Through Van Halen was coming off its first-ever No. 1 single when Sammy Hagar joined in 1985, he said their union was as equals. Together, he says, they reached undreamt of heights. You May Also Like: The conflicted history of Sammy Hagar’s Van Halen smash “Right Now”: ‘It shows youRead More

Y’all might not remember it, but Jody Watley was arguably the Beyoncé of the late 80s, giving Janet Jackson and Madonna a real run for their money as the top dance floor diva. You May Also Like: Those Pretty Wrongs (feat. Big Star’s Jody Stephens), “Lucky Guy” (2015): One TrackRead More

For Mickey Thomas, a summer stop as part of the Raiding the Rock Vault series hosted by Asia’s John Payne is a kind of homecoming. The two singers know each other well, and share a bond having carried forward with established bands You May Also Like: Remembering Paul Kantner’s Flight,Read More

This is, even more so than the title track hit from 1981’s Shake It Up, the exact midpoint between the harder-edged new wave of the Cars’ classic 1978 debut and the sleek MTV smash Heartbeat City still to come. You May Also Like: Todd Rundgren jumpstarted the New Cars’ surprisinglyRead More

What you’re struck first by is this new 10-album reissue box’s long-hoped-for restoration of the original mixes. Then, across 100 songs from two decades, by the wealth of worthy deep cuts from ZZ Top. You May Also Like: ZZ Top’s “El Diablo,” “Thunderbird,” “Rough Boy” + Others: Gimme Five RingoRead More

For drummer Gregg Bissonette, as a youngster, Van Halen was the pinnacle. There was one problem, of course. You May Also Like: No related posts.

Elvis Costello has released so many albums and singles, it’s astounding that he has never scored a huge hit in America. He came close, however, with 1983’s “Everyday I Write the Book,” a track off Punch the Clock. You May Also Like: Elvis Costello – Detour: Live at Liverpool PhilharmonicRead More

While much has rightly been made of the Moody Blues’ prog-defining successes around the turn of the 1970s, a newly released concert performance contextualizes later hits like this one — which in its own way broke new ground. You May Also Like: The Moody Blues’ John Lodge, “10,000 Light YearsRead More

Few CDs scream summer to me the way most of the albums Dragon released in the 1980s do. I’d argue that no other band captured the overall atmosphere and spirit of summer in musical form the way Dragon did. You May Also Like: Dragon – ‘O Zambezi’ (1978): Antipodean AprilRead More

Genesis’ 1980s-era transition from producer David Hentschel — who oversaw four studio albums beginning with 1976’s A Trick of the Tail — had to do with an abiding passion for the thunderous drum sound of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham. You May Also Like: No related posts.