Classic Hits

R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, The Black Crowes‘ former drummer Steve Gorman and Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker recently announced they were joining forces for a new supergroup, Howl Owl Howl, and now they’re sharing their first single.

The band has just released the track “My Cologne,” and Mills explains on Instagram that it was actually inspired by pop star Ariana Grande.

Mills says in the video, “Ariana Grande put out a record not long ago and her first single was called ‘R.E.M.,’” referring to the track on her 2018 album, Sweetener.

Despite it being his band’s name, Mills didn’t think much of it. He says, “OK, sure, it’s the dream stage of sleep, that’s where we got it. You know, it’s universal, that’s fine.”

Ari went on to launch a cosmetics line called r.e.m. beauty, and Mills notes that one of the fragrance containers was shaped like a cassette tape with R.E.M. on the cover.

“And then I said, OK, that’s going over the line. I gotta say something about that,” he says. “So, you know, we’re not upset or anything, but I thought it was just funny.”

His response is “My Cologne,” featuring a line in the chorus, “I wanna smell like Ariana Grande and I think she wants you to smell like me.”

Says Mill, “It’s all in good fun and I hope she likes it.”

“My Cologne” is now available via digital outlets.

Howl Owl Howl is set to hit the road for a nine-date tour starting Nov. 3 in Indianapolis. The tour wraps Nov. 15 in Athens, Georgia, which is the birthplace of R.E.M. A complete list of dates can be found at howlowlhowl.com.

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Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Queen’s iconic track “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and to commemorate the occasion, the band has launched Queen The Greatest Special, a five-part weekly YouTube series.

In this week’s episode, The Path to Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor discuss the band’s journey to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” noting that while  the public may have been surprised by such a grand song, for them it was just something they came to expect from their frontman Freddie Mercury.

They give earlier examples of Freddie’s experimentation, including “My Fairy King,” from their debut album, as well as “The March of the Black Queen” and “The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke” from Queen II.

“It’s interesting. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is viewed as a giant step for Queen creatively, but from the inside, it didn’t really look that way, it didn’t feel that way,” May says. “It’s one of the threads of Queen in our development. This is the stuff that Freddie brings to the table. We’re used to it and we love it. It’s very entertaining. It’s quite off the wall.”

May adds, “You don’t always know where he’s going, but that’s the thing people love most about Freddie.”

The video series also launches on the same day Queen has released “Bohemian Rhapsody” on transparent blue heavyweight 12-inch vinyl, as a 12-inch picture disc and as a blue cassette single. It is available now.

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Blondie is revisiting their past with Friday’s reissue of their 1999 comeback album, No Exit. But in a new interview with NME they’re looking at their future, and they sound unsure about what’s to come.

Frontwoman Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein are the only surviving founding members of the band, following Clem Burke’s death in April. While they plan to release a new album in 2026, the future beyond that looks uncertain.

Harry previously said she wasn’t sure about returning to the stage as Blondie, and she stands by that statement.

“Well it was Chris, Clem and myself who were the only original members doing live shows,” she tells the outlet. “We just lost Clem, and Chris isn’t playing anymore … but maybe that could change.”

“Essentially, I don’t know. I’ve never liked it when there was just one original member performing and everybody else there is a stand-in,” she continues, although she says she’d “be tempted” to tour again if it was under a different name, “like ‘Blondie Presents.’”

“But, I just don’t feel comfortable marching out on stage without my original guys and calling it Blondie,” she says. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

As for new music, Blondie’s new album, High Noon, is due out in 2026 and could be their last.

Stein says he doesn’t know about making more records, explaining he’s been dealing with health issues, but adds, “[H]opefully at some point I’ll get back at it.”

Harry says her thoughts are the same as the ones she has about doing more shows, noting, “[M]aybe it would be ‘Blondie Presents’ or something like that.  I haven’t really ironed it out yet.”

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Never one to shy away from making a political statement, Neil Young has posted a video on his Neil Young Archives website shining a light on our current political climate.

The video, “as time explodes,” features an instrumental Young track. It’s paired with footage of news reports on various current events, including the demolition of the East Wing of the White House, President Donald Trump accepting a plane from Qatar and the president sending the National Guard to U.S. cities. There are also clips of billionaires like Tesla’s Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook and more.

The clip ends with footage of news coverage of the Oct. 18 No Kings protest in various cities across the U.S., showing off many of the signs in the crowds.

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Mariah Carey says it’s not time yet, but Chaka Khan is getting ready for the holiday season. She has a performance set for Dec. 13 at the Dunaway Gardens in Georgia, which is open to the public for the first time in over 65 years. 

A Magical Holiday at Dunaway Gardens with Chaka Khan will see the singer take the stage to perform songs from her new holiday collection. Proceeds will benefit The Chaka Khan Foundation and the Dunaway Gardens Foundation.

“Having a living legend like Chaka Khan light up our historic stage is a dream come true,” says Dunaway Gardens founder Tena Clark in a press release.
 

Chaka adds she’s honored to be chosen for the upcoming performance.

“Dunaway Gardens is sacred land. I’m deeply honored to have this opportunity to perform on the beautiful garden stage,” she said. “The energy there is alive, and the night will be magic.”

