Classic Hits

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ classic tune “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” is reinterpreted on Snoop Dogg‘s just-released album, Missionary, and the song is out now.

Snoop’s version, “Last Dance with Mary Jane,” also features Jelly Roll. It opens with Petty saying “keep movin’ on” and includes Petty’s chorus playing over the hook.

Ahead of the song’s release, Snoop and producer Dr. Dre shared an archival clip of a Petty interview where he can be heard saying, “The day Dre does ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’ he’s gonna have a big hit,” adding, “That one’s just waiting to explode … you need somebody like Dre to do it.” 

The post then cuts to a clip of Dre explaining how Petty’s contribution came to be. He shares, “So the family sent me the files, so I actually have Tom Petty’s voice and harmonica playing on the hook.” 

Released in 1993, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” was recorded during the sessions for Petty’s album Wildflowers, but was released as part of his Greatest Hits album. It hit #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Petty his first top-10 hit.

 (Video includes uncensored profanity.)

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An auction that focused on the over-the-top creations of designer Bob Mackie has concluded, and the fabulous ‘fits he made for his most famous client, Cher, brought in some major bucks.

The star of the show was a three-piece costume Cher wore in 1977 on The Sonny & Cher Show, which sold for $101,600 — 25 times its original estimate. Another outfit that went for a lot more than expected was a burgundy organza ensemble that she wore on The Cher Show in 1975 while singing “Take Me Home Country Roads.” That went for $95,250 — nearly 32 times its original estimate.

Other pieces that made a lot of money include a snakeskin ensemble that Cher wore in her 1979 TV special Cher…And Other Fantasies, which sold for $44,450, and a two-piece outfit she wore in 1971 to sing “Stormy Weather” on The Sonny and Cher Show. That one went for $28,575.

One non-Cher ensemble in the auction was Mackie’s 1987 “Earthquake Dress,” which Pink pulled from his archives to wear on the red carpet of the American Music Awards in 2022. That sold for $10,400.

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Saturday, Dec. 14, marks the 40th anniversary of Foreigner’s fifth studio album, Agent Provocateur, which was a huge hit for the band.

The album was a top-five hit, landing at #4 on the Billboard 200, and earned a triple Platinum certification by the RIAA. The record is best known for its hit ballad “I Want To Know What Love Is,” which spent three weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 and became the band’s only #1 song.

But despite the success of “I Want to Know What Love Is,” Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm wasn’t particularly happy that it was the album’s first single, especially since the last hit from their previous album, 4, was another ballad, “Waiting for a Girl Like You.” 

“I seriously think it did some damage to our rock credibility,” he tells ABC Audio. “There were comments in editorials about how some of our rock fans felt like we were letting them down.”

As for the album itself, Gramm says “there’s some great songs on there,” noting that some of them were “completely overlooked.”

He adds, “So, you know, I think it’s a very good album.”

But apparently the album didn’t damage their rock credibility too much, as Foreigner was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October. Despite his feelings about the song, Gramm performed “I Want To Know What Love Is” with Kelly Clarkson during the induction ceremony.

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Legal documents pertaining to the breakup of The Beatles sold at auction on Thursday for over $11,000, according to the U.K. publication The Standard.

The U.K. auction house Dawsons handled the sale of the more than 300 pages of documents relating to the band’s official split in 1974. The pages, from advisers and legal reps, were discovered in a cupboard sometime in the last year, although the exact location of the find was not revealed.

When the auction was announced earlier in December, Denise Kelly, from Dawsons, described the documents as “fascinating,” noting, “I just couldn’t put them down until I had read every page.”

The docs were purchased by a private buyer. It was originally estimated that they’d sell for between $6,000 and $10,000.

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The cast of the Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown, including star Timothée Chalamet, perform all the music seen in the film, which amounts to more than 50 onscreen music performances. When it comes to guitars, they are playing Gibsons. 

Gibson’s acoustic guitar luthiers worked with the film’s production team to provide historically accurate guitars for the movie, including two custom Gibson J-50s built for the movie to match Dylan’s original guitar, a 1947 model.

“As many Gibson acoustic guitars played a timely role in American music history our supportive mission was to carefully select the Gibson acoustics that Bob Dylan chose to play during his powerful presence in the 1960s,” Robi Johns, senior product development manager at Gibson Acoustic Guitars, shares. “To achieve this with historical accuracy, we also recreated a few of Bob’s acoustic guitars for the timeframe depicted in the movie.”

Now Gibson has debuted a new line of acoustic guitars inspired by the film. A Complete Unknown: The Collection is made up of nine guitars, including a Gibson SJ-200, considered the world’s most famous acoustic guitar, and a Johnny Cash SJ-200 Vintage Cherry Sunburst.

And fans can check out some of the Gibson guitars created for the film — they’ll be on display at the Gibson Garage Nashville from Dec. 19 through January.

A Complete Unknown hits theaters Dec. 25.

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A new book about the Grateful Dead is coming out next year in time for the band’s 60th anniversary.

The Grateful Dead By Jim Marshall: Photos And Stories From The Formative Years, 1966–1977 will be released Aug. 5, featuring both color and black-and-white photos taken by rock ‘n’ roll photographer Jim Marshall, who has snapped more than 10,000 pictures of the band during his career.

The hardcover book, curated by Amelia Davis and David Gans, is made up of over 200 photos, many of which have never been printed before. 

According to the book’s description, fans will be able to “immerse themselves in the Grateful Dead’s formative years, from their humble beginnings to their rise to global stardom, the era when they developed their pioneering musical style and their legendary live performances.” 

In addition to the pictures, the book will feature stories by five experts on music, photography and The Dead, as well as quotes and commentary, plus an afterword written by Grammy winner John Mayer, who’s a member of Dead & Company.

The Grateful Dead By Jim Marshall: Photos And Stories From The Formative Years, 1966–1977 is available for preorder now.

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Former Yes lead singer Jon Anderson is set to release a new live album and DVD with his backing band The Band Geeks.

Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks Live – Perpetual Change is a recording of their concert at the Aracada Theater in St. Charles, Illinois, which took place during their 2023 summer tour.

As a preview of the release, Anderson has shared a performance of the Yes classic “And You And I.”

Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks Live – Perpetual Change will be released March 14 as a two-CD/DVD package and as a three-LP set. They are both available now for preorder.

Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks previously released the new studio album True in August. It was Anderson’s first new album since 2019’s 1000 Hands: Chapter One and his first with The Band Geeks, who he’s been touring with since 2023.

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While no official casting for Sam Mendes’ movies about The Beatles has been announced, the rumors continue to swirl, and now one of the actors mentioned as a possible candidate to play John Lennon has spoken out on the subject.

On the red carpet for his new movie Babygirl, actor Harris Dickinson neither confirmed nor denied his involvement in the project when asked by Variety.

“It would be amazing to do that,” he said. “I think the idea of Sam teaming up to do something like that would be incredibly exciting. Obviously, John Lennon is a very complex role, a pretty formidable force to try to do. It would be cool.”

When asked outright if he was on board for the films, he simply replied, “We’ll see.”

Mendes’ Beatles project was announced back in February, with the director revealing he planned to make four separate films, one for each member of the group — Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. 

As previously reported, Gladiator director Ridley Scott revealed in a talk with director Christopher Nolan at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles Tuesday that Paul Mescal would be doing one of the films; he’s rumored to be playing McCartney. In addition, Ringo recently let it slip in an Entertainment Tonight interview that Barry Keoghan had been cast to play him.

Sony Pictures is the studio behind the movies, and it marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles have granted a studio the rights to the life stories of the band members and their legendary catalog of music.

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Def Leppard is headed to Milwaukee this summer.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are set to headline Milwaukee Summerfest, playing the American Family Insurance Amphitheater on June 19, with special guest Tesla. 

Def Leppard’s fan club, Rock Brigade, gets first access to tickets starting Monday, with tickets going on sale to the general public on Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Milwaukee Summerfest takes place over three weekends — June 19-21, June 26-28 and July 3-5 — with shows at a variety of venues across the city. So far a complete lineup has not been announced.

While Def Leppard hasn’t announced an official tour for 2025, they’ve slowly been confirming shows in several cities, including Atlantic City, New Jersey; Uncasville, Connecticut; and Springfield, Illinois. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com.

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On This Day, Dec. 12, 2012 …

12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief was held at New York’s Madison Square Garden to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, which struck portions of the Northeastern United States, the Caribbean and the Mid-Atlantic in late October 2012. 

The concert featured performances by Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, The Rolling Stones, Roger Waters with Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, Coldplay with R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and more.

Paul McCartney closed the show, where he was joined by the surviving members of Nirvana — Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and touring guitarist Pat Smear — for their first performance together in 18 years.

The concert was broadcast live in the U.S. on a variety of networks, and a documentary, DVD and CD of the concert were also released.

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