Rock history

Before we get down to business, a TV program must be mentioned. On 20 June 1948, Toast of the Town was shown on television for the first time. On September 25, 1955, the program was given a new and more familiar name: The Ed Sullivan show. The program provided the audience with popular music and showcased new talent. Eventually, Ed Sullivan became a popular cultural phenomenon. New artists often got a bigger breakthrough in the US if they were featured on The Ed Sullivan show. The list of guests and breakthroughs is too long to mention in full here, but some are mentioned. The program also had its controversies.

Then we get a little anecdote from 1947: Before one of her concerts, Rosetta Thrape heard a 14-year-old boy sing some of her gospel songs. She was so impressed that she invited him to start her concert. Thrape's promoter, Clint Brantley, was not informed of this. The boy turned up as agreed and told Brantley his errand. But Brantley would not let the boy enter the stage. The stage curtain went up shortly after the boy was rejected. Then the boy saw his cut and began to sing to Brantley. Brantley was impressed and allowed the boy to enter the stage. The boy started the show to full applause. The young boy was none other than Little Richard.

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The beginning

As I said, rock was a fusion of genres and took shape in the 1950s. Alan Freed, often called "the father of rock 'n' roll", was a central figure in the popularity of rock. That he named rock n roll is one of two reasons for his central role in rock. The second reason was his promotion of rock n roll on the radio. Not only did he play rock on the radio, but he stood out from other presenters by having a young and energetic way of speaking.

But rock was not properly established until 1954. Then several important singles were released. A small selection is "Shake, rattle and roll" by Big Joe Turner (later covered by Bill Haley and his comets), "Rock around the clock" by Bill Haley and his comets (first rock song on Billboard's pop chart) and "That's all right" by Elvis Presley (Presley's first single).

The following year, the single "Tutti frutti" was released and became a big hit for Little Richard. In 1956 he came up with the song "Long tall Sally" which became a chart topper. Little Richard continued to be successful and had several hits during 1956, including "Lucille". Lucille has a wonderful rhythm that can be reminiscent of the beat of a locomotive. Through his success, Little Richard narrowed the racial divide between dark skin and light skin by appealing to both groups with his music.

1956 was also the year David Hess recorded the song "All shook up", a song with which Elvis would later make a big success. Pay attention to Hess, because we will return to him in about 15 years' time.

Bill Haley and his comets wrote themselves into the history books when in early August 1955 they performed "Rock around the clock" on the Ed Sullivan show. The group was the first to perform rock and roll on national television. The song eventually became an international hit and it is said that the song is among the best-selling songs of all time. It is also said that Bill Haley and his comets introduced Europe to the music genre when they toured Europe in 1957.

But it wasn't just Bill Haley who got to be on Ed Sullivan's show. Elvis Presley had an appearance on the same show in 1956. Presley disliked Sullivan even before Elvis was invited. Sullivan had seen Presley on The Milton Berle Show. Sullivan wasn't exactly thrilled. Sullivan thought he was witnessing something dirty and vulgar. It is said that Presley's famous hip movements were censored away by only showing his torso on TV. But the hips were shown the first two times Presley was on Ed Sullivan's show.

Jerry Lee Lewis - a piano-playing rocker with fleas in his blood - also got to show that he broke the norms of the time. On July 28, 1957, he showed off all his crazy moves when he played "Whole lotta shakin" on The Steve Allen Show. Strapping down the piano stool became a Lewis trademark.

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Scandals and tragedy

Also in private, Lewis broke norms. For several years, Lewis had a turbulent private life which included, among other things, money problems and a little too many wives. Lewis is perhaps best known for having married Mya Gale Brown, his 13-year-old (!) cousin. It was the journalist Ray Berry who made this public when Lewis was on tour in Great Britain in 1958. The scandal became a fact and Lewis lost his popularity. He felt betrayed by everyone around him after the announcement. Fortunately, Lewis made a comeback in country many years later.

Another pioneer and rebel from this time was Chuck Berry. In 1955 he released the hit "Roll over Beethoven", a song that asked Beethoven to move in favor of rock. In 1957 he followed up with the song that became perhaps his second biggest hit, "Rock n roll music". The following year he released his biggest hit and one of the biggest hits of the 1950s. The song was named "Johnny B. Goode".

Buddy Holly also became a greatness in the 1950s, although he was not the biggest rebel. On May 27, 1957, he released the song "That'll be the day". The song became a hit and was followed by the single "Peggy Sue". "Peggy Sue" was also a big hit for Buddy Holly

In 1958, the father of rock ran into problems. It came to light one day that Alan Freed had received bribes to play specific songs on his programme. Such bribes were a controversial topic, but at this time such bribes were not illegal. Freed lost his job and bribery – often called payola – became formally illegal in 1960.

But now on to what must be the biggest tragedy in rock in the 1950s. February 3, 1959 is for many the day music died. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson—three musicians and rock pioneers—died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. They toured with Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup and Carl Bunch. Everyone had grown tired of traveling from town to town in a cold bus. Holly chose to charter a small plane from Clear Lake to Moorhead, Minnesota. The plane only had room for three people besides the pilot. Jennings gave his flight seat to a cold Richardson and Allsup lost his seat to Valens in a coin and crown game. Unfortunately, the weather conditions were bad and the pilot lost control of the plane. This led to a crash and all on board perished. The world had lost three legends and pioneers in their genres of rock.

But luckily there was also joy in 1959. On 4 May, the Grammy awards were held for the first time, but then as the "Gramophone award". The award ceremony, which consisted of 28 awards, was presented in two places at the same time: the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills and the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York. Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie were among the luckiest winners with 3 and 2 prizes respectively. Frank Sinatra also distinguished himself with several nominations. On November 29 of the same year, the Grammy awards were held for the second time. Frank Sinatra won three awards. The third Grammy awards were held in 1960. But it wasn't until 1980 that Rock got its own category in the Grammy Awards.

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1960s: Development

The 1950s brought forward rock and rock n roll and in the 1960s rock exploded in several directions. Among other things, rock was the inspiration for hobby musicians when they, perhaps without knowing it, laid the foundation for the genre of garage rock. We also got to see the first invasion of British rock. Here, the Beatles were the biggest British group. In addition, the foundations for prog rock (progressive rock), soft rock and metal were laid in this decade. Along with the spread of genres, the concept of popular music also arose, also called pop music or simply pop. The genres usually emphasize different aspects of the music, but as I said, there are many gray areas.

