Rock N Roll Archaeology

Rock N Roll Archaeology (RNRA) is more than a podcast; it’s an immersive, carefully researched and produced audio documentary.

RNRA explores the history of Rock Music, and then goes a step further. We contextualize Rock N Roll; we place it within the cultural, political, and technological landscapes of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

With storytelling, commentary, and a dash of musicology, we explore how music, culture, and technology interact and affect each other—how they ARE each other.

Music History
History
Music Commentary
1
Shorts: Springsteen On Screen
A deep dive into three iconic films that showcase Bruce Springsteen across fifty years in Rock N Roll.
27 min
2
Shorts: Politics of Dancing
Music and presidential campaigns. A little of the history, more about the recent past and the present day. In the summer of 2024 at the DNC in Chicago, we got a glimpse of the future.
28 min
3
Episode 25: I Know What I Like: The Rise and Fa...
Progressive Rock reached its zenith during the early 1970s, a period often celebrated as the genre's golden age. This era of Prog Rock has inspired intense opinions—both positive and negative—that rival those of any other rock movement or genre throughout music history.
93 min
4
Shorts: Celebrating Country Soul
A little about Country, a little about Soul, and more about how they are really just the same thing. And why it’s not at all surprising that a big Pop-Soul star like Beyoncé is releasing a Country album.
27 min
5
Shorts: Swifties - Beyond Beatlemania?
To mark the 60th anniversary of The Beatles' inaugural performance on U.S. soil, we decided to do a quick compare-and-contrast. We’ll revisit that watershed moment in music and culture, and talk about something recent that actually comes close to matching that moment: the ongoing Eras Tour from Taylor Swift.
26 min
6
Episode 24: The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years spanned 1971 to 1976; when the transcendent, diverse talent of Stevie Wonder was in its fullest flower. That five-album span is one of the most successful and impactful creative runs in the history of recorded music.
71 min
7
Shorts: Celluloid Heroes
Lights, Camera, Rock: Unveiling the Magic of Fictional Rock Band Stories
39 min
8
Shorts: Disco Demolition!
Take us back to the Distant Days of Disco, Summer of 1979. Steve Dahl, a brash young DJ at WLUP- FM (“Chicago’s Best Rock!”), has declared war on Disco.
31 min
9
Episode 23: Radio, Radio
We want the airwaves, baby! Radio and radio culture in America and elsewhere.
54 min
10
Shorts: Diamond Dust (A Tribute to Jeff Beck)
Remembering the late great Jeff Beck, the guitarist’s guitarist. An innovator and an iconoclast with a bold experimental spirit, Jeff left his unique stamp on hundreds of great songs
23 min
11
Shorts: RNRA Horror Podcast Short
Examining–and reconsidering–The Rocky Horror Picture Show. At the time, it was transgressive, outrageous; but now it seems a little bit tame. And…a bit problematic, when taken in a modern context. But it's still the ultimate midnight movie, and it's still…just a jump to the left!
26 min
12
Shorts: Secrets From A Saucer
Bands in the van, and a band at the crossroads. In this episode of RNRA Shorts, we’ll get into the early days of Pink Floyd, and the latest from a Pink Floyd member: Nick Mason’s 2022 Saucerful of Secrets tour.
25 min
13
Shorts: The Art of the Steal
So…here’s a thing. Sometimes we visit Right Wing World online, that’s usually how it starts.On these expeditions we’ll sometimes run into some whinging about “Woke Progressives” cancelling right wing culture and entertainment, or just griping in general about perceived left/liberal bias in popular culture.They’re not totally wrong about that. They’re right, just for the wrong reasons, and we’ll explain why.It’s not just complaining they do. We also see a lot of co-opting and outright stealing. And when they take Rock music and culture and dishonestly try to repurpose it, try to make it serve the conservative agenda, well…unintentional hilarity ensues.So we’ll do some roasting, but we’ll also do some thinking out loud, talk a little about the how and why, and even delve into the deeper history of…the Art of the Steal.
25 min
14
Episode 22: The Second Wave - On the Morning Af...
Janis Joplin dies just before releasing her magnum opus, “Pearl.” A band called Fanny is ready to rock, but a culture poisoned by the patriarchy isn’t yet ready to accept them. Carole King makes Tapestry, a sincere, modest, and deeply personal album that hits huge and becomes a milestone for women. We complete the story with a profile of one of the giants of 20th Century Music, Joni Mitchell. We discuss her artistic and commercial peak in the early 70s with “Blue,” “For the Roses,” and “Court and Spark.” We admire all of these women for kicking down the door, and we celebrate the progress we’ve made since them, but there is still a long way to go.
69 min
15
Shorts: The Juggalos are Alright
Welcome back to RNRA Shorts! This time, it’s Filth Through The Ages, and let’s meet some unlikely Free Speech Warriors. Yes, we said it, and we will die on this hill: The Juggalos Are Alright.
23 min
16
Shorts: Joni & the Prince
A quick look at an intriguing relationship: Joni Mitchell and Prince.
17 min
17
Episode 21: Guitarmageddon
The fuse was lit in 1966. Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Keith Moon came together to record a proto-metal classic.
99 min
18
Episode 20: Ohio
We begin in the midwest college town of Kent, Ohio, in the late spring of 1970. We’ll meet three future rockers--students at Kent State University, barely out of their teens--who will be changed forever by what they witness.
55 min
19
Episode 19: 1969 Part II
We tell the story of 1969 by telling the story of four concerts: The Beatles on the Roof, The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park was the first part. Part Two will take us to the peak, to the apotheosis of Woodstock...and to the abyss at Altamont. And we’ll go to some other places in between too.
116 min
20
Episode 18: 1969 Part I
We start in January, with The Beatles on The Roof, a 42-minute outdoor concert that definitely warmed up the neighborhood of Mayfair, London, England. Then we catch up with their friends and rivals, The Rolling Stones.
98 min
21
Episode 17: Bookends
Chapter 17 of Rock N Roll Archaeology is bookended by a couple of Simon & Garfunkel albums: “Bookends” from the spring of 1968; and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” from January of 1970. Our story takes place mostly in New York City: a city big enough to spawn two very different, very talented--and very influential--artists: Paul Simon and Lou Reed.
106 min
22
Episode 16: East of Eden
From the funky streets of the Haight we head east a couple miles to the Fillmore West, and meet a complicated man, concert promoter Bill Graham. It was during these early years in San Francisco that Bill created the rock concert experience.
85 min
23
Episode 15: Slouching Towards Bethlehem
An impressionistic look at the interplay of Rock N Roll and Culture in Los Angeles during the latter half of the 1960s. There are familiar elements: storytelling, critical discussion and commentary, and lots of Rock N Roll attitude. But this one is differ
84 min
24
Episode 14: I'd Love to Turn You On
We open in Manila, in the Republic of the Philippines, July 3rd, 1966. The second stop of the Far East leg of the Beatles’ 1966 tour starts out weird and ominous, and gets worse from there. By the time the tour sputters to a halt—late August in San Franci
69 min
25
Episode 13: Hard to Handle
We open at Waldo Point Marina in Sausalito, California, just north of San Francisco. Otis Redding takes a break from the road on Bill Graham’s houseboat, and comes up with a signature song.
64 min