Guides
The Best Highway Songs for a Cross-Country Road TripA great road-trip playlist should do more than fill the silence. It should match the changing scenery, from city traffic and coastal highways to long, empty…Why Some Rock Bands Own The Road And Others Fall ApartTouring strips rock music down to its working parts. Studio polish disappears, shortcuts become obvious, and every weak connection between musicians is exposed…The Women Who Built Rock And Roll Before History Caught UpRock and roll is often told through a familiar gallery of male stars: Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis. Yet the sound was shaped…Review: A new live album that captures the chaos of a small venue showSome live records preserve a performance. Others preserve the room around it: the feedback, the shouted requests, the loose cables and the sense that something…When a Dead Engine Found Its Beat on a Rock RecordA failed car engine usually means an expensive tow, a weekend lost to repairs and a trip to the mechanic. In a recording studio, however, the same lump of…A look at the tiny clubs that launched rock careersBefore the arenas, festival slots and gold records, many rock artists learned their trade in rooms with sticky floors, unreliable monitors and barely enough…Rock Songs That Captured Lightning in a Single TakeA great one-take rock recording feels less like a polished product than a room suddenly catching fire. The musicians commit to the tempo, the singer risks the…Why the Bass Drum Sound Changed Rock Music Forever in 1969In 1969, rock music discovered that the bass drum could be more than a timekeeper. It could arrive like machinery, thunder, or a physical blow to the chest.…The rise and fall of the rock opera in the 1970sThe 1970s were the decade when rock music decided it could carry an entire drama. A song no longer had to stand alone; it could become a scene, a character, or…Essential Deep Cuts from the British Invasion EraThe British Invasion is often reduced to a handful of giant singles: “She Loves You,” “Satisfaction,” “You Really Got Me,” and “My Generation.” Those records…