Cliff Richard is one of the British artists who was in the gray zone between rock and pop. His backing band also went in a slightly different direction than pure rock. Richard and the backing band split in 1968 and went on to pursue their own careers. The backing band, led by Hank Marvin, was named The Shadows. The Shdows became one of the biggest inspirations for garage rockers and young guys who wanted to become good guitar players. No wonder, since The Shadows were mostly an instrumental group with hits like "Apache", "Atlantis", "Kon Tiki". According to figures from 2007, The Shadows are one of the most successful chart toppers in England, beaten only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Cliff Richard.

Prog rock was one of the big news that started in the 1960s. This genre has lyrics and aesthetics in focus at the same time as music genres are combined within a song. A song in this genre could, for example, start as rock, move into opera in the middle section and end as a ballad. This gave the song a progressive dynamic. In many ways, prog rock was more cultured than pop. The genre became more popular in Europe (especially Great Britain) than in America. Among those who took the first steps in the direction of prog rock we can mention the Beatles, Beach boys, Pink Floyd and Mike Oldfield. The DJ John Peel on BBC Radio 1 was one of the presenters who frequently played prog rock.

The genre ska also had its first wave in the 1960s. It was a fusion of calypso, jazz and rhythm n blues. Today it is probably the third wave of ska that is best known, but we will return to it in the 1980s and 1990s.

The song "The twist" was originally recorded by Hank Ballard in 1959, but it didn't become a hit until Chubby Checkers released it in 1960. Then the song started a craze with the twist dance style. That Chubby Checkers released the song "Lets twist again" the following year did not dampen the dance fever.

One of rock's coolest ladies from this period was Wanda Jackson. She was from a musical family, was discovered by country artist Hank Williams and for a time dated Elvis Presley. She was encouraged to pursue a career as a rockabilly singer, which she did. With her easily recognizable voice, she eventually earned the title "Queen of Rockabilly". In 1960, she had one of her biggest hits, "Lets have a party", a song Elvis Presley had recorded three years earlier.

But most of all, the 1960s are known for The Beatles' intense followers (Beatlemania) and the hippie era with its flower children. The time was filled with drugs, free sex, new spiritual mindsets, lots of good music and a world that was politically tense. The hippie movement rebelled against the established society and leadership of the time.

16 April 1960 was a tragic day. Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, two pioneers of rockabilly, were in an accident in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. At high speed on the motorway, the taxi they were in punctured and the driver lost control. The taxi then hit a lamp post. Cochran was thrown from the car. Both musicians suffered serious injuries. Cochran was taken to St Martin's Hospital in Bath but died the following day from his injuries. Gene Vincent suffered life-long injuries and his career declined after the accident.

The Beach Boys, fronted by Brian Wilson, made it big in 1963. They released the hit "Surfin' U.S.A" in March, but they were dangerously close to a lawsuit from Chuck Berry's lawyers. It was Berry who had composed the melody. Brian Wilson had only written new lyrics for the melody. But this was sorted out and the Beach boys continued their career. Later in 1963 they came out with the song "Surfer girl", a calm tune with great vocal harmonies. This time Brian Wilson had written everything himself.

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British invasion

On 1 January 1964, the British got their own TV program about pop music on the BBC. Top of the pops was the program's name and Jimmy Savile was given the honor of being the program's first presenter. Top of the pops (also called TOTP) covered the latest chart toppers and featured performances from some of the artists in question. TOTP became, as the name suggests, a popular program and gained a place in British pop culture, just as Ed Sullivan had done in the US. But both Ed Sullivan and TOTP had their scandals over the next few years.

First we have to mention something nice from Ed Sullivan's program. The Beatles had established themselves as stars back home in England and now they had received approval to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show three weeks in a row. The first was on 9 February 1964. As with Presley's performance the year before, this was also a milestone in popular culture. The Beatles' performance led to record viewing figures and started the first British Invasion in music.

While beatlemania was forming, Chuck Berry came out with the song "No particular place to go" in 1964. The song is a fun song about a young couple who are out for a drive. They are both turned on, but they don't get far enough to start the act. The seat belt doesn't come off, so it's just a drive for the young couple.

The Rolling Stones also clearly had sexual frustrations in 1965. Then they released the song "Satisfaction", a song about precisely sexual frustration. This was such a controversial topic that the song was banned from British radio. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, "Satisfaction" became a chart topper in the UK as well.

The Who also kicked away frustration, but then with the song "My generation" which is a great picture of youth rebellion. The most special thing about the performance of the song is the stuttering that fits perfectly into the song.

In the USA, the Beatles also had the opportunity to arrange the world's first concert on a large stage. It happened at Shea Stadium on August 16, 1965. Exactly one year later, the Beatles came out with the album "Revolver". In that context, the Beatles had made promotional films for the songs "Paperback Writer" and "Rain". These films are very similar to what we now call music videos. The films were shown on both The Ed Sullivan Show and Top of the Pops in June 1966. Promotional films and feature films based on artists' music were not so unnatural at this time, at least not in the UK. But the films were more of a curiosity than anything practical.

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Beatles in the fire

1966 was a hard year for the Beatles. Capitol Records had the rights to release the Beatles' music on the American market. In 1966, Capitol Records released a compilation album with the Beatles. The cover showed the members of the Beatles wearing butcher's suits and big smiles while holding meat and parts of plastic dolls. This caused such a stir among the audience that the album got a new cover.

In the same year, the manager Epstein, on behalf of the Beatles, had refused a reception organized by the first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos. The culture in the Philippines dictates that one does not say no to such an offer. The Beatles had to escape the country with great difficulty. But this is a story for another day. When the Beatles finally returned home to England, they were met with the news of riots in the United States. The riots occurred because of a statement John Lennon had made a few months earlier:

"We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity."
—John Lennon to journalist Maureen Cleave, 1966

The statement came during an interview that the journalist Maureen Cleave had with John Lennon in March 1966. The statement did not cause reactions in the UK when it was published in the Evening Standard newspaper. In Great Britain, it was no secret that the British church did not have as much support as before. The Beatles were actually more popular than the church!

