177 posts tagged with music and rock (View popular tags)
Whole Lotta Shakin' - a PRI documentary series on the history of rockabilly, hosted by Rosie Flores.
posted on Apr 26, 2008 - View this thread
Keyboardist Danny Federici, founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, has died.
posted on Apr 17, 2008 - View this thread
Are you sick and tired of telling those darn kids to "get off your lawn" because their "favorite band sucks?" Next time, instead of handing out snark, hand them a brochure for the Paul Green School of Rock Music! Before you know it, you'll be wishing that you had a bigger lawn.
posted on Apr 2, 2008 - View this thread
He was born on March 24, 1938 in Danzig, "the true nephew of William Tell". He studied under Stockhausen from 1963-1966, then threw it all over to help create Can, whose fans included a bemused David Niven. (I Want More. Hunters and Collectors. Moonshake.) You may know him best as a pioneer of the found/stolen/ethno mashup later popularized by Brian Eno and David Byrne. (Cool in the Pool. Persian Love.) But sometimes he just gives us a sweet little pop song. He's the bloody Energizer Bunny of Krautrock. So Happy 70th Birthday, Holger Czukay, you daft and awesome German uncle I never had. (Hey, why not go over to his MySpace page and give him your regards?)
posted on Mar 24, 2008 - View this thread
The Embarrassment playing live in 1981 at the Flatiron in Wichita, KS.
posted on Mar 8, 2008 - View this thread
From The Mike Douglas Show circa 1967: Moby Grape - Omaha & 8:05
From somewhere else circa whatever: Moby Grape - Hey Grandma & Sitting By A Window
And, you can hear, albeit with registration, three free songs at Wolfgang's Vault: Moby Grape Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco, CA 02/26/1967
posted on Mar 6, 2008 - View this thread
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - I'm A Little Dinosaur
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - New England
Jonathan Richman - Now Is Better Than Before
Spring is in the air today and here are a few slices of vintage Jonathan just because...
posted on Mar 2, 2008 - View this thread
Atomic Platters :: Cold War Music from the Golden Age of Homeland Security
posted on Feb 15, 2008 - View this thread
Heavenly Pop Hits: The Flying Nun Story. New Zealand rock doc (in 9 parts).
posted on Jan 6, 2008 - View this thread
The best music of 2007 according to Stereogum, Pitchfork, All Music, NME, PopMatters, The A.V. Club, Rolling Stone, TIME, MTV, the Guardian, eMusic, Amazon, Spin Magazine, Q, Largehearted Boy, and more. Among the most frequently listed are Radiohead, Spoon, Arcade Fire, Of Montreal, Feist, and The National.
posted on Dec 18, 2007 - View this thread
Courtney
Love Rocks Harder Than You.
posted on Dec 14, 2007 - View this thread
Simone White can help calm your holiday rage. White is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter whose new CD, "I Am The Man" has been inching its way up the indie charts; people have been comparing her voice to Karen Dalton and Billie Holiday, but she's really her own creature, as you can tell from this dreamy new video, well-timed for the seasonal onslaught of consumerism and carols: "Christmas Makes Me Blue."
posted on Dec 13, 2007 - View this thread
Know your musical Jews!
posted on Dec 10, 2007 - View this thread
The 28 Most Recognizable Guitars.
posted on Dec 6, 2007 - View this thread
Classic post-punk music videos from, strangely enough, post-punk.com (via largehearted boy)
posted on Nov 29, 2007 - View this thread
Lucky Soul's 'Lips Are Unhappy' isn't the likliest of contenders for the UK's coveted Christmas number one, but this is the track (from a shortlist) selected by listeners of Last.fm to receive Last.fm's backing. Profits go to charity, as is the norm for Xmas No. 1 entries.
posted on Nov 26, 2007 - View this thread
Have these fellows whetted your appetite for Southern Hemispherical comic singer-songwriters who care about The Issues? Barefoot Australian Tim Minchin ought to satisfy that hunger with an environmental anthem and a peace anthem. But aside from his social activism, he's also vulgar, poignant, dark, and of course, rock.
posted on Nov 14, 2007 - View this thread
The Chicago Women's Liberation (embedded video) Rock Band
posted on Nov 14, 2007 - View this thread
Think the Osmond Brothers didn't rock? Think again. "In spite of their squeaky clean image, the Osmonds had a soulful, sometimes raucous sound which was a precursor of the power pop of later years." Color my preconceived notions shattered.
posted on Nov 12, 2007 - View this thread
BBC Introducing is an excellent way to keep tabs on what's fresh in the British popular music scene without having to live in a rainsoaked armpit. There are four podcasts for you to download, the flagship Best of Unsigned Podcast, Homegrown Mix with Ras Kwame, Scotland Introducing and BBC Radio Northampton's Weekender. All feature bands that are either unsigned or just recently signed and the music ranges from hip hop to punk rock to what sounds awfully like the soundtrack for a NES game with half-hearted chanting over it. This is an excellent resource whether you're casual searcher for new songs or the kind of anorak who knows which British indie band was first to use an 808.
posted on Nov 5, 2007 - View this thread
Stylus Magazine is closed.
Home to some of the best writing about rockism, and Rasputin, slsking and The Stranger.
Greatest hits/bluffer's guide here.
posted on Nov 2, 2007 - View this thread
The year 1964 was a watershed period in British music. Before that year, British popular music was barely heard outside of the U.K. But when the Beatles achieved American success, a seemingly endless number of British bands and singers were suddenly able to crack the American market.The features opens with footage from a November, 1963 Beatles concert in Manchester - She Loves You
By the end of 1964, some enterprising filmmakers decided to create a cinematic year-in-review to highlight this new wave of British music talent. The result was “Pop Gear,” a strange but jolly little production that serves as a celluloid time capsule for that remarkable musical year.
