Classic Hits

Bon Jovi continues to get fans excited for new music. 

The band is set to drop the new song “Legendary” on Thursday, March 14, at 9 a.m., and in a new tease, they appear to be dropping hints about their upcoming album.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers shared a video of a couple driving in a car and surfing the radio dial, where you hear snippets of such Bon Jovi classics as “You Give Love A Bad Name,” “Livin’ On A Prayer” and “It’s My Life.” As the couple continue to flip channels, you hear three other Bon Jovi songs, which could possibly be tracks from the upcoming album.

The clip also features a snippet of Jon giving an interview in which he shares, “I’m really proud of this album, the sound, the songwriting. I actually think it’s the best record we’ve made in 20 years. I think the fan is gonna love it.” He ends with, “Bon Jovi forever baby.”

It sounds like Jon is hinting that the album will be called Forever. Not only does he end the interview by saying “Bon Jovi forever,” but the car in the clip has a license plate that reads “Forever” and the video ends with the website bonjoviforever.com flashing across the screen. When you go to it, it features a countdown to the debut of “Legendary.”

“Legendary” is set to arrive on the same day the band’s new documentary, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, premieres at South by Southwest. It’ll start streaming on Hulu April 26.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, March 13, 1993…

Eric Clapton hit #1 with Unplugged, an album featuring performances from his MTV Unplugged episode, which was recorded live in front of a studio audience.

The album, which featured performances of such songs as “Tears in Heaven,” about the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, and an acoustic version of “Layla,” which spent three weeks in the top spot of the U.S. album chart.

Unplugged went on to win three Grammy Awards, including Record and Song of the Year for “Tears In Heaven.” It sold 26 million copies worldwide to become the bestselling live album of all time.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

It was 40 years ago March 13 that The Cars released their fifth studio album, Heartbeat City, which was a blockbuster hit for the group.

Considered by many to be the band’s comeback album, Heartbeat City, produced by Mutt Lange, resulted in huge mainstream success for The Cars, with the album peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200 Album chart and hitting #1 on the Billboard Rock Album chart. It went on to be certified four-times Platinum by the RIAA. 

Much of the album’s popularity was due to singles like “You Might Think” and “Drive,” both of which reached the Billboard Hot 100 top 10.

They both benefited from videos that received huge airplay on MTV, especially “You Might Think,” which was known for being one of the first videos to use computer graphics. The video had frontman Ric Ocasek following a model around in various places, with the graphics turning him into, among other things, a fly.

“It was very striking for its time,” Craig Marks, co-author of I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, tells ABC Audio, although he notes Ocasek “famously didn’t like the video. He thought it made fun of the way he looked, cause he kind of did look like a fly.”

Considering not many artists were making videos at the time, MTV embraced “You Might Think” and the video went on to win the first-ever Video of the Year award at the MTV Video Music Awards.

“It was a great meeting of commerce and art for The Cars and for MTV,” Marks says of the clip, noting it “did wonders for The Cars’ career.” 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Looks like Dolly Parton’s rock album was a rousing success.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s latest album, Rockstar, which featured guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Steven Tyler, Stevie Nicks, Sting, Steve Perry, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts and more, has been certified Gold by the RIAA. 

“When I set out to make my rock album, I always hoped it would be embraced by my fans as well as people who may not listen to my music,” Dolly shares. “I am thrilled to receive this Gold record! Thank you to everyone who was a part of this project. I guess I can now officially say I am a rockstar!” 

Released in November, Rockstar debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 Album chart. It was Dolly’s highest-charting album and her third career top 10, following 2014’s Blue Smoke and 1987’s Trio with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris; both albums debuted at #6.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Rick Springfield has penned a heartfelt tribute to “All By Myself” hitmaker Eric Carmen, whose wife, Amy, announced on March 11 that he passed away at the age of 74.

“This is almost more than I can stand. I have always been a huge Eric fan,” Springfield wrote on social media. “Amazing singer. Amazing writer. Good human. Why do we have to wait until we pass before we acknowledge what they mean to us.”

The “Jessie’s Girl” singer noted how he opened for Carmen’s band the Raspberries in 1974 when they were playing high school gyms, sharing that they “followed each others careers ever since.”

“Just a brilliant musician that lesser artists have surpassed in fame but not talent,” Springfield concluded. “May God speed your spirit home sweet Eric.”

Other artists paying tribute to Carmen include:

E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who wrote, “Damn. Another friend gone. RIP Eric Carmen. The Raspberries set a production standard we’re still trying to reach.”

KISS‘ Paul Stanley, who shared, “Awful News … Although known to many for writing radio hits like ‘All By Myself’ and others, Eric was a true rocker at heart. His voice had elements of McCartney and Steve Marriott. The Raspberries did shows with us. A killer band live & I loved their records.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lenny Kravitz officially has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On Tuesday, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominee, known for hit songs “Fly Away” and “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” was honored during a ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard in front of the iconic Capitol Records Tower.

To help commemorate the milestone, his daughter, actress and filmmaker Zoë Kravitz, honored him with a sweet message.

“Lenny Kravitz, I’ve had the pleasure of knowing you for a long time,” she began. “And I must say, being your daughter has been one of the great adventures of my life.” 

She also roasted her dad by paying tribute to his shirts.

“I’ve seen the way you show up, take care of the people you love — I’ve seen your incredible dedication to your art, but mostly, I’ve seen through your shirts,” she said. “According to my dad, if it doesn’t expose your nipples, it’s not a shirt.”  

“Congratulations, you’re a star,” she said at the end of her speech.

Academy Award winner Denzel Washington also took the stage to honor the iconic musician.

“God has blessed him with an unbelievable talent, but even more so, an unbelievable heart,” he said, calling Kravitz “a giver” and “a lover.”

When it was his turn to speak, Kravitz called his star an “incredible honor.”

“As a teenager, I spent a lot of time walking up and down Hollywood Boulevard seeing the names of all my idols,” he said. “I never dreamt about having a star. I was usually just looking for a place to crash. But I did dream about making the music I wanted and doing my own thing. To see my name, Lenny Kravitz, permanently engraved on the same streets I used to walk is a surreal, indescribable feeling.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Barry Manilow isn’t giving up touring — but he is visiting certain cities for the last time. In February he announced his final shows in eight cities for this summer: St. Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, Green Bay, Omaha, Des Moines, St. Paul and Milwaukee. Now he’s added nine more “Last Concerts” to his itinerary.

The newly announced shows include Barry’s last concerts in San Antonio, Sugar Land, Corpus Christi and Fort Worth, Texas, as well as Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, and both Springfield and Kansas City, Missouri.  The newly announced shows run from August 15 through August 25.

A fan club presale is live now; tickets go on sale to the general public on March 15. Platinum Packages are available in some cities, with proceeds going to Barry’s charity, the Manilow Music Project, which promotes music education in local schools.

Before those shows start, Barry will do a mini residency at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, which will run April 17 through April 21.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The success of the Bob Marley biopic, Bob Marley: One Love, has motivated a lot of music fans to rediscover the reggae legend’s music. 

The film was released on Valentine’s Day, bringing in $160.5 million worldwide, with a U.S. opening weekend of $28.7 million, and lots of those moviegoers followed up their viewing by streaming Marley’s tunes. 

According to Luminate, in the week after the film’s release, Marley’s catalog saw a 150% increase in global on-demand streams, compared to numbers during the week of January 4, with an increase of 187% in the U.S. alone. In total there was 108 million streams of Marley’s music following the film hitting theaters.

And it seems all the press around the movie also helped draw new interest in Netflix’s 2018 Bob Marley documentary ReMastered: Who Shot the Sheriff? Prior to the movie’s release, Luminate’s Streaming Viewership Model shows increased viewing minutes that peaked just ahead of the film hitting theaters.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

During the first week of March, Bon Jovi launched a countdown website, BonJoviForever.com, with announcements in various cities promising that 2024 would be “legendary.” Now we know what the band is counting down to.

It’s a song called, you guessed it, “Legendary,” which will arrive March 14 at 9 a.m. ET. There’s a teaser of Jon singing the track, an upbeat number that features the lyrics, “Friday night comes along like a song/ ‘Sweet Caroline’ and we all sing along/ got my brown-eyed girl, and she believes in me/ legendary.”

This is the band’s first new music since the album 2020, which featured the hit “Do What You Can.” Since then, Jon had major reconstructive surgery on his vocal cords and has been doing rehab to get his voice back into shape.

The new single arrives on the same day the band’s new documentary, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, premieres at South by Southwest. It’ll start streaming on Hulu April 26.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Queen is set to release a new video of a performance from their recent IMAX release, Queen Rock Montreal.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will drop the video for “Let Me Entertain You” on their YouTube channel on Thursday, March 14, at 12 p.m. ET.

“Experience the electrifying energy of Queen live at the Montreal Forum in 1981, remastered for an unforgettable performance of ‘Let Me Entertain You,'” reads a description of the video. “This exhilarating live concert from 1981 is a window into Queen in their most unalloyed form, giving audiences a larger-than-life, front-row immersive experience.”

Queen Rock Montreal opened in IMAX theaters across the globe in January, bringing in $4.1 million in its first weekend, making it the biggest IMAX exclusive event opening ever.

The film was recorded in November 1981 at the Montreal Forum, the band’s fourth time playing the venue. The tour was in support of their album The Game and had them performing songs from the album along with classic Queen tunes like “We Will Rock You,” Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “We Are the Champions” and more.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.