Jim Morrison: 50 Years Gone
Sean MurphyJim Morrison took his last bath on July 3, 1971 in Paris. R.I.P. Lizard King. (I wrote, in what most normal people would consider painful detail, about The Doors in…
New World Man: An Appreciation of Neil Peart (One Year Later)
He knows changes aren’t permanent, but change is. Taken from Rush’s most famous song, “Tom Sawyer,” this line might best illuminate the “elemental empathy” that came to define Neil Peart,…
Eddie Van Halen: Rock Music’s Book of Revelation
photo courtesy of Salvatore Ferro When it comes to Eddie Van Halen, we are talking about an artist everyone would agree was, through the typical combination of hard work, good…
Jimi Hendrix: Five Decades Gone
It was 50 years ago, today. Attention, of course, must (and will) be paid, but the real question remains: what more can possibly be said, at this point, about Jimi…
Sitting on Top of the World: An Appreciation of Ginger Baker
Of course his father was a bricklayer, and it could be said that his son, born Peter Edward Baker, was one as well. But instead of a shovel he picked…
Ric Ocasek: Just What We Needed
We tend to believe (or want to believe?) that the best artists emerge, fully-formed, as though they were uncommonly blessed or destined. While in certain cases this impulse is intended…
It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: Celebrating Sgt. Pepper
It was fifty years ago today… But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. To get a proper handle on how revolutionary Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was, it’s imperative…
B-Boys To Men: Check Your Head at 25
At first the Beastie Boys were brats, then they were bratty; with their third album Check Your Head they dropped an ebullient bomb that is both heartfelt and soulful. Any…
The 100 Best Classic Progressive Rock Songs Part 5: 20-1
Yes: “Awaken” (from Going for the One) 1977 was not only about clothespins and green-toothed sneers: just as punk was gaining steam, Yes, the band that represented everything everyone hated…
The Past is Calling: The Who’s ‘Quadrophenia’ (Revisited)
Most popular Who album? No. Most important Who album? No. Most influential Who album? No. Best Who album? Definitely. More: Best album of the ‘70s? Probably. More? Best rock album,…