Menu
Idea

rock & roll

Back out to music
130
View on Map
Filter by:

Filter by published date

"REM" musicians pose in front of a mirror.

How R.E.M. Created Alternative Music

In the cultural wasteland of the Reagan era, they showed that a band could have mass appeal without being cheesy, or nostalgic, or playing hair metal.
by Mark Krotov via The New Yorker on November 13, 2024
Michael Knott playing guitar

Michael Knott, Who Changed The Course of Christian Rock, Dies at 61

An entire industry wouldn't exist without him, yet few know his name. In his songs, Knott challenged the faithful to examine their faults and hypocrisies.
by Lars Gotrich via NPR on March 14, 2024
Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen .
partner

How the American Suburbs Created Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel

The musical culture of the New York metropolitan area, combined with themes of suburban life, suffuse the legends' music.
by Jim Cullen via Made By History on October 13, 2023
Chuck Berry performing with a guitar.

The Transgressor

RJ Smith’s biography of Chuck Berry examines his subject’s instinct for crossing the line musically, racially, and morally.
by RJ Smith via New York Review of Books on September 28, 2023
Album cover for “Tim,” the "Let It Bleed" edition, by The Replacements.

The Replacements Are Still a Puzzle

The reissue of “Tim” shows both the prescience and the unrealized promise of the beloved band.
by Elizabeth Nelson via The New Yorker on September 21, 2023
Little Richard holding his arms out at a performance.

What Little Richard Deserved

The new documentary “I Am Everything” explores the gulf between what Richard accomplished and what he got for it.
by Hanif Abdurraqib via The New Yorker on April 26, 2023
Jerry Lee Lewis backstage in 1982.

Jerry Lee Lewis Was an SOB Right to the End

Jerry Lee Lewis was known as the Killer, and it wasn’t a casual sobriquet.
by Bill Wyman via Vulture on October 28, 2022
The four members of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

How CCR, “The Boy Scouts of Rock and Roll,” Took California and the Country by Storm

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s unique blend of traditional and progressive sensibilities.
by John Lingan via Literary Hub on August 9, 2022
A black and white photograph of a person playing the guitar.

My Father, Cultural Appropriator

The daughter of Buddy Holly's bandmate reflects on the defensiveness some white people have about the roots of rock 'n' roll.
by Sarah Curtis via Los Angeles Review of Books on June 5, 2021
A man in a t-shirt reading "Wanted: Jesus Christ"

The Protest Reformation

In the 1960s, youth counterculture spawned Christian rock.
by Johanna Fateman via Bookforum on November 11, 2020
Sparkle Moore performing with guitar

New Web Project Immortalizes the Overlooked Women Who Helped Create Rock and Roll in the 1950s

Hundreds—or maybe thousands—of women and girls performed and recorded rock and roll in its early years.
by Josh Jones via Open Culture on May 23, 2019

The Most Important Album of 1968 Wasn’t The White Album. It Was Beggars Banquet.

It saved the Rolling Stones, altered the trajectory of music history, and turns 50 this week.
by Jack Hamilton via Slate on December 6, 2018
Colorful illustration of Larry Norman, haloed by yellow.

The Unlikely Endurance of Christian Rock

The genre has been disdained by the church and mocked by secular culture. That just reassured practitioners that they were rebels on a righteous path.
by Kelefa Sanneh via The New Yorker on September 17, 2018
Elvis Presley performing to a crowd of fans reaching toward him

How Christianity Created Rock ’n’ Roll

Rock music owes much of its claim to coolness to the Christian faith.
by David Hajdu via Public Books on June 21, 2018

God Gave Rock and Roll to You

Fiery, energetic and preached by charismatic frontmen, Pentecostal Christianity had a big influence on rock and roll in its formative years.
by Randall J. Stephens via History Today on May 16, 2018

The Rope: The Forgotten History of Segregated Rock & Roll Concerts

The Platters, the Flamingos, and other pioneering performers share stories of divided audiences and harrowing violence.
by Steve Knopper via Rolling Stone on November 16, 2017
Smiling man in front of a microphone

Fats Domino: Rock'n'Roll’s Quiet Rebel Who Defied US Segregation

The groundbreaking musician who inspired Elvis and The Beatles.
by Brian Ward via The Conversation on October 26, 2017
Pearl Jam on stage.

The Story of Pearl Jam, from a Seattle Basement to The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

A look at the first year of the band originally known as Mookie Blaylock.
by Bill Reader via The Seattle Times on March 30, 2017

Chuck Berry Invented the Idea of Rock and Roll

The origins of rock and roll are unknown, but no one can deny the role Chuck Berry played.
by Bill Wyman via Vulture on March 18, 2017
Bob Dylan and The Band performing on stage

The Brotherhood of Rock

The story of how The Band, in Robbie Robertson's words, "acted out an ideal of democracy and equality."
by Greil Marcus via New York Review of Books on March 2, 2017

How Rock and Roll Became White

And how the Rolling Stones, a band in love with black music, helped lead the way to rock’s segregated future.
by Jack Hamilton via Slate on October 6, 2016
Gram Parsons.

Nudie and the Cosmic American

The iconic fusion of country and rock in Gram Parsons' legacy.
by Elyssa East via Oxford American on January 7, 2016
Soldiers sing at the end of the day in Vietnam, January 1968.
partner

The Soundtrack to Vietnam War History Isn’t Quite Historically Accurate

Why rock overtook every other genre to define our understanding of America at war.
by David Suisman via HNN on December 3, 2024
Bob Dylan performing on stage.

The Lines, They Are A-Changin’

Getting lost and found in the Bob Dylan archives.
by Justin Taylor via Bookforum on October 29, 2024
Bruce Springsteen on July 19, 1988 at his concert in East Berlin on the cycle track Weissensee.

Can the 1980s Explain 2024?

The yuppies embodied the winning side of America’s deepening economic divide. Bruce Springsteen spoke for those left behind.
by Nicholas Lemann via Washington Monthly on August 25, 2024
Bruce Springsteen.

Berlin’s Cold War of Rock

Did music really bring down the Wall?
by Katja Hoyer via Zeitgeist on August 1, 2024
Bruce Springsteen performing at the New Haven Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut circa 1977-1978.

Springsteen's U.S.A.

Steven Hyden's new book about Bruce Springsteen's iconic "Born in the U.S.A" album is the product of a lifelong passion for the music of "The Boss."
by Matt Hanson via American Purpose on July 1, 2024
Lou Reed playing the guitar in front of an amp

The Brilliant Discontents of Lou Reed

A new biography examines the enigma of the musician.
by Sasha Frere-Jones via The Nation on January 23, 2024
A turntable and records.

What’s Old is New Again (and Again): On the Cyclical Nature of Nostalgia

Retro was not the antithesis to the sub- and countercultural experiments of the 1960s, it grew directly out of them.
by Tobias Becker via Literary Hub on December 13, 2023
A series of headshots of the members of R.E.M..

Was It Cooler Back Then?

A search for the memory of R.E.M. in Athens, Georgia.
by Benjamin Hedin via Oxford American on December 5, 2023
View More
30 of
130

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person

brought to you by
© Bunk History