Rock & Roll 1979, Pt. 2: the Import Bin and ‘As Seen on TV’

More rock & roll icons than any of us realized released new albums in 1979.

Mike & Dean’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll City’: The Curious Story of the Two Surf Music Icons and, Um, Radio Shack

In the early 1980s, the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean singers fully embraced the marriage of rock & roll and the corporate world.

When Beach Boy Mike Love Utterly Failed to Save the World

Instead of feeding the hungry and sprucing up the Statue of Liberty, he left a trail of lawsuits in his wake.

Where Were These Rock & Roll Pioneers during the Height of the ’50s Nostalgia Craze?

Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Phil Everly all had major label releases in 1979.

Progressive Rock Meets Indiana Jones: Roger Dean Artwork and Asia’s ‘Don’t Cry’

The video is one of the few examples of a Roger Dean fantasyscape making the leap to the small screen.

Otis! My Man!

The singer from the most famous toga party in moviedom was alive and well in the eighties. Sort of.

My Mr. T Mystery

How did the former bodyguard and Rocky III and A-Team star end up on stage with the Beach Boys?

The ’80s Rock & Roll Revival and How the Traveling Wilburys Took It to the Mainstream

Read about the Reagan-era successes of Carl Perkins, the Everly Brothers and so many more.

When Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth … Again: Prog Rock in the ’80s

From Abacab to A Momentary Lapse of Reason, erstwhile prog artists were everywhere during the decade.

Drugs, Dictators and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I thought I had moved on from my Ninja Turtles obsession. But then this happened.