By Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor The year was 1978, in many ways a golden year in a golden decade for rock and roll. Popular music was all over the map, caught in an identity crisis of sorts. Disco was huge business and radio dominating. Mega-albums were soup de jour, with everyone from Fleetwood Mac […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor Can it really be 30 years since Sheryl Crow welcomed everyone into the Tuesday Night Music Club? Arithmetic being what it is, yes, indeed -- it has been 30 years! From childhood, Crow knew she wanted to be a singer and set about making her dream happen. From […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson, Summit FM Contributor Yeah, we know, it's an Akron thing! Truth be told, it's waaaay more than that! DEVO were, and still are, one of the most unique, adventurous, clever and exciting bands ever! Crawling out of their art students' hiding place at Kent State University back in the early 1970s, DEVO […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor After six years of consistently upping their game, the Police entered 1983 somewhat on top of the world. Each previous album was more successful than the one before it, they were on the radio, on MTV, and selling out concerts. Their unique hybrid of pop, rock and reggae […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor Talking Heads were, and remain, one of the most interesting rock and roll bands in history. Their almost shy and awkward beginnings quickly gave way to art school bravado and ultimately to a warehouse full of interesting ideas and musical adventure. Over the course of their first three […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor Perhaps the Mod-est of all the Mod bands of the era, the Small Faces embodied the true essence of not only the Mod aesthetic, but of rock and roll in general! Led by the formidable force of nature known as Steve Marriott, Small Faces had the energy, the […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor The Cure kept raising the stakes and honing their craft with each new album. The kinetic spark of their classic debut Boys Don't Cry gave way to lush and darker terrain with albums like Faith, Seventeen Seconds, and Pornography. In 1982, however, Robert Smith and company began indulging […]
Read MoreThis week’s Summit Essential is a true American Classic! As the story goes, the Violent Femmes were discovered while busking on the street in front of a theater where the Pretenders were playing. They were asked to come in and do a short opening set that night, and the rest is history. Call them folk, […]
Read MoreWritten by Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor It's no stretch to say that Sly & the Family Stone created some of the most joyful music ever made. The radiant vibes of their rock and soul mash-up made for some of the best records of the 1960s. The sonic vision of one Sylvester Stewart, aka […]
Read MoreBy Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor With the golden glow of the summer of love just underway, British Beat merchants the Zombies entered Abbey Road studios to record what would eventually become one of the most celebrated albums of the 1960s, 'Odessey and Oracle.' The Zombies had struck gold in 1964 with their early […]
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