Posts From Jeff Tamarkin

1969’s Ill-Fated Altamont Festival: One of Rock’s Darkest Days

December 6, 1969, marked one of rock’s bleakest days. The free concert known as Altamont was an unmitigated disaster as everything that could possibly go wrong did

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1967: The Year in 50 Classic Rock Albums

It was the year that the rock album came of age, with timeless releases from the Beatles, Dylan & Stones alongside newcomers Jimi Hendrix, the Doors & more

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The Mamas & the Papas’ ‘Creeque Alley’: Behind the Song

The lyrics are stocked with names and places, some of which may have been (and still are) unfamiliar to fans of the group. We break it down

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The Last Waltz: An Audience Member Revisits

The 1976 farewell performance by The Band is the stuff of rock lore. BCB’s editor was there that night and remembers it well.

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Peggy Caserta, Janis Joplin’s Biographer & Lover, Dies

The book, titled ‘Going Down With Janis,’ was considered controversial due to the public’s lack of awareness of Joplin having had a same-sex relationship.

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Tina Turner After Ike: The ’80s Comeback

She will long be remembered as one of the most sensational, daring and courageous women in the world of rock ’n’ roll.

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The Cowsills: ‘The Rain, the Park…’—Happy, Happy, Happy!

The feel-good song was as emblematic of its time as any of the psychedelic records that were starting to dominate rock in 1967.

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Strawberry Alarm Clock’s Psychedelic ‘Incense & Peppermints’

Trivia note: The singer on one of the biggest and most memorable hits of 1967 was not even a band member. Check out the whole back story here.

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Mike Pinera, Guitarist for Blues Image & Iron Butterfly, Dies at 76

He played the second guitar solo toward the end of the 1970 hit, “Ride, Captain, Ride.”

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Jesse Colin Young Talks Youngbloods

The singer-songwriter discusses his early folk days and the history of the Youngbloods, from ‘Get Together’ to ‘Elephant Mountain’ and beyond

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