The Rasperries - The Greatest Pop/Rock Band In History

It was the spring of 1976 and my college roommate and I were cruising around in his big old gas-guzzling Chevy listening to the 8-track at ear-bleeding volume. In the tape deck was I'm A Rocker by The Raspberries, arguably the greatest pop/rock band in history.

I loved The Raspberries and never understood why they didn't become huge stars. They certainly enjoyed some success - Go All the Way (their biggest hit), I Wanna Be With You, Let's Pretend, and Overnight Sensation (just about the perfect pop song) were all legitimate hits. Beyond these well-known songs, though, there were a lot of other truly great songs - Tonight, I Saw the Light, Don't Wanna Say Goodbye, Drivin' Around, Hard to Get Over a Heartbreak, Ecstasy, Party's Over, Starting Over, Play On, and All Through the Night are all classics, in my opinion.

As seen in the picture above, the band's tendency to wear matching outfits probably didn't help them any. In the 70's matching outfits were associated with the Bay City Rollers and other bands that had no credibility among rockers or serious music fans. But The Raspberries are a band whose music holds up incredibly well. Take a listen to Tonight and you'll hear production qualities and rocking music that beats most everything on the radio these days. Put on Overnight Sensation and marvel at the huge sound, terrific production, and truly great songwriting and musicianship. The song is so great that John Lennon offered the services of himself and Ringo Starr to do some independent promotion work for the band. Can you get any better seal of approval than that?

If you want to check out their music start with the Capitol Records Collector Series 2CD set. It's got all the hits and most of the album classics (although with so many great songs some, such as Play On and All Through the Night didn't make the cut). Also, you might want to pick up their 2007 reunion set Raspberries Live On Sunset Strip. A magnificently produced set, you can do yourself a favor and seek out the deluxe edition that contains a bonus DVD with the songs I Wanna Be With You, Tonight, Overnight Sensation, Ecstasy, and of course, Go All the Way. Really great stuff.

So here's to one of the greatest - and most underrated - bands of the 70s - The Raspberries. Do yourself a favor and pick up some of their music. I still keep it in heavy rotation, though it's now on my iPod rather than 8 track.

Classic Rock - The Best Music Magazine?

Hats off to our Brit friends for the great Classic Rock magazine. Although newsstands are overrun with music magazines, Classic Rock stands head and shoulders above the rest. Good writing, great pictures, and a free CD or DVD with every issue makes this, in my opinion, the best music magazine on the market.

And, though you might think the title means the magazine is limited only to the classic rock era, there is ample coverage of new bands as well. Each month has a healthy selection of articles on new bands as well as reviews of CDs and DVDs by a wealth of new artists.

The classic rock era - spanning, I would say, from about '67 to '81 - is undoubtedly the golden era of rock and roll. The amount of interest in the music from this time period overwhelms any other period in the history of rock. I mean, who is listening to Flock of Seagulls, Human League, and other crummy 80s bands these days? The 90s still have some viable artists - Pearl Jam and the ever popular Nirvana. The classic rock era - well, there's the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Pink Floyd, Eagles, Aerosmith, Van Halen, the Police, U2, and the list can go on and on. Seriously, what other era has so many classic artists? None.

Classic Rock is certainly not the only magazine covering this golden era of rock, but it is, quite simply, the best. And I must add, somewhat mournfully as an American, that we have nothing on this side of the pond to compare with Classic Rock. Rolling Stone, you might say? No way. I ditched my subscription to that rag years ago. Too corporate, too predictable, too boring, and some of the dumbest album reviews in the history of music means I seldom even bother to see who is on the cover.

If you like classic rock music - and really, who doesn't - this is the only place to turn for great articles on the artists you love. Oh, but I do have one really big gripe. Classic Rock is, without a doubt, the most poorly proofread periodical on the planet. Seriously, do these guys ever proof this stuff? Each month is so chock full of errors that it gets embarrassing. Great, great magazine guys, but get yourself a decent proofreader.