Classic Hits

Sammy Hagar & The Circle have released a raucous, hard-rocking version of Elvis Costello and the Attractions‘ classic 1978 song “Pump It Up” as the second advance track from their forthcoming studio album, Crazy Times, which is due out September 30.

The song is available now as a digital download and via streaming platforms, while a companion music video has debuted at Hagar’s official YouTube channel.

Explaining how he and his band wound up recording the tune, Hagar notes, “‘Pump It Up’ has been a Circle go-to backstage jam before shows. When we went in the studio with [producer] Dave Cobb, we were jamming it, getting the levels on all the instruments, headphones, mixes, etc. After an hour or so, Cobb said come on in and have a listen. We all looked at each other and said, ‘Wow sounds pretty f***ing good’ and it became our first track we recorded for the album.”

As previously reported, Crazy Times is a 10-song collection that features nine songs either written or co-written by Hagar, plus “Pump It Up.”

The album, which can be preordered now, will be released on CD and via digital formats on September 30, while standard black-vinyl and limited-edition red-vinyl LP versions will follow on October 28.

The album’s title track was previously released as an advance track, along with a companion music video.

Meanwhile, after about a month break from touring, Hagar and the band will return to the road this Sunday with a performance at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. A new leg of the group’s Crazy Times! Tour with support act George Thorogood and the Destroyers will kick off August 23 in Clarkston, Michigan.

Visit RedRocker.com to check out Hagar’s full schedule.

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This Sunday, August 21, would’ve been the 70th birthday of the late Joe Strummer, frontman of the hugely influential British punk band The Clash.

Strummer, who was born John Mellor, joined the group that became The Clash in 1976 after playing in a pub rock band The 101’ers.

Known for his gruff vocals and intense performance style, Strummer co-wrote nearly all The Clash’s original songs, usually with the group’s lead guitarist and second singer Mick Jones. The band was initially best known for their fast, hard-charging songs that featured left-leaning political and social themes, although the group also embraced reggae.

The Clash later experimented with hip hop, funk, and other musical genres.

The band enjoyed immediate commercial success in the U.K., but it wasn’t until their third album, the 1979 double-LP London Calling, that the group began garnering major attention in the U.S.

The album peaked at #27 on the Billboard 200 and featured the memorable title track, as well as the Jones-sung “Train in Vain,” which reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Clash’s fifth album, 1982’s Combat Rock, was their commercial high point, peaking at #7 on the Billboard 200 and featuring the #8 Hot 100 hit “Rock the Casbah.”

After The Clash broke up in 1986, Strummer released various of solo projects. He also contributed songs to a number of movie soundtracks, and composed the score to the 1987 film Walker. Joe also acted in several films, including 1989’s Mystery Train.

Strummer’s recorded his last few albums with The Mescaleros, a group that combined various musical influences.

Strummer died in December 2002 of a heart attack cause by an undiagnosed heart defect. He was 50.

Joe was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with The Clash in 2003.

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Madonna released Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, a massive compilation of all 50 of her #1 hits on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart, today. But the Queen of Pop says she finds today’s dance hits “confusing.”

In the new issue of Paper magazine, Madonna is asked to compare today’s dance music to her pioneering work in the genre in the ’80s. “I think what’s changed the most is just the songs. Songs have changed. The concept of songwriting,” she replies.

“I’m just, ‘Give me a song. I need a beginning, a middle and an end.’ You know what I mean? I get confused by people’s music,” she adds. “And also, there are just too many artists on songs. I feel chaotic when I listen to them.”

Madonna also points out that with her songs — from “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl” to “Express Yourself” and “Papa Don’t Preach” —  she was “very much invested in empowering women too and that was a very big part of the storytelling.”

“While women were making great dance records, I feel like in the early days, while the songs and melodies are really strong and the singers are really good, they weren’t really invested in making women think, ‘Wow, I don’t have to live in a man’s world … I can have my own voice and my own vision,'” she continues. “So that was an important element.”

And while Madonna admits she hates “repeating herself,” she tells Paper she wouldn’t mind reteaming with Nile Rodgers, who produced her breakthrough album, Like a Virgin.

“It would be fun,” she says. “I would love to work with Nile again.” She adds she’d like for them to team up to create “a pop hit with a twist … a new sound.”

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Almost 50 years after beginning his professional music career, founding Toto keyboardist/singer/songwriter David Paich has released his debut solo EP, Forgotten Toys.

Paich co-produced the seven-track collection with longtime Toto frontman Joseph Williams, who also co-wrote and sang on three tunes, while founding Toto guitarist Steve Lukather contributed to multiple songs as well. David also enlisted a variety of other well-known musicians for the project, including Michael McDonald, ex-Eagles guitarist Don Felder, Brian Eno, Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone, Ray Parker Jr. and Rolling Stones touring drummer Steve Jordan.

Paich tells ABC Audio that he’s “excited” about releasing Forgotten Toys, which he describes as a “collection of little gems.”

“I’m giddy and have butterflies, like I did…when we released the first Toto album,” David says. “I think it’s fresh. It’s new for me…I have my fingers crossed that people will enjoy it out there as much as I enjoyed making it.”

He adds, “[T]he reward…was the actual making of the record, with the players that I made it with. And it was so much fun and so inspiring.”

Paich notes that doing the EP outside of Toto gave him the chance to collaborate with “other musicians who have been family and friends for such a long time…[but] that I normally wouldn’t work with.”

For example, the track “Queen Charade” features Felder on slide guitar and Jordan on drums, with additional guitar from Lukather.

David says the tune, which he calls “my rock ‘n’ roll song,” was influenced by The Stones, noting, “It’s a little more reckless than Toto gets sometimes.”

Coinciding with the EP’s arrival, Paich is releasing the melodic tune “willibelongtoyou” as a single today, along with a companion video.

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Here’s exciting news for Who fans with some disposable cash available: A 1965 Volkswagen camper van that was customized and restored in 2008 with a design inspired by the band’s 1968 hit “Magic Bus” is going up for bid at U.K.-based Silverstone Auctions on Saturday, August 27.

The vehicle, which was designed by the band’s longtime art director, Richard Evans, was originally raffled off in 2008 to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust, for which Who singer Roger Daltrey has long been a patron. The Magic Bus currently is estimated to fetch between 60,000 and 80,000 pounds, or between about $72,000 and $95,000. A large donation from the money raised by the sale will go toward the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The van’s exterior paint job features The Who’s bull’s-eye logo on both sides, as well as images of the band’s four original members, while a large Union Jack flag appears on the roof. The inside boasts red, white and blue upholstery, with an embroidered Who logo appearing on the backrest of some seats. Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend have signed the cab’s two sun visors, while Evans autographed an interior wall of the van.

As an added bonus, the winning bidder will receive a limited-edition model of the Magic Bus, as well as some special merch.

Visit SilverstoneAuctions.com for more details about the sale.

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Founding INXS multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Andrew Farriss has just released a music video for the latest single from his 2021 self-titled debut solo album, the uplifting “You Are My Rock,” which premiered Thursday exclusively on the CMT Music channel and at CMT.com.

The video features Farriss and his backing musicians performing the tune in the outback of his native Australia. The tune combines the country influences showcased throughout most of the album with some rock and gospel flavors.

As Farriss explains in a YouTube video clip, “‘You Are My Rock’ is the last track, and I wanted to deliberately leave it ’til the end because I wanted to, basically, kick a** at the end of the record. The song is about thanking people in your life for opportunities that are given to you, for people that support you.”

He adds, “I’m simply saying thank you to everybody [for] listening to my album to get to the end of the song.”

Farriss has a few upcoming U.S. performances lined up to promote his album, including on August 22 in Lexington, Kentucky, and on September 15 at the AmericanaFest event in Nashville.

Farriss co-wrote most of INXS’ songs with the group’s late original frontman, Michael Hutchence, including such big hits as “What You Need,” “Need You Tonight,” “Devil Inside,” “New Sensation,” “Never Tear Us Apart” and “Suicide Blonde.”

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Elton John‘s been traveling the world on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, but he’s finally enjoying some much-deserved time off with his family.

As the Daily Mail reports, Elton, dressed in head-to-toe Gucci, was spotted on a yacht in the South of France Wednesday with his husband, David Furnish, and their two sons, Zachary and Elijah. His tour won’t resume until September 7 in Toronto, so he’s got plenty of vacation time left. And he’ll need it: The tour isn’t scheduled to wrap up until the summer of 2023.

