Classic Hits

Ahead of the release of the box set focused on Queen‘s 1973 debut album, the band issued a 7-inch vinyl single of “The Night Comes Down.” The latest episode of the band’s Queen: The Greatest video series now focuses on the creation of that song.

According to a press release, the song, written by guitarist Brian May, is “perhaps the most enigmatic song in Queen’s five-decade catalogue” due to its “otherworldly instrumental,” “soul-baring lyric” and the fact that the band never performed it live.

May says in the video, “The song, actually, was about those moments when you’re not jolly. When you feel like you’ve lost it. When I look back at it, I was very young to be writing that stuff, but I did get depressed in those days.”

He adds, “It was always about relationships. And I had moments when I thought, ‘I’m in a great place, I can make music. I’m with great friends … everything’s great.’ And then, somehow, everything would fall apart, and then it’s like the night came down in my head. So that’s what it’s about. It’s not a jolly song.”

May then taught the song to singer Freddie Mercury, who he says “as always would make it his own and take it to the next level.”

May also digs up the original guitar he used to record the tune, a “very cheap” one he’d restrung with wire strings. That created a unique buzzy sound that he compares to “a sitar but warmer.” May says he used the guitar “all over” the first Queen album.

The Queen I box set, out now, comprises 63 tracks with 43 brand-new mixes, as well as alternative takes, demos and rare live tracks.

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Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer Kenney Jones, known for his work with The Small Faces, Faces and The Who, has revealed that his son Jesse has passed away.

On his official Facebook page, Jones, 76, wrote, “It is with a broken heart that I share the devastating news that my son Jesse has passed. I don’t have the words right now to fully express how I am feeling. But I want to thank you all for your kind wishes at this indescribably painful time and ask for continued love, respect and privacy as we try to navigate this profound loss as a family.“

Jones didn’t share the cause of his son’s death. Jesse was one of his six children from two marriages.

Jones is the only surviving member of The Small Faces, which morphed into Faces after their lead singer, Steve Marriott, left to form Humble Pie, and Rod Stewart and Ron Wood joined. The two bands were jointly inducted into the Rock Hall in 2012. In 1978, Jones replaced the late Keith Moon in The Who and played on their albums Face Dances and It’s Hard. 

In the early ’90s, after his stint in The Who, Jones formed The Law with Bad Company‘s Paul Rodgers; in 2001, he formed The Jones Gang. He’s also played with The Rolling Stones, Wings, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and the individual members of The Who.

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David Gilmour wants you to know that no, Pink Floyd did not design The Dark Side of the Moon to sync up with the movie The Wizard of Oz.

While appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote his new album, Luck and Strange, the guitarist was asked to clear up an age-old rumor: that the album was deliberately created to provide a soundtrack to the classic Judy Garland film. “No. I mean, I only heard about it years later,” Gilmour told Fallon.

“Someone said you put the needle — and you’ve got the film running somehow — and on the third roar of the MGM lion, you put the needle on for the beginning of Dark Side, and there’s these strange synchronicities that happen,” he continued.

Gilmour said he had tried it, though he didn’t really have to, considering how many people on the internet have done it for him.

“Now people have done the donkey work, the chore work and added it on YouTube,” he said. “You can watch bits and there are these strange coincidences. I’ll call them coincidences.”

Gilmour also denied the rumor that hearing himself cough on the song “Wish You Were Here” made him stop smoking. And he confirmed that before he joined Floyd, he indeed worked as a model — simply because it paid better than his regular job as a van driver.

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Sting was recently announced as a mega mentor for the Knockout Rounds of NBC’s The Voice, where he’ll advise Snoop Dogg and Gwen Stefani‘s teams. But he tells People he wasn’t sure about accepting the gig, since he’d never watched the show before.

“I’d never seen The Voice,” he tells People. “When I was given the premise of the show, I was a little bit anxious, but I know Gwen very well. I’m a big admirer of Snoop Dogg, and so I thought, I’m going to take a risk. I’m going to go on the show even though I’m a little trepidatious.”

