16 POSTS.
Feature image: The Pinkpop Festival, founded in 1970, is widely recognized as the oldest continuously-running annual pop festival in the world. Pinkpop 2008 (above) set a new attendance record, drawing roughly 94,000 unique visitors over the weekend of May 30–June 1, 2008, at Megaland Park in Landgraaf, Netherlands. Beyond the headliners, the bill featured nearly 40 acts. PHOTO: “Pinkpop 2008” by Lightmash is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Wouldn’t It Be Nice: Celebrating 60 Years of Pet Sounds (May 16, 1966) From “Sloop John B” to “God Only Knows,” a return to the album that reshaped the Beach Boys’ identity and set the benchmark for pop music as a fully realized studio art form.
Feature Image: By leveraging the legendary Wrecking Crew and an arsenal of unconventional instruments, Brian Wilson transformed The Beach Boys from a surf-pop act into the architects of “symphonic pop.” Released on May 16, 1966, Pet Sounds didn’t just alter the band’s trajectory; it redefined mid-60s music and famously challenged the Beatles to respond with…
50 years ago today: Boz Scaggs’ “Silk Degrees” album released (February 18, 1976).
Feature Image: The 1976 cover of Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees, photographed by Moshe Brakha at Casino Point in Avalon, California, features a pensive, cool, well-dressed Scaggs seated on a jade green and white bench overlooking the sea. In a sun-drenched, somewhat lonely coastal setting, Scaggs is joined by the partial view of a woman’s hand…
Brian Wilson Dies at 82, the Beach Boys Visionary Who Reimagined Pop with Intimate Songs and Ethereal Harmonies like “God Only Knows” from Pet Sounds in May 1966.
Feature image: Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in West Los Angeles, 1990. PHOTO: “Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in West Los Angeles 1990 photographed by Ithaka Darin Pappas” by IthakaDarinPappas is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Founding a Family Band In 1961, Brian Wilson formed the Beach Boys with his brothers Carl and Dennis, their cousin…
The Heart of the Hot Rod Era: How “Don’t Worry Baby” Defined the Beach Boys in 1964 before the British Invasion.
Feature image: The site of the Wilson family home in Hawthorne, California, where Brian Wilson composed Don’t Worry Baby with lyrics by Roger Christian (a DJ at KFWB in L.A.) ver the course of a couple days in late 1963 or early 1964. The family home where Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson grew up with…
December 9, 1963: “Little Saint Nick” Soars to No. 3 as Its B‑Side, “The Lord’s Prayer,” Reveals the Beach Boys’ Boldest Early Experiment.
Feature image: December 2024. Three reindeer, one mission: stack the holiday cheer sky‑high. Author’s photograph. All rights reserved. The Beach Boys finally reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1964 with “I Get Around.” The breakthrough felt overdue. Throughout 1963, the California surf‑pop group had dominated American radio: five Top 10 singles,…
Paul McCartney & Wings — “My Love” (1973). A “pure love song,” Paul’s tribute to his wife and Wings bandmate Linda.
Feature Image: Red Rose Speedway is the second studio album by English-American rock band Wings, although credited to “Paul McCartney and Wings.” It was released through Apple Records on May 4, 1973, preceded by its lead single, the ballad My Love on March 23, 1973. It was Wings’ first no. 1 hit. PHOTO: “red rose…
When I Grow Up (To Be A Man): The Beach Boys in 1964.
Feature Image: The Beach Boys in 1964; clockwise from left: Al Jardine, Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson. Trade ad for The Beach Boys’s single “California Girls”/”Let Him Run Wild.” Public Domain. Permission details The ad appeared in the 11 September 1965 issue of Billboard and can be dated from that publication; it is pre-1978.…
The Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four” written in the 1950’s by Paul McCartney re-emerged when his father Jim turned 64 in 1966. It appeared on the LP “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in 1967 and in the animated film “Yellow Submarine” in 1968.
FEATURE Image: Yellow Submarine was a British cartoon feature film in 1968 starring comic strip figures of the Beatles in a colorful and surrealistic musical adventure featuring Beatles hits. Though it was a box office flop in the U.K., it was wildly successful in the U.S. The film title and concept were based on the…
The High Seas of Classic Rock: The Backstories of “Ride Captain Ride” (1970) by Blues Image and “Sail On, Sailor” (1973/75) by the Beach Boys.
FEATURE image: “Sailing to Cape Cod” by ShaneTaremi is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Blues Image: Ride Captain Ride (1970). Ride Captain Ride was a no. 4 hit in the U.S. and Canada in the spring and summer of 1970. It was written and performed by the Tampa, Florida-based rock band, Blues Image. The song is a fantasy…
327 Stingray vs. 413 Super Stock Dodge: The Iconic Drag Race Behind the Beach Boys’ 1963 chart topper, “Shut Down.”
FEATURE image: “Drag Racing in Austin Texas,1967” by Hugo-90 is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Shut Down is a song by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian that appeared on a pair of 1963 Beach Boys’ albums: Surfin’ U.S.A. in March 1963 and Little Deuce Coupe in October 1963. The song was first released in March 1963 on side…
Olivia Newton-John: A LITTLE MORE LOVE, a top-5 Billboard Hot 100 chart hit in 1978 from the no. 7 album, Totally Hot.
FEATURE IMAGE: Olivia Newton-John, November 24, 1978. “File:Aankomst zangeres Olivia Newton John op Schiphol Olivia Newton John in de persk, Bestanddeelnr 930-0132.jpg” by Bert Verhoeff / Anefo is marked with CC0 1.0. In a recording career that spanned over five decades, the singer, actress, environmentalist and animal rights activist, won 4 Grammy Awards, had 5 no.1…
SUPERTRAMP, First 6 Albums of the English Prog-Rock Band, 1970-1979.
FEATURE image: “Supertramp – Crime of the Century” by vinylmeister is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0. Crime of the Century was Supertramp’s third album released in September 1974. The album went Gold in the U.S., Diamond in Canada, and Platinum in France. N.B. Rick Davies, co-founder, songwriter and lead singer of Supertramp died on Saturday, September 6, 2025.…
MARVIN GAYE (1939-1984): “Inner City Blues” is a number one single from What’s Going On (1971), one of music’s first concept albums with a social and political conscience.
FEATURE image: Marvin Gaye in 1970. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the U.S. between 1927 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. see – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Gaye#/media/File:Marvin_Gaye_(1973_publicity_photo).jpg and https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/fashion/mens-style/paul-newman-steve-mcqueen-cary-grant-style.html. R&B’s AND SOUL’S FIRST “CONCEPT” ALBUM What’s Going On is one of rhythm and blues and soul’s first…
BUDDY MILES (1947-2008), Rock drummer.
FEATURE image: Buddy Miles in 1970. “1970 Anonymous for Foto-archief Photogram – Buddy Miles portrait” by blacque_jacques is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Buddy Miles (1947-2008) was an American rock drummer, vocalist, composer, and producer. He was member of Electric Flag (1967) and a member of Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys (1969–1970). He was founder and leader of the Buddy Miles…
History of the BEE GEES’ How Deep is Your Love. A First Hit for the 1977 film, “Saturday Night Fever,” still defines the Disco Age.
FEATURE image: “Bee Gees Monument unveiled tomorrow-1=” by Sheba_Also 43,000 photos is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 By John P. Walsh How Deep Is Your Love (1977) by the Bee Gees ranks number 375 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.1 It sits between White Room (1968) by Cream and Unchained Melody (1965) by The…
Anglo-American musical duo: FLO MORRISSEY and MATTHEW E. WHITE.
FEATURE image: Matthew E. White and Flo Morrissey. “Love and Other Crimes: The Song of Lee Hazlewood – Matthew E White & Flo Morrissey” by p_a_h is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Richmond, Virginia-based producer and musician Matthew White first learned about English singer-ongwriter Flo Morrissey from an article about her on The Guardian website. They met at a…
Origin, History, and Meaning of the Irish Folk Song “BRÍD ÓG NÍ MHÁILLE” (“Young Bridget O’Malley”).
FEATURE image: La Ghirlandata. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882). 1873. Oil on canvas. 124 x 85 cm. Guildhall Gallery, London. City of London Corporation. Public Domain. All variations of the name Brigid mean “power, strength, force, and authority” as well as “vigor, virtue and fortitude.” By John P. Walsh In Ireland a generation ago the girl’s first name of Brigid…
Origin, history and meaning of the popular Irish Folk Song, “WEILE WEILE WAILA.”
FEATURE image: “#The_Dubliners_mural Deluxe Cinema, Camden Street” by Gary Boyne is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. By John P. Walsh There are thousands of Irish folk songs, a traditional and often nationalistic musical genre that is experiencing today a renaissance and renewal as song collections are widely available that began to be compiled in the nineteenth century and…
From a Grammy-Award winning “Last Tango in Paris” (1972) to a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement (2015), saxophonist LEANDRO “GATO” BARBIERI is one talented cat.
FEATURE image: Gato: “Music is a mystery.” “Gato Barbieri” by ognid is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Shadow of the Cat was Grammy-nominated for Best Latin Jazz. Gato Barbieri looked to two major sources for the album’s inspiration. The first was the 30th anniversary of his Last Tango in Paris (1972) for which Barbieri won a Grammy Award for…
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