Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen

by Bill Bentley

In December 2015, the Smithsonian called on rock and roll lovers around the world to collect photos and stories of their favorite moments in music. Fans dug through attics, basements, closets, shoeboxes, digital cameras, and photo albums to post great rock shots to rockandroll.si.edu. From Woodstock to the Whisky a Go Go, from Lollapalooza to the 9:30 Club, and all the rockin' places in between, fans overwhelmingly responded with their favorite rock and roll moments. Iconic artists ranging from the Who to Nirvana to Chuck Berry to the Jimi Hendrix and many more are celebrated here. There are early photographs of everyone from Run-D.M.C. to the Runaways, and contemporary shots of some of the biggest names in music, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, and Metallica. Presented together, these photographs create a kaleidoscopic history of the artists, the musical styles, the venues, the concerts, and the fans. This is rock and roll as it has never been seen before.

Genres: Nonfiction

216 pages, Hardcover

Published October 24, 2017

Reviews

[MKF · Rating 1 out of 5]

People who write rock and roll book need to know what is rock and roll is before creating a book on it. Just because they include a rock sound to a few songs does not actually make them singers of rock. A simple google search will also provide you the genre of singers and bands and yes includes other styles that they include. This book includes singers and bands of other genres and leaves out a ton of real rock bands that deserved a spot. According to this book Queen never made an impact on rock and roll but Michael Jackson did. Guess the author decided to ignore the king of pop nickname just to include him.

[Hapzydeco · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a rock and roll junkie, this coffee table book is for you. The tome presents 144 acts. The photos are excellent, some never-before-published.

[Tom Maentz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Simple cliche filled profiles of over 140 rock & roll artists, poorly organized into absurd chapters with surprisingly mediocre photography, focusing more on trivial facts than music, and giving ink to many non-rockers or obscure artists like Nick Drake, Rickie Lee Jones, Doug Sahm and 13th Floor Elevators while ignoring rock hall of famers like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Cars, Genesis, Yes, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and John Lee Hooker.