Sometimes you've got a song or a tune but something's missing : call Mike Stern, he could add some stuff.
posted on Oct 24, 2007 - View this thread
WYLD CANADA! 120 red-hot slabs of '60's teen garage nastiness from The Great White North (and a fifth volume here.) All the Canuck garage rawk you could ever want, from 49th Parallel to The Witness Inc.
posted on Oct 23, 2007 - View this thread
The Moby Quotient [I]n the late 1990s, the techno artist Moby, as hip as they come, openly boasted of having sold every track of his breakthrough album "Play" to an advertiser, or to a film or TV soundtrack. The album should perhaps have been called "Pay." In homage Bill Wyman of Hitsville has dubbed his formula for determining the offensiveness of a rock-based advertisement. (accompanying article)
posted on Oct 16, 2007 - View this thread
The Iron City Houserockers were Pittsburgh's entry in the Heartland Rock Sweepstakes that occured after the success of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger. They had literate lyrics, tough rock and roll backing, and clear-eyed vision. Led by Joe Grushecky, a special ed teacher by day, produced by Miami Steve Van Zandt of the E Street Band, and possessed of tunes like "Junior's Bar" (youtube), they seemed poised to hit the big time, but it never quite happened, which is the music audience's loss. He is, however the subject of a loving tribute in the form of "A Good Life: The Joe Grushecky Story" (trailer).
posted on Oct 15, 2007 - View this thread
More fun from the Daily Mail. Apparently Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones has decided to post bits from his upcoming autobiography. 1| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
posted on Oct 7, 2007 - View this thread
In 1975, armed with a big pile of 8-track car stereos and a whole lot of moxie, Dave Biro set out to change the sound of rock music. He failed spectacularly. This is the fascinating and tragic story of one of the rarest instruments in rock music- The Birotron.
posted on Oct 1, 2007 - View this thread
... After take seventeen, Dylan heeds the producer Johnston’s advice to start with a harmonica swoop. Crescendos off of an extended fifth chord, led by Paul Griffin’s astonishingpiano swells (“half Gershwin, half gospel, all heart” an astute critic later wrote), climax in choruses dominated by piano, organ, and Bobby Gregg’s drum rolls; Robbie Robertson’s guitar hits its full strength at the finale. Intimations of the thin, wild mercury sound underpin rock & roll symphonics. Johnston delivers a pep talk before one last take—“keep that soul feel”—and Gregg snaps a quick click opener, and fewer than five minutes later, the keeper is in the can.Mystic Nights - The Making of Blonde On Blonde In Nashville
Okay, first, take a look at this collection of 60's and 70's Asian Pop Record Covers. Cause they're just a helluvalotta of fun to look at. Now, if you find your musical appetite whetted, the same fellow who brought you those wonderful jackets has a Singapore and Asian 60's Pop Music MySpace page, where you can listen to his fabulous audio playlist, see video clips and more record jackets, and get more info on this very fertile period in Asian pop music history.
posted on Sep 26, 2007 - View this thread
NickCaveFilter: Fifty years ago this very day, Nicholas Edward Cave [previously] crawled from the womb and started to plot. At 16 he formed his first band which evolved quickly into the Boys Next Door [Shivers]. This in turn mutated into the Birthday Party (1980) who terrorised the post-punk soundscape in Australia and the UK [Release the Bats | Nick the Stripper]. The Birthday Party relocated to England and in 1984 the band imploded in an orgy of drugs and booze. Shortly after Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were born [The Ship Song - video & solo live | The Mercy Seat - video & live | Where the Wild Roses Grow], and 23 years and 11 studio albums later (not to mention a best selling book, a great screenplay, some acting and several soundtrack projects) he is still going strong. But, instead of sitting on his musical laurels he decided to get back to basics and, in 2006, grew a huge moustache and formed Grinderman – a four piece with a primeval hybrid Birthday Party/Bad Seeds sound [No Pussy Blues | Honey Bee]. Fellow Mefites, I ask you to raise a glass to Mr. Cave… And, especially if you are not familiar to his work, don’t forget to “look inside” for my primer on the enigma that is Nick Cave, one of the finest song-writers on the face of this miserable planet.
posted on Sep 22, 2007 - View this thread
Sunday Night, later named Michelob Presents Night Music, was an NBC late-night television show hosted by Jools Holland and David Sanborn which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists. [YouTubeFilter, via]
posted on Sep 16, 2007 - View this thread
Christs, Communists, & Rock 'n' Roll is an excellent introduction to a tradition of anti-rock writings and recordings by the Religious Right. In the 1960s, there was David Noebel who wrote Communism, Hypnotism, & the Beatles and The Marxist Minstrels. In the early 1970s, Reverend Riblett constructs a seven-foot cross out of rock music records and sets it aflame with gasoline. Michael Mills finds hidden Satanic messages in Bow Wow Wow and the Grateful Dead, while Bob Larson valiantly debates Mandy, a 13-year-old fan of the Cure. The motherlode is probably the cassettes of John Todd, who traveled the fundamentalist circuit in the 1970s claiming to be a former witch and a member of the Illuminati, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. (more inside)
posted on Aug 20, 2007 - View this thread
John Lee Hooker performs Gloria and It Serves Me Right to Suffer with Van Morrison; I'm in the Mood with Bonnie Raitt; The Healer with Santana; Boogie Chilluns with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton; and Roadhouse Blues with Jim Morrison & the Doors (audio only). [Also, Muddy Waters, Etta James and more blues legends & rock combos inside]
posted on Aug 5, 2007 - View this thread
Cracked Pepper by ccc and ill chemist is a mash-up of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and an amazing array of songs you know. While not quite on par with the focus and sheer audacity of DangerMouse's Grey Album, Cracked Pepper is a smart, rich, and rewarding listen. Available track by track or as a torrent. See inside for tracks sampled.
posted on Jul 30, 2007 - View this thread
Devolution: Nature's U-Turn is a new music video concept by rock band KoRn for their single Evolution. The premise? Mankind isn't evolving, it's devolving... getting dumber by the day. Wait. Haven't we seen this before? We have, and Devo's Gerald V. Casale isn't happy. "We denounce this as impostors playing with fire." he says of Korn on the Club Devo website. He elaborates in a new interview with Rolling Stone, including a possibility of their first new record in 20 years. Devo's also put out a new song, "Watch Us Work It", which appears in a commercial for Dell laptops [youtube link], with a official music video and single release to come.