Meanwhile, it hasn’t been confirmed, but Elton’s much-anticipated collaboration with Britney Spears, “Hold Me Closer,” is rumored to be coming out on Friday. Not much is known about it, other than it appears to be an interpolation, reworking or remix of Elton’s classic “Tiny Dancer.”

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Mariah Carey‘s attempt to trademark the phrase “Queen of Christmas” has encountered more pushback from Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love, who has been called the “Queen of Christmas” for many years thanks to her classic holiday song “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

After posting a note on Facebook Monday expressing displeasure with Mariah’s attempt to secure the trademark for the phrase to use for everything from clothing to soy milk to dog accessories, Love has now issued a statement to ABC News, in which she says, “I adore Mariah Carey as an artist and songwriter, but to register the term ‘Queen of Christmas’ for her sole usage doesn’t reflect on the holiday spirit of love and gratitude.”

Love’s statement concludes, “‘Queen of Christmas’ should not be exclusive to anyone except for Mary, Mother of Jesus.” Mariah admitted as much herself in an interview last year with BBC Radio, saying, “To me, Mary is the Queen of Christmas.”

Christmas artist Elizabeth Chan, who has also been called “Queen of Christmas” and whose lawyers have asked the U.S. Trademark Office to reject Mariah’s trademark application, told ABC’s Good Morning America Thursday, “Christmas is meant to be shared, and Christmas is for everyone.”

On GMA Thursday, ABC News legal analyst Dan Abrams said of Mariah’s filing, “This is a tough argument for her to make: the idea that she should be able to own all ‘Queen of Christmas’ merchandise moving forward … you have these other singers who’ve specifically used that phrase and [have] been called that, so I don’t see how she’s going to be able to win this sort of trademark application.”

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Billy Idol will release a new four-song EP titled The Cage EP on September 23. He’s given fans a taste of the record by making its lead track, the rocking and melodic “Cage,” available as a digital single.

The Cage EP follows another four-track collection from Idol, 2021’s The Roadside EP. Like last year’s EP, Idol’s main collaborator on the new project is his longtime guitarist Steve Stevens.

The veteran pop-punk rocker also debuted a music video for “Cage” on his official YouTube channel. The black-and-white clip features footage of Billy singing while alternately trying to free himself from a straitjacket and trapped in a small cage. Stevens also makes an appearance in the video, rocking out on lead guitar.

The Cage EP can be preordered now and will be available on CD, digitally, and as a standard black-vinyl disc and a limited-edition red-vinyl disc. A limited number signed copies of the EP are available at Idol’s official store.

Meanwhile, Variety reports that a new documentary about Idol is in the works from Grammy-winning filmmaker and videographer Jonas Akerlund, whose many credits include Madonna‘s “Ray of Light” video and Paul McCartney‘s Live Kisses concert film.

According to Variety, Akerlund was inspired to make a film about Idol after listening to Billy’s audiobook for his 2015 memoir Dancing with Myself.

“I told Billy, ‘This is a film … We need to tell this story,'” notes Akerlund. “He was there when punk-rock happened in London, then moved to New York just as MTV was exploding, and now he’s in Los Angeles. I personally love his story, the incredible events in his life. And the music has touched so many people.”

Here The Cage EP‘s full track list:

“Cage”
“Running from the Ghost”
“Rebel Like You”
“Miss Nobody”

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The first of two new compilations featuring rare and unreleased recordings by late Who bassist John Entwistle will be issued soon by the Deko Entertainment label.

Titled Rarities Oxhumed – Volume One, the album will feature previously unheard studio tracks, demos, remastered live performances and other unreleased gems. Among the live recordings is a performance of the 1978 Who tune “Trick of the Light,” penned and sung by Entwistle.

The albums have been put together by the Deko label in collaboration with longtime Entwistle solo band member Steve Lungo and John’s son, Chris Entwistle.

Deko Entertainment has launched a webpage promoting the new project, which features a countdown clock that’s scheduled to hit zero on Friday, September 9, at about 4 p.m. ET. There’s also a link to a YouTube video featuring an archival interview clip with Entwistle, who says, “I guess I’d like to be remembered as someone who helped change the face of bass guitar, and being probably the only bass guitarist that hasn’t been copyable.”

Entwistle died in June 2002 of a heart attack one day before The Who was scheduled to launch a U.S. tour. He was 57.

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