Bo Diddley's Beat Sure to Carry

Innovator could never capitalize on his status

(NEWSER) - Rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley, who made his first recordings in 1955 and was still touring last year, died today at 79, the AP reports. The singer and guitarist, born Ellas Bates in Mississippi in 1928, not only pioneered distorted guitar tones; his bragging, syncopated style foreshadowed rap as well, Billboard reports. More»

Bob Dylan's Christmas album is just the latest in a long line

(NEWSER) - Bob Dylan’s decision to record a Christmas album is certainly ill-advised—“fans may have stuck by him throughout the musically self-destructive late '60s, the God-bothering late '70s, and the Grateful Dead-collaborating-Madonna-imitating mid '80s, but surely even Bob's fans have a limit,” writes John Matthew Hall for the Independent. But Dylan’s not alone; Hall offers up the worst disasters in rock and roll careers, from John Lennon to Michael Jackson: More»

(NEWSER) - Frontmen are at the heart of rock ‘n’ roll—no matter how amazing the musicians in the band are, they still needs someone with the right mix of talent and charisma to reach the crowd. The Independent compiles the best:

1. Johnny Rotten, Sex Pistols. Like so many other rockers, he’s now an aged self-parody. But in his time Rotten was punk rock—the fashion, the politics, the sneering sarcasm.
2. Mick Jagger, Rolling Stones. Jagger mixed a voice aged beyond his years with a flamboyant, unselfconscious sexuality to propel the Stones to worldwide fame.

No rock act can top Buddy Holly: Don McLean

(NEWSER) - Don McLean is forever linked to Buddy Holly because of his "American Pie" tribute, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Fifty years after Holly's untimely death, McLean calls his song about the "day the music died" the proudest accomplishment of his career. "Long before I decided how I would use music or what kind of artist I would be, Buddy was there," he tells CNN, hailing his hero's originality and raw electric guitar tunes. "Gershwin or Berlin would have marveled at his compositions." More»

Topselling jazz album helped redefine American music

(NEWSER) - Fifty years to the day since its debut, Miles Davis’ signature album Kind of Blue remains beautiful and inviting—"like meeting an old friend," Malcolm Jones writes in Newsweek. The record helped jazz earn its title as America’s classical music and remains the bestselling jazz album ever. "You won’t find recordings that boast more thoughtful compositions or performances of any higher caliber," Jones writes. "The music has no weak spots." More»