So your New Year's Eve plans were cancelled? 

Dave Grohl's got ya .. until January 9 - you can stream the Foo Fighters June 2021 NYC concert below!  The show includes an emotional opening rendition of “Times Like These,”  a cover of Radiohead‘s “Creep” feat. Dave Chappelle on lead vocals, and the live debut of the Dee Gees, the Foos’ Bee Gees tribute act!

So pop the bubbly and ring in 2022 with the Foo Fighters ! 

As the calendar year 2021 winds down - we continue to compile our top 103.1 songs of the year (yes - there is a .1 song) 

The list is compiled using input from you (vote here) and our music staff ... so what were RNR DJ Phil's top songs of 2021 - here you go: 

Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olson “Like I Used To”

Wet Leg “Chaise Longue”

Japanese Breakfast “Be Sweet”

Spoon “Hardest Cut”

Durand Jones “Witchoo”

What a year for music 2021 was - and here's what Mike Ondayko's favorite songs were ... and his favorite albums too for good measure ! 

5) Wet Leg: Chaise Longue - 

It's such a fun, catchy song!

4) Lorde: Solar Power - 

Never got tired of it...

3) Milky Chance: Colorado - 

Makes me wish I had invested in medical marijuana

2) The Killers: Quiet Town-

I swear I grew up there

1) Foo Fighters: Making a Fire   - 

Ya can’t fight the Foo’s 

And here's Mikes Top 5 albums of 2021:

5) Lorde: Solar Power - Lorde’s Third album does not disappoint! 

4) Bleachers: Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night  - Even from the cheap seats this album is deep and good.

3) Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats: The Future - With each passing note Nathaniel gets better and better.

2) Foo Fighters:  Medicine at Midnight - Dave Grohl and Company are masters of entertainment! 

1) Adele: 30 - No one puts their personal feelings into song better.  

Don't forget - you can cast your vote for the top songs of 2021 HERE - and tune in to the Top 103.1 Countdown on New Year's Eve - sponsored by AP Mathews Heating and Air Conditioning 

It's the end of the year and we are busy compiling the Top 103.1 Songs of 2021 with the help of you (vote for your favorite songs here) and the RNR DJs. 

Here's what Randi Kirshbaum had to say about her top 2021 tunes: 

My favorite album of 2021 by far was Brandi Carlile’s “In These Silent Days” -  especially the songs “Right on Time” and “Broken Horses”

I also loved Nathaniel Rateliff and the Nightsweat’s “The Future”.

and Anderson East’s album “Maybe We Never Die” and

For songs, you can’t beat War on Drugs’ “I Don’t Live Here Anymore”

and Eddie Vedder’s “Long Way”.

I am also digging Adele’s “Oh My God” 

Be sure to tune into the Top 103.1 Songs of 2021 Countdown on New Year's Even and again on New Year's Day

The late Chris Cornell's cover of the song Nothing Compares 2 U was nominated for a 2022 Grammy award (the song appears on his posthumous album No One Sings Like You Anymore)

This week, Chris's daughter Toni Cornell appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon  to perform her dad's cover of the classic 1985 Prince penned song  - that was made famous by  Sinéad O'Connor in 1990.  
 

Toni was joined by a backing band and string quartet for the performance which you can watch below : 

A lot of us picked up new hobbies during the pandemic ... but Coyote Shivers (who played Berko in the film Empire Records) and his partner Pleasant Gehman's hobby might be our favorite ...

The LA couple 'inherited' a group of  5 black ducks (named Dee Dee, Joey, Johnny, and Tommy - after the original four Ramones - while the fifth duck is named Sheena after the band’s classic song “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker) 

They took the ducks to the famed Hollywood Forever Cemetary where they fed them at the grave site of Dee Dee Ramone.  Of course they alert their feathered friends at dinner time using a “dinner bell” dubbed “Duckskrieg Bop” (essentially a recording of “Blitzkrieg Bop” with quacks).

Word has gotten around the cemetary grounds - with plenty of wildlife coming by for a bite to eat now- LOL 

 

 

 

 

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Otis Redding was just 26-years-old when he died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967 - along with Ronnie Caldwell, Carl Cunningham, Phalon Jone, Jimmy King, Matthew Kelly and the plane’s pilot, Richard Fraser.

On the 54th anniversary of his death - the Black Pumas have shared an amazing cover of one of Redding's biggest hits - '(Sittin on) the Dock of the Bay'

Eric Burton of Black Pumas said: 

“Otis Redding is one of my live performance heroes, especially for his vocal tone and general stage presence.  ‘(Sittin’ On) the Dock of The Bay’ to me boasts his exceptional gifts as both an artist and songwriter." 

Check out our live streamed performance with Black Pumas HERE

Dave Grohl's cover of Rock and Roll All Night by KISS for his Hanukkah Sessions must have left a little bit of an impression on Gene Simmons ... 

...cause the KISS bassist came to see the band he 'can't say enough about their commitment and authenticity to the fans' at a recent show in Vegas.  Simmons joined the band on stage - but didn't jam with them .. maybe he was insulted by Taylor's honorarium offer?    

Backstage with the ?@foofighters? right before they royally rocked the house last night in Vegas. Fun stuff. And, I can’t say enough about their commitment and authenticity to the fans. Inspiring! pic.twitter.com/mo2PBRN9Up

— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) December 5, 2021

That didn't seem to matter to Dave though - who was excited to share the stage with the "legendary bass player."  Exclaiming -  I had posters of that motherfucker on my wall when I was a kid. Hold on, let me rephrase that. I still have posters of Gene Simmons on my fucking wall at home."  Check out some fan captured video of the moment below:

I guess for now the Foos will have to settle for performing with 'Kiss Guy' 

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has once againg teamed up with Greg Kurstin for Hanukkah Sessions - a series of eight covers of Jewish artists for each of the eight days of holiday.

This year's fifth cover -  the duo became a trio - enlisting Grohl's daughter Violet for vocals on a cover of Amy Winehouse‘s ‘Take The Box’.  

Check out all the sessions HERE

Chris Cornell loved covering the Beatles both as a solo artist and with Soundgarden. 

The late great grunge rocker put out versions of "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey," "A Day in the Life," "Dear Prudence," "Ticket to Ride," to name a few. One stand out though is Soundgarden's sludgy rendition of "Come Together." The band included it  as the B-side to their 1990 "Hands All Over" single and even played it live ... check out the video below from —  Concrete Marketing's 1989 Foundations Forum in L.A. Cornell (complete with Cornell rocking a very vintage Nirvana tee): 

Seems a lot of celebrities know how to get to Sesame Street these days - as the 52nd season of the show features a lot of cameos - including Anderson .Paak, Billie Eilish, and Kacey Musgraves.  

Spacey Kacey appeared this week with Elmo, Gabrielle, Count von Count, Big Bird, and Abby Cadabby, to sing about her favorite colors, which turns out to be all the colors. 

Sesame Street: Kacey Musgraves sings All the Colors of the World

Musgraves seems to have an in with the muppets - having already performed on The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo.