Classic Hits

Did you know the “P” in RHCP stands for Platinum?

Well, maybe not, but it might as well after the Red Hot Chili Peppers earned a whole bunch of new RIAA certifications this week.

Songs including “Dark Necessities,” “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie” and “Tell Me Baby” are now all officially Platinum singles. Additionally, the tracks “Scar Tissue,” “Dani California,” “Californication,” “Snow (Hey Oh),” “Otherside” and “Can’t Stop” extend their multi-Platinum totals.

A few RHCP albums also got in on the fun: Californication and Stadium Arcadium are now seven and four-times Platinum, respectively, while the most recent Peppers record, 2016’s The Getaway, has been certified Gold.

The new RIAA distinctions come amid an eventful week for the Peppers. Last Friday, they announced plans for a 2022 world tour, marking their first full outing since longtime guitarist John Frusciante rejoined the band at the end of 2019. The news arrived on the 30th anniversary of RHCP’s hit 1991 album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

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AC/DC‘s new “Through the Mists of Time” video certainly lives up to its name.

The clip opens up on an ancient Greek, Parthenon-type building filled with legendary paintings such as the Mona Lisa. Being that this is a rock video for one of the hardest rocking bands on the planet, the museum is filled with amps that shoot electricity through Leonardo da Vinci‘s masterpiece.

Towards the middle, the video transitions into a history of AC/DC themselves, showcasing all sorts of archival photos and videos. There’s a particular focus on late members Malcolm Young and Bon Scott, who passed away in 2017 and 1980, respectively.

The video ends with a Sistine Chapel-esque painting of AC/DC rocking out on the ceiling.

You can watch the “Through the Mists of Time” video streaming now on YouTube.

”Through the Mists of Time” appears on AC/DC’s comeback album Power Up, which was released last November. It reunites the surviving members of the band’s classic Back in Black lineup, and is dedicated to Malcolm.

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The Rolling Stones have released a second advance track from the upcoming expanded 40th anniversary reissue of the band’s hit 1981 album, Tattoo You: a cover of the 1970 Chi-Lites song “Troubles A’ Comin.”

The soulful tune is one of nine previously unreleased tracks that will appear on the Lost & Found: Rarities bonus disc of the deluxe collection, which is due out on October 22. The Stones’ rendition of “Troubles A’ Comin” was recorded in Paris in 1979.

The track is available now via digital formats, and a companion lyric video for the tune has debuted at The Rolling Stones’ official YouTube channel.

The clip features animated graphic elements from the Tattoo You cover and other associated artwork, as well as photos of the band members from that period.

The Rolling Stones performed “Troubles A’ Comin” at the private tour warmup show they played at Massachusetts’ Gillette Stadium on September 22, and the song likely will be included in some sets during the trek.

The first advance track released from the Tattoo You reissue was a previously unheard original sing called “Living in the Heart of Love” that also will be part of the Lost & Found: Rarities disc.

You can pre-order the Tattoo You reissue now.

Meanwhile, after launching the 2021 U.S. leg of their No Filter Tour in St. Louis on Sunday, The Stones are scheduled to play the second show of the outing tonight in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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They’ve worked together twice previously, but Elton John and Stevie Wonder have finally recorded an actual duet: “Finish Line,” which is available now as a digital download and on all streaming services.

In 1985, Elton and Stevie teamed with Dionne Warwick and Gladys Knight to record the HIV/AIDS charity single “That’s What Friends Are For,” and in 1983, Stevie played harmonica on Elton’s smash “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.” But for Elton’s upcoming album The Lockdown Sessions, they did a proper collaboration, with both men singing and playing piano, Stevie on harmonica and a gospel choir backing them up.

In a statement, Elton celebrates his “fifty years of friendship” with Stevie, and says recording the duet was “a magical process.” “When you listen to what he does vocally and instrumentally on ‘Finish Line’ you think, ‘This is a true genius here,'” he adds.

Stevie raves in a statement of his own, “It is both a joy and honor to sing, play piano and harmonica for Elton! He has truly been one of the great spirits of music, life, friendship, and love, who I’ve met on this life journey! True artistry and music like love equals a forever commitment lasting many lifetimes.”

The music legend adds, “Elton, anyone who hears your voice singing ‘finish line’ will hear and feel your wisdom, your pain, your soul, your love, but also your resilience…I love it!! Congratulations to you and our forever and never, never-ending music, friendship, life-song! Long live Sir Elton John!”

The Lockdown Sessions comes out October 22 and also features collaborations with Stevie Nicks, Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, Gorillaz, Miley Cyrus, the late Glen Campbell, Dua Lipa, Charlie Puth, Lil Nas X and more.

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The Scorpions have announced official details about their long-awaited forthcoming studio album, which is titled Rock Believer and will be released on February 11, 2022.

The record, which will be the veteran German hard rocker’s 19th studio effort, is a follow-up to 2015’s Return to Forever.

The album’s first single, “Peacemaker,” will be released on October 21.

The project was mostly written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, with The Scorpions working at their Peppermint Park Studios in Hanover, Germany.

“The album was written and recorded in the Scorpions DNA with core Schenker/Meine compositions,” says frontman Klaus Meine, referring to himself and founding guitarist Rudolf Schenker. “We recorded the album as a band live in one room, like we did in the ’80s.”

Rock Believer will be the first studio album by the group to feature ex-Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee, who joined The Scorpions in 2016.

After the album’s release, The Scorpions will launch their Rock Believer World Tour, which will kick off with the band’s previously announced nine-date Las Vegas residency at The Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood that runs from March 26 through April 16. Queensrÿche will open the Vegas shows.

Following the residency, The Scorpions will head back across the pond, where a European leg of the trek will get underway on May 10 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Pre-sale tickets and VIP packages for the European concerts went on sale today, are available for members of the Scorpions Rock Zone fan community. Tickets will  go on sale to the general public on Friday, October 1.

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It was never a single, but Billy Joel‘s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” from his 1977 album The Stranger, is one of his most beloved tracks.  Billy’s lyrics paint such a vivid picture  — a bottle of red, a bottle of white and those sweet romantic teenage nights with Brenda and Eddie — that it’s no wonder it’s finally inspired a music video after all these years.

The animated clip will premiere on Billy’s official YouTube channel at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday.  There will also be a live chat with the video’s creative director, Steve Cohen.  Another creative director, Ryan McAllister, explains the impetus behind the video in a preview posted on Billy’s socials.

“There’s a whole catalog of music that existed before music video,” says McAllister. “That led to a discussion of, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to make a music video for one of these classic hits that never had [one]?'”

He continues, “It’s been about a year since we started working on this. And we’re super-stoked to see it out in the world. This project was sorta like the beginning of the path back from the darkness that started with the pandemic, so it has a really special place for all of us.”

October will mark the 50th anniversary of the release of Billy’s debut album, Cold Spring Harbor, and his five-decade career is being celebrated with Billy Joel – The Vinyl Collection, Vol.1, a nine-LP set coming out on November 5.

 

 

 

 

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Elton John owns homes around the world, but when it came to his latest real-estate purchase, he didn’t have to look too far.

The real-estate website Dirt reports that Elton’s bought the home that’s right next door to his house in Beverly Hills for $8.5 million.  According to Dirt, records show that the 5,300-square-foot, five-bedroom, single-story home, built in the ’60s, has been owned by a non-famous family for decades; they’ve faced foreclosure several times. 

Buying the house allows Elton, his husband David Furnish and their two sons to expand from their current half acre to nearly a full acre of space in one of Beverly Hills’ most prestigious neighborhoods. Their current home, purchased nearly 10 years ago for $7.3 million, is 4,300 square feet.

Elton and David also own a huge estate in the U.K., and also have homes in the South of France and Venice, Italy, plus what Dirt calls a “mansion-sized condo” in Atlanta.

