Viewing: Rock & Roll History - View all posts

This past summer, I was saddened to hear the news that Tom Finn, the remaining member of the rock band, The Left Banke, had passed away after suffering from poor health for many years.  The Left Banke was…

While my life suddenly got deconstructed during the ongoing pandemic, I tried to ignore the madness of the outside world by finally finding the time to read a stack of rock & roll books that I had on…

It was on June 27, 1970, that the Transcontinental Pop Festival began its journey in Toronto, Canada. This festival was part of a series of concerts in Canada that became known as The Festival Express which is also the…

From the awwwards.com site :"Long before the digital era and the design disciplines that emerged with it, there was a unique canvas, reaching a visual audience of millions; every designer dreamed of working on a vinyl record album cover.…

TRACK LIST

01.  Only You Know & I Know 

02.  Can’t Stop Worrying, Can’t Stop Loving 

03.  Waitin On You 

04.  Shouldn’t Have Took Me Than You Gave 

05.  World In Changes 

06.…

Today's blog post is about Swinging London; a moment in time that reconfigured the music, fashion, movies and books of the youth culture.

“There came a moment when London first shook off the coils of hidebound British…

Lester Bangs

In a June 1975 article in Creem magazine, Lester Bangs, while writing about how the impact of the breakup of the Beatles, captured some of the angst that existed in rock & roll…

HOW RADIO LOST ITS GROOVE

In recent years, it has become obvious that radio, at least as the entity that I grew up with in my teenage and young adult years, has lost its groove.  These days,…

“One thing that producers and engineers tend to have in common is their undeniable love of music, and it is the highs they experience in the recording studio--those exhilarating moments when the blending of artistic effort, musical material, and…

Glam Rock was a rock & roll music genre which proceeded the punk music movement in the early 70's.  Along with the music which parlayed rock music in a much more flamboyant manner, Glam Rock also had a significant…

As I remember it, the 1980s was a decade in which the genre known as basic meat & potatoes rock & roll began to be undergo a myriad of changes.  The punk rock revolution was underway but…

Today on the Rock & Roll is a State of Mind blog, we travel back in time to 1967 and take a look at Privilege, an obscure film that was part of the the rock & roll landscape.  Of…

"One of the first album-oriented, underground groups in the United States, the Blues Project offered an electric brew of rock, blues, folk, pop, and even some jazz, classical, and psychedelia during their brief heyday in the mid-'60s. It's not…

Back in the early 1960’s, rock band logos were never quite as important as they are today in this age of branding.  Over the years, official logos became an essential item that every band needed to have in order…

50 years ago today, The Woodstock Festival took place in White Lake, NY.  It was an event that transformed the youth culture and established the Music Festival template that continues to this very day. 

Woodstock: The Event

"Say, what was the first rock concert you went to?"  Hmmm...let me think about that for a minute or two...no, wait!  I remember now!  It happened on a beautiful summer day on August 13, 1967.  I had just returned…

This past Sunday, I woke up to the news that D.A. Pennebaker had passed away at the age of 94.  While Pennebaker was a well known film maker to many folks, I thought it would be worthwhile to…

When I first read this Lewis Shiner novel 12 years ago, I was impressed by Shiner's ability to capture a certain sensibility that existed in the pre-corporate rock & roll era.  Back then, it seemed like it was all…

Johnny Pierre on stage with the Freelance Vandals circa 1978

“In 1978, rock music resembled a combat zone more than a community. The divisions had been visible for most of the decade, with the fraying of any…

"Let's Face it...rock n' roll is bigger than all of us." - Alan Freed 

“Ahwoooooo!”  Across the Midwestern night, the airwaves carry the rowdy voice of disc jockey Alan Freed on the “Moondog Rock n’ Roll Party”…

Track List: 

1.      I Wish I Could SIng 

2.      Innocent Little Doggie 

3.      Cool It 

4.      Listen At That Bull 

5.      Transistor Radio 

6.      Eloise 

7.      Dog Eat Dog

A couple of…

EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

"For the first time, a major museum exhibition examines the instruments of rock and roll. One of the most important artistic movements of the twentieth century, rock and roll's seismic influence was felt across culture…

As a songwriter, I've always enjoyed writing in a wide variety of musical genres but the rock & roll genre has always been my favorite genre.  More often than not, rock & roll music has always been there to…

Yesterday, when I glanced at the calendar on the wall, I remembered that it has been 44 years since Louis Jordan passed away on February 4th, 1975.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Louis Jordan's…

Throughout any given year, I always read an inordinate amount of rock & roll books.  It's a habit I fell into back in my high school days.  Whenever I hear about a new rock & roll book that is coming…