How the Song Came to Be
Bon Jovi’s Game-Changing ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’
Guess who didn’t much care for the song that made the band a major force of rock for decades to come? And who’s just fine with it now…
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When Liberace Was “Feelin’ Groovy”
The famed entertainer performed it on national television in 1968. Our look back at the song’s history. (Its composer, Paul Simon, hates it.)
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From Bobby Freeman to the Beach Boys, Mamas & Papas and Ramones: How ‘Do You Wanna Dance’ Became a Rock ‘n’ Roll Classic
You’ve heard Freeman’s 1958 hit—and most famous song—performed by John Lennon, the Ramones and the Beach Boys. Here’s how it evolved
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Dion’s Moving ‘Abraham, Martin and John’
Tension was in the air in 1968 and rock music reflected the turmoil. Then came a voice from the past, gently singing of non-violence and hope.
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Those Soul-Tastic James Brown Song Titles
Over 4 decades between his first and last chart entries, the “Godfather of Soul” helped define the times during the ’60s and ’70s
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The Inspiration For Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’
Every rock fan knows the classic riff but what exactly is Deep Purple’s best known song about? We take you behind the scenes in 1971.
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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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Donovan on ‘Season of the Witch’: ‘The Spookiness Was Real’
“The darkness was coming down. The darkness was the freedoms that I spoke of, that opened the doors. That spookiness in the record was real.”
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The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s Incendiary ‘Fire’
He took the title of his one hit seriously, even putting flaming items on his head while he performed. But he never made the charts again after his 1968 smash.
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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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