Author: Hallgeir Olsen

February 26: The late great Johnny Cash was born in 1932

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Johnny+Cash

..Johnny was and is the North Star; you could guide your ship by him – the greatest of the greats then and now. I first met him in ‘62 or ‘63 and saw him a lot in those years. Not so much recently, but in some kind of way he was with me more than people I see every day.
~Bob Dylan (Statement on Johnny Cash – Sept 2003)

I love to go to the studio and stay there 10 or 12 hours a day. I love it. What is it? I don’t know. It’s life.
~Johnny Cash

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.
~Johnny Cash

Lyle Lovett Inducts Johnny Cash into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

I Walk The Line – 1956:

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December 24: The late great Lemmy was born in 1945

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“A jumbo jet taking off from LAX is like 30 smokers smoking 200 cigarettes a day for 30 fuckin’ years. And they want me to stop smoking THIS?! fuck off”
~Lemmy

We recorded his track in Los Angeles in maybe two takes about a year and a half ago. Until then I’d never met what I’d call a real rock ‘n’ roll hero before. Fuck Elvis and Keith Richards, Lemmy’s the king of rock ‘n’ roll – he told me he never considered Motörhead a metal band, he was quite adamant. Lemmy’s a living, breathing, drinking and snorting fucking legend. No one else comes close.
~Dave Grohl

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December 13: The great Tom Verlaine was born in 1949

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photo: Hallgeir Olsen/BornToListen

Tom Verlaine

Tom Verlaine (born Thomas Miller, December 13, 1949):
Singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the frontman for the New York rock band Television.

Tom Verlaine
Birth name Thomas Miller
Born 13 December 1949 (age 69)
Morristown, New Jersey, United States
Genres Punk rock, art punk, post-punk, new wave
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments Guitar, vocals, piano
Associated acts Television, Neon Boys
Notable instruments
Fender Jazzmaster
Fender Jaguar
Fender Stratocaster
Danelectro Shorthorn Deluxe

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December 5: Little Richard was born in 1932

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 When you sit down and think about what rock ‘n’ roll music really is, then you have to change that question. Played up-tempo, you call it rock ‘n’ roll; at a regular tempo, you call it rhythm and blues.
~Little RichardLittle Richard Interview with Bill Boggs:

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December 4: The Beatles released Beatles For Sale in 1964

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Beatles for Sale is the fourth studio album by the Beatles, it was released on 4 December 1964 and produced by George Martin. The album marked a minor turning point in the evolution of the Lennon -McCartney  partnership, John Lennon particularly now showing interest in composing songs of a more autobiographical nature. I’m a Loser shows Lennon for the first time coming under the influence of Bob Dylan, whom he met in New York while on tour, on 28 August 1964.

John, when you were in New York, what did you like best about it?

 I just like cities, you see, and preferably big ones. That’s why I liked it. And we met some good people like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, you know, and I enjoy meeting people I admire.

(Sept 13, 1964 via In The Life Of…The Beatles)

Beatles for Sale didn’t  produce a single for the UK – the non-album tracks I Feel Fine and She’s a Woman performed that role. Nevertheless, that coupling was followed up in the United States by Eight Days a Week, which became their seventh number one.

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November 30: Roger Glover was born in 1945

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Photo: Carlos Delgado

Happy birthday!

Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the bassist for hard rock band Deep Purple. Glover wrote the guitar riff on “Maybe I’m a Leo”. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2016.


Glover spent four years (1969–1973) with Deep Purple, during which the band saw their most successful releases in the albums in Rock, Machine Head, Who Do We Think We Are and the live album Made in Japan. He is credited with developing the title for the band’s iconic “Smoke on the Water” song, thus inspiring the song’s lyrics which were written by Ian Gillan. Glover says the title came to him when he awoke from a dream two days after the famous fire over Lake Geneva. While he liked the title, he was reluctant to have the band use it because he initially thought it sounded like a drug song.[6] Glover also developed the guitar riff to “Maybe I’m a Leo”, stating, “I wrote the riff to ‘Maybe I’m a Leo’ after hearing John Lennon’s ‘How Do You Sleep?’.”

Glover departed the band, along with Gillan, after Deep Purple’s second tour of Japan in the summer of 1973.

From 1979 to 1984 he was the bassist, lyricist and producer for Ritchie Blackmore’s band, Rainbow, working on four of the group’s studio albums.

When Deep Purple reformed in April 1984, Glover returned to his old band where he has remained for the last three decades.

With Gov’t Mule at the classic concert The Deepest End: