Classic Hits

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the release of John Mellencamp‘s breakthrough fifth studio album, 1982’s American Fool, which was the last collection of original tunes that the Indiana-born singer/songwriter issued under the moniker John Cougar.

American Fool is Mellencamp’s only album to date to top the Billboard 200 chart, spending nine weeks at #1, spanning from September to November. It features two of his most-enduring hits, “Hurts So Good” and a little ditty called “Jack and Diane,” which peaked, respectively, at #2 and #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Jack and Diane” became John’s biggest hit, and his only song ever to reach the top of the Hot 100, where it enjoyed a four-week run in October of ’82.

The track features guitar and background-vocal contributions from Mick Ronson, best known as the lead guitarist in David Bowie‘s famed 1970s backing band The Spiders from Mars.

The album also includes one other hit single, “Hand to Hold on To,” which peaked at #19 on the Hot 100. American Fool has been certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA for sales of 5 million copies in the U.S.

Meanwhile, in 1983, Mellencamp won his only Grammy for “Hurt So Good” in the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance category, while American Fool was nominated for the Best Rock Album that year.

Mellencamp teamed up producer Don Gehman to co-produce American Fool, which the first of a run of four consecutive multi-Platinum albums on which the duo collaborated. The others were 1983’s triple-Platinum Uh-Huh, 1985’s fives-times Platinum Scarecrow and 1987’s triple-Platinum The Lonesome Jubilee.

Here’s the full track list of American Fool:

“Hurts So Good”
“Jack & Diane”
“Hand To Hold On To”
“Danger List”
“Can You Take It”
“Thundering Hearts”
“China Girl”
“Close Enough”
“Weakest Moments”

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Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit has released a second advance track from his upcoming solo studio album Day by Day, a melodic, R&B-flavored love ballad called “Heartbeat.”

The song is available now via digital formats, while a lyric video has premiered on Schmit’s official YouTube channel. The tune finds the 74-year-old Schmit reflecting on the things that help make a long-term romantic relationship work.

As previously reported, Day by Day will be released on May 6. The 12-track collection features guest contributions from an impressive roster of artists, including Jackson Browne, Lindsey Buckingham, John Fogerty, longtime Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench, Doobie Brothers multi-instrumentalist John McFee, blues-rocker Kenny Wayne Sheppard, and acclaimed session drummer Jim Keltner.

Preceding “Hearbeat,” Schmit released Day by Day‘s lead track, “Simple Man,” as a digital single, along with a companion music video. Buckingham contributed electric guitar to the song, which also features backing vocals from ex-Beach Boys touring members Chris Farmer and Matt Jardine, the latter the son of founding Beach Boys member Al Jardine.

You can pre-order CD and two-LP versions of Day by Day now at Timothy’s online store.

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Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant and acclaimed country-bluegrass artist Alison Krauss have announced plans to mount a second 2022 U.S. tour leg in support their latest album, Raise the Roof, that will run from mid-August to early September.

The new series of shows features 13 dates and will visit cities in the western half of the U.S., running from an August 15 concert in San Diego through a September 4 performance in Austin, Texas.

Tickets for the newly added shows go on sale to the general public this Friday, April 15, at 10 a.m. local time, while pre-sale tickets will be available starting Tuesday, April 12, at 10 a.m. local time. Visit PlantKrauss.com/#tour for a full list of concerts.

Plant and Krauss’ “Raising the Roof” trek will begin with a 11-date stateside leg that will make stops at venues in the eastern half of the country, plotted out from a June 1 show in Canandaigua, New York, through a June 17 appearance at the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tennessee.

The U.S. tour legs will sandwich a series of European concerts that’s mapped out from a June 24 performance at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival through a July 20 date in Berlin.

The shows will feature Plant and Krauss, accompanied by a backing band, performing songs from Raise the Roof, as well as from the duo’s Grammy-winning 2007 collaboration, Raising Sand.

Released in November 2021, Raise the Roof peaked at #7 on the Billboard 200 chart.

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The Who will return to late-night TV when they make an appearance this Friday, April 15, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which airs at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.

The British rock legends will be performing in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Teen Cancer America charity, which Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend co-founded in 2012. The organization raises money to fund programs and create designated social and recreational areas in U.S. hospitals geared specifically toward adolescents and young adults with cancer.

