Classic Hits

Sammy Hagar has said his new song “Encore, Thank You, Good Night,” was inspired by a dream he had about Eddie Van Halen, but it turns out Eddie’s not the only Van Halen he’s been dreaming about.

“I hate to say it, but I dreamt about Alex the other night, man,” Sammy tells Rolling Stone. “It was crazy. And it was so friggin’ real. I was saying, ‘What are you pissed off at me about, man? What the f***? Now just tell me what your problem is. What did I do? Just tell me.'”

Hagar says Alex laughed and asked “You really don’t know, do you?”

Alex and Sammy haven’t spoken in 21 years, and in the interview Sammy suggests the animosity could be over several things, including the success of his Cabo Wabo franchise, which Van Halen bailed on when it was losing money, only for Sammy to turn it around. Another is Sammy’s memoir, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, in which he was honest about a bad period of Eddie’s life.

But Sammy says he really thinks Alex is mad “because I’m out doing it … and he can’t,” noting that Alex is not a singer, doesn’t play guitar and doesn’t really play drums anymore.

“I would feel bad. If I put myself in his shoes, I would feel terrible if I couldn’t do it anymore,” he adds, “But I’m the happiest guy out of all of them. That pisses people off in itself. Being too happy, people don’t like that.”

“And I’m okay with it,” Sammy says. “Al, you’re fine. Just leave me alone. I’ll leave you alone. Everything’s good. I’m making you money, by the way, Al … I’m out there selling Van Halen records and keeping the name alive, keeping the music alive.”

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Mike Peters, frontman for the ’80s rock band The Alarm, has died after a 30-year battle with cancer. He was 66.

Peters’ death was confirmed on the band’s Instagram, with a post that simply read, “Michael Peters 25 February 1959 29 April 2025 Totally Free.”

Peters was first diagnosed with cancer in 1995. In 2005, he was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and later went into remission. He suffered a relapse in 2022 and in April of 2024 announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer known as Richter’s syndrome. In September he announced he was awaiting a stem cell transplant, but then in December he announced he had not achieved complete remission.

As of January, Peters was still hopeful for a recovery, announcing he was undergoing a new and hopefully lifesaving transplant known as CAR-T Therapy at The Christie NHS Foundation Hospital in Manchester, England.

In 2003, during his cancer fight, he founded the cancer charity Love Hope Strength Foundation with wife and breast cancer survivor Jules Peters, to raise funds and awareness of cancer treatments.

The Alarm formed in Wales in 1981. While bigger in the U.K., they did have a string of mainstream rock radio hits in the U.S., including “Strength,” the title track of their 1985 sophomore album, “The Stand,” “Rain in the Summertime,” “Sold Me Down The River,” “Sixty Eight Guns,” and “Spirit of ‘76.”

The Alarm released their last album, Music Television, digitally in August. It featured covers of songs made famous in MTV’s heyday. It was supposed to coincide with their Live Today Love Tomorrow tour, but the trek was postponed after Peters’ cancer returned.

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John Mellencamp is confirmed to perform at the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum’s 2025 Grammy Hall of Fame Gala, happening May 16 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

Mellencamp will be part of a special tribute to label Republic Records, which will also feature singer/songwriter Conan Gray.

In addition to the Republic Records tribute, the 2025 Grammy Hall of Fame Gala will celebrate this year’s inducted recordings, including Santana’s Supernatural and Cat Stevens’ Tea for the Tillerman.

Additional performers at the event include Carlos Santana’s wife, percussionist Cindy Blackman; Emmylou Harris with producer Daniel Lanois and jazz drummer Brian Blade; bandleader Jon Batiste, who’s receiving the inaugural Ray Charles “Architect of Sound” Award; guitarist Orianthi; and Hamilton star Leslie Odom, Jr.

The Grammy Hall of Fame gala serves as a fundraiser to support the Grammy Museum’s national education programs. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

Mellencamp’s appearance will be his first performance of 2025. His last live performance was in October when he performed at the unveiling of the John Mellencamp statue at Indiana University in Bloomington.

