Legacy Categories - The Hip Quotient

Buck Owens: Bakersfield Boy #1

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Cool Country Cats & Fab Folkies
Post comments:2 Comments
Post published:August 12, 2015

"People would say ‘You shouldn’t be sayin’ that. You should be talkin’ about country music.’ And I said, ‘Why not? It’s the truth! Why can’t I say I’m a Beatles fan?’ I used to get criticized for that." Those words are from country music great Buck Owens, who would have turned 86 today. He was responding to the country purists who accused him of selling out by adding rock elements to his repertoire in the mid-'60s. Most rock fans know that The Beatles recorded a version of Buck's 1964 hit "Act Naturally," which featured cowboy-loving Ringo on vocals. But few realize that Buck was a fan of The Beatles even before they chose his song as the B side of "Yesterday."

Happy Trails, Hippies!

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:American Bands and Artists Guitarists: The Axemen Cometh Psychedelia
Post comments:0 Comments
Post published:August 1, 2015

That's what Woodstock attendees might have heard at the end of the festival if Roy Rogers had agreed to close the show. Woodstock organizer Michael Lang wanted Roy to come on after Jimi Hendrix, the guitar phenomenon everyone had been dying to to see. Speaking to an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences panel on October 26, 2006, Mr.…

When Frampton Came Alive

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Brits Beyond The Beatles & Stones Guitarists: The Axemen Cometh
Post comments:2 Comments
Post published:July 23, 2015

In 1976 the U.S.A. was having a big birthday - its 200th. In the Land of the Free, American rock fans could have their cake and eat it, too. New flavors were popping out of the oven daily, from Punk Pecan to Disco Devil's Food to bland ol' Styx-Style White Cake. But the all-time favorite, Arena Deluxe, was still in big demand. Yes, The Ramones, Kansas, and The Bee Gees were poised to explode, but the electric guitar titans weren't going away any time soon. And Peter Frampton was living proof of that. By the middle of that festive bicentennial summer, nearly every rock fan I knew had a copy of "Frampton Comes Alive," the two-record set released by the very pretty British singer/guitarist/songwriter. It reached the #1 spot on the U.S. charts on April 10, 1976, and ended up being the biggest LP of the year, selling over 6 million copies and remaining on the American charts for 97 weeks!

Woody Guthrie’s Yiddishe Mama

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:American Bands and Artists Cool Country Cats & Fab Folkies Foundations of Rock Singer-Songwriters & Indie Artists
Post comments:1 Comment
Post published:July 14, 2015

Woody Guthrie, born 103 years ago today, is best known as the dust bowl balladeer who wrote many of America's most beloved songs, including "This Land Is Your Land." He was a free spirit and a sprite, a vagabond minstrel who spent his 55 years on earth using music to empower the common man. He wrote of the roads he traveled and the characters he met, of "dusty old dust" and the places he lived on "the wild, windy plains." He also wrote about a land and a culture far removed from his Tom Joad roots, a place "where the halvah meets the pickle, where the sour meets the sweet." Yes, folks, it turns out that Woody Guthrie had a Jewish mother-in-law! And folk culture is all richer for it.

Mick Ronson: The Glam Guitarist Who Rocked Ziggy and the Spiders From Mars

Post author:Dana Spiardi
Post category:Brits Beyond The Beatles & Stones Glam & Punk Rock: All the Young Dudes Guitarists: The Axemen Cometh
Post comments:2 Comments
Post published:May 26, 2015

One of the most unusual and innovative new performers of the day chooses you for his band, insists you wear eyeliner, satin, and 6-inch platform boots, and then proceeds to engage in deviate sexual activity with your guitar while you stand on stage churning out searing licks. Sound demanding? Well, it's all in a day's work when your name is…