Green Grass and High Tides” quickly became a showpiece in Outlaws’ barnstorming concerts, often stretching past the 20-minute marker. The twin guitar solos owe a debt to Southern rock peers, especially Skynyrd.

 

18. The Allman Brothers Band “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” (From At Fillmore East, 1971)

“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” – named after a headstone spotted in the Allmans’ hometown of Macon, Georgia – first appeared on the band’s second LP in 1970, Idlewild South. A year later the group included an expanded version on their breakthrough live album, At Fillmore East, where the instrumental takes on truly epic proportions as guitarists Duane Allman and Dickey Betts weave in and out of each other’s notes.

 

17. The Black Crowes, “She Talks to Angels” (From Shake Your Money Maker, 1990)

The Black Crowes came on like a mix of the Stones and Faces ran through a Southern rock filter on their debut album in 1990. Their first Top 40 single, however, brings the stew to a simmer with a semi-acoustic ballad about heroin abuse. “She Talks to Angels” fits in with tradition, though, going back to the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s penchant for ballads and acoustic songs about deeper and darker subjects.

 

16. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Saturday Night Special” (From Nuthin’ Fancy, 1975)

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s third album is often overlooked when judged against their other LPs. Still, Nuthin’ Fancy was their first to make the Top 10. “Saturday Night Special,” the record’s only single, takes a staunch anti-gun stance that still managed to climb into the Top 30 in 1975. “Handguns are made for killin’ / They ain’t no good for nothin’ else,” Ronnie Van Zant matter-of-factly sings over tough, chugging rock ‘n’ roll guitars.

 

15. Drive-By Truckers, “Outfit” (From Decoration Day, 2003)

When Drive-By Truckers added Jason Isbell to their lineup on their fourth LP, they got more than a third guitarist in their Skynyrd-like attack. They also got a singer-songwriter whose words belied his 24 years. “Don’t call what you’re wearing an outfit, don’t ever say your car is broke / Don’t sing with a fake British accent, don’t act like your family’s a joke,” he sings in “Outfit,” advice passed down from one generation to the next.

 

14. ZZ Top, “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” (From Tres Hombres, 1973)

After a somewhat rocky start on their first two albums, neither of which captured the dynamic energy of the in-sync trio, ZZ Top zeroed in on their collective strengths for their third album, the breakthrough Tres Hombres. After the opening one-two punch of “Waitin’ for the Bus” and “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard tear into “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” like it’s a new statement of purpose.

 

13. Ram Jam, “Black Betty” (From Ram Jam, 1977)

Using Lead Belly’s 1930s recording of an old folk song as its basis, “Black Betty” wasn’t even attached to a group when it was recorded by ex-Lemon Piper Bill Bartlett in 1975. Two years later, producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz built a band for Bartlett as a vehicle for the song. Ram Jam released two albums; only their debut charted. “Black Betty” was their only hit single, making the Top 20 before the group broke up.

 

12. Molly Hatchet, “Flirtin’ With Disaster” (From Flirtin’ With Disaster, 1979)

Jacksonville, Florida’s Molly Hatchet came on heavier and harder than most of their Southern rock contemporaries, peaking on their second album, Flirtin’ With Disaster from 1979. The title song sealed their legacy. Trimmed 60 seconds from its five-minute album length, the single stopped short of the Top 40, robbing the band of its only big hit. No matter, the song is a rock radio favorite that kept Molly Hatchet busy into the ’80s.

 

11. The Black Crowes, “Remedy” (From The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, 1992)

The Black Crowes collected lots of Faces and Rolling Stones comparisons with their debut album; they didn’t stop with the follow-up, though the band aligned more closely with its Southern roots, especially on “Remedy,” The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion‘s first single. With a hip-shaking rhythm and snaky swagger, the song is ’90s-style Southern rock – a boiling pot of influences that’s more than mere tribute.

 

10. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Simple Man” (From [Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd], 1973)

More than any other Southern rock band of the era, Lynyrd Skynyrd played up the Southerness of their roots – from the barroom honky-tonk politics of “Gimme Three Steps” to the bottle-tipping “Poison Whiskey,” both from their debut album, a cornerstone of the genre. “Simple Man,” however, could be the most Southern track on the LP, an advice song passed on from mother to son about not forgetting those roots.

 

9. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Gimme Three Steps” (From [Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd], 1973)

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut plays like a greatest-hits record, from concert staples such as “Free Bird” to sleeper fan favorite “I Ain’t the One” found among its eight songs. Their debut single “Gimme Three Steps” got a boost with a rousing version found on the band’s 1976 live album, One More From the Road, but there’s an all-too-real sense of surprise to the studio take, complementary to the song’s out-of-his-depth narrator.

 

8. The Marshall Tucker Band, “Can’t You See” (From The Marshall Tucker Band, 1973)

The centerpiece of South Carolina’s Marshall Tucker Band‘s self-titled debut, “Can’t You See” begins with an instrumental passage featuring the flute, not exactly the instrument of choice for Southern rock bands. The song was the group’s first single and stalled outside the Top 100; four years later a live version hit No. 75. It’s since become a favorite to cover, with Waylon Jennings and Zac Brown Band among its fans.

 

7. Little Feat, “Dixie Chicken” (From Dixie Chicken, 1973)

Little Feat’s second album, Sailin’ Shoes from 1972, helped set the template for the band’s easy groove going forward, but it’s their third record where they finally put it all together, blending funk, soul, country and Southern rock with an assured grace that also translated effortlessly to the stage. Dixie Chicken‘s title track quickly became the band’s signature song, a distillation of their warm-to-hot allure in four sweat-escalating minutes.

 

6. ZZ Top, “La Grange” (From Tres Hombres, 1973)

Borrowing a rhythm base and vocal lines from John Lee Hooker’s classic blues “Boogie Chillen,” ZZ Top turbo-charge “La Grange” into something else by the end of the song. The highlight of their breakthrough third album, Tres Hombres,” “La Grange” is part blues, part boogie and part Southern rock, gliding along a scuzzy guitar line rivaled by Billy Gibbons’ scratchy haw-haw-haw-haw vocal. A nod and a bridge from the past.

 

READ MORE: Allman Brothers Albums Ranked

 

 

5. The Allman Brothers Band, “Ramblin’ Man” (From Brothers and Sisters, 1973)

After Duane Allman died in 1971, the Allmans’ other guitarist, Dickey Betts, stepped up to learn his late bandmate’s slide parts and, in turn, progressed into one of the group’s most relied-upon players. Borrowing its title and country foundation from a Hank Williams song, “Ramblin’ Man” was demoed two years before its appearance on 1973’s Brothers and Sisters. It hit No. 2, the band’s only Top 10 hit in a decades-long career.

 

4. Gregg Allman, “Midnight Rider” (From Laid Back, 1973)

The Allman Brothers Band had already recorded, in what many may say is the definitive version, “Midnight Rider” on their second album, Idlewild South. When the song’s main writer Gregg Allman was putting together his first solo album in 1973, he rerecorded it as a moodier update that emphasized the dark nature inherent in the song’s groove. The new version went Top 20, surpassing the commercial peak of the earlier track.

 

3. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Sweet Home Alabama” (From Second Helping, 1974)

Written as a reaction to Neil Young‘s South-baiting “Southern Man,” “Sweet Home Alabama” quickly grew beyond its answer-song origins. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut was a modest hit, denting the Top 30, though it placed no songs in the Top 10. That changed with “Sweet Home Alabama,” which made the Top 10 (the band’s only single to do so) and provided the band with the steam to claim the Southern rock crown by mid-decade.

 

2. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Free Bird” (From [Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd], 1973)

Lynyrd Skynyrd knew what they had with “Free Bird.” As the epic closing song on their debut album, it was designed as a showstopper and centerpiece of both their record and live shows. Not so surprisingly, “Free Bird” grew even more epic onstage, where it was expanded to 15-plus minutes, with dueling guitars acting as the cathartic moment when the wistful ballad becomes jam-band standard. A Southern rock milestone.

 

1. The Allman Brothers Band, “Whipping Post” (From At Fillmore East, 1971)

The Allman Brothers band made “Whipping Post” the closing anchor song of their self-titled debut album in 1969, but it didn’t become a Southern rock classic until it appeared on their 1971 breakthrough live LP At Fillmore East. In studio form, the song was one of Gregg Allman’s first compositions with the new family band formed with brother Duane. Riffing on old blues themes, and working along a fairly standard musical scale of the genre, “Whipping Post” took on another life on the stage. As the centerpiece of the band’s shows, the song was often pushed to the half-hour mark, allowing ample room for Duane’s mesmerizing guitar to weave itself in and out of the music. The 22-minute version found on At Fillmore East is truly an epic experience: a good song made masterpiece by Southern rock royalty operating at the peak of their powers.