But he says once he got into it, he found coaching the contestants to be “nourishing and joyful.”

He says, “I really feel good about the show. I feel good about myself, and I feel good about the young singers who are putting themselves through this ordeal. It is an ordeal, but I’ve loved it so far.”

Sting had a unique perspective, given that he was a teacher before he became a rock superstar.

“In teaching, there’s no such thing as teaching, actually. What happens in a classroom is learning and people learn through enthusiasm,” he says. “A teacher’s job is just to be enthusiastic, show appreciation, curiosity. And that’s your job here [on The Voice].”

Sting also welcomed the opportunity to work with Stefani. The two first met when she was a 13-year-old Police fan. In 2003 they played the Super Bowl halftime show together, and she inducted The Police into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that same year.

“I’m so impressed by her ability to communicate with the singers so succinctly and so intelligently, so compassionately,” he notes. As for Snoop, Sting worked with the rapper on his upcoming solo album, Missionary.

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On This Day, Nov. 8, 1971 …

Led Zeppelin released their fourth studio album, which became known as Led Zeppelin IV.

The album featured what became their signature tune, “Stairway to Heaven,” along with such future classics as “Going to California,” “The Battle of Evermore,” “When the Levee Breaks” and “Rock and Roll.” 

The album went to #1 in Britain and Canada, and peaked at #2 in the U.S. It is Led Zeppelin’s bestselling album, moving over 37 million copies worldwide.

Led Zeppelin IV is often included on lists of the greatest albums of all time. In 1999 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

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Valerie Bertinelli was married to Eddie Van Halen for more than 25 years, but she isn’t rushing to read Brothers, the new book by Alex Van Halen that came out Oct. 22.

Appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show on Nov. 7, Bertinelli says she was “shaking” just thinking about reading the book, which has been sitting in her house for awhile now. “It’s going to be emotional,” she said. “It’s going to be very emotional, because I love these two men. They are good men and they are very complicated men.”

The actress said Alex told her last year he was writing the book, which surprised her. “He’s a very private man, and for him to do this is extraordinary. And to do it so beautifully — I’m so proud of you, Al. I’m so happy that you wrote your story.”

Brothers is about the relationship between Alex and Eddie, who died of cancer in 2020 at age 65.

“I truly believe that [through the book], people get a different insight into Ed the man, and not the icon, or whatever you think you might know about him,” Bertinelli continued. “He was not that. He was a gentle, gentle soul who went through extreme trauma and Al did, too.”

Bertinelli concluded by congratulating her former brother-in-law on his bestseller.

The One Day at a Time star married Eddie in 1981; they shared a son, Wolfgang Van Halen, leader of the band Mammoth WVH. They were officially divorced in 2007. In 2009, Eddie married Janie Liszewski. Both Janie and Valerie were at his bedside when he died.

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After a month’s worth of teases, you can finally hear what it sounds like when retired NFL star Jason Kelce attempts to sing with two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Nicks.

“Maybe This Christmas,” the duet they recorded for Jason’s annual charity album, which this year is titled A Philly Special Christmas Party, is out now. The whole album, which also features Boyz II Men, Jason’s brother, Travis Kelce, and others, arrives Nov. 22.

The song “Maybe This Christmas,” written by Ron Sexsmith, finds Jason — who can actually carry a tune — joining Stevie for a message of hope and healing this holiday season. “Maybe this Christmas will mean something more/ Maybe this year love will appear,” he sings. Stevie takes the second verse, singing, “Maybe forgiveness will ask us to call/ Someone we love, someone we’ve lost.”

Together, they sing, “Maybe there’ll be an open door/ Maybe the star that shone before/ Will shine once more.”

“There are no words to describe how incredible it is to have Stevie Nicks on this record,” says executive producer Conner Barwin in a statement. “There is so much emotion in this song, and it was thrilling to be with them in the studio and watch her and Jason connect, be creative together, and witness this beautiful song become a reality.”

It’s not clear how the hookup with the former Philadelphia Eagles star happened, but Stevie is a friend of Taylor Swift‘s, and she, of course, is dating Travis.

Proceeds from the vinyl sales will go to support Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s Holiday Toy Drive and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Snowflake Station, among other charities.

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A documentary about the late keyboard player Billy Preston — perhaps best known for being the only guest musician ever credited on a Beatles record — will screen at DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary film festival, on Nov. 17

Titled That’s the Way God Planned It, after Preston’s 1969 solo hit of the same name, the film features interviews with Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and George Harrison‘s widow, Olivia, as well as rare footage. It focuses on Preston’s genre-spanning work with Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Elton John and more, as well as his struggle to come to terms with his sexuality and his substance abuse.

If you watched the Beatles’ Get Back documentary, you saw Preston jamming in the studio with the Fab Four and playing with them during their final live performance on the rooftop of Apple Records in London in January 1969. The single “Get Back” was credited to “The Beatles featuring Billy Preston.”

Following the rooftop concert, Preston was signed to The Beatles’ Apple Records and scored a hit with “That’s the Way God Planned It.” In his years after leaving the label in 1971, he recorded the hits “Will It Go Round in Circles,” “Outa-Space,” “Nothing from Nothing” and “With You I’m Born Again.”

Preston also co-wrote Joe Cocker‘s classic “You Are So Beautiful,” recorded and toured with George Harrison and The Rolling Stones, and was the first-ever musical guest on Saturday Night Live, among his many other accomplishments. He died in June 2006 after a bout of pericarditis in 2005 caused respiratory failure, which left him comatose.

Preston was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.

The screening of the doc at the festival will include a Q&A with director Paris Barclay.

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It’s officially time.

Mariah Carey kicked off her annual Christmas Time tour in Highland, California, on Wednesday. The Queen of Christmas celebrated the 30th anniversary of her album Merry Christmas during the tour’s opening night, where she reintroduced two beloved holiday tracks to the set list: “O Holy Night” and “Miss You Most (at Christmas Time.)”

The 19-song set also featured four different costume changes. Mariah started out wearing a white, sparkling custom House of Gilles gown before she changed into a short red dress by Valerian Sahiti. After that, she slipped into a floor-length custom silver ensemble with a matching cape, before she ended the show wearing a festive red bodysuit inspired by Santa Claus, reminiscent of the one she wore on the cover of Merry Christmas.

Of course, while wearing the festive bodysuit, Mariah closed the show with her celebrated yuletide classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” sung from inside of a sleigh.

The 21-date Christmas Time tour continues throughout November and runs through Dec. 17, where it wraps up in New York City.

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Are you ready for yet another cover of Bob Dylan‘s classic “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”?

The song, which Dylan recorded for the soundtrack of the film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, has been covered by everyone from the Grateful Dead and Guns N’ Roses to Avril Lavigne and Eric Clapton. Now Yellowjackets star Sophie Thatcher has recorded her version for the soundtrack of the new A24 horror film Heretic.

In the film, out on Nov. 8, Thatcher and Chloe East play two Mormon missionaries who try to convert a character played by Hugh Grant — who turns out to be a very bad guy. The new version of the song is heard at the end of the film. Thatcher says her version feels “very melancholic and feminine and more dreamy and atmospheric.”

“It works with the movie because Hugh Grant goes on a spiel about religion and Christianity, [and how] they’re all iterations of each other,” she says.

Thatcher also allows that her version sounds very much like Mazzy Star‘s ’90s hit “Fade Into You.” And that’s not the only ’90s alt-rock band that’s referenced in the film: At one point, Grant’s character sings a bit of Radiohead’s “Creep” to illustrate how similar it is to The Hollies‘ “The Air That I Breathe.”

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