www.rocksbackpages.com
The Online Library of Rock and Roll
Rock’s Backpages at
www.rocksbackpages.com
is the largest database of rock
journalism online, featuring over 14,000
articles on artists from Elvis Presley to
Eminem, the Rolling Stones to the Stone
Roses, and Amy Winehouse to the White
Stripes.
Rock’s Backpages writers
Rock’s Backpages features the work of
many of the world’s best-known music
journalists past and present, including
Lester Bangs, Paul Morley, Danny Baker,
Nick Kent, Lenny Kaye, Nick Tosches,
Carol Cooper, Dave March, Penny
Valentine, Ben Fong-Torres, Charles
Shaar Murray and Jon Savage.
Rock’s Backpages archive
Rock’s Backpages archive draws on
numerous publications from Creem and
Trouser Press to Rolling Stone, and
from New Musical Express and Melody
Maker to MOJO.
The archive is fully searchable by artist,
genre, writer or keyword (allowing search by
album or single title, date etc).
Rock’s Backpages audio
Rock’s Backpages also features a
library of over 100 audio interviews,
including classic conversations with
Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, Morrissey,
Little Richard, Arthur Lee, Joni Mitchell,
Johnny Cash, Nick Cave and Tom Waits.
Audio files are in 128kbs mp3 files.
Rock’s Backpages academic
Rock’s Backpages has proved to be of
enormous value to university, college
and school libraries, providing an
invaluable resource for all students of
music, media, cultural history,
journalism and many other subjects.
Here are just a few of our Academic
Subscribers in the UK, USA, Australia,
Oslo, Finland, Denmark and New
Zealand…there are many more!
Rock’s Backpages library
Rock’s Backpages currently holds over
thirteen thousand articles. These feature
over two thousand artists and range
from 500-word album (or concert)
reviews to 10,000-word interviews and
features.
Written by over three hundred of the
biggest names in rock journalism - it’s
worth taking a closer look…
Rock’s Backpages library
…Search by ARTIST… like every search
in Rock’s Backpages it couldn’t be
easier, just use the A-Z drop down
menus!
Captain Beefheart will find you over 40
articles on the artist, also known as Don
Van Vliet, including Reviews &
Interviews from Rolling Stone, Melody
Maker, NME, ZigZag, Creem, and much
more…
Rock’s Backpages library
…Quick Search by WRITER… the drop
down menu will take you to the
homepage for that writer, usually with a
brief biography of the scribe in
question.
Jon Savage brought us articles on
Bowie, Buzzcocks, Clash, Elvis Costello,
REM, Bjork, Joy Division, Kraftwerk,
Nirvana, Lou Read, Iggy Pop and
more…
Rock’s Backpages library
…Quick Search by SUBJECT… to find
articles on a particular genre or subject.
Read about Americana, Britpop,
Bubblegum, Doowop, Art Rock, Payola,
Riders, Groupies, Politics, Festivals, the
fascinating Rock’s Backpages own
‘Best of’ Lists and
more…
Rock’s Backpages library
…Quick Search by MEDIA… for all
Publications featured in the library.
The extensive list of Publications
includes the International Times,
Crawdaddy, Rock Australia, Radio
Times, NME, Dazed & Confused, Rolling
Stone, Mojo, Kerrang, Seattle Weekly,
The Times, New Yorker, The Scotsman
and of course
more…
Rock’s Backpages library
…Advanced Searching allows you to
filter results by artist, subject/genre,
writer, publication and date, in addition
to your keyword search.
In this instance we searched for articles
written by Paul Morley in the NME that
contain the text ‘Joy Division’.
At the bottom of every page you will find
a ‘Search Again’ box!
Simon Warner,
Senior Teaching
Fellow, School of
Music,
University of Leeds
Dale Carter,
Associate Professor
of American Studies,
University of Aarhus
Denmark
Dr Ron Moy,
“Rock’s Backpages has become an
invaluable resource to students studying
music, media and communication at the
University of Leeds. On our popular
music BA the archive provides material
to support study on genre, politics and
subcultures for essays at all levels. As a
library for primary sources for the
popular music journalism module I run it
is perfect.”
“For anyone exploring the history of
popular music, Rock’s Backpages is a
goldmine. Its vast yet constantly
expanding database of hard-to-find
primary materials is high in quality, wide
in scope, easy to access, and fully crossreferenced.”
“I have made extensive use of Rock’s
Backpages over the past couple of years.
Not only am I impressed by