Neil Young and Stephen Stills dug deep into their collective history during a charity concert in Lake Hughes, California on Saturday night (Oct. 5).

The event – dubbed Harvest Moon: A Gathering – benefited The Painted Turtle, a summer camp for children with life-threatening and chronic illnesses. Additional funds benefitted The Bridge School, an organization Young has been involved with for decades.

Other artists on the lineup included John Mayer, Lily Meola and world music ensemble Massanga, but it was the former CSNY bandmates who were the main attraction.

READ MORE: Neil Young Albums Ranked Worst to Best

Their set began with “Long May You Run,” the title track from their 1976 collaborative album. The rockers then delivered “Human Highway,” a tune originally intended for CSNY’s Deja Vu follow-up, which instead was released on Young’s 1978 solo LP Comes a Time.

Still, it was the third song of the set that really turned heads, as Young and Stills played the Buffalo Springfield song “Hung Upside Down” for the first time in 57 years.

“The worst four words you can hear in a live performance are ‘here’s a new song,’” Stills declared before starting the tune. “But this is actually a new version of an old song that took two centuries to write. It’s called ‘Hung Upside Down.’”

Watch Neil Young and Stephen Stills Perform ‘Hung Upside Down’

Originally released on 1967’s Buffalo Springfield Again, “Hung Upside Down” had not been played in concert since Buffalo Springfield’s heyday. According to Rolling Stone, the 57 year gap between performances broke a personal record for Young, who had previously gone 48 years without playing “If I Could Have Her Tonight” (which he finally revisited in 2016).

READ MORE: Why Buffalo Springfield’s ‘Again’ Was Both Fractured and Cohesive

Other highlights from the Harvest Moon gig included “Love The One You’re With,” “Heart of Gold,” “Harvest Moon” and Buffalo Springfield’s timeless “For What It’s Worth.” Meanwhile, Mayer joined for the final song of the night, a rousing rendition of “Rockin’ in the Free World.” The full set list from the show can be found below.

Neil Young and Stephen Stills, ‘Harvest Moon: A Gathering’ Set List, 10/5/24
1. “Long May You Run”
2. “Human Highway”
3. “Hung Upside Down”
4. “Helplessly Hoping”
5. “Field of Opportunity”
6. “Helpless”
7. “Love The One You’re With”
8. “Heart of Gold”
9. “Harvest Moon”
10. “For What It’s Worth”
11. “Bluebird”
12. “Vampire Blues”
13. “Rockin’ in the Free World”

Sammy Hagar got a head start on his birthday festivities over the weekend with a pair of Las Vegas shows, delivering two career-spanning sets of hits, deep cuts, covers and special guest cameos.

The Red Rocker, who turns 77 on Oct. 13, set up shop at the Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort on Friday and Saturday as a prelude to his annual birthday bash at the Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, which is scheduled for next weekend.

You can see both Vegas set lists and videos from the shows below.

Sammy Hagar Rocks Vegas With Deep Cuts, Covers and Cameos

Hagar’s Vegas shows featured plenty of solo, Van Halen, Montrose and Chickenfoot hits, including “There’s Only One Way to Rock,” “I Can’t Drive 55” and “Poundcake,” among others. But the Red Rocker also unearthed some deeper cuts, such as Marching to Mars‘ “Little White Lie” and the fitting “Rock ‘n’ Roll Weekend” off his self-titled 1977 album.

The rocker also had a little help from his friends. Rick Springfield joined Hagar on Friday to perform “I’ve Done Everything for You,” first written and released by Hagar in 1978 and later covered by Springfield, who earned a Top 10 hit with the song in 1981. Radio host Eddie Trunk also joined Hagar on Friday for a cover of Beastie Boys‘ “Fight for Your Right.” Hagar added more covers to his night-two set, tackling AC/DC‘s “Whole Lotta Rosie” and Depeche Mode‘s “Personal Jesus.”

READ MORE: All 48 Sammy Hagar-Era Van Halen Songs Ranked Worst to Best

Where Is Sammy Hagar Playing Next?

Hagar recently wrapped his Van Halen-focused Best of All Worlds tour, which featured Joe Satriani on guitar, Michael Anthony on bass, Jason Bonham on drums and Rai Thistlethwayte on keyboards. Anthony played both birthday shows in Vegas, alongside Hagar’s stalwart Circle guitarist Vic Johnson and drummer Kenny Aronoff, who recently “saved the day” when he sat in for Bonham on a few Best of All Worlds shows.

Hagar’s next shows will take place at the Cabo Wabo Cantina on Oct. 11 and 13. The following week, he’ll honor Foreigner at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony as part of an all-star band featuring Slash, Demi Lovato and Chad Smith.

Watch Sammy Hagar and Rick Springfield Play ‘I’ve Done Everything for You’ in Las Vegas

Watch Sammy Hagar and Eddie Trunk Play ‘Fight for Your Right’ in Las Vegas

Watch Sammy Hagar Play ‘I Can’t Drive 55’ in Las Vegas

Watch Sammy Hagar Play ‘Bad Motor Scooter’ in Las Vegas

Watch Sammy Hagar Play ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’ in Las Vegas

Sammy Hagar, 10/4/24, Pearl Concert Theater, Las Vegas Set List
1. “There’s Only One Way to Rock”
2. “I’ll Fall in Love Again”
3. “Big Foot” (Chickenfoot)
4. “Top of the World” (Van Halen)
5. “Three Lock Box”
6. “I’ve Done Everything for You” (with Rick Springfield)
7. “Poundcake” (Van Halen)
8. “Finish What Ya Started” (Van Halen)
9. “Little White Lie”
10. “Rock Candy” (Montrose)”
11. “Dreams” (Van Halen; acoustic)
12. “Red”
13. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Weekend”
14. “Somebody Get Me a Doctor” (Van Halen; Michael Anthony on vocals)
15. “Heavy Metal”
16. “I Can’t Drive 55”
17. “Fight for Your Right” (Beastie Boys; with Eddie Trunk)

Sammy Hagar, 10/5/24, Pearl Concert Theater, Las Vegas Set List
1. “Bad Motor Scooter” (Montrose)
2. “Make It Last” (Montrose)
3. “Runaround” (Van Halen)
4. “Sexy Little Thing” (Chickenfoot)
5. “Red”
6. “Right Now” (Van Halen)
7. “Best of Both Worlds” (Van Halen)
8. “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” (Van Halen)
9. “Eagles Fly”
10. “Personal Jesus” (Depeche Mode)
11. “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy”
12. “Whole Lotta Rosie” (AC/DC)
13. “I Can’t Drive 55”
14. “Mas Tequila”
15. “Cabo Wabo” (Van Halen)
16. “Why Can’t This Be Love” (Van Halen)

Most music fans agree: George Harrison was under-appreciated as a songwriter during his time with the Beatles. Between 1962 and 1970, the Fab Four released a little over 200 songs, only a small fraction of which were penned by Harrison.

It would not be until the latter portion of the band’s tenure and into the early years of Harrison’s solo career that his talent earned more recognition — 1970’s All Things Must Pass, for example, was one of the best-selling albums of the ’70s and is consistently cited today as a landmark singer-songwriter release. Or you can look at it this way: two of the most-streamed Beatles songs ever were written by Harrison, “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something.”

Appearing on 1969’s Abbey Road, “Something” was Harrison’s very first A-side Beatles single — seven years after the band began releasing music. It was a No. 1 hit in the U.S., as well as No. 4 in the U.K., and almost immediately, fellow musicians recognized its strength and starting covering the song both live and on their own records.

“I realize that the sign of a good song is when it has lots of cover versions,” Harrison would say in The Beatles Anthology. We agree. Below, in no particular order, are the 10 Best Covers of ‘Something’ by George Harrison.

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra did “Something” his way. He started performing the song live at his concerts not long after the song was released, and also included it on his 1972 album Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. “It’s one of the best love songs I believe to be written in 50 or 100 years,” Sinatra said just before performing the show at the Concert for Americas in the Dominican Republic in 1982, “and it never says ‘I love you’ in the song, but it really is one of the finest.” The singer was in his mid 60s then — compared to Harrison, who was 26 when he laid down the original demos of the song — lending it a sort of wisened tone.

 

Joe Cocker

If there is one person who might be considered the king of Beatles covers, it may be Joe Cocker, who put his own soulful spin on a number of their songs over the years. Harrison actually offered “Something” to Cocker first before recording his own version. Cocker’s rendition came out the month after the Beatles’ did, on his second album Joe Cocker! (That album also contained covers of Bob Dylan‘s “Dear Landlord,” Leonard Cohen‘s “Bird on a Wire” and another Beatles song from the same album as “Something,” “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.”)

