Classic Hits

Sting is not on the Barbie soundtrack, but he did — albeit inadvertently — inspire Christopher Nolan to make the movie Oppenheimer. Now, he’s reaping the benefits of “Barbenheimer” mania.

As previously reported, Nolan has said in several press interviews that he first became interested in J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb and the subject of Oppenheimer, while growing up in the ’80s. Amid mounting fears of a nuclear war, Nolan said, he heard Sting’s 1986 hit “Russians,” which contains the lyric, “How can I save my little boy/ from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy?”

Now Billboard reports that streams of “Russians,” which appears on Sting’s debut solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, are trending up. For the week ending July 27, the song posted a 48% gain, according to Luminate, the company that tracks streaming and sales numbers for Billboard.

This is the second time in recent years that “Russians” seems to reflect the zeitgeist. In March 2022, Sting released a new charity version of the song in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Proceeds go to HelpUkraine.center, a volunteer storage center set up by Ukrainian business owners to receive humanitarian and medical aid from all over the world.

“I’ve only rarely sung this song in the many years since it was written, because I never thought it would be relevant again,” Sting said in a statement at the time. “But, in the light of one man’s bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbor, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity.”

In the song’s chorus, Sting sings, “What might save us me and you/ is if the Russians love their children too.”

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Pop superstar Pink recently played two shows at Boston’s Fenway Park, breaking the venue’s attendance record on both nights. Opening those two record-breaking shows? Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, who are on the bill for the remainder of Pink’s shows in August and her October date at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

How did the unexpected pairing come about? It all started at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in LA in November of 2022, Benatar and Giraldo tell the Boston Herald. When the two took the stage to perform their hits after Sheryl Crow inducted them, they noticed Pink — who was there to induct Dolly Parton — rocking out in the front row.

“I just remember looking down and she was giddy,” Benatar tells the Herald. “I didn’t know her, we’d never met, so it was just so fun to look down and see her having such a great time.”

“She was in the front row and dancing,” Giraldo adds. “Then when we were leaving she came up and said, ‘I want you two on the road with me. I want you to play dates with me this summer.’”

While the couple doesn’t know if they’ll release a new album, they’ve got more than enough to do these days, even without the Pink concerts. 

“I’m 70, [Neil] is going to be 68, and we look at each other every day and go, ‘What the hell?’” Benatar laughs. “I don’t think I’ve ever been busier. It’s crazy … But we’re grateful for that. We love to work. I wish I had a little more time to see my grandchildren but I see them enough.”

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On Thursday, August 3 — which would have been the late Tony Bennett‘s 97th birthday — his wife Susan Benedetto and son Danny Bennett revealed details of the legendary crooner’s final days on NBC’s Today show. Bennett died on July 21 at the age of 96 following a yearslong battle with Alzheimer’s.

Danny told Hoda Kotb that his father’s last words to him were, “Thank you,” while Susan said the last thing Tony said to her was that he loved her.

“He would wake up every day and still say that,” she continued. “He woke up happy every day, even if he had had a bad day or night, he didn’t remember it, that was the only blessing. And yeah, he woke up happy and he’s just like, ‘Susan, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.’ And he would say that all the time.”

Susan also shared that Bennett would often ask, “Am I working tonight?” or “Am I in a good theater tonight?” When he noticed her showing one of his aides YouTube videos of him, Susan says he asked, “Was I always popular?” “Yes sweetheart,” she replied. “You’ve been popular for over 70 years.”

“That’s because I stayed with quality,” he declared.

“He just really wanted to be remembered as a nice person,” Susan said. “And I think all the outpouring of love…has proven that. People feel like they lost a family friend, even if they never met him.”

“I’ve lost my North Star,” she added. “No reason to feel bad for me, though, because my life has been wonderful and I’ll find a way to make sure it stays that way. It’ll just be different, forever.”

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Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will kick off a second North American leg of their tour next week in Chicago, and right now, they have dates scheduled through a December 12 show in San Francisco. It appears, however, that the tour may continue, in some way, shape or form, into 2024.

The Irish Independent reports that Bruce’s management team is negotiating for several shows in Ireland next May, specifically in Cork and Kilkenny. In fact, soccer matches are now being rescheduled in anticipation of the dates.

If true, Springsteen and the band are likely going to return to Europe in 2024 following a successful stadium run earlier this summer, which saw them sell more than 1.6 million tickets. The Independent says these Irish concerts will be announced “within the next few weeks.”

Does this mean more concerts in North America as well? Stay tuned.

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On This Day, August 3, 1987…

Def Leppard released their fourth studio album, Hysteria, which became their first #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The record, the follow-up to 1983’s Pyromania, went on to sell over 20 million copies and is the band’s best selling album to date.

Produced by Mutt Lange, Hysteria took over three years for Def Leppard to complete. During production, their drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car accident. It was also the band’s last record with guitarist Steve Clark, who passed away in 1991. 

Hysteria featured some of Def Leppard’s most well-known hits, including the title track, their signature tune “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” “Armageddon It,” “Animal” and “Love Bites,” which was the band’s only #1 single.

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Foreigner is currently on their Farewell tour, which gives frontman Kelly Hansen lots of opportunity to sing the band’s range of big hits. And with so many great songs to choose from, it’s no surprise he has a hard time picking a favorite.

