Classic Rock Bob
42 FOLLOWERS
I am a freelance music journalist with 25+ years of experience writing for newspapers and magazines, largely about classic rock. Read the blogs and follow along as I post my musings on the classic rock music I grew up on.
Classic Rock Bob
6h ago
It’s an enviable position for any musician to find him or herself in: You have enough disposable income to need something to spend it on. But instead of drugs, flashy cars or shady offshore investment situations, in the early 1970s ..read more
Classic Rock Bob
2d ago
It was July 1, 1963 and Terry O’Neill was just one of dozens of staff and freelance photographers who worked for the ultra-competitive “Fleet Street” newspapers in London. But he was also one of—if not the—youngest shutterbugs. So when his ..read more
Classic Rock Bob
1M ago
Analyzing misheard lyrics in rock have provided music nerds endless hours of fun (and even been the subject of a series of books). Needless to say, the actual words to some famous tunes were not “Hold me closer, Tony Danza ..read more
Classic Rock Bob
3M ago
He was more than a generation older than the original hippies, had short hair, smoked a pipe, and mostly covered jazz. But San Francisco Chronicle music writer Ralph J. Gleason knew that the new rock music coming out the city’s ..read more
Classic Rock Bob
3M ago
Take the body of work of any Classic Rock band—or that of any other genre—and you’d be hard pressed to name a group with more characters of note than in the lyrics than Steely Dan. Dr. Wu. Mr. La Page, Hoops McCann. Deacon Blues. Buzz. Chino & Daddy Gee. Michael & Jesus. The Babylon Sisters ..read more
Classic Rock Bob
3M ago
In 1979, JD Souther released the lush, plaintive ballad “You’re Only Lonely,” which hit #7 on the Billboard Top 100 and #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts. But it wasn’t on these shores that he first realized he had a ..read more
Classic Rock Bob
4M ago
It was the early evening of December 30, 1978, and Steve Rosen figured he had blown it big time. Big Time. As a music listener, he was enthralled and captured by the guitar playing of one Edward Van Halen, member ..read more
Classic Rock Bob
4M ago
Sometimes we tend to forget that even musical heroes have musical heroes. When Elton John came to these shores to play his first highly-anticipated run of shows at L.A.’s Troubadour Club in 1970 he was ecstatic to meet one of ..read more
Classic Rock Bob
4M ago
When I last spoke with Rod Argent way back in 2004, the keyboardist and his vocalist bandmate Colin Blunstone were only a few years past resurrecting the Zombies. The highly influential (but short-lived) 1960’s British Invasion band hit U.S. charts ..read more
Classic Rock Bob
5M ago
I was both excited and honored to learn that Feedspot has named this blog as one of the Top 30 Classic Rock Blogs (comin’ in at #19!). Thanks to Anuj Agarwal for delivering the news. The complete list is here ..read more