 

Booker T. and the M.G.’s

Booker T. Jones of Booker T. & the M.G.’s was thousands of miles away from the Beatles when Abbey Road was released. It stopped him in his tracks. “I was in California when I heard Abbey Road, and I thought it was incredibly courageous of the Beatles to drop their format and move out musically like they did,” he hold the A.V. Club in 2009. “To push the limit like that and reinvent themselves when they had no need to [do] that. They were the top band in the world but they still reinvented themselves. The music was just incredible so I felt I needed to pay tribute to it.” Pay tribute he did in the form of his own cover of “Something.” It appeared on the 1970 album McLemore Avenue, the cover of which showed the band walking single file across a street like the Beatles on Abbey Road.

 

Elvis Presley

It’s possible that without Elvis Presley, there may not have been the Beatles. Like numerous budding musicians, Presley was a significant influence on Harrison and his bandmates. “It had an incredible impact on me just because I’d never heard anything like it,” Harrison once recalled. “I mean, coming from Liverpool, we obviously — we didn’t really hear the very early Sun Records. The first record I can remember hearing was probably the big hit by the time it got across the Atlantic. It was ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ – ‘Heartburn Motel’ as Elvis called it.” Things came full circle when Presley performed “Something” on his 1973 Aloha From Hawaii TV special, seen below. A 1970 version was also included on Presley’s 1995 box set, Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential ’70s Masters.

 

James Brown

“The best one I ever heard was [from] James Brown and he did it in 1972,” Harrison explained in a 1988 interview with MuchMusic (via Far Out Magazine), “but he did [it] only as the B-side of a re-recorded version of ‘Think,’ which is a very old song of his. So it was only on the B-side. I sent him a postcard and said: ‘You should make it the A-side, it’s a killer! It’s really good.”

 

Shirley Bassey

“I recorded ‘Something’ after I had seen Peggy Lee perform the song on The Ed Sullivan Show in the States,” Shirley Bassey told Record Mirror in July of 1970, about a month before she released an album that not only included her cover of “Something,” but was named after it. (Both the song and LP were Top 5 hits in the U.K.) “I thought it was a ‘communication song.’ I’ve always admired the Beatles’ work anyway — at least until they went a little strange — and I think this George Harrison song is just beautiful.”

 

Smokey Robinson

In a 1974 interview with Sounds, Harrison was asked about which contemporary artists he liked. “Smokey Robinson,” he replied. “I’m madly in love with Smokey Robinson.” Of course, Harrison’s love of Robinson could be traced back many years — the Beatles had recorded the Miracles’ “You Really Got a Hold on Me” back in 1963 for their second British album, With the Beatles, featuring both Harrison and John Lennon singing the lead harmony vocal. (Harrison and Robinson would later become friends when they both lived in Los Angeles.)

 

Ray Charles

Sometimes a hit arrives in the lap of a songwriter thanks in part to their thinking of someone else. In the case of “Something,” Harrison had one particular singer in mind when he sat down at the piano, the instrument on which he wrote the song. “It has probably got a range of five notes, which fits most singers’ needs best,” he explained in The Beatles Anthology. “When I wrote it, in my mind I heard Ray Charles singing it, and he did do it some years later.”

It turned out that Charles’ version wasn’t Harrison’s favorite. “As it happened, the song ended up with over 150 cover versions,” he said in a 1979 joint interview with none other than Michael Jackson. “But when Ray Charles did it, I was really disappointed. It was a bit corny, the way he did it.” Still, there’s something captivating about the soul Charles put into this recording.

 

Sarah Vaughan

This one is a bit more out there than the others, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think Harrison would appreciate an arrangement departure like the one presented in Sarah Vaughan’s cover of “Something.” Vaughan’s version appeared on her 1981 album Songs of the Beatles, and she was accompanied on the track by the Brazilian singer and musician Marcos Valle. David Paich, David Hungate, and both Jeff and Steve Porcaro of Toto also appear on the album.

 

Norah Jones

Norah Jones has a particularly special connection to Harrison. Her father, the Indian sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar, was one of Harrison’s musical idols. Over the years she’s covered a number of Beatles (and solo Harrison) songs, and is a friend of Harrison’s only son, Dhani, but her 2014 cover of “Something” is especially memorable with Jones’ velvety vocal.

