Like the Kingsmen, Kinks, Cream, Jeff Beck Group, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath? This video’s for you. Now writing a history of rock and roll, I’ve just reached that period in the mid-1960s where blues-rock became hard-rock, which in turn became heavy metal. I remember it well, witnessing it explode around me. I saw Black…
Over 50 years ago (gulp), I worked on a newspaper alongside the guy playing the blues in the pale blue link above. We were teenagers at the time, both deeply into old-school American blues, as well as the new-style British R&B and blues-rock bands coming through in the 1960s. That’s his own composition he’s playing:…
Rock ‘n’ Roll Myths six and seven. “It’s very hard to tell what made me first decide to play the guitar. ‘Rock Around the Clock’ by Bill Haley came out when I was ten, and that probably had something to do with it.” David Gilmour, Pink Floyd. In 1955, Bill Haley and His Comets unlocked the pop…
Let’s start with July 9th 1955. Rock ‘n’ roll’s Ground Zero. “The first time I really ever felt a tingle up my spine was when I saw Bill Haley and the Comets on the telly. ” Paul McCartney. Things are rarely as they first seem in the history of rock and roll. Dismissed as a passing fad…
How would you like to hire Pink Floyd for just £250 (US$334.47) a night? Back in 1969, in the UK, such a thing was possible. As you can see from this vintage price-list, Joe Cocker, the Moody Blues and Jethro Tull cost you £350 ($468) nightly; and Ten Years After, even less. Rory Gallagher’s band…
