Chrissie Hynde is the blueprint for any teenage pop star wannabe looking to have some real cred.

Every single tune you know from the 1940s until the 1970s was written, arranged, and demoed in the Brill Building. OK, maybe not every song, but writers from Benny Goodman to Lieber & Stoller to...

Depending on your political orientation, the Dixie Chicks are either the great defenders of free speech or American traitors.

Just as many people flee Hollywood as those who flock to it. Hollywood can be an acquired taste.

Somewhere along the line, a concert became a variety show. It was no longer enough for four dudes to play together in front of some guitar amps. Costume changes, an army of dancers, and Broadway...

My father’s very public life as Famous Amos was the opposite of that of his ex-wife, my mother Shirley, who was fighting a very private, solitary battle with mental illness.

We all know the record biz don’t pay. All musicians have day jobs – no matter how big they are.

Chrissie Hynde is the coolest woman alive, and no man can have her.

For years, I’ve felt like the loneliest brother on the planet. I don’t play basketball, I can’t dance, and I’d rather listen to Harry Nilsson than hip hop.

Despite the sometimes sordid turns his life took, Michael Jackson always held my fascination, like he did for most of us.

Long before Wesley Snipes decided he didn’t need to pay the IRS, Willie Nelson was dodging the tax men.

Susan Boyle having a meltdown is not controversial. It’s human for a 48-year-old recluse to get a little wigged out when she finds herself on the world stage overnight.

Protest is patriotic. Since the beginning of musical time, American singers and songwriters have used their talent and bully pulpits to show us America’s strengths and shortcomings.

We are more than the work we perform. In fact, I’d say that our work is a mere representation of who we are underneath.

When Woodstock ended on Monday morning, over 600 acres of garbage was left behind on Max Yasgur’s farm. It took over 400 volunteers and $100,000 to remove it all.

From chain gangs to folk songs to intelligent soul, America has created musicians dedicated to truth, justice, and a better American Way.

From their ’61 Cavern Club debut to their last rooftop concert eight years later, The Beatles gave every serious artist in their wake the songbook and sound for their career. It’s the musical trough from...

Many cities make music, but no city breathes music quite like Memphis. The songs and sounds that come from here are uniquely American.

Musicians burn through more cash than the Federal Reserve.

The Bangles are proof that short skirts and electric guitars go hand-in-hand. They are one of the great all-girl groups, backing up their looks with a serious pop-rock pedigree.

Technology has the benefit of being easily scalable. A few weeks or months of coding can result in solutions that reap huge benefits. The global success of Facebook, Twitter, and Google are all triumphs of...

We’re all posting and clicking and sharing, but we’re not devoting enough attention to get anything meaningful from it all.

At its best, American music is the soundtrack of our long – and often painful – march toward a more perfect union.

Harlem’s Apollo is probably the most well-known music hall in the world.

Google+ will never have a user base to rival Facebook’s. It just won’t. Not even if you include the ‘users’ who create accounts so that they can use other Google services.

Men of my father’s generation were perpetual hustlers, always on the make and always on the move.

New York City has more rock history in its 305 square miles than most of America combined.

The blues is deceptively simple. Verse and chorus. Sometimes not even a chorus. Four bars that repeat, no Auto-Tune, electricity optional. It is the most direct, bare-bones of content. There is no interference between the...

The rise of digital technology put marketers in a bind. No longer a captive audience, consumers were splitting their time across devices, social networks and websites.

When I was growing up in L.A. in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Michael Jackson’s was the first face on TV that looked like mine.

Blues became rock, rock became soul, and all of it was colorblind.

Her makeup, hair and general quirkiness overshadow the fact that Cyndi Lauper was one the most soulful chicks to come out of the ’80s.

I know plenty of Hollywood kids who still struggle with being whole. Their lives are never fully their own – always in the grip of a parent who put celebrity ahead of them.

The late, great Janis Joplin could drink ten men under the table, then sing loud enough to shake the teeth out of their head.

Of course, screwed up families are not the exclusive province of the famous. Still, most families get to screw up in private.

The Republicans need all the entertainment help they can get. When Charlie Daniels was one of your convention headliners, you know you need some serious help.

The world moves fast. Business moves fast. Digital media moves extremely fast. It is far too easy to allow ourselves to be constantly blown from one trend to the next.

While not a musician, my father was a music agent for years before becoming pop culture icon Famous Amos.

The Woodstock dove on the iconic poster is really a catbird. And it was originally perched on a flute.

I get my clothes from three sources: Target, thrift shops, and friends. It’s simple and it’s cheap.

If you’re going to write an anthem for an old man who’s up at political bat for the last time, give him a decent song. Send him off with something that creates some chills or...

Thomas Dolby is part mad scientist, part nature boy, and entirely moved by the power of music.

Rock stars should be able to tune their own guitars, apply their own eyeliner, and pick out their own leather pants.

The same basic tools we’ve used for thousands of years to connect with people, to draw them in and to hold their attention will always work, even if we’re telling our stories 140 characters at...

When I started Amos Content Group in 2009, I made a simple bet: our handmade, contextual, and authentic content will stand out in an increasingly information-saturated world.

Woodstock was a business. A very poorly run business.

Despite all of our technological advances, content creation still requires time, inspiration, and a certain amount of sweat. There aren’t any shortcuts. You can’t write an algorithm for it. You can’t predict it. You can’t...

I live in the social purgatory of the San Fernando Valley, while my eldest daughter is bused to a charter school in the fantasy land of Bel Air.

In my early performing days, I played gigs under the pseudonym Whitey McFearsun. I painted my face blue, wore crimson lipstick, and strung on some tight silver latex pants.

Schizoaffective disorder is a big mental mash-up of a disease. It combines just about every disorder, from depression, delusions, and paranoia to mania, schizophrenia and hallucinations. My mother bounced between all of these regularly while...