Rock N Roll Archaeology

Hey there, rock fans! In this Rock and Roll Archaeology Shorts we’re calling "The Politics of Dancing," I’m diving deep into how music and presidential campaigns have intersected through the years. From Bill Clinton’s unforgettable use of Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” in ’92 to DJ Cassidy spinning records at the 2024 DNC, we’re looking at how rock, pop, and politics come together to tell a bigger s...

A little about Country, a little about Soul, and more about how they are really just the same thing. And why it’s not at all surprising that a big Pop-Soul star like Beyoncé is releasing a Country album. For this RNRA Short, we tapped the expertise of Professor Charles Hughes of Rhodes College in Memphis, author of “Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South.” We’ll look at t...

To mark the 60th anniversary of The Beatles' inaugural performance on U.S. soil, we decided to do a quick compare-and-contrast. We’ll revisit that watershed moment in music and culture, and talk about something recent that actually comes close to matching that moment: the ongoing Eras Tour from Taylor Swift. Not “Bigger THAN The Beatles,” but in our not-so-humble opinion, “Biggest SINCE The Beatle...

The Soul of the 1970s. First, Marvin Gaye kicked the door open with “What’s Going On,” and then Stevie Wonder barged in. The Wonder Years spanned 1971 to 1976; when the transcendent, diverse talent of Stevie Wonder was in its fullest flower. That five-album span is one of the most successful and impactful creative runs in the history of recorded music. Our podcast offers immersive storytelling, in...

Welcome back to Rock N Roll Archaeology! Got another RNRA Short Podcast for you. This one is named after the Kinks song “Celluloid Heroes.” Rock N Roll goes to the movies (and television) in this one. We’ll take a look at three shows that feature fictional Rock bands: the movies “Almost Famous” and “This Is Spinal Tap,” and the television miniseries “Daisy Jones & The Six.” Visit our website for m...

RNRA Shorts: Disco Demolition!  Take us back to the Distant Days of Disco, Summer of 1979. Steve Dahl, a brash young DJ at WLUP- FM (“Chicago’s Best Rock!”), has declared war on Disco.  On July 12, 1979, he took the fight to Comiskey Park, in between games of a doubleheader between the home-team Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Things…got out of hand.  Since then, the “Disco Demolition” a...

We want the airwaves, baby! Chapter 23 of Rock N Roll Archaeology tunes into radio and radio culture in America and elsewhere. There was a brief moment in the 70s and early 80s where FM Rock Radio was something pretty special. So what was that like, and where have all the good times gone? Some storytelling in this one, but it’s a little heavier on the commentary…and of course we’re featuring some...

Remembering the late great Jeff Beck, the guitarist’s guitarist. An innovator and an iconoclast with a bold experimental spirit, Jeff left his unique stamp on hundreds of great songs. Songs Jeff Beck: “Diamond Dust,” from Blow By Blow Jeff Beck: “Blue Wind,” from Wired The Yardbirds: “Stroll On,” from the soundtrack to Blow Up Jeff Beck with Bones UK: “The Revolution Will Be Televised” from Loud H...

Bands in the van, and a band at the crossroads. In this episode of RNRA Shorts, we’ll get into the early days of Pink Floyd, and the latest from a Pink Floyd member: Nick Mason’s 2022 Saucerful of Secrets tour.  Written by Richard Evans and Christian Swain, Sound Design by Jerry Danielsen.   Sponsors and Partners Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets Rock’s Backpages Songs Pink Floyd, “Echoes,” from M...

Content warning: Here at RNRA, we don’t hide our views. At all. But when it comes to politics, we try not to be in-your-face about it either. Our little slogan is “Just tell the story, and the point will get made.”This time though, we’re a little more overt, we’re letting it rip just a little bit. This particular burr has been under our saddle for a while now. Now: on with the show.  Summer Time i...

We start with a tragedy, then a cautionary tale of the world not ready for a band. We then find more positive inspiration from an artist who delivers a huge seller. We end with a legend.   Janis Joplin dies just before releasing her magnum opus, “Pearl.” A band called Fanny is ready to rock, but a culture poisoned by the patriarchy isn’t yet ready to accept them. Carole King makes Tapestry, a sinc...