posted on Jul 26, 2007 - View this thread
The Theiving Magpie: Jimmy Page's Dubious Recording Legacy [more inside]
posted on Jul 23, 2007 - View this thread
Aside from the usual crap, YouTube has a great selection of
one the most
covered
song of all time: All Along the Watchtower. Classics like Hendrix (live and studio), Neil Young (at DailyMotion
with better sound) and U2--and some great contemporary versions like Keziah
Jones' blazingly-fast version,
Bradley Fish's 12-instrument (including Chinese Zither) version, Michael Hedges’
reason-to-be-excited cover, and
even a quite good version of DMB's much-maligned cover. What doesn't really rank: Dylan's original.
posted on Jul 2, 2007 - View this thread
Three well-received albums, but without selling many of them. One of the greatest singles ever, but it didn't chart. An acrimonious split after only four years amidst heroin addiction and charges of attempted murder. A lead singer and songwriter who descended into a quarter of a century of addiction: first heroin, then crack, just about staying alive, but only just.
But The Only Ones are back, dubbed as cult heroes, and acknowledged as an influence on bands like Nirvana, The Replacements, Blur and The Libertines. Just a little haggard and worn, but playing live again (The Big Sleep, Another Girl) after twenty-five years.
posted on Jul 1, 2007 - View this thread
Before Woodstock, there was the Monterey International Pop Festival, the world's first major rock festival. It took place from June 16 to June 18, 1967, and it featured performances by, among others, Eric Burdon and The Animals, Simon and Garfunkel, Canned Heat, Al Kooper, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Electric Flag, The Byrds (more), Jefferson Airplane, Otis Redding,
Ravi Shankar,
Big Brother and The Holding Company, Buffalo Springfield (minus Neil Young), The Who (3 4 5), Grateful Dead, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Scott McKenzie, and The Mamas and The Papas
posted on Jun 16, 2007 - View this thread
Iran: This musician is revolutionizng the music scene (Video) Mohsen Namjoo and her superstar
posted on Jun 13, 2007 - View this thread
Felix Pappalardi was a famous arranger and producer for the likes of Cream, the Youngbloods and the Vagrants, where he met Leslie West with whom he formed the legendary hard rock band Mountain who had hits with "Mississippi Queen" "For Yasgur's Farm" and a masterful reworking of Jack Bruce's "Theme From An Imaginary Western". In 1983, Pappalardi's wife shot him, in what she claimed was an accident. She was convicted of criminially negligent homicide and sentenced to four years.
posted on May 30, 2007 - View this thread
A new series called The Seven Ages of Rock has spilling out of idiot boxes all over the UK recently. Get your overseas fix with some YT clips of episode two (Art Rock): 1 2 3
posted on May 28, 2007 - View this thread
Kids Rock! Reaching puberty is not a prerequisite to rocking out. Check out Gary and the Hornets, Tony and the Tigers (featuring two sons of Soupy Sales), The Collins Kids (with more clips here and here), a 10-year-old Fergie singing the Pretenders' "The Middle of the Road," mini-skatepunks Old Skull, the Minibeats, Miss Abrams and the Strawberry Point 3rd Grade Class, the Electric Company's Short Circus (featuring a pre-teen Irene Cara and intros from Morgan Freeman as DJ Mel Mounds), the Double Deckers, Smoosh on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Les Poppys, the Bantams, and Mulligan's Stew getting down with the four food groups. (YouTube-a-palooza!)
posted on May 28, 2007 - View this thread
Andy Fraser, the man who wrote and played on 'All Right Now,' one of the great swaggering rock songs, talks about his music, sexuality and living with AIDS in this exhaustive interview
posted on May 22, 2007 - View this thread
Tonic closes. At the end of a farewell performance, Marc Ribot and Rebecca Moore refused to leave the stage. They were arrested for trespassing, and hope to bring attention to New York's dwindling number of performance spaces for independent music. Previous discussions.
posted on Apr 17, 2007 - View this thread
Listen to 'Year Zero', the new Nine Inch Nails album for free. Album main page. Via nin.com
posted on Apr 5, 2007 - View this thread
Brad Delp 1951-2007 Lead singer for the band Boston , dead at 55. "We've just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll." is all you will find at the band Boston's website
posted on Mar 9, 2007 - View this thread
LOS GAUCHOS DE ACERO
posted on Mar 7, 2007 - View this thread
The 50 Craziest Pop Stars Ever - unsurprisingly, there is some crossover with the 50 Most Awesomely Dead Rock Stars.
posted on Feb 25, 2007 - View this thread
Mahavishnu Orchestra - One Word
Weather Report - Seventh Arrow/Umbrellas
Squarepusher's 8-track [1] [2 + Buddy Rich]
Jaco Pastorius - Portrait of Tracy
Cannibal Ox - Pigeon
posted on Feb 13, 2007 - View this thread
"Once Were Kings" Some call them 1980's pop icons, others the Kings of Heavy Metal. Regardless, Van Halen has announced a 2007 tour with David Lee Roth. But without Michael Anthony, will it be worth paying to see? While Dave's current fan base is huge, others feel he has not aged gracefully. Well, it could be worse.....(youtube, ytmnd, and bad 80's haircuts warning)
posted on Feb 3, 2007 - View this thread
Yardbirds documentary part 1, part 2, and part 3. Bonus: Jimmy Page, age 14.
posted on Dec 27, 2006 - View this thread
Mr. Frank J. Stola (flash): a self-described professional musician who mangles any and all genres he attempts. Don't miss his take on
instrumental fusion rock classical jazz, revolutionary country n western traditional, or heavy metal instrumental on CD Baby. Equally marvelous are his strange, minimal videos. And don't forget to pick up Mr. Stola's myriad products at his Cafepress store. Is he serious?
posted on Dec 11, 2006 - View this thread
"Punk rock today is like Happy Days or Civil War re-enactment.” LA Weekly is sponsoring "14 and Shooting," an exhibit of west coast punk photos taken by Jennifer Finch, former bassist for L7.
posted on Nov 9, 2006 - View this thread
CBGB is closing at the end of the month. Yeah, newsfilter, NYCfilter, say what you will, and the club hasn't "mattered" in decades, but anyone who cares about punk rock will feel the pang. This should probably have been posted by jonmc, but I wanted to do it so I could highlight this excellent piece by Paul Collins; besides the inevitable "I played CBs" anecdote, there's some wonderful history of the site. [Quote inside.]
posted on Oct 13, 2006 - View this thread
Maybe you heard the song Living Next Door to Alice long ago and never gave it another thought. But crappy glam rock band Smokie is still making the world rock, they have been milking that song ever since, and are quite popular in a lot of non-English speaking parts of the world - "We said Smokie first, puppet show second."
posted on Aug 20, 2006 - View this thread
Nintendo music. Download some of their music. Go see them touring now. Enjoy the 8-bit goodness. Previously discussed nintendo music.
posted on Aug 17, 2006 - View this thread
Motor City Rock 1980-1990 A great archive of Detroit's most overlooked and ignoble musical era. Highlights include Bittersweet Alley, The Trash Brats, Vertical Pillows, The Dick the Bruiser Band, and many more.
Great to listen to while you read the relauched (and vaguely sad) Creem.
posted on Aug 4, 2006 - View this thread
Rock n' Roll Summer Camps for Girls, including this one in Brooklyn which has some clips and tunes posted (via).
posted on Jul 14, 2006 - View this thread
Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California. Their 1970 album Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is highly regarded for originality and uniqueness and is considered by many to be one of the best albums made by a Los Angeles group [source]. Among the many bits of fascinating rock trivia surrounding the group: founder and frontman Randy California jammed with a pre-fame Jimi Hendrix.
Curious fans can also peruse unofficial sites for original members and founders Randy California and Jay Ferguson.
posted on Jul 3, 2006 - View this thread
Republican-Approved Rock Music (NYT link). The National Review, the standard-bearing conservative rag founded by William F. Buckley (you know, Gore Vidal's good pal), has published a list of "Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs Of All Time" (NYT again -- not TNR). The explanations for the picks tend toward the obvious, if also occasionally nauseating. The top pick, and many of the others, are just this week's evidence of how irony is lost on much of conservative America.
posted on May 25, 2006 - View this thread
Arthur Magazine interviews the lead singer of Godsmack. In 2003, the US Navy used a song by rock band Godsmack as a part of an updated and more TOTALLY ROCKIN' recruitment campaign. Arthur Magazine asks how the band feels about this, in light of recent events war. Not very Wiccan of them indeed. via.
posted on May 4, 2006 - View this thread
"So I think we maybe have this sort of snobbish reputation. But we're just really honest, opinionated music fans." (via)
posted on Apr 30, 2006 - View this thread
England's literary crackhead rockstar.
posted on Apr 22, 2006 - View this thread
Hormone rock "Rock with the cock taken out and it's what a lot of women want to listen to right now"
posted on Apr 11, 2006 - View this thread
Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson was one of the more interesting characters on the 60's music scene. A contemporary (and fellow traveler) of John Fahey, and student of blues history and with Bob Hite, the founder of seminal 60's blues-rockers Canned Heat (youtube video of Wilson and the Heat featuring the Owl on vocals) . A painfully introverted man who suffered from depression and addiction throughout his life, Wilson had a light touch and lack of histrionics uncommon among his blues-revival contemporaries. He died by his own hand at 27. Blind-owl.net is a loving and comprehensive tribute, featuring many rare interviews and photos.
posted on Mar 22, 2006 - View this thread
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are a band that, less than a year ago, were making music without the help of a record label, pressing CDs themselves and selling them at concerts and on the Internet. Then the following happened: June 9: Dan Bierne writes about the band on his MP3 blog, June 14: Pitchfork Media posts a review of the song "In This Home On Ice", June 15: Blogger Gothamist posts an interview with the band, June 20: Blogger Stereogum announces the band's show at the Knitting Factory, June 21: Gothamist reports that David Bowie was in the audience at the Knitting Factory show, and June 22: Pitchfork posts one of a slew of reviews of Clap's first album.
Now, they've been named to dozens of critics 'best of' lists, they're playing Conan and Letterman, and are about to embark on a new tour. Why choose today to post an article about a band blowing up written in November you ask? Because their tour kicks off tonight at the 9:30 club in DC, and you can listen to it live.
posted on Mar 8, 2006 - View this thread
Neutral Milk Hotel demos, videos, and bootlegs. Brainchild of enigmatic, now-reclusive singer/songwriter Jeff Mangum (not Magnum!), the "fuzz-folk" project known as Neutral Milk Hotel began and ended in the 90s and only released two LPs, but is still held as a touchstone by many indie rock critics.
More live recordings can be found at the site for Elephant 6, the collective which included NMH and other bands like Beulah, Circulatory System, Elf Power, and Apples in Stereo.
The complete discography and more MP3s. Some lyrics. (Previously)
posted on Feb 22, 2006 - View this thread
Vault Radio. Remember Wolfgang's Vault? They've now started releasing the massive amounts of music that they discovered via FM-quality 128k stream. The current rotation isn't huge (not much worse than commercial radio), but there's a lot of great stuff on there that you've never heard before, presumably.
posted on Feb 10, 2006 - View this thread
So You Think You Hate Country Music? Then listen to this. The roots of American country music may surprise you. In this series of NPR programs, trace the gradual development of real country music through the first half of the 20th century. Learn how a woman's instrument of the late 1800s, the parlor guitar, became the the central symbol of country and rock; see how African-American musical forms like gospel and blues meshed with the development of country and early rock and influenced the traditional forms in turn; listen to German-Mexican hybrids of accordian style; find out why women had so many honky-tonk torch songs to sing in the late 40s. The series contains hours of content (narrative, interviews, music tracks), and a multitude of excellent links for deeper digging.
posted on Feb 2, 2006 - View this thread
Sly Stone--not dead, might perform again. [from WaPo] A great musician and a complicated life.
posted on Jan 27, 2006 - View this thread
NPR’s Live Concert Series site offers recordings of recent live performances by James Brown, Sinead O’Connor, Iron & Wine and Calexico, Son Volt, My Morning Jacket, The White Stripes, M. Ward, Sigur Ros, Bloc Party, The Decemberists, and live tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET, Colin Meloy.
posted on Jan 27, 2006 - View this thread
Wolfgang's Vault : Bill Graham, of Fillmore fame, was born Wolfgang Grajonca in Berlin. He grew up to invent, more or less, the modern rock 'n' roll promotion industry. He also had an eye for the future, stashing away posters, T-shirts, backstage passes, tickets, and photography for posterity (us).
Now, 15 years after his death, you have him to thank not only for $350 Rolling Stones tickets but also for $3800 Rolling Stones posters.
Purchased from Satan at a crossroads Clear Channel a few years back, the vault also contains a bunch of audio and video that Clear Channel didn't know it had and which we may or may not ever get to experience.
posted on Jan 6, 2006 - View this thread
A Collection of 'All Time' Best Albums Charts from the US, UK, Netherlands & Belgium. Guess which chart has 3 dEUS albums in the top 20?
posted on Jan 2, 2006 - View this thread
Pioneering instrumental-rock guitarist Link Wray - one of the original rockabilly artists, credited with having invented the "power chord", which has become the basis for modern rock and alternative music - died this week at the age of 76. You'd probably know him from his song 'Rumble', used on the 'Pulp Fiction' soundtrack. The English-speaking media hasn't picked up on the story yet, but various blogs, the Spanish and Danish press - translation here - and various music messageboards were all over the story 24 hours ago.
posted on Nov 20, 2005 - View this thread
Burnt Church, the Opera - When I was a kid some of my greatest literary influences were "Quadrophenia", "The Wall", "Tommy", and "Jesus Christ Superstar". And did I mention "Quadrophenia"? Jeff Parker and Paul Roessler have put online their entire Floyd-esque concept album "Burnt Church" (complete with groovy Flash bits) and they are encouraging people to download for free. Check it!
posted on Nov 7, 2005 - View this thread
Music photography goodness - some UK-based photographers with plenty of image galleries of rock and pop bands: Peter Hill (also see his livejournal for more pics), Ami Barwell, Michael Williams, Scarlet Page, Graham Smith (on livejournal too), Emma Porter, and the already mentioned Andrew Kendall (lj).
Also UrbanImage which licenses the work of several photographers and has sections on jazz, hip hop, grime, reggae, punk, etc. as well as travel photography and other cool stuff (free registration required to access single galleries and images).
posted on Oct 15, 2005 - View this thread
" Jim's ghost was in my ear, and I felt terrible". Like all top classic-rock franchises, The Doors can exploit a lucrative afterlife in television commercials. Offers keep coming in, such as the $15 million dangled by Cadillac last year to lease the song "Break On Through (to the Other Side)" to hawk its luxury SUVs. To the surprise of the corporation and the chagrin of his former bandmates, drummer John Densmore vetoed the idea. He said he did the same when Apple Computer called with a $4-million offer, and every time "some deodorant company wants to use 'Light My Fire.' "
posted on Oct 5, 2005 - View this thread
Sometimes You Can't Fix You On Your Own. (Quicktime and Windows Media.) If there has ever been doubt about Coldplay's burning ambition to be U2, let it be put to rest.
posted on Aug 5, 2005 - View this thread
Learn to Play Guitar like a SuperDork . Can't. . . not. . . look. Don't miss the links in the comments.
posted on Jun 22, 2005 - View this thread
Rocker Jeff Baxter Moves and Shakes in National Security • "Jeff Baxter played psychedelic music with Ultimate Spinach, jazz-rock with Steely Dan and funky pop with the Doobie Brothers. But in the last few years he has made an even bigger transition: Mr. Baxter, who goes by the nickname "Skunk," has become one of the national-security world's well-known counterterrorism experts."
posted on May 25, 2005 - View this thread
Smashup Derby performs mash-ups live. As in, an actual band plays one song while a singer sings another.
For example, here's their rendition of "Smells Like Billie Jean."
posted on May 20, 2005 - View this thread
Not just for hard rockers, apparently . . . They're everywhere, damn worshippers of satan. Some you'd figure right away, some you wouldn't. Ever been to a rock concert? Yep, you're probably damned, too.
posted on May 3, 2005 - View this thread
“Welcome to our website of the rock-band, The Trumpet Call!” No sir, this ain’t yer daddy’s apocalyptic Russian-American-Born-Again-Christian-Neocon hair metal.
Rock out to "September 11", "Britain Say NO! to Brussels," and the wholly inexplicable “Sacramento" - "Musical sacred place of the USA!”
posted on Apr 24, 2005 - View this thread
Radio David Byrne. Music for haircuts.
posted on Mar 29, 2005 - View this thread
Freebird!
posted on Mar 21, 2005 - View this thread
Six degrees of Nirvana, see how bands are connected to each other.
posted on Mar 16, 2005 - View this thread
"I felt like hurting someone before, now I feel like hugging people". Only weeks after professing his belief in Jesus Christ, former Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch was baptized in the Jordan River last Saturday. With “Jesus” tattooed across his knuckles and “Matthew 11:28” along his neck, Welch received full immersion in the historic river, along with 20 other white-robed Christians from a Bakersfield, CA church. Welch said the ritual baptism, “washed away his anger.” "My songs are God saying things to me, him talking to people. He's going to use me to heal people and people are going to be drawn to it, just watch, they will be.” For the latest information (and a free mp3) go to Welch's personal website, http://www.headtochrist.com/
posted on Mar 10, 2005 - View this thread
Postrock. A relatively new genre which continues to evolve in scope and definition, postrock is a treat to the ears. With bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Rós, Do Make Say Think, and Mogwai at the helm, it has slowly grown in recognition through movie soundtracks. Yes, there's quite a plethora of postrock bands, but is anything necessarily revolutionary, or just a rehash of past ideas brought into contemporary context?
posted on Mar 7, 2005 - View this thread
Bob Dylan's classic song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" is a murder ballad protest tune for the annals, but this week a story in the Guardian sheds new light on the real-life subject and the murderer William Zantzinger. via
xymphora.
posted on Feb 26, 2005 - View this thread
Touch Me I'm Sick. Photographer Charles Peterson helped America see grunge from the inside out. His dramatic black-and-white images portrayed the energy of the music being performed in crowded basements and dingy dive bars featuring such bands as Nirvana, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Hole, Black Flag, Fugazi, and Sonic Youth, among others. "Touch Me I’m Sick: Rock ‘n’ Roll Photographs by Charles Peterson" will be on view at the Chrysler Museum of Art through May 1. More inside.
posted on Feb 18, 2005 - View this thread
Drummer turned sculptor: mellow, intriguing wood sculpture from Dennis Elliott, also known as the former drummer from the hard rock band Foreigner.
posted on Feb 16, 2005 - View this thread
New Canadian music is infiltrating your culture with its neo-retro ways, and you may not even know it! Hot Hot Heat is too dance-rocky for it's own good, Joy Division-loving the Stills are constantly mistaken for New Yorkers (thanks to touring with Interpol), and certainly Stirling are too epic to be anything but Cure-loving Brits! Watch out for the seditiously warm synth-pop of Stars and the society-destroying rock-folk of lesbian siblings Tegan and Sara. While you're at it, keep tabs on Toronto super-supergroup Broken Social Scene and the quirky, danceable girl-rawk of Metric. This is the cell of the retro rock revolution you really need to pay attention to. The Strokes and their ilk have nothing on the Canucks.
posted on Nov 25, 2004 - View this thread
Trade in your Ashlee Simpson CD here.. A group calling itself HOPE (Horrified Observers of Pedestrian Entertainment) are offering to trade your Ashlee Simpson CD for one by one of Elvis Costello, The Ramones, X, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Aretha Franklin, Mr. Bungle, Ray Charles, Abe Lincoln Story, Grateful Dead, Neil Hamburger, Joni Mitchell, and Brian Wilson. Next target is the film "Taxi".
posted on Nov 16, 2004 - View this thread
The original power trio is back. Reunions are distressingly common these days, but these guys playing together again is historic. Old farts everywhere rejoice....
posted on Nov 15, 2004 - View this thread
Ceci Nes't Pas Une Satanic Message • "Years ago someone told me that if you played Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven song backwards that you could make out 'satanic messages'. It is not my opinion that Led Zeppelin and the other artists here were given some kind of evil power to make these backwards sounds have a satanic message. And, no, I did not create this to show the evils of Rock and Roll. Instead I made this flash piece for two reasons: 1. I was new to Flash and wanted to be better at it and 2. The reverse files sound cool. "
posted on Oct 8, 2004 - View this thread
Are these really the 10 most hated men in rock?
posted on Sep 6, 2004 - View this thread
For almost ten years, independent rock critic Glenn Mcdonald has kept a highly personal and elegantly well-written music column, The War Against Silence. He has championed artists popular and obscure, and remembered acts that others might regard as 1980s nostalgia with melancholy and grace. As his past few columns have vacillated between the personal and the musical, he has opted to end his run at the beginning of September.
posted on Jul 29, 2004 - View this thread
Danzig gets knocked out. Now, I know that most of you probably aren't big on violence, however, I find a little jolt of comfort in seeing Danzig dropped with one punch. It's like being back in high school and seeing a bully knocked out by a geek he'd been picking on. (NSFW - violence and language)
posted on Jul 15, 2004 - View this thread
Nick Hornby discusses pop music in this NY Times essay: "Maybe this split is inevitable in any medium where there is real money to be made: it has certainly happened in film, for example, and even literature was a form of pop culture, once upon a time. It takes big business a couple of decades to work out how best to exploit a cultural form; once that has happened, 'that high-low fork in the road' is unavoidable, and the middle way begins to look impossibly daunting. It now requires more bravery than one would ever have thought necessary to try and march straight on, to choose neither the high road nor the low. Who has the nerve to pick up where Dickens or John Ford left off?
In other words, who wants to make art that is committed and authentic and intelligent, but that sets out to include, rather than exclude? To do so would run the risk of seeming not only sincere and uncool - a stranger to all notions of postmodernism - but arrogant and vaultingly ambitious as well."
posted on May 26, 2004 - View this thread
Bobby Fuller was a Texas based rock and roll singer best known for the immortal rebel anthem "I Fought The Law,". Considered by many to be the heir to Buddy Holly as the king of Texas Rock, he built on Holly's style with songs like the aforementioned "...Law," "Jenny Lee," "Love's Made A Fool Of You," and the 2 1/2 minute masterpiece "Let Her Dance." And then it ended, at age 22, in very weird circumstances. Over the years, interest in Fuller and his work has ebbed and flowed, and plenty of archival material surfaced, but the mystery of his death remains unsolved, although many have speculated. Ann odd end for a footnote character in rick history, but who was bound for more
posted on May 7, 2004 - View this thread
50 moments that shaped popular musical history in the last 50 years --from Elvis walking into Sun Studios 50 years ago to last fall's entirely non-white Billboard Top Ten for the first time ever. Anything missing?
posted on May 3, 2004 - View this thread
"Who is this Loretta Lynn chick, anyway?". Jack White, in a skintight, red cowboy suit, seemed a little nervous when he came out to introduce his opening act. So nervous, in fact, that the White Stripes frontman offered a cautionary preface of sorts to the massive huddle of young fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. "Now I want you all to be very nice to my next guest. I think she's the greatest female singer-songwriter of the 20th century,". The crowd looked around at each other, visibly puzzled.
In White, Loretta Lynn has found her Rick Rubin. Finally. Much like the producer who revitalized the late Johnny Cash's career with spare, homespun recordings, White has raised the notion of Loretta Lynn as a hip, renegade country artist. The transformation is of the same magnitude as Emmylou Harris's ethereal work with Daniel Lanois in the mid-'90s.
more inside
posted on Apr 27, 2004 - View this thread
I have seen the future of Metal and it's name is Norselaw and their anthem "Sweet Home Scandinavia". Let the Berzerking Begin!
posted on Apr 16, 2004 - View this thread
The seminal shoegazing band My Bloody Valentine hasn't released a record since its ground-breaking 1991 release Loveless (Amazon samples). MBV's primary voice and reclusive in-general genius Kevin Shields finally gives an interview to The Guardian after 12 years of silence.
posted on Mar 12, 2004 - View this thread
Li'l G n' R - the first ever Guns N' Roses Kids Tribute Band. Check the audition video here (quicktime). They're playing CBGB's in a couple of weeks. Only $5, c'mon NYC MeFi'ers....one of you has to go and report.
posted on Feb 4, 2004 - View this thread
Under eights give their opinions on classic rock - Bob Dylan (and others) get compared to Busted.
posted on Jan 31, 2004 - View this thread
CBGB Photographic History. Includes one of the coolest Ramones photos I've ever seen. (One or two of the thumbnails are probably NSFW, but they're small, so unless you're really paranoid, I wouldn't be too concerned about it). (via things magazine)
posted on Jan 28, 2004 - View this thread
"Kids were standing on chairs and dancing in the aisles the minute the police backs were turned. The building was dark with only the spotlights on...Satin jacketed packs of teens slugged, beat and robbed 15...Over my dead body will there be another rock show in the Boston Arena." ....from the 29 chapter History of Boston R&R at Dirty Water - The Boston Rock & Roll Museum.
posted on Jan 10, 2004 - View this thread
Jimi Hendrix's National Anthem, on acoustic cello. Plus Bach at CBGB (to mixed reviews), and a national club tour, and an album.
posted on Dec 27, 2003 - View this thread
The Greatest Week in Rock History (Salon link) - 34 years ago today, Billboard Charts had a outstanding album lineup - perhaps not the best albums ever, but for a single point in time, arguably unmatched for quality, originality, and longevity. Take a look back at the roster: the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Tom Jones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Stones, Santana, the Temptations, Blood Sweat & Tears, Crosby Stills & Nash, and Easy Rider.
posted on Dec 20, 2003 - View this thread
Spot The Essential, Seminal, How-Could-These-Imbeciles-Have-Forgotten? Popular Song: A well-made list, specially if it's authoritative and includes no less than 500 songs, is just asking to be cruelly inspected for omissions, ridiculed for certain inclusions and generally derided. This one is, admittedly, a toughy. But perhaps way too US-centric and too Rockist. I mean, honestly, sometimes you Yanks act as if you'd invented Pop music! ;) (Via the newly-discovered Rivurcated Bifets.)
posted on Nov 19, 2003 - View this thread
The closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind was on individual bands in the 'Blonde on Blonde' album. It's that thin, that wild mercury sound. It's metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up.
Bob Dylan 1978
Blonde On Blonde--Seven mixes, four or five covers, four or five women, some missing photographs and one leather coat... (story within)
posted on Nov 19, 2003 - View this thread
Lester Bangs, rock critic. Some reviews to read and enjoy. Patti Smith. Astral Weeks. Captain Beefheart. The Shaggs. Black Sabbath. Weather Report. Lou Reed. There are books you can read about him, too. (Previous mention in this thread.)
posted on Oct 7, 2003 - View this thread
Stairway to Heaven - a deep, philosophical rendering of the crappy contracting work at Page's castle. Better yet is the feedback from fans who take exception to satire.
posted on Jul 13, 2003 - View this thread
Tired of your mullet and acid-wash jeans being sneered at in the local gay bar? Wishing that there was someone other than Rob Halford out in the metal scene? Pink Stëël is for you, my gay heavy-metal-loving brethen! Be out, be proud, and crank up "We Fight For Cock!"
posted on Jul 10, 2003 - View this thread
The Indie Rock of Dawson's Creek
If you're in a rock band and desperatly wanna get famous, then you might consider selling your songs to the devil. Err, i meant to teenagers TV shows.
posted on Feb 22, 2003 - View this thread
Takes the phrase "Get a Life" to a new level. Those masterminds of marketing, those night rocking, day partying satanic minions, KISS, have achieved the ultimate score in product merchandising. That's right, it's your very own KISS coffin, and while you might think "What's the point?", keep in mind that before you shuffle off this mortal coil, it doubles as a beer cooler.
posted on Feb 20, 2003 - View this thread
"It's a beautiful day..."
So i hear U2's singer, the great and charismatic Bono, has just been nominated for nobel peace prize.
Of course, we the french, find it very amusing to find Chirac nominated. (Oh, the hysteria if ever he won).
Also in the race is ex Gov. George H Ryan, who amongst other achievements declared a moratorium in 2000, before leaving his job a few months ago... with class.
Or maybe they'll just choose Bono & Chirac for knowing how to work together on the 'drop the debt' issue?
So, what do you say?
(i'd have to go with Bono, i'm afraid. Rock n roll but effective and passionate...)
posted on Feb 19, 2003 - View this thread
The Day the Music Died ...It was February 3, 1959 that Buddy Holley, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash. You need look no further to find one of the true icons of rock and roll than Buddy Holley. Originally scheduled to fly, Waylon Jennings gave his seat to an ailing Big Bopper. When Holly learned that Jennings wasn't going to fly, he said, "Well, I hope your old bus freezes up." Jennings responded, "Well, I hope your plane crashes." This friendly banter of friends would haunt Jennings for years. And can anyone really decipher Don McLeans' "American Pie"? More.
posted on Feb 3, 2003 - View this thread
Ah, the world cries out for an updated Jonathan website. The Abominable Lesbian Vampire Cappuccino Bar in Cyberspace has withered on the vine, links almost all dead--damn, I should've copied that tab!--but some of the music's not firing blanks. The Jonathan Richman Project only posted one issue of their xerox zine--jeez, remember zines? Mail art? Man, those were the days--but they're nice enough to print Lester Bangs 1976 Creem diss of the Twerp King At The Summit. God, I remember reading that Bangs piece new and running out and buying The Modern Lovers, trusting as I did in his taste or maybe just his gonzo stylings? Little did I know...(inside)
posted on Jan 27, 2003 - View this thread
Bunches and bunches of lost/stolen Beatles tapes recovered by cops. The fab 4 were My Era but I'm no particular fan of 'em, prefering the Byrds for hippie-dippie flashback, the Beach Boys for that let's-fire-up-the-Lincoln-SUV-and-burn-rubber mood, the post-Brian-fries-his-brain Beach Boys again for acid nostalgia and (fuller tips hat to the Dark Side) little Frankie Zappa, of whom I bought Freak Out as a $1.98 loss leader in 1966 and everything since, up through and including Läther . Nevertheless, this looks like it might be fun.
