Classic Rock
Mötley Crüe Sell Entire Recording Catalog to BMG for a Reported $150 Million
This must feel good for Mötley Crüe: The band has sold its entire recording catalog to BMG for a reported $150 million. The deal includes all their studio albums from their 1981 debut, Too Fast for Love, through their most recent LP, 2008’s Saints of Los Angeles, plus their live releases and compilations. While Variety cites sources as valuing the deal at roughly $150 million, the publication also notes that other sources report that the dollar amount is “significantly lower.” Either way, it’s quite a windfall for the hard-rock veterans, who were able to secure the rights to their catalog from Elektra Records in the ’90s with help from manager Allen Kovac. Advertisement Overall, Mötley Crüe have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, with seven of their LPs going platinum or multipla...
Neil Young Announces Recently Rediscovered 1987 Demos Album Summer Songs
Neil Young’s archives are so deep even he doesn’t know what’s in them. In fact, he recently discovered a collection of 1987 demo recordings labeled Summer Songs, and despite not having any recollection of the sessions, he plans on releasing the album soon. Writing on his official website, Young said, “We are not sure of the exact original dates of these recordings yet. They were all given the same date in the NYA Vault’s records, but they all have a very similar unique sound. To give you an idea of place and time, Farm Aid and the Bridge School concerts had just begun their long runs.” (Farm Aid launched in 1985, and while the Bridge School benefits started in ’86, they actually skipped ’87 and ’88.) Advertisement Related Video The vagueness stretches beyond the dates, with Young saying hi...
Yoko Ono Shares Article Claiming Peter Jackson’s Get Back Proves She Didn’t Break Up The Beatles
Yoko Ono has shared an Uproxx article that suggests Peter Jackson’s titanic new documentary Get Back proves she didn’t break up The Beatles. Ever since the Fab Four disbanded in 1970, some fans have laid the blame on John Lennon’s wife Ono. This theory never held up under scrutiny, and it’s been further disproved with the release of Get Back, which shows Paul McCartney micromanaging, George Harrison growing frustrated, and Lennon mentally checking out, all while Ringo Starr smiles gamely in an attempt to keep the recording process for Let It Be from totally falling apart. Uproxx collected viewer reactions on Twitter, with many fans noting that Ono’s in-studio presence was incredibly mild. During the eight-hour documentar...
Brian May Slams Elimination of Gendered Awards, Wonders If Queen Would Be Forced to Have Transgender Member
Queen guitarist Brian May slammed the BRIT Awards for their removal of gender-specific award categories. He also wondered whether Queen would be have been “forced” to have transgender and multi-racial band members if they existed in present day. In an interview with The Mirror, May compared the BRIT Awards’ shift away from male and female-specific categories to an infringement on personal freedom. He then used the topic to pontificate on a what he calls an “atmosphere of fear” that is plaguing society. “…because people are afraid to say how they really think,” May said with a fearful tone himself, then warning that “there will be some kind of explosion.” Advertisement Related Video Even less tactfully, May went on to say that Queen “would be forced to have people of different colors and di...
Brian Wilson Announces Long Promised Road Soundtrack, Shares “Right Where I Belong” with Jim James: Stream
Following the release of the new documentary Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson is sharing the film’s original soundtrack. Out this Friday, November 26th via Lakeshore, Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) compiles Beach Boys career highlights, unreleased tracks, and alternate recordings. The soundtrack also includes “Right Where I Belong,” a new song Wilson recorded with My Morning Jacket’s Jim James. Long Promised Road documents Wilson’s career trajectory, tracking how he became one of the most influential voices in pop music. The soundtrack provides context to Wilson’s story, all the way from his early years to today. Comprised of conversations between Wilson and his longtime friend, Rolling Stone editor Jason Fine,...
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Perform “Trouble With My Lover” and “Can’t Let Go” on Colbert: Watch
On Friday (November 19th), Robert Plant and Alison Krauss released Raise the Roof, their long-awaited new collaborative album composed largely of covers made famous by blues, country, folk, and soul pioneers. To celebrate the occasion, the Led Zeppelin frontman and the bluegrass singer stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, playing “Trouble With My Lover” and “Can’t Let Go.” With their band set up remotely in a studio filled with rustic decor, Plant and Krauss’ performance only further testifies to their incredible musical chemistry. On “Trouble With My Lover” — a moody number originally sung by New Orleans blues icon Betty Harris in 1969 — Krauss takes the lead, showing off her powerhouse vocals. “Can’t Let Go,” which was written by Randy Weeks and later covered by Lucin...
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Announce 2022 Tour
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have reunited for Raise the Roof, the follow-up to their 2007 blockbuster covers album Raising Sand. The duo’s second record is out now via Rounder Records. What’s more, the pair has announced an international tour for next year. Recorded right before lockdown with Raising Sand producer T Bone Burnett, Raise the Roof features covers of classic blues, country, folk, and soul music originally sung by the likes of Merle Haggard and The Everly Brothers. The pair first announced the album back in August with the song “Can’t Let Go,” a Randy Weeks composition that Lucinda Williams made famous in 1998. And while the golden-voiced singers have been praised for their covers — Raising Sand won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, after all — Rais...
Eric Clapton Talks Anti-Vax Nonsense with Anti-Vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Former rock icon and current loony Eric Clapton doubled down on his COVID-19 trutherism in a conversation with noted anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on the latter’s podcast, The Defender. As Clapton explained, holding anti-science beliefs has taken a toll on his mental health. “I thought I was going crazy,” he said, though he rationalized it with an acronym he found on the internet. “I think everybody I know has got, what do they call it? CAS [Covid Anxiety Syndrome], everybody I know is unsettled about it,” Clapton said. He added, “The lifesaving part of it was I’d found a group of people who were inviting me to talk about it because I couldn’t talk about it anywhere.” In fact, Clapton feels more committed to this cause than ever before. “It’s funny, because t...
Aerosmith Unearth 1971 Seven-Song Rehearsal Tape, Share Unreleased Version of “Movin’ Out”: Stream
Aerosmith have dug up a rare 1971 recording, which the legendary band is releasing on Record Store Day Black Friday on November 26th. The previously unreleased seven-song rehearsal tape, will be issued on vinyl and cassette under the title Aerosmith – 1971: The Road Starts Hear, with the collection’s “Movin’ Out” available to stream below right now. The recording offers an extraordinary glimpse into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band’s early years, having been recorded just a year after they formed, and two years before the release of their 1973 self-titled debut album. According to a press release, “The landmark early recording was made with Joe Perry’s Wollensak reel-to-reel tape machine in 1971 by Mark Lehman, who owned the infamous van and became Aerosm...
The Who’s Roger Daltrey Calls The Rolling Stones a “Mediocre Pub Band”
Ever since “My Generation,” Roger Daltrey of The Who hasn’t been shy about sharing strong opinions on his peers. In a new interview with the Coda Collection, Daltrey praised Mick Jagger but referred to The Rolling Stones as a “mediocre pub band.” Daltrey was asked about Paul McCartney’s recent comments suggesting that The Stones were nothing but a “blues cover band,” and in response he let out a great big belly laugh. “The Stones have written some great songs but they are in the blues. They are in that format.” He added, “You cannot take away the fact that Mick Jagger is still the number one rock and roll showman up front. The only other people I’d put up against him would be perhaps James Brown, maybe Jerry Lee [Lewis] in his day, and Little Richard. But Mick Jagger, you’ve...
The Story Behind Blondie’s Iconic “Rapture”
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | RSS Blondie are, without question, one of the most successful, iconic, and influential bands in rock and roll history. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 15 years ago, the Debbie Harry-fronted group has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and continues to release new music. But the “rock and roll” label doesn’t do justice to the group’s genre-bending music. What started as a punk band in the mid-1970’s in New York City after Harry and guitarist Chris Stein broke off from their earlier band, The Stillettoes, Blondie (first called Angel and the Snake) always innovated, infusing pop, disco, new wave, reggae, and rap elements into their music. Advertisement Which br...
R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Mike Mills on 25 Years of New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Michael Stipe and Mike Mills sit down with Kyle Meredith to remember R.E.M.’s 1996 album New Adventures in Hi-Fi for its 25th anniversary. Advertisement Related Video The rock legends talk about writing the bulk of the record while touring the Monster album, the idea of spontaneity within the songs, and Stipe using religion as a writing tool. We also hear what it was like for the lead singer to meet his idol Patti Smith for the first time, hearing Eddie Vedder and Jason Isbell’s recent covers of R.E.M. classics, and new music on the way from both individuals. Listen to R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Mike Mills on this new episode ...
