KISS has announced a reissue of their famed 1975 Alive! live album in honor of its 50th anniversary.
The super-deluxe edition boasts eight vinyl LPs featuring the original record remastered, rehearsal tracks, and bonus live recordings from 1975 shows in Davenport, Iowa; Wildwood, New Jersey; and Cleveland.
The package also includes various memorabilia, such as tour poster and programs, photos and ticket stubs.
Preorders are currently open exclusively to members of the KISS Army fan club. For more info, visit KISS’ web store.
After developing a cult following with their first three records, Alive! helped KISS truly break into the mainstream. The album turned “Rock and Roll All Nite” into KISS’ signature hit, and also introduced songs including “Strutter” and “Black Diamond” to wider audiences.
Cyndi Lauper will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Chappell Roan on Saturday. In that moment, she’ll be thinking of all the female artists who’ve proceeded her, and those who’ll follow her.
Cyndi shouted out her heroes, including Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and Joni Mitchell, on Instagram when her induction was announced in April and added, “Women have made so many important contributions to music and to rock n roll and a win for one of us is a win for all of us.”
“For a long, long time, we weren’t included, or very few of us were included,” Cyndi told ABC Audio of that post. “So, of course, I stand on the shoulders of the women that came before us.”
As the accolades piled up throughout her career — including two Grammys, an Emmy and a Tony — Cyndi’s kept this mind.
“Every award I got, I said the same thing. I said, ‘Thank you for all of the people that came before me, the women whose shoulders I stand on and the women that will come after me,'” she recalled. “Because you’re just a chain in a line of history — or ‘herstory.’ I like that word.”
Pat Benatar, a fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and friend of Cyndi’s, couldn’t agree more.
Until recently, Benatar told ABC Audio, “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it wasn’t really balanced about how many women were going in. It was mostly men. It took us 22 years to get in ourselves.”
“So it’s great to see her finally get in too because she deserves to be there,” added Benatar. “She’s such a great artist. … She has so many facets to what she does.”
“It’s just the more the merrier!” Benatar said. “Every time another woman gets in there, I’m really happy.”
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will stream live on Disney+ Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. ABC will air a highlights special on Jan. 1, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET.
The U2 frontman’s rendition of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in his Stories of Surrender documentary is up for the song – onscreen performance (film) prize, while the Talking Heads singer’s collaboration with Paramore‘s Hayley Williams for the film The Twits, “Open the Door,” is nominated in the song – animated film category.
Additionally, Stories of Surrender, the Billy Idol documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead and the Jeff Buckley documentary It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley are nominated for music documentary – special program, and the Bruce Springsteen biopic, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, is up for music themed film or musical.
John Cale performs on stage at the Loaded Festival 2023 on June 08, 2023 in Oslo, Norway. (Per Ole Hagen/Redferns)
The Velvet Underground‘s John Cale is collaborating on a new song with pop star Charli XCX.
The track is called “House” and was recorded for Charli’s soundtrack to the upcoming film adaptation of the classic Emily Brontë novel Wuthering Heights.
In a lengthy Instagram Story message, Charli explains how she got involved in the project and how a quote from Cale — “elegant and brutal” — inspired the album’s sound.
She writes that the phrase stuck with her, and she reached out to Cale to get his opinions on the songs and see if he wanted to collaborate.
“I sent him some songs and we started talking specifically about House,” Charli writes. “We spoke about the idea of a poem. He recorded something and sent it to me. Something that only John could do. And it was… well it made me cry.”
She continues, “I feel so lucky to have been able to work with John on this song. I’ve been so excited to share it with you all, sitting quietly in anticipation.”
“House” will premiere on Nov. 10.
Wuthering Heights, directed by Emerald Fennell and starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, hits theaters Feb. 13, 2026.
Def Leppard Honored With Star On Hollywood Walk Of Fame on October 09, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Def Leppard has shared a recap video looking back at receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The “Pour Some Sugar on Me” rockers were honored with the distinction during a ceremony in October. The recap, which is now streaming on YouTube, features footage of the band members greeting fans and speaking on what getting a star means to them.
It also includes a clip of an honorary speech delivered by Jon Bon Jovi.
Having made the trip to Hollywood, Def Leppard is now preparing to hit Sin City for their 2026 Las Vegas residency, launching in February.
Even if he’s seen and subsequently rocked a million faces, Jon Bon Jovi still seeks the advice of other musicians.
The “Livin’ on a Prayer” rocker tells the U.K.’s Planet Rock radio that he consulted Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich about coming up with a set list for Bon Jovi‘s 2026 tour, which includes nine shows at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
Jon shares that he was curious about Metallica’s No Repeat Weekend shows, where the metal legends would play two completely different set lists over two nights.
“I talked to Lars, I said, ‘So let me get this straight, if you’re only doing ‘Master of Puppets’ on one night and ‘One’ on one night, is the audience mad that they’re not there?'” Jon says. “He goes, ‘Nope, we have enough songs that it works.’ He goes, ‘And your catalog … .’ And I went, ‘I am digging that concept.'”
