Classic Rock

It had barely begun when the 2012 reunion album and tour with the original members of Black Sabbath began to develop cracks in the foundation.

In the space of a few weeks, a world tour and the first studio album by the original members since 1978 were announced, work on the album began, one band member was diagnosed with cancer, and another is balking at the contract he was offered.

Rocky rock band reunions are nothing new, but some fans are wondering whether Black Sabbath's will really happen.

• Black Sabbath's rocky reunion
• Classic rock love-hate reunions

Using Captain Beefheart's criterion, the classic rockers who performed on the Grammy Awards telecast this week (2/5) definitely "ain't too old!"

According to a poll by the Grammy folks, more than half of the people who watched the awards were there because of the music. It wasn't an accident that the artists whose performances opened, closed, and populated the middle of the awards show were classic rockers.

Here's a look at the baby boomer rock fest at the 54th Grammys.

Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt photo by Kevin Winter / Getty Images

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Some people will watch the Grammy Awards on Sunday (2/12) to see who wins, some to see what they're wearing and who they're with. But most, according to the best available evidence, will be watching for the performances.

Two classic rock artists will be performing, one will be a presenter, but very few have a chance at winning any awards. Here's a look at classic rock at the 54th Grammy Awards.

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The holidays are over, the winter blahs have set in and all those New Year's resolutions about losing a few pounds and getting in shape are either works in progress, or still on the bucket list.

You don't have to have classic rock music to accompany your run, walk, jog, bike, calisthenics, weights (or whatever you do for your exercise workouts) but nothing's better for getting the feet moving and the blood pumping.

Whether you can bench press your own weight, wait in line for the bunny slope, or fall somewhere in between, there's a classic rock playlist to fit your pace. Take a look at ours, then tell us about yours.

• Dave's favorite classic rock workout songs
• Your favorite classic rock workout songs

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It almost sneaked up on me again. Valentine's Day. Not a good one to forget if you want to keep peace in the family.

I've been known to go all snarky and pick (on) some of the worst classic rock love songs, but I've decided to play nice this time.

It's audience participation time, which means that I'm sure you have some favorites that aren't on my list, so you'll have a chance to share them.

• My top 10 classic rock love songs
• Your favorite classic rock love songs

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What's your pleasure? February's new releases offer quite a variety: new studio releases, new live releases, new concert films, a new rock documentary. In other words, something for virtually every classic rock fan.

• Read about the best of February 2012 classic rock releases

Serious students (or just fans) of classic rock will be happy to learn that they may now bury themselves in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's Library and Archives collections of books, CDs, vinyl LPs, tapes, DVDs and other documentation of rock through the years.

Located at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland (home of the Rock Hall Museum) the 22,000+ square foot space is "a state of the art facility for what we do, with lots of storage space, new offices and plenty of room to grow," the facility's director, Andy Leach tells Billboard magazine.

Already cataloged are 3,500 print publications, 1,400 audio recordings and 270 videos. That's just the beginning, says Leach. "It's exciting that we're finally going to open, but in no way at all can we just kick back and say it's done. Most of the work we have to do is in front of us still -- a lot more cataloging, a lot more archival processing, a lot more collecting and digitization and those kinds of things."

What's left to catalog? Tens of thousands of audio and video recordings, and printed publications. Oh, and special collections of the work of 270 individual artists, songwriters and producers. Like all libraries, says Leach, "it's always going to be that way ... they're never finished."

A formal grand opening is planned for April 9, 2012 but as of now, the facility's first floor is open, with a reading room and multimedia work stations available to the public.

Road trip to Cleveland. Who's with me?

• Take a tour of the Rock Hall Library + Archives

Image courtesy Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives

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Last year was notable for the number and quality of new releases from classic rock artists. Just a few weeks into the new year, the outlook is already as good or better than 2011.

Over the next few weeks, new albums from Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Bonnie Raitt, Meat Loaf (and the list goes on) will help get you through the rest of winter. Here's a look at upcoming new releases to watch.

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It hasn't been all that long ago that I could count on my fingers the number of classic rock DVDs that came out in the course of a year. These days, though, there's a nearly constant stream of documentaries and concert films -- new and archival -- that make for some serious entertainment for classic rock fans.

This is a good thing, but even as enjoyable as it is to watch and write about them, the sheer volume of new video releases is such that, well, let's just say that I'm looking at you now over the tops of several stacks of DVDs that have been released just in the last few weeks.

Since you probably don't have any more time than I do, and since few if any of us have pockets deep enough to allow us to buy everything that's released, I've taken the liberty of culling out of the recent crop five new classic rock DVDs that are well worth your time and money.

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(In the interest of complete accuracy, the question should actually be, have you heard these three yet ... ?)

While sifting through tapes from The Doors' 1971 L.A. Woman recording sessions, Bruce Botnick (who produced that album, as well as the remastered version being released later this month) made a startling discovery: a "lost" tape of a song recorded during those sessions but never released. It is, in effect, a new Doors song with lead vocals by Jim Morrison just a few months before he died.

• Listen to The Doors - "She Smells So Nice"

The first single / music video from Van Halen's upcoming new album, A Different Kind of Truth is out this week. The album (release date: 2/7) will be the first with lead singer David Lee Roth since 1984 (which was both the album title and the year it was released.) A North American tour begins the week after the album's release

• Watch Van Halen - "Tattoo"

Another recent "lost" find is a 1973 TV appearance by David Bowie during on BBC's Top of the Pops series. The original tape was erased, but a cameraman who had made a copy for himself recently made it public.

• Watch David Bowie - "The Jean Genie"

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