By Steve Newton The nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2019 were announced recently and, as expected, Jann Wenner and the other dimwits in charge […]
charles campbell photo By Steve Newton It’s been 10 days since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its nominees for induction in 2018, choosing a whopping 19 bands and […]
By Steve Newton The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame apparently believes that Depeche Mode outrocks Johnny Winter, that Chic blows Rory Gallagher away, and that Joan Baez is more rock […]
By Steve Newton The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominated 15 artists for induction today, but neither Rory Gallagher, Johnny Winter, nor Link Wray were among them. Instead, Jan […]
By Steve Newton If you’ve been visiting Ear of Newt for the last year or two you’ve no doubt figured out that I’m not a big fan of the Rock […]
By Steve Newton Okay, it has finally come to this. After years of slagging the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for its inconceivable ignorance of the best rock music […]
By Steve Newton The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has made some silly-ass moves over the years, nominating lame-o acts like Chic and inducting Cat Stevens while leaving more deserving […]
photo by Bob Geldof. Yes, that Bob Geldof By Steve Newton It’s been a wonderful week for fans of blues-rockin’ Strat masters Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan. First off […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 2, 2009 By Steve Newton I’m a sucker for guitar heroes. Check out my CD stash and you’ll find the biggest sections are reserved for […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 17, 2013 By Steve Newton Guess I shoulda known, from song titles like “Kickback City” and “Loanshark Blues”—not to mention “Continental Op”—that Irish guitar legend Rory […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MAY 17, 2011 By Steve Newton Rory Gallagher fanatics have had a lot to be thankful for of late. Last September saw the release of Ghost […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 21, 2010 By Steve Newton When superstar humanitarian Sir Bob Geldof was the music editor of the Georgia Straight back in the ’70s he had no qualms […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 16, 2013 By Steve Newton The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has done it again. It’s made a complete ass of itself by nominating, […]
PHOTO BY BOB GELDOF. YES, THAT BOB GELDOF Guess I shoulda known, from song titles like “Kickback City” and “Loanshark Blues”—not to mention “Continental Op”—that Irish guitar legend Rory Gallagher had a […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 20, 2005 By Steve Newton Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton waited 12 years for original vocalist Rob Halford to hook back up with his band. […]
By Steve Newton Well, those bozos down at the highly slaggable Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally came to their senses. Twenty-two years after it first became eligible for induction, […]
By Steve Newton Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx declared on his Facebook page yesterday that he’d “probably” turn down induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fvckin-AAA! That […]
charles campbell photo By Steve Newton I finally got around to checking out the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame‘s class of 2015 and, lemme tell ya, that […]
By Steve Newton In yesterday’s blog denouncing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s continued refusal to induct Link Wray, I mentioned that today I planned to induct six acts […]
By Steve Newton If you’re a fan of real rock ‘n’ roll you’ve probably already heard the bad news: Link Wray has been snubbed yet again by the Rock and […]
By Steve Newton Earlier today I posted a blog about how incredibly lame the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is for not yet inducting Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher. […]
By Steve Newton A little over 20 years ago I did my one and only interview with guitar legend Link Wray, and man was that cool. He’s always been one […]
By Steve Newton Back in January of 2013 when I started planning the Ear of Newt website–which I launched on Halloween night that year–I knew I had to get my […]
By Steve Newton Google “100 greatest guitarists” these days and what shows up at the top is a total joke. It’s the high ‘n’ mighty Rolling Stone‘s list of the […]
By Steve Newton Few guitar players in history are more deserving of recognition than Link Wray, the inventor of the raunchy riff, but you wouldn’t know it from the actions […]
By Steve Newton So the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame did it again. Today the poorly-named musical dumping ground in Cleveland inducted six acts into its fold, including folkie […]
By Steve Newton Ritchie Blackmore is one of my favourite guitarists of all time. As a 15-year-old when Machine Head was released in 1972, I could barely comprehend how great his […]
By Steve Newton Tonight the much-maligned Rock and Roll Hall of Fame officially inducts Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, Steve Miller, Chicago, and, unbelievably, legendary rock ‘n’ rollers N.W.A. Now, this is […]
By Steve Newton In a few hours I’m heading out to see Louisiana slide-guitar ace Sonny Landreth play a gig in Vancouver. If you’re a fan of Sonny, you may […]
By Steve Newton Now that the millions of Deep Purple fans around the world have finished celebrating the hard-rock legends’ shockingly overdue induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of […]
By Steve Newton Google “100 greatest guitarists” these days and what shows up at the top is a total joke. It’s the high ‘n’ mighty Rolling Stone‘s list of the […]
By Steve Newton American guitar hero Joe Bonamassa called me up today, in advance of his Vancouver double-header, and we mostly talked about his new live album, Muddy Wolf at […]
By Steve Newton You had to be there. Abraxas: Santana (“Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen”, “Oye Coma Va”, “Samba Pa Ti”) 1970 A Day at the Races: Queen (“Tie Your Mother Down”, “Somebody […]
The rock-guitar world lost one of its most amazing artists in February of 2011 when Gary Moore passed away while on holiday in Spain, but now comes word that a […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 12, 1991 By Steve Newton Vancouver’s Bob Rock is one of the most in-demand rock producers in the world today. The albums he’s […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JUNE 15, 2010 By Steve Newton Several years ago I was combing the CD stacks at Zulu Records—back when they were located on the other side […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JAN. 28, 2013 By Steve Newton I consider myself extremely lucky when it comes to Stevie Ray Vaughan. He’s one of my all-time fave guitarists–right up there […]
“Sound and Vision” was a pretty cool tune from a David Bowie album that made my Top 30 Rock Albums of 1977. It’s also a pretty cool name for this […]
Ah, 1979. According to my calculations, that was the last year of the ’70s, which was the greatest decade for guitar-based rock music ever. I’d like to thank Fender, Gibson, […]
Universal Music Canada has just announced that Bachman-Turner Overdrive—or BTO as we liked to call ’em back in the day—will release a remastered, 40th anniversary edition of its best-selling album, Not […]
I’ll always remember 1978 as the year I saw Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, when they were touring behind You’re Gonna Get It. I’ll […]
The spirit of ’76 will never falter because that’s the year Thin Lizzy put out two LPs instead of just one. Albums listed in alphabetical order according to title, otherwise Jailbreak would be […]
Ah, 1975. The year I graduated high school. Talk about dazed and confused. Albums listed alphabetically by title, including three choice tracks from each one to help you remember how […]
1972 was a year when I got introduced to a number of bands that would become all-time faves, including Blue Oyster Cult, Mott the Hoople, and Steely Dan. And as […]
All in all, 1971 wasn’t one of the greatest years for rock in the seventies. But it was a pretty great one for Alice Cooper, Rory Gallagher, and Yes, who […]
Last year I put together a list of my 30 fave albums from 1973, which was a particularly awesome year since it included the release of what I’ve always felt was […]
I scored a copy of the new Stephen King novel Doctor Sleep for Christmas, which was great as it continues the story of The Shining, one of my fave works–next to […]
By Steve Newton The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has done it again, proving once more that it has its head so far up its ass that it isn’t […]
I’ve been reminiscing a lot lately about rock stuff that happened 30 years ago. I recently posted interviews originally published back in ’83 with such still-active artists as British guitar […]
By Steve Newton If there ever was a good reason to add a new page to Ear of Newt, this is it. I for one and sick and tired of […]
