Author: LRussell

There are a few near-universal truths in rock ‘n’ roll, one of them being: Where there is a band with hits, there will be a band with a lot of hits compilations.

Decades ago, when hits compilations started to become more prevalent, they were a no-brainer from a business perspective. If an artist was dominating the charts, a greatest-hits album was an easy way to rack up more sales and buy time between proper releases. If an artist had fallen into commercial decline, a compilation album could juice their sales and potentially revitalize their career, reminding audiences why they fell in love with them in the first place.

A textbook example of the latter is the Beach Boys‘ Endless Summer, released in 1974 as the band’s album sales were plummeting and Brian Wilson was caught in the throes of addiction and mental illness. Endless Summer became a smash hit, topping the Billboard 200 and selling 3 million copies, and it helped resuscitate the Beach Boys’ flatlining career (even if it also had the adverse side effect of turning them into a fun-in-the-sun nostalgia act).

Other groups, such as Foreigner and Eagles, released their first greatest-hits compilations in the midst of their chart-topping imperial phases. The former’s Records, released in 1982, sold a robust 7 million copies. But those blockbuster figures pale in comparison to the latter’s Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which soared to 38 million sales in the U.S., making it the highest-certified album in RIAA history.

Of course, for every successful or historically significant greatest-hits compilation, there are numerous lazy, bald-faced cash grabs from labels just trying to make a quick buck and warm the shelves of your local Walmart. That’s how you wind up with the following list of 15 Artists With More Hits Compilations Than Studio Albums.

Bryan Adams has released a cover of his own “Rock and Roll Hell,” one of two songs he cowrote for Kiss before he made it big himself.

The double A-side single will also feature “War Machine.” Both songs appeared on Kiss’ 1982 album Creatures of the Night. A version of “Rock and Roll Hell” had earlier been recorded by Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but was retooled by Adams, his writing partner Jim Vallance and Gene Simmons.

An accompanying music video – shot on the roof of the Royal Albert Hall in London during Adams’ residency in May – can be seen below.

READ MORE: How Bryan Adams Wrote ‘War Machine’ for Kiss

“I was thrilled to work with [Kiss] back then,” Adams said in a statement. “I was a broke songwriter – it came at the perfect time. While sitting with the band, Gene played me this fantastic bass riff, which ended up being the backbone of ‘War Machine.'”

Bryan Adams’ Thoughts on Hell and War

“I was trying to think of a theme that could possibly match the riff and came up with the title, which was actually an homage to a comic book character.”

He continued: “‘Rock and Roll Hell’ was actually Jim’s song. … I suggested that we re-write it with Kiss, as the themes of hell and war were both strangely forefront in my mind at the time.

“It’s incredible to think those themes are unfortunately playing out for real in the world today – but I’m very grateful to the Kiss guys for giving me the chance back then.”

Adams commences a North American tour on Friday night in Quebec, with dates to follow across Europe and India before concluding in the U.A.E. on Dec. 19.

Sammy Hagar delivered on his promise to celebrate the history of Van Halen more intensely than ever at the Akron* stop of his Best of All Worlds tour Monday night.

Together with frequent collaborators Joe Satriani and Jason Bonham, Hagar and his longtime running mate Michael Anthony faithfully recreated the high points of their time together in Van Halen with a 22-song set that focused almost exclusively on that era of the band’s touring career.

You can see dozens of photos from the group’s July 24 show in Bridgeport, Connecticut below. (Because I didn’t bring the right lens to this concert.)

Hagar only sang three songs that he hadn’t previously played live alongside Eddie and Alex Van Halen during the show: “Space Station #5,” from his time in Montrose, “Mas Tequila” from his post-Van Halen career and Chickenfoot‘s “Big Foot.” (Most stops on this tour also feature his 1982 solo track “Heavy Metal,” which Van Halen never played and which was not played at this show.)

The set even included three songs from Van Halen’s David Lee Roth era, which were performed on most Hagar-fronted tours: “Panama,” “Jump” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love,” the latter of which featured Anthony on lead vocals.

Hagar continues to defy age in terms of vocal power, although he quite wisely allowed Anthony and multi-instrumentalist Rai Thistlehwayte to share the load with him to a higher degree than on previous tours. Satriani struck a wise balance between reverence to Eddie Van Halen‘s work and slavish recreation, seemingly allowing himself a bit more room for self-expression during the solos.

The band expertly dealt with a power failure that struck the venue’s sound system during the start of “The Seventh Seal,” using their stage amps to lead an impromptu sing-along of “Cabo Wabo” (wait, why isn’t that part of the set list every night?) before power was restored, at least inside the pavilion, for “Why Can’t This Be Love.” (According to fans with lawn seats, it took much longer to get the sound restored in their section.)

The highlight of the night was the return of a pair of 5150-era gems, “Summer Nights” and the title track. The latter featured the band nailing every section of the complex instrumental middle section, and also happily recreating the song-opening group march featured on the Live Without a Net home video.

Read More: Sammy Hagar 2024 Tour Roundtable: Is This the Best of All Worlds?

The Best of All Worlds tour is currently scheduled to end its Summer 2024 North American run on Aug. 31 in St. Louis. The group will head to Japan for three dates in September. Hagar’s annual birthday bash will feature two shows each in Las Vegas and Cabo San Lucas, beginning Oct. 4 and concluding on his 77th birthday on Oct. 13.

Watch Sammy Hagar Perform ‘5150’

*Blossom Music Center is in Akron, not Cleveland. Check your map if you don’t believe me.

Sammy Hagar, Blossom Music Center Cuyahoga Falls July 29 Set List
1. “Good Enough”
2. “Poundcake”
3. “Runaround”
4. “There’s Only One Way to Rock”
5. “Judgement Day”
6. “Panama”
7. “5150”
8. “Summer Nights”
9. “Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love” (Michael Anthony sings)
10. “Top of the World”
11. “Best of Both Worlds”
12. “Satch Boogie”
13. “The Seventh Seal”
14. “Cabo Wabo” (sing-along during equipment failure)
15. “Why Can’t This Be Love”
16. “Eagles Fly”
17. “Mas Tequila”
18. “I Can’t Drive 55”
19. “Space Station #5”
20. “Big Foot”
21. “Jump”
22. “When It’s Love”

Journey is back in court. Stalwart Jonathan Cain has once again sued Neal Schon, the group’s lone remaining founding member – and, once again, he’s charging him with overspending.

Echoing a 2022 case over a band credit card, Cain’s new court filing accuses Schon of maxing out an American Express account with a $1 million limit while exceeding a daily hotel fee cap of $1,500. Instead, the suit claims Schon “has spent up to $10,000 per night.”

The lawsuit also says debt payments have been blocked. At one point, Journey’s finances were allegedly in such disarray that the crew and production company couldn’t be paid during their ongoing stadium tour.

READ MORE: Next: The Best Song From Every Journey Album

Cain’s lawyers at Fox Rothschild LLP argue that these “unforeseen strains on cash flow” now “pose a severe threat of harm to the company and to Journey’s storied history of musical greatness.” They say the band is suffering through divided loyalties, crew defections and general tension.

Elsewhere, the court filing laments what has become “very much public battle between petitioner and respondent,” but the situation is now “impacting the band’s reputation throughout the music industry. The band’s actual onstage performance is, at the moment, one of the only aspects of the business that has not suffered.”

Cain’s suit says this “far-reaching” deadlock can only be resolved through restructuring Freedom 2020 Inc., which he co-founded with Schon to oversee Journey’s touring operations. The business reportedly has only a two-seat board, held by Cain and Schon. The new petition is asking for a court-ordered custodian to act as a third board member in order to break tie votes.

Journey’s Recent History of Lawsuits

Schon hasn’t yet responded to the filing, made in Delaware’s Chancery Court. He’s been part of every album and tour since Journey began in 1973 under the leadership of the late manager Herbie Herbert. Cain joined in 1980 as the group moved into superstar status with the multiplatinum Escape album.

Journey went through a long series of legal battles beginning in 2020, but appeared to have resolved things by creating a new organizational structure that involved both Cain and Schon and their respective wives. Michaele Schon isn’t named as a respondent in Cain’s latest lawsuit, but this new arrangement appears to be breaking down.

“When the company faces these precarious financial situations,” the court documents say “respondent (and his wife) begin to accuse petitioner, the band manager, the company’s accountant, and other company personnel of stealing. This conduct further triggers internal strife.”

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

See Neal Schon Among Rock’s Forgotten Supergroups

The pioneering Detroit band MC5 returns with the new single “Can’t Be Found” featuring Vernon Reid of Living Colour. Check out the second single from their upcoming album Heavy Lifting below.

The project was led by MC5’s late founding guitarist Wayne Kramer, who also co-wrote 12 of its 13 songs. Heavy Lifting features “everyone and yours truly, all bashin’ away on electric guitars,” Kramer told Mojo just before he passed away. “That’s my goal – to overload the guitar.”

Kramer died in early February as the last remaining active member of MC5. “Can’t Be Found” also features a turn by classic-era MC5 drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson, who appeared on two tracks from the new LP before his death in May. Other guests on Heavy Lifting include Slash, Tom Morello and William DuVall of Alice in Chains, among others.

READ MORE: Why MC5 Belongs in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Heavy Lifting is set for release on Oct. 18, one day before the group will be honored during this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland. This is the first new music from MC5 since 1971’s High Time. The album will be available on compact disc, vinyl, digital download and expanded two-disc editions. Pre-ordering is already underway.

MC5’s expanded version of Heavy Lifting also includes a bonus disc of previously unreleased live recordings from 2018’s MC50 tour, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of their 1969 debut album, Kick Out the Jams. Those live dates also featured Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, Brendan Canty of Fugazi and Billy Gould of Faith No More, among others. A track listing for the bonus disc is below.

MC5’s Heavy Lifting Bonus Disc Track Listing
“Ramblin’ Rose (live)”
“Kick Out the Jams (live)”
“Come Together (live)”
“Motor City Is Burning (live)”
“Borderline (live)”
“Gotta Keep Movin’ (live)”
“Future/Now (live)”
“Poison (live)”
“Shakin’ Street (live)”
“Sister Anne (live)”

There’s no gold medal for rocking, but that hasn’t stopped a long list of legendary acts from grabbing the Olympic spotlight.

The opening and closing ceremonies have become popular events for artists to flex their musical muscles. Oftentimes, organizers use them as a chance to highlight the host nation’s biggest celebrities on the global stage.

From a sheer star-power perspective, few Olympics can hold a candle next to the 2012 Summer Games in London. England’s rich rock history was on full display during both the opening and closing ceremonies, with Paul McCartney, the Who, Queen and Annie Lennox among the long list of performers.

READ MORE: Top 10 ‘Saturday Night Live’ Olympics Sketches

Bon Jovi and Kiss were part of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, while Canada rolled out for of its nation’s greatest performers – including Neil Young and Bryan Adams – during the 2010 Olympics.

More recently, French act Gojira made history when they became the first metal group to perform at the Olympics when they helped open the 2024 Games in Paris.

Interestingly, rock’s history at the Olympics could have been even grander. David Bowie, Elton John and Elvis Costello were among the artists who reportedly turned down the London Games, while Freddie Mercury had hoped to perform at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, but tragically died a year before the event (his duet with opera singer Montserrat Caballe was still played during the opening ceremony).

Here’s a look at 25 artists who have rocked the Olympics.

Rock Stars Who Performed at the Olympics

When Jason Bonham first met Alex Van Halen, things didn’t go well.

Bonham — who is currently on tour with Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony on the Best of All Worlds tour — recalled the incident during a recent interview with KSHE 95 (audio below).

“It’s 40 years since I saw Mike play at Donington,” he said of his visit to the U.K. festival in 1984. “My wife and I went to Donington – Monsters of Rock – AC/DC, Van Halen. And I got to meet Alex that day… Leonard [Haze] from Y&T introduced me. He came up – this is a classic – and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, it’s Alex Van Halen!’

“He goes, ‘Hey Leonard!’ [Haze says:] ‘This is Jason Bonham.’ And he goes, ‘So what?’ He just went, ‘So what?’”

READ MORE: Sammy Hagar Got ‘No Response’ From Alex Van Halen About New Tour

Years later, Jason become friends with Anthony and asked him why Van Halen may have been so dismissive. “I said, ‘Mikey, why was Alex such a dick?’” the drummer recalled. The bassist suggested it could have been payback for the time Van Halen met Jason’s dad, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.

John Bonham’s Angry Reaction to Alex Van Halen’s Greeting

Anthony harked back to the moment in the late ‘70s when Van Halen had tried to meet the elder Bonham. “He goes, ‘Well, we heard your dad was in (Sunset Strip bar) the Rainbow, and we were playing Gazzarri’s next door. We kind of ran around the Rainbow and tried to say ‘hi’ to him.”

Van Halen was excited to meet his idol, but Bonzo didn’t reciprocate the enthusiasm.

“Alex kind of like jumped over the [barrier] and went to put his hand out… And your dad took a swing at him!’” Anthony explained to Jason. “Maybe that’s why he was a little pissed!”

Listen to Jason Bonham’s Interview

In many ways, the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles represented a major change for the modern Games. The sporting event had long been noted for its financial losses, a lasting burden on the vast majority of host cities. In a move never seen before, Los Angeles brought corporate sponsors on board to help shoulder the Games’ costs. The decision proved profitable, as the ‘84 Olympics earned more than $200 million thanks largely to the influx of endorsements and advertising. However, one major promotion continues to live on in infamy and it belongs to McDonald’s.

The concept of the fast food giant’s campaign was simple; upon purchasing an item, a McDonald’s customer would receive a scratch-off card with an Olympic event on it. If the American team won gold in that event, the patron would get a free Big Mac. A silver earned the patron french fries, while bronze won a free soft drink. Pairing patriotism with capitalism, McDonald’s believed they had the recipe for a successful promotion. Commercials would sell customers on a simple phrase: “If the U.S. Wins, You Win.”

Surprisingly, this wasn’t the first time McDonald’s had built a promotion around free food and medal counts. The company embarked on a similar campaign for the 1976 Olympics, albeit with less publicity. That year’s Games, held in Montreal, saw the U.S.A. place third in the overall medal count. The two countries who finished ahead of them were the Soviet Union and East Germany.

It’s likely that McDonald’s looked at the ‘76 results when estimating the number of prizes they expected to give away via their ‘84 promotion. After all, America boycotted the 1980 Games held in Moscow, due to Soviet warfare in Afghanistan. As such, ‘76 represented the most recent Olympics to reference. What their number-crunchers clearly didn’t anticipate was another boycott.

Read More: Top 10 ‘Saturday Night Live’ Olympic Sketches

Due in part to America’s actions four years prior, the Soviet Union, East Germany and many other communist nations boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics. With these sports powerhouse nations no longer participating, America’s competition was far less daunting.

The U.S. went on to dominate the watered-down field. The Americans took home 83 gold medals, 61 silver and 30 bronze for a whopping 174 total medals. For comparison’s sake, the U.S. won 34, 35 and 20, respectively, in Montreal for a total of 94.

McDonald’s catchphrase proved prophetic. As Team U.S.A. won, so did fast food patrons, and they did so at a staggering rate. A 1984 New York Times article described the number of prizes given away as “mindboggling.” The newspaper reported that some McDonald’s franchises even ran out of Big Macs due to the overwhelming amount of giveaways. While this claim was not verified by the company, a spokesperson admitted there was “a real gold rush at McDonald’s.”

“We may be giving away more product, but that means more customers for McDonald’s,” asserted Chuck Rubner, a representative for the company at the time. Though the fast food conglomerate never revealed how much money it lost on their Olympic promotion, guesses have been in the millions.

How ‘The Simpsons’ Parodied McDonald’s 1984 Olympics Promotion

Since 1984, the marketing campaign has become the butt of jokes. Most famously, a similar promotion appeared within The Simpsons. In the 1992 episode titled “Lisa’s First Word,” Krusty Burger offered a similar promotion based around Olympic events. The fictional burger chain banked heavily that team U.S.A. would lose to the Soviet and East German teams. When those countries boycotted, Krusty Burger, and its spokesperson clown, lost millions.

Watch ‘Krusty Loses the 1984 Olympics’

The Olympics will return to Los Angeles in 2028, giving some people hope that McDonald’s may revive their famous promotion. It appears, however, that such a move is not meant to be. In 2017 the company announced that it would no longer be an Olympic sponsor, ending the relationship more than four decades after it began.

Time marches on, and with that comes the reality that people come and go.

For bands that are able to stay together for an extended period of time — which is often far more challenging that it sounds — keeping the exact same original lineup of people is close to impossible.

On the one hand, musicians who started their careers five or six decades ago have now reached ages in which physical health can sometimes be a concern. Not everyone can be Willie Nelson, who still tours in his ’90s.

READ MORE: Bands With No Original Members

“It’s so awful,” David Coverdale, the last remaining original member of Whitesnake, said in a 2023 interview on Sirius XM (via Blabbermouth), “getting older and having this burden of responsibility to try to be as good as you can so you don’t disappoint anybody.”

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth is another frontman who now finds himself the last man standing from the band’s original lineup.

“[S]ome people have called me a ‘perpetual badass,'” he told VW Music in 2022. “I remember the first time I heard that, and I thought, ‘Wow, that sounds like a Kid Rock album title.’ [Laughs]. But I understand it because when you’re not willing to give up, that’s when a lot of people can start to draw strength from you.”

There are a number of other people in the same boat as Coverdale and Mustaine. Below, we’ve rounded up 30 Bands With One Original Member Left. In some cases, the person happens to be the only one still touring with their group, and in others they’re literally the last person alive from the initial incarnation.

After handing copies of the album out for free earlier this month, Jack White has announced the more conventional release plans for his new album No Name.

The 13-track album will arrive at White’s Third Man retail stores on Thursday, Aug. 1, and will be available at select independent retailers and all digital streaming services the next day. You can see the full track listing below.

Visitors to the White’s Third Man Records stores in Nashville, Detroit and London were given a white vinyl album marked “No Name” with any purchase on Friday, July 19. Excitement spread on the internet as fans realized that it was a brand-new 13-track, 43 minute-long album from White. The label’s Instagram account then shared a photo of the album with the phrase “rip it” written on top, encouraging fans to share the album on social media.

Read More: Jack White, ‘No Name’ Album Review

No Name will be the first new album from White since 2022, when he released Fear of the Dawn in April and Entering Heaven Alive in July. He will conclude a three-city tour of Georgia with a show tonight at Atlanta’s Terminal West, and is scheduled to headline a handful of festivals this summer. You can get complete tour information at his official website.

Jack White No Name Track Listing
1. “Old Scratch Blues”
2. “Bless Yourself”
3. “That’s How I’m Feeling”
4. “It’s Rough on Hats (If You’re Asking)”
5. “Archbishop Harold Holmes”
6. “Bombing Out”
7. “What’s the Rumpus?”
8. “Tonight (Was a Long Time Ago)”
9. “Underground”
10. “Number One With a Bullet”
11. “Morning at Midnight”
12. “Missionary”
13. “Terminal Archenemy Ending”

Ted Nugent has released “Who Shot Trump,” a new song featuring his son Rocco on vocals.

You can hear the track below.

Rocco, who performs as rocco, moon, is described as a “multi medium expressionist, singer songwriter, emcee, and producer” on his Spotify bio. He has released numerous singles and mixtapes under that name since 2011.

As the elder Nugent adds distorted strumming and solos to the song’s laid-back hip-hop groove, “Who Shot Trump” finds rocco sharing his memories of the July 13th attempt on Trump’s life. During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the former President was shot in the ear by 20-year-old kitchen worker Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was himself shot and killed by Secret Service agents immediately afterwards.

Read More: Rock Stars React to the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump

Nugent, a longtime vocal Trump supporter, has also been inspired by the former President to get into the crypto game. “After Trump announced America’s new priority on digital currency, the Nugent family is evolving with the times,” reads a post on Nugent’s latest newsletter. You can purchase Nugent’s Who Shot Trump coin from Pump.

Hear Ted Nugent and Rocco Moon Perform ‘Who Shot Trump’

‘Who Shot Trump’ Lyrics

Who shot Trump
Cause they fucked up
When they shot Trump
They fucked up

There I was, watching Fox
He turned his head and it barely missed
It pierced his ear, this man right here
Clearly touched by the hand of God
Oh my God
Heard a couple shots

Y’all shot Trump
Y’all fucked up
When y’all shot Trump
Y’all fucked up
When y’all shot Trump

I don’t know what you thought it was
But now you got problems when you fuck with us
He’s our guy
Here’s the reason why
You had your shot but he ain’t die
Inside job
I don’t care
Y’all just protect that man right there
It’s time to fight
Stand your ground
Let them know how freedom sounds

Y’all shot Trump
Y’all fucked up
When y’all shot Trump
Y’all fucked up
When y’all shot Trump
We won’t tread with you
Unless you fucking with that red, white and blue
USA, we don’t play
You want to find out the hard way
Don’t tread on us we won’t tread on you
Unless you fucking with that red, white and blue
USA, we don’t play
You want to find out the hard way?

Y’all shot Trump

Rockers With Presidents

REO Speedwagon has tacked 11 more dates to an ongoing tour, adding Loverboy to shows now continuing into November. Presales are already underway for the new shows, using the code REOROCKS.

General ticket sales begin at 10AM local time on Friday, Aug. 2. See a complete list of REO Speedwagon’s 2024 dates and concert stops below.

REO Speedwagon is already on the concert trail, having begun their summer tour with Train earlier this month. REO stalwart Kevin Cronin admits that it’s an unusual pairing.

READ MORE: Top 10 REO Speedwagon Songs

“It was kind of a shocker because normally we’re out there with Styx or Journey – you know, in our comfort zone,” Cronin told UCR. “But I really dig Train and I’ve always thought that Patrick Monahan is just a world-class singer and songwriter. I’ve loved their records from Drops of Jupiter on.”

REO Speedwagon’s shows with Train continue through Sept. 11 in Phoenix. REO then plays eight connecting dates, including a three-night October residency at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas titled “A Night of ‘Hi Infidelity,'” before re-joining with Loverboy on Nov. 6.

They also shared a bill in 2022, accompanied by Styx. Loverboy ended up missing four shows on the Live & UnZoomed Tour after a band member tested positive for COVID. In the meantime, REO Speedwagon memorably added a fun cover of Loverboy’s Top 30 1982 hit “Working For the Weekend” to their set.

Cronin jokingly admitted that REO Speedwagon had “so much fun playing and singing the song we may have to leave it in our set even when Loverboy returns. Maybe bands can be like baseball teams, and trade songs. Maybe Loverboy could do ‘Ridin’ the Storm Out.’ That seems like a good trade.”

