Classic Hits

Sammy Hagar has finally sold his prized 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari.

The rocker was initially planning to sell the car, which originally cost him $1.4 million, at the Barrett-Jackson 2024 Scottsdale Auction back in January, but the auction had to be postponed after it was discovered the car needed a new battery. 

Well, the car finally went on the auction block at Saturday’s Barrett-Jackson Auction, also in Scottsdale, and USA Today reports it sold for $4.25 million. There’s no word on the identity of the new owner.

“Quite honestly, it was exhausting being part of the bidding war,” Hagar told the paper. “I’m thinking the whole time, do I really want to do this? Seller’s remorse and all. When that gavel came down and they said ‘Sold!,’ I wasn’t sure if I was heartbroken or relieved. What an experience.” 

Hagar did get a chance to meet the car’s new owner, and says he and the buyer look at it as though they are “caretakers of something special” who eventually pass it on to someone else.

“So you’re just looking in each case for someone who will preserve and take care of the legacy of a car that has this level of perfection,” he said.

According to Barrett-Jackson, the sale of Hagar’s Ferrari set a new record, noting that before Saturday the highest price paid for a 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari was a little over $3.9 million.

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Bruce Springsteen recently revealed that he’s often mistaken for being Jewish.

According to People, Springsteen made the comments during an appearance at the USC Shoah Foundation 30th Anniversary Ambassadors for Humanity gala on Sunday, where he performed two songs: “The Ghost of Tom Joad” and “Dancing in the Dark.”

“I actually was Bruce Springstein for the first year or two of my career,” he said. “Everywhere I went — I pull up to the club. ‘Welcome Bruce Springstein.’”

He added, “This happened as late as a month ago. I’m not joking.”

The Shoah Foundation, which was founded by director Steven Spielberg, collects and preserves testimonials of Holocaust survivors, and Springsteen sees similarities in what they do and his job as a songwriter.

“The work of collecting the personal testimony and the voices of those who’ve witnessed history has just something in common with the work that songwriters, filmmakers, all artists do to understand and to create our real and imagined worlds,” he said. “We follow the ghosts of history. We listen for the voices of the past to take us into the future, and we lean into their stories and we listen to them.”

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Billy Joel‘s Long Island mansion, nicknamed MiddleSea, is on the market for just under $50 million. But one reason why the Piano Man says he’s unloading the 26-acre property is because he feels the real estate taxes are just too high.

While Billy is a millionaire many, many times over, he tells the New York Times that the yearly tax bill — $567,686 — is too much for him to swallow. “It’s not cheap, let’s put it that way,” he said. “As successful, I’ve been financially, yeah, that’s, you know, that’s a lot.”

The other reason Billy is selling is because he’s decided to move his home base to Florida, where his daughters, 7 and 9, are now enrolled in school — which means, Billy says, he’s “kind of locked in.”

But Billy can’t help but marvel at the fact that he ever bought MiddleSea in the first place. That’s because as a teenager, Billy had a job dredging oysters on the Long Island Sound. While out on the water, he used to see a huge brick mansion and think to himself, “Rich b*******. I’ll never live in a house like that.”

And then, in 2002, he bought it.

“The word that applies is ‘absurd,’” Billy tells the Times. “I grew up in a quarter-acre lot house in Hicksville [on Long Island]. And I would ride my bicycle up here and take a bike ride and look at all the rich people and cuss them out.”

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On This Day, Oct. 14, 2007 …

The Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers documentary, Running Down A Dream, debuted at the New York Film Festival.

The four-hour documentary, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, gave insight into the history of the band from its early days as Mudcrutch, to its 30th anniversary concert at the University of Gainesville in Petty’s Florida hometown. It also touched upon Petty’s solo career and his work with the Traveling Wilburys.

The film featured archival footage, as well as interviews with fellow musicians such as George Harrison, Stevie Nicks, Jeff Lynne, Jackson Browne, Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl.

The doc was originally released as a four-disc box set that included not only the movie, but a disc featuring the 30th anniversary concert and a disc of rare tracks.

The movie won a Grammy for Best Music Film.

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Mariah Carey is famous for having a preferred “side” when she’s being photographed or filmed, but in an upcoming episode of Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers‘ Las Culturistas podcast, she goes into great detail about what kind of lighting she prefers — or rather, doesn’t prefer.

“I can’t with the overhead lighting,” she says in the clip. “Why do they do it to us? Why? And I shouldn’t even say ‘us’ because it’s not us, it’s me. I’m the one who’s the most tortured by the hideous lighting in every elevator, doorway, gyms — not that I go to the gym, but I’m just saying.”