Rights were granted to publish the interviews on the American market. When the teenage magazine Datebook published the interview in July, editor Art Unger placed two quotes on the front page. One was Lennon's quote "I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity!". The second quote was from Paul McCartney: "It's a lousy country where anyone black is a dirty ni**er!" The DJ Tommy Charles, who worked for the radio channel WAQY, heard about the statements and told about this on air. Things escalated from there and riots arose - not least in the Christian communities in the southern states.

The tour that the Beatles were to have in the USA from August 1966 was not a pleasant tour. The published statements were taken out of context and twisted into something worse than true statements about the British Church. But the bad mood among the audience could not be avoided. The Beatles last commercial concert was at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966.

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Media circus

The year before, in 1965, Bob Dylan had great success with "Like a rolling stone". The song had a completely unique "sound" and the lyrics defined the changes that were happening in the world at that time. Bob Dylan - with the help of the song and fans - changed some of the rules in the music industry. It was an unwritten rule that a single should be a maximum of three minutes long as well as having a cheerful tone. The rule applied in particular to melodies that were to be played on the radio. "Like a rolling stone" was 6 minutes of dark poetry. Despite this, the song was, as I said, a huge success.

In 1965 "Wild thing" was released by the group The wild ones, but did not make a success of the song. The following year, The Troggs had success with the song. The fact that the single was released by two record companies was clearly no obstacle to making the song a success. Incidentally, the Jimi Hendrix Experience performed the song at the Monterey pop festival in 1967. Jimi Hendrix ended the song by setting fire to his guitar. Since then, Wild thing has become a popular song to be performed by rockers.

In the same period, the Norwegian group Difference was created. They stuck to national releases and among other things released the great single "Tree of love" in 1967. The group had a hiatus from 1969 to 1974, but then started releasing albums.

In 1967, the Rolling Stones were invited to The Ed Sullivan Show. But the group was not allowed to perform "Let's spend the night together". The title was too vulgar. And as Sullivan himself said: "Either the song goes out, or you go out". Sullivan and frontman Mick Jagger came to an agreement by changing the stanza of the song to "let's spend some time together". But Jagger caught up: he rolled his eyes every time he sang the stanza. When the Rolling Stones returned to the stage they were dressed in Nazi uniforms. Sullivan was pissed off and sent the group back to the locker room. The group was subsequently banned from the series. Fortunately, they fell into grace and were allowed to return for later shows.

25 June 1967 was a big day in the television industry. Then we got the first global TV broadcast via satellite. Over 400 million viewers in 25 countries saw the broadcast. The international production was named "Our world". Britain's feature on the show was The Beatles' new song "All you need is love", a feature that was in keeping with the utopian youth culture for which the decade is known. The song became a global hit.

But even though new things were being done in the television industry, Sullivan was still on the air in September of that year. This time he struggled with The Doors. The Doors were supposed to perform "Light my fire", but the censorship department in the program demanded a change in a verse. The original stanza was "Girl, we couldn't get much higher". Jim Morrison, the frontman of The Doors, nevertheless sang the stanza. Although this was a recording and not a live broadcast, there was not enough time to edit the clip before broadcast. Morrison was confronted with the "stupidity" he had done. Morrison's response was simple: "Hey man, we just did the Sullivan show". He thus showed that being on just one program was still defined as a success.

We have previously mentioned the song "Like a rolling stone" and the group Rolling stones. In 1967 we got Rolling Stone magazine. Rolling stone magazine was established in San Francisco by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine first became known for covering music and politics. Wenner explained that the name was a reference to the blues song "Rollin' stone" by Muddy Waters, the group Rolling stones and Bob Dylan's song "Like a Rolling Stone".

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Intoxication and dystopia

In the same time period, the group Pink Floyd had become popular. They were taking a serious view of drugs in 1967 and 1968. Their guitarist, Syd Garrett, had begun to show signs of overuse of psychedelics. He became an unpredictable person. At concerts it became common for him to play just one chord. Sometimes he stopped playing at all. The reason was not that he did not want to, but because he had clear mental problems. In August 1967, Pink Floyd canceled their concerts at the National Jazz and Blues Festival. Their reasoning was that Syd Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion.

Barrett was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for a period. Not long afterwards he was discharged again. He was in better shape, but he was clearly not completely healthy. David Gilmour, a friend of Barrett's, got the position of guitarist in Pink Floyd. The plan was to have Gilmour as guitarist at concerts and Barrett in the studio. This was not a new practice in music; The Beach boys had done the same with Brian Wilson. Nevertheless, Barrett was allowed to join the concerts. He didn't do much other than buzz around the stage. It eventually became impossible to work with Barrett. On April 6, Pink Floyd announced that Barrett was no longer a member. But Barrett was missing, which we see through several of Pink Floyd's lyrics - not least on the album "The wall". In addition, the song "Wish you were here" is dedicated to Barrett.

In 1967, The Doors came up with the gloomy song "The end". The song was so gloomy that it was used in the apocalyptic war film "Apocalypse now". "Apocalypse now" is a feature film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and deals with a mission during the Vietnam War. "The End" was originally about ending a love relationship, but developed into a more abstract song with strong references to Oedipus.

Steppenwolf also experienced that one of their songs was used in a film. In 1968, Steppenwolf released the song "Born to be wild", a song that was later used in the movie "Easy rider". With the help of the film, the song became a popular cultural highlight. Another element that has made the song a highlight is the song's genre; "Born to be wild" is known as the world's first song in the genre of heavy metal.

The same year that "Born to be wild" came out, Tommy James and the Shondells came out with the song "Crimson and clover". The song has abstract lyrics with no meaning, but nevertheless the song has become one of the group's most famous tunes. It is worth noting that several artists have been inspired by Tommy James and made their own cover versions of the group's songs.

The Rolling Stones were clearly more inspired by history and biblical history when they released "Sympathy for the devil" in 1968. They sang about atrocities in world history seen from the devil's point of view. The aim of the song was to show that the devil is really each one of us. Guns n Roses released a cover version of the song in 1994. This version was created in connection with the movie "Interview with the Vampire". The song was used at the end of the film.

In 1969, David Bowie came out with the song Space Oddity, which was to become one of his signature songs. It was probably the interest in lunar travel that made the song a great success. The song is about the launch of astronaut Major Tom.

