A gospel music fan who moved into the fields of R&B and early rock ‘n’ roll, his Specialty Records label gave us some of the greatest classics of the era.
Author: Jeff Tamarkin
Jeff Tamarkin
Best Classic Bands Editor Jeff Tamarkin has been a prolific music journalist for more than four decades. He is formerly the editor of Goldmine, CMJ and Relix magazines, has written for dozens of other publications and has authored liner notes for more than 80 CDs. Jeff has also served on the Nominating Committee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and as a consultant to the Grammys. His first book was 'Got a Revolution! The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane.' He is also the co-author of 'Shell Shocked: My Life with the Turtles, Flo and Eddie, and Frank Zappa, etc.,' with Howard Kaylan.
“They wouldn’t pull the hair so much, but they would go for a tie or a cufflink.”–The 50s/’60s teen idol on his over-enthusiastic fans.
Part of a wave of young, Philadelphia based teen idols, his hits included “Wild One” and “Volare,” and he starred in ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ with Ann-Margret.
Don’t let anyone tell you the mid-’70s was a dull period for music—a simple survey of what we were listening to disproves that notion.
They began as a country-influenced offshoot of the Grateful Dead, but, by the time they recorded this debut, they’d morphed into something else altogether.
There were roughly 200 albums recorded at the Fillmore (West and East). It wasn’t easy but we happily choose 10 that really stand out for us. Who’s #1?
Lynne’s gift is his ability to build complex arrangements into the simplest, most hummable of tunes. The concert was a taste of classic rock at its finest
We first heard her as one of the women of the British Invasion. When she came back to our attention more than a decade later, she’d changed entirely.
Rarely absent from the charts for several years, they created songs that were unlike one another, even while sounding undeniably like the Grass Roots
He first played his annual Thanksgiving concert in 1967, a month after his father, one of America’s most important singer/songwriters, died