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Zak Starkey is happy to have his job with The Who back.

The drummer, son of Ringo Starr, was briefly let go by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, before eventually being rehired, and he tells the U.K. outlet The Times why the gig is so important to him.

“I couldn’t bear to watch someone doing it and ruin it,” he says. “It’s not a job, it’s a calling. It’s a bit like being a nurse or a nun. It’s a calling to protect the music of The Who, that’s how I feel about it.”

The dispute between the trio stemmed from the band’s Teenage Cancer Trust shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and Starkey described the disagreement as “just business as usual.”

“Look at The Who’s history. It’s been going on for years, this kind of thing,” he says. “It was just a miscommunication, basically. It really was.”

He adds, “The Who’s a family you know. It was a stupid thing that got blown out of proportion and got too much oxygen and three days later we’re all back to normal again.”

Starkey will be back playing with The Who this summer. They have two shows coming up, both in Italy: July 20 in Padua and July 22 in Milan.

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The late Joe Cocker was one of the artists chosen for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, and his family is happy to see him finally recognized.

Cocker, who passed away in 2014, has been eligible for the Rock Hall for over 30 years and got in on his first nomination. His widow Pam Cocker tells Billboard his induction is something the family has been waiting for.

“I voted every day and watched his standing on the fan vote,” she says. “‘Long overdue’ — those were my daughter’s first words when we heard the news.”

She adds that the “Up Where We Belong” singer, “wasn’t obsessed with the fact he wasn’t in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he did want it. But he didn’t prioritize it,” adding, “He was always surprised at what other people were not in it more than himself.’

Cocker’s brother Victor adds that he was “quite thrilled” that his brother has gotten in.

“It’s an important piece of recognition for Joe, I think. I think he would have been really delighted about it, so I’m really pleased,” he says. “And of course he grew up in that age where the first generation of members of the Hall of Fame were his heroes; he was part of the second wave, so to be recognized there with his heroes and those of the second wave — like the Beatles, who he knew, and so on — would’ve delighted him.”

The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction is happening Nov. 8 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and will stream live on Disney+. A highlights special will air on ABC at a later date and stream on Hulu the next day.

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Sammy Hagar has said that his newly released single, “Encore, Thank You, Good Night,” was inspired by a dream he had about Eddie Van Halen, and that’s exactly what he depicts in the video for the song.

In the clip, Sammy wakes up from a dream and starts writing the song on a pad beside his bed, with the video cutting to old home video footage of him and Eddie. There’s also someone who looks like Eddie carrying his signature red Frankenstrat guitar, walking off towards a bright light.

The video then becomes a performance clip with Sammy backed by his current band, Joe Satriani on guitar, Van Halen’s Michael Anthony on bass and Kenny Aronoff on drums. In another homage to Van Halen, during the performance you can hear crowd chants of “Eddie.”

The video ends with an old home video clip of Sammy simply saying, “Thank you.”

“This song is my final bow to that part of my life,” Sammy has said, referring to his time with Van Halen. “It’s not meant to be anything more than a thank-you — with love, with respect, and with one hell of a guitar solo.”

Sammy is set to launch his Las Vegas residency, The Best of All Worlds Tour Stays in Vegas – The Residency, on Wednesday at Dolby Live at Park MGM, where he’s expected to perform the song live for the first time. A complete list of dates can be found at RedRocker.com.

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Cyndi Lauper has been named as an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and she couldn’t be happier to be joining the great female artists who came before her.

“I’m humbled to be in the company of so many of my heroes – Aretha [Franklin], Tina [Turner], Chaka [Khan], Joni [Mitchell], Wanda [Jackson], to name just a few,” she wrote on Instagram.

