Classic Hits

On This Day, April 20, 1992…

London’s Wembley Stadium hosted The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness in memory of the late Queen frontman, who died in November 1991.  

Performers at the concert included Metallica, Def Leppard, Guns ‘N Roses, David Bowie, Roger Daltrey and Robert Plant.

The three remaining members of Queen, John Deacon, Brian May and Roger Taylor, also performed along with guest singers and guitarists, including Elton John, George Michael, Seal, Annie Lennox, Liza Minnelli and more. U2 also took part via satellite, beaming in a performance of “Until the End of the World,” which they dedicated to Mercury.

Memorable performances included Queen and Michael’s “Somebody to Love,” Queen, Bowie and Lennox on “Under Pressure,” Queen and GNR’s Axl Rose on “We Will Rock You” and Queen and Minnelli’s pairing on “We Are the Champions.”  

Money raised from the concert went to establish the AIDS charity the Mercury Phoenix Trust.

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Pink Floyd’s 50th anniversary celebration of The Dark Side of the Moon continues, and Thursday it was marked with a special event that coincided with a rare total solar eclipse.

Eight fans won a trip to a secluded beach at Ningaloo (Nyinggulu) Marine Park in Exmouth, Western Australia, where they listened to the album in full — timed so that the closing line, “but the sun is eclipsed by the moon …,” would play at the exact moment of the eclipse. Not only that, on the beach was constructed a giant black pyramid, similar to the cover of the classic album. 

A clip of the experience can be seen on the band’s Instagram page. It was also livestreamed on the band’s website and was filmed for a short-form documentary on the sweepstakes winners, dubbed the Astronome Domine 8, coming at a later date.

Released on March 1, 1973, The Dark Side of the Moon was Pink Floyd’s eighth studio release and to this day is one of their most commercially successful releases ever.

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The Rolling Stones, Prince and The Beach Boys are just a few of the artists to be featured on Project Brazen and PRX’s new podcast Night of Show. 

The series features never-before-heard stories about A-list music stars, from those in the industry. The show is hosted by New York Times best-selling author Tom Wright, and Adam Wilkes of concert promoter AEG, who along with AEG’s John Meglen and Paul Gongaware, share stories from their years working with musicians, giving fans a backstage pass to what goes on show night. 

The podcast launches April 24 with an episode about Prince, where the group discusses him pitching his Super Bowl half-time show, while the Rolling Stones are the subject of the second episode, where the group discusses the band’s history-making shows in Cuba.

The Beach Boys are featured in episode five, with a story of how Nancy Reagan helped when the band was pulled from a July 4 celebration because of a moralizing politician.

The series also features episodes with stories about Michael Jackson, Kenny G and more.  Visit NightofShow.com to hear the trailer and find out more details.

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John Fogerty was honored earlier this week at the BMI/NAB Dinner in Las Vegas with the BMI Board of Directors Award, which celebrated the impact of his five-decade career.

Mike O’Neill, President & CEO of BMI, shared that Fogerty is “what it means to be a living legend,” calling him a “groundbreaking singer, songwriter and guitarist responsible for some of the best known, most beloved and distinctive rock songs of the 20th century.”

In accepting the award, Fogerty showed off a notebook from 1967, with the first lines written in it being “Proud Mary,” which just eight months later was turned into a song that became a future classic.

The evening also featured a performance by the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, who was joined by sons Tyler and Shane for “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” “Fortunate Son” and “Proud Mary.”

Next up, Fogerty is set to hit the road on his Celebration Tour, which kicks off April 27 in Uncasville, Connecticut. A complete list of dates can be found at JohnFogerty.com.

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Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen is paying tribute to Jeff Beck in a new interview with Guitar World.

“Jeff Beck has always been one of my idols because he’s unique. No-one sounds like him, no-one plays like him, and you’ve got to respect that more than anything else,” Cpllen says of Beck, who passed away in January. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. No-one was able to get anywhere close to that.” 

Collen goes on to praise the days of the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart singing, noting they “could have been a huge band.”

“They were supposed to play Woodstock, but Jeff had to fly home, so they never got to do it,” Collen says, noting that Beck went on to launch a successful solo career and Stewart went to Faces. Collen adds, “so everyone gained from them not doing Woodstock, even though if they’d done it they could’ve been as big as Led Zeppelin.”

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Super-producer David Foster is the latest celebrity to cash in by selling the rights to his music.  But in Foster’s case, he’s not a recording artist, so he’s sold the rights to the money he earns from writing some of the biggest hits ever.

Specifically, Hipgnosis Song Management has purchased Foster’s share — known as the “writer’s share” — of the performance income that’s generated each year by all the songs he’s written.

Just a few of the many hits the 16-time Grammy winner has penned include Peter Cetera‘s “The Glory of Love,” Whitney Houston‘s “I Have Nothing,” Celine Dion and Andrea Boccelli‘s “The Prayer,” Earth, Wind & Fire‘s “After the Love Has Gone,” The Tubes‘ “She’s a Beauty,” Chicago‘s “Hard to Say I’m Sorry,” Madonna‘s “You’ll See,” John Parr‘s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion),” and Celine’s “To Love You More.”

In a statement, Hipgnosis CEO Merck Mercuriadis said Foster is “the songwriters’ songwriter and the producers’ producer,” adding, “David is truly special, and we are delighted to be working with his almost 50 years of incredible songs and to welcome him to the Hipgnosis family.”

Foster added, “I’ve long admired what Merck and his team have built and I trust they will be terrific partners.”

Foster, 73, is married to Katharine McPhee. They welcomed a son in 2021.

Hipgnosis has also purchased the rights to songs by Justin Bieber, Neil Young, Shakira, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Fleetwood Mac‘s Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham, to name just a few.

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Extreme has released two new songs, titled “Banshee” and “#Rebel.”

The tracks will appear on the “More Than Words” outfit’s upcoming album, Six, due out June 9.

You can listen to “Banshee” and “#Rebel” now via digital outlets, and watch their accompanying videos streaming now on YouTube.

Six, the aptly titled sixth Extreme studio effort, also includes the previously released single “Rise.”

Extreme will launch a U.S. tour in support of Six beginning August 2 in Portland, Maine. Living Colour will also be on the bill.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 21, at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Extreme-Band.com.

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Elton John testified remotely before the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning, urging the committee to continue to fund the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The plan, known as PEPFAR, was founded in 2003 by President George W. Bush. The Hill reports that in his testimony, Elton credited it with saving some 25 million lives and urged Congress to extend and fund the program for the next five years.

“I am boundlessly grateful for the bipartisan cooperation that has been the hallmark of PEPFAR for two decades now,” he told lawmakers, noting that the plan has been “enthusiastically supported by four presidents and 10 Congresses, and consistently championed by the generosity of the American people.”

“The PEPFAR platform has not only transformed HIV into a chronic disease for tens of millions, it has been leveraged to fight [COVID-19] and made countries far better prepared for whatever viral nightmare comes next,” Elton noted. “But we are not done yet.”

He continued, “We need to keep our foot on the accelerator,” adding, “By extending PEPFAR for another five years and fully funding it, together, we can continue the march toward ending AIDS for everyone everywhere and leave no one behind.”

The committee’s chairman, Bob Menéndez (D-N.J.) praised Elton as someone who “use[s] their fame in a way that saves the lives of others.”

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Queen has reached another milestone on YouTube. Guitarist Brian May revealed on social media that the video for the band’s track “I Want It All” has reached 100 million views on YouTube.

He captioned the post, “Thanks, folks, for giving us it ALL !!!”

“I Want It All” isn’t the first Queen tune to reach at least 100 million YouTube views. “We Will Rock You” has over 500 million, while “We Are the Champions” has over 200 million views and “Bohemian Rhapsody” has over 1.6 billion.

“I Want It All” was the first single off Queen’s 1989 studio album The Miracle. It reached number three on the U.K. singles chart, as well as the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.

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On This Day, April 19, 2012… 

Levon Helm, best known as the drummer, singer and multi-instrumentalist for The Band, died at age 71 of throat cancer.  

Helm was featured on many of The Band’s classic tracks, including “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”

He was with The Band until their farewell performance on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976. The performance was later turned into the critically acclaimed documentary film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese.

In addition to music, Helm dabbled in acting and appeared in movies like Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Right Stuff, Feeling Minnesota and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

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