Classic Hits

The Rolling Stones’ iconic tune “Paint It Black” is the subject of a new lawsuit filed against Behr Paint.

ABCKO Music & Records, owner of The Stones’ early master recordings, is suing the paint company for copyright infringement for using the 1966 chart-topper in an advertisement for its paint products that appeared on social media.

The suit notes that Behr didn’t pay ABCKO to use the song, while most third parties “pay significant fees,” which they say range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to license such ABKCO recordings for ads.

According to the suit, the “commercial use of the ABKCO Recording has forced a business association upon ABKCO that has harmed its ability to license the ABKCO Recording to Behr’s competitors that would pay for the use” of the song.

ABKCO is claiming it “suffered significant damages” thanks to the unauthorized use of “Paint it Black,” adding Behr’s “acts of infringement have been willful, in reckless disregard of and with indifference to” ABKCO’s rights.

ABKCO is seeking actual damages, to be proven at trial, recovery of any profits Behr made off the use of the song, plus statutory damages and lawyers’ fees.

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The Who‘s Pete Townshend has revealed that he’s got lots of unfinished music in his vaults, but he’s not so sure whether fans will ever get to hear it.

Townshend appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Wednesday, where he talked about his unfinished works, revealing he has “350, 450 pieces of music.”

“Now, a lot of it is probably terrible,” he said. “I’ve managed to wade through about half of it,” adding, “I don’t know what to do with it.”

He said he’s “quite interested in AI” and he’d be open to using the AI platform Suno or some other platform on “old songs that didn’t quite work because I didn’t get them right [the] first time round.” He explained he’d like to see “what it can make of it. It might be some hits.”
 
During the episode, Townshend also sat in with The Late Show band, and discussed his Quadrophenia ballet, which opens in New York on Friday, and The Who farewell tour, which wrapped in North America in October.

He insisted the farewell is “genuine,” but joked, “We’re gonna end it after we’ve done as many shows as Elton John,” which got some laughs. “He did 330, we’ve done 22, so we just have another 308 to do. And then we’ll be gone for good.”

While Townshend said he doesn’t usually enjoy touring, he did this time around.

“I decided I was going to try to make Roger [Daltrey] happy, which isn’t easy,” he said, noting singing takes a lot out of Roger. “I thought, you know, I must forget about myself and just do this for him. It could be the last thing we ever do together. And it worked.”

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Micky Dolenz, the last surviving member of The Monkees, is heading out on a tour in 2026 to celebrate the band’s 60th anniversary.

Micky Dolenz: 60 Years of The Monkees will kick off Feb. 12 in Solana Beach, California, and wrap Nov. 6 in Northfield, Ohio.

“I remain proud of what I’ve achieved in my time, particularly with my late great and still-beloved Monkee brothers Davy, Peter, and Michael,” he says, referring to his late bandmates Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith. “What I want to do, as the 60th anniversary of that wonderful moment is upon me, is to look back and share with the fans the sheer joy of what we accomplished—and what it all still means to so many.'”

A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at MickyDolenz.com.

Dolenz has several dates left on his 2025 schedule. His next show is Nov. 29 in St. Charles, Illinois.

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Ringo Starr is hitting the road again.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has announced a string of spring 2026 tour dates, launching May 28 in Temecula, California. The trek features several stops in the Golden State and will also hit Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, before wrapping June 14 in Los Angeles.

As usual, Ringo will be backed by his All Starr Band, made up of Toto’s Steve Lukather, Men At Work’s Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette and Buck Johnson.

A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at RingoStarr.com.

In the meantime, Ringo is hard at work back in the studio with T. Bone Burnett, who produced his 2025 country album, Look Up, with plans to release a new album in 2026.

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Squeeze is getting ready to drop a new album, although the material in it isn’t new … to them.

The band will release Trixies, their first album in eight years, on March 6. The songs on it were the first tunes Squeeze’s Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook ever wrote together back when they were teens.

The songs are described as a “collection of stories set in a fictional night club, Trixies.” They were written by the duo back in 1974 when recording was beyond their skill set.

“We fully committed ourselves to songwriting but this was three or four years before we even got to make our first record,” Difford shares. “Long story short, these were songs that we just didn’t have enough musical experience to record properly.”

Now, following the discovery of the original cassette, the band has finally turned the songs into an album, and they’ve just released the first song, “Trixies Pt.1,” to digital outlets.

“The songs that we wrote then astound me. I’m proud of them now, and I’m particularly proud that it was young us that did that,” Tilbrook says, adding, “The act of revisiting the Trixies songs had me in tears, partly because they’re so good, but also because I’m aware of all the stuff that I’ve still yet to hear and write.”

Difford notes, “It really fills me with joy that at my age we can discover that we wrote such great songs when we were teenagers. I’m very proud of that.”

Trixies is available for preorder now.