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Beatles and Charles Manson

In 1969 there was also a surprise in England. The Beatles had stopped touring, but they had planned a public appearance they wanted to make: a concert on the roof of their own record label, Apple Corps, on January 30, 1969. The concert was not announced in advance, so there was confusion in the streets before the crowd gathered. But the concert was well received. The only problem was that the playing was so loud that the police asked them to turn it down. The concert ended with John Lennon's words:

"I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we've passed the audition"

This concert marked the end of an era. Half a year later, The Beatles had (unofficially) disbanded.

While The Beatles had shown signs of disbanding recently, another group had established itself. Strictly speaking, the following group probably cannot be called a music group, but unfortunately it is part of rock history. In the 1960s, Charles Manson, a petty thug, hobby musician and later cult figure, had amassed a group of followers referred to as the "Manson Family". This group can best be described as flower children with twisted visions. It was Charles Manson who was responsible for the visions. The visions consisted of a. doomsday, race war and expressions from The Beatles' lyrics.

By chance, Charles Manson had come into contact with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys. Manson and Wilson kept in touch over a period of time. Manson had made no secret of the fact that he wanted to release music. Despite the fact that Wilson sensed owls in the bog, he arranged deals and contacts for Manson, e.g. a. with Terry Melcher. But the plans fell through.

By July 1969, it was obvious that disappointments and aggression had gone to Manson's head. The situation already had a bad starting point with Manson's mindset. Manson ordered parts of his "family" to go to Terry Melcher's house to kill everyone there. What Manson and his "family" didn't know was that the house was rented out to actress Sharon Tate and four others. Everyone in the house was killed on August 9, 1969. The following day, the crime was followed up with the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

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Concerts and festivals

But fortunately, there were also happy things that happened in 1969. From 15 to 18 August 1969, the Woodstock Festival was held in the state of New York. The festival, which was one of the biggest the world has seen, was also the highlight of a generation of "flower children" - despite the rain for part of the time. The festival went smoothly, but it did not go completely smoothly. Traffic jams, too much mud and too few toilets were three of the problems. The portable toilets were overflowing and the excess eventually mixed with the mud. Not only that; One person suffered an insulin overdose, another was run over by a tractor, two children were born and four miscarriages were reported.

In the same year, things did not go quite according to plan for Elvis Presley during a concert in Las Vegas. One of the most famous songs from Presley was "Are you lonesome tonight?". It was therefore natural that the song became a regular feature at concerts. Another regular feature was Presley changing verses in songs when he performed them live.

When Presley during the concert in Las Vegas changed a stanza to "Do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair", he had fits of laughter throughout the rest of the song. What made Presley laugh is not entirely certain. The most famous reason is that a man in the front row took off his toupee just after the stanza was sung. Another reason has been described in Peter Guralnick's biography on Presley. Chord lady Cissy Houston humming in the background sounded like a wobbly saw blade. Whatever the reason, the recording from this episode was released in 1980 and reached number 25 in the UK Singles Chart.

But even though the beloved Elvis Presley was still popular, new groups, artists and rock genres came. In 1969, a shocking group was about to make its breakthrough. The group had changed its name twice already and the singer had made the group's newest name his own. Alice Cooper was the newest name. Alice Cooper had already had a number of concerts and released two singles before they got a record deal with Frank Zappa. Zappa had been looking for new and eccentric artists to sign to his label. Alice Cooper arranged an audition at 7 o'clock on one of the following days. The problem was that neither party specified whether the audition should be at 7 in the morning or in the evening. Alice Cooper turned up in the morning, 12 hours early, and was very willing to play. This impressed Zappa enough to sign Alice Cooper for three albums.

In the same year, the accident that would become known as the "hen disaster" occurred and start the shock-rock genre. During Alice Cooper's concert at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, a hen had wandered onto the stage. Believing that chickens can fly, Alice Cooper decided to throw the chicken into the audience. The chicken fell on the audience and the audience killed the poor bird. Rumors of the episode made headlines. One of the rumors was that Alice Cooper had bitten the bird's head off. Zappa called Cooper the day after the concert to hear Cooper's side of the story. Zappa had only one message for Cooper after hearing Cooper's tame version:

"Well, whatever you do, don't tell anyone you didn't do it."

But more serious things were to happen later in 1969. As a prelude to Woodstock, The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was held on December 6, 1969. Unfortunately, the concert became best known for violent riots, the murder of Meredith Hunter and three more deaths. Two of the deaths were collisions and the last was a drowning accident while under the influence of LSD. In addition, several cars were stolen and extensive material damage was reported. Rolling stones magazine could report that the festival went so crazy that "Grateful dead, who had organized the whole thing, didn't get to play" (freely translated). Rolling stone magazine also reported that "December 6th, a day when everything went perfectly wrong."

One of the reasons why the festival went to hell was that the organization beforehand went to hell. There were not enough toilets and first aid tents. In addition, there were problems with the security that the Hells Angels were responsible for. The mood with the audience and the Hells Angels got worse as the day went on. The fact that the Hells Angels were drunk on beer did not make the situation any better.

Several fights occurred throughout the evening. When the group Rolling Stones had their concert, one of the fights occurred. This led to Hunter walking onto the stage and drawing a gun. Alan Passaro, a member of the Hells Angels, noticed this and pulled out a knife. Hunter was stabbed and died from his injuries. This festival also marked the death of the hippie movement that had characterized the 1960s.

On 23 October 1971, The Who released the single Baba O'Riley. The song is really about the devastating effect Woodstock had on the youth. Ironically, the song is perceived as the complete opposite.

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1970s: Still not quite clean

Alice Cooper had his biggest musical breakthrough with the song "I'm eighteen" in November 1970. The theme of "I'm eighteen" is classic in rock: youth problems. The following year, in March 1971, Mark Bolan of T.rex appeared on Top of the Pops wearing glitter and satin. This was the start of glam rock.

The Rolling Stones released the album "Sticky fingers" on 23 April 1971. This was one of the group's best albums and the group's first record on their own label. Rolling Stones Records, and therefore Sticky fingers is the first album to be marked with the Rolling Stones' logo. Previously, the Rolling Stones had a contract with Decca when it came to record releases. At the same time, there was a lot of arguing about rights with their manager, Allen Klein. For decades, there were lawsuits between the Rolling Stones and Klein.

In November 1971 came a song that has a very special place in the history of rock while also being a great image of American youth culture. The song is "American pie" and was originally sung by Don McLean. The song contains the stanza "the day the music died", a reference to the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. The rest of the song's lyrics have been debated and analyzed, but it wasn't until over 40 years later that McLean explained that the song was about losing one's innocence, both for youth and for rock. That Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to heaven" came out in the same month seems almost like a planned conspiracy between McLean and Led Zeppelin, but that is probably not the case. But "Stairway to heaven" has become one of Led Zeppelin's biggest hits.

On December 4, 1971, Deep Purple experienced an accident that would inspire one of their biggest hits, maybe even their biggest hit. Deep Purple were in Montreux, Switzerland to record their new album using a mobile studio. Montreux Casino was to house the group's premises for a period, but not before Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention had finished their concert which was in the same premises. While Frank Zappa's group played the song "King Kong" an emergency flare was fired from the audience towards the ceiling. This led to a fire that destroyed the entire casino and all of the equipment that Zappa's group had brought with them. The resulting fire created a plume of smoke that settled over Lake Geneva. Deep purple saw this blur and it inspired the name of their upcoming hit about the fire: "Smoke on the water".

"Smoke on the water" was released on the album "Machine head" in the same year that David Bowie's perhaps greatest album was released. Bowie's album was "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars". The album was his big breakthrough when it was launched on 16 June 1972. The album had a story through all the songs (albeit only a vague story, but we don't talk too much about that). The song "Ziggie Stardust" is about Bowie's alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, an androgynous, bisexual rock star. It goes without saying that the album challenges sexual themes and social taboos. The album has subsequently been hailed as one of the best albums of all time.

For those of us who have gone to school as children, the last three minutes before summer are very special. It's almost like a positive version of a so-called "slow burn" while you were looking forward to the holiday. This is exactly what Alice Cooper had in mind when he created the single "Schools out". After the single was released on 26 April 1972, several people perceived the song as a call to "blow the school to pieces". This form of rebellion was not well received by some radio stations. Therefore, the song was banned from stations. Nevertheless, the single became a milestone for Cooper. After the single, he was no longer considered just a theatrical artist.

In the same year, Chuck Berry released the single "My ding-a-ling". The song is about a toy the singer got as a child and how important this toy was to him throughout much of his life. Aside from the first verse, the name of the toy, ding-a-ling, has a double meaning. Ding-a-ling can also mean the singer's "nobler parts" and still give meaning to the song.

Earlier I mentioned David Hess, a musician who recorded "All Shook Up" before Elvis Presley. Around 1972, he expanded his career when he appeared in the horror film "Last house on the left". The film was directed by Wez Craven and became controversial. The film was so provocative that it almost destroyed the film careers of both Hess and Craven. But both Hess and Craven saved their careers. Both are best known from the horror genre and helped break both boundaries and rules. Hess was not afraid to take on the role of the villain in the films he was in. The characters he played were usually disgusting people you don't want to meet. Hess' music career crumbled due to his film roles. But he has achieved cult status as a character actor.

In 1973, Suzi Qutro came out with the single "Can the can" and it became a chart topper. It also entered the Billboard top 100 three years later. Quatro's chart toppers became a milestone in rock since Quatro became the first female bassist to become a major and recognized rock star. Quatro's single "48 crash" probably also helped to achieve this.

On March 11, 1975, Alice Cooper released his biggest and most famous album: "Welcome to my nightmare". The album is a so-called concept album that tells a story from a nightmare. Alongside the title track, the disc contains several golden nuggets such as "Black widow", "Department of youth", "Years ago", "Steven", "The awakening" and the ballad "Only women bleed". On the disc there is a monologue about the black widow, performed by Vincent Price. Many people think the monologue is part of the track "The black widow", but the monologue is actually the end of "Devil's fool", which is the track before The black widow. A sequel to Cooper's nightmare came out in 2011, "Welcome 2 my nightmare".

Bruce Springsteen was no worse than that he too came out with one of his most famous albums in 1975; "Born to run". "Born to run" was his breakthrough at the same time as the album was so successful that the album has been named one of the world's best albums.

The tough guys in Led Zeppelin were ready again with an epic tune in 1975: "Kashmir". "Kashmir" is a long, progressive song that has become an almost permanent fixture at Led Zeppelin's concerts. Queen also came out with an epic prog-rock song in 1975. Before we mention the song, let's take a look at the b-side of the single.

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Music video

"I'm in love with my car" was thus the b-side of Queen's single and was written by drummer Roger Taylor. He was so proud of the tune that he persuaded Freddy Mercury to let it be the b-side of their next single. Taylor's persuasive argument consisted of locking himself in a closet until he won. If you have made a melody that ends up on the b-side of a single, you earn just as much from royalties through sales as if you had made the a-side of the same single. This meant that Taylor made good money as the A-single became one of Queen's biggest hits.

Since the 60s, a number of artists had made so-called "promotional videos", which can be said to be the forerunner of what we call music videos today. It was mostly the British who were active with the promotional videos. In conjunction with the release of "Bohemian Rhapsody" in October 1975, a promotional video was made for the song. The group behind the song, Queen, understood early on that they would have problems performing the song live. It was the operatic part of the song that would be a challenge. Even miming would have been seen through early on, so it was left out.

When the music video was shown on Top of the Pops, it started a new era: the era of the music video. "Bohemian Rhapsody" has subsequently been defined as the first proper music video and the start of "the MTV age". It should also be mentioned that the song's operatic part was shown on the big screen when Bohemian Rhapsody was to be played at concerts. But the rest of the song was performed live. By the way, "Bohemian rhapsody" was the single that got "I'm in love with my car" as a b-side.

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Punk!

The punk rockers in the group Sex pistols clearly had a different philosophy than Queen when it came to performances. Their first gig was at Saint Martins College on 6 November 1975. This gig featured cover songs, including "(I'm not your) Steppin' stone" which the Monkees are best known for having recorded. Sex pistol had borrowed equipment for the concert from the band Bazooka Joe. Parts of the concert were canceled when Bazooka Joe saw the equipment being rigged.