REO Speedwagon’s 2024 Dates
7/31 Train & REO Speedwagon @ Syracuse, NY, Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater
8/1: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Holmdel, NJ, PNC Bank Arts Center
8/3: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Hartford, CT, Xfinity Theatre
8/4: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Mansfield, MA, Xfinity Center
8/6: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Bristow, VA, Jiffy Lube Live
8/7: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Virginia Beach, VA, Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
8/9: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Raleigh, NC, Coastal Credit Union Music Park
8/10: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Charlotte, NC, PNC Music Pavilion
8/17: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Alpharetta, GA, Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
8/18: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Franklin, TN, FirstBank Amphitheater
8/20: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Tampa, FL, MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
8/21: Train & REO Speedwagon @ West Palm Beach, FL, iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
8/23: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Orange Beach, AL, The Wharf Amphitheater
8/25: Train & REO Speedwagon @ The Woodlands, TX, The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
8/26: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Dallas, TX, Dos Equis Pavilion
8/28: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Englewood, CO, Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre
8/29: Train & REO Speedwagon @ West Valley City, UT, Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
8/31: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Auburn, WA White River Amphitheatre
9/1: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Bend, OR, Hayden Homes Amphitheater
9/4: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Ridgefield, WA, RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
9/6: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Wheatland, CA, Toyota Amphitheatre
9/7: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Mountain View, CA, Shoreline Amphitheatre
9/8: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Inglewood, CA, Kia Forum
9/10: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Chula Vista, CA, North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
9/11: Train & REO Speedwagon @ Phoenix, AZ, Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
9/27: REO Speedwagon @ Rancho Mirage, CA, Agua Caliente Casino
10/2: REO Speedwagon @ Las Vegas, NV, The Venetian Theatre at the Venetian Resort
10/4: REO Speedwagon @ Las Vegas, NV, The Venetian Theatre at the Venetian Resort
10/5: REO Speedwagon @ Las Vegas, NV, The Venetian Theatre at the Venetian Resort
10/23: REO Speedwagon and Rick Springfield @ Eugene, OR, Matthew Knight Arena
10/24: REO Speedwagon and Rick Springfield @ Nampa, ID Ford Idaho Center Arena
10/26: REO Speedwagon and Dauzat St. Marie @ Bozeman, MT, Brick Breeden Fieldhouse
11/6: REO Speedwagon and Loverboy @ Grand Rapids, MI, Van Andel Arena
11/8: REO Speedwagon and Loverboy @ Cedar Rapids, IA, Alliant Energy PowerHouse
11/9: REO Speedwagon and Loverboy @ Bloomington, IL, Grossinger Motors Arena
11/12: REO Speedwagon and Loverboy @ Toledo, OH, Huntington Center
11/13: REO Speedwagon and Loverboy @ Saginaw, MI, Dow Event Center
11/15: REO Speedwagon and Loverboy @ Jonesboro, AR, First National Bank Arena
11/16: REO Speedwagon and Loverboy @ Corbin, KY, The Corbin Arena
11/19: REO Speedwagon and Loverboy @ Duluth, MN, AMSOIL Arena
11/20: REO Speedwagon @ Rochester, MN, Mayo Civic Center Auditorium
11/22: REO Speedwagon and Loverboy @ Rockford, IL, BMO Center
11/23: REO Speedwagon and Loverboy @ Lexington, KY, Rupp Arena

Joe Perry believes new Aerosmith music could still see the light of day, even as the band prepares to resume its Peace Out farewell tour.

“Right now I’m writing stuff for the new [Hollywood] Vampires record, but that’s a whole other thing,” Perry told Rock Candy magazine. “As for Aerosmith, I don’t know. We’ll see. There’s definitely a possibility, but at the minute we’re looking at the set for the tour and the songs we can play.”

Aerosmith will relaunch their Peace Out tour in September after a false start last September. The band only completed three shows before Steven Tyler injured his vocal cords and they were forced to halt the tour.

With 15 studio albums under their belts — most recently 2012’s Music From Another Dimension! — Aerosmith has a lot of music to consider as they prepare to hit the road again. “There are a lot of numbers that we haven’t done in a long time that I’d like to play,” Perry said. “There are a lot of songs we’re considering, but there are certain tunes that people kind of insist on. As far as new music is concerned, I know that Steven’s got some stuff in his back pocket, but I really think the main thing right now is getting back on the road and playing. We’re also remixing some of the early stuff and finding some interesting outtakes, so it’ll be fun to look at that stuff.”

READ MORE: Top 15 ’80s Aerosmith Songs

Joe Perry’s Resolution When He Hits the Stage

Between Tyler’s vocal damage, the coronavirus pandemic and his own age (73), Perry has learned to savor every opportunity to play music. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that things change,” he told Rock Candy. “We had to stop in September of last year when Steven had some vocal issues, so you take every day as it comes. A lot of it is up to the higher power of the God you believe in. But I’m looking forward to getting back out there, and when we stop … we’ll see. I have a feeling we’re going to be playing some places for the last time because there are only so many days and months left. At my age, the calendar gets shorter. But if it’s in your blood there’s nothing else that you want to do.”

Although he enjoyed the brief respite, the guitarist is now rearing to go again. “Well, it’s been fun getting a few months off, but it’s also been rough,” Perry said. “COVID was a disaster. Not knowing when it was going to end was strange for everybody. But the issue with Steven shows you that freak things can happen. You just don’t know, so that’s why every night that I go on, I play like it’s the last show.”

Chicago made the most of things as one of the first groups to appear after the Kennedy Center opened in September 1971, debuting a signature song. Keep scrolling to hear their muscular early version of “Saturday in the Park” from an upcoming multi-format release of this historic concert.

Founding trumpeter Lee Loughnane and engineer Tim Jessup returned to the original multi-track tapes to complete Chicago at the John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971). Set for release by Rhino on Sept. 27, the 26-track live collection will be available in 4LP, 3CD and digital configurations. Preordering is already underway.

The Kennedy Center performance, recorded on Sept. 16, 1971, features the classic-era lineup of Peter Cetera, Terry Kath, Robert Lamm, Loughnane, James Pankow, Walt Parazaider and Danny Seraphine. They focused on Chicago’s first three studio albums, moving from the upbeat “25 or 6 to 4” to ballads (“Colour My World” and “Beginnings”), jazz-influenced tracks (“Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”) and extended song suites like “Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon.” The complete track listing is also below.

READ MORE: Top 10 Chicago Songs

Chicago would return to the studio just days later to begin work on Chicago V – the group’s first No. 1 album. They were already road-testing key tracks. “Case in point: We did ‘Saturday in the Park’ for the first time at the Kennedy Center show,” Loughnane says in a news release. “You’ll notice that we hadn’t yet decided on who would sing the lead vocal. Also, Robert hadn’t written Part 2 of ‘Dialogue’ yet.”

Before now, the only previously released song from Chicago at the John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971) was “Goodbye,” which appeared on 2018’s Chicago: VI Decades Live.

Chicago at the John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971) Track Listing

Tuneup and Band Introduction
“Dialogue”
“Loneliness Is Just a Word”
“In the Country”
“Poem for the People”
“A Hit by Varèse”
“A Song for Richard and His Friends”
“Lowdown”
“Goodbye”
“Beginnings”
“Make Me Smile”
“So Much to Say, So Much to Give”
“Anxiety’s Moment”
“West Virginia Fantasies”
“Colour My World”
“To Be Free”
“Now More Than Ever”
“Fancy Colours”
“Saturday in the Park”
“Mother”
“It Better End Soon”
“I’m a Man”
“Free”
“Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (Free Form Intro)”
“Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”
“25 or 6 to 4”

Bryan Ferry‘s solo career will be explored in the 81-track Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023, due on Oct. 25 from BMG. This first-ever career-spanning release spans 16 solo albums from the Roxy Music frontman. Preordering is already underway.

Ferry is advancing the set with a new update of Bob Dylan‘s “She Belongs to Me” from 1965’s Bringing It All Back Home. (Ferry’s debut solo single was a cover of “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” a U.K. Top 10 hit in 1973.) Other highlights include the song “Star,” Ferry’s first new music release in over a decade, as well as solo favorites like “Slave to Love,” “Don’t Stop the Dance” and “Kiss and Tell.”

Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023 will be released across multiple formats, including a 5CD deluxe box set with a 100-page hardback book containing rare images and new liner notes. The 2LP gatefold edition features 20 songs on several vinyl colors. There will also be a single compact disc version and a complete 81-song digital release.

READ MORE: The Best Roxy Music Songs

The 5CD deluxe box set breaks up Ferry’s solo career into five stages, beginning with Disc One: The Best of Bryan Ferry. Disc Two: Compositions goes deeper into original songs from 1977-2014, while Disc Three: Interpretations focuses on Ferry’s incredible range of cover material from Rodgers and Hart to Amy Winehouse, from Sam and Dave to the Velvet Underground.

Disc Four: The Bryan Ferry Orchestra focused on his jazz-influenced projects, including 2012’s The Jazz Age, 2013’s The Great Gatsby: The Jazz Recordings and 2018’s Bitter-Sweet. Disc Five: Rare and Unreleased gathers B-sides, outtakes and other extras. Among them is an early-’90s remake of Roxy Music’s “Mother of Pearl” from the Mamouna sessions featuring backing vocals from Ronnie Spector.

Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023 will also be broken up into three digital EP releases over the coming months. “She Belongs to Me” is part of the first five-track release, titled Retrospective: She Belongs to Me.

The careers of Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf will be forever linked.

The pair, born a little more than a month apart in 1947, rose to prominence on 1977’s Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf’s multiplatinum debut album that was written and conceived by Steinman as a rock ‘n’ roll musical based on Peter Pan.

Even though the album was produced by Todd Rundgren, it was Steinman who called the shots, from its conceptual center to the Phil Spector-influenced sense of musical grandeur. But where Spector constructed his multi-instrumentalist visions as radio-friendly two-and-a-half-minute pop songs, Steinman took advantage of the boundless FM radio format in the mid-’70s and often pushed his songs to seven, eight or even more minutes.

But there was more to the writer and producer than just Meat Loaf, as you will see in the below list of the Top 10 Jim Steinman Songs. In the ’80s and ’90s, he expanded his widescreen, operatic and often romantic theatrical rock to artists as diverse as Air Supply, Celine Dion, Barry Manilow, the Sisters of Mercy and Billy Squier, and continued to rack up hit songs.

Still, it was Meat Loaf who gave him his final No. 1 when they reunited in 1993 for the belated sequel Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell. Steinman and Meat Loaf died within a year of one another in 2021 and 2022, respectively, their lives inevitably connected until the end.

10. Bonnie Tyler, “Holding Out for a Hero” (1984)

Flush from the success of “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” Steinman reunited with Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler for a song from the Footloose soundtrack. One of the few Steinman-written and -produced tracks that restrains epic inclinations, if not its length (the single version clocks in at an economical four and a half minutes, but an extended cut runs more than six), “Holding Out for a Hero” is pumped-up mid-’80s synth-pop.

READ MORE: Top 10 Meat Loaf Songs

9. Jim Steinman, “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through” (1981)

Steinman released only one solo album, 1981’s Bad for Good, which was intended as Meat Loaf’s second LP until the singer underwent vocal issues that temporarily sidelined his career. An uncredited Rory Dodd sings “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through,” a Top 40 hit for Steinman that was later revived for Meat Loaf’s 1993 comeback record, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell. The original is filled with hope.

8. Meat Loaf, “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)” (1977)

The first single from Meat Loaf’s debut album, like the other two songs pulled for release, was trimmed in length to meet radio limits. “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth” lost a minute-long intro spoken by Steinman that doesn’t affect much – the track, by Steinman’s standards, is relatively short to begin with. Meat Loaf has said he asked the songwriter to pen a less sprawling song for him. The result: a pop-rock gem.

7. Air Supply, “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” (1983)

Steinman didn’t intend to be tied to just one artist, especially after the delay between Meat Loaf albums. So in 1983, he wrote and produced hit records for Bonnie Tyler and Air Supply, the Australian soft-rock duo that charted seven Top 5 singles since 1980. “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” appeared on their Greatest Hits LP and peaked at No. 2 for three weeks behind “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Another Spector-sized epic.

6. Meat Loaf, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” (1977)

The breakthrough song from Bat Out of Hell was the last written for the album, a challenge to Steinman by a friend to write something less grandiloquent than most of his songs. While “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” still clocks in at five and a half minutes (the single edit cuts 90 seconds), the relative scaling-back proved to be a key ingredient. The power ballad just missed the Top 10, but its legacy endures.

5. Meat Loaf, “Bat Out of Hell” (1977)

Little surprise Bat Out of Hell sounds like a musical: Steinman pieced it together from a rock version of Peter Pan he wrote for the stage. The title track is the entryway to the album and, as a result, Steinman and Meat Loaf’s worldview. Stretching to nearly 10 minutes, “Bat Out of Hell” sounded unlike anything at the time: a piece of musical theater with rock ‘n’ roll at its core. The album made Meat Loaf a star; this is the start.

4. Celine Dion, “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” (1996)

Celine Dion was one of the most commercially successful artists in the world, coming off her second No. 1, when she surprised fans with Steinman’s seven-and-a-half-minute “woman’s song.” “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” caused a rift between the songwriter and Meat Loaf, who wanted to sing it but was legally prevented by Steinman. Dion gives an epic performance, one of her all-time best; not a single note is out of place.