 

Honorable Mention: Paul McCartney

Frankly we would be remiss if we didn’t at least give an honorable mention to Harrison’s own Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney. For years now, McCartney has been paying tribute to his late friend with live covers of “Something” featuring the ukulele, one of Harrison’s favorite instruments. “Sometimes if you’d go ’round to George’s house, after you’d have dinner, the ukuleles would come out,” McCartney said when he introduced the song at the 2002 Concert for George, held on the one year anniversary of Harrison’s passing. “And one time not so long ago, we were playing and I said, ‘There’s a song I do on the ukulele.’ I played it for him—[I’ll] play it for you now. It’s a tribute to our beautiful friend.”

When Sebastian Bach first entered the studio with Skid Row, he found it was a daunting task. Jon Bon Jovi was there with some key words of advice.

“Back when I first joined Skid Row in 1987, you know, I was just a little kid. I was fuckin’ wild as they come,” Bach tells UCR, pausing to exhale. “I wasn’t a great singer then.”

He did have a really good voice, but realized he was still learning the mechanics of how to use It. It was Bon Jovi, basking in the afterglow of the worldwide success his own band had enjoyed with their album Slippery When Wet, who gave the singer some specific guidance, as you’ll read in the conversation below.

In time, that initial period would feel like a distant memory as Skid Row quickly found themselves in arenas and stadiums, including a stint opening shows for Bon Jovi in the midst of the New Jersey tour. Thrown into the fire, Bach was well on his way to becoming one of rock’s most memorable frontmen.

Now 35 years removed from the release of Skid Row’s multi-platinum self-titled debut, Bach is hardly at rest, as he details, describing the grueling road work he still enjoys. Child Within the Man, his newest solo album, retains the fiery spirit of his earlier recordings — and he’s happy to point out why that is. In short, any conversation with the singer is never a dull moment. Start with a topic or two and hang on for the rocket ride of words that comes back your way in return.

We caught up with Bach as he was getting ready for the next leg of his tour, which began Friday (Oct. 4) in Portland, Oregon.

People have spent plenty of time talking smack about Sebastian Bach over the years. Historically, you’ve often been able to punch back with your own music. This time, the answer comes in the form of your latest album. 
It’s just so funny when I read, “Can he still sing? I’m like, “Nobody punched me in the throat! [Laughs] I have the same muscles. I understand that some guys — basically, Jon Bon Jovi — cannot sing anymore, but I don’t have that issue. There’s no problem for me singing. I just did 45 cities. Let me repeat that number. 45. I didn’t do four shows. I didn’t cancel half of the f–king shows. I actually did 45 shows in a row and I’m about to do another 45 cities. So the answer is yes, [I can still sing]. It’s like, you go f–kin’ do 45 cities in a row and get back to me and tell me how that went for you. Go for it. Go try and be number 10 in replacing Sebastian Bach. Go for it. Let’s see how that works out. You know, the proof is in the pudding. When I play almost 100 gigs in a row, I mean, physically and mentally, that’s like going to war. You can ask any singer that tried to replace me and failed, it’s really kind of a one-of-a-kind thing.

I’ve really got to say, I’ve got the greatest record company in the world. Because I am so f–kin’ happy right now to tell you, I’m about to shoot two more videos for my album. Two more. Everybody thinks we’re done promoting this now. Everybody is mistaken. We are about to film, not one more video, but two more videos in the next two weeks right before I leave on tour. We are planning on releasing two more songs to radio and video before the end of ‘24 and I could not thank my record company more. Because every other artist, every other album it seems, just gets promoted before the release of the record. And we did do four videos before the album came out.

One of them came out right as the record came out. But the fact now that we’re going to go back and film two more incredible videos with Jim Louvau, it’s just mind-blowing to me. Because I worked 10 years on this album and the fact that we’re still working it a year later after the release, I think that’s rare in the music industry. Who knows if it will be 10 years before I make another one? I don’t know? I don’t put out bullshit. This album stands with the other albums I’ve put out. I actually do have a couple new songs going, but I don’t have an album’s [worth] or anything. I’m very honored and grateful to Reigning Phoenix Music, for having my back a year after it comes out. We’re going into make two new videos and that’s what is happening right now.

