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Charli XCX explains ‘the dancefloor is dead’ line, reveals which artist she ‘totally rides for’

June 18, 2026 by WDNY Radio

When Charli XCX released “Rock Music,” the first song from her upcoming album. Music, Fashion, Film, many fans interpreted the lyric “I think the dance floor is dead” as a blanket statement about the entire genre. Even Madonna responded, writing, “If your dance floor feels dead/Maybe you’re playing the wrong music.” But in her new Rolling Stone cover story, she insists that’s not what she meant.

“That lyric is very much about my relationship with Brat, and my personal experience with that album,” she says. “My husband runs a dance-music label. There’s been such a wealth of incredible dance/electronic-adjacent records that have been coming out recently. … Dance music is in an incredible place.”

While Charli insists her new project is not a rock album, as has been rumored, she says it’s also not like Brat.

“I knew when I was making it that I was never going to make that record again,” she says. “It’s not creatively rewarding for me to make the same thing twice.”

But she rejects the notion of genre as “a very old school notion, adding, “It’s just me [and my collaborators], doing our thing.”

Also in the interview, Charli praises some fellow artists who, like her, took several years to find their audience.

“There’s been a lot of artists who have been doing things for a long time, who are having their moment now,” she tells the magazine. “Like Zara [Larsson]. I’m so f****** happy for her. And someone who I totally ride for is RAYE.”

Charli and RAYE have been friends for 10 years and have collaborated several times.

“There was a time in our lives when we were together a lot,” Charli says. “And her journey, becoming an independent artist and doing her thing, is really cool.”

On This Day, June 18, 2011: E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons dies at 69

June 18, 2026 by WDNY Radio

On This Day, June 18, 2011…

E Street Band and Bruce Springsteen saxophonist Clarence Clemons died in a Florida hospital six days after suffering a stroke at his home. He was 69.

Clemons, also known as The Big Man, was a member of the E Street Band from 1974 until his passing. He met Springsteen in 1971 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Their meeting was immortalized on the track “The E Street Shuffle,” from Springsteen’s sophomore album, 1973’s The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, and on the 1975 Born To Run classic “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.”

Clemons was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band in 2014.

In addition to his work with Springsteen, Clemons released several solo albums and had a hit with the 1985 track “You’re A Friend of Mine,” a collaboration with Jackson Browne.

Springsteen chose Clarence’s nephew Jake Clemons to be the new E Street Band saxophonist in 2012. He has performed with them ever since.

Megan Moroney’s playing doctor and she’s here with your ‘Medicine’

June 18, 2026 by WDNY Radio

“Beautiful Things” is Megan Moroney’s latest hit to float down from Cloud 9 and ascend to the top five of the country radio charts.

But if you look at the other end of the ranking, there’s another track from her latest album that’s just beginning its climb.

“Medicine” comes with a bit of a warning: If you’re a man who’s ever treated a woman badly, Dr. Moroney will see you now.

“‘Medicine’ is a song I wrote with some of my favorite people about giving a guy a taste of their own medicine,” Megan explains. “I just find it hilarious that anytime I’ve ever treated a guy like 10 percent of how they’ve mistreated me, they freak out. And so this song is just kind of giving them a taste of their medicine.”

“And it’s a fun honky-tonk song, and I hope that I will see all of y’all line dancing to this one very soon,” she adds.

Megan swings by Summerfest in Milwaukee on Thursday, before a Friday stop in Grand Rapids. On Saturday, she plays Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Songs by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan make list of 25 most American songs of all time

June 18, 2026 by WDNY Radio

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, Esquire is taking a deep dive into songs that most reflect our nation.

The mag has just come out with a list of the 25 most American songs of all time, with tracks by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and more making the list.

According to Esquire, the list doesn’t aim to choose the greatest American songs; instead it is “a collection of songs that are distinctly American, addressing protest and leisure, joy and pain, wisdom and silliness, nostalgia and experimentation.”