READ MORE: 50 Songs From the ’90s That Don’t Suck

3. Meat Loaf, “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” (1993)

Sixteen years after Bat Out of Hell made Meat Loaf a star and Steinman a hit writer, the pair reconciled for a sequel. Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell was an immediate hit, giving them their only No. 1 LP. Its lead single topped the chart, too. “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” in its album version, runs more than 12 minutes; the single, trimmed by half, loses some of the intensity but none of its romantic propensities.

2. Meat Loaf, “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” (1977)

Bat Out of Hell‘s centerpiece requires four sections and eight and a half minutes to realize Steinman’s Phil Spector-like vision. A duet between Meat Loaf and Ellen Foley – who chart a couple’s romance from backseat courting to end-of-the-world-praying deliverance – “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” spotlights the LP’s nucleus, from the performers to producer Todd Rundgren to songwriter/conceptual mastermind Steinman.

1. Bonnie Tyler, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (1983)

Meat Loaf’s second album, 1981’s Bad for Good, was a critical and commercial nonstarter, and Steinman’s relationship with his muse singer was waning following the wait between records. So Steinman retreated to work with Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, who hit No. 3 in 1977 with “It’s a Heartache.” He coproduced her 1983 album Faster Than the Speed of Night and wrote a couple of the songs, including “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” a seven-minute, multipiece work that recalled his best music with Meat Loaf. The song was a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in the U.S. and U.K., and resurrected the careers of Tyler and Steinman, who’d go on to work with other artists throughout the decade. But none sparked him the way Tyler did – “Total Eclipse” is one of the ’80s best songs and a Steinman crown jewel.

Columbia Pictures announced Jason Reitman’s movie about the first episode of Saturday Night Live will be titled simply Saturday Night, and will appear in theaters on Oct. 11.

The date matches the 49th anniversary of the variety show’s debut in 1975 under its original name NBC’s Saturday Night.

Directed by Jason Reitman and co-written with Gil Kenan based on interviews with those who were there, it’s an exploration of the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast.

READ MORE: Will SNL Movie Show the Truth or the Legend?

The cast includes Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster and Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris. The soundtrack is being composed by five-time Grammy winner Jon Batiste, who also plays the show’s first musical guest, Billy Preston.

Producer Michaels had big ambitions ahead of its launch. “So much of what Saturday Night Live wanted to be, or what I wanted it to be when it began, was cool,” he said later. “This was taking the sensibilities that were in music, stage and the movies and bringing them to television.”

First ‘SNL’ Show Featured Future Mainstays

The cold open featured John Belushi and Michael O’Donoghue in a sketch titled “The Wolverines,” while the episode also included future mainstays, the “Live from New York” intro, the host’s monologue – in this case George Carlin – and the “Weekend Update” skit.

Despite the success that lay ahead, the first episode wasn’t well-received, with reviewers using terms such as “less than auspicious,” “lackluster” and “uneven.”

Watch the First Ever ‘SNL’ Sketch

James Hetfield has revealed what he learned from Metallica’s nonprofit work via their All Within My Hands foundation. And the frontman said that while it was the “corniest” lesson, it was still true.

Named after a track on 2003 album St. Anger, the group started the organization in 2017, aiming “to assist and enrich the lives of members of the communities who have supported the band for years, as well as encourage participation from fans and friends.”

Since then, millions of dollars have been raised for a wide range of causes including food banks, disaster relief and education programs, while fans are encouraged to take part in voluntary work in their own communities.

READ MORE: The Best Metallica Song From Every Decade

In a recent episode of The Metallica Report (below), Hetfield explained that the foundation logo included a key entering a lock to give access to the “knowledge of, ‘it is better to give than to receive.’”

He continued: “As corny as that sounds, there’s not really a better feeling in this world than helping someone else, and doing it without telling about it. … It goes against everything that humans are – ‘I need this; you give me that; I need to take this.’ Especially growing up in a band that was struggling, fighting for the only towel in the motel, or whatever it is; or, ‘There’s a can of food there – I better get mine or else.’”

Saying his experience had taught him how to move from “that sparseness mentality” to “completely the opposite,” he added: “[D]espite everything I’ve learned, the corniest saying, ‘it’s better to give than receive,’ is so true.”

James Hetfield’s Favorite Part of Metallica’s Charity Work

Hetfield said that, for him, the best of the foundation’s work was “the ability to sponsor people into restarting their life or giving them sense of hope, giving them a trade that they can take anywhere in the world and feel that they are worthy.”

He reflected: “And it could be a little selfish of me, because I like doing that stuff…It’s not something I need to sustain me and my family, So it’s more of a hobby – but it’s a career for most people.

“You don’t take the time every day to realize that, ‘Wow, someone… built this couch we’re sitting on.’ … Someone else has taken the time to learn how to do it, and it makes our lives better. So why are they not respected as much as a doctor or a lawyer? … It’s kind of the same thing.”

Bad news for fans hoping to see David Lee Roth join Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds tour, as the Red Rocker reports things have gone silent between him and his Van Halen predecessor.

When Hagar first announced the tour, focusing on Van Halen’s classic material, he extended an invitation for Roth to join. Diamond Dave initially expressed interest, however when Hagar clarified that the offer was simply to guest on a song or two, rather than participate in the entire trek, Roth reportedly went silent.

“He went AWOL,” Hagar explained during a recent interview with Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk. “After (clarifying the offer), he just kind of went to sleep on it, which is fine. I don’t need Roth antagonizing me.”

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

Hagar insisted the ball remains in Roth’s court regarding a possible appearance, but suggested that such a move would seemingly go against Diamond Dave’s personality.

“If he really wanted to come out and play music, sing a song and be real and not try to pull some crazy whacked out stuff,” Hagar explained. “You know, the guy’s unpredictable. And God bless him, he’s been an entertainer his whole life and he’s a showman and he likes to upstage people and that’s been his game. And so, we’re just not into that.”

“I would love him to come and sing ‘Jump’ at the end of this show,” the Red Rocker continued. “Just you come out and sing the fucker instead of me.”

READ MORE: Every David Lee Roth-Era Van Halen Song Sammy Hagar Sang: 1986-04

Though a Roth appearance remains unlikely, Hagar has made a point to perform material from Van Halen’s early days.

“The songs we’re singing, the rock tunes, we’re doing ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love’, we’re doing ‘Panama’ and we’re doing ‘Jump’,” he noted. “And quite honestly, I think that’s enough. I don’t want to overdo it and make it look like I’m, patronizing or whatever.”

Sammy Hagar Put up $1.5 Million to Make Best of All Worlds Happen

Elsewhere in his conversation with Trunk, Hagar revealed he’d personally invested more than a million dollars into the Best of All World tour.

“I put a million-and-a-half dollars into our production,” the singer confirmed. “When you do that, it just brings the level of the whole thing up – the video wall, everything about it, the lights, the sound, I just got the best of the best and I’m feeling good about it.”

The Best of All Worlds tour kicked off July 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida and is scheduled to conclude Aug. 31 in St. Louis.

Saturday Night Live has a long history of poking fun at the Olympics.

In the show’s earliest years, original cast members such as Gilda Radner and John Belushi appeared as surprisingly vengeful gymnasts, and decathlon champions with highly unusual diet regimens.

The tradition they began has continued for nearly fifty years now, with each new cast addressing or parodying the breakout stars and biggest controversies from the world’s biggest sporting event. Here, in no particular order, are the Top 10 Saturday Night Live Olympic Sketches:

‘Olga Korbut’ (1976)

Gilda Radner makes a brief but memorable appearance on Weekend Update, portraying real-life Russian Olympic gymnast Olga Korbut, who was unexpectedly upstaged by Nadia Comaneci of Romania at the 1976 Olympics. After hearing Chevy Chase describe her as “a crushed, forgotten, saddened figure” and “a has-been at the age of 21,” Korbut lashes out against her opponent in a very blunt manner.

‘Little Chocolate Donuts’ (1977)

John Belushi’s unusual training diet was the subject of a famous 1977 Saturday Night Live sketch. Modeled after the Wheaties breakfast cereal ad campaigns featuring 1976 Olympic decathalon-winning athlete Caitlyn Jenner (then known as Bruce Jenner), the sketch instead found Belushi starting each day with little chocolate donuts…and a cigarette, of course.

‘All-Drug Olympics’ (1988)

Phil Hartman and Kevin Nealon star in one of the funniest Olympic sketches in Saturday Night Live history, one that might even outdo Dan Aykroyd’s 1978 Julia Child sketch in terms of fake blood spilled. Hartman stars as a Russian weightlifter juiced to the gills on performance-enhancing drugs, whose attempt to triple the existing world record goes terribly, terribly wrong: “Oh, that’s gotta be a disappointment for the big Russian….”

Read More: Rich Guy Might Make Saturday Night Live’s All-Drug Olympics Real

‘Telemundo Winter Olympics’ (2010)

Jennifer Lopez and Fred Armison appear as the befuddled hosts of Spanish-language television network Telemundo’s first attempt to cover the Winter Olympics. “We keep asking ourselves the same question: Why does anybody like the Winter Olympics? It is cold and the sports are silly,” asks Armison. “All the sports are either very strange or something you would do if you wanted to kill yourself,” adds Lopez.

‘Figure Skating Cold Open’ (1992)

Phil Hartman (as announcer Verne Lundquist) and Dana Carvey (as Scott Hamilton) try to keep things professional as they cover Beverly Hills, 90210 star Jason Priestley’s absolutely disastrous, fall-filled attempt to capture figure skating gold. “Could this cause permanent damage?” Hartman asks at one point. “Yes, someone should really stop this,” agrees Carvey.

‘Synchronized Swimming’ (1984)

Harry Shearer and Martin Short play brothers who dream of winning gold in men’s synchronized swimming, and aren’t discouraged by the fact that no such Olympic event exists. “That’s OK, because we could use the time,” Short notes, “because I’m not that strong a swimmer.”

‘Ryan Lochte on the Fall TV Schedule’ (2012)

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane pokes fun at gold medal-winning swimmer Ryan Lochte’s perceived lack of intelligence by having him talk about the most promising shows from the upcoming TV season. “I think they got me all wrong there,” Locthe declared soon after the sketch aired. “Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to go on ‘SNL’ and redeem myself.” That has yet to happen.

‘Mormons on the Slopes’ (2002)

Saturday Night Live legend Aykroyd returns to the show, teaming up with Will Ferrell as a pair of over-eager recruiters for the Mormon religion, attempting to win over Amy Poehler right in the middle of an Olympic skiing competition.

‘1994 Olympics’ (1994)

Commentators Phil Hartman and David Spade do their best to maintain proper decorum while discussing the dramatic weight gain that has negatively affected Chris Farley’s Olympic figure skating performance.

‘Swimming Instructor’ (2013)

A novice swimmer with very unlikely Olympic dreams (Will Forte) recruits world-famous instructor Doug Frangello (John C. Reilly) for an introductory lesson. The highly unusual process soon finds the two strapped very tightly together through a series of suggestive and uncomfortable gyrations, pausing only to give Frangello a moment to adjust his penis.

Bonus: Steve Martin, ‘Olympic Diving Event’

In his 1980 TV special Comedy is Not Pretty, frequent Saturday Night Live contributor Steve Martin plays a highly unconventional diving champion whose everyday moves somehow keep dazzling the judges.

Bon Jovi recently put out a new album, Forever, which made it to No. 5 in its first week of release. But as Jon Bon Jovi sees it, it could have been No. 1 had it not been for global superstar Taylor Swift.

At the time Forever was released, Swift’s 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department held the No. 1 spot.

“If it weren’t for that pesky Taylor [Swift] girl, we would have been No. 1 everywhere!” Bon Jovi recently joked to Audacy. “But isn’t [it] fantastic that, on our 18th album, we’re still having big hit successes? So, it’s knock on wood, and why not be joyful?”

Jon Bon Jovi’s Other Thoughts on Taylor Swift

Bon Jovi’s comment should not be confused for any sort of ill will toward Swift — he’s  praised her and her accomplishments in multiple interviews.

“She created an industry. She utilized what she does best,” he told Variety in June. “She sings like Taylor Swift. She plays guitar like Taylor Swift. She’s not trying to be something that she’s not, and it is connected with an audience that is unique.”

READ MORE: All 359 Bon Jovi Songs Ranked Worst to Best

And even though Forever didn’t stay near the top of the chart for very long, Bon Jovi still feels grateful for the success and support from the band’s fans.

“When you’re in good health, and you’ve written songs that people remember for all these years, we didn’t even dip our toe into the catalog of hits today,” he told Audacy. “It’s astounding the relationship that we’ve had with this audience by and large for four decades.”

Mattel Creations has revealed a Jimmy Buffett action figure based on his cameo appearance in the 2015 movie Jurassic World.

Unveiled at this year’s Comic Con in San Diego, the set features the late singer holding two margaritas while being surrounded by escaped flying dinosaurs. It re-enacts the moment he’s seen trying to save the drinks while he’s part of a crowd running away from escaped dimorphodons.

“Jurassic World fans and Parrotheads alike fondly remember Jimmy Buffett’s cameo,” Mattel said in a statement. “Inspired by this movie moment, our Jimmy Buffet action figure wears his island apparel, including sunglasses and flip-flops.

READ MORE: 40 Years of Jimmy Buffett Quotes

“He stands atop a margarita-style platform, surrounded by ‘flying’ dimorphodons that circle him as the tiki hut-style base turns. In honor of Buffett’s philanthropic legacy, Mattel will donate $5,000 and 5,000 toys to [Buffett’s charity] Singing for Change.”

The platform lights up and plays music when the base is turned, with authentic sounds including whirring blender and swooping dimorphodons. The “lost” salt shaker is also included, along with two drinks and a custom artwork case.

Watch Jimmy Buffett’s ‘Margarita Man’ Cameo in ‘Jurrassic World’

How Jimmy Buffett Wound Up in ‘Jurrasic World’

Buffett’s connection with the movie came via his Margaritaville brand, as the creative team aimed to make the Jurassic World resort feel like a real-life place, and wanted recognizable store fronts on camera. “We were excited to go and hand pick who was going to be on the main street and on the boardwalk, and we were lucky enough to get Margaritaville as the marquee restaurant,” producer Frank Marshall said.

Buffett attended the movie premiere, performing “Margaritaville” with star Chris Pratt at the aftershow event.

The figure retails for $30 and it’s available to pre-order now, with shipping on or before Aug. 2, with a limit of three units per customer.

Watch Jimmy Buffett and Chris Pratt Sing ‘Margaritaville’

Jonathan Cain played a medley of favorites on the grand piano from Journey‘s commercial zenith during a surprise visit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. See exclusive photographs from Cain’s visit and video courtesy of the Rock Hall below.

This appearance coincided with the return of Cain’s signature 1981 Yahama C7 to the Rock Hall’s exhibit space. “It’s here because it served me well,” Cain said of the instrument, nicknamed the Whale. “We played many, many shows. This piano played for millions of people.”

A special fan fest event is being held today at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as Journey’s ongoing tour with Def Leppard and Cheap Trick reaches Cleveland.

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

Cain unveiled the Yahama during Journey’s Escape tour, after microphones were carefully inside to capture its rich sound on stage.

“This piano was with me for 35 years,” Cain said. “We made the very first live simulcast MTV show, Live From Houston, and that piano was centerstage. Steve Perry sang ‘Open Arms’ right next to it. I made all of the [’80s-era] Journey records with this piano, all the way up to Raised on Radio. This was in the studio. I wouldn’t play any other one.”

Watch Jonathan Cain Play the Whale With Journey

How Much Did Jonathan Cain Pay for the Whale?

Likely because of sheer logistics, Journey’s founding manager Herbie Herbert was initially against the idea of touring with the Whale.

“He didn’t want to have this out there, but I demanded it,” Cain said. “I said, ‘I’m going to have to have this piano’ – especially because the songs on the Escape album were very piano oriented: “Who’s Crying Now,” “Open Arms,” “Don’t Stop Believin’.” These are songs that you couldn’t do on a rinky-dink piano.”

Cain said he purchased the instrument back then for $12,500. “This same piano, today, costs $86,000 brand new,” he added. Cain painted it red so he’d stand out more on stage; Neal Schon also had a Ferrari in the same color. “I can’t go on stage with a black piano,” Cain said with a chuckle. “I’ll disappear. I’ll just be a floating head.”

Fan day activities at the Rock Hall today will include spotlighted artifacts, rock and roll trivia games and unique photo opportunities.

Jonathan Cain’s Surprise Rock Hall Visit

Video courtesy of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

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

Green Day kicked off the North American leg of their Saviors tour on Monday with a career-spanning, 37-song set at Washington, D.C.’s Nationals Park, supported by the Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and the Linda Lindas.

You can see the set list and video from the show below.

The pop-punk veterans opened with Saviors lead single “The American Dream Is Killing Me” before barreling through their breakthrough 1994 album Dookie in full. A handful of other hits and Saviors cuts followed before the band played its second full album of the night, 2004’s American Idiot. The show ended with Billie Joe Armstrong delivering a solo acoustic performance of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”

READ MORE: Why Green Day Initially Shelved ‘Good Riddance’

How ‘Saviors’ Connects to Green Day’s Biggest Albums

There are several reasons behind Green Day’s decision to play Dookie and American Idiot in full on the Saviors tour. Besides being the two biggest albums of the band’s career, Armstrong said they also form a trifecta with their most recent release.

“In the beginning, I kept changing my mind about what I wanted the record to be,” he told Vulture in January. “Did I want it to be an old-school Green Day punk record, or did I want to do something that felt more lush and stadium-like? … We had a large batch of songs that we recorded in London and when we saw it come together, I remembered thinking, ‘Oh, this is the connection.’ Saviors does feel like a trifecta with Dookie and American Idiot where it feels like a life’s work. I went from not knowing what the hell I was doing to going, ‘Oh gosh, we managed to bridge the gap between those two huge albums.'”

READ MORE: Top 30 Albums of 1994

The Saviors tour continues on Thursday in Toronto, and the North American leg will extend through late September. Additional dates in Mexico, South Africa and Japan are booked through February.

Watch Green Day Play ‘Sassafras Roots’ on 7/29/24 in Washington, D.C.

Watch Green Day Play ‘Holiday’ on 7/29/24 in Washington, D.C.

Watch Green Day Play ‘Basket Case’ on 7/29/24 in Washington, D.C.

Green Day, 7/29/24, Nationals Park, Washington, D.C. Set List
1. “The American Dream Is Killing Me”
2. “Burnout”
3. “Having a Blast”
4. “Chump”
5. “Longview”
6. “Welcome to Paradise”
7. “Pulling Teeth”
8. “Basket Case”
9. “She”
10. “Sassafras Roots”
11. “When I Come Around”
12. “Coming Clean”
13. “Emenius Sleepus”
14. “In the End”
15. “F.O.D.”
16. “All by Myself”
17. “Know Your Enemy”
18. “Look Ma, No Brains!”
19. “One Eyed Bastard”
20. “Dilemma”
21. “Minority”
22. “Brain Stew”
23. “American Idiot”
24. “Jesus of Suburbia”
25. “Holiday”
26. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
27. “Are We the Waiting”
28. “St. Jimmy”
29. “Give Me Novacaine”
30. “She’s a Rebel”
31. “Extraordinary Girl”
32. “Letterbomb”
33. “Wake Me Up When September Ends”
34. “Homecoming”
35. “Whatsername”
36. “Bobby Sox”
37. “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”

The Smashing Pumpkins, 7/29/24, Nationals Park, Washington, D.C. Set List
1. “The Everlasting Gaze”
2. “Doomsday Clock”
3. “Zoo Station” (U2 cover)
4. “Today”
5. “Tonight, Tonight”
6. “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”
7. “Beguiled”
8. “1979”
9. “Jellybelly”
10. “Cherub Rock”
11. “Zero”)

Fleetwood Mac will release a live album from their 1982 tour to support the album Mirage later this year.

Mirage Tour ’82 features 22 songs collected from a pair of sold-out shows at the Los Angeles Forum from that year. As Rhino notes in a press release announcing the set, “In September 1982, Fleetwood Mac embarked on a 31-city U.S. tour in support of Mirage, the band’s fourth consecutive multiplatinum album and third No. 1 in America.

“Both shows at the Forum were recorded, and Mirage Tour ‘82 combines songs from both into a single concert experience.” You can hear a previously unreleased live version of “Don’t Stop” from the set below.

The set will be available on Sept. 20 in 3LP, 2CD and digital configurations.

READ MORE: Ranking Every Classic Era Fleetwood Mac Song

The arrival of the set is some good news for fans who were recently told by Stevie Nicks that “there’s no chance of putting Fleetwood Mac back together” following Christine McVie‘s death in 2022.

Her last performance with the group was in 2019 when Fleetwood Mac wrapped a tour without Lindsey Buckingham, who was fired in 2018. The band instead toured with Crowded House guitarist Neil Finn former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers member Mike Campbell.

What’s on Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Mirage Tour ’82’ Album?

Among the nearly two dozen tracks on Mirage Tour ’82 are six previously unreleased recordings from the Oct. 21 concert, including “Landslide,” “Don’t Stop” and “Never Going Back Again.”

Other songs recorded on Oct. 22 have appeared on other releases over the years, including Live Super Deluxe Edition, Mirage Super Deluxe Edition and the 1983 concert video Mirage Live.

You can see the track listing below.

The album precedes the release of a new album by Mick Fleetwood. Blues Experience, featuring mostly blues covers with ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro, will be out on Oct. 18.

Fleetwood Mac, ‘Mirage Tour ’82’ Track Listing
Disc One
“Second Hand News”
“The Chain”
“Don’t Stop” *
“Dreams” *
“Oh Well” *
“Rhiannon”
“Brown Eyes”
“Eyes Of The World”
“Gypsy”
“Love In Store”
“Not That Funny”

Disc Two
“Never Going Back Again” *
“Landslide” *
“Tusk”
“Sara” *
“Hold Me”
“You Make Loving Fun”
“I’m So Afraid”
“Go Your Own Way”
“Blue Letter”
“Sisters Of The Moon”
“Songbird”

Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson will take place later this year on Oct. 17 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.

Scheduled to play at the concert in tribute to the late Band guitarist is an impressive list of both veteran performers and up and coming stars: Trey Anastasio, Ryan Bingham, Mike Campbell, Eric Church, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Warren Haynes, Bruce Hornsby, Jim James, Jamey Johnson, Noah Kahan, Daniel Lanois, Taj Mahal, Van Morrison, Margo Price, Robert Randolph, Nathaniel Rateliff, Allison Russell, Mavis Staples, Benmont Tench, Don Was, Bobby Weir and Lucinda Williams.

Presale tickets for the concert will be available starting July 31, followed by general tickets on Aug. 2. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to The Woodland Cultural Centre, which funds a range of educational and creative programs on the Sixth Nations Reserve in Canada. (Robertson himself was of Indigenous ancestry.)

Robbie Robertson’s Passing

Robertson passed away in August of 2023 at the age of 80, leaving Garth Hudson as the sole surviving member of the Band.

READ MORE: How Robbie Robertson Finally Stepped Out as a Solo Artist

“Robbie Robertson was one of my closest friends, a constant in my life and my work,” frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese, who directed the Band’s The Last Waltz and will serve as an executive producer for the tribute concert, said in a statement then. “I could always go to him as a confidante. A collaborator. An advisor. I tried to be the same for him. Long before we ever met, his music played a central role in my life — me and millions and millions of other people all over this world. The Band’s music, and Robbie’s own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys. It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting.”

Dave Navarro recalled the moment he lost it during a Jane’s Addiction show and threw every guitar he owned into the crowd.

It was an angry reaction against frontman Perry Farrell during the first Lollapalooza festival in 1991. It led Navarro to suffer instant regret – but it turned out to have an unexpected positive effect on his career.

“Back then, drugs and alcohol were a big factor in our band’s life,” he told Guitar World in a recent interview. “Sometimes we’d be at the same level and have a great time, and sometimes people would go in different directions.