Chaka’s holiday performance will mark her first in a series of star-studded shows happening at the restored amphitheater. Tickets for the show are currently on sale.

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Chicago will make a special appearance on Dancing with the Stars as part of the ABC series’ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame night.

During the show, all the competitors will dance to songs by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame artists. Chicago, who was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2016, is performing as part of the team dance competition, along with fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Kool & The Gang.

Chicago will perform their top-five hit “25 or 6 to 4” as pairs Danielle Fishel and Pasha Pashkov, Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas, Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa, and Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach dance alongside host Alfonso Ribeiro.

The remaining pairs – Andy Richter and Emma Slater, Robert Irwin and Witney Carson, Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy, and Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten, along with host Julianne Hough – will dance to Kool & The Gang’s classic “Celebration.”

The night will also have the competitors dancing to such songs as Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing,” The White Stripes’ “Icky Thump,” Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears” and Aerosmith’s “Dream On.”

Dancing with the Stars’ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame night, with guest judge Flavor Flav, airs Tuesday on ABC.

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Five people were arrested Thursday on charges stemming from the 2023 overdose deaths of Blondie rocker Chris Stein‘s daughter and actor Robert De Niro‘s grandson, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Sofia Marks, known as the Percocet Princess, was charged in 2023 with selling the drugs that caused the death of De Niro’s grandson Leandro De Niro-Rodriguez that year.

The five new defendants — Grant McIver, Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, John Nicolas and Roy Nicolas — were allegedly members of a criminal network that distributed thousands of counterfeit prescription opioid pills laced with fentanyl, among other drugs, to teenagers and young adults living in New York City, prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, the fentanyl pills distributed by the defendants caused the deaths of three 19-year-olds, including Leandro De Niro-Rodriguez and Akira Stein, one of the Blondie co-founder’s two daughters. The indictment does not name the victims, but law enforcement sources confirmed the names to ABC News.

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Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have been on the outs since a disagreement at their 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year benefit, but it seems like their relationship may be on the mend.

The Fleetwood Mac stars appear on the latest episode of the Song Exploder podcast. They were interviewed separately about their track “Frozen Love,” from their recently reissued 1973 solo album Buckingham Nicks. During the episode, Stevie revealed that they are once again talking to each other.

Stevie shared the revelation when asked if she remembered the day she met Lindsey, replying, “I do. Lindsey and I started talking about it last night and it was like, this whole thing seems really like yesterday to us.”

Later, while discussing a particular song lyric in “Frozen Love,” she again mentioned talking to Lindsey.

“This is a question that I’ve gone back and forth over the last few days, ‘fate gave you me for a lover.’ I would swear to God, the words I wrote [were] ‘fate gave you me for a lover,’ fate,” she says. “But when I hear myself sing that line, it sounds like I’m saying hate. But I would have never have written ‘hate gave you me for a lover’ because I never felt that way.”

She then adds, “I’m sorry, Lindsey. I’m calling him later.”

Stevie divulged what caused the rift between her and Lindsey in a 2024 interview with Rolling Stone, noting that at the 2018 MusiCares event he “wasn’t very nice to anybody.”

“I could hear my very pragmatic father — and by the way, my mom and dad liked Lindsey a lot — saying, ‘It’s time for you guys to get a divorce,'” she said.

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On This Day, Oct. 30, 2002…

Warren Zevon was the sole guest on The Late Show with David Letterman, with his appearance coming a few months after he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

The “Werewolves of London” singer, a frequent guest on Letterman’s show over the years, was interviewed by the host where they talked about his diagnosis, with Zevon retaining his sense of humor. When Letterman asked him about that the news of his condition, he quipped, “you mean you heard about the flu?”

When asked by Letterman if there was something he now knew about life and death, Zevon said the memorable line, “not unless I know how much you’re supposed to enjoy every sandwich.”

Zevon performed three songs during the episode, “Mutineer,” “Genius,” and “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner.” It would be his last public performance.

Zevon died Sept. 7, 2003, at the age of 56.

Zevon is set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Influence category. The ceremony is happening Nov. 8 in Los Angeles and Letterman has already been announced as one of the evening’s presenters.

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Genesis founding member and keyboardist Tony Banks is the subject of a new book coming in 2026.

Tony Banks: Man of Spells – The Magician of Genesis is written by Italian music journalist Mario Giammetti. He has written 15 books about Genesis, including Genesis – 1967 to 1975: The Peter Gabriel Years and Genesis – 1975 to 2025: The Phil Collins Years.

The Banks book is described as a look into the life of “one of rock music’s most gifted and influential writers and performers,” focusing not just on his career with Genesis but on his “frequently overlooked solo career.”

The book is culled from interviews Giammetti conducted with Banks over the years, as well interviews with others in the artist’s inner circle. It will also feature more than 100 images, including rare and previously unpublished photographs.

“While there have been various books written by or about all the other major players in Genesis, there has until now never been one focused exclusively on Tony Banks,” Gregory Spawton, co-owner of Kingmaker Publishing, which is publishing the book, says. “We felt it was important to shine a brighter light on his life and career.”

Tony Banks: Man of Spells – The Magician of Genesis will be released Feb. 19. It is available for preorder now.

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