Examining–and reconsidering–The Rocky Horror Picture Show. At the time, it was transgressive, outrageous; but now it seems a little bit tame. And…a bit problematic, when taken in a modern context. But it's still the ultimate midnight movie, and it's still…just a jump to the left! 

Songs:

Online Resources:

First, we want to give a warm and appreciative shoutout to the blogger Alex Mell-Taylor; we leaned heavily on their post for this chapter:    

Written by Richard Evans and Christian Swain

Produced and hosted by Christian Swain

Sound Design by Jerry Danielsen

Partners: Rock's Backpages

Voice Actors: Drew H as Alex Mell-Taylor

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Rock N Roll Archaeology! This is a reboot of Episode One: The Precursors, originally released October 15, 2015. We updated and improved it some, and re-released it on November 4, 2020. 

⁠Show Notes and Playlist Here⁠

We begin in Times Square, late summer of 1945. The war is over. 

First up, the Baby Boom and a newly-discovered demographic, the white American teenager. 

This new cohort is huge, with unprecedented economic clout. Young, restless and affluent, and they want to get beyond the timid, conformist popular culture of 1950s America. 

“Race Records” (an outdated term for rhythm and blues records by African American musicians) become hugely popular with white teenagers. Drawn from the well of sorrow that is the Black American experience, this music has the edge and urgency--the authenticity--these kids are seeking. 

We meet our first hero - the musical genius Ray Charles - and our first anti-hero, the frenetic, fatally flawed DJ Alan Freed. 

We shine a light on two grassroots cultural movements that became important later: the Skiffle Craze in the United Kingdom and the Beat Poets of Urban America. 

1954 is an inflection point. On the musical front, Bill Haley released the first million-selling Rock N Roll record: “Rock Around The Clock.”   

That same year, big changes in the political landscape. The Brown v Board of Education decision; and Senator Joseph McCarthy was publically humiliated and discredited.

Freedom of Association and Freedom of Expression take a step forward. Paranoid politics and systemic racism are still very much with us in America, but in 1954 it got a little easier, became a little less risky, to be yourself and express yourself.

We head to the delivery room: Memphis Recording Service, where we meet the first Rock N Roll superstar, Elvis Presley, and tease Chapter Two.

Hosted and Produced by Christian Swain

Written By Richard Evans and Christian Swain

Sound Design by Jerry Danielsen

https://www.patreon.com/cw/RNRAP

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rock N Roll Archaeology (RNRA) presents "Southbound," an exploration of 1970s Southern Rock. Through detailed storytelling, RNRA chronicles The Allman Brothers Band, Duane Allman's impact, and their resilience with Eat a Peach and Brothers And Sisters. The episode offers commentary on Lynyrd Skynyrd's rise, along with a feud and a flag. RNRA examines the artists, musical roots, studio successes, and tragic losses, with a look at this significant rock era and how it still resonates today.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rock N Roll Archaeology explores the 1970s LA Sound, a world of sun-drenched harmonies and seismic ambition. From a bizarre funeral pact for Gram Parsons at the

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dig into the archives for a conversation about John Lennon's five-year legal battle against the U.S. government's attempt to deport him. This episode explores the politically charged atmosphere of the early 1970s, where the Nixon administration, wary of Lennon’s anti-war stance and influence over a new generation of voters, sought to silence him.We revisit a powerful interview with the late Leon Wildes, the brilliant immigration attorney who represented John and Yoko, along with his son Michael Wildes. They reveal the strategies, pressures, and ultimate triumphs of a historic legal saga that tested the foundations of American justice and established a lasting legal precedent.

Guest

Leon Wildes was the renowned immigration attorney who successfully represented John Lennon and Yoko Ono against the U.S. government's deportation efforts. An adjunct professor of law and a leading expert in the field, he authored the book John Lennon vs. The U.S.A., detailing the landmark case. His son, Michael Wildes, is the managing partner of Wildes & Weinberg P.C. and continues his father's influential work in immigration law.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Progressive Rock reached its zenith during the early 1970s, a period often celebrated as the genre's golden age. This era of Prog Rock has inspired intense opinions—both positive and negative—that rival those of any other rock movement or genre throughout music history.