READ MORE: How Taylor Hawkins’ Death Made Dave Navarro’s Health Battle Worse

“On that particular night I went in a different direction. Three songs in we got into a physical altercation and I decided, ‘I’m done playing this fucking show.’ I took all my Ibanez guitars and threw them into the audience. I looked at Perry and I was like, ‘What are you going to do now?’ Like, ‘Ha ha ha, I got you! I don’t have any guitars to play now!’”

He continued: “Five minutes later, I was like, ‘Oh shit, what am I going to do now?’ I was so focused on getting back at him that I didn’t realize I’d just cut my own feet off.”

Fortunately help was at hand. “The guitarist of the Rollins Band, Chris Haskett, was playing with Corey Smith. At the next gig he said, ‘Why don’t you borrow one of my guitars and see if you like it?’ So for the second Lollapalooza show I was playing a PRS, and I said, ‘I fucking love this.’”

Why Jane’s Addiction Are Having More Fun Than Ever

Since that time Navarro has remained with PRS. “They overnighted two or three guitars,” he said. “I used them for the rest of Lollapalooza and the rest of my career.”

He reported that the reunited Jane’s Addiction – who just released “Imminent Redemption,” their first song to feature the original lineup since 1991 – are having more fun on stage than ever before, extending and experimenting with songs as they go.

“It makes playing those songs fun again,” he said. “You’re on the edge of a cliff and you don’t know if you’re gonna fall off. So far, we haven’t. And even if we did, that would be kind of a memorable moment!”

Watch Jane’s Addiction’s “Imminent Redemption” Lyric Video 

AC/DC guitarist Angus Young is getting two new Funko Pop! figures.

Both feature Young in his trademark schoolboy outfit and cap. The Pop! Moment Angus Young Dancing on Stage set finds him sporting a red suit, blue cap and includes a stage with the AC/DC logo. The other set finds him in a green outfit without a stage. Both are available from Funko.com and Amazon, with the latter listing a Nov. 18 release date.

Young has been immortalized in plastic with four previous Funko Pop! figures – one that features him wearing a black suit, another red one, a limited edition blue-suited “chase” figure featuring devil’s horns on his hat, and a set that includes 1979’s Highway to Hell album art along with an Angus that has both devil’s horns and a tail, as he appears on the cover photo.

Read More: Top 50 AC/DC Songs

Former lead singer Bon Scott was also the subject of a stand-alone Funko Pop! figure, and the Back in Black lineup of Young, his brother Malcom, singer Brian Johnson, bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Phil Rudd were all featured in a box set commemorating the band’s mega-selling 1980 commercial breakthrough.

AC/DC’s 2024 Summer Tour is Winding Down

AC/DC has five dates left on their 2024 European summer Power Up tour, which kicked off on May 17 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The tour, the band’s first in eight years, is currently scheduled to conclude on August 17 in Dublin. Longtime members Brian Johnson and Angus Young are joined by rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, bassist Chris Chaney and drummer Matt Laug in the band’s current touring lineup.

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason said he was intrigued by using AI to continue the classic-era lineup’s career.

The prog giants’ most successful lineup ended when Roger Waters quit the band in 1985 and tried to prevent his bandmates from moving on without him. The fallout between Waters and David Gilmour has never properly been resolved, with the pair’s current relationship apparently at an all-time low.

The chances of a real-life reunion were rendered impossible with the death of keyboardist Rick Wright in 2008. But in a new interview, Mason suggested an alternative.

READ MORE: David Gilmour and Roger Waters Solo Albums Ranked Worst to Best

“It would be fascinating to see what AI could do with new music,” he told the Mirror. “[What would happen] if you tried to run it as a sort of ‘Where did Pink Floyd go after?’ The thing to do would be to have an AI situation where David and Roger become friends again.”

Referring to ABBA’s virtual concert residency Voyage, he added, “We could be like ABBA by the time we’ve finished with it.”

Mason said most of the band’s run had been “great fun” for him, noting that “We were enormously privileged to be in a successful band and tour the world and hang out with really interesting people. It’s a gold card to meet all sorts of your favorite sportsmen and actors.”

Why Nick Mason Wants to Keep Pink Floyd Going

His thoughts were partly inspired by his recent experience of touring with the band Saucerful of Secrets, where Mason focuses on early Floyd material that Waters and Gilmour have left out of their solo work.

“The best thing about keeping the thing going is for our benefit,” he said. “It makes sense to keep it going rather than ­shutting it down. I also enjoy it because the more time passes, the more you can look at it with a rosier glint.”

Two of the world’s most popular rock bands are now related by marriage. Faye Harris, the daughter of Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris, has married Tyrone Wood, son of Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood.

With their famous fathers both in attendance, the young couple exchanged their vows on Friday in Marylebone, London. You can see photos from the wedding below.

Tyrone Wood is an art gallery owner, while Faye is the co-founder of a perfume company named Eauso Vert. According to Hello!, the two went public with their romance in 2022 after meeting on a dating app, and were engaged in December 2023.

Ron Wood and Steve Harris Were Both at the Wedding

Luckily, both of the couple’s parents were in between tours and able to attend the ceremony. Last week, Wood and his Rolling Stones bandmates wrapped up their highly successful North American Hackney Diamonds summer tour with a 20-song set in Ridgedale, Missouri. The band has yet to announce their future plans.

After nearly a year off the road, Harris and Iron Maiden will launch The Future Past World Tour 2024 in Perth, Australia on Sept. 1. The tour hits the United States on Oct. 4 in San Diego and is currently scheduled through Dec. 7 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Like so many bands from its era, nobody knew what to make of the Pretenders at the top of the ’80s. They were already buzzing, thanks to three hit singles in the U.K. and a magnetic frontwoman in Chrissie Hynde, who cast quite an image alongside her equally photogenic bandmates in leather and studs.

A transplanted American working in England with three local musicians, she was part punk, part power-pop and all spitfire. Their self-titled debut album contained muscle, smarts and the effortless ability to move toward, and away from, expectations from song to song. It signaled the band’s future, as you’ll see in the below list of Pretenders and Chrissie Hynde Albums Ranked Worst to Best.

They were MTV darlings, critics’ favorites and successful hitmakers during a period when the lines that divided punk, pop, new wave and post-punk were often erased. Pretenders were all of this and more, but their cracks began to show early on.

A natural leader, Hynde assumed control from the start, writing and singing most of the songs while leaving the others to sidemen roles. That, too, foreshadowed things to come. After the deaths of bassist Pete Farndon and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers carried on with session musicians and others under the Pretenders’ name. Even Chambers came and went over the years.

Hynde has remained their only constant, as music and directions changed. While most records have come out under the Pretenders banner, Hynde has released a handful under her name as solo projects. But they’re all part of her vision, one of the most singular and uncompromising in rock.

Sinead O’Connor‘s cause of death has been confirmed. According to her death certificate, the 56-year-old singer died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchial asthma.

The certificate was registered last week in London by John Reynolds, O’Connor’s first husband and friend. According to the Irish Independent, it noted that she’d died from “exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchial asthma together with low grade lower respiratory tract infection.”

Back in January, a London coroner’s office had said that O’Connor died of natural causes, approximately six months after she was found dead in her home in London on July 26, 2023.

Reaction to O’Connor’s Death

Her funeral was held in August 2023 just outside Dublin, where thousands of fans gathered to pay their final respects. Present at the event was Bono, the Edge and Adam Clayton of U2, as well as the Boomtown Rats’ Bob Geldof and the president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.

Tributes were also made online. “Touch these eyes with a broken smile,” U2 posted on social media, quoting a 1986 song called “Heroine” that O’Connor recorded with the Edge, “touch my mouth with your furrowed brow, lift my heart, heal my shame, lead me into rest again … Heroine … Rest in peace, Sinead.”

READ MORE: 30 of the Best Gender-Bending Songs

Alanis Morissette and Foo Fighters dedicated their performance of 1987’s “Mandinka” to “a beautiful woman of high intelligence and deep empathy, way ahead of her time, who is no longer with us. This is for her.”

Joe Bonamassa implored the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to reckon with its many eligible artists of advanced age, saying the institution “cannot wait for them all to die” before inducting them.

Bonamassa made his point during a recent Artists on Record episode while reflecting on the death of pioneering British blues guitarist John Mayall at the age of 90. Mayall, whose 1966 album Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton became a blues-rock cornerstone, will posthumously enter the Rock Hall this year as a recipient of the Musical Excellence Award.

“I’m glad he was aware that he was going into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” Bonamassa told host Stefan Adika. “I am sad and slightly pissed off that he didn’t live to see it because he deserved to go in decades ago.”

This tragedy, Bonamassa added, is not unique to Mayall. “Same thing with Alexis Korner [who will also receive the Musical Excellence Award this year]. He deserved to go in — these are first, second-ballot people. There’s a lot of omissions that I think they need to start reconciling quickly, because you cannot wait for them all to die to then go, ‘Well, we’re gonna put you in posthumously.’ It means something. It would have meant something to John to get that statue. It would have meant something to people like my friend Chris Squire from Yes. Yes goes in the year after he dies — it would have meant something.”

READ MORE: Rock Hall Class of 2024 Roundtable: Biggest Snubs and Surprises

Joe Bonamassa Names Other Key Rock Hall Snub

Mayall is not the only rock icon to die shortly after receiving the news of his imminent Rock Hall induction. Dennis Thompson, the drummer and last remaining member of MC5, also died in May, a few months of the proto-punk legends’ long-awaited induction. When he learned of the induction, Thompson reportedly said, “It’s about fucking time!”

Bonamassa said the Rock Hall needs to work to avoid this issue with other senior artists. “There’s a lot of people that are now aging out or becoming in their late 70s and 80s that really should have been in decades ago,” he explained. “They need to get them in because it’s the right thing to do for the artist. And I like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They’re very nice people, always had a great relationship with them. Just for their own organization and credibility, something with Paul Rodgers needs to go in the fucking Hall. You mean to tell me Free is not a Hall of Famer? Come on.”

The guitarist had a suggestion for how to accomodate more inductees. “They have to reconcile the TV broadcast as well, because the arguments of, ‘Well, this is a TV broadcast, so we need to stay relevant,’ that’s great,” he said. “You do the TV broadcast. But how about the day before, you have a ceremony, a dinner, and you induct 10 people that maybe are not hip or not active playing-wise so they can’t do the playing? A Mayall, somebody like — how about Los Lobos? Let’s start there. Anything with Paul Rogers. Pick one: The Firm, Free, Bad Company.”

Rod Stewart, 79, knows he won’t live forever, but he’s not worried about it.

“I’m aware my days are numbered but I’ve got no fear,” he recently told The Sun (via NME). “We have all got to pass on at some point, so we are all in the same basket.

“I am going to be enjoying myself for these last few years as much as I can. I say few – probably another 15. I can do that easy mate, easy.”

READ MORE: How Rod Stewart Survived the ’80s

Stewart, who will turn 80 next January, explained that as he’s gotten older, he’s had to take more precautions on the road.

“I’m not like I was in the ’70s and ’80s and I can’t stay up all night, get drunk and go mad and still have a voice just like that,” he said. “Nowadays I have to protect my voice before and after every show.”

In 2019, Stewart revealed he’d beaten prostate cancer.

“No one knows this, but I thought it was about time I told everybody,” he said then. “I’m in the clear now, simply because I caught it early. I had so many tests.”

Rod Stewart’s Touring Plans

Even so, Stewart has plenty of tour dates lined up for this year, including four shows at
The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He is also scheduled to perform with Billy Joel on Sept. 13 in Cleveland.

Jack White and Conan O’Brien served as the final guests at Sunday evening’s Newport Folk Festival lineup, joining forces for a duet of the White Stripes‘ “We’re Going to Be Friends.”

“We’re going to do a song about friendship,” White said, before they began the song, which was first released on the White Stripes’ 2001 album White Blood Cells. It was the last song ever performed on O’Brien’s NBC late night show, and the comedian also uses it for his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. Then the pair performed Eddie Cochran‘s “Twenty Flight Rock.”

You can watch clips from the show below.

Jack White’s New Album

White recently announced a new album — sort of. Earlier this month, an unlabeled LP began popping up in the bags of Third Man Records shoppers, given to them at no cost. It doesn’t appear to have a title, with only the words “No Name” branded on the vinyl, but contains 13 tracks of seemingly brand new material from White.

