Classic Hits

There’s no guarantee that the artist who tops the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame fan vote will actually get into the Rock Hall, but at least they can take comfort in the fact that fans think they belong there.

Over 2.5 million votes have been cast since the nominees for induction were announced, and so far Phil Collins is #1 in the fan vote by a comfortable margin. Were he to make the cut, it would be his second time in the Hall, since he’s already in as a member of Genesis.

Coming in at #2 is R&B boy band New Edition, followed by Pink at #3. The late R&B icon Luther Vandross is currently #4, followed by Billy Idol, INXS and Sade — which, by the way, is a group and not just a person.

The rest of the top 10 vote-getters are, in descending order, Mariah Carey, Wu-Tang Clan and Lauryn Hill.

The nominee with the fewest votes on the leaderboard? The late singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley, who released one highly influential album, Grace, before he accidentally drowned in 1997.

Of course, the leaderboard can change many times before the deadline to vote is reached. As previously reported, the results of the fan vote are submitted as a single ballot, as though all the fans together were one actual Rock Hall voting member. There are roughly 1,200 voting members in all. The winner of last year’s fan vote, Phish, did not make it into the Hall.

The 2026 Rock Hall of Fame inductees should be revealed in April; the ceremony will take place in the fall.

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Guns N’ Roses announced in February they were headlining the bp Adelaide Grand Final Concert on Nov. 29 in Adelaide, Australia. Now it turns out that while they’re Down Under, they’re going to be playing some other shows, as well.

The “Sweet Child O’ Mine” rockers just announced dates for a tour of Australia and New Zealand, which will have them hitting seven cities. The trek kicks off with the Adelaide show, and then the rockers will visit Townsville, Brisbane, Newcastle, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, before wrapping the tour on Dec. 17 in Auckland, New Zealand.

A presale for the Guns N’ Roses Nighttrain fan club begins Friday. A complete list of tour dates and ticket information can be found at GunsNRoses.com.

Guns N’ Roses is set to launch a North American tour on May 5 in Hollywood, Florida. Their next show is March 28 in Monterrey, Mexico.

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The death of singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka has prompted his fans to revisit his music.

Billboard reports that in the four days following Sedaka’s Feb. 27 death at the age of 86, there was a 708% increase in streams of his tunes. His catalog clocked a total of 2.4 million on-demand U.S. streams.

The song getting the biggest boost was his classic “Laughter in the Rain,” which was a #1 hit for Sedaka. There were 515,000 streams in the days following Sedaka’s death, or an increase of 505%. That was followed by “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” also a #1 hit, which had 307,000 streams for an increase of 453%.

Sedaka was the co-writer on the Captain and Tennille hit “Love Will Keep Us Together.” Although their version of the song saw a 15% bump in streams, his recording of the track nabbed 55,000 streams for an increase of 1,811%.

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Queen guitarist Brian May is set to headline a special event in connection with the upcoming reissue of the band’s sophomore album, Queen II.

Queen II – Queen’s Masterstroke – More than Remastered! is taking place March 26 in London, although an exact location wasn’t revealed. Fans who preorder the album will be in the running to win a chance to attend, and the event will stream live on May’s Instagram account.

“I wish it were big place so we could invite you all … but this is very intimate,” May writes on Instagram, “except it will hopefully connect all around the world through my live and lovely Instagram channel.”

Queen II Collector’s Edition, dropping March 27, is a five-CD and two-LP box set, featuring the 2026 mix of the album, along with a whole host of bonus material.

Extras include previously unheard outtakes and demos, live tracks, radio sessions and what’s described as “intimate fly-on-the-wall audio of Queen in the recording studio.” The set also features a 112-page book with previously unseen photos, handwritten lyrics and more.

In addition to Queen II Collector’s Edition, the reissue will be released as a two-CD deluxe edition and on one-LP vinyl. 

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Sting is set to release a new live album, which was recorded at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum as part of the ARTE Sounds Like Art initiative.

Sting – The Night Watch: Live at the Rijksmuseum captures the January Sting concert at the museum’s Gallery of Honour, which took place in front of Rembrandt’s painting The Night Watch.

There, Sting played a 17th century guitar crafted for Louis XIV’s court. His set included songs from his musical The Last Ship, solo tracks like “Fragile,” “Fields of Gold” and “Shape of My Heart,” and Police tunes including “Message in a Bottle,” “Roxanne,” “Every Breath You Take” and more.

Sting – The Night Watch: Live at the Rijksmuseum will be released June 26 on CD and vinyl, and is available for preorder now.

The concert, which was also filmed, will premiere Thursday on Arte’s YouTube channel and Arte.tv.

Sting is currently in the middle of an eight-show residency in Paris, with his next show taking place Thursday. He’ll launch the North American spring leg of his Sting 3.0 tour on May 6 in Hollywood, Florida.

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The Beach Boys’ Bruce Johnston is leaving the band.

The 83-year-old Johnston joined the group in 1965 as a fill-in for Brian Wilson during live performances. In a statement to Rolling Stone he says he’s leaving the group in order to spend more time in the studio.

“It’s time for Part Three of my lengthy musical career!” he tells the mag. “I can write songs forever and wait until you hear what’s coming!!! As my major talent beyond singing is songwriting, now is the time to get serious again.”

He adds that he’ll be embarking on a speaking engagement career, along with personal appearances and events. He also plans to join The Beach Boys for special performances, including their July 3 and 4 shows at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

“This isn’t goodbye, it’s see you soon,” he adds. “I am forever grateful to be a part of the Beach Boys musical legacy.”

Mike Love, who’s the only original Beach Boys member still in the band, tells the mag in a statement that Johnston “is one of the greatest songwriters, vocalist[s], and keyboardist[s] of our time.”

“We’ve had the honor of his performance and participation for many many years with The Beach Boys,” he adds. “Change is always promised in life, today we find ourselves in a chapter of change, but not an end.”

“I am very supportive of Bruce and I have every confidence that he will produce great music,” he notes. 

After joining The Beach Boys on tour in 1965, Johnston appeared on many of their albums, starting with 1965’s Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). He also wrote several Beach Boys songs. He left the group in 1972, but returned in 1978 and has been touring with them ever since.

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Billy Idol is subject of the new documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead, and during a recent appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, he detailed a drug-filled night when he almost wound up that way.

He said it occurred when he returned to England after the success of 1983’s Rebel Yell and met up with some friends who had “a bunch of heroin on them.”

“So, of course, somehow everybody else in the room passed out, except for me and the other guy, you know, who was chopping the lines out,” he said, noting he was the last person to pass out.

“When people, other people in the room came to, I was going blue,” he said. “If you’re dying, you’re going to start turning blue.” The friends were able to revive him by putting him in a bath, with Idol simply stating, “I survived.”

Idol did eventually get off heroin, but not before dabbling with another drug first.

“Once you’re trying to get off heroin, what do you go to? You go to something else. I started smoking crack to get off heroin,” he said, adding with a laugh, “It worked. It worked.”

Billy Idol Should Be Dead is in theaters now.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Billy Idol is subject of the new documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead, and during a recent appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, he detailed a drug-filled night when he almost wound up that way.

He said it occurred when he returned to England after the success of 1983’s Rebel Yell and met up with some friends who had “a bunch of heroin on them.”

“So, of course, somehow everybody else in the room passed out, except for me and the other guy, you know, who was chopping the lines out,” he said, noting he was the last person to pass out.

“When people, other people in the room came to, I was going blue,” he said. “If you’re dying, you’re going to start turning blue.” The friends were able to revive him by putting him in a bath, with Idol simply stating, “I survived.”

Idol did eventually get off heroin, but not before dabbling with another drug first.

“Once you’re trying to get off heroin, what do you go to? You go to something else. I started smoking crack to get off heroin,” he said, adding with a laugh, “It worked. It worked.”

Billy Idol Should Be Dead is in theaters now.

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Mick Jagger is giving fans a little look at his latest Egyptian vacation.

The Rolling Stones frontman posted a carousel of vacation photos on Instagram, captioning the shots, “Wandering through Egypt.”

Photos include Jagger posing in the dessert; several of him in front of the pyramids and other archaeological sites; and one of him on a boat with an image of Bob Marley in the background.

This isn’t the first time Jagger has posted photos from his travels on Instagram. In November he posted photographs from “Somewhere on the Med,” and in August he shared photos from his “summer break in Portugal.”

In other Rolling Stones news … guitarist Keith Richards is going to be a great-grandfather. The rocker’s granddaughter Ella Richards, daughter of Marlon Richards, Keith’s son with Anita Pallenberg, announced on Instagram that she’s expecting. She posted a black-and-white photo showing off her baby bump, tagging the baby’s father, photographer Sascha von Bismarck, who, according to People, is her boyfriend.

Keith commented on the post, “Sending love and looking forward to welcoming my first great grandchild!”

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Bonnie Raitt, George Thorogood and Hot Tuna’s Jorma Kaukonen are among the artists paying tribute to blues singer and guitarist John Hammond, who passed away Feb. 28.

The Grammy-winning Hammond, who over the years played with such artists as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Levon Helm, Duane Allman and Stevie Ray Vaughan, was the son of record producer and talent scout John H. Hammond Jr., who signed artists like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to Columbia Records.

In a post on Instagram, Raitt revealed that the younger Hammond “was the inspiration for teaching myself blues guitar and learning how to sing these songs we loved so much. He made it cool and all right.”

“Not only was he a virtuoso on guitar, harp, singing and choosing songs, to me it felt like he was totally possessed by the blues,” she added. “I’ve never witnessed anyone as swept up and away as John playing his music live.”

Thorogood called Hammond “an icon, a professional role model and, most importantly, a friend.” He added, “While we mourn his passing, we celebrate what the man and his music meant to us, and to so many.”

Kaukonen wrote a long tribute to Hammond on Instagram, describing their first meeting at Antioch College.

“As an artist, John seemed to have sprung full grown from the womb. He might have been inspired by tradition but he was never a replicator… he always did things his way,” he wrote. “As a blues singer, he was always nonpareil. You can recognize John’s voice anywhere, any time! I know a lot of great guitar players but no one, and I mean no one, played like John!”

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