Sex pistol were pioneers in punk rock and were some of the rawest musicians of the mid-1970s. Both the music and the behavior brought them national attention in Great Britain. Incidentally, punk rock is a raw and simple version of rock, often with lyrics that criticize the established in society. Criticism of politics and society was common, especially from the Sex Pistols.

On 1 December 1976, the Sex Pistols created a storm on Thames Television's Today programme. The language used was vulgar and the atmosphere was influenced by alcohol. This became front page material for the country's newspapers. The presenter, Gruny, was suspended before he was later reinstated. His career was basically over. But the show was good advertising for Sex pistols. Sex Pistols became a household name and their tour, the "Anarchy tour", received good press coverage.

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Tragedies (and some joy)

Earlier in 1976, Tina and Ike Turner were on tour. Ike had gotten into trouble with cocaine and wasn't exactly good to Tina. While Ike was drunk on cocaine, Tina managed to escape. She went into hiding before she filed for divorce from Ike on 27 July. There were several years of court cases where both the divorce, rights and finances were in focus. Broadly speaking, Tina came out of the trials well. With financial help from United Artists, Tina Turner got back on stage in 1977. Thanks and praise for Tina getting out of her tragic situation with Ike.

Unfortunately, things did not go as well with Elvis Presley. His health had deteriorated and he had started using drugs. On August 16, 1977, he was found lifeless in the bathroom. The cause of death was cardiac arrest.

On 20 October of the same year, the followers of Lynyrd Skynyrd also received tragic news. Vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines and manager Dean Kilpatrick died in a plane crash near Gillsburg. The cause of the crash was a lack of fuel.

1978 also brought tragic news. Keith Moon, the drummer of The Who, was the group's bully. Moon was eccentric and known for kicking down the drums at concerts and blowing up toilets in hotels. He was so eccentric that he was nicknamed Moon the Loon. He eventually had problems with alcoholism and ended up in rehab. Moon chose to stay at home during treatment. During the treatment period, he had an argument with his girlfriend, which led to him later taking an overdose of clomethiazole and being found dead the next day.

Things went better with Alice Cooper, who had been voluntarily admitted to a New York sanitarium due to alcohol problems. The people he met there became an inspiration for the record "From the inside", which was released on 17 November 1978. Some music journalists thought the album was a bit too serious and lacked some of the flair they were used to getting from Cooper. But the album has several gems like "The quiet room", "Millie and Billie", "How you gonna see me now", "Jackknife Johnny" and "Innmates (We're all crazy)".

By the way, it was in 1978 that Van Halen's guitar solo "Eruption" came out. It was the b-side to the single "Runnin' with the Devil" and popularized the two-handed "tapping" playing technique.

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Shepherd moment

On Meat Loaf's album "Bat out of hell" the song "Paradise by the dashboard light" was released. The following year it was released as a single. It was moderately successful, but has become a classic due to the song's style and structure. The song tells a story in three parts. In part one, you meet two young people who are sitting in the car and enjoying themselves. The boy insists on running the race to the full and the melody slips into a radio broadcast where baseball is being played. That shepherding sessions are described with expressions from baseball is a well-known tool.

Part two starts with the girl stopping the whole thing and demanding that the boy on faith and honor marry her if they carry out the shepherding session. He will think about it until the morning and wants the shepherd's hour before he answers her. He gives in and follows her demands. Part three shows the couple several years later where they both regret their vows and hope to be released from their vows. According to Meat Loaf, the original length of the melody was 27 minutes.

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1980s: Angry butts, MTV and covers

The 1980s were characterized by the development of the sub-genres of metal, e.g. a. glam metal and trash metal. Bands like Clawfinger, Metallica, Megadeath and Slayer appeared. Most bands in these genres can be summed up like this: underground nerds who jump around the stage and argue with other nerds while TRYING to be tough. We can take this summary with us through the 1990s and the first decade of the new millennium. It's a shame to say it, but many groups were simply parodies of themselves without their own will.

The first year in the 1980s ended tragically. John Lennon was murdered in Manhattan on December 8 by Mark David Chapman. Mark had become a Christian in 1970 and had been offended by Lennon's comment about the Beatles' popularity in relation to the British church. Chapman had also been pissed off by the songs "God" and "Imagine".

But the music lived on. On 1 August 1981, another new pop cultural phenomenon was launched: MTV. The first broadcast started with the voice of John Lack saying "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll" while the countdown to the Space Shuttle Columbia and the launch of Apollo 11 was shown. The first music video shown was The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star".

MTV started the second British invasion of music. The reason was simple: the British artists had created so many music videos compared to the rest of the world that they were overrepresented on MTV. But this invasion did well with the Rolling Stones' next single, "Start me up", which came out the same month. The song was later used in connection with the launch of Windows 95, the first operating system from Microsoft to have a Start button.

The following year, on January 20, 1982, a bat was thrown onto the stage of shock rocker Ozzy Ossbourne while playing a concert in Des Moines. Ozzy got the idea to bite the poor bat's head off. He thought the bat was fake and made of rubber. It is said that Ozzy was bitten by the bat in the attempt and that Ozzy had to be treated for rabies afterwards. Fit for him!

The 1980s were a good decade for Billy Idol. In 1981 he made a cover version of Tommy James and the Shondell's chart topper "Mony Mony" from 1968. The song was also a success for Idol. The following year he released the song for which he is perhaps best known, "White wedding". In 1986 he came up with "To be a lover". Idol thought reggae artist George Faith had done the original in 1977, but it turned out that the original was "a funeral song" by William Bell, released in 1968. The description as a funeral song was a description Idol used to describe how slow the original was.

Joan Jett also made cover versions. In 1982 she released "I love rock n roll" which had been released 7 years earlier by Arrows. She made the song such a success that Jett and the song are inseparable. She had actually played this along with parts of Sex pistol in 1979. That same year, Jett released the song "Crimson and clover", a song that Tommy James and the Shondells had done earlier. You would have thought that Idol and Jett had teamed up on cover songs in 1982.

In 1982, Raga Rogers, one of Norway's best rock groups, was founded by Michael Krohn. Raga rockers are often referred to as one of the big four in Norwegian rock. One of their highlights is the album "Forbidden Feelings" from 1988.