“It’s hideous lighting,” she continues. When Bowen suggests “the sun” is better, Mariah responds, “The sun is OK if it’s at sunset. And then I will gladly go outside and put a little hat on or whatever and that’ll be pretty because the sunlight’s caressing your skin.”

“But it’s bad for you, so you have to be careful,” Carey adds. “But overhead lighting — I don’t think so, honey.”

“Please stop it. Everywhere I go, shut the lights,” she added. “Turn them out. I don’t want to see them no more. No more, baby. Overhead lighting — it makes me sick.”

Mariah’s comments came as part of a feature on the podcast called “I don’t think so, honey,” where a guest is given one minute to rant about something that bothers them.

The full episode drops on Oct. 16.

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R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, The Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson, Screaming Trees/Mad Season drummer Barrett Martin and singer Joseph Arthur have teamed up to form a new supergroup, Silverlites.

The band has just released the new track “Don’t Go Don’t Stay” to digital outlets. The track is the first single from their upcoming album, which is due out Nov. 15. Another single, “Dark and Magic Sky,” will be released Nov. 11.

Martin shared on Facebook that the album was recorded and produced during the pandemic, and it was started in a Nashville hotel room.

“We hope you like the songs, as we spent the pandemic years doing various recording and mixing sessions, and we used a classic songwriting form, which is often forgotten in this day and age,” he shares. “That is, acoustic guitars (with a little electric guitar in there), with superb lead vocals, catchy backing vocals, and a soulful backbeat in the rhythm section.”

He adds, “It’s old school songwriting, just like us.”

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It’s natural to get excited when your favorite artist puts out a new album, but on occasion that excitement turns to disappointment when the album isn’t as great as you’d hoped it would be. 

Rolling Stone is examining that very subject with its just-released list of the 50 most disappointing albums of all time.

The mag notes that albums on the list aren’t necessarily bad, but were considered disappointing when they came out. Also, some disappointing albums are only disappointing because of the artist who released them, with the mag noting they could be “seen as a masterpiece if almost anyone else” recorded them. 

Topping the list is John Lennon’s 1972 release, Some Time in New York City, calling the protest songs on the album “half-a****, at best,” and noting they “seemed dated almost instantly.”

The mag adds, “Some Time in New York City is as disposable as the newspapers on the cover,” referring to the album’s artwork, which featured a fake newspaper front page.

Coming in at #2 is The Rolling Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request, followed by Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait at #3, David Bowie’s Tonight at #4 and Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy at #5.

Rounding out the top 10 are Bruce Springsteen’s Human Touch, The Beach Boys’ Smiley Smile, Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants, Yes’ Tales From Topographic Ocean and Michael Jackson’s Invincible.

The list also includes albums by Lou Reed, AC/DC, Blondie, Neil Young, Elton John and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

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R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe appeared at another rally for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, this time joining second gentleman Doug Emhoff Thursday in Athens, Georgia, the birthplace of R.E.M.

Stipe performed four songs with musicians Andy LeMaster and David Barbe, including the R.E.M. tunes “Wendell Gee,” which Stipe said was written in Athens and only performed four times, and “Driver 8.” They also performed “Your Capricious Soul,” from Stipe’s upcoming solo album, which he said had never been played live before, and “No Time For Love Like Now,” a tune he recorded with Big Red Machine aka The National’s Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver‘s Justin Vernonof.

Stipe also told the crowd a story of being in a restaurant in Manhattan for a friend’s birthday dinner about six years ago when he noticed a couple sharing a burger and some wine, noting they looked totally in love. Later that woman came over, tapped him on the shoulder and said, “My husband loves music, he’s a big fan. My name is Kamala Harris. This is Doug Emhoff.”

“I just want to say here tonight that these people are real, genuine, crazy in love people,” he said, noting it was a joy to see them in that moment and “now to see and celebrate that type of dedication and that type of love on a national and global stage.”

This is the second Harris/Walz rally that Stipe has performed at. He previously performed with Jason Isbell at a rally in Pittsburgh.

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The Beatles have been named the Ultimate British Group by listeners of BBC Radio 2.

The poll, conducted in conjunction National Album Day on Oct. 19, let listeners chime in with their top five favorite British bands, with hundreds of thousands of folks submitting their votes.   

While the Fab Four nabbed the top spot, several other classic rock acts dominated the top 10, with Queen at #2, followed by The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin.

Rounding out the top 10 are Take That, Coldplay, Oasis and ELO.

Other bands making the list include The Who at #11, Genesis at #16, Duran Duran at #19, The Kinks at #23, Bee Gees at #24, Wham! at #25 and The Police at #29.

For the purposes of the list, a British group was defined as any band with two or more members, with the lineup featuring all or a majority of members who were born in, live in or hold British citizenship.

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