Tag "best classic bands"

Todd Rundgren’s ‘Hello, It’s Me’: Wild Success Story

The musician has a long list of credits as a producer (Bat Out of Hell) and engineer. Here’s the inside story of how one song took off to become his biggest solo hit

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Huey Lewis’ Last Known Performance After Hearing Loss

He canceled his tour earlier that year, telling The Today Show, “I can’t hear music.” Six months later, he sang a favorite for the first time in 8 months.

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Graham Parker & the Rumour’s ‘Heat Treatment’: When Pub-Rock Met New Wave

When the Village Voice unveiled its 1976 Pazz & Jop Poll winners, an unknown English musician commanded two of the top five entries from the influential poll’s panel of music critics.

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1973: The Year in 50 Classic Rock Albums

We looked back at hundreds of albums released in ’73 and whittled the list down to the 50 that we think represent the cream of the year’s crop.

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Rock Radio Promotion: From Dead Rats to Live Aid

How a highly original record label promotional stunt helped introduce Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats to America. “Playboy called me a promotional genius”…

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Focus Performs Magic on ‘Hocus Pocus,’ From TV’s ‘The Midnight Special’

The ground-breaking Dutch progressive rock band formed in 1970 and earned a surprising international hit in 1972-1973.

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Radio Hits in October 1974: The ‘New Math’

The Best Classic Bands chart nerds noticed that this week featured 3 hits at the top with the word “Nothing” in the title: great songs by BTO, Stevie Wonder and Billy Preston.

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Electric Light Orchestra’s ‘Out of the Blue’: The Masterpiece from Munich

It’s full of treasures, a sweeping double-LP that Jeff Lynne dubbed “probably the hardest work I have ever done, but the most satisfying.”

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The Number One Singles of 1971: Maggie May, Shaft & Jeremiah

Only 3 songs stayed at the top of the U.S. charts for 4+ weeks. Thus, no less than 31 reached #1, including a unique feat by the members of the Beatles.

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Tom Petty, American Rock Giant, 1950-2017

One of our country’s greatest rockers for more than 40 years, the Floridian never backed down, creating solid music that didn’t need to bow to trends.

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