On 21 July 1987, Guns n Roses' first studio album was released. The album was a massive success. The album became the best-selling debut album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. The critics did not cheer the album at first. It was claimed that the sales were based on other social reasons and not because the music was good. The opposite party to this point of view pointed out that the album had elements that appealed to a wide target group of rock fans. The album did not top the Billboard chart until 1988 after the group had toured and the singles had been played on TV and radio.

In retrospect, the music press has realized how magnificent the album is. Most lists from the music press dealing with the best rock albums and/or debut albums include Guns n Roses' "Appetite for destruction".

In 1988, Tina Turner released one of her most famous singles, "The Best". This was also a cover song, but from Bonnie Tyler who had released the song earlier that year. Otherwise, it is perhaps worth saying that Alice Cooper's most commercial song, "Poison", came out in 1989.

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1990: Grunge and Brits

The Sinna gomps continued to bounce back and forth on the scene in the 1990s as new varieties of metal emerged. Pantera, Korn, Slipknot, Linkin park and Dimmu borgir appeared. But there was also a breath of fresh air in 1991. Hoping to sell 250,000 copies, Niravana's album "Nevermind" was released on 24 September. The first single from the record, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", quickly became a hit, partly due to frequent screenings on MTV. In December, sales of the record were up to 400,000 copies per week, just in America. In January 1992, Niravana topped the Billboard chart. They even beat Michael Jackson. The record marked the end of metal in America and the breakthrough of grunge.

On 8 April 1994, Kurt Cobain, the frontman of Niravana, was found dead in his own home. Reports say that Cobain died on April 5 by suicide by firearm. The report also said the blood contained large amounts of drugs. But the conspiracy theories arose and the murder/suicide of Cobain became the big talking point for a long time in the 1990s.

And now on to the nastiness: Gary Glitter - an artist who had been a popular glam rocker in Great Britain - was arrested in November 1997. He had handed the computer in for repair. On the hard drive, one of the technicians had found obscenities that included children. On 12 November 1999, Glitter was sentenced to four months in prison and a place on the British sex offenders' register.

Back to June 1991: Guns n Roses released the single "You could be mine", one of the singles from "Use your illusion II" which came out in September of the same year. "You could be mine" included in the movie "Terminator 2: Judgment day". In February 1992 came another single from the same album: "November rain". which is the biggest ballad Guns 'n Roses has performed.

The British invasion ravaged the 1990s, not least after Blur released their first album in 1991. During this invasion, Blur and Oasis were the biggest. Unfortunately, November 1991 came to a sad end. After a long illness, Freddy Mercury, the frontman of Queen, died of HIV.

In the USA, Primus came out with the single "Jerry was a race car driver". This became a big hit for Primus and it did not hide Primus's distinctive style. Notice the guitar playing from Primus if you get the chance.

In February 1992, Jeniffer Batten came out with her debut album "Above Below and Beyond", a fantastic album that borders on the experimental. "Flight of the Bumble Bee", "Ya Ain't Nothin' Like a Fast Car", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin", "Respect" and "Giant steps" are the most notable tunes on the record. Batten was later allowed to be one of Michael Jackson's musicians.

In September of the same year, two gold nuggets arrived from Great Britain and Ireland. Radiohead came out with their breakthrough single called "Creep". It eventually became so popular that the group got tired of the song and refused to play it for several years. Radiohead eventually developed a distinctive sound that would inspire upcoming groups. The other gold nugget from September 1992 was the Cranberries' debut single "Dreams", a single with which Dario G later had a hit.

In 1992, the comedy "Wayne's World" came to the cinema. Starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as friends and rock enthusiasts Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar. The film is a tribute to rock and has subsequently become a pop cultural phenomenon. One of the most famous references to the film is the quote "We're not worthy". The quote is from a scene where the friends meet Alice Cooper and are so moved to the knees that they fall to their knees and bow to Cooper and exclaim the quote.

"I would do anything for love (But I won't do that)" is a power ballad released by Meat Loaf in 1993. Many have wondered what "that" is for. Here's the explanation: Each verse describes two things the singer (Meat Loaf in this case) will do for love. This is followed by one thing the singer will NOT do for love. The "That" in the title and chorus points to the latter thing in the verse. In 1998, Meat Loaf was on VH1 Storytellers and described this using pen and paper.

In 1994, Soundgarden came out with "Black hole sun", a surreal song that was really just a play on words. Chris Cornell, frontman of Soundgarden and the song's author, was of course happy about the good reception the song received. Alice Cooper later said that this song was Cornell's "Beatles moment".

You can't say that Primus' song "Wynona's big brown beaver" is a Beatles moment, but it is still one of the classics from Primus. The song shows the group's eccentric style that mixes funk metal and southern rock.

In 1997, Radiohead came out with the album "OK Computer". The record company did not have high expectations for the album and called it a commercial suicide. The reason for this was that the record was very experimental. Radiohead had probably been inspired by prog-rock and 70s concept albums, although Radiohead never admitted it. But it would turn out that "OK Computer" and the singles from the album were well received and it became a sales success at the same time. Radiohead helped change the direction of Britpop by being experimental with the record. In addition, the record became an inspiration for other artists. You can see traces of this well into the 2000s and 2010s, including at Muse. "OK Computer" was thus a breath of fresh air that rock really needed in a period without much creativity or innovation.

Another breath of fresh air was Marylin Manson's perhaps ironic single "Rock is dead". The song was a mix of heavy metal, electronic and grunge. The text has been open to interpretation in several directions. One of the interpretations was that Manson was teasing the listeners by rocking away with the statement "rock is dead". But the text had its background from Manson's view of modern rock. Due to little innovation, rock was dead. Although there was a jungle of rock available, they all sounded the same. But Manson had hope for rock:

"Rock's not dead, it just needs a kick up the ass."

Some critics agreed: rock needed a make-over.

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2000: Electrorock,

In 2000, the kind-of-tough guys in Metallica found out that they wanted to take legal action against Napster, an internet file-sharing service. Although they had the law on their side and thus won the case, the public did not like the fuss, who thought they had enough money already.

In the new millennium, electro rock was refined after, among others, Radiohead and Marilyn Manson had established the genre. Later, Muse also came on the scene and popularized the genre even more.