Watch Sebastian Bach’s Video for ‘(Hold On) to the Dream’

Is that normal for you to already be writing? Do you write on a regular basis?
I write all of the time, but I don’t ever write. [Laughs] Let me explain what I mean. I’ve always been a guy who collects things. I collect riffs, I collect lyrics and I collect titles. But mainly riffs. I can make a riff into a song. A riff is a riff. I know [Bach chuckles] what a good riff is. I’ve met songwriters that say, “I’m going to write a song for Sebastian Bach.” They put all of this time, effort and emotion into it. They try to finish a whole song and give it to me. That rarely works. Because I need to feel it in my bones in order to sing it correctly. I’ve always written songs. You know, it’s so confusing to people. They say, “You didn’t write ‘I Remember You’.” Okay, let’s go down this logic. As I said, some people will try to write a full song and give it to me. But rarely does that happen. Sometimes it does! [Laughs] Rachel [Bolan] and Snake [Sabo] played me “I Remember You” and I’m going, “Okay, done. Next? This song’s done!”

READ MORE: Skid Row Fought ‘Tooth and Nail’ Before Recording ‘I Remember You’

If I’m going down this logic, “You didn’t write that!” Then I should go in there and say, “Okay, I’m going to change this just to get my f–kin’ name on it, because I’m a prick! [Laughs] I don’t work like that. A lot of people do. Names that I won’t say, they think, “I’m the songwriter, so I have to write a song!” I don’t ever think like that. If my next door neighbor has a kick ass riff, I don’t care that it’s my next door neighbor! Hey, let’s work on this! I’m into the content. I’m not into the form. I don’t give a f–k about the logo. I don’t care! It means nothing to me. I care about what’s inside the record. I care about the riff of “Monkey Business,” which I wrote with Snake, even though my name’s not on there. I crafted that riff with him. I’m into metal. I’m into heavy metal. Some fans say, “Why do Sebastian’s albums sound more like the early Skid Row records than Skid Row?” Which they do. I’m not bragging — they do! They just do! I have two ears! I can hear.

The reason for that, is that I was the guy in the studio for Slave to the Grind, with Michael Wagener, sitting next to him, picking the amp sounds, driving around town choosing Marshall amps that we liked. It was me, not anyone else. It was me and Michael Wagener, because we were fans of metal. Like Accept, which he produced. Malice, which he produced. We were the real heavy metal guys. Some of the guys in that band are into [Bruce] Springsteen and Southside Johnny and that’s what their scene is. Some guys are into the Ramones and punk. I brought the me-tal. I was the heavy metal fan of that band. When you listen to Angel Down or Child Within a Man, they fit with Slave to the Grind seamlessly. When I get involved in something, people will say, “He’s hard to work with.” Because nothing comes easily. Nothing. I’m not hard to work with when somebody says, “Do you like this song?” and the song is “I Remember You.” That’s the easiest fucking day there is, ever. [Laughs]

READ MORE: When Skid Row Came Back Heavier’ With ‘Slave to the Grind’

Oh, for sure.
But if it’s not to that standard, I’m not going to pretend that it is. I’m going to work on it until it is of a standard that we’re going to put out. I don’t see that as being difficult, I see that as, “Listen to the f–king album.” Listen to the [new] record. Elvis Baskette loves working with me. Robert Ludwig f–kin’ loves me! These guys are at the top of the music industry. Me and Elvis have already talked about doing another record together. I would love to do that, but I don’t have the songs at all, right now. So we’re working this. I’m just saying that I have a passion, for heavy metal, rock and roll, glam metal, all of this stuff. I’ll never lose that, because it’s a real love of rock. It’s always been who I am since I was nine f–king years old in the Kiss army. I’ve always been just a real fan of rock. I actually made a record that I’m a fan of. That’s something that nobody can take away from me — because all I have to do is press play. [Laughs]

How did you approach your craft as a singer after the work you did on Broadway? Because I’d imagine that would change your thought process.
Wow, well, I’ve got to give credit where credit is due here. Back when I first joined Skid Row in 1987, you know, I was just a little kid. I was f–kin’ wild as they come. [Bach pauses and exhales] I wasn’t a great singer then. I had a good sounding voice, but as far as doing a two hour show, I was so young that I didn’t really have the muscles for that. When I joined Skid Row, we’d rehearse all day, every day. My voice wasn’t ready [for that]. It was like a learning crash course of singing. Jon Bon Jovi just said, “Forget about everything in the world except the lyrics.” He said, “Just tell the story of what the lyrics are saying.” That was a completely different way of [thinking]. I was trying to be Rob Halford or James Neal, of Malice. I was trying to sing as high as I could. [Laughs] Back in the ‘80s, that seemed to be what all of the singers [were doing]. LIke Nitro, or f–kin’ Steelheart, it was like, let’s see how high you can sing. But [Jon] goes, “Just tell the story of the lyrics.” That changed my way of looking at being a singer. Because I had to be great right then. I just said, okay, “Ricky was a young boy/ He had a heart of stone.” I got into it, in a Broadway way, as you’re saying, even though I didn’t do that until years later. I just totally shifted my focus from trying to shatter glass, which I did once, in Baltimore. I shifted it from that to telling the story of the words and that’s been the way it’s been ever since. I get into telling the story.

