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.
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How Billy Joel Brought Rock to the Soviet Stage
A rock star smashes a microphone stand in Moscow, then jumps into a crowd in Leningrad. That man is Billy Joel, the American singer-songwriter, and those moment…
· 3 min read
Why Did America's Hat Trick Break Their Platinum Streak?
Two platinum albums in a row, and then a record about muskrats. The American folk-rock trio America had sold millions with their first two LPs, but on October 2…
· 3 min read
Why Did 10,000 Maniacs' Unplugged Album Capture a Farewell?
10,000 Maniacs taped MTV Unplugged at Sony Music Studios on April 21, 1993. The album arrived on October 26, 1993, after Natalie Merchant had already left the group.
· 3 min read
Why Did The Velvet Underground's Reunion Album Divide Them?
Live MCMXCIII, The Velvet Underground's 1993 concert album from three nights at L'Olympia in Paris, documented an unlikely reunion. It then became a source of fresh friction.
· 4 min read
Why Did Jethro Tull's First Album Sound So Different?
Jethro Tull's debut This Was cost 1200 pounds, reached number 10 in Britain and captured a band split between Ian Anderson and guitarist Mick Abrahams.
· 4 min read
How Did Chicago Turn Carnegie Hall Into a Rock Landmark?
Chicago became the first rock group to sell out a full week at Carnegie Hall in April 1971. The resulting four-record live set, Chicago at Carnegie Hall, arrived on October 25, 1971.
· 3 min read
How Art Garfunkel's Watermark Was Saved by a Cover
Columbia released Art Garfunkel's third solo album Watermark on October 25, 1977, with a first single that never charted. A cover of "(What a) Wonderful World" turned the record around.
· 3 min read
Why Did Europe Widen Their Sound on Secret Society?
Europe made Secret Society without an outside producer at Stockholm's Kingside Studios. Joey Tempest said the 2006 album pushed the band's sound to a new level.
· 4 min read
How Jeff Beck Rescued Rough and Ready
Epic Records rejected the vocals on Jeff Beck's third album, so Beck replaced singer Alex Ligertwood with Bobby Tench. Rough and Ready arrived on October 25, 1971.
· 4 min read
Why Did Paul Simon Call Himself Crazy in 1975?
Paul Simon released Still Crazy After All These Years on Columbia Records on October 25, 1975. The ten-track solo album was built with jazz players, gospel singers and a Muscle Shoals rhythm section.
· 4 min read
Why Did The Rolling Stones Risk Ed Sullivan in 1964?
On October 25, 1964, The Rolling Stones played The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. The band was betting that raw blues could survive prime-time television.
· 4 min read
Why Did Rush Risk Everything on Hemispheres?
Rush rented a Welsh farmhouse in 1978 with no songs written and left with Hemispheres. The album was built on an 18-minute epic and a fight for one perfect take.
· 4 min read
How Rory Gallagher Bet His Sound on a Stranger
In October 1976 Rory Gallagher released Calling Card, his sixth studio album. Deep Purple and Rainbow bassist Roger Glover produced it at Musicland Studios in Munich.
· 4 min read
How Linkin Park Made Rejection Into Hybrid Theory
After 42 showcases and rejections from most major labels, Linkin Park released Hybrid Theory on October 24, 2000. The debut album went on to sell 32 million copies worldwide.
· 3 min read
Why Did Backstreet Boys' Unbreakable Prove Them Right?
The Backstreet Boys released Unbreakable on October 24, 2007, their first album as a quartet after Kevin Richardson left. It debuted at number one in Japan.
· 4 min read
How Did Cocteau Twins Survive Losing Their Bassist?
Cocteau Twins lost founding bassist Will Heggie in 1983, then released Head over Heels on 4AD that October as a duo of Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie.
· 4 min read
How Nelly Furtado's Whoa, Nelly! Took Flight
Nelly Furtado's debut Whoa, Nelly! arrived on DreamWorks Records on October 24, 2000, mixing English and Portuguese across twelve tracks and launching the single 'I'm Like a Bird.'
· 4 min read
How Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax" Survived a Ban
Frankie Goes to Hollywood's debut single "Relax" arrived on ZTT Records in October 1983. A BBC ban two months later helped turn it into the best-selling UK debut single in history.
· 3 min read
How James Brown Bet His Own Money on Live at the Apollo
James Brown paid for the Apollo recording himself after King Records refused, and the 1963 album went on to spend 66 weeks on the Billboard chart.
· 4 min read
Don McLean's American Pie at 55
Don McLean's second album American Pie arrived on October 24, 1971, via United Artists Records. It turned a paperboy's memory of Buddy Holly into a national singalong.
· 3 min read
How Did Hannah Montana's First Album Outsell Real Pop Stars?
Walt Disney Records released the Hannah Montana soundtrack on October 24, 2006. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 281,000 copies sold in its first week.
· 4 min read
Why Did Seventh Sojourn End The Moody Blues?
Seventh Sojourn gave The Moody Blues their first US number one in 1972, but the sessions convinced the band they could not keep going together.
· 4 min read
Why Did Phil Collins Write Another Day in Paradise?
Phil Collins turned a street encounter with a man begging beside two children into Another Day in Paradise, the first single from ...But Seriously, released on October 23, 1989.
· 3 min read
How Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Made Raising Sand
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss released Raising Sand on October 23, 2007. The T-Bone Burnett-produced album of covers reached number 2 on the Billboard 200.
· 4 min read