Classic Hits

Def Leppard is treating their hometown fans to a very special show. The band just announced they’ll be playing an intimate club show at The Leadmill in Sheffield, England, on May 19.

The band promises fans the concert will feature “a unique set list,” with portions of the proceeds going to Music Venue Trust, a charity that aids grassroots music venues. 

The concert will happen on the same day Def Leppard releases their new album Drastic Symphonies with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Fans in the U.K. who preorder the album by May 10 at 5 p.m. BST will get exclusive presale access to tickets. 

And Def Leppard will be sticking around their hometown after the gig. The European leg of their tour with Mötley Crüe kicks off May 22 at Sheffield’s Bramall Lane. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com.

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Now’s your chance to own a piece of rock history. Julien’s Auctions is holding a new Music Icons auction, featuring over 1,200 unique pieces of memorabilia from the likes of Queen, The Rolling Stones, U2, The Who and more. 

Among the items up for grabs is a New York Yankees bomber jacket worn by Queen’s Freddie Mercury at a 1977 concert at Madison Square Garden, with an estimated value of between $20,000 and $40,000. There’s also the drum kit The Who’s Keith Moon played in the 1974 film Stardust, which is estimated to go for between $100,000 and $200,000. Plus there are several pieces from The Rolling Stones archive of Bill Wyman, including Wyman’s silver fruit and leaves chain necklace worn on the cover of the 1976 album Black and Blue, as well as a Rolling Stones tongue logo telephone and more.

Other items in the auction include: an acoustic guitar signed by over 35 guests on BBC’s Top of the Pops, including The Beatles, Dusty Springfield, Marianne Faithfull and Neil Diamond; a Gretsch Irish Falcon electric guitar played by Bono and signed by all the members of U2; pieces from Julian Lennon’s private Beatles collection; David Bowie’s signed Man Who Fell To Earth fedora; Elvis Presley‘s Fire and Opal diamond ring and lots, lots more.

Music fans can check out the auction items at a free, public exhibit taking place at the Hard Rock Café in New York from May 15 to 19. The three-day auction happens May 19 to 21 live at the Hard Rock, as well as online at juliensauctions.com.

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On This Day, May 3, 1986…

English singer/songwriter Robert Palmer landed his first and only Billboard Hot 100 number one with “Addicted to Love,” which went on to become his signature song. 

The song was the second single released from Palmer’s eighth studio album Riptide, which also featured the number two hits “Simply Irresistible” and “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On.” “Addicted to Love” was originally intended to be a duet with Chaka Khan, but her label wouldn’t give her permission to record it. 

The track’s success was aided by a stylish music video that got massive play on MTV, featuring Palmer being backed by a group of models all dressed in black, with pale faces and heavy makeup. The video went on to be parodied several times, including in the movie Love Actually, and in videos for Shania Twain‘s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman,” Tone Loc’s “Wild Thing” and more.

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The Spinners are finally being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Henry Fambrough, the last surviving founding member, couldn’t be happier.

“It feels great. I really does,” Fambrough tells Billboard. “I just wish all the other guys were here to see it. It really is a great honor.” 

Fambrough will be inducted along with his late bandmates Pervis Jackson, who passed away in 2008, Billy Henderson, who died in 2007, Bobbie Smith, who passed in 2013, and Philippé Wynne, who passed away in 1984.

It took four nominations before The Spinners earned their induction and Fambrough, who recently retired from the band, admits he’s been “a little disappointed” it didn’t happen sooner. “But you have to carry on, you have to keep going,” he says. “If you’re nominated, at least you know someone is thinking about you.”

A post on the band’s official Instagram also acknowledges the induction, noting, “This acknowledgment of career achievement is monumental,” dedicating it to all the members of the band. It adds, “And thank you to everyone who has ever spun a records album or come out to our shows.@rockhall-worthy careers start with YOU.”

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If Kate Bush was surprised by the Stranger Things-fueled resurgence of her 1985 hit “Running Up that Hill,” she’s absolutely blown away that she’s going to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The reclusive British artist wrote on her official website, “I have to admit I’m completely shocked at the news of being inducted into the Hall of Fame! It’s something I just never thought would happen.”

“Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me. It means a great deal that you would think of me. It’s such a huge honor,” she continued. “Now, as part of the initiation ceremony, I get to find out about the secret handshake… there is one, right?”

No word on whether or not Bush will attend the November 3 induction ceremony in Brooklyn, NY.

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The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees have been announced, with George Michael, Willie Nelson and The Spinners among this year’s class. 

Other artists making it into the Hall of Fame this year in the Performers category include Kate Bush and Sheryl Crow, along with Missy Elliott and Rage Against The Machine. 

Chaka Khan, Elton John’s songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, and musician/producer and founding member of Blood, Sweat & Tears, Al Kooper, are also getting inducted in the Musical Excellence Award category. Hip-hop pioneer DJ Kool Herc and the late guitarist Link Wray will receive this year’s Musical Influence Award, and the late Soul Train creator Don Cornelius will posthumously receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

Michael, Nelson, Crow and Elliott are all getting in on their first nomination, while it took The Spinners three tries to make it and Rage five. Chaka, who wasn’t actually nominated this year, had previously been nominated three times as a solo artist and four times as a member of Rufus.

As for those who didn’t make the cut this year, Cyndi Lauper was passed over, as were Warren Zevon, Soundgarden, Joy Division/New Order, The White Stripes, Iron Maiden and A Tribe Called Quest. 

The 38th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony returns to Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center this year, with the event going down November 3.

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Steven Tyler is claiming free speech in his latest attempt to thwart the lawsuit brought by the woman accusing him of sexual assault in the ’70s. 

According to legal documents obtained by People, Tyler is arguing that the woman, Julia Misley, who was previously known as Julia Holcolmb, can’t claim his 2011 memoir, Does This Noise In My Head Bother You?, caused her “emotional distress” because she isn’t identified in the book. Plus, he contends, his writings constitute free speech.

The documents note, “Tyler’s statements in his memoirs, including his statements about his relationship with Plaintiff, thus concern a matter of public interest and qualify as protected activity.” 

The Aerosmith frontman’s also claiming that since the book was released in 2011, Misley waited too long to file her claim and the statute of limitations has already passed.

The documents, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, also argue that Tyler’s writings “do not qualify as outrageous conduct that was intended to cause emotional distress,” stating the contents of the book “relay his own experiences from his newsworthy life.”

He suggests Misley can’t prove that she actually “experienced severe emotional distress” from the book, aruging that if she had she wouldn’t have been able to talk about their relationship “for over decade.” He points out that in her professional speaker bio she refers to herself as his “former girlfriend.”

Misley filed her lawsuit back in December, accusing Tyler of sexual assault, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. 

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Steve Vai helped a group of almost 8,000 guitarists break a world record. The legendary axe man was in Wrocław, Poland, last weekend to take part in the annual Thanks Jimi Festival, where he led a group of guitarists in a performance of the Jimi Hendrix classic “Hey Joe.”

“Beautiful day in Wrocław breaking the world record for the most guitar players performing ‘Hey Joe’ at the same time. I think it was 7,968!” Vai shared on Instagram. “It sounded like someone kicked a bee hive! It was glorious to see all those folks playing guitars and enjoying the event. Really quite amazing.” 

He added, “Poland knows how to have a good time!” 

Each year the guitar festival attempts to break the world record for the most guitarists performing the Hendrix classic. According to Guitar World, the first attempt in 2003 featured 588 players, while last year’s included 7,676 guitarists.

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Bono has many talents, and he’s showing off his drawing skills on the cover of the June issue of The Atlantic.

The U2 frontman has contributed a portrait of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the cover, which features a quote from the president: “The choice is between freedom and fear.” 

This isn’t the first time Bono has shown his support for Ukraine. He and the Edge visited the city of Kyiv in May 2022 and performed with the Ukrainian band Antytila in a subway station. Then in February, Bono and the Edge joined them again, this time at their show in London. They also performed at the Stand Up For Ukraine livestream, which took place in April 2022.

Bono has been spending the past couple weeks in New York, where he’s been headlining his Stories of Surrender residency at the Beacon Theatre. He wraps the eight-show run on Wednesday, May 3.

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Darlene Love is the latest guest on Lemonada Media’s new podcast Wiser Than Me, hosted Julia Louis-Dreyfus. 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer chats with the former Seinfeld star about a whole host of subjects, including her early career working as a backup singer for Elvis Presley, working with Phil Spector and more. 

Love describes working with Elvis as fun, noting, “He didn’t want to be Elvis, he just wanted to be like a background singer with [us] … we would stay up all night, half the night, singing all these wonderful songs.”

She doesn’t have such happy memories of working with Spector, though. “I got very angry but it never turned into hate,” she says. “I was always the one that would tell him, ‘You’re just using me. What the hell? I don’t get this. I’ve done nothing wrong. I just want to be a singer. I want my career and you can give me that.’” 

Love adds, “I think that’s what I really disliked about him – he could have given me a gigantic career … he was that foot that was always in the way, you know that annoying fly?”

Spector died in prison in 2021 while serving time for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson. Love calls him a “snake in the grass,” who people were scared of, although she never understood why: “I said, ‘That little shrimp! Why are you scared of him?’”

She shares, “We sued him and he was so shocked that I won, because nobody had ever sued Phil Spector and won.”

The Darlene Love episode of Wiser Than Me is streaming now.

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