Classic Hits

More fans are discovering Tom Petty’s “Love Is A Long Road” thanks to Grand Theft Auto.

The song, from Petty’s 1989 solo album, Full Moon Fever, is featured in the trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI. Billboard reports that since the trailer first leaked on social media Monday, December 4, on-demand streams for the song increased from between 4,000 and 5,000 daily to 78,000. After the trailer’s official release on Tuesday, December 5, it was up to 376,000 streams.

That’s not all, almost 1,000 digital copies of the song were sold, compared to negligible amounts prior to the trailer’s debut.

“Love is a Long Road” isn’t actually the first Petty song to be used for Grand Theft Auto. As Petty’s official Instagram page pointed out, “Runnin’ Down A Dream,” also from Full Moon Fever, was used in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Billy Joel is headed overseas next year, but he’s not launching a full tour. In fact, he’s only playing one show.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just announced he’ll headline Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, on August 9, with special guest Chris Isaak. This is the first time Billy has played Cardiff, and he’s billing the concert as his “only European show of 2024.” 

Tickets go on sale Friday, December 15, at 10 a.m. 

Billy only played one show overseas in 2023 as well. In July, he headlined British Summertime Hyde Park in London.

In the meantime, Billy still has some U.S. dates to wrap up in 2023. He and Stevie Nicks are set to play Phoenix, Arizona’s Chase Field on Friday, December 8. He has two more solo shows on the books as well: December 19 at New York’s Madison Square Garden and December 31, aka New Years Eve, at Long Island, New York’s UBS Arena. A complete list of Billy dates can be found at billyjoel.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Queen continues their look at the encore in this week’s episode of Queen the Greatest Live, this time looking back at a surprise they had in store for their audience during 1986’s Magic Tour.

While Queen classics “We Will Rock You” into “We Are The Champions” became the standard encore for the band during 1977’s News of the World tour, during the Magic Tour, they tried something different.

Instead of going right from one song into the other, the band decided to follow up “We Will Rock You” with another song, “Friends Will Be Friends.” This week’s clip shows their performance of the track at Wembley Stadium in July 1986.

The new encore was such a success, the band kept it as part of their shows through August, their final shows with frontman Freddie Mercury. 

Next week on Queen the Greatest Live: “We Will Rock You.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

An auction of the late ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill‘s instruments, wardrobe pieces, memorabilia and more kicked off Thursday, December 7, at Julien’s Auctions, with one of his bass guitars going for big bucks.

The late rocker’s signature 1953 Fender Precision bass sold for $393,700, more than three times the auction house’s highest estimate.  

The instrument, the most played of Hill’s guitar collection, is now the second-highest bass ever sold at auction. Only Beatle Paul McCartney’s Yamaha BB-1200 bass sold for more, back in 2021. A Fender Mustang, owned by The Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman, is just behind Dusty’s bass at three. 

“Dusty would be so pleased to know his bass is between a Beatle and a Rolling Stone!,” Dusty’s wife commented. 

Other items sold include: Hill’s fur bass from ZZ Top’s “Legs” video, for $317,500; Hill’s MTV Moonman for Best Group Video for “Legs,” for $25,400; a custom sky-blue wool suit jacket, which Dusty wore on the cover of the album Fandango!, sold for $11,430; and a black leather motorcycle jacket with custom painted skeletons and silver spikes sold for $13,000.

The three-day auction continues Friday, December 8, and Saturday, December 9, in Dallas, Texas, and online at Julien’s Live. A portion of the auction proceeds will be donated to the Recording Academy’s charitable foundation, MusiCares.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, December 8, 1980…

Legendary Beatle John Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment building, The Dakota. He was 40.

Earlier in the day, Lennon signed a copy of his album Double Fantasy for a fan as he and wife Yoko Ono were leaving for the recording studio. When he returned later that evening, the same fan, Mark David Chapman, shot him twice. The musician was rushed to the hospital where he died.

Chapman did not go on trial for Lennon’s murder, instead pleading guilty to second degree murder. He was sentenced to 20-years-to-life in prison and became eligible for parole in 2000, but he still remains in jail.

No funeral for Lennon was held, but his cremated remains were scattered in New York’s Central Park, not far from The Dakota. A memorial for Lennon, Strawberry Fields, was later created in the area.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Documentaries about John Lennon, Carlos Santana and Blood, Sweat and Tears all have a chance for an Oscar nomination this year. 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences just announced the films eligible for a nomination in the Documentary Feature Film category, and several music docs made the cut. 

Films that could possibly land a nomination include The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, about Lennon’s relationship with May Pang; Carlos, about guitarist Carlos Santana; and What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat and Tears?, about the band’s 1970 State Department-sponsored tour of Iron Curtain countries Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland.

Also in the running for a possible nomination is Joan Baez: I Am Noise, about folk singer Joan Baez, and Little Richard: I Am Everything, about the legendary musician Little Richard.

Nominations for the 96th Academy Awards will be announced Tuesday, January 23. The Oscars will air on ABC, Sunday, March 10.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman is releasing a new live box set capturing his sold-out two-night stand at the London Palladium earlier this year. 

Live at the London Palladium 2023 features recordings of Wakeman’s February 22 and 23 concerts in their entirety. For the shows, Wakeman performed new arrangements of his classic tunes, backed by both the English Rock Ensemble and the English Chamber Choir. It includes performances of Wakeman’s solo work, as well as classic Yes tracks and the premiere of three-part “The Yes Suite,” a medley of themes taken from Yes music.

The set is broken down into four CDs centered around Wakeman’s solo albums: The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Classic Yes.

Live at the London Palladium 2023 will be released February 16 and is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lots of folks were happy to see The Rolling Stones return this year with their new album, Hackney Diamonds, but Blur’s Damon Albarn was not one of them.

Speaking to France’s Les Inrockuptibles magazine, Albarn seemed particularly upset about the band’s use of London’s Hackney district in promoting the project. 

“That really irritated me. Because my family lives in Hackney and the way they showed up in the Hackney Empire theater freaked me out,” he says. “They never did anything at Hackney, they didn’t play there, they didn’t contribute anything. They just showed up.”

He also took issue with the album’s first single, “Angry,” because the video “objectified” actress Sydney Sweeney. He then noted her clips, combined with footage of The Stones throughout their career, felt “totally disconnected.”

“I love the idea of ​​dedicating your life to one thing, in search of the sublime. But the truth is that they have become worse. Worse to persist in remaining themselves,” he says. “This is something I don’t understand. Making the exact same music, just not as good. There must be no joy in doing such a thing.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

AC/DC fans are no longer trying to get their 1990 track “Thunderstruck” to #1 for Christmas.

In November, in honor of the band’s 50th anniversary, the Facebook fan group AC/DC We Salute You launched a campaign to get “Thunderstruck” to top of the U.K. charts for the holidays. The group attempted a similar campaign in 2013, in honor of the band’s 40th anniversary, and got “Highway To Hell” to #4.

Now, the U.K. Official Charts report fans have decided to postpone the campaign to the week of January 4 so it won’t compete with Christmas tunes and has a better shot at the top spot. Organizers say they polled three different fan groups, and 83% agreed to the postponement.

“By choosing to delay by two weeks, we’ll also avoid being caught up in the Christmas songs that will no doubt be prominent the week after Christmas as well,” the page’s administrators told the Official Charts. 

They explain that the #1 is more about celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary than AC/DC actually earning the #1 at Christmas. Plus, they say they’d like to see the Pogues classic “Fairytale in New York” get the #1 spot, in honor of the recent passing of the band’s frontman, Shane MacGowan.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Nile Rodgers & Chic will be helping folks ring in the new year.

The band is one of many artists set to take part in ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2024, premiering December 31 at 8 p.m. ET. 

Of course, Rodgers and his crew have plenty of hits to help folks party into the new year. They’ll perform classics “Le Freak,” “Everybody Dance” and “Good Times,” along with the Daft Punk hit “Get Lucky,” which Rodgers co-wrote.

Other artists booked for this year’s shows include Bebe Rexha, Aqua, Janelle Monáe, Green Day, Thirty Seconds to Mars and Ellie Goulding.

As always, Ryan Seacrest will count down to the new year in New York’s Times Square, with help from Rita Ora, while Jeannie Mai will host the Hollywood party. The show’s Spanish-language countdown will take place in Puerto Rico with host Dayanara Torres.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.