Classic Hits

Alex Van Halen’s new memoir, Brothers, is out now, and in it he sets the record straight about the reports that Van Halen’s rider would demand M&M’s in their dressing rooms, minus the brown ones.

“I know. We sound like jerks,” he writes in the book, according to People. “Like rock star prima donnas looking to make some poor kid sit around picking through candies till he goes blind. But it wasn’t about a power trip, and it wasn’t about some strange aversion to the color brown.”

While Alex writes that over the years the band “played it up for yuks,” when asked why they put that in their rider, he now says there was a very good reason for doing so.

“If we see brown M&M’s, we know: we are not in the hands of professionals,” he writes, because it meant that they didn’t read the rider carefully. “If they didn’t bother with this, what else didn’t they bother with, what other corners are being cut?”

Brothers, described as Alex’s love letter to his late brother, Eddie Van Halen, was released Tuesday. Alex is currently on a book tour supporting the release and will be in Northvale, New Jersey, on Tuesday, and Culver City, California, on Thursday.

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Duran Duran is leaning into their love of Halloween. The band just announced they’ll release a concert film of their 2022 Halloween show in Las Vegas.

The film, Secret Oktober, was recorded at the Encore Theatre at Wynn, Las Vegas, and serves as the origin story to their most recent album, Danse Macabre, as the show inspired them to record the spooky-themed record.

The band broke out several rarities during the concert that fit with the night’s theme, including “Secret Oktober,” the first performance of the song since 2011; “Love Voodoo” for the first time since 2017; and “Nightboat” for the first time since 2005. It also featured several covers that they’ve never played before.

“October 31st, 2022 is where our strange journey into the world of Halloween began,” keyboardist Nick Rhodes shares. “It was dark, we didn’t have a torch and we somehow wandered down a pathway that led us to some surprising places.” 

Secret Oktober is set to debut Oct. 25 via the StagePlayer+ app. Any fans who purchase the film will get a free digital download of the recently released Danse Macabre De Luxe.

Duran Duran is set to kick off a new North American tour on Wednesday, which includes another Halloween show at New York’s Madison Square Garden. A complete list of dates can be found at duranduran.com.

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Jimmy Page has announced a pair of new signature guitars with Gibson.

The Jimmy Page 1964 SJ-200 and 1964 SJ-200 Collector’s Edition are inspired by the Led Zeppelin icon’s own mid-’60s Gibson SJ-200 acoustic, which he used to record the “Stairway to Heaven” outfit’s debut album.

Speaking about the new guitar in a video for Gibson, soundtracked by Zep’s version of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You,” Page shares, “It was so authentic, and yet it was so new at the same time.”

The Jimmy Page 1964 SJ-200 is limited to just 100 pieces and costs $12,999. The Collector’s Edition goes for $19,999, and only 50 will be made.

For more info, visit Gibson.com.

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The Rolling Stones will revisit their 1999 concert at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London for a new release.

Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush is a recording of the band’s June 8, 1999, club show. The concert was a “secret gig” by The Stones, happening just a few days before they played two sold-out shows at Wembley Arena. 

The concert was witnessed by a star-studded crowd, including such big names as The Who‘s Pete Townshend, Lenny Kravitz, Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Aerosmith, Jon Bon Jovi and more.

The concert featured several rarely played tunes, including the only known performance of the Voodoo Lounge track “Moon Is Up,” and “Melody” from Black and Blue, which had only been performed once prior. It also featured a guest appearance by opening act Sheryl Crow on “Honky Tonk Woman.”

Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush will be released Dec. 6 on 4K Ultra High Definition with a Dolby Atmos audio option, the first time a Stones video has been released in that format. It will also be released as a Blu-ray + two-CD set; a limited-edition two-CD package; a two-LP black vinyl package; and a two-LP set in 180-gram white vinyl.

Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush is available for preorder now.

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On This Day, Oct. 22, 1969 …

Led Zeppelin released their second studio album, aptly titled Led Zeppelin II, produced by the band’s guitarist, Jimmy Page.

The album was the rocker’s first #1 hit in both the U.S. and U.K., and featured the future Zeppelin classic “Whole Lotta Love,” which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a top 10 hit in several other countries around the world. 

Other fan favorites on the album include “Ramble On” and “Thank You.”

