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rock and roll


  • Arena Rockin' The Vote?

    by George Case

    Dismissed, derided, or even deplored by critics, and out of step with the trends, arena rock acts still pack them in in much of America. Is it the sonic key to understanding Trumpism? 



  • Dave Grohl's Incurable Optimism

    Historian Daniel Bessner says that Dave Grohl's memoir is heavy on affable storytelling but doesn't offer Grohl's views on the huge shakeups in the music industry that he's witnessed over his career. 



  • The Beatles Ignited a Culture War and Changed the World

    by Randall J. Stephens

    While Peter Jackson's "Get Back" documentary focuses on the last phases of the band's work together, it's important to think about how the group's emergence changed American culture, especially around sex and gender. 



  • How the Drive-By Truckers Hacked the Music Industry

    by Stephen Deusner

    Through lineup changes, record label hassles, and fans upset with their political lyrics, the Truckers have used the internet and social media to build support and survive for decades. Their story is a history of the changing business and a map for younger acts. 



  • Charlie Watts Put Some Jazz in Rock and Roll

    by Victor Coelho

    "In an era when rock drummers were larger-than-life showmen with big kits and egos to match, Charlie Watts remained the quiet man behind a modest drum set. But Watts wasn’t your typical rock drummer."


  • "Juke": Bluesman Bobby Rush on the Roots of Rock and Roll

    by Bobby Rush with Herb Powell

    Blues musician Bobby Rush's new autobiography chronicles his life and career, and the way that the appropriation of Black music into American popular culture often left Black entertainers behind. Read here how he remembers the roots of rock and roll. 



  • How Jimi Hendrix’s London Years Changed Music

    A new book, at the 50th anniversary of the guitar master's death, takes Jimi Hendrix's leap from chitlin circuit sideman to London sensation as a turning point for rock music. 



  • Black Sabbath's Paranoid at 50: Potent Anthems of Working-Class Strife

    Music critics dismissed Black Sabbath's sludgy sound and alienated lyrics, but fans ensured that the band's second album would become one of the most influential rock records of all time. The songs' channeling of working-class pain and frustration, not their fascination with the occult, explain why.