Steven Hyden with a wonderful retrospective on one of the great American bands that never really went away, at least on classic rock radio, but also never had a big revival.<\/p>\n
Listen to the Cars in 2025, and you\u2019ll hear the accumulated history of 20th-century rock music\u2014the elemental directness of Buddy Holly and Elvis records, the songwriting sturdiness of the Beatles and Beach Boys, the art-pop leanings of the Velvet Underground and Roxy Music, the electronic minimalism of Brian Eno and Kraftwerk, the arena-rock accessibility of Tom Petty and Cheap Trick. And you\u2019ll also notice signs pointing to a lot of music that came after, including large swaths of indie, punk, and alternative rock.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh So Near: The Cars\u2019 Deep (and Deeply Underrated) Influence on the Future of Music<\/a><\/p>\n
\nI spent much of Sunday morning reading this super detailed accounting of Stevie Nicks\u2019 and Lindsey Buckingham\u2019s years together as an act before they joined Fleetwood Mac. A fascinating look at how they persevered through some extremely lean years. It\u2019s always amazing how many legendary acts came so close to not making it.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite nuggets in the piece is how, when they were still a couple, Nicks cheated on Buckingham\u2026with another man named Lindsey! What are the odds?!?!<\/p>\n
I also enjoyed this reaction from her parents when she told them she was taking her own path.<\/p>\n
Stevie\u2019s family were furious. After five years of college, she had quit school and was about to live with her boyfriend (her parents considered that a sin). \u201cWhat are you going to do?\u201d they asked. \u201cBe in the circus the rest of your life?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Their warning was correct, in both the best and worst ways.<\/p>\n
The Ballad of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAs I\u2019m paring down my monthly media roundups, I thought I\u2019d share some of the more fun YouTube shorts in these links posts. Here\u2019s a great one to start with. I\u2019m not sure what\u2019s most impressive about this: that he has the ability to play all these differing styles, that he was able to put these together in a way that made musical and chronological sense, or that he was able to nail it in one take. Super interesting how some pieces sound exactly like the originals and others take slightly different approaches. I guess some of that is due to the guitar he\u2019s using and even with effects pedals, he could only match so many tones. That\u2019s notable after watching the video a month ago about different ways to play \u201cPurple Rain.\u201d<\/p>\n
TOP 80 GREATEST GUITAR INTROS<\/a><\/p>\n
\nLET\u2019S FUCKING GOOOOOO!!!!!!!<\/p>\n