In conjunction with the anniversary, Teen Cancer America has launched a campaign encouraging people to donate $10 to the cause to mark the milestone. Visit GiveButter.com/TCA10for10 if you’d like to contribute.

The Who’s Late Show appearance is scheduled to take place one week before the band kicks off its The Who Hits Back! 2022 North American tour with an April 22 concert in Hollywood, Florida. Check out the group’s full schedule at TheWho.com.

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The Black Crowes will release a six-track EP titled 1972 that finds the band celebrating the 50th anniversary of some of their favorite songs.

The EP, which you can pre-order now, will be available digitally exclusively via Amazon Music on May 4, and will get a wide release on CD and vinyl on May 6.

1972 includes covers of six tunes selected by the band in collaboration with Amazon Music. The songs, which were recorded this past January at Los Angeles’ historic Sunset Sound studio, are renditions of The Rolling Stones‘ “Rocks Off,” T. Rex‘s “The Slider,” Rod Stewart‘s “You Wear It Well,” Little Feat‘s “Easy to Slip,” David Bowie‘s “Moonage Daydream,” and The Temptations‘ “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.”

The “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” was released as an advance digital single today via Amazon Music.

“The year 1972 was a watershed moment, some of the greatest rock and roll songs ever made came out of that year,” Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson says. “To get our band back together in the studio, it had to be a celebration of rock and roll. This record is about love and devotion to something that makes us feel good. We hope that it makes fans around the world feel the same.”

The Black Crowes will celebrate the EP’s release with a special performance taking place May 4 at 10 p.m. ET at the famed LA-area club the Whiskey a Go-Go that will be livestreamed at Amazon Music’s channel on Twitch.

During the streaming event, physical copies of the 1972 EP and exclusive merchandise will be available for purchase.

Meanwhile, a behind-the-scenes video focusing on the 1972 sessions has been posted at The Black Crowes’ YouTube channel.

(Video includes uncensored profanity.)

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Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Unlimited Love is the best-selling rock album in over a year.

The record debuts at number one on the Billboard 200 with a total of 97,500 equivalent album units, 82,500 of which were traditional album sales. The last rock artist to beat that figure was Beatles legend Paul McCartney, whose 2020 solo effort McCartney III moved 107,000 units — 104,000 of which were album sales — upon its chart debut in January 2021.

Surprisingly, Unlimited Love is only the second RHCP album to top the Billboard 200. The first was 2006’s Stadium Arcadium, which was notably the last album to feature guitarist John Frusciante before he left the Peppers in 2009. Unlimited Love marks the band’s first album with Frusciante back in the fold since he returned in late 2019.

Red Hot Chili Peppers will launch a global stadium tour in support of Unlimited Love beginning with a European run in June, followed by a U.S. leg kicking off in July.

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Stevie Nicks is among the artists who will headline the 2022 edition of the Ohana Festival, founded by Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder.

Nicks will be the headliner for the first day of the three-day event, which takes place from September 30 to October 2 at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, California.

Vedder and ex-White Stripes frontman Jack White will headline the second day of the fest, while pop superstar Pink will close things out on October 2.

The lineup also includes founding Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and his current band The Dirty Knobs, who will be performing on October 1. Other artists on the bill include St. Vincent, Britanny Howard, Grouplove, St. Paul & the  Broken Bones and Billy Strings.

A pre-sale starts Wednesday, April 13, at 10 a.m. PT for fans who sign up for early access at OhanaFest.com. Any tickets left over go on sale to the general public on April 14 at 10 a.m. PT. Options include single day or weekend passes, and there are VIP options available as well. The website has all the information.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Doheny State Beach Foundation and the San Onofre Parks Foundation.

Ohana is the latest in a series of U.S. festivals at which Nicks will be performing this year. She’s also confirmed to appear on May 7 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; on June 19 at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee; in early September at the JAS Aspen Snowmass event in Snowmass, Colorado; on September 17 at the Sea.Hear.Now Festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey; and on September 24 at the inaugural Sound on Sound festival in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Check out her full schedule at StevieNicksOfficial.com.

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Julian Lennon, the older son of John Lennon, has shared his first-ever public performance of his late father’s classic song “Imagine” as part of the Global Citizen organization’s recently launched Stand Up for Ukraine campaign.

On Friday, Julian posted a video on his official YouTube channel of him singing the 1971 peace anthem, with Extreme‘s Nuno Bettencourt joining him on acoustic guitar and backing vocals.

In a message accompanying the video, Julian writes, “The War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy…As a human, and as an artist, I felt compelled to respond in the most significant way I could. So…for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad’s song, IMAGINE.”

He continues, “Why now, after all these years? — I had always said, that the only time I would ever consider singing ‘IMAGINE’ would be if it was the ‘End of the World’…But also because his lyrics reflect our collective desire for peace worldwide. Because within this song, we’re transported to a space, where love and togetherness become our reality, if but for a moment in time…The song reflects the light at the end of the tunnel, that we are all hoping for…”

Julian concludes, “As a result of the ongoing murderous violence, millions of innocent families, have been forced to leave the comfort of their homes, to seek asylum elsewhere. I’m calling on world leaders and everyone who believes in the sentiment of IMAGINE, to stand up for refugees everywhere! Please advocate and donate from the heart. #StandUpForUkraine”

As previously reported, Global Citizen’s Stand Up for Ukraine saw a wide variety of music stars taking to social media on Friday and directing their attention to Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s ongoing military invasion of the country.

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America‘s Gerry Beckley has debuted a second advance song from his upcoming solo album, Aurora, a tune called “Tickets from the Past” that he co-wrote with his co-founding America band mate Dewey Bunnell, who also sings on the track.

“Tickets from the Past” is the first song that Beckley and Bunnell wrote together that won’t make its debut appearance on an America album. The track is available now via streaming services, and you can check out a video of Gerry and Dewey talking about the song now at Blue Élan Records’ official YouTube channel.

Bunnell says in the clip, “It’s been a pleasure working with Gerry on this solo project of his. It’s a little different from America projects, but very much the same. Been there before, but great song, Ger. I love Aurora, and I love singing on it.”

As previously reported, Aurora will be released on June 17. It’s an 11-song collection that Gerry recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic at his two home studios, in Sydney, Australia, and Venice, California.

The tracks on Aurora include tunes that began as unfinished demos and scratch recordings that date back as far as the early 1970s, as well as brand-new songs written during the past two years.

“Tickets from the Past” was preceded by “Friends Are Hard to Find,” which was released as a streaming single last month. You can pre-order Aurora now.

America currently is on tour in the U.S., and has almost 20 upcoming dates on its 2022 schedule. The band’s next concert is this Friday, April 15, in Houston. Visit VenturaHighway.com for a full list of shows.

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Envy of None, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson‘s new band, released its self-titled debut album on Friday, April 8.

The project came together after Andy Curran, veteran Canadian band Coney Hatch‘s bassist and a longtime musical associate of Lifeson, began working with a young Oregon-based singer-songwriter named Maiah Wynne and asked Alex if he’d lend his guitar talents to a track.

“I sent it over to him, and he was floored,” Curran tells ABC Audio. “He said, ‘Andy, I think we’ve found a diamond in the rough here. This girl is a secret weapon.’ And that was the beginning of it all.”

Envy of None is quite a departure from Rush, with songs influenced by a variety of genres, including alternative rock, synth pop, Euro pop and industrial rock.

Lifeson tells ABC Audio, “I think what connects all of these different styles of music is [Maiah’s] voice. Her voice always sits right on top of what chaos the music is creating.”

The 68-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer says Wynne, 25, basically became his “muse” for the Envy of None project.

“[H]er sensibilities and her skill [are] such that she’s…very, very, very talented at a very early age,” he maintains. “[E]very song [she contributed to] had something that I wasn’t quite expecting.”

The album ends with the introspective instrumental “Western Sunset” that’s dedicated to late Rush drummer Neil Peart, whom Alex calls his “brother…good friend [and] working partner.”

Lifeson says he was inspired to compose the tune while watching the sunset during visits to an ailing Peart at his California home.

“It gives you a chance to catch your breath after listening to all this pretty intense material,” Alex notes of the song, “and just puts you in a very…contemplative mode.”

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