The Sound of Young America: Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Aretha Franklin and the soul legends.
In 1970, the world felt like it was fracturing at the seams. America was caught in the suffocating grip of the Vietnam War, social movements were clashing in the streets, and the idealism of the sixties had curdled into cynicism. Amidst this thick fog of societal dread, Creedence Clearwater Revival dropped a track that sounded … Read more
The air in the studio was thick with the scent of hot vacuum tubes and the frantic, nervous energy of five young men from Tacoma, Washington. It was 1965, a time when the world was beginning to turn on the axis of the British Invasion, but inside the cramped confines of a low-budget recording booth, … Read more
In 1981, the airwaves were dominated by the neon-drenched pulse of synth-pop and the visual revolution of MTV. Amidst this backdrop, a husky, rasping voice cut through the static, delivering a song that felt like a fever dream. Kim Carnes released Bette Davis Eyes, an infectious track that didn’t just climb the charts; it became … Read more
In 1991, the hills of Hollywood held a secret that would forever change the trajectory of alternative rock. While the world was obsessed with the emerging grunge movement in Seattle and the neon-soaked dying embers of hair metal, a group of young, combustible musicians walked into a cavernous, allegedly haunted mansion on Laurel Canyon. They … Read more
In the summer of 1970, the world was vibrating with the revolutionary pulse of rock and roll. Janis Joplin, the undisputed queen of the psychedelic blues, was a household name. With her wild, untamed hair and a voice that sounded like it had been carved out of raw heartache and whiskey, she had conquered the … Read more
The year was 1969, and the world was changing. As the decade that gave us the British Invasion and the grit of Motown began to fade, the airwaves were still dominated by the velvet harmonies of The Supremes. To the public, Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson were the quintessential sisters of soul, posing … Read more
The year was 1970, a time when the haze of the sixties was dissolving into the harsh, cold reality of a new decade. In the dim, smoke-filled sanctuary of a Los Angeles recording studio, Janis Joplin stood before a microphone. She had no way of knowing that the air she was displacing with her gravelly, … Read more
It was 1967, and the streets of New York City were a chaotic symphony of honking horns and yellow cabs. Inside one of those rattling vehicles, a young Carole King sat with nothing but a few scraps of paper and a melody forming in her head. She had no way of knowing that the lyrics … Read more
In 1979, the music industry was obsessed with the glitz of Studio 54 and the rising dominance of MTV, but inside the hallowed walls of a recording studio, Fleetwood Mac was spiraling into a million-dollar obsession. They had just come off the monumental, soap-opera-fueled success of Rumours, a record that defined the era by turning … Read more