Ventures photo posed 1960 1500 crop

who was the first rock band to sell a million albums?

I HAD TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION: “Who was the first rock band to sell a million albums?” It was on Quora and immediately seized my attention. Why? Because not only had I never thought about it, but I had never heard a record-collecting friend or a professional music writer address it. [Read more] “who was the first rock band to sell a million albums?”

DavidBowie RockNRollSuicide ad Mirror 4 20 74 1500 crop

why did rca have to export david bowie records to england in the ’70s?

THERE ARE A HANDFUL OF RECORDS from the ’70s that are so common among British collectors that they receive little attention from them. But they are all rather rare records outside of the UK—so rare, that most non-UK collectors have only seen them as images on the internet! [Read more] “why did rca have to export david bowie records to england in the ’70s?”

BrendaLee 1960 piano Billboard 1500

the #1 hit records on the pop charts 1960

THIS IS THE FIRST in a series of ten articles listing and addressing the #1 records of the year as they appeared on Cash Box magazine’s Top 100 chart from 1960 through 1969. It was originally published as “Save The Last Twist For Me” on my publication Tell It Like It Was on Medium on January 1, 2019. [Read more] “the #1 hit records on the pop charts 1960”

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antoine “fats” domino has left new orleans for the last time

I NEVER THOUGHT of Antoine “Fats” Domino as a rock & roll artist. I thought he was a rhythm & blues-based artist, maybe a boogie-woogie artist, definitely a New Orleans artist. For some reason, white teenagers in the ’50s glommed onto him and the rest is rock & roll history.

I mean, yeah, when I was a kid inheriting my Aunt Judy’s 45 collection, I thought everything in it was rock & roll, from great stuff like Fats and the Platters to Fabian and silly jive like Who put the bomp in the bomp-bah-bomp-bah-bomp, who put the ram in the rama-lama-ding-dong? [Read more] “antoine “fats” domino has left new orleans for the last time”

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linked in with cheryl pawelski, record producer and collector

I WAS INVITED by a young musician in England to make a connection on the LinkedIn, the “world’s largest professional network.” Of course I accepted it, despite the fact that I have yet to meet anyone who has actually benefited professionally from any of these LinkedIn connections. Nonetheless, I certainly don’t know everyone on that network, so maybe I was missing something. [Read more] “linked in with cheryl pawelski, record producer and collector”