Cyndi Lauper is remembering her good friend, the late Pee-wee Herman creator Paul Reubens, who passed away July 30 after a secret battle with cancer. He was 70.
“Paul and I had a special relationship, especially in the 80s,” she wrote on Instagram next to a carousel of photos of them together. “He was a nut and I just love that about him. We had the same some sort of sensibility.”
She adds, “I know he went through some ups and downs, but he was a really good guy and I am sorry to hear of his passing and that he had gotten so sick. Hopefully he’s cracking jokes and shooting a few rounds on the big miniature golf course in the sky.”
Also remembering Reubens is Bette Midler, who shared on social media that he was “A completely original actor and friend,” adding, “I mourn his loss.”
Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott is revealing some of the records that helped shape him into the rock star he is today. In an interview with Classic Rock, the singer reveals “the 10 records that changed my life,” with a list that includes Mott The Hoople, Queen, David Bowie and Rod Stewart.
Elliott, a former frontman of a Mott The Hoople cover band, includes two of their albums on the list: 1971’s Wildlife and 1973’s Mott. He notes the latter “showed Ian Hunter’s amazing songwriting process: he was always a great songwriter, but it really came to the fore on that record.”
Also on the list is Bowie’s 1972 classic, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which he calls “a brilliant, stunning record.” Stewart’s 1971 album, Every Picture Tells A Story, also made the list. Elliott says it was the first record he ever purchased, noting it was “a 40-minute journey of all sorts of emotions.”
Queen’s 1974 album, Sheer Heart Attack, also makes the list. He says that from that album, “you could tell they were rock band, but you could also tell they were much more than a rock band.”
The other albums on Elliott’s list: Jethro Tull’s 1971 release, Aqualung;Montrose’s 1973 self-titled release; Ian Hunter’s 1975 self-titled album; Mick Ronson’s 1975 album, Play Don’t Worry; and UFO’s Obsession, released in 1978.
Van Morrison has started his own label in order to put out material from his archives. The singer announced the launch of Orangefield Records, which will be dedicated to releasing his music from ’70s through the 2000s.
The first release will be Beyond Words: Instrumental, dropping August 18, a compilation of 17 previously unreleased instrumental tracks. According to a post on Van’s website, the album will take “listeners on a mesmerizing journey into one of the world’s most admired archives.”
But this doesn’t mean Morrison won’t be releasing new music somewhere down the road. The announcement points out that any new material from Morrison will be released through major labels.
Here is the track list for Beyond Words: Instrumental:
“Beyond Words”
“Jammin’ With Eddie”
“Driving On A Country Road”
“Breadwinner”
“Cool For Cats”
“Parisian Walkabout”
“So Complicated”
“Kerry Dancing”
“All Saints Beneficial”
“Celtic Voices”
“Mountains, Fields, Rivers & Streams”
“The Street”
“Far North”
“Time To Get Ready”
“Song Of Home”
“12 Bar Celtic”
“Greenwood Tree”
It seems that eventually every band that ever got near the Billboard Hot 100 chart reunites for an album, a tour or both. But one group that topped that chart multiple times never reunited — and it wasn’t because they didn’t get along.
The duo Wham! — Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael — were massively successful in the ’80s, with three number-one hits, a number-one album and sold-out concerts worldwide. But they were only together for four years; after that, George Michael launched his own solo career, which was alsomassively successful.
While George and Andrew remained good friends and performed together every now and then, it was never under the name Wham!, and they never did a full-fledged reunion tour. Speaking to Vulture, Andrew explains, “We resisted the lure of a reunion with steadfastness because … [George’s] artistic destiny lay beyond Wham!”
“We understood quite early that one day the constraints that Wham! imposed upon his songwriting scope were too narrow,” Andrew continues. “He wouldn’t be able to develop fully as an artist within the parameters that Wham! set.”
And why was that? “Wham! was that representation and manifestation of our youth,” Andrew explains. “It was all about the vigor, experience, vitality, and exuberance of youth … [we] couldn’t drag Wham! into middle age … it was never going to work.”
“Obviously, the temptation was there for both of us … [but] it pretty much became an unspoken rule,” he says. “We discussed it one time: ‘We cannot reform and we can’t appear again as Wham!’ Because it would’ve been a betrayal of everything Wham! stood for, really.”
Despite never getting a Wham! reunion, at least we have the Wham! Netflix documentary, which is streaming now.
August 3 marks 36 years since Def Leppard released their fourth studio album, Hysteria, which went on to become their first Billboard 200 #1. Ahead of the anniversary, guitarist Phil Collen is breaking down the album for fans in a new video posted to social media.
“When we went in to record Hysteria (producer) Mutt (Lange) said let’s do a rock version of Thriller where you have like seven singles,” Collen says in the clip, referring to Michael Jackson’s classic album. “Create a genre of our own.”
Collen then goes to discuss several of the songs on the album, including hits like “Armageddon It,” their only #1 song “Love Bites” and “Animal,” which Collen says took “three years to write, or to get right.”
He also talks about “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” which became their signature tune. Collen says the song almost didn’t make the album as it was recorded after they already finished the record. They were also late handing it in and were “four and a half million dollars in debt.”
Frontman Joe Elliott was playing something on guitar in the studio, which caught Lange’s ear, and he pushed them to record it despite the album being late. He insisted, “this song is going to be really important.”
James Taylor made a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, which took place July 28-30 in Newport, Rhode Island.
According to Jambase, Taylor was a last minute replacement on Friday, July 28, for singer Noah Kahan, who had to cancel his set due to vocal issues. Taylor was apparently vacationing nearby and arrived for his performance by boat less than an hour before going on.
He delivered a stellar set which featured such iconic Taylor songs as “Sweet Baby James,” “Fire and Rain,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” “Something In The Way She Moves” and more.
Paul McCartney appears to be teasing some big news on his social media accounts.
The Beatle shared a tease on social media suggesting fans sign up for his mailing list “for news coming soon.” He captioned the post, “Got to get you into my life” along with a guitar emoji.
Although there’s no clear message as to what he’s teasing, Billboard suggests it’s likely a new world tour, noting that Australian concert promoter Frontier Touring, which produced McCartney’s 2017 tour of Australia and New Zealand, reposted the tease.
McCartney last hit the road in 2022 on the Got Back tour, which included shows in North America and a headlining spot at U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival.
The Boomtown Rats rocker Bob Geldof is giving folks a little insight into singer Sinéad O’Connor’s state of mind at the time of her death.
During the band’s set at the Cavan Calling festival in Cavan, Ireland, Geldof revealed to the audience that he had been texting the singer in the weeks before her death at the age of 56.
“She was a very good friend of mine,” Geldof said, according to the Irish Independent. “We were talking right up to a couple of weeks ago.” He added, “Some of the texts were laden with desperation and despair and sorrow and some were ecstatically happy,” noting, “She was like that.”
Earlier in the day, Geldof talked to Irish Web TV and revealed that Sinéad actually “lived down the road” from him and the band’s late guitar player Garry Roberts. He said the group was “all very sad” about her death.
“So we’ve known that girl most of her life, really. She was a big Rats fan,” he said. “So, to be honest with you, that’s why we’re doing very early stuff and we dedicate this gig to her, it’s the only thing we can do as musicians.”
Looks like Cher may be helping everyone get in the holiday spirit this year. The legendary singer teased fans on social media with an update about her first Christmas album.
Using a Santa emoji and a Christmas tree emoji instead of actually writing out “Christmas” or “holiday,” Cher tweeted that she’s “SO +%#~>€ EXCITED ABOUT MY” Christmas album, adding “NEVER WANTED 2 DO ONE, BUT ITS AS GOOD AS ANY RECORD IVE MADE.”
Although she didn’t give any more details, like when it may be coming, she did let fans know “THIS IS NOT UR’ MOTHERS” Christmas album.
This isn’t the first time Cher mentioned recording a Christmas album. Back in June, she shared a tweet about the record, noting “It’s scary to make something so Different” and adding that one of the songs she’s recording is one of her “favorites EVER.”
During a benefit gig in Long Beach, California, Eagles members Glenn Frey and Don Felder spent the show detailing how they planned to beat each other up after it was over.
The show – now known as the “Long Night at Wrong Beach” – was a benefit for California Senator Alan Cranston’s re-election campaign, and the band basically split up after the gig, although they did go on to release a live album of the tour, Eagles Live, in order to fulfill their commitment to Elektra Records.
The band eventually reconvened in 1994, although Felder was kicked out of the group in 1999. Frey passed away in 2016, but the band continued on with Glenn’s son Deacon Frey and Vince Gill joining the group.
The Eagles recently announced their Long Goodbye Farewell tour, which kicks off September 7 in New York City.