The album was the band’s first commercial success and went on to be certified 12-times Platinum by the RIAA. It is considered by many critics to be one of the most influential albums of all time.

It also earned a Grammy for Best Recording Package.

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Joe Walsh’s annual VetsAid concert is happening in November, and he’s giving fans a chance to land a one-of-a-kind VIP experience.

The Eagles guitarist has just launched a new Fandiem sweepstakes, with the grand prize being round-trip travel for two to New York City, plus special VIP passes to VetsAid, which will be held Veterans Day, Nov. 11, at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York. 

The prize also includes seats in the friends and family section, access to a special friends and family VIP lounge with food and drink, a possible meeting with Walsh, access to soundcheck and a special VetsAid merch package.

To enter, fans need to make a donation to VetsAid, which raises money for charities helping veterans.

The 2024 edition of VetsAid will feature performances by Walsh, Post Malone, Toto, Eric Church and newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Kool and the Gang. Tickets are on sale now.

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Gene Simmons made a career playing bass for KISS, but he wouldn’t consider himself a virtuoso, and he’s perfectly happy with that. 

He tells Guitar World that he thinks virtuosos are simply “show-offs in music” and he’s not a fan.

“I don’t consider myself – and was never really interested in being – a bass virtuoso,” he says. “I don’t like show-offs in music. I’m much more attracted to things that are memorable. It’s part of the joy of music for me.”

He took aim at jazz bassists, noting that no matter how respected they are “the rest of the world doesn’t care,” adding, “We’re going to play a game: name a jazz player that means something.”

He also took aim at Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea, saying, “guys like Flea, who is really good on his instrument, but I can’t remember anything he plays – and I also do not like the sound of a bass being slapped.”

It seems Simmons would prefer to keep things simple, and he doesn’t think that’s easy.

“The hardest thing to do is write a good simple song or riff,” he says. “That’s really hard.”

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Bruce Springsteen has commented on the recent death of One Direction singer Liam Payne at the age of 31, telling The Telegraph, “That’s not an unusual thing in my business.”

“It’s a normal thing. It’s a business that puts enormous pressures on young people,” he elaborated. “Young people don’t have the inner facility or the inner self yet to be able to protect themselves from a lot of the things that come with success and fame. “

Springsteen says to compensate artists turn to drugs or alcohol “to take some of that pressure off,” something that’s not foreign to him or his band. 

“I mean, I’ve had my own wrestling with different things,” he says. “Drugs were not uncommon in the E Street Band, you know.”

But Bruce drew the line on those things affecting his live shows. 

“I stayed out of your business, but if I was on stage and I saw that you were not your complete self, there was going to be a problem,” he said. “And so it made a bit of a boundary around that stage, where people had to be relatively sober and at their best.” 

He added, “And I always say, one of the things I was proudest of is that if one of my fellas passed on, they passed on of natural causes.”

After Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau mentioned artists who died young like Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix, Springsteen added, “and people continue to fall to it. It’s a death cult.”

“It’s a grift, man. That’s a part of the story that suckers some young people in, you know, but it’s that old story,” he added. “Dying young – good for the record company, but what’s in it for you?”

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The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards was in Nashville on Sunday to help celebrate guitarist James Burton’s induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

According to Billboard, Richards, who inducted Burton into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, attended the Hall of Fame’s 2024 Medallion Ceremony, performing “I Can’t Dance” with Emmylou Harris and Vince Gill. 

Elvis Costello was also on hand to honor Burton, performing “Believe What You Say” with musician John Jorgenson.

Burton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in the Recording and/or Touring Musician Category. The legendary guitarist played on records by artists such as Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr., The Everly Brothers and Glen Campbell, and toured with Elvis Presley.

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The Go-Go’s and Devo are among the artists booked for the 2025 Cruel World Festival, happening May 17 at Brookside at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. 

The festival will be The Go-Go’s first concert together since 2022, although in February they reunited to play a few songs at their induction into the California Hall of Fame.

Cruel World will also feature a reunion of ‘Til Tuesday, best known for their hit “Voices Carry.” It will mark the first time the original members have performed together in 35 years.

The festival will be headlined by New Order and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, with a lineup that also includes Garbage, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Madness, Alison Moyet and Buzzcocks.

Passes for the festival go on sale Friday at 11 a.m. PT. A complete lineup can be found at cruelworldfest.com.

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