Neil Young
Ain’t singin’ for Pepsi/ Ain’t singin’ for Coke/ Don’t sing for nobody/ Makes me look like a joke/ This note’s for you.
— Neil Young
IN the course of his over-thirty-year career as a recording artist, Neil Young has experienced as many extreme low points of critical and commercial success as he has high, but without a doubt, he is one of the most important rock composers and performers North America can claim. His signature raw nasal tone, shrill guitar playing, highly personal lyric-writing, and hippie-cowboy loner stance have helped shape rock and roll as it has advanced from adolescence into maturity. Through his experimentation with every genre, from folk to heavy metal to rockabilly to techno, Young has created a sound and feel uniquely his own. Read the rest of this entry »
Lou Reed
I tried to give up drugs by drinking.
— Lou Reed.
IN his childhood, Lou Reed longed to play rock and roll — a common dream, perhaps, but Reed was different. By his teens, he had learned to play guitar, had made his first record, had alienated his suburban parents, and had been subjected to electro-shock therapy. During these years, Reed’s parents insisted that he take typing lessons so that he would develop a saleable skill, but that didn’t seem to cure him of his rock and roll aspirations. Read the rest of this entry »
Lou Reed
I tried to give up drugs by drinking.
— Lou Reed
IN his childhood, Lou Reed longed to play rock and roll — a common dream, perhaps, but Reed was different. By his teens, he had learned to play guitar, had made his first record, had alienated his suburban parents, and had been subjected to electro-shock therapy. [...]
Bonnie Raitt
I think my fans will follow me into our combined old age. . . . Real musicians and real fans stay together for a long, long time.
— Bonnie Raitt
BONNIE RAITT first emerged on the music scene in 1971 with a critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. But she did not fulfill the potential that first album [...]
Tom Petty
If we don’t take a stand, one of these days records are going to be $20.
— Tom Petty, 1981, on album price increases
THE pivotal moment of Tom Petty’s life came when he was introduced to Elvis Presley on the set of Follow That Dream (1962). Although the rocking-est tune Presley sang in the film was [...]
Jimmy Page
My vocation is more in composition really than anything else- building up harmonies using the guitar, orchestrating the guitar like an army, a guitar army.
— Jimmy Page
CRITICS hated them, Top 40 radio ignored them, but Led Zeppelin achieved unparalleled success in the ’70s, both in terms of record sales and record-setting concert tours. Since their [...]
Dave Matthews
I find it much easier to be goofy geekboy than to be super cool.
— Dave Matthews
CRITICIZED by some as a hollow bunch of Grateful Dead wannabes, the Dave Matthews Band has demonstrated — over the course of three albums and several years of extensive touring — that it stands apart from the neo-hippie, jam-happy pack. [...]
Jimi Hendrix
When I die, I want people to play my music, go wild and freak out an’ do anything they want to do.
— Jimi Hendrix
PERHAPS no other rock-and-roll trailblazer has been as original or as influential in such a short span of time as Jimi Hendrix. Widely acknowledged as one of the most daring and inventive [...]
Jerry Garcia
See, if I stop playing for longer than a month at a time, my chops are so bad I can’t stand to listen to myself. I keep working. If I keep working, I keep playing at a reasonable level.
— Jerry Garcia on his work ethic
ARGUABLY the most successful touring band of all time, the Grateful [...]
Sheryl Crow
I sat in a coffee shop once, after I’d been off the road for about three months, and I heard these two guys saying “What ever happened to Sheryl Crow?”…and I immediately went home and slit my wrists.
— Sheryl Crow
OVER the course of three albums, Sheryl Crow has won both commercial success and critical acclaim [...]
