BOOK REVIEW: The Beatles Lyrics

Hunter Davies is a renowned author of novels who also had the good fortune to have gotten to know and write about the Beatles.  As the author of the first and only authorized biography on the band, first published in 1968, he was afforded unprecedented access to them between...

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Frank Zappa

Visionary. Genius. Iconoclast. Provocateur. Madman. Mad scientist. Guitar hero. These are just some of the ways Frank Zappa has been described since he first burst onto music scene and the public consciousness in the mid-1960s.  Impossible to pigeonhole and ridiculously...

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BOOK REVIEW: Pretend You're in a War: The Who and the Sixties

No band from the 1960s identified and asked as much of their audience (and vice versa) than The Who. Driven by the creative genius of songwriter and guitarist Pete Townshend, the Who not only wrote and performed music that articulated the insecurity, angst, and confusion of...

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Blogging Advice and Tips from the Rock and Roll Chemist (PART 4)

Part 4 of this series is going to be about a very important (and very fun!) aspect of building up your blog.  It's one of the things I've enjoyed most in getting the Rock and Roll Chemist off the ground and growing in exposure and popularity. While this series of articles...

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You Say It's Your Birthday!

Today would have been John Lennon's 74th birthday were he not tragically, senselessly, and savagely taken away from us on that night in December in 1980. Inasmuch as I'm a huge Beatles fan, I've also always felt a bit of a connection with John. Perhaps it's because I was born...

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BOOK REVIEW: Are You Experienced? The Inside Story of the Jimi Hendrix Experience

In the 1960s, The Beatles ruled the music world, but the sheer number of extraordinarily talented bands who were all making music at the same time in London was truly staggering.  In addition to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks, Cream, the Hollies, the...

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