Welcome back to RNRA Shorts! This time, it’s Filth Through The Ages, and let’s meet some unlikely Free Speech Warriors. Yes, we said it, and we will die on this hill: The Juggalos Are Alright. Psst, hey! Got a topic suggestion? Let us know!   Songs Frank Zappa: “Stinkfoot,” from Apostrophe’, 1974 Insane Clown Posse: “My Axe,” from Bizzar, 2000 Insane Clown Posse: “Hokus Pokus,” from The Great Mile...

A quick look at an intriguing relationship: Joni Mitchell and Prince.  Enjoy! Oh, hey! Got a topic idea for RNRA Shorts?  Shoot us an email: rocknrollarchaeologyproject@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fuse was lit in 1966. Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Keith Moon came together to record a proto-metal classic. After the session an offhand quip from Keith Moon sticks with Jimmy Page.  Then we meet The G; the imposing Peter Grant. Led Zeppelin’s fearsome tough-guy manager was a key reason why Zep dominated the rock landscape in the early 70s.  Well away from Swinging London, in t...

Rock N Roll as the First Draft Of History We begin in the midwest college town of Kent, Ohio, in the late spring of 1970. We’ll meet three future rockers--students at Kent State University, barely out of their teens--who will be changed forever by what they witness. We’ll check in on Motown, where the fluffy pop “Sound of Young America” is still alive, but there's a big change coming, a movement t...

This episode is dedicated with love to the memory of our dear friend Dennis Gordon. Dennis was the big booming voice on our show “bumpers” that would begin and end each chapter of Rock N Roll Archaeology. Thank you Dennis, we miss you. May the Four Winds blow you safely home.  Welcome back to the second half of our big chapter telling the big story of a big year in Rock. If you haven’t done so alr...

We’re putting down a marker with this episode, and the follow-up: the highest highs and the lowest lows of the entire Rock Era occurred in 1969. It’s a year so big, we had to cut it in two, in order to serve it up properly.  We start in January, with The Beatles on The Roof, a 42-minute outdoor concert that definitely warmed up the neighborhood of Mayfair, London, England. Then we catch up with th...

Chapter 17 of Rock N Roll Archaeology is bookended by a couple of Simon & Garfunkel albums: “Bookends” from the spring of 1968; and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” from January of 1970.  Our story takes place mostly in New York City: a city big enough to spawn two very different, very talented--and very influential--artists: Paul Simon and Lou Reed.  We skip work on a cold January afternoon to catch...

We start our tale of Paradise Lost in Buena Vista Park, San Francisco, in the fall of 1967. Hippie, the Devoted Son of Mass Media, is dead, and the San Francisco Diggers are conducting the funeral.  From the funky streets of the Haight we head east a couple miles to the Fillmore West, and meet a complicated man, concert promoter Bill Graham. It was during these early years in San Francisco that Bi...

An impressionistic look at the interplay of Rock N Roll and Culture in Los Angeles during the latter half of the 1960s. There are familiar elements: storytelling, critical discussion and commentary, and lots of Rock N Roll attitude. But this one is different from most of our previous RNRAP offerings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We open in Manila, in the Republic of the Philippines, July 3rd, 1966. The second stop of the Far East leg of the Beatles’ 1966 tour starts out weird and ominous, and gets worse from there. By the time the tour sputters to a halt—late August in San Francisco—the boys are almighty sick of it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We open at Waldo Point Marina in Sausalito, California, just north of San Francisco. Otis Redding takes a break from the road on Bill Graham’s houseboat, and comes up with a signature song. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jimi Hendrix's astonishing, supernatural talent was forged in poverty and neglect as he grew up in Seattle. We talk about that, and about the night Elvis came to town. After a short stint in the Army comes to a humiliating end, Jimi takes it on the road and spends the next four years paying his dues as a sideman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start by taking a clear-eyed look at the infamous seaside “Riots” in the resort town of Clacton, United Kingdom and several other towns in the summer of 1964. The British press were WAY over the top in their depiction of these events, but they did document the first schism, the first big division in Rock music and culture: the traditionalist Rockers versus the Modernists, or “Mods.” Oh yeah, a...

Episode Ten opens up with Christian narrating at the site of the Bricklayer’s Arms Public House, in Soho, West London, where Brian Jones met with two younger men, school chums, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, in the fall of 1963. You might know them as The Rolling Stones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices