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Billy Vera Documents a Legendary Label With 'Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story'

Grammy-winner Billy Vera spent years working in the Speciality Records vaults and remains close to label founder Art Rupe. "Specialty is right up there with Atlantic, Chess, and Sun in terms of being important." Enjoy an interview with the author and an exclusive book excerpt.

Jedd Beaudoin

Music

The Rebel Rockin' Roots of Punk Rock Humor

Humorists have served as the conscience of cultures ever since (and before) court jesters ridiculed omnipotent royalty for its hypocrisy, pomposity, and corruption. Punk continues to fulfill that essential social role in relation to the powers-that-be of the modern world.

Music

Chuck Berry Made Americans Surrender to the Rhythm

Chuck Berry was not only the true king of rock 'n' roll, the architect and originator -- he was also an astute anthropologist of American culture.

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Bowie, Dylan, Little Richard Among the Best Pop Music Boxed Sets

Here are some of the most notable boxed sets this year in rock and pop...

Greg Kot

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Holy Rollers, Rock 'n' Rollers, and the Birth of Rock Music

While today rock is ubiquitous, few of us really understand the nuts and bolts of rock’s beginnings and especially not of rock’s crucial debt to the so-called "holy rollers" of the Pentecostal church. That Pentecostal-rock connection is a key to understanding what makes rock 'n' roll what it is.

James A. Cosby

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Rock 'n' Roll Is Dead? Again?

Actor Jack Black recently joined a long line of prognosticators shaking the death rattle for rock 'n' roll. However, Foo Fighter Dave Grohl says, "There will always be rock 'n' roll." If saltine crackers are any way of judging, I'm with Grohl on this.

Music

Little Richard: Here's Little Richard

Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" stakes its claim as the beginning of rock 'n' roll.

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All That Glitters: Led Zeppelin - "Rock and Roll"

In the hands of a force like Led Zeppelin, a tribute to the golden age of rock music will inevitably sound thoroughly '70s -- wantonly libidinous and bone-crushingly heavy.

Music

Jimi Hendrix, the Patron Saint of Alt-Blackness

Forty years after his death, Jimi Hendrix looms larger - and deeper - than ever within the black cultural pantheon. Even though he wasn't really 'black'.

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Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker

Little Richard once proclaimed that "rhythm-and-blues had a baby", and their offspring was rock 'n' roll.

Reviews

Little Richard Live at the Toronto Peace Festival, 1969

This brief documentary by legendary rock ’n’ roll verité artist D.A. Pennebaker provides a glimpse of a '50s firebrand’s re-emergence as a novelty act amid the final days of a decade he helped to create, but in which he had played almost no role.

Reviews

Various Artists: The Imus Ranch Record

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Esquerita: The Other Originator of Rock 'n' Roll Camp

This ultimate "odd man out" -- homosexual, black, bizarre-looking, crazy-behaving, and even crazier-playing rocker -- was pushed into the shadows beyond the bright lights of Little Richard.

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Celebrity Duets

As Michael Bolton oozed across the floor, my interest began to go south faster than a carpetbagger on roller skates.

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Billy Vera Documents a Legendary Label With 'Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story'

Grammy-winner Billy Vera spent years working in the Speciality Records vaults and remains close to label founder Art Rupe. "Specialty is right up there with Atlantic, Chess, and Sun in terms of being important." Enjoy an interview with the author and an exclusive book excerpt.

The Rebel Rockin' Roots of Punk Rock Humor

Humorists have served as the conscience of cultures ever since (and before) court jesters ridiculed omnipotent royalty for its hypocrisy, pomposity, and corruption. Punk continues to fulfill that essential social role in relation to the powers-that-be of the modern world.

Chuck Berry Made Americans Surrender to the Rhythm

Chuck Berry was not only the true king of rock 'n' roll, the architect and originator -- he was also an astute anthropologist of American culture.

Bowie, Dylan, Little Richard Among the Best Pop Music Boxed Sets

Here are some of the most notable boxed sets this year in rock and pop...

Holy Rollers, Rock 'n' Rollers, and the Birth of Rock Music

While today rock is ubiquitous, few of us really understand the nuts and bolts of rock’s beginnings and especially not of rock’s crucial debt to the so-called "holy rollers" of the Pentecostal church. That Pentecostal-rock connection is a key to understanding what makes rock 'n' roll what it is.

Rock 'n' Roll Is Dead? Again?

Actor Jack Black recently joined a long line of prognosticators shaking the death rattle for rock 'n' roll. However, Foo Fighter Dave Grohl says, "There will always be rock 'n' roll." If saltine crackers are any way of judging, I'm with Grohl on this.

Little Richard: Here's Little Richard

Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" stakes its claim as the beginning of rock 'n' roll.

All That Glitters: Led Zeppelin - "Rock and Roll"

In the hands of a force like Led Zeppelin, a tribute to the golden age of rock music will inevitably sound thoroughly '70s -- wantonly libidinous and bone-crushingly heavy.

Jimi Hendrix, the Patron Saint of Alt-Blackness

Forty years after his death, Jimi Hendrix looms larger - and deeper - than ever within the black cultural pantheon. Even though he wasn't really 'black'.

Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker

Little Richard once proclaimed that "rhythm-and-blues had a baby", and their offspring was rock 'n' roll.

Little Richard Live at the Toronto Peace Festival, 1969

This brief documentary by legendary rock ’n’ roll verité artist D.A. Pennebaker provides a glimpse of a '50s firebrand’s re-emergence as a novelty act amid the final days of a decade he helped to create, but in which he had played almost no role.

Little Richard: The Very Best of Little Richard

Little Richard's Specialty hits stand the test of time, but the rarities in this package do not.

Various Artists: The Imus Ranch Record

Esquerita: The Other Originator of Rock 'n' Roll Camp

This ultimate "odd man out" -- homosexual, black, bizarre-looking, crazy-behaving, and even crazier-playing rocker -- was pushed into the shadows beyond the bright lights of Little Richard.

Celebrity Duets

As Michael Bolton oozed across the floor, my interest began to go south faster than a carpetbagger on roller skates.

Little Richard: Get Down with It: The Okeh Years

The Timetravellin' Bob Dylan: On 'Bringing It All Back Home'

Get Married Seek Purpose With "Adam West" (premiere)

Lily Kershaw Dreams of Finding True Love and Meaning in 'Arcadia' (premiere + interview)

Electropop's Kid Nobody Invite You to "Watch the World As It's Ending" (premiere)

London Singer and Producer, MEI Fights Back Against Invisibility on "DIM: Don't Ignore Me" (premiere)

David Dondero Goes Post-Apocalyptic With "Easy Chair" (premiere)

Lost Dog Street Band's Benjamin Tod Readies Release of Second Solo Album With "Saguaro's Flower" (premiere)

The Pressure Kids Tell the Tale of "No Land Left in Hollywood" (premiere)

Delush Reminds Us to Appreciate the Good Times on "The Greatest Gift" (premiere)

Noise Rock's Buildings Urge You to "Sit With It" (premiere)