Rock
This section gathers album stories, birthdays, and anniversaries tied to the artists and bands who shaped rock, along with notes on new vinyl reissues as they surface. Rock grew up alongside the LP: gatefold sleeves and a running order built around two sides of a record were part of how the genre presented itself from the start, and a large share of its catalog keeps coming back through official reissue programs. Expect the human side of the records here: the sessions, the lineup changes, the decisions that turned into landmark albums, and why particular pressings matter to collectors.
521 STORIES
Why Did Tame Impala's Lonerism Change Everything?
Kevin Parker built Lonerism in a tiny Paris apartment and on flights between tours. It was the second Tame Impala album, released on Modular Recordings on October 5, 2012.
· 4 min read
Why Did Bruno Mars Call His Debut Doo-Wops & Hooligans?
Bruno Mars released Doo-Wops & Hooligans on October 4, 2010. He named his debut after the two opposing sounds he grew up hearing: his father's doo-wop and rowdier hooligan energy.
· 4 min read
How John Entwistle Turned Scraps into Odds & Sods
In 1973 John Entwistle of The Who assembled Odds & Sods from studio outtakes while his bandmates worked on the Tommy film. The record reached the Top 10 in Britain.
· 3 min read
Eddie Cochran: The Rock and Roll Life Cut Short at 21
Eddie Cochran died at 21 after a 1960 taxi crash in Chippenham, England, leaving behind 'Summertime Blues' and a career that had barely begun.
· 4 min read
How Ashlee Simpson's SNL Stumble Changed Everything
Ashlee Simpson walked off the Saturday Night Live stage when the wrong backing track played. The moment reframed a career that began at the School of American Ballet.
· 3 min read
How Stevie Ray Vaughan Turned One Festival Gig Into a Blues Revival
Stevie Ray Vaughan turned a booed set at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival into a David Bowie invitation, an Epic Records deal, and a blues-rock revival.
· 3 min read
How Lindsey Buckingham Joined Fleetwood Mac on His Own Terms
Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac only after refusing to be separated from Stevie Nicks. That condition shaped everything that followed.
· 4 min read
How Did Tommy Lee Turn a Drum Solo Into a Flying Circus?
Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe, turned his solo into a rotating and suspended drum kit that swung out over the audience. The boy born in Athens, Greece, became the visual center of the band.
· 4 min read
Why Did Chubby Checker's 'The Twist' Top the Charts Twice?
Chubby Checker's 'The Twist' reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in two separate years. It first topped the chart in September 1960 and returned to number one in early 1962.
· 4 min read
How Sinéad O'Connor Tore Up Her Own Career on Live TV
Sinéad O'Connor tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live. She had just sung Bob Marley's 'War' a cappella, changing one word to accuse the church of child abuse.
· 4 min read
How The Killers Bet the Neon on a Casino Sign
The Killers named their second album Sam's Town after the Las Vegas casino sign bassist Mark Stoermer grew up staring at. The 2006 record split critics and fans in two.
· 3 min read
Radiohead's Kid A: The Album That Almost Broke the Band
In a barn in Oxfordshire, the biggest guitar band of the late nineties sat surrounded by modular synthesizers and a growing pile of unfinished tape. Radiohead, …
· 4 min read
Why Mike Rutherford Built a Guitar That Was Two Instruments
On stage in the early 1970s, Mike Rutherford of Genesis often had seconds to switch between a rumbling bass line and a chiming 12-string guitar part. His soluti…
· 3 min read
Don McLean's Eight-Minute, 36-Second Gamble
Don McLean recorded an eight-minute, thirty-six-second song on May 26 in New York, a gamble that became the longest track ever to top the American chart.
· 4 min read
Pink Floyd's 23-Minute Gamble: Atom Heart Mother
Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother arrived on Harvest in October 1970. It was built around a 23-minute orchestral suite that gave the band their first British number one.
· 4 min read
Jim Root: The Last Man into Slipknot
Jim Root nearly turned Slipknot down before joining as guitarist #4 in 1999, becoming the last member of the lineup that held from 1999 to 2010.
· 3 min read
Oasis and the Album That Outran Everyone
Oasis released (What's the Story) Morning Glory? on the 2nd of October 1995, and it went on to become the most-purchased studio album in UK history.
· 4 min read
How Forty Licks United the Stones' Split Catalog
In 2002, Forty Licks became the first Rolling Stones compilation to merge the band's Decca-era recordings with its post-1970 output. It bridged a catalog split since 1970.
· 3 min read
Signify: The Album That Made Porcupine Tree a Band
Porcupine Tree's 1996 album Signify was the first recorded by the full group. Its fragmented sessions and solitary writing left a tension that still defines the band.
· 3 min read
Abbey Road: Why the Beatles' last session became their goodbye
The Beatles' 1969 Abbey Road sessions doubled as a farewell no one was allowed to announce, as John Lennon had already quit the band in private.
· 4 min read
Robby Takac: The Goo Goo Dolls Bassist Who Built a Scene
Robby Takac, born September 30, 1964, rose from Buffalo punk bands to become the rhythmic anchor of Goo Goo Dolls. He then built a nonprofit festival and record label.
· 4 min read
Why Opeth's Sorceress Splits Its Own Sound Apart
Opeth's twelfth album Sorceress, released on September 30, 2016, channels Mikael Åkerfeldt's divorce into its heaviest music since Watershed. Ornate keys wrap around bruising riffs.
· 4 min read
Jethro Tull: The Christmas Album That Ended an Era
Jethro Tull's 2003 Christmas album, built around a birthday card lost in holiday wrapping, became the band's final studio record for nineteen years.
· 4 min read
Les Claypool: Why the Primus Bassist Walked Away From Metallica
Les Claypool, born September 29, 1963 in Richmond, California, walked into a Metallica audition in 1986. He lost it by being 'too good,' freeing him to build Primus.
· 5 min read