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The Finger Exercise That Became Immortal: How Kansas Accidentally Wrote ‘Dust in the Wind’
The Finger Exercise That Became Immortal: How Kansas Accidentally Wrote “Dust in the Wind” In the summer of 1977, Kansas was the last band on earth you’d expect to record a gentle acoustic ballad. They were progressive-rock warriors from Topeka — six musicians who built cathedrals of sound out of violins, Hammond organs, shifting time…
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The Last Song on the Tape: How Journey’s \”Don’t Stop Believin’\” Became the Anthem That Refused to Die
The Last Song on the Tape: How Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” Became the Anthem That Refused to Die On the night of June 10, 2007, millions of Americans sat in front of their televisions and watched a screen go black. Tony Soprano was sitting in a diner with his family, a plate of onion rings…
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Almost Heaven: The Night John Denver Wrote a State Anthem for a Place He’d Never Been
Almost Heaven: The Night John Denver Wrote a State Anthem for a Place He’d Never Been On the night of December 30, 1970, in a basement folk club in Georgetown called the Cellar Door, John Denver stood on a small stage holding a sheet of paper covered in handwriting so fresh the ink might have…
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The Night Ingrid Told Him: How Jim Croce Wrote ‘Time in a Bottle’ for a Child Not Yet Born — and Never Lived to See It Hit No. 1
The Night Ingrid Told Him: How Jim Croce Wrote “Time in a Bottle” for a Child Not Yet Born — and Never Lived to See It Hit No. 1 In December 1970, in a kitchen in Pennsylvania, a twenty-seven-year-old man who had never had a hit record sat down at one end of the table…
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Rhythm Nation: How a School Shooting on CNN Turned Janet Jackson Into Pop’s Conscience
Rhythm Nation: How a School Shooting on CNN Turned Janet Jackson Into Pop’s Conscience On January 17, 1989, Janet Jackson was watching CNN when the news broke. In Stockton, California, a drifter named Patrick Purdy had walked onto the playground of Cleveland Elementary School with a semi-automatic rifle and opened fire on children — mostly…
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I’ve Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Rain: How James Taylor Turned Heartbreak Into His First Hit
I’ve Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Rain: How James Taylor Turned Heartbreak Into His First Hit He was twenty years old, three thousand miles from home, strung out on heroin, recording his debut album for the Beatles’ record label in London — and he was writing a song about a dead friend he had not…
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\”You Know You Make Me Wanna Shout!\”: How Three Brothers Turned a Church Service Into Rock ‘n’ Roll
“You Know You Make Me Wanna Shout!”: How Three Brothers Turned a Church Service Into Rock ‘n’ Roll In the summer of 1959, three brothers from Cincinnati were dying on stage. Ronald, Rudolph, and O’Kelly Isley had gospel voices, matching suits, and a string of failed records. Rock ‘n’ roll was in a strange moment…
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I Am Woman: How Helen Reddy Wrote the Anthem Nobody Would Give Her
I Am Woman: How Helen Reddy Wrote the Anthem Nobody Would Give Her Helen Maxine Reddy was born into show business the way other children are born into religion — completely, and without being asked. She arrived on October 25, 1941, in Melbourne, Australia, while her father was away in New Guinea serving with the…
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Written in Rage: The Night Ann Wilson Turned a Sleazy Insult into ‘Barracuda’
Written in Rage: The Night Ann Wilson Turned a Sleazy Insult into “Barracuda” It starts with a guitar riff that sounds like a horse at full gallop — a chugging, muted-string charge that erupts, stops dead, erupts again. Then a voice, raw and furious, spits out the opening line: “So this ain’t the end, I…
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He’s a Rich Guy: The True Story Behind Hall & Oates’ ‘Rich Girl’
“He’s a Rich Guy”: The True Story Behind Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl” The young man who came to the apartment that evening was, by every account, out of his mind. He banged off the walls — literally, according to the man who watched him do it — ricocheting around the living room with the…