No details have been officially announced. When asked about the album, a Third Man Records executive told UCR: “Not really sure what you’re talking about, but would be a great day to go and buy a record in the [Detroit] Cass corridor.”

READ MORE: When Jack White Went Solo With ‘Blunderbuss’

On July 27, White played a benefit show for the American Legion Post 82 in Nashville, at which he played six songs from the new album. He offered up no further information, apart from telling the crowd “I got something special for you at that merch table on your way out” (via Stereogum), which turned out to be copies of the new LP, this time featuring a blue album cover.

Watch Jack White and Conan O’Brien Perform ‘We’re Going to Be Friends’

Watch Jack White and Conan O’Brien Perform ‘Twenty Flight Rock’

The Pretenders tore through Ohio this week with two headlining shows in Chrissie Hynde‘s hometown and an opening set in front of a baseball stadium full of Foo Fighters fans.

The trip began with a return to Akron for two sold-out nights at the Goodyear Theater. As you can see below, Hynde posted a photo of herself in front of her childhood home on social media Tuesday morning, the day of the first show.

With help from the Pretenders’ razor-sharp current lineup, each night Hynde treated the ecstatic crowd to 27-song sets that focused on their two most recent albums – 2023’s Relentless and 2020’s Hate for Sale – as much as it did on songs from their beloved 1980 self-titled debut. Guitarist James Walbourne was particularly impressive, adding muscle, depth and texture to each song.

“This is a song about my beautiful hometown,” Hynde said over the opening of “My City Was Gone,” explaining how she wrote it after revisiting Akron in 1975 and seeing that her beloved downtown was about to be replaced with parking lots and corporate offices. “They thought I wrote it because I didn’t love Akron anymore,” she scoffed at the end of the song.

Although it didn’t show at all during her performance, Hynde admitted to having more nerves than usual at the show, saying it felt like “a class reunion” at one point: “I’m a little nervous in front of all my friends.” She also pulled off the near-miracle of getting almost the entire crowd to put away their cellphones with a handful of well-placed barbs: “Is that phone really more interesting than I am?”

Watch Pretenders Perform ‘My City Was Gone’

The Pretenders’ second Goodyear Theater show the next night found them switching out a trio of songs, adding ’80s gems “Talk of the Town,” “Thumbelina” and “Tattooed Love Boys” Keeping true to her 2022 promise to back off from playing her biggest hits, there was no “Brass in Pocket” or “Middle of the Road” to be found either night, and nobody in the crowd seemed the least bit concerned about that.

Thursday night found the Pretenders three and a half hours away in Cincinnati, opening for the Foo Fighters on a bill that also featured Mammoth WVH, who performed their own fantastic headline set halfway between Akron and Cleveland Wednesday night. Hynde and company understandably went a little bit heavier on the band’s best-known songs, even breaking out “Middle of the Road” for the set-closer, but still kept one-third of the set focused on their most recent albums.

Watch Pretenders Perform ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’

Pretenders at Goodyear Theater, Akron Ohio July 23, 2024 Set List
1. “Losing My Sense of Taste” (From 2023’s Relentless)
2. “A Love” (From 2023’s Relentless)
3. “Turf Accountant Daddy” (From 2020’s Hate for Sale)
4. “Hate for Sale” (From 2020’s Hate for Sale)
5. “Kid” (From 1980’s Pretenders)
6. “Precious” (From 1980’s Pretenders)
7. “The Buzz” (From 2020’s Hate for Sale)
8. “My City Was Gone” (From 1984’s Learning to Crawl)
9. “You Can’t Hurt a Fool” (From 2020’s Hate for Sale)
10. “Don’t Cut Your Hair” (From 2008’s Break Up the Concrete)
11. “Domestic Silence” (From 2023’s Relentless)
12. “Private Life” (From 1980’s Pretenders)
13. “I Think About You Daily” (From 2023’s Relentless)
14. “Biker” (From 1999’s !Viva El Amor!)
15. “Vainglorious” (From 2023’s Relentless)
16. “Time the Avenger” (From 1984’s Learning to Crawl)
17. “The Wait” (From 1980’s Pretenders)
18. “Boots of Chinese Plastic” (From 2008’s Break Up the Concrete)
19. “The Phone Call” (From 1980’s Pretenders)
20. “Merry Widow” (From 2023’s Relentless)
21. “Pack It Up” (From 1981’s Pretenders II)

Encore:
22. “Stop Your Sobbing” ((Kinks cover, from 1980’s Pretenders)
23. “Let the Sun Come In” (From 2023’s Relentless)
24. “Back on the Chain Gang” (From 1984’s Learning to Crawl)

Encore 2:
25. “Don’t Get Me Wrong” (From 1986’s Get Close)
26. “Mystery Achievement” (From 1980’s Pretenders)
27. “I’ll Stand By You” (From 1994’s Last of the Independents)

Pretenders at Goodyear Theater, Akron Ohio July 24, 2024 Set List
1. “Losing My Sense of Taste”
2. “A Love”
3. “Turf Accountant Daddy”
4. “Hate for Sale”
5. “Talk of the Town” (From 1981’s Pretenders II)
6. “Precious”
7. “The Buzz”
8. “My City Was Gone”
9. “Thumbelina” (From 1984’s Learning to Crawl)
10. “You Can’t Hurt a Fool”
11. “Don’t Cut Your Hair”
12. “Domestic Silence”
13. “Private Life”
14. “I Think About You Daily”
15. “Biker”
16. “Vainglorious”
17. “The Wait”
18. “Boots of Chinese Plastic”
19. “The Phone Call”
20. “Time the Avenger”
21. “Merry Widow”
22. “Let the Sun Come In”

Encore:
23. “Don’t Get Me Wrong”
24. “The Wait”
25. “Tattooed Love Boys” (From 1980’s Pretenders)
26. “Back on the Chain Gang”
27. “Mystery Achievement”

Pretenders at Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati Ohio July 25, 2024 Set List
1. “Let the Sun Come In”
2. “Hate for Sale”
3. “Turf Accountant Daddy”
4. “Kid”
5. “My City Was Gone”
6. “Vainglorious”
7. “Junkie Walk”
8. “Stop Your Sobbing”
9. “Back on the Chain Gang”
10. “Don’t Get Me Wrong”
11. “Tattooed Love Boys”
12. “Bad Boys Get Spanked” (From 1981’s Pretenders II)
13. “I’ll Stand By You”
14. “Middle of the Road” (From 1984’s Learning to Crawl)

For a guy who hasn’t released a mainstream pop album in over three decades, Billy Joel sure loves touring.

Since 1993’s River of Dreams became his de facto curtain call as a studio musician, Joel has packed arenas and stadiums around the world with his impressive catalog of piano-pounding hits. He’s often joined forces with megastars such as Elton John (on the multi-leg Face to Face Tour that dominated box offices in the ’90s and ’00s) and, more recently, Stevie Nicks and Sting. In 2024, he played his 150th career gig at New York’s Madison Square Garden, marking the conclusion of a residency that saw him selling out the home of the Knicks for more than a decade.

Joel’s lengthy live career — full of high-energy renditions of hits and fan favorites by a rotating assortment of bandmates — has always translated well in album form. The longer it’s been since he bade farewell to writing new material, the more he’s signed off on new concert recordings, along with a healthy offering of classic shows from the archives.

There’s a Joel live album for almost every era of his career, from his humble pre-fame origins to his chart-topping imperial phase to his tenure as a blockbuster legacy act. Taken as a whole, our list of Billy Joel Live Albums Ranked Worst to Best paints a portrait of an artist who, throughout his various career ups and downs, prided himself on delivering an engaging live show and refused to rest on his laurels.

Stevie Nicks performed in Glasgow on Wednesday, where she detailed the “crazy” leg infection that led to the initial postponement of the show earlier in the month.

The singer was scheduled to perform at the OVO Hydro on July 6, but she had to postpone the show at the last minute due to “a recent leg injury requiring a minor surgical procedure that will need a few days of recovery time.” (A July 9 appearance in Manchester was also pushed to July 16.) On Wednesday, however, Nicks described her recent health setback in slightly more severe terms.

“I don’t know what happened. I just got this weird infection, and it just went crazy,” Nicks told the audience. The superstar noted that she and her crew had arrived in Glasgow a few days before their originally scheduled show and were staying in a “fabulous castle” when she realized something was wrong.

READ MORE: Stevie Nicks Says ‘No Chance’ of Putting Fleetwood Mac Back Together

“I finally just looked at my assistant — it was like 2 in the morning — and I said, ‘I think we need to go to emergency,'” Nicks said. “And so our butler, this wonderful man … throws us in his BMW sedan, which is so great, and off we sped through the night to a hospital. And I was there for two days, and then they let me go back to the castle, and we canceled this show.”

She ended her speech on a note of defiance and determination that earned a wave of applause from the audience. “This whole tour I’ve been fighting what started here,” she said. “And I would be damned if I wasn’t coming back here.”

Nicks has been on the road for more than two years now and will conclude her globe-spanning tour in September when she plays two makeup dates in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Watch Stevie Nicks Explain ‘Crazy’ Leg Infection in Glasgow

Steve Perry has been part of 12 original studio albums, both as a solo artist and with Journey. At first, they arrived with clock-like regularity.

He released seven LPs over the seven years between 1978 and 1984, including his solo debut. But then everything suddenly slowed down – and slowed down a lot. There have only been five original albums since.

Perry was part of just one more Journey LP in the ’80s, then only released two albums in all of the ’90s – one solo and one with Journey. No original albums followed in the 2000s, then just one in the 2010s. Since then, Perry’s only other original project is a remix album.

READ MORE: The Best Song From Every Journey Album

Still, ranking every Steve Perry album isn’t so easy. Every project he appeared on went multi-platinum for a solid decade after he joined Journey. His final LP with Journey solid a million, and Perry had another gold-selling solo project, too. His 2010s-era comeback album soared into the Top 10.

There weren’t many, but these LPs were clearly beloved.

As with the countdown of Steve Perry’s songs with Journey, the following list aims to rank these LPs by how well they showcase Perry as a writer, singer, arranger and producer. So, very successful albums recorded early in his tenure with Journey might not rank as highly in this instance since they were more collaborative and even included other singers. We also left aside a greatest hits project and his holiday-themed album.

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

Ranking Every Steve Perry Album

You Think You Know Journey?

Tony Iommi has unveiled an epic new instrumental song called “Deified” to coincide with a new perfume of the same name, released in partnership with Xerjoff Group.

You can watch the music video below.

The Black Sabbath riff-monger coproduced “Deified” with keyboardist and longtime collaborator Mike Exeter. Additional personnel includes Karl Brazil on drums, Laurence Cottle on bass and orchestration by Ben Andrew.

Deified marks Tommi’s second joint venture with Xerjoff behind the 2021 fragrance Monkey Special, which was also accompanied by an instrumental song called “Scent of Dark.” “I’m really excited about our new perfume and after the success of our last one [Monkey Special], I hope that you’ll like Deified as much as I do,” Iommi said in a statement. “We’ve gone through the same process of trying different samples of perfume over the last year until we came up with this one, and I really like it.”

The Inspiration Behind “Deified”

The “Deified” animated music video shows a child flipping through a history book and unwittingly wreaking havoc on the world after he tears a page. Realizing the error of his ways, he rushes back to the book to undo the damage he’s caused. Xerjoff Group CEO Sergio Momo is credited with the video’s production and art direction, and he appears in the video playing guitar alongside Iommi.

Momo revealed the inspiration behind the name “Deified” in a recently released joint video interview. “A friend of mine gave me this little booklet on poetry, which was palindromic poetry,” he explained. “And I said, ‘Well, that’s just crazy.’ So I just kind of found a few words which could be connected mainly with Tony’s lifestyle and artistic career, and he really immediately liked ‘Deified.'”

He continued: “It could refer to a riff, it could refer to a story, it could refer to many things. So why don’t we just go down that road and see how it goes?”

