Classic Hits

R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe was the surprise guest at Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy’s Brooklyn concert Saturday. The duo is on tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s fourth studio album, Lifes Rich Pageant.

Stipe joined them for two songs, Pageant’s “These Days” and the Man on the Moon track “The Great Beyond.” Fan-shot footage of the performances are posted on R.E.M.’s Instagram account.

While Stipe’s appearance wasn’t announced prior to the show, fans may not have been all that surprised he showed up. Stipe joined the pair at their Brooklyn show in March 2025, which celebrated the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s Fables of the Reconstruction, and performed the Reckoning track “Pretty Persuasion.”

Stipe and his R.E.M. bandmates Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry also joined Shannon and Narducy when the Fables tour hit R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, Georgia, in February of that same year.

Shannon and Narducy’s Lifes Rich Pageant tour hits Pittsburgh on Monday.

In other Michael Stipe news … The rocker and producer Andrew Watt has contributed the theme song Steve Carrell’s new HBO series, The Rooster. The song, “I Played The Fool,” features blink-182’s Travis Barker on drums and ex Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer on guitar and piano.

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Steven Tyler’s annual Jam for Janie Grammy Viewing Party, put on by his Janie’s Fund charity, raised $4.1 million for the organization.

Janie’s Fund posted a video on Instagram featuring highlights from the bash, which took place Feb. 1 at the Hollywood Palladium. The footage includes such rock stars as The Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson, Yungblud, former Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum, Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt and others.

“Thank you for 10 years of belief, compassion and love that heals,” a choked up Tyler says in the clip. “Tonight, tonight means everything to me and I know it means everything to you.”

The video also features highlights of another Janie’s Fund event, the Sounds of Laughter Comedic Soiree, which took place Jan. 29 at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles.

Tyler launched Janie’s Fund in 2015 to help girls who’ve been abused or neglected. A press release announcing the Grammy party noted that over the last decade the organization had raised over $23 million, which has helped provide 350,000 days of counseling and trauma-informed care for more than 2,200 girls and young women.

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An archival performance from Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour has been released to mark two special occasions.

The performance is of the Gilmour solo track “On an Island,” recorded in April 2006 in New York as part of an AOL Session. It features Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright on keyboards.

The upgraded video was released to coincide with Gilmour’s 80th birthday on Friday, as well as the 20th anniversary of his third solo album, On an Island. An Instagram post announcing the video noted that more performances from the 2006 AOL Session will be released “over the next few days.”

Released on March 6, 2006, On an Island was the rocker’s first solo album in 22 years, and the follow-up to 1984’s About Face. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200. 

In between About Face and On an Island, Pink Floyd released their 14th studio album, The Division Bell, in 1994, marking their second without Roger Waters.

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A new cover of Van Halen’s “Jump,” put together by Coca-Cola as the anthem for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, has just been released.

The cover features blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, Colombian reggaeton artist J Balvin and singer-songwriter Amber Mark.

Coca-Cola previously teased the cover in an ad that premiered in January. The full song is accompanied by a video in which animated versions of Barker, Vai, Balvin and Mark “bring together fans around the world through soccer and music, culminating in an epic space stadium celebration of joy and celebration,” according to the video’s caption.

You can watch that on YouTube.

“Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ is one of those rare songs that transcends generations, so approaching it came with a lot of respect,” Mark says in a statement. “Being able to honor the original while bringing a modern perspective was incredibly special. I’m excited to be part of a track that connects past and present in such an uplifting, powerful way, and I hope fans feel that energy for years to come.”

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, takes place from June 11 to July 19.

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The Who’s Pete Townshend is the latest celebrity to take part in the Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s Colbert Questionert.

Townshend revealed that his favorite sandwich is pastrami on rye with mustard and a pickle; his first concert ever was Bill Haley & His Comets in 1958; his favorite action movie is Ang Lee’s Hulk; and that if he got only one song to listen to for the rest of his life it would be “Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson.

Asked what happens when we die, Townshend said he doesn’t believe anything happens.

“I think consciousness is what we are, not our bodies. So I think consciousness probably goes on in some form or other,” he said, adding that when people die, consciousness moves on. “Maybe then there’s a possibility of reincarnation or heaven and hell, whatever, I don’t know.”

When asked if he ever had an out-of-body experience, he shared a funny story of a bad STP trip he had on an airplane, noting that at some point he left his body and floated above the airplane, flying through the sky, which was filled with lost items like socks and buttons.

Asked whether he prefers cats or dogs, he choose dogs, but had a good reason why. Townshend said growing up he was a “snotty” kid, and every time he was sick his mother, who took in stray cats, would give him a cat to keep him company. When he was 12 he got tested and found out he was allergic to cats, noting that while his mom was trying to help, it actually “just made it worse.”

