How the Song Came to Be

Gerry Rafferty, ‘Baker Street,’ and That Sax Solo!

The smash hit was written while its author was hanging out in a flat in London, trying to escape from frustrating legal proceedings.

Read More

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

Read More

‘Billy Jack’: One Tin Soldier Rides Away

The movie, directed, written and starring Tom Laughlin, had a long journey on its way to the screen. Its memorable song was recorded – and charted – multiple times

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.”

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

Gotta Bludgeon: The Delightfully Punishing, Hell-for-Leather Second Take of The Beatles’ ‘Helter Skelter’

Close your eyes and it’s not hard to picture George Martin in the control booth, thinking, “What on earth are we doing tonight?”

Read More

The Important Half: John Lennon, ‘Julia’ and Singing to Reach

“The song, inspired by John’s late mother, “is brave, because in the delivery we hear a singer willing to be transported.”

Read More