The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street turns 40

By the spring of 1971, the heroes of the ’60s were dropping like flies. The Beatles had broken up, Angela Davis and Timothy Leary were on the run, and everyone in California was becoming a born-again Christian. The previous autumn, Jimi Hendrix asphyxiated on half-digested sleeping pills and red wine,…

The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Are You Experienced turns 45

When he came storming onto the scene, Jimi Hendrix made weepy children out of the world’s best guitar players, bringing a primal sexuality and grace to his playing that only a true master of the craft could muster. Guitarists like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Pete Townshend had spent nearly…

Social Distortion’s Mike Ness on must-have albums: If you don’t have these, you’re not alive

“One of my favorite things to do is look at the line of the people going into the show. It’s totally diverse. And even back in the day, in the early days, I didn’t want to play just for punk rockers. I felt that we had something more to offer. Maybe we didn’t have quite the global message that the Clash had, but the Clash wanted to reach the world. And that’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to just play…that would be as narrow-minded as the people who said that punks suck.”