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»

President launches into 'Sweet Home Chicago' at White House concert

(NEWSER) - Now that the world knows President Obama can sing , we may catch him doing a lot more of it. At a White House blues concert last night, both Buddy Guy and Mick Jagger urged the president to bust out in song, the AP reports. After some initial hesitation, Obama took the microphone and launched into "Sweet Home Chicago." "Come on, baby don't you want to go," Obama sang twice before handing the mic to BB King—who made sure to hand it back in time for Obama to sing the line, "Sweet home Chicago." Click to relive Obama's Al Green moment . 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»