“I’ve never looked at things as a best or better than, I appreciate these songs for what they are,” Hansen tells ABC Audio, noting that which song he prefers could change based on his mood, the venue, etc.

“And when we play those songs onstage, even though we might do a similar set of songs every night, all the variables will change how that song is going to feel, which will also color how you perform that song,” he says.

“I like to say that I’m lucky enough to have this beautiful cornucopia of ripe songs to pick from every night,” he adds. “It’s like every song is a song that everybody knows.”

And Hansen certainly knows how fortunate he is to get to perform these tunes each night. He shares, “As a singer, you couldn’t possibly buy that opportunity. To be able to have a whole set of songs that everybody knows, what a gift for me that is.” 

Next up, Foreigner’s Farewell tour hits Gilford, New Hampshire, on August 4, with dates confirmed through November 18 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. A complete list of dates can be found at foreigneronline.com.

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In 1972, The Rolling Stones were the biggest band in the world; their U.S. tour that year became the stuff of legend. Now, it’s become the stuff of a podcast.

The podcast, Stones Touring Party, is based on the book S.T.P.: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones by Rolling Stone magazine’s Robert Greenfield, who did more than 60 hours of interviews with the band on that tour. He and another entourage member, Gary Stromberg, are sharing those tapes on the podcast.

Stones Touring Party is described as “an all-access pass to the sights, sounds, riots, bombings, drug busts, death threats and other assorted mayhem” of the 1972 tour. But the first episode details what happened before that tour: the Stones’ ill-fated 1969 Altamont concert, during which 18-year-old fan Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death by members of Hell’s Angels, who had been hired as “security.”

“I think it affected all of us very profoundly. The only thing we were very upset about was being accused and held responsible for what happened,” then-Stones guitarist Mick Taylor says on the tapes. “And you can’t really blame anybody in that kind of mass hysteria.”

The episode sets the stage for the Stones’ return to America in 1972 and their concern that every time they stepped onstage, they might be a target for more violence.

“Either I stopped touring or I didn’t. It was as simple as that. A few people said don’t go — friends of mine … I said, ‘Well, it’s more or less what I do, so I gotta do it,’” Mick Jagger says on the tapes. “There was a few places that it did get scary and there was a lot of guns confiscated and stuff like that … I was scared s***less.”

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If you want to get a head start on convincing your young kids — or grandkids — that Bruce Springsteen is cool, then Random House books has your back.

September 5 will see the release of Bruce Springsteen: A Little Golden Book Biography. Written for kids ages 4 to 8, it’s described as “an inspiring read-aloud for young children, as well as their parents and grandparents who are fans of The Boss.” A similar book on The Beatles is coming November 7.

American Songwriter has an excerpt of the book, written by author Laurel Snyder: “When he wasn’t performing, Bruce wrote songs about the people and places he knew. He wrote about his family and his town, about the hard work people did, and also about the things they dreamed of doing. Bruce wrote about faraway places he’d never been to, and the highways he hoped would take him there.”

The book is just one in a series of Little Golden Book Biographies about music stars like Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift, politicians like Joe Biden and Barack Obama, actors like Dwyane Johnson and Betty White, and even historical figures like Harriet Tubman and Abraham Lincoln.

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Despite the fact that all those involved have said that some kind of all-star tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen isn’t going to happen, the question keeps coming up. However, Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen, the Grammy-nominated leader of his own band Mammoth WVH, says it’s his own existence that’s the ultimate tribute.

Speaking to The Messenger, Wolfgang says, “I view me just being alive and being in the music business as a tribute to my father every day.” But, he understands why people keep bringing it up.

“It’s out of love and how many people my father’s writing and playing touched around the world. But life isn’t written to have a happy ending — some things just suck,” he says bluntly. “And if I have to figure out how to have a life without my father in it, I think people can figure out how to live without Van Halen.”

“Dad’s not here, Van Halen doesn’t exist anymore as far as I’m concerned,” he adds. “The music and the legacy are there, and I’ll be here to push that forth, through things like dad’s guitar and amp company, and help in every single way.”

The fact that Van Halen “doesn’t exist anymore” is just fine with Wolfgang, who says he never understood the “animosity” in that band. As he puts it, “Maybe it’s just ’80s bands — there’s something about ’80s bands where it was the cool thing to be d***s.”

Still, Wolfgang notes that people constantly asking him about his dad is “very jarring, and it wears you out.”

“I can’t go online or do anything without somebody reminding me ‘Hey, knock, knock, your dad’s dead. Do you miss him?'” he says. “I feel like unless you’re in this position, nobody really understands it.”

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Robert Plant isn’t from Liverpool, but he’s received a special honor from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). The school was founded by Paul McCartney in 1995 in the same building as the ex-Beatle‘s former childhood school.

Plant visited LIPA in November for a session with the students, the BBC reports, and now, the legendary Led Zeppelin frontman has been made a companion of the school. The honor is given for “outstanding achievement” and “practical contribution to students’ learning.”

The BBC reports that at the graduation ceremony attended by about 330 students, Plant accepted the award — presented to him by McCartney — via video. He was one of nine notable people in arts and entertainment to receive the award this year.

Plant wrapped up his Raising the Roof tour with Alison Krauss in July. Starting August 24, in Slovenia, he’ll perform shows with his new group, Saving Grace, for which he provides vocals and harmonica. They toured the U.S. earlier this year.

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