Finally, when asked to describe the rest of his life in five words, Townshend thought hard about it before saying, “Make another record, lazy (bleep).”

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On This March 6, 1946…

Pink Floyd guitarist, singer and songwriter David Gilmour was born in Cambridge, England.

The now 80-year-old joined Pink Floyd in 1967, a few months before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett.

Gilmour’s first album with the band was 1968’s A Saucerful of Secrets, appearing on all but two songs. He has appeared on every Pink Floyd album since and took over leadership of Pink Floyd following the 1985 departure of Roger Waters.

Pink Floyd went on to become one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of over 250 million records worldwide. Their best-selling album, 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon, has been certified 14-times Platinum.

Gilmour has also released five solo albums, the most recent being 2024’s Luck and Strange.

Gilmour was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Pink Floyd, and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2003.

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The critically acclaimed Led Zeppelin documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin is being released in a special high-definition box set.

Becoming Led Zeppelin Limited Collector’s Edition, dropping April 14, is a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray set that comes with a host of extras.

The set, housed in a Steelbook case, comes with a special letter from the film’s director, Bernard MacMahon, plus two limited-edition guitar picks, four photo card prints, an iron-on jacket patch and vinyl stickers.

Becoming Led Zeppelin Limited Collector’s Edition is available for preorder now.

Becoming Led Zeppelin, described as a “hybrid docu-concert film,” was the first officially sanctioned documentary about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame group. It featured archival footage of Led Zeppelin, along with new interviews with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, as well as archival audio from their late drummer, John Bonham.

When it opened in February 2025 it set a record for IMAX theaters, becoming the biggest opening weekend ever for an IMAX exclusive music release. It also landed in the top 10 at the box office during its debut week.

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There’s no guarantee that the artist who tops the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame fan vote will actually get into the Rock Hall, but at least they can take comfort in the fact that fans think they belong there.

Over 2.5 million votes have been cast since the nominees for induction were announced, and so far Phil Collins is #1 in the fan vote by a comfortable margin. Were he to make the cut, it would be his second time in the Hall, since he’s already in as a member of Genesis.

Coming in at #2 is R&B boy band New Edition, followed by Pink at #3. The late R&B icon Luther Vandross is currently #4, followed by Billy Idol, INXS and Sade — which, by the way, is a group and not just a person.

The rest of the top 10 vote-getters are, in descending order, Mariah Carey, Wu-Tang Clan and Lauryn Hill.

The nominee with the fewest votes on the leaderboard? The late singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley, who released one highly influential album, Grace, before he accidentally drowned in 1997.

Of course, the leaderboard can change many times before the deadline to vote is reached. As previously reported, the results of the fan vote are submitted as a single ballot, as though all the fans together were one actual Rock Hall voting member. There are roughly 1,200 voting members in all. The winner of last year’s fan vote, Phish, did not make it into the Hall.

The 2026 Rock Hall of Fame inductees should be revealed in April; the ceremony will take place in the fall.

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Guns N’ Roses announced in February they were headlining the bp Adelaide Grand Final Concert on Nov. 29 in Adelaide, Australia. Now it turns out that while they’re Down Under, they’re going to be playing some other shows, as well.

The “Sweet Child O’ Mine” rockers just announced dates for a tour of Australia and New Zealand, which will have them hitting seven cities. The trek kicks off with the Adelaide show, and then the rockers will visit Townsville, Brisbane, Newcastle, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, before wrapping the tour on Dec. 17 in Auckland, New Zealand.

A presale for the Guns N’ Roses Nighttrain fan club begins Friday. A complete list of tour dates and ticket information can be found at GunsNRoses.com.

Guns N’ Roses is set to launch a North American tour on May 5 in Hollywood, Florida. Their next show is March 28 in Monterrey, Mexico.

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The death of singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka has prompted his fans to revisit his music.

Billboard reports that in the four days following Sedaka’s Feb. 27 death at the age of 86, there was a 708% increase in streams of his tunes. His catalog clocked a total of 2.4 million on-demand U.S. streams.

The song getting the biggest boost was his classic “Laughter in the Rain,” which was a #1 hit for Sedaka. There were 515,000 streams in the days following Sedaka’s death, or an increase of 505%. That was followed by “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” also a #1 hit, which had 307,000 streams for an increase of 453%.

Sedaka was the co-writer on the Captain and Tennille hit “Love Will Keep Us Together.” Although their version of the song saw a 15% bump in streams, his recording of the track nabbed 55,000 streams for an increase of 1,811%.

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