posted on Jan 11, 2003 - View this thread
Pete Townshend is denying any link to paedophilia, but some may find themselves looking at those Tommy lyrics with narrowed eyes...
posted on Jan 11, 2003 - View this thread
"They kissed no bum and tugged no forelock." Aussie politi-rockers Midnight Oil have hung it up with the departure of their lead singer, Peter Garrett.
posted on Dec 3, 2002 - View this thread
Rock n Roll! We know that Sex and Drugs ain't good for us, but researchers at McGill University are using very fancy devices to learn how our brains react to music. (Probably not much to discuss, but it's an interesting article)
posted on Nov 27, 2002 - View this thread
80's ROCK IS DEAD (LONG LIVE 80'S ROCK) Holy crap, I saw an ad on the teevee for a new BOSTON album called Corporate America. A new Boston album! A self-described "in your face" indictment of big business and what it is doing to our world. You'll be comforted to know that the music is still way overproduced and the political content has all the impact of Mike + the Mechanics "Silent Running." In other words — don't change a thing! It turns out all the big 80's rockers have 2002 albums, even the little king himself: Phil Collins. Testify. I'll be damned if one of his new songs doesn't sound like "Take Me Home (Redux)." Def Leppard's "X"? Same. Poison's "Hollyweird"? Same! Poison even does a party rock version of The Who's "Squeeze Box." Wonderful. Bon Jovi, Rush, Robert Plant — what year is this again? Who cares. Let's rock. As soon as this Family Ties is over.
posted on Oct 31, 2002 - View this thread
MAME Rock: Thankfully, Grand Master Peter is back to his old tricks! [Requires Shockwave and speakers, not to mention a good memory and a high Rawk tolerance threshold.]
posted on Oct 17, 2002 - View this thread
Buzzcocks singer Pete Shelley shouted down for yelling "Fuck George Bush!" by an angry crowd at the Inland Punk Rock Festival in California (about halfway into the article.) At least according to a friend of some guy who writes for the Weekly Standard who took his teenage daughter to the concert and had no idea who the Buzzcocks were. Was anyone there? Did this really happen?
posted on Oct 8, 2002 - View this thread
Syd Barrett is still alive, surprisingly.
posted on Oct 5, 2002 - View this thread
Best. Video. Ever. (Well, not really. This is just a tribute.) Gotta love Tenacious D - what other band has merchandise like this?
posted on Sep 11, 2002 - View this thread
Matthew Good's manifestos. The opinionated leader of the defunct Matthew Good Band has written a series of "manifestos" since 1997. For the uninitiated, Mr. Good has managed to insult many major Canadian bands, alienate his own band, and sell millions of albums while doing it. Since this hardly sums him up, you can read more about him here.
posted on Sep 1, 2002 - View this thread
Women Rockin' 4 Women 2002 Festival. THIS IS BIG. Over twenty talented women. Eight female fronted bands. Nine solo female artists. Third annual event. Two sound stages. One venue. One night. Benefitting shelters for victims of domestic violence. More estrogen in one place than you can shake a stick at. You're not busy on September 28th, are ya? Granted, it might be a bit of a commute for some, but... Heaven's gonna touch Earth.
posted on Aug 30, 2002 - View this thread
The son of a rock god interviews a rock genius... (Scroll down to "Audio") Sean Lennon's 48-minute interview with Brian Wilson covers all aspects of music, from the genesis of a great song, to the competition between artists in the late 1960's. (The interview is in four parts, in RealAudio format.)
posted on Aug 26, 2002 - View this thread
The King of the Jukebox who disturbed the status quo They called rock music jump blues during the World War II era, and this amazingly talented clown was its master, with over fifty Top 10 R&B hits -- eighteen reached #1 -- between 1942 and 1951. Chuck Berry identified with him "more than any other artist." James Brown said, "He was everything" and considered him one of the earliest rappers. A pioneer of music video, the first black artist to cross over from the "race" market to a white audience and a central link between big bands and rock, he was a primary influence on Bill Haley, Ray Charles and B.B. King, who once said, "I wanted to be like him." Rest in peace, Louis Jordan. [Dozens of one-minute song clips here]
posted on Jul 10, 2002 - View this thread
John Entwistle, The Who bassist, dies in Las Vegas on the verge of a U.S. tour.
posted on Jun 27, 2002 - View this thread
Start Me Up Or Shut Me Down: Is Music Compromised And Cheapened By Its Use In Commercials? The Doors' John Densmore, writing in The Nation about why he refuses to accept Apple's and other companies' generous offers to use his band's songs, certainly thinks so. Is this an admirable example of integrity; precious vanity or just downright jejune?[More inside]
posted on Jun 23, 2002 - View this thread
Sir Mick - "Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger is to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music, newspapers reported on Sunday." What's the point in knighting old rock stars? What's the point in being a knighted rock star? It probably wasn't even on Her Britannic Majesty's request, but just the result of some silly committee deal.
posted on Jun 9, 2002 - View this thread
Geeky Kids With Garage Band #4,767 Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, Vince Furnier, Neal Smith and Michael Bruce are not exactly household names. Little more than typical high school rock geeks in the early seventies, they went on to become one of the most influential rock acts ever. At the peak of popularity, the band members went thier own ways and left Vince to milk the fat cow on his own for another 25 years, yet the survivors remain good friends today.
posted on May 27, 2002 - View this thread
Creed cancles all remaining shows for the remainder of this tour... This is the fourth time a Sacramento show has been cancelled for one reason or another... I think the accident is just a coverup... they just hate us here!
posted on Apr 29, 2002 - View this thread
E Street Band guitarist and erstwhile Sopranos star Little Steven is launching a syndicated radio show to be centered around garage rock of the '60's plus latter day punk as well according to this story. Steve's own site includes som
