On December 19, 1955, Carl Perkins stepped into Memphisโ Sun Studio with a song that would become a cornerstone of rock โnโ roll history. But like most great music moments, the creation of Blue Suede Shoes wasnโt so much a straight line as it was a tangled web of stories, late-night drives, and serendipitous inspiration.…
In the scorching desert of Death Valley in 1958, Art Kane, then a relatively unknown photographer, found himself tasked with capturing Louis Armstrong in a way the world had never seen. At that moment, Armstrong wasnโt just a jazz legendโhe was one of the most recognizable figures in global pop culture, thanks to hits like…
In this episode, writer and self-taught musicologist Claude Lemaire chooses Iron Butterfly, Jeff Beck, and even the Beatles as pioneering heavy rock influencers.
November 21, 1955, wasnโt just another Monday. For Elvis Presley, it was the day a $35,000 contract (equivalent to $400,000 in 2024) pulled him out of a regional spotlight and thrust him onto the global stage. RCA Records, sensing that the young singer from Tupelo, Mississippi, was more than just a passing trend, purchased his…
In the glittering circus of pop music, where smoke, mirrors, and synthesized beats reign supreme, few scandals hit harderโor landed messierโthan the Milli Vanilli debacle of 1990. This wasnโt just a little hiccup in the pop machine. This was a full-on implosion, a moment when the flashy veneer of the music industry was peeled back,…
London, 1975. The streets are bleak, the economyโs in the gutter, and the mainstream rock scene is bloated beyond belief. Itโs a scene set for something big, something ugly to rip through the overpolished landscape of British music. Enter: four scrappy kids and a fateful November 6 gig at Saint Martinโs College of Art, an…
On October 31, 1975, Queen unleashed a track that would transform rock music and forge its own genre: Bohemian Rhapsody. This was more than a song; it was a production, a revolution, and maybe even a bit of madness. Mercury, Queenโs fearless frontman, had begun to sketch ideas for Bohemian Rhapsody as early as 1968,…
It was October 20, 1977, and Lynyrd Skynyrd was riding high. Known for their fiery Southern rock anthems like โSweet Home Alabamaโ and โFree Bird,โ the band had just released their fifth album, Street Survivors. The album was set to push them to even greater heights, especially with the fresh energy of guitarist Steve Gaines.…
All photos by David Meerman Scott On September 23, 1980, Bob Marley, already a global icon and a beacon for reggae music, took the stage at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh for what would be his last live performance. The air was thick with anticipation as 3,500 fans packed the sold-out venue, but few knew…