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
How The Beach Boys Built a Pocket Symphony
Brian Wilson spent seven months and four Hollywood studios assembling 'Good Vibrations', the 1966 Beach Boys single he called a 'pocket symphony'.
· 3 min read
How Radiohead Made the Industry Pay Attention
On 10 October 2007 Radiohead released In Rainbows as a pay-what-you-want download. It was the first time a major artist had tried such a release and drawn international attention.
· 4 min read
Why Did Pink Floyd Put a Cow on Atom Heart Mother?
Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother, released in the UK on 2 October 1970, put a Holstein cow named Lulubelle III on the cover. The first side held a 23-minute orchestral suite.
· 3 min read
King Crimson and the Day Progressive Rock Was Born
King Crimson recorded In the Court of the Crimson King without a producer at Wessex Sound Studios in 1969. The album arrived on Island Records on 10 October 1969.
· 4 min read
How U2's Rattle and Hum Chased America and Lost Its Way
U2's Rattle and Hum, released on 10 October 1988, mixed live recordings with new studio tracks. The Irish band tried to plant themselves inside American music.
· 4 min read
How Marek Grechuta Built Poland's Most Delicate Songbook
Marek Grechuta, the Polish singer and composer, died in Kraków on 9 October 2006 at the age of 60. Trained as an architect, he built a songbook out of poetry and paintings.
· 3 min read
How Sister Rosetta Tharpe Built Rock and Roll
Sister Rosetta Tharpe cut four songs in a single 1938 afternoon for Decca Records. Those sides made her one of America's first commercially successful gospel performers.
· 4 min read
Why Did Leonard Cohen Hand His Comeback to Sharon Robinson?
Leonard Cohen returned in 2001 with Ten New Songs, a comeback he built at home with Sharon Robinson, who produced, arranged and sang on the album.
· 4 min read
Sean Lennon Finds His Own Psychedelic Voice
Sean Taro Ono Lennon arrived in New York on October 9, 1975, the same day his father John Lennon turned 35. The symmetry was impossible to ignore: the son of Jo…
· 4 min read
Why Did PJ Harvey Walk Away from a Working Band?
PJ Harvey left Automatic Dlamini in January 1991 to form her own trio, and within two years had released Dry and Rid of Me. The band dissolved in 1993 after opening for U2.
· 4 min read
Anathema's A Fine Day to Exit
Anathema released A Fine Day to Exit on 9 October 2001 through Music for Nations. Its closing track runs nearly nineteen minutes and hides an acoustic song behind five minutes of silence.
· 3 min read
John Entwistle, the bassist who made The Who louder than anyone
John Entwistle turned the bass into a lead instrument for The Who. He stood behind the 126-decibel concert that entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1976.
· 4 min read
How John Lennon Built Imagine
John Lennon recorded Imagine in 1971 with Yoko Ono and Phil Spector, and the sessions were filmed for a documentary that sat unseen for years.
· 4 min read
John Mellencamp: The Name He Had to Win Back
John Mellencamp's first album appeared under the alias Johnny Cougar, a name a manager chose because Mellencamp sounded too difficult for radio.
· 4 min read
How Thom Yorke's Bad Eye Shaped Radiohead's Strangest Leap
Thom Yorke was born with a paralysed left eye and wore a patch as a child. That refusal to fix what made him different shaped Radiohead's turn from Creep to Kid A.
· 3 min read
Why Eddie Van Halen Built His Own Guitar
Eddie Van Halen built the Frankenstrat from a 50-dollar body and an 80-dollar neck because no factory guitar could keep up with his hands.
· 3 min read
Why Did a-ha Call Their Second Album Scoundrel Days?
a-ha released Scoundrel Days in the autumn of 1986, a darker follow-up to their debut that was recorded in Wimbledon with producer Alan Tarney.
· 3 min read
How Genesis Made Foxtrot Against the Odds
Genesis replaced producer Bob Potter mid-recording and still finished Foxtrot. The English progressive rock group's fourth album took them to number 12 in the UK chart.
· 3 min read
Comes a Time: The Album Neil Young Bought Back
Neil Young bought back the first two hundred thousand copies of Comes a Time after a mastering fault stripped the high frequencies. He then remixed the 1978 Reprise album himself from a safety copy.
· 3 min read
How Bob Geldof Turned a Tragedy Into a Global Anthem
Bob Geldof turned a San Diego school shooting into 'I Don't Like Mondays,' the Boomtown Rats single that made him famous far beyond Dublin and London.
· 4 min read
How Led Zeppelin III Turned a Power Outage into a Folk Reckoning
A stone cottage in the Welsh countryside, no electricity, no running water, and two of the loudest men in rock sitting by candlelight with acoustic guitars. Tha…
· 3 min read
How The Beatles' 'Love Me Do' Survived a Drummer Swap
The Beatles' first single 'Love Me Do' was cut in a London session that swapped Pete Best for Ringo Starr. Session drummer Andy White was then brought in for a third attempt.
· 4 min read
How Elton John's Failed Jamaica Trip Made a Double Album
Elton John's January trip to Kingston produced no usable takes. The detour to a French château led to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, his first double album.
· 4 min read
How Did James Valentine Find His Way Into Maroon 5?
A street in Lincoln, Nebraska, now carries the name James Valentine Blvd, a tribute to a local kid who grew up in a Mormon family with three sisters and a broth…
· 4 min read