The Swedish group Machinae Supremacy has gone a different way with its own niche. They combined modern metal, alternative rock and what we call chiptunes. You will get an explanation of what chiptunes are. Computers and gaming machines from the period 1970-1990 used different sound cards that created a distinctive "sound". The distinctive sound was special for the specific sound cards (also called sound chip), thus also special for the machine the sound card was created for. In the creation of their music, Machinae Supremacy uses the sound card from a Commodore 64, one of the most famous computers of the 1980s.

Electro rock also received a nugget of gold from Norway: Datarock. Datarock has distinguished itself internationally and has had its music included in commercials, TV series and games. Their album Datarock from 2005 is definitely worth getting.

In 2002 it was proven that Elvis Presley's music was not dead. A Little Less Conversation was a song Presley released in 1968. In 2002, the song was remixed by Junkie XL and became a hit. In the same year, the supergroup Audioslave came out with the album "Audioslave". The group consisted of Chris Cordell from Soundgarden and Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk from Rage Against the Machine. "Show me how to live" was one of the singles from the debut album. Clips from the film "Vanishing point" were used in the music video. In short, the main character of the film has been replaced with the members of Audioslave.

The group HorrorPops was in the process of breaking through in the same period. After a long initial phase and a few years of touring, this Danish group released their debut album "Hell yeah". They were successful, not least in California, where they played to full houses. Within five years they had released three albums. The group can easily be said to be experimental in psychobilly, rockabilly and punk rock. One can describe the group as a mixture of 50s rockabilly culture with gothic - almost Lovecraftian - horror.

Speaking of horror, there was a musical film in 2008, "Repo! The Genetic Opera". The musical itself was created in 2002. Unfortunately, the film did not get the best response, even though the concept was fantastic. The plot was set in a dystopian 2056 and contained a good portion of science fiction and horror. The music was based on rock and Joan Jett participated as a musician. Paris Hilton got one of the roles with a cry of distress. The producers were afraid that she would ruin the film because of the audience's perception of her, but it turned out that she was perfect for her role. She played a spoiled brat and the daughter of a rich father. In this case, she probably didn't need to play, but just be herself. Despite Hilton, the film is absolutely worth seeing.

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Fall of the Abominable!

A small footnote is good for 2007. On 12 December 2007, Ike Turner died of an overdose of cocaine. Through her spokesperson, Tina had this to say (freely translated into Norwegian): "Tina has had no contact with Ike for the past 30 years. No further comments will be forthcoming." This shows how cold Tina was towards Ike. And with good reason!

We have to go back to the nasty Gary Glitter one more time. He had fled Great Britain after the scandal in the late 1990s. He settled in Cambodia, but was expelled from there in 2002 on suspicion of child sexual abuse. This was the start of a round trip for Gary Glitter. He went from country to country in Asia, bringing his disgusting habits with him. He was banned from several countries and he also received a prison sentence on his journey. He was sent back to England in 2008. Four years later he was jailed again for illicit intercourse with young people in the late 1970s. In 2015, he received a new sentence for other illegal relationships from the same period.

In the course of several decades there had been rumors that Jimmy Saville liked girls below the sexual minimum age. He denied all rumours, but after his death in 2011 the truth came out. Allegations became public and investigations were carried out. Several reports concluded that Saville had taken advantage of his position to carry out the illegalities. Several well-known people were dragged into the dragnet in the extension of this case.

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Brighter thoughts...

We put the bad things to the side and continue with a Norwegian band that debuted with the album "Unread books and expired shoes" in 2011: Oslo Ess. This group has its roots in previous collaborations among the members, but was not formally formed until 2010. Both in style and lyrics, Oslo Ess reflects both Jokke and Raga Rockers. Their next album, "Verden på nakken, venner i ryggen", ended up in 1st place on the VG list Top 40.

The Danish band Volbeat also made gems in the 2010s, including "Heaven nor hell" which was released on 4 November 2010. This was the song that became their breakthrough in the USA. One of the golden nuggets that emerged from them in retrospect is "Lola Montez" which was about Eliza Rosanna Gilbert. What makes Volbeat a band worth listening to is their combination of rawness and musicality.

In 2012, Lita Ford came out with the album "Living like a runaway". She was clearly pleased with the result. About the record label, Lita Ford has said that "SPV gets who I am, my work, and what it takes to bring this project to life. I'm very excited to have them on my team". This album is Ford's true comeback. The album was pure rock with only vocals, guitar, bass and drums. The album was ripped for other nonsense.

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Legends disappear

In the penultimate feature of this article, I will focus on royalities. I have respect for the artists I'm going to mention, but the situation borders on being a sick situation. In 1973, Dolly Pardon released the song "I will always love you". The song was written by Pardon as the end of a multi-year collaboration with Porter Wagoner. The song naturally has sentimental value for Parton. In the early 1990s, she declined when asked to sell her rights (and thus future royalties) to the song. The song was to be used in the film "The lifeguard" and performed by Whitney Houston. But the film company was allowed to use the song performed by Houston.

Parton liked Houston's version and praised Houston for the job. Parton liked that Houston had performed the song as if it were her own song. In 2012, Houston died. In that context, her version of the song was played on radio stations worldwide to pay tribute to Houston. Parton still had rights to the song and was paid for every time Houston's version was played on the radio. In short, Parton profited from Houston's death. That's the way the music business is, whether you like it or not. Incidentally, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney had an argument after Jackson bought the rights to the Beatles' tunes, but that's another story.

I want to end this introduction to the history of rock with the day the music almost died: May 18, 2017. Chris Cordell had played a concert with the rest of Audioslave. After the concert, Cordell had locked himself in his hotel room. He had struggled with his mental health for a long time. After the concert, he had clearly had an extra dark time. He had called his wife and she had responded to Cordell's personality. She suspected that he had taken an overdose of drugs. After the phone call was over, she contacted both Cordell's bodyguard and the hotel's front desk to ask them to see Cordell. But it was too late. Cordell was found dead in the hotel room.

As with many other rockers, Cordell died far too soon. After a history that spans over 70 years, it is also said that the old legends have begun to leave us. Each of these deaths is tragic. Those of us who love music and develop a relationship with certain artists will very likely experience the day our music dies. But remember that even if the artists die, the music will live on in another form. On behalf of all music lovers - regardless of taste, but especially on behalf of us who love rock n roll - I want to thank all talented and experimental musicians and pioneers who do not ruin other people's lives: Thank you for everything you have given us and continue to give us! We will ALWAYS love you!

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