Rock and Roll

Link Wray

'Rumble' Aims to Upset the Rock 'n' Roll Canon

A documentary based on a Smithsonian exhibition is wowing festival audiences

This Cleveland DJ Popularized Rock 'n' Roll

Dancing – and dancing shows – became a teenage craze in the 1950s, spurred by figures like Cleveland DJ, Alan Freed

“Love Symbol #2”

Prince Now Has His Own Shade of Purple

The Pantone Color Institute has debuted “Love Symbol #2,” a deep purple based on the late star's custom-made piano

Bob Dylan has finally delivered his Nobel Prize lecture.

Dylan Finally Delivers on Nobel Prize Lecture

The reclusive singer-songwriter muses on literature and music in characteristic style

Naomi Weisstein was a feminist activist, a neuropsychologist and, for a brief time, a rock 'n roll musician.

This Feminist Psychologist-Turned-Rock-Star Led a Full Life of Resistance

Naomi Weisstein fought against the idea of women as objects in both the fields of psychology and rock 'n roll

President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan meet with the Beach Boys a few months after Reagan's Secretary of the Interior announced that rock bands attracted "the wrong element."

The Secretary of the Interior Once Banned Rock Bands From the National Mall

James Watt, who was outed from office in the early 1980s, said the only songs he knew were 'The Star Spangled Banner' and 'Amazing Grace'

Chuck Berry's Eldorado Cadillac in the National Museum of African American History and Culture

How Chuck Berry’s Cadillac and His Guitar, Maybellene, Came to the Smithsonian

Curator Kevin Strait from the African American History Museum details the day he met the great musician

The 1973 Cadillac Eldorado convertible was driven on stage for the big superstar tribute concert for Chuck Berry in the 1987 film Hail! Hail!

The Wild Rock and Roller Chuck Berry Dies

In 2012, Berry donated his red Eldorado Cadillac to the Smithsonian

Lou Reed graffiti in France is a reminder of the rock star's international infuence.

Lou Reed’s Papers Have Found a Home

The vicious Velvet Underground frontman will live on at the New York Public Library

Interior of Historic RCA Studio B today.

Play Paul Simon's Piano or Croon Into Elvis' Mic at These Seven Historic Recording Studios

Take a tour through Americana music history

Bruce Springsteen performs with drummer Max Weinberg in 2008.

Bruce Springsteen Is Getting His Own Archive

A new center will celebrate the glory days of Boss and other American musical icons

Harry and the Potters live in concert in 2007.

A Brief History of Wizard Rock

This Halloween, check out a genre devoted to Harry Potter's Wizarding World

George Clinton donated to the museum his Parliament Funkadelic Mothership.

The New Exhibition on Black Music Could Give Other Museums a Run for Their Money

The collections in the show "Musical Crossroads" at the African American History Museum are near encyclopedic in their scope

Grab a book, grab a mic, get down.

Finland’s Hot New Karaoke Bar Is a Public Library

Don’t stop believin’ in the power of music

Prince's Minnesota home and studio is known as "Paisley Park."

Prince’s Paisley Park Studios Will Become a Museum

A la Graceland

Bill Cherry, one of the headlining acts during the week.

Go Behind the Scenes at America's Most Lucrative Elvis Presley Tribute Contest

Get all shook up with the winners of this year's Tribute to the King

The ashram's entrance was once closed to visitors, who had to sneak in or bribe a guard.

Abandoned Beatles Ashram Is Opened to the Public for the First Time in a Long, Long, Long Time

Get back to the site of the Fab Four's disastrous meditation retreat

Grateful Dead, 2015, "Fare Thee Well" concert, Chicago

We're Looking for the Best Rock 'n' Roll Photos. What's in Your Collection?

For those who photograph rock, we salute you

Meryl Streep's a better actress than singer, but that works to her advantage in the film.

What “Ricki and the Flash” Gets Wrong About the Life of a Musician

The new Meryl Streep vehicle is the latest in a long history of movies about bar singers

Signs welcome visitors to Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden.

When Rock Bands Flocked to Howard Finster’s Remote, Bizarre Artist Compound

Even today you can visit the site where groups such as R.E.M. found a true artistic genius

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