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“After writing that, I wasn’t interested in writing a novel or a play. I wanted to just write songs.” The story of the song that saw Bob Dylan pivot from folk to rock
This article recounts the creation of Bob Dylan’s 1965 single “Like A Rolling Stone”, widely regarded as a turning point at which he shifted from acoustic folk towards rock music. Exhausted and disillusioned after a two-month solo tour of the UK in May 1965 and considering giving up performing altogether, Dylan instead wrote a lengthy…
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Music Orgs Seek U.S. Intervention as Europe Floats Rolling Back Radio Royalties for American Artists
More than a dozen U.S. music industry organisations have appealed to the federal government for help in opposing a European Union proposal that could eliminate close to $300 million in annual royalties for American artists and labels. In a letter sent on Wednesday 8 July to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, groups including the Recording…
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If You’re Gen X, I Bet These 3 Late-80s Songs Are Still Stuck in Your Head
This is a nostalgia-driven opinion piece from American Songwriter picking three late-1980s rock songs it argues remain lodged in the memory of Gen X listeners. – “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses (from Appetite For Destruction, 1988) — the band’s most famous track and a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100,…
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4 Forgotten Country Albums From 1975 That Deserve To Be Rediscovered
American Songwriter has published a feature spotlighting four country albums from 1975 that it argues have been unfairly overlooked, framing them as “gateways to forgotten gold” from a decade widely regarded as one of the genre’s finest. The piece contends that while the 1970s produced many records by artists who went on to become legends,…
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De La Rose and Ryan Castro Throw a Cross-Cultural Party on ‘La Monda’
Puerto Rican singer De La Rose has released a new single, “La Monda”, a collaboration with Colombian artist Ryan Castro. The pairing marks a deliberate push towards global expansion for De La Rose, who has become one of this year’s most-streamed female Latin acts on Spotify, as she seeks to broaden her reach across different…
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The producer too good for Guns N’ Roses: “We weren’t going to pay”
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This Early Bob Dylan Hit Made The Beatles’ John Lennon Nervous
In 1965, Bob Dylan released “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, a song from his fifth studio album, Bringing It All Back Home. Although it was not among his biggest commercial successes, the track became his first Top 40 single and left a strong impression on fellow musicians, including The Beatles’ John Lennon, who said it made him…
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How Olivia Rodrigo Is Getting Back at the Trump Administration
Pop star Olivia Rodrigo is backing a voter-registration drive ahead of this year’s US midterm elections, in what The Hollywood Reporter frames as a response to the Trump administration after one of her songs was used in an anti-immigration advertisement. In November, Rodrigo publicly criticised the Department of Homeland Security when her track “all-american bitch”…
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Sarah McLachlan and Allison Russell on Touring Together and Summer Nights Devoted to ‘Forgetting Madness and Being Part of Something Beautiful’
Canadian singer-songwriters Sarah McLachlan and Allison Russell have teamed up for a joint summer tour running through 9 August, framing the shows around music as a healing, communal experience where audiences can “forget madness” and reconnect. McLachlan is touring behind her 2025 album “Better Broken”, following her successful 30th-anniversary tour for “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy”, while…
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Opetaia Foa‘i Calls Adding ‘Authenticity’ to ‘Moana’ Through Pacific Island Languages ‘A Huge Win’
Composer Opetaia Foa‘i has spoken about the importance of weaving Pacific Island languages into the music of Disney’s Moana franchise, describing the effort to introduce Pacific culture to a global audience as “a huge win”. Having written music for the original Moana, Moana 2 and now the live-action remake released in cinemas on Friday, he…