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Stevie Nicks Refuses To Play This Fleetwood Mac Song Live, Says It’s Too...
Stevie Nicks is no stranger to writing (and performing) sentimental songs with deep connections to real events and people in her life, but the former Fleetwood Mac frontwoman has refused to perform one...
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The Story Behind the James Gang Song That Turned Joe Walsh Into a “Train Wreck”
In 1971, the liner notes of the James Gang’s third album Thirds credited Joe Walsh with “guitar, vocals, and train wreck” on the opening “Walk Away.” The guitarist’s “train wreck” referred to his...
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“Go, Get Her and Bring Her Back”: How Dolly Parton Saved Kenny Rogers From...
Sometimes, the most fortuitous moments in life happen by sheer chance, like the time Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ overlapping studio schedules saved Rogers from passing up on what would be one of the...
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Yacht Rock Essentials: “Magnet and Steel,” the Big Hit by Walter Egan That...
With its strolling beat that leads into an urgent chorus and its clever titular metaphor, “Magnet and Steel” caught the public’s imagination and gave Walter Egan a massive hit in 1978. The song has...
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The Traumatic Real-Life Memory Behind One of Dolly Parton’s Most Personal...
When the inspiration for a song hits, it hits. So, the songwriter needs to grab the closest writing utensil and semblance of paper they can find before it fades. Many musicians have taken to pieces of...
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Lady Gaga Faces Her Inner Fears on New Single “Disease”
Lady Gaga recently debuted her new single, “Disease.” It’s the first release from her upcoming (as yet unnamed) seventh studio album, due in 2025. She released Chromatica in 2020, which became her...
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Behind the Meaning of John Prine’s “Pretty Good”
John Prine has many songs that slap the listener in the face with a hard truth. “Pretty Good” is a strong example of that capability. As Prine’s narrator takes stock of his life, he’s left with one...
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The Story and Meaning Behind “All the Young Dudes,” the Mott the Hoople Song...
David Bowie helped put the glam rock movement on the map in the 1970s. He obviously did this via his own music. In addition, he wrote one of the era’s defining hits, “All the Young Dudes,” which was...
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The Story and Meaning Behind “Voices Carry,”‘Til Tuesday’s Searing ’80s Classic
Though we’ll always stand up for the 1980s as a massive decade in the history of music, it’s fair to say there are many hits from that era that don’t hold up all that well. And then there’s ‘Til...
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Post-Millennial Classic: “Question,” an Achingly Romantic Slow One by Old 97’s
They are unusual in they’ve consisted of the same four members since their very first record some 30 years ago. And, for much of their long, impressive career, the Dallas-based Old 97’s have trafficked...
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The Story Behind the Deception That Inspired “How Long” by Ace
In providing the voice behind hits for Squeeze, Mike + The Mechanics, and for his own solo work, Paul Carrack was a huge part of the soundtrack of the 1980s. Carrack set the stage for his ‘80s success...
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Halsey Rages Against Self on “Ego”
Halsey describes The Great Impersonator as a record made “in the space between life and death.” It follows her (Halsey uses she/they pronouns) 2021 album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. On “Ego,”...
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The Story Behind “Give It Up,” KC and the Sunshine Band’s Final Dance-Pop...
Of the artists who defined the disco era, none may be more strongly associated with their mid-to-late 1970s output than KC and the Sunshine Band. The Bee Gees had already established themselves as...
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How “Neanderthal Man” Helped Hotlegs Evolve Into 10cc
The members of 10cc have built a reputation for their cutting-edge innovations in music and video production. So how is it that one of the most commercially successful singles associated with the band...
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Behind the Meaning of George Harrison’s “When We Was Fab”
Towards the end of the Beatles’ career, it would’ve been hard to imagine George Harrison had much good to say about his time with the band. He, like his other bandmates, was burnt out to the point that...
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Bachman-Turner Overdrive Wrote This Song To Imitate the Beatles’ “Paperback...
Sonically and chronologically speaking, we don’t often associate Bachman-Turner Overdrive with the Beatles, but the Fab Four is precisely who Randy Bachman was trying to emulate with his 1974 track,...
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Why Robbie Robertson Had The Band’s Richard Manuel in Mind When He Wrote “The...
By the time the Band recorded their third album Stage Fright in 1970, pianist Richard Manuel had already co-written several songs from “Tears of Rage’ with Bob Dylan, “In a Station,” “We Can Talk,” and...
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George Harrison Explains the True Meaning Behind His 1973 ‘Living in the...
The late George Harrison’s 1973 solo album, Living in the Material World, will be reissued in expanded form on November 15 in honor of its 50th anniversary. Several tracks from the collection have been...
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The Story Behind How Actor-Comedian Steve Martin Reunited With Vince Gill on...
When Vince Gill first encountered comedian and actor Steve Martin, he thought someone was playing a practical joke on him. While working on his 2009 album The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo,...
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How One Chord Helped the Kinks Change Rock and Roll Forever
When we think of the natural progression of rock ‘n’ roll, the Kinks are often toward the left of the timeline amongst other jangly rock groups like the Byrds and Donovan. But without the Kinks and...
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