But Broadway probably gave you some new tools, right?
Well, yes. Because I first did Broadway in the year 2000 and this was still coming out of the grunge/screamo era of music. In the mid to late ‘90s, I didn’t feel like anybody in the world wanted to hear good singing. What I mean by that is that there was even a genre called screamo at that time, where it was just [about] shredding your pipes. Just shred ‘em. The way I sing a song like “I Remember You” or “18 and Life” is not screamo. It’s more like Steve Perry of Journey, especially “I Remember You,” is exactly [that]. If you can sing “Don’t Stop Believin’” and the really high ‘70s Journey songs with Steve Perry and [songs like] “Still They Ride,” “Stone in Love,” the really high ones, that’s where I learned how to sing. Like, “I Remember You,” was copying Steve Perry. I used to lock myself in a room. You know, I did that with Halford albums and [Iron Maiden] albums with Bruce Dickinson and Malice. A bunch of singers. Van Halen, I used to do. Ozzy [Osbourne] — I can do Ozzy exactly.

READ MORE: Ranking All 81 Steve Perry Journey Songs

But talking about Broadway and what did that bring to my new record, well, here’s the point of what I’m trying to get to. When I did Broadway, I went back in my brain to good singing and what I mean by that is clean singing. Not shouting and yelling and screaming and dirty singing. Clean tones. Like, the beginning of “(Hold On) to the Dream” is just a purely clean vocal. What we’re getting to now is one of the videos that we’re shooting and I can’t even believe this. We’re shooting a video for the last song on the album, “To Live Again,” which is the only ballad on the album. You’re the first person that I’ve told this. We’re not even getting started yet with this album. [Laughs] Because we’re about to make a video for this ballad that is the Broadway discipline of vocals that you’re talking about that I have not even put out yet for this album. Every video has been metal. Everything. Because my label f–kin’ loves metal — and I do too, great!

But you know what’s even heavier than metal? Singing. [Bach repeats that point several times] I’m about to f–king throw the f–king hammer down on this video. You all are not ready for this. You’re all like, “Oh, that was a good album. Okay, maybe he’ll do another one.” Hold up, we’re not quite done yet. [Laughs] We’re about to take you all to school of vocals. We’re going to vocal school on this song. I once again have to thank my record company, because they are focused on metal and I love all of that. But they understand that Sebastian Bach fans, they love it when I sing in that style — and that’s a different style than “Freedom” or “(Hold On) to the Dream,” so I’m very excited. If you’re wondering what Broadway might have brought to this album, you will find out in the video for “To Live Again.”

Watch Sebastian Bach’s Video For ‘What Do I Got to Lose’

The U.K.’s Royal Mail postal service announced a series of stamps marking the 60th anniversary of the Who.

The range will include classic photos of the band while also reproducing some of their iconic album covers.

A total of 34 items – some of which can be seen below – are now available for pre-order, with prices ranging from a few dollars to $152 (£200). Some are limited by time or quantity. They officially go on sale on Oct. 17.

READ MORE: All 245 Who Songs Ranked Worst to Best

In a press release, the Royal Mail noted that the Who are among a number of rock acts to have been honored with a stamp issue, after Elton John, Queen, the Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd and others.

Vocalist Roger Daltrey said: “The artwork on the album sleeves was almost as important to the success of the record as the music. It’s great to be reminded of them.”

Guitarist Pete Townsend joked: “Stamp! Stamp! Stamp! It’s what I’ve done on stage all my life, sometimes in the air. At last, my stamping, and that of my buddy Roger, has been honored properly, and will help letters, parcels and birthday cards travel through time and space – just as we have.”

How Many Album Sales Have the Who Notched Up?

Formed in 1964, the Who’s original lineup, completed by late bassist John Entwistle and late drummer Keith Moon, are regarded as one of the most influential rock acts of the 20th century. While pioneering the use of power chords and the rock opera format, they’ve achieved album sales of over 44 million – with 1969’s Tommy the highest-selling of all – and they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.