Our Best CDs of 2008 continues today with a review of the super-premium Platinum Award winners for Excellence in rocking and rolling. As with last week’s Gold Awards, these are in alphabetical […]
TunesDay: The best CDs of 2008, pt. 1 – the Gold LPs
Most years are pretty good for music if you know where to look, and 2008 was no exception. It’s a shame that you have to search so hard, of course – once […]
The Scholars & Rogues Manifesto: what are we doing here?
It has been alleged that Scholars & Rogues is not, strictly speaking, a political blog. Sure, we write about overtly political issues and devote our share of time to things like media […]
TunesDay: Are The Killers the greatest band in the world? We find out today…
A lot of bands have released pretty good debut records, only to follow them up with less-than-spectacular careers. The rule used to be (before the FCC, the recording industry and the radio […]
Meanings, pt. 2: a crisis of prevailing values
by Michael Tracey It isn’t just that there is an appetite for scandal, sex, sleaze, death narratives, it is also that feeding such appetites can be very profitable. The fact is that […]
TunesDay: America singing 2: goodnight, Irene, goin' down to the crossroads…

Most music historians explain the origins of rock music as the gradual blending of Southern blues (both Mississippi Delta based acoustic style and Chicago electrified) with country/western music as codified by Nashville. […]
More on the debate
Apparently what we reported on last week was just the tip of the iceberg. According to our friend Brad Jacobson at MediaBloodhound, things got even more interesting after the cameras were turned […]
Neil Aspinall – just one of the "mad lads…"

I guess I could make my friend Denny the journalist happy and begin this way – with a lede: Neil Aspinall, friend of Paul, then George, then John, then Ringo, then The […]
TunesDay: obscurity and influence
Who are the most influential bands and artists in the history of rock? Well, start with The Beatles and Elvis, I guess, and for good reason. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, The Stones, […]
Saturday Video Roundup: We're climbing a stairway to heaven
If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed, now. It’s just a spring clean for Jeff Smith of the Colorado Art Rock Society, who turned us onto these rare gems. […]