While Jon isn’t planning on going the full Metallica route and creating completely unique sets for each show, he notes, “I have enough songs and enough hits, I could do two separate entire shows and have hits on both sides.”
“I’m having a lot of fun putting together shows that are multiple night kind of shows,” he says.
Bon Jovi’s Forever Tour launches in July. It marks the band’s first full live run since Jon underwent vocal cord surgery in 2022.
Jeremy Allen White and Bruce Springsteen on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (Disney/Randy Holmes)
You may not be able to play guitar like Bruce Springsteen, but now you can get closer to playing like Jeremy Allen White playing Bruce Springsteen.
Gibson has announced a collection of acoustic guitars in connection with new movie Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, in which White portrays The Boss as he records his 1982 album, Nebraska.
The line includes guitars featured in and inspired by the movie, including models of the Gibson SJ-200. Springsteen used a late-1950s Gibson SJ-200 on Nebraska, and gifted one to White for the filming of Deliver Me From Nowhere.
For more info on the guitar collection, visit Gibson.com.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is in theaters now.
Drummer Simon Kirke of Bad Company performs in concert during ‘ZZ Top’s 50th Anniversary Texas Bash’ at Austin360 Amphitheater on May 19, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/WireImage)
After 26 years of eligibility, Bad Company is getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday, and the band’s drummer Simon Kirke tells ABC Audio it’s about time.
“It feels like the end of a long journey,” he says. “I don’t want to sound uppity, but I think it’s long overdue.” He adds, “We have influenced a lot of bands, who in turn will influence other bands, but we’ve been around a long time and I think it’s justifiable.”
Kirke says the recognition is “the cap on a very long and very successful career,” and he’s happy and honored by it. He notes that if it didn’t happen, “I would have left this earth thinking s***, why didn’t we get inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for God’s sake?!”
While Bad Company’s career has been filled with hits, for Kirke there are two tunes that stand out as the most quintessential Bad Company songs: “Bad Company” and “Feel Like Makin’ Love.”
“It’s kind of a no-brainer for me but ‘Bad Company,'” he says. “Because the others are a tip of the hat to the songs.”
As for what he’ll say on induction night, Kirke says he plans to mention his late bandmates Mick Ralphs and Boz Burrell, but worries he won’t have enough time to get in all they want to say.
He notes, “The last thing I want is for that shepherd’s crook to come around the neck and start drawing me off.”
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Saturday in Los Angeles and will stream live on Disney+ starting at 8 p.m. ET. ABC will also air a highlights special on Jan. 1, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET.
Chubby Checker poses with ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons in Santa Barbara, CA (Credit: Paolo Gamboa)
Rock ‘n’ roll founding father Chubby Checker is set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Saturday night in LA, but he has said he won’t be attending the ceremony. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t like hang out with fellow Hall of Famers, though.
Checker, 84, attended ZZ Top‘s show at Santa Barbara Bowl on Tuesday, and the band’s Billy F Gibbons stopped the show to give him a shout-out. After the show, Checker hung out with Gibbons, a longtime fan of “The Twist” singer, the rest of the band and their crew, and bonded over their shared Southern roots.
Checker previously said he was going to skip the ceremony, which will be streamed live, because he’d rather be seen performing in front of a live audience. The Hall of Fame agreed to this, so at a July concert in Des Plaines, Illinois, he was given his trophy and a camera crew recorded his acceptance speech. You can tune in Saturday to see if or how this all plays out starting 8 p.m. ET on Disney+.
In 2013, when Billboard tabulatedthe most popular singles in the history of the Hot 100 chart, Checker’s “The Twist” topped the list.
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Elton John, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ album (Mercury/UMe)
Elton John was recently reunited with an important artifact from his illustrious career.
Elton posted on Instagram a photo of himself and Alex Rodriguez, who owns the LA record store Record Safari and curates vinyl for Coachella. In the photo, Alex is handing Elton an orange vinyl album in a plastic sleeve marked Trident.
“Every so often, there are acts of kindness that remind you there are still a lot of good people in this world,” Elton captioned the post. “Alex Rodriguez … recently came across the original acetates from the first recordings of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. They’re still in their Trident Studios sleeves, in beautiful condition – a real piece of history.”
Elton was referring to his 1973 classic album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which was mixed at Trident Studios in London. An “original acetate” is the first physical version of an album that’s made before it’s produced for mass consumption, so that the artist and the producers can check the sound quality. They’re extremely rare and collectible.
Elton continued in his post, “Instead of selling them or keeping them for himself, Alex reached out and offered to return them to me personally. While they’d be valuable to anyone, to me these recordings are truly priceless, and I am incredibly grateful for his kindness, generosity, and his love of music.”
“Thank you, Alex. This is a gesture I’ll never forget.”
Alex responded in the comments, “My gut feeling told me you would want this back, mostly because I know you are a fellow record collector/aficionado! Thank you for the kind words, definitely one of the coolest memories to hold on to!”
