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Just think of all the music that’s distinctly American. Jazz. Rock and roll. Motown. The blues. Zydeco. (And if we didn’t invent it here, we found a way to make it better.) We tap our toes, we dance, we thrill to the music of America.
Music: Duke Ellington
Jazz entered the popular consciousness in the 1920s, an untamed and spontaneous explosion. By the 1950s, it returned to its experimental...
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Singer: Billy Joel
First, let me get something out of the way that’s always bothered me. Once you reach age 21, you can be Bill, William, Will –...
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Song: “Psycho Killer”
“‘Psycho Killer,’ huh? Hey Mr. Great American Things guy, maybe you didn’t know that this song was such a huge hit...
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Music: Wolfman Jack
Robert Smith. Let’s face it, if you’re Robert Smith and you want a career in radio, you’re going to change your name....
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Song: “King of the Road”
Roger Miller wrote and recorded a series of lighthearted songs in the 1960s that might be called “novelty songs” except...
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Singers: The Righteous Brothers
The story goes that one night as Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield sang as part of a group called the Paramours, an African-American in the...
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Song: “Like a Rolling Stone”
“Like a Rolling Stone” is Bob Dylan at his cynical best. It’s clear that he dislikes the girl (“Miss Lonely”)...
Read MoreMusic: Yo-Yo Ma
He’s a virtuoso on the cello. The cello. As if the violin isn’t geeky enough. But the thing is, Yo-Yo Ma somehow makes it cool....
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Singer: Bonnie Raitt
Exactly how did a white Quaker girl from Radcliffe College become an acclaimed blues guitarist? (No, the answer isn’t...
Read MoreSong: “Good Vibrations”
Between 1965 and 1967 a recording rivalry developed between Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys in the U.S. and the Beatles in the U.K. The...
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