a blog for those who never gave up their turntables or records
MY FIRST PUBLISHED PIECE was with the Wyoming Valley West High School newspaper, where I was the nerd who got the gig of reviewing records. That was 1969 and, like most nerds with super cool record collections, I wrote condescending reviews of records that all my non-nerd classmates bought. I remember damning Glen Campbell and dismissing Cream’s farewell album, GOODBYE. READ MORE
I WAS NOT A FAN OF PUNK ROCK in the 1970s and ’80s. I admired the political aspect of the punk movement in the UK and the anybody-can-be-in-a-band spirit, but I didn’t connect with most of the music. (I still don’t care for most of it but have loosened up a bit with age.) I also didn’t care for the artwork that adorned the sleeves and jackets of punk records, although I did admire the anybody-can-be-an-artist spirit. READ MORE
Longhairs still walked the streets and played in the parks.
WHILE THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG is to address the records that were released decades before most of the people who spend the most time on the internet were even born, I can look at a current topic every now and again. I suppose my fascination with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in not establishing some objective standards for eligibility and the equally obstinate Wikipedia in insisting on “sources” but not on hiring editors to fact-check those sources. READ MORE
“DID YOU LOVE ELVIS PRESLEY?” That was the question that popped up on Quora on Friday and that I ignored over the weekend. It seems kinda dumb but this morning it caught my attention again and I thought I’d check out whatever answers had been posted in the past few days. One answer from a young man signed in as Zeek Street stood out from the others:
“I wasn’t born in that time period and I’m not much of a rock and roll sort of guy. READ MORE
“THE DOOBIES IN THE HALL OF FAME?” That’s a question that’s been asked a bit in the wake of their recent induction into said Hall. There was a version of that question (“Are the Doobie Brothers Hall of Fame Worthy”) on Quora this morning. I answered it there and wanted to share my answer here.
But first, I am not that big a fan of the Doobies. READ MORE
I LEFT WIKIPEDIA ALONE for the past few months, even though critiquing their entries is like shooting fish in a barrel. When it comes to “definitions” of persons and terms regarding popular music, Wikipedia’s theme song seems to be a well-known song by Elvis: “If you’re looking for trouble, you’ve come to the right place. “Substitute “boneheaded statements” for “trouble” and you’ve got Wikipedia nailed. READ MORE
A SERIES OF ARTICLES about Elvis Presley’s Gold Standard records has been taking up most of my time (along with redesigning the look of all my blogs). Because of that, I have been ignoring both the readers of this blog and those who salivate waiting for me to answer a question on Quora. So, why not kill two stones with one bird? READ MORE
I HAVEN’T BEEN PAYING a lot of attention to Quora lately, but this question caused me to respond; “Will Link Wray ever make the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?” Wray had one seminal hit, Rumble, in 1958 that Cub Koda stated popularized “popularized “the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists.” My answer was short and, I believe, apt:
“The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame should have at least three means of entry:
• as an artist
• as an influence
• for a record
Whether or not Link belongs in the Hall as an Artist is debatable; that he was an influence and that Rumble belongs in the Hall as a record are not. READ MORE