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Plans have been unveiled for two new archival David Bowie box sets that will be released in the coming months.

One is the fifth installment in the series of expansive collections focusing on different periods in the late rock icon’s career, Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001), which is due out on November 26. The other is an expanded version of Bowie’s legendary unreleased 2001 album TOY, titled TOY (TOY:BOX), which will be issued on January 7, 2022.

Brilliant Adventure will be available as an 11-CD set, a 15-LP vinyl package and digitally. The box set includes remastered editions of five Bowie studio albums — 1993’s Black Tie White Noise, 1993’s The Buddha of Suburbia soundtrack, 1995’s 1.Outside, 1997’s Earthing and 1999’s ‘hours…’.  It also includes the previously unreleased live album BBC Radio Theatre, London, June 27, 2000; the Re:Call 5 compilation, featuring alternative versions, B-sides, soundtrack recordings and more; and the aforementioned TOY.

TOY features updated versions of select early Bowie songs recorded mostly live in the studio with members of his touring band at the time. David had hoped to release the album quickly but when his plan was delayed, he put the project aside and moved on to his next record, Heathen.

TOY (TOY:BOX) will be available as a three-CD set and a six-disc 10-inch vinyl collection. The package will include the originally planned album, alternative mixes of the TOY tracks and tunes intended as B-sides, and stripped-down, mostly acoustic mixes of the songs.

One TOY track, an updated rendition of the 1965 Bowie song “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving,” has been released as an advance digital single.

You can pre-order Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) and TOY (TOY:BOX) now. Visit DavidBowie.com for more information.

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Elton John‘s definitely having a moment: First, his Dua Lipa duet “Cold Heart” has become his biggest hit in years, both in the U.S. and in his native U.K.  Now, he’s scored a chart feat he hasn’t pulled off for 23 years.

Billboard notes that “One of Me,” Elton’s collaboration with rapper Lil Nas X, has debuted at number 88 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100.  It’s Elton’s 69th Hot 100 entry and his second one this year, after “Cold Heart,” which is currently at #74. The last time Elton had two songs charting simultaneously was in 1998.

Posting a collage of his chart achievements, Elton wrote, “What!? Two tracks in the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK Charts, UK’s most downloaded single for three weeks now and 40 million monthly listeners on @spotify.”

“Thank you everyone!!” he added. “After all, you certainly know how to warm up my ‘Cold Heart.'”

That last sentence was also a reference to Elton’s latest release, “After All,” a duet with Charlie Puth.  Elton and Charlie performed the song together in Paris this past weekend as part of the Global Citizen Live event.  It was Elton’s final performance before he heads in for surgery to repair his hip — an injury that forced him to postpone his concerts this fall.

 

 

 

 

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John Mellencamp‘s first-ever collaboration with Bruce Springsteen, an introspective, acoustic-driven duet titled “Wasted Days,” has been released as a digital single, while a companion music video has premiered on Mellencamp’s YouTube channel.

The song is the first single from Mellencamp’s upcoming, as-yet-untitled studio album, which is due out in 2022.

“Wasted Days,” which was written by John, features lyrics reflecting on mortality and making the most of our time on the planet. Springsteen contributes an electric guitar solo to the tune.

The video, which was shot in New Jersey this month by frequent Springsteen collaborator Thom Zimny, includes scenes of Mellencamp and The Boss playing acoustic guitars while sitting at a kitchen table and standing in front of a detached garage with an American flag draped from it.

Mellencamp first revealed that he’d worked on new music with Springsteen in May while taking part in music mogul Clive Davis‘ star-studded virtual benefit for the Grammy Museum.  John told Billboard at the time, “Bruce is singing on the new record and is playing guitar.”

Springsteen, meanwhile, shared further information about the collaboration during a satellite radio interview in June. As reported by Billboard, Bruce said, “I worked on three songs on John’s album and I spent some time in Indiana with him.”

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