Despite the title, Springsteen is not on the list for his iconic protest song “Born in the U.S.A.” In fact, songs with America or U.S.A. in the title or chorus were excluded from the list. Instead, The Boss’ 1980 track “The River” is recognized, with the mag calling it his “most perfectly American composition” because it describes the “compromises required of the working class.”

Dylan is represented with 1965’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” although the mag notes his “entire 60-plus-year career has been an exploration of American music.” Petty’s recognized for 1989’s “Free Fallin'” because it “depicts suburban isolation and longing.”

Other songs making the list include: KISS’ “Rock and Roll All Nite,” the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville,” The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ Safari,” Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.”

Amy Lee fights through ‘the madness and the lies’ on Evanescence’s latest #1 hit

June 18, 2026 by WDNY Radio

After waiting over 20 years to earn their first #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with “Afterlife,” Evanescence didn’t need nearly as long to grab their second.

“Who Will You Follow,” the current single off Amy Lee and company’s new album, Sanctuary, has jumped to the top spot on Mainstream Rock Airplay, less than a year after “Afterlife” hit #1 in 2025.

On “Who Will You Follow,” Lee sings, “When all your faith in reality fades away/ Who will you follow?” She tells ABC Audio that encapsulates the message of the song.

“When you can’t even tell what’s real, what’s true, like, who will you follow?” Lee asks. “Right over a cliff!”

“It feels harder and harder, I think, to have a baseline where we can all agree on what’s true before we start acting out to respond to that,” she continues. “And that’s so dangerous.”

Lee adds that the themes of “Who Will You Follow” ring throughout Sanctuary.

“For me, this sanctuary is a sanctuary of truth,” Lee says. “It’s a sanctuary where we can look at each other in the eyes and go, ‘I’m real, this is real life.’ And our communication between each other where we can actually speak to each other as humans — not behind a screen, not through a filter, not through somebody else’s words, making some of them more bold or not — this is real.”

Ultimately, “Who Will You Follow” comes to the conclusion that we do need each other.

“The song, for me, is about breaking through the madness and the lies and finding the simple truth of just human connection again, and our thirst for that,” Lee says.

Sanctuary is out now. Evanescence is currently supporting it on tour, which continues Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Plain White T’s perform on Southwest Airlines flight as part of Live at 35 program

June 18, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Hey there, Delilah, what’s it like on a Southwest Airlines flight? Well, the Plain White T’s can tell you.

The band recently boarded a Southwest flight and performed their signature hit, “Hey There Delilah,” while in the air as part of the airline’s Live at 35 program, which invites musicians to serenade the cabin while cruising at 35,000 feet.

The in-air set actually marked the second Plain White T’s performance on a Southwest flight — they were also among the first bands to play Live at 35 upon its original launch 15 years ago.

“We’ve played a lot of venues over time, and I speak for all of us when I say there is nothing like hearing a plane full of people singing along with your music at 35,000 feet,” says frontman Tom Higgenson in a statement. “We had the opportunity to perform inflight with Southwest over a decade ago, and while that can feel like it was a million years ago, not much has changed. We loved making history with Southwest and their welcoming team.”

You can catch the Plain White T’s performing on land during their ongoing U.S. tour with Yellowcard.

Russell’s Prayer: What the football player prayed to make Ciara his wife

June 18, 2026 by WDNY Radio

People often ask Ciara to share the prayer she used to find her husband, Russell Wilson, but what did Russell pray for when it came to finding his future wife? Speaking to Keke Palmer on her podcast, he revealed he had a very specific plan for his life after his previous marriage came to an end.

“I had a whole plan,” Wilson told Palmer. “I’ma be single for about 10 years. I’ma make some friends along the way and then you gon’ marry your best friend, that whole thing, and sure enough, a year and half into my plan, I meet her, and I knew exactly when I met her, she was the one.”

According to Russell, he had told a friend he could see himself with Ciara before they even met.

“Somebody asked me, ‘Who do you see yourself with?’” Wilson said. “I was like, ‘Ciara.’ They were like, ‘She ain’t going to like you.’ I said, ‘She ain’t met me yet.’”

Years after, he had a conversation with his pastor over dinner and wrote down his “five nonnegotiables” for a future partner: a woman of faith, a woman who would be faithful, a woman like his mother, a woman who was independent and “somebody that would tilt the room.”

“Those five things, I wrote down, prayed over—we prayed over that night,” he told Keke. “Three days later, I met Ci for the first time.”

The full episode of Baby, This is Keke Palmer is available to watch on YouTube.

Olivia Rodrigo hit is among ’25 Most American Songs of All Time,’ says ‘Esquire’

June 18, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Olivia Rodrigo’s debut hit is one of the “25 Most American Songs of All Time,” according to Esquire magazine.

In celebration of America’s 250th birthday, Esquire has put together a list of what it describes as “songs that are distinctly American, addressing protest and leisure, joy and pain, wisdom and silliness, nostalgia and experimentation.”

Olivia’s “Drivers License” made the cut, with Esquire writing that it “demonstrated the eternal power of two of American pop’s defining themes — cars and heartbreak.”

Furthermore, the mag says the song “transcended backgrounds and generations, creating a shared, uniquely national experience” and “stands as the … pinnacle” of 21st century pop.

Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” is also on the list because it’s, according to Esquire, “the all-time biggest-selling single by a female artist” and an “an era-defining record.” The magazine also notes it “represented the culmination of America’s musical century, blending country-music storytelling, pop sonic architecture, and Black creative expression.”

Other songs that made the cut include Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” Bruce Springsteen’s “The River,” “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar, “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffett and tracks by Bob Dylan, The Ramones, Johnny Cash, KISS, The Chicks, Woody Guthrie, Bad Bunny, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and The Beach Boys.

In case you’re wondering why “Party in the U.S.A.” or “Born in the U.S.A.” isn’t on the list, it’s because songs that mentioned “America” or “U.S.A” in the title or chorus were immediately eliminated, due to the 25-song limit.

As for why there are no songs by Prince or Michael Jackson, Esquire writes that the two men “possessed such otherworldly gifts that they seemed to stand for something beyond their native country.”

Rod Wave announces album arriving in August

June 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Rod Wave has a message for his fans: Don’t Look Down. That’s the title of his new album, which is scheduled to arrive on Aug. 28.

Rod announced the project with a trailer that opens with him attending a funeral. He is pulled aside by a man who tells him, “I know this is heavy. I got you. And regarding the business, I’ma take care of everything, man. You take your time, alright? I gotchu.”

The trailer then shifts to Rod in his office with his team.

“From now on, forever, no more sneaky business, no more side deals, cutting out the middle man. Just keep building our own machine. We just keep going and we don’t look down,” he says.

When asked about his first move, he looks directly into the camera and responds with “the album.” Don’t Look Down serves as the follow-up to Rod’s Last Lap in 2024.

Speaking about his growth and mindset since then, Rod previously told Billboard, “I understand the hand I was dealt and pain I was going through, but now I’m older and I know how to go through it and how to balance it. Now I understand the business.”

“With my back against the wall, how can I make the most out of it to another level? How can I control the space I’m in?”

Limited-edition vinyl and CD versions of the album are now available for preorder. Fans can also purchase one of 1,000 signed copies while supplies last.

Melvins’ Dale Crover releases cover of Neil Young’s ‘Harvest Moon’ after starring in original song’s video

June 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Melvins drummer and onetime Nirvana member Dale Crover has released a cover of the Neil Young song “Harvest Moon,” coming full circle on a moment over 30 years in the making.

You see, Crover played a younger version of Young in the video for the original “Harvest Moon,” the title track off the folk rock legend’s 1992 album. According to Crover’s label, Joyful Noise Recordings, he also “crashed Neil’s car on set” during the video shoot.

Crover has now put his spin on “Harvest Moon” for an EP titled Get Yer Ba-Ba’s Out. His version is also a mash-up with the Melvins song “The Bit.”

The “Harvest Moon” cover is out now. Get Yer Ba-Ba’s Out will be released Sept. 4.

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