“Women have made so many important contributions to music and to rock n roll and a win for one of us is a win for all of us,” she continued. In addition to Cyndi, female inductees this year include The White Stripes drummer Meg White, the female hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa, who are being inducted in the Musical Influence category, and veteran session bass player Carol Kaye, who’s being inducted in the Musical Excellence category. 

Cyndi concludes, “Thank you to the voting members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for this honor. And thank you to my fans for supporting me throughout my career. I could not do any of this without you.”

In addition to Cyndi and The White Stripes, inductees this year include British rockers Bad Company, the late British soul belter Joe Cocker, Seattle grunge pioneers Soundgarden, Atlanta rap duo Outkast and “The Twist” singer Chubby Checker. 

The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will stream on Disney+ Sunday, Nov. 8, live from the Peacock Theater in LA. A highlights special will air on ABC at a later date and stream on Hulu the next day.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News. 

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The Bruce Springsteen Archives Center for American Music has launched a new charity auction in connection with its annual American Music Honors, which this year will honor John Fogerty, Smokey Robinson, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, Emmylou Harris and Joe Ely.

The auction includes plenty of Springsteen-related items, including a chance to meet The Boss, take a ride along the Jersey Shore with him and go home with his 2000 JPB Confederado motorcycle.

Other items in the auction include: tickets to a 2025 Springsteen concert of your choice; a signed Springsteen Born to Run photo; a black Squier Stratocaster signed by The Boss; a Telecaster signed by Springsteen and this year’s honorees, along with E Street Band members Nils Lofgren, Patti Scialfa and Stevie Van Zandt; and framed photos of Fogerty and Smokey, signed by photographer Danny Clinch.

Bidding is open until May 8. More info can be found at charitybuzz.com. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music.

The third annual American Music Honors will take place Saturday at the Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, the home of the Bruce Springsteen Archives. The awards are handed out each year to artists “who have demonstrated artistic excellence, creative integrity, and a longstanding commitment to the value of music in our national consciousness.”

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While his main gig is frontman for The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger has also dabbled in a solo career, and now a compilation of his biggest solo tracks is coming to vinyl for the first time.

The Very Best of Mick Jagger was originally released digitally and on CD back in 2007, but the album is getting its first-ever vinyl release on May 1.

The two-LP set consists of 17 tracks, including such songs as “Dancing in the Street” with David Bowie, “Just Another Night” and “Lucky In Love.” There are also three tracks that up until now have never been released on vinyl: “Too Many Cooks,” which was produced by John Lennon, “Checking Up On Baby” and “Charmed Live.”

The Very Best of Mick Jagger is available for preorder now.

Jagger has released four solo albums throughout his career: 1985’s She’s The Boss, 1987’s Primitive Cool, 1993’s Wandering Spirit and 2001’s Goodness In The Doorway. “Dancing in the Street” is his only top-10 solo hit.

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Bruce Springsteen fans are anxiously awaiting the release of Tracks II: The Lost Albums on June 27, and E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg says they won’t be disappointed.

“I’ve heard everything and I think the fans are going to love it,” Weinberg tells the U.K. outlet The Times. “There is one album [Inyo] Bruce played me where he utilized a mariachi band of musicians, Hispanic musicians. It was just incredible, incredible music.”

Tracks II contains seven unreleased Springsteen albums, recorded between 1983 and 2018. That means one album that’s not part of the set is the long-rumored full band recording of Bruce’s 1982 solo acoustic album, Nebraska, nicknamed Electric Nebraska by fans. But Weinberg hopes the public will one day get to hear it.

He says those recordings were “kick-**, great versions” of the album’s songs, noting, “There’s been this myth that they weren’t well played but we played the hell out of them.”

He adds, “I know the songs were recorded, the tracks are there, so I hope one day Electric Nebraska does make the light of day.”

For now, fans are going to have to settle for a film about the making of Nebraska. Deliver Me From Nowhere, starring Jeremy Allen White as The Boss, is due out later this year.

Tracks II: The Lost Albums is available for preorder now.

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