Fans of Progressive Rock are known for their passionate dedication.

On the flip side, critics, including renowned voices like Lester Bangs, Robert Christgau, and Robert Hilburn, were notoriously dismissive of Progressive Rock. Despite their often harsh criticisms, we believe that time has proven them wrong.

Our perspective has evolved, and we now view the best of 70s Progressive Rock as a genre with substantial depth and intellectual substance. The music from this era isn't just enjoyable; it’s some of the most significant work of the 20th century.

Not all Prog Rock from this period hit the mark—there were certainly moments of excessive self-indulgence. However, the Prog bands and songs that have stood the test of time are truly exceptional and worth celebrating.

Producer and Host: Christian Swain

Head Writer: Richard Evans

Sound Designer: Jerry Danielsen

RockNRollArchaeology.com

RNRA on Patreon

RNRA on TeePublic

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to the second half of our big chapter telling the big story of a big year in Rock. If you haven’t done so already, we highly recommend you listen to Episode 18 before you delve into this one! 

We tell the story of 1969 by telling the story of four concerts: The Beatles on the Roof, The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park was the first part. Part Two will take us to the peak, to the apotheosis of Woodstock...and to the abyss at Altamont. And we’ll go to some other places in between too. 

1969 is the year Rock N Roll goes global, and we’ll get into that a little, and set up later discussions of great topics like Rock behind the Iron Curtain and the growing influence of Reggae and World Beat. 

Then we’ll take you to Woodstock, and call off the roster, with lots of great music and commentary.  

The first mythical Rock tour--the Rolling Stones ‘69 tour of America, is up next. That will take us to the final show of the tour, on a dark December night in California, where everything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and the consequences will be tragic. 

We close out with some thoughts on the year and on the decade we’ve just completed, and on what comes next.

www.rocknrollarchaeology.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re putting down a marker with this episode, and the follow-up: the highest highs and the lowest lows of the entire Rock Era occurred in 1969. It’s a year so big, we had to cut it in two, in order to serve it up properly. 

We start in January, with The Beatles on The Roof, a 42-minute outdoor concert that definitely warmed up the neighborhood of Mayfair, London, England. Then we catch up with their friends and rivals, The Rolling Stones.  

The Stones broke out HUGE in 68 and 69, the beginning of an incredible five-year run: from Beggars Banquet on through to Exile On Main Street. Peak Stones, the sweet spot for the World’s Greatest Rock N Roll Band. 

Brian Jones is out, Mick Taylor is in. We talk about how that happened, and how it impacted the Stones’ sound and attitude. Another influence starts seeping in: American Country Music, thanks to Keith’s new best buddy, Gram Parsons. 

Brian’s tragic--and still unexplained--demise changes the Hyde Park Concert from a coming-out party into a memorial service. Emotion and conviction carry the day, and Hyde Park sets a very high and hopeful bar; it’s an early example of How To Successfully Pull Off A Really Big Concert. 

During that “Moon-Crazy Summer” of 1969, NASA pulls off something really big. It’s the single greatest feat--so far--of human exploration: The Apollo 11 mission to the moon and back. We look at the moon landing through the Rock N Roll lens; we’ll talk about space travel, science fiction, and fantasy...in books, film, television, and most of all, in Rock Music. 

Then David Bowie, with his lifelong knack for being ahead of his time, said take your protein pills and put your helmet on. 

And we did. 

And in just a short time we got used to it, became a little jaded about it. 

That comes later. Here and now in the summer of 1969; stardust, golden, billion year old carbon...got to get ourselves back to the garden. 

We’ll open Part Two at Yasgur’s Farm in upstate New York, and we’ll light a candle in the rain.

Head over to ⁠https://www.patreon.com/cw/RNRAP ⁠for full show notes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1985, a group of powerful "Washington Wives" led by Tipper Gore formed the PMRC to clean up rock and roll, sparking a culture war that culminated in a dramatic Senate hearing.

This episode of ⁠Rock N Roll Archaeology⁠, "The Three-Body Problem," performs a forensic autopsy on that manufactured moral panic. We explore how the unlikely, chaotic alliance of John Denver, Dee Snider, and Frank Zappa dismantled the PMRC's case piece by piece.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices