Jimmy Page

The Who Barrel Through Quadrophenia at Oracle Arena, 2/1/13

The Who Vintage Trouble Friday, Feb. 1, 2013 Oracle Arena Fans of still active '60s-era rock acts are being faced with some stark choices when their heroes hit the road these days. Instead of "Is it worth shelling out the big bucks to see them?" the question has become "Is this my last chance to se ... More >>

How Feedback Became the Coolest Sound in Rock

Kerrraaang! came the sound from behind my wall, in my older brother's bedroom. It was his first weekend home from college and he'd returned to our small Indiana town with new toys: a CD player and a copy of Nirvana's Nevermind. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! The noise, which started when Kurt Cobain st ... More >>

Top 21 Bay Area Metal Albums of All Time, #21-11

Thrash. Thrash. Thrash. Yes, thrash is what the Bay Area metal scene is famous for. But it doesn't all begin and end with blistering riffs -- our local bands have churned out plenty sludgy stoner metal as well, and even some very heavy shit that's damn near unclassifiable. It's all here on our list ... More >>

Defenders of the Blues: Why We Still Need the Black Keys

Why We Still Need the Black Keys

Live Review, 2/23/12: Built to Spill at the Fillmore: Beloved, Virtuosic, and Shy

Christopher VictorioBuilt to Spill at the Fillmore last night​ Built to Spill Sister Crayon Feb. 23, 2012 The Fillmore Better than: Headbanging and singing along with the guitar solos on Perfect From Now On by yourself in a car with shitty speakers. At the intersection of "excruciatingly s ... More >>

Kyuss Lives! Singer John Garcia Thinks the Haters Should "Go Suck Three Bags of Dicks"

Kyuss Lives!: Bringing quintessential desert sludge to a stage near you.​ One of the most unsung heavy rock bands to emerge during the '90s, "desert rock" quartet Kyuss has a legitimate claim as its decade's Velvet Underground. While they didn't receive their due during the band's existence, t ... More >>

R.I.P. Bert Jansch, 1943-2011

After battling lung cancer for the last couple of years, Scottish folksinger and guitarist Bert Jansch passed away this morning at age 67. Jansch was one of the pioneers of a picking-oriented, depressive folk style that influenced such fellow cult musicians and luminaries as Donovan and Nick Drake ... More >>

Long Live the Triptych: Five Great Series of Three Rock Songs

In visual art, it's called a triptych -- a piece divided into three connected sections or panels. The individual panels could, in theory, stand on their own, but each adds meaning and significance to the other two, creating a single work that is more than the sum of its parts. We don't have a name ... More >>

The Eels' Mr. E on Becoming Jimmy Page's Hero, Playing in China, and Making Difficult Albums

Eels​ Before Girls' Christopher Owens, there was another rock star whose curiously tragic backstory prefaced any mention of his name. Mark E Everett, or Mr. E, of The Eels is undoubtedly one of the most interesting rock stars around. Despite his reclusive demeanor, often hiding like the Unabo ... More >>

Time to Get High with Voxhaul Broadcast's Timing Is Everything

​ Listen to this while high: Voxhaul Broadcast's Timing is Everything ​ Behind the buzz: These Orange County brats hit L.A.'s Silverlake rock scene a couple of years back and the buzz was reaching apiary pitch as I departed for the calmer pastures of the Bay Area. Online spoor indicate ... More >>

Five Things Even We Can't Hate About U2

That which we abhor.​U2 is playing in Oakland tonight, and we're reasonably confident that of the roughly 20,000 people who will be attending, we are dreading it the most. Yes, we loathe the pompous rock wannabes of U2. We tend to spit at the very mention of Bono. Shown pictures of his wraparo ... More >>

Pardon Jim Morrison, But Penalize Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin

Jim Morrison performing in Miami, March 1, 1969​At the time of his death in a Paris bathtub in the summer of 1971, James Douglas Morrison, singer and lyricist for epochal L.A. band The Doors, was looking at six months' hard labor in Florida. Among other offenses at a March, 1969 performance at Di ... More >>

10 Things: Good Bands, Gay Pride, Free Market and The Life and Death of an Italian Cat

Portland's The Caps, performing at Summer Solstice Spectacle on Saturday​On this fine Pride weekend, let's step back and take a moment to appreciate all the superb events our foggy town has to offer without high costs or shitty attitudes. Where else in the world can you find citywide Michael Jacks ... More >>

Play That Bluesy Music

Over the Weekend: Tom Petty and Co. Bring On Classic Rock Catharsis

Christopher Victorio​Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Joe Cocker @Oracle Arena June 5, 2010 Better than: Pill-based forms of anxiety relief Uptight white people, the remedy you require is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. As it went down Saturday, the anxiety cure-all constituted three parts unaba ... More >>

Last Night: Devendra Banhart and the Grogs at the Regency Ballroom

Gretchen Robinette ​Devendra Banhart and The Grogs, Dorothy and The Originals Tuesday, March 23, 2010 Regency Ballroom Better Than: Seeing Devendra at The Warfield. It used to be that when you made it big as a musician, you played an "unplugged" session, proving to the world the power your song ... More >>

Arthouse movie listings for December 16-22, 2009

It Might Get Loud

Last Night: Wolfmother at the Fox Theater

​Wolfmother November 23, 2009 Fox Theater Better Than: Anyone had reason to expect, given the band's acrimonious breakup a little more than a year ago. What a long, strangely self-destructive path Wolfmother has traveled since releasing its eponymous debut album three years ago. Back then, the A ... More >>

Last Night: Them Crooked Vultures at the Fox

Dustin Rabin​Them Crooked VulturesNovember 19, 2009Fox Theater Better Than: Listening to Robert Plant shy away from the high notes at Led Zeppelin's 2007 reunion show. It's no accident that the supergroup has, in recent years, gone the way of New Coke, the McRib, and Lindsay Lohan's career. For ... More >>

R.I.P. Les Paul (1915-2009)

The Legend: One of Gibson's signature Les Paul guitars​ The Associated Press has reported  that guitar innovator Les Paul  died today at the age of 94, from pneumonia-related complications. Paul helped to popularize the electric guitar in the 1940s, and his use of multitracking, overd ... More >>

Best Rock Movie Ever?

Heroic Trio: Jack White, Jimmy Page, and the Edge I had a chance to see a sneak preview of the documentary It Might Get Loud yesterday. First impressions? Best. Rock. Movie. Ever. The film, scheduled to open in Bay Area theaters August 28, takes three guitar gods from different eras--Led Zeppelin l ... More >>

Summer of Salvation

The film snob's guide to the best cinema the season has to offer.

Beat Box

Hear This

Daniel Johnston brings DIY pop bliss to an imperfect world

Queen of Rock Sluttitude in SF Tonight (Friday)

Groupies

The view from Jimmy Page's pants: groupies claim their 15 minutes

Black Hole Son

Chris Cornell gets a little help from his friends

Guitar God

Gui Boratto grinds the ax into minimal techno

Bringing It All Back Home

The latest, greatest acid-folk reissues

Earl Greyhound

Soft Targets (Some Records)

The Raconteurs

Broken Boy Soldiers

Diamonds in the rock; Ice Cube reigns supreme

From Here to Eternity

Figuring out Built to Spill's place in the world, and maybe mine, too

Got MLK?

A day to remember

Lucifer, Arisen

A quintessential San Francisco story, starring charismatic musician/murderer Bobby BeauSoleil*

*with underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger, cult leader Charles Manson, Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, and the Straight Satans motorcycle gang in suppo

OK Then

Prick

Don't hate me because I'm corporate

Hammer of the Gods

With a handful of artists, "classic rock" is not

a pejorative

Accidental Tourists

Is the Music the next big thing or just a bunch of very lucky guys?

Hear This

White Stripes

The House of Tudor

1998: The Year in Lists

Quiet, Please -- We're Rocking

The American Analog Set, and how quiet may be the last place for rock to go

Slap Shots

Boys Will Be Boys

The House of Tudor

Recordings

Samples