Posts From Jeff Tamarkin
The Kinks’ ‘Celluloid Heroes’: Everybody’s a Star…
“Everybody’s a dreamer, and everybody’s a star,” Ray Davies sang. But it was never quite that simple. Watch a stellar performance of this Kinks Klassik.
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Kool & the Gang Co-Founder George Brown Dies at 74
The co-writer of such huge R&B/pop hits as “Celebration,” “Ladies Night” and “Jungle Boogie” was still active in 2023.
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Starship’s ‘We Built This City’: Really The Worst?
Music critics love to call this 1985 #1 single the worst song ever. But is it really? We asked the former members of the band how they feel about it.
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Booker T Jones: Interview With the Memphis Soul Legend
“Black people thought it was a black band and white people thought it was a white band,” says the keyboardist behind the soul classic “Green Onions.”
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Peter Noone is Into Something Good—An Interview With ‘Herman’
“We never thought about selling millions of records; we just wanted to get on the radio. We didn’t know about America.”—Peter Noone on the early days.
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Lulu Rocks New York City—With Love: 2017 Concert Review
50 years ago a teenaged girl from Scotland had a #1 hit that is still loved today. At a NYC concert, she sounded better than ever.
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When Lou Reed Met Metallica: Lou on ‘Lulu’
A 2011 interview with Reed on his controversial collaboration, published in its entirety.
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When the J. Geils Band Finally Broke Through
The only #1 hit for this dynamic Boston band was about a schoolboy crush later being crushed for real. We look back at an early MTV favorite.
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1968—The Year in 50 Classic Rock Albums
Rock was still very intense in ’68 but it began giving way to quieter, more roots-oriented sounds. More than anything though, the music was diverse.
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Barry McGuire vs. Barry Sadler: When the News Hit #1
One chart-topper listed complaints about the inequities and horrors of the day, while the other was a patriotic paean to the Army’s elite special forces.
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