Essays
Newsletter posts from Substack. Full text stays there; this list pulls titles and lede lines from the feed at build time. Series: Music History 101 · Music Theory 101. Older posts may also appear in the Substack archive.
- A Brief History of Funk Music June 3, 2026 When groove is the point!
- Long Live Rock 'n' Roll April 29, 2026 Modern rock and its many, many splinters from the tree of rawk!
- Please — No Chops. April 15, 2026 How a Boston advertisement and a Seattle train yard killed hair metal
- The Flow State November 21, 2025 Let me take youuu hiiiiigher
- MTV Killed the Radio August 27, 2025 The message always matches the medium
- Watch the new “Alright” music video! July 11, 2025 Welcome back to Scoobert Doobert summer 🌞
- The Most Successful Rock Album of All Time: Back in Black July 9, 2025 It sold 2x as much as "Abbey Road!"
- Rock Star? Pop Star? Alien? April 30, 2025 How David Bowie and Barbarella created Glam Rock
- Love Music More in 2025 January 22, 2025 A look back at the podcast's guests in 2024
- CBGB: from Punk to Post-Punk December 4, 2024 "CBGB represents a lot to New York City and to underground rock and to new wave and post-punk and whatever. You know, it's like tearing down the Jefferson Memorial or something." - Dave Grohl
- 440 or 432 Hz — What Frequency Is Better? November 20, 2024 "Future medicine will be the medicine of frequencies" - Albert Einstein
- Let's Get Heavy (Heavy Metal) November 13, 2024 "Heavy metal is a universal energy -- it's the sound of a volcano. It's rock, it's earth shattering. Somewhere in our primal being we understand." - Billy Corgan
- Progressive Radio and Prog Rock October 30, 2024 Psychedelically inspired, physiologically matured
- Unboxing the Skeleton Key to Unbound Guitar Playing October 23, 2024 A guest post from guitarist and educator Jeb Sherrill
- A Chair of The Guitar Board is Born October 16, 2024 A guest post from guitarist and educator Jeb Sherrill
- Deconstructing the Guitar Puzzle October 9, 2024 A guest post from guitarist and educator Jeb Sherrill
- Oh No, The Beatles Broke Up October 2, 2024 An end of an era in rock 'n' roll
- A Subscriber Exclusive: My New Vinyl September 25, 2024 My vinyl LP, "I," is out now!
- Man, I feel just like a rockstar September 18, 2024 How did "classic" rock become classic?
- Psychedelic, Baby September 11, 2024 "And the time will come when you see we're all one / And life flows on within you and without you" — George Harrison, lyrics from "Within You Without You"