Blog: The Soul of Rock ‘n’ Roll

Well it's the the 4th of July here in the states again, one of my favorite holidays, because what's better in the summer than a little food, some fun and explosives... preferably with a good rock and roll sound track of course. Anyways, if you're in the states and celebrating, have fun, be safe, and turn up the rock... And if you're not, don't hesitate to turn on some rock of your own and set off a few fireworks for us. Take care, D.A.N. Owner/Editor - The Soul of [...]

Alright, back to regularly scheduled programming here at the Soul of Rock 'n' Roll. Bout time too if you ask me as I really missed the carnival last month. It's a good dose of what's going on in the world of rock on the internet usually with a great range of topics and articles. One good thing that did come from missing the June carnival it seems though, is that this month got a lot more entries than I normally see... which is pretty sweet. And so without further ado... the Carnival of [...]

I can understand if some people are not a fan of the Smashing Pumpkins. Maybe it's the sound, or the style, or whatever... I can understand. I however feel that they're one of the best bands in the world... probably in my top 5 of favorite bands (if I actually kept such lists around for easy reference). On top of my obvious appreciation for their music, I have a ton of respect for Billy Corgan because he seems to really be in it for the love of the music, and for the fans, and that respect continues [...]

So much goes into making an amazing guitarist. Technique, innovation, complexity, subtlety... a whole bunch of things. There's something though that can take those techniques and really put them over the top, making good guitarists into great guitarists , great guitarists into stellar guitarists and Jimi Hendrix (an amazing guitarist) into THE guitar master. This "special something" is one of the most illusive of things, but something that many guitarists spend their entire life striving for... especially blues guitarists: It's passion and soul. Since the very first time that blues became electrified with people [...]

When it comes to guitarists, sometimes the best aspects of a great player's music goes completely unrecognized by the masses. Sure, playing a flaming guitar with your teeth has a bit of a bigger impact than crafting a beautiful rhythm part, but both are equally important when discussing what makes certain guitarists great. Jimi Hendrix is a good example of this because although most people consider him one of the guitar masters (if not THE guitar master), not everyone actually realizes why? As I discussed in the previous part of this 3 part tribute [...]

I don't really remember the first time I heard the name Jimi Hendrix. He was always one of the artists I just seemed to know about from day one... as was his legendary prowess on the electric guitar. I don't really remember the first time I heard a Hendrix song either, but I do remember the first Hendrix album I bought, and the subsequent days I spent listening to it, soaking in as much as I possibly could. Suddenly all the stories of this infamous guitarist were true... I knew he was the guitar master and I [...]

It's time for me to get back into the blues again. Been listening to a lot of old blues classics recently, people like Robert Johnson, Son House, Blind Lemon Jefferson and one of the few remaining links to that era... Mr. "Honeyboy" Edwards. As it usually does, my renewed interest in the blues has lead me to search the internet and and see what new things I can find. This time I not only found a few great videos of David "Honeyboy" Edwards playing some incredible solo blues, but an interesting organization called the Blue Shoe [...]

A few days ago I read an interesting bit of music news that struck another one of those "I'm going to start ranting" chords. Apparently record label, Atlantic decided to sue both Scott Weiland and Eric Kretz of the Stone Temple Pilots for not delivering on their end of their contract and trying to terminate it. Atlantic apparently not only wants the 6 albums that STP already delivered during their heyday, but also the seventh that the recently reunited band has indicated they might like to record, as well as two more albums. Let all that [...]

Hey, just wanted to say a quick happy fathers day to everyone out there. Nothing says Fathers Day like.... rock and roll? Well I don't know about that, but Father's Day certainly is better with a little rock music playing. Hope everyone has a good holiday. To all the fathers out there, Happy Father's Day from the Soul of Rock 'n' Roll. Take care, D.A.N. Owner/Editor - The Soul of Rock 'n' Roll Music/Rock and Roll Blog - www.soulofrocknroll.com A Division of Fifth Column Media - [...]

In case you missed the news, several thousand (something like 80,000?), extremely lucky Foo Fighters fans were treated to one heck of a special event June 7th 2008. Recently the Foos have been reaching out to some of their heroes. They played with a couple members of Rush just recently, although I can't remember where, and now they've done it again. And, for the time being, we have video: It's a very shake cell phone video taken from like the front row, the sound is horrible and the picture isn't too good either, but for [...]

This is the nineteenth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month. Although many bands have gone unrecognized over the years yet have made tremendous impacts on rock and roll, there are a few that seem to really garner a cult following, yet linger in obscurity for everyone else in spite of their influence. King Crimson definitely seems to fit into that category. [...]

Yesterday was a truly sad day for rock and roll as one of it's original founding members passed away. Bo Diddley died yesterday of heart failure after months of ill health at the age of 79, and so I thought I would take today to mourn his passing, offer condolences to his family and friends, and more than anything celebrate his music, and lasting contributions to rock and roll. Although he is often lumped in with some of the other early rock and roll and blues players of his time, Bo Diddley truly had a sound all [...]

Unfortunately there was a number of technical problems during the month of May here at the Soul of Rock 'n' Roll. These problems appear to have been cleared away finally, but it has resulted in there being no carnival of rock and roll this month. I always look forward to reading the entries for the carnival so I'm just as disappointed as everyone else about this. Don't worry, there WILL be a carnival come July 1st so feel free to submit any of your music related posts. For more information on the carnival of rock [...]

Hey everyone, just thought I'd wish a quick happy Memorial Day. Although it's often more about the barbecues and parades, let's make sure that we try to remember what Memorial Day is really celebrating: the men and women who have fought and died in service for their country. I like to do that with some music, mainly because I like to do just about everything with some music, and there are plenty of great songs that seem appropriate. I'm partial to songs like "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen for holidays like this... [...]

As it's almost summer, it's almost time for the summer tours, festivals and all the other great musical events that come about when the weather gets warm. It seems that with society and the music industry evolving though, things like touring, concert festivals and even tickets must find new ways to fit in with the times and so the same old summer concert series we're used to might go away and evolve into something new. Although I'm a huge fan of any sort of concert event, they certainly can use some improvement. I don't know about [...]

I took a glance through the archives recently here at the Soul of Rock 'n' Roll and then a subsequent glance through my music collection and decided that for someone who loves massively thick and fuzzed out guitar sounds... I don't have nearly enough hard rock and heavy metal in my collection. Can't tell you why really... perhaps it has something to do with my somewhat intense aversion to the stereotypical mid 80s hair metal sound. That's not a knock against that era of music, or people who are into that music, it just doesn't do much for [...]

The Soul of Rock 'n' Roll's Zappa Plays Zappa DVD giveaway is coming to a close today. Thanks to all those who entered. There was a lot of interest so I'll definitely be considering hosting other giveaways of this type in the future. An email will be sent to the chosen winners today for a confirmation of their address, and then their free copy of the latest Zappa Plays Zappa DVDs should be on the way. If you entered, keep an eye on your email today for a confirmation notice, and reply with a confirmation [...]

That's right we're coming down to the final week of the Zappa Plays Zappa Giveaway here at the Soul of Rock 'n' Roll. I just wanted to make sure that as many people who might be interested in getting a free copy of the Zappa Plays Zappa DVDs gets to enter before time is up. The contest will end promptly on May 21st, exactly one month from the start date of April 21st, so make sure and enter if you haven't already. If this is the first you're hearing about this contest the Soul of Rock [...]

It's hard to imagine that back in the early 60s with the Spencer Davis Group that Steve Winwood was a mere 15. It was only 4 years later that he would put together the band Traffic, one of the first bands to delve into jazz fusion. I first came to know about Steve Winwood through his work in Blind Faith with Eric Clapton, but it didn't take me too long to check out Traffic and the rest of his catalog. Although some people might be more familiar with his solo work in the 80s, I always though [...]

It seems the number of bands who are upset with their record labels, is sort of skyrocketing. Actually I think it's more so the number of bands that are coming out and speaking about their label troubles that is increasing, as opposed to the actual number of bands unhappy, because the times just seem right for bands to strike out on their own, what with the industry changing so rapidly right now. We can add Weezer to that list after a recent spat over their latest album, due out in the next few months (if not sooner). [...]