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Cheap Trick will release their 21st studio album, All Washed Up, on Friday, and bassist Tom Petersson says their approach to making records today is the same as it was when they first started out over 50 years ago.

“We just are making songs that we like, would like to hear ourselves,” he tells ABC Audio. “So it’s like we’re making it for ourselves and our friends, and then the rest, it’s like having a lottery ticket.”

Songs on the album range from fast rockers like “The Riff That Won’t Quit” to ballads like “The Best Thing,” but Petersson says they don’t go into the studio with a plan to have specific types of songs on an album.

“If one person doesn’t like it we won’t do it,” he says of the songs they record, noting they won’t include a ballad on a record just because someone tells them to.

“If somebody writes a ballad, then we go, ‘Hey, that is a good one. OK, let’s do that,’” he explains. “Now we just basically do it for our own enjoyment because that’s probably all anybody’s gonna get out of it is their own enjoyment.”

“We want to do something we’re not embarrassed to play for people,” he says, explaining that they wouldn’t want to record something they don’t like even if it could sell 10 million copies.

He adds, “We just want to do what we think sounds good.” 

All Washed Up is Cheap Trick’s first album since 2021’s In Another World. It will be released digitally, on CD and on black vinyl. There will also be an orange marble variant, limited to 1,000 copies, sold through the band’s website.

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A new biopic on legendary R&B singer Roberta Flack is in the works.

ABC Audio has confirmed that Good Morning America host Robin Roberts’ production company, Rock’n Robin Productions, has acquired the singer’s life rights for a biopic and a documentary on Flack’s life.

“We are thrilled to add Roberta Flack to the illustrious list of American icons whose stories have been told by Robin Roberts and Rock’n Robin Productions,” Suzanne Minka Koga and Joan Martin, co-artistic executors of the Roberta Flack Foundation, said in a statement. “Roberta was a devoted fan and friend of Robin’s and she considered her one of our greatest journalists who continues to inspire us with storytelling that exemplifies extraordinary courage and creativity.”

Flack, who passed away in February at the age of 88, is known for such chart-topping ’70s hits as “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” “Where is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You.”

Flack won the Grammy for record of the year two years in a row, in 1973 for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and in 1974 for “Killing Me Softly,” making her the first artist ever to do so. “Killing Me Softly” would go on to have renewed popularity in the ’90s, when the Fugees topped the charts with a cover of the song.

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When he isn’t being a rock star and touring the world, Bryan Adams is also an acclaimed photographer, and you’ll be able to see his work in LA.

Adams’ latest photography exhibition, #SHOTBYADAMS, will open at the Leica Store & Gallery Los Angeles Nov. 17 and run through Dec. 1. It’s the first time the show has been staged in the U.S. Among the highlights are Adams’ photos of a smiling Queen Elizabeth II and the late Amy Winehouse, but there are other photos of notable people, as well.

The pictures are black-and-white, color and silver gelatine prints under colored plexiglass. Bryan says in a statement, “In #SHOTBYADAMS, I explore the human experience through light, composition, and authenticity. Photography, for me, is about trust and connection — it’s about capturing what exists between the subject and the lens in a single, unguarded moment.”

Adams, who inducted Joe Cocker into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Saturday and also performed as part of Bad Company‘s induction, is on tour in the U.S. with Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo through Nov. 26.

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The Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame in Boston has announced its 2025 inductees, including Neil Young and Jackson Browne.

Young and Browne are recognized in the living artist category, along with Judy Collins, folk singer Tom Paxton and folks/blues singer Tom Rush. The honor goes to “a contemporary performer whose initial impact on the genre was at least 25 years before the year of induction.”

Aretha Franklin, Leonard Cohen and Muddy Watters are among the musicians recognized this year in the legacy artist category, which goes to “a performer whose initial impact on the genre was at least 45 years prior to the year of induction.” Others recognized this year include Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mississippi John Hurt.

“These inductees represent the heart and soul of Folk, Americana, and Roots music,” says J. Casey Soward, president and CEO of the Boch Center, home of the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame. “They gave voice to ordinary people and helped shape the soundtrack of this country; its struggles, its hopes, and its beauty.”

A special ceremony celebrating the artists will take place March 24, 2026, at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre in Beantown. A permanent Legacy exhibit, featuring items from all of the inductees, is also open at the Boch Center Wang Theatre.

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Graham Nash has announced his first shows of 2026.

The new tour kicks off April 4 in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, with stops in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, South Carolina and more, before wrapping with a two-night stand in Ponte Vedra, Florida, May 1 and 2.

“Excited to be going out on the road again and doing what I love!” Nash writes on Instagram. “Looking forward to seeing you in the new year.”

A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at GrahamNash.com.

Nash has only one more appearance set for 2025. He’ll perform at the 45th annual John Lennon Tribute, happening Dec. 12 at Town Hall in New York City.

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