Videos

30 years ago today (2/5/96), Deep Purple launched their Steve Morse era with the release of Purpendicular. Released after the final exit of Ritchie Blackmore, Purpendicular is the first album to feature guitarist Morse, and instead of trying to clone Blackmore’s style, Morse retooled the Deep Purple sound to remain…

Happy 70th birthday to Lee Ranaldo, guitarist and co-founder of Sonic Youth, born February 3, 1956. Across decades of work, Ranaldo has relentlessly pushed the guitar beyond its traditional boundaries, pioneering new textures, tunings, and approaches to sound. Alongside his groundbreaking band output, he has released a series of critically…

50 years ago today (2/2/76), Genesis released their seventh album, A Trick of the Tail. It was Genesis’ first album after Peter Gabriel left to pursue a solo career following The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Instead of collapsing, the band quietly reinvented itself. Phil Collins stepped up from behind…

Happy 75th birthday to Phil Collins, born January 30, 1951. From his roots as a prog-rock drummer to becoming the lead singer of Genesis during their hit-making years—and then launching a massive solo career—Collins has had one of the most remarkable runs in modern music. He’s among the best-selling artists…

Happy 80th birthday today to the great Bettye LaVette (born 1/29/46), who was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 201. LaVette battled in semi-obscurity until 2005, when her album I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise was released. Her eclectic musical style combines elements of soul, blues, rock,…

In case you didn’t know, Les Claypool had a band called Primate before Primus, featuring himself and Jay Lane on drums and Todd Huth on guitar. Well they came to regroup later as Sausage and that zany Claypool ingredient helped muster quite an album in 1994. Riddles Are Abound Tonight…

40 years ago today (1/28/86), Black Sabbath released its twelfth studio album Seventh Star. The album is billed as “Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi,” a credit that hints immediately at its unusual status. In reality, it began life as a Tony Iommi solo project. His aim was a melodic hard-rock…

20 years ago today (1/27/06), indie rock favorites Grandaddy announced they were calling it quits for the first time – yet the band would regroup again later in 2012. After a meeting the month prior, frontman Jason Lytle confirmed the split, noting that the band could no longer make a…

15 years ago today—January 26, 2011—Wilco announced the launch of their own record label, dBpm Records. In a press release, the band said the imprint would release “all future Wilco recordings and more,” with distribution handled by ANTI-. Frontman Jeff Tweedy summed it up perfectly: “This is an idea we’ve…

30 years ago today (1/23/96), Tori Amos released her third album, Boys For Pele. Coming on the heels of Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink, this record was born out of rupture. Amos had just ended her long personal and creative partnership with producer Eric Rosse, and instead of smoothing…