Tag: classic rock

  • Every Character Billy Joel Ever Played in His Music Videos

    Every Character Billy Joel Ever Played in His Music Videos

    + Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. I’m one of those people you look at and think, there’s no way that guy listens to Billy Joel. I even look at myself and imagine a person…

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  • Album Histories Monthly: New Order – ‘Substance 1987’

    Album Histories Monthly: New Order – ‘Substance 1987’

    + Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. Welcome back to our new series on Flypaper, Album Histories Monthly, which brings you the story of a single album each month, in the month that it was originally released.…

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  • Album Histories Monthly: New York Dolls – ‘New York Dolls’

    Album Histories Monthly: New York Dolls – ‘New York Dolls’

    New York Dolls – New York Dolls Release Date: July 27, 1973 “The New York Dolls are the new Rolling Stones.” –The Village Voice, 1972 On November 6, 1972, after the New York Dolls played a sold-out show with Faces at Wembley Stadium, drummer and songwriter Billy Murcia “succumbed to what is usually referred to as…

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  • Money Ain’t a Thang: 11 of the Most Expensive Albums Ever Produced

    Money Ain’t a Thang: 11 of the Most Expensive Albums Ever Produced

    + Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. Most of us record albums with budgetary constraints — that’s just our reality. Imagine waking up one day with unlimited resources at your fingertips. Here and now, there’s…

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  • The Unacknowledged Impact Gregg Allman Had on My Life as a Musician

    I never listened to the Allman Brothers much, which is probably not what you’d expect to hear from somebody who’s about to write 500 or so words about Gregg Allman. But as I reflected on his passing last week, I realized that Gregg and his brother Duane had a much greater impact on my life as…

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  • These Four Classic Covers Can Tell Us Everything About What Makes Great Album Art

    These Four Classic Covers Can Tell Us Everything About What Makes Great Album Art

    Four albums top my all-time favorite records list. They’re some of my favorite albums musically, but their impact and significance to me and other listeners run deeper than that. After spending so many cumulative hours engaging deeply with these works, I realized that these four great covers can teach us everything we need to know about…

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  • What Makes a Great Debut Album? These 5 Classics Can Teach Us Everything

    What Makes a Great Debut Album? These 5 Classics Can Teach Us Everything

    What makes a great debut album? Its reflection on its time and place in contemporary society? The hype it generates? An ethereal and indescribable showing of artistic genius and virtuosity? While there are certainly patterns and similarities within the athenaeum of commercial music — the “sophomore slump,” the “edgy cover artwork,” or the scorched-earth PR campaigns…

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  • Why “Sympathy for the Devil” Should Never Have Been a Hit

    The Rolling Stones’ classic hit “Sympathy for the Devil” is one of my all-time favorite songs — it’s unique in almost every way. The material it mines is fairly unexplored in popular music, particularly with the lyrics from the perspective of the Devil (which led to the perception of Mick Jagger and his gang as Devil worshippers…

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  • Discover Alternate Tunings with Led Zeppelin’s Classic Guitar Riffs

    The consensus amongst musicians seems to be unanimous: Led Zeppelin has written and performed some of the most high-intensity rock and roll music ever. Yet beneath the fuzzed out, thunderous madness of Valhalla and Middle Earth typically associated with rock’s golden gods, there is a wealth of musical ingenuity and innovation waiting to be uncovered by…

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RJD2: From Samples to Songs