READ MORE: Tony Iommi Reveals Why Black Sabbath Turned Down Power Trip Offer

“Deified” Arrives Amid Black Sabbath Reunion Speculation

Iommi’s new song and fragrance arrive amid renewed speculation of a Black Sabbath reunion. Although the guitarist has not addressed the rumors, ex-Sabbath drummer Bill Ward chimed in on Instagram on Thursday. “I’m in for playing some of everyone’s old favorites,” Ward wrote. “Loved playing them then, I’d love to play them one last time.

“I’m not going to talk about my health publicly except to say, every day I’m pretty good for 76 years old,” Ward continued. “I’m active musically every day, and I have a very busy and gratifying life. Love you all, all the fucking time.”

Blue Oyster Cult guitarist Buck Dharma said the band was forced to start using a cowbell while performing their classic track “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” as a result of Saturday Night Live‘s famous “More Cowbell” sketch.

Written and aired 24 years after “Reaper” became a hit, the 2000 scene features Christopher Walken and Will Ferrell in a recording studio. Walken plays fictional producer Bruce Dickinson, who repeatedly insists that Ferrell, playing fictional percussionist Gene Frenkle, increase the amount and energy of his cowbell playing, driving the musician to the brink.

In a new interview with Guitar Player, Dharma – who wrote the song – said the “More Cowbell” skit altered the chemistry of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.”

“The cowbell [laughs] was an afterthought,” he said. “The funny thing is, before the Saturday Night Live skit, the band never played the cowbell live. We had to start playing it after the skit came out and became so popular.”

READ MORE: Top 10 Blue Oyster Cult Songs

How Real-Life Peril Inspired “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”

Dharma revealed that the initial musical idea for “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” came quickly. “The guitar riff that opens the song just came out of my head when I sat down and played my guitar,” he said. “I realized I had something nifty, so I recorded it and messed around with that. The first couple lines of lyrics basically were stream of conscious, and the story emerged from that.”

The lyrics were inspired by a moment of real-life peril that caused Dharma to reckon with his mortality. “It came from me being diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia, which I’ve had my whole life, so it’s not a big deal; I take medication for it,” he explained. “But at the time I was thinking of being mortal and just the idea of dying early and leaving your loved ones behind, and then sort of getting back together again, imagining there’s some life after death.”

“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Blue Oyster Cult’s biggest chart success, much to the band’s surprise. “BOC were never a singles band. We were lucky to have a few that did well, starting with ‘Reaper,'” Dharma said. “I thought, ‘This song’s gonna get some FM play,’ but I didn’t think it was gonna be big. So it surprised me. It surprised all of us, I think.”

Listen to Blue Oyster Cult’s ‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’

Mick Jagger is best known as the frontman for the Rolling Stones, a position he has not so much held as invented. With a rebellious attitude and lightning-fast stage moves, Jagger has been dazzling crowds for decades — the poster child for showmanship.

But the Stones have not defined him entirely. There have been plenty of instances in which Jagger has ventured outside the band to participate in not only in his own solo projects, but also to contribute to other artists’ work.

Below, in no particular oder apart from chronological, we’re taking a look at 18 external endeavors Jagger took part in.

1. ‘Memo From Turner’ With Ry Cooder (1970)

Jagger’s very first solo single, “Memo From Turner,” arrived in 1970, featuring some superb slide guitar work by Ry Cooder. It was included on the soundtrack to Performance, a film in which Jagger played the role of — what else? — a rock star. (Although it should be noted that songwriting credits were given to both Jagger and Keith Richards.)

2. ‘You’re So Vain’ With Carly Simon (1972)

Of all the people Carly Simon could have selected to sing backing vocals on a 1972 song called “You’re So Vain,” there was something perfectly fitting about her choosing Jagger, one of world’s most well-known womanizers back in the day. In the studio, Simon would later describe the feeling in the room with Jagger as one of “raw electricity” and mutual attraction such that “having sex would have actually cooled things off.”

3. ‘(You Gotta Walk and) Don’t Look Back’ With Peter Tosh (1978)

In 1978 — the same year the Rolling Stones’ released Some Girls — Jagger lent his vocal talents to a reggae version of “(You Gotta Walk and) Don’t Look Back” recorded by Peter Tosh of Bob Marley‘s Wailers. The duo performed on Saturday Night Live that year, and also a few times when Tosh opened for the Stones on their 1978 U.S. tour.

4. ‘State of Shock’ With the Jacksons (1984)

“State of Shock,” written by Michael Jackson and Randy Hansen, was originally going to be included on 1982’s Thriller as a duet with Jackson and Freddie Mercury. Plans changed, however, and the song was instead cut with the Jacksons and Jagger. It was released as a single in 1984 and went to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

5. ‘Dancing in the Street’ With David Bowie (1985)

However you might feel about the song’s production, there is no denying the power of two of the most charismatic performers of all time collaborating on “Dancing in the Street.” Jagger and David Bowie‘s 1985 version of the song — which came accompanied by a highly entertaining music video — went to No. 1 in the U.K. and No. 7 in the U.S.

6. Mick Jagger and Company on ‘She’s the Boss’ (1985)

When Jagger decided to pursue a career outside of the Stones, one thing was for certain: he would not struggle to find musicians who wanted to play with him. On his first solo album, 1985’s She’s the Boss, collaborators included Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, Carlos Alomar, Herbie Hancock, Nile Rodgers, Sly and Robbie and more.

7. Performing With Tina Turner at Live Aid (1985)

The Rolling Stones did not play at Live Aid as a band, but instead participated in separate performances. Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood joined forces with Bob Dylan, while Jagger teamed up with an equally stunning performer, Tina Turner, for renditions of “State of Shock” and “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It).”

8. ‘Primitive Cool’ (1987) 

Two years later, with tensions between himself and Keith Richards at an uncomfortably high level, Jagger went ahead and made another solo album, Primitive Cool. Once again, the guest list was awfully impressive: Jeff Beck, Bill Evans, David Sanborn, Vernon Reid and Dave Stewart (who co-wrote the album’s lead single “Let’s Work”), to name a few.

9. Living Colour, ‘Vivid’ (1988)

They say it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. In the late ’80s, Living Colour was lucky enough to call Jagger one of those people they knew. Guitarist Vernon Reid had contributed to Jagger’s Primitive Cool, and Jagger has also seen the band perform live. He was so impressed that he launched himself into helping them produce some demos, which in turn got them the attention of a record label, Epic. Living Colour’s debut album, Vivid, arrived in 1988, with Jagger contributing to two of its songs: “Broken Hearts” and “Glamour Boys.”

10. The Red Devils Blues Album That Never Was (1992)

Technically, Jagger’s collaboration with the Red Devils, a Los Angeles-based blues rock band he met through producer Rick Rubin, never came to fruition. But they did work together in the early ’90s on what was supposed to be a blues album, and the recordings that have leaked over the years are awfully impressive.

11. Mixing Veterans and Rookies on ‘Wandering Spirit’ (1993)

Jagger released just one solo album in the ’90s, Wandering Spirit, but he did something quite interesting with its personnel. Instead of using only members of the old guard, Jagger enlisted some veteran recording artists — people like Billy Preston, Jim Keltner and Benmont Tench — as well as more contemporary stars like Lenny Kravitz and Flea.

12. ‘Goddess in the Doorway’ (2001)

Jagger’s most recent solo album, Goddess in the Doorway, came out way back in 2001. Again, the credits featured some incredibly high profile names: Rob Thomas, Pete Townshend, Joe Perry, Lenny Kravitz and Bono, among others.

13. ‘Alfie’ With Dave Stewart (2004)

In 2004, Jagger reconvened with Dave Stewart to co-produce the soundtrack album to Alfie, a remake of the 1966 film about a womanizing chauffeur in London. Sheryl Crow, Joss Stone and Nadirah “Nadz” Seid also contributed to the album. One of its tracks, “Old Habits Die Hard,” ended up winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

14. ‘Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of’ With U2 (2009)

“This man will make this a special song,” Bono said in 2009 just before U2 launched into “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” referring to Jagger standing by his side. This was at one of the 25th anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts at Madison Square Garden.

15. ‘Dead Flowers’ With Jerry Lee Lewis (2010)

For his 40th studio album, Mean Old Man, Jerry Lee Lewis recruited a whole company of collaborators to sing duets with, including Jagger for a rendition of the Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers.” (Others included Eric Clapton, John Fogerty, Willie Nelson, Robbie Robertson, Ringo Starr and many more.)

16. ‘Bramble Rose’ With Don Henley and Miranda Lambert (2015)

“I can truthfully say that I enjoyed making this record more than any record I’ve made in my career. And a lot of the reason is because of the people who participated,” Don Henley said to Rolling Stone in 2015, speaking about his album Cass County, on which Jagger lent his vocals (along with Miranda Lambert) to a song called “Bramble Rose.” “There’s some amazing musicians here and the best thing about it is, most of them are funny. So it was a real pleasure.”

17. ‘You Did the Crime’ With Buddy Guy (2018)

Buddy Guy managed to get not one but two Rolling Stones to play on his 2018 album, The Blues Is Alive and Well. Keith Richards — and Jeff Beck — played on a song called “Cognac,” while Jagger contributed to a song called “You Did the Crime.” “Feel like I owed the British the respect they gave Muddy [Waters],” Guy told Billboard at the time. “In the ’60s, when our music was dying, the Stones and their English buddies woke up the world to the blues.”

18. ‘Easy Sleazy’ With Dave Grohl (2021)

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, people suddenly had a lot more time at home on their hands, and Jagger was no different. So he wrote up a new song called “Easy Sleazy” and contacted someone he thought would make a great recording partner for it. “I phoned Dave [Grohl] up and said, ‘Dave, would you be interested?’ He said [puts on American accent], ‘Yeah, I’m really bored!'” Jagger explained to Rolling Stone in 2021, when the song came out. “Dave likes it ’cause it rocks hard. I like to rock hard, too, so it feels good in that way.”

Allison Rapp is a New York City-based music and culture journalist. Her work has appeared in Brooklyn Magazine, Insider, Rock Cellar, City Limits and more. She is also the host of Big Yellow Podcast, a show about Joni Mitchell. She tweets at @allisonrapp22.

Neil Young has announced the third installment of his retrospective series, Archives Vol. III. It will be released on Sept. 6.

The 17-CD box set features 198 tracks, 15 of which were previously unreleased in any capacity, and another 121 of them are previously unreleased versions. All were recorded between the years 1976 and 1987. Also included is five Blu-Ray discs, which contain 11 films, four of which were previously unreleased, plus a 176-page book and a poster.

This installment boasts more music than either of Young’s first two archival box sets, released in 2009 and 2020, respectively. As a press release put it: “With over 28 hours of total content, you could drive from New York to Denver, listening the entire time, and still have hours left to enjoy when you arrive!”

Additionally, there will be a double vinyl LP set titled Takes available on Sept. 6, a 16-track compilation containing one track from each of the 16 out of the 17 CDs in the Archives Vol. III box set.

READ MORE: Neil Young Albums Ranked Worst to Best

A complete track listing is available below.

Neil Young’s Live Performance Plans

Earlier this year, Young canceled the remaining dates of a tour that began in April. Currently, he has just one concert scheduled for 2024: Farm Aid on Sept. 21 in Saratoga Springs, New York. That show will also feature Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and more.

Neil Young, ‘Archives Vol. III’ Track Listing:
Disc 1: Across The Water I (1976) Neil Young & Crazy Horse
1. “Let It Shine” (previously unreleased live version)
2. “Mellow My Mind” (previously unreleased live version)
3. “Too Far Gone” (previously unreleased live version)
4. “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” (previously unreleased live version)
5. “A Man Needs a Maid” (previously unreleased live version)
6. “No One Seems to Know” (previously unreleased live version)
7. “Heart Of Gold” (previously unreleased live version)
8. “Country Home” (previously unreleased live version)
9. “Don’t Cry No Tears” (previously unreleased live version)
10. “Cowgirl in the Sand” (previously unreleased mix)
11. “Lotta Love” (previously unreleased live version)
12. “The Losing End (When You’re On)” (previously unreleased live version)
13. “Southern Man” (previously unreleased live version)
14. “Cortez the Killer” (previously unreleased live version)