By Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor Since Woody Guthrie first declared of his guitar, "this machine kills fascists," singers and songwriters have felt motivated to lend their voice to protest. From those like Guthrie and Pete Seeger, to Bob Dylan and the great Phil Ochs, to Jefferson Airplane, the MC5, the Clash, Jello Biafra, […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor When it comes to electronic music, there are often two camps. One is wholeheartedly invested in the technological aspect and creating sounds and, sometimes, other worlds. The other, first and foremost, are songwriters, with electronic music as their chosen path to executing those songs. Ideally, those two worlds […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor From their days as a trusted backing band for artists like Otis Redding, the Bar-Kays soon emerged as a force for the great Stax label. Like Motown in Detroit, Stax had proven itself as a go-to label for a different style of soul music in the 1960s. The […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor The Dave Matthews Band is the true definition of a fan-driven rock and roll success story. In 1993, they released their debut CD, 'Remember Two Things.’ This resulted from a consistently growing, rabid fan base for the unassuming band in Charlottesville, Virginia. The self-released disc went on to […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor Born in England and raised in Australia, the Gibb brothers certainly had music in their DNA. Between 1963 and 1966, they released two LPs and eleven singles, one of which, “Spicks and Specks,” reached #5 in Australia in 1966. They were all still teenagers. Robin, Maurice, and older […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor Born in Leeds, England, in 1979, Corinne Bailey Rae has long forged her own path. Her first proper gig with her band was in 1996. It would be another ten years before she finally released her debut LP. During that decade, she gained a great deal of insight […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor Released in May of 1966, the Beach Boys 'Pet Sounds' is the greatest album ever made. Oh, do you want more details than that? Okay, sure. Everything that would become "the 1960s" came to a boiling point in 1966. From the advent of a character named Bob Dylan […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor Some things fall apart and, in the process, allow new things to grow. Such was the case with pop sensations Fine Young Cannibals. After a run of success and some fantastic records, bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox had left the Beat, also known as the English […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor For the better part of twenty years, INXS had been busy building their reputation, starting in their native Australia, and gradually conquering the rest of the world with their driving, energetic mix of pop, rock, and dance music. Cracking the radio waves, and MTV, with the 1982 hit […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor Many moons ago, there was a combo known as the Tourists. They were a stellar power pop/new wave-styled band led by pop maestro/ace songwriter Peet Coombs. They released two very fine albums at the tail end of the 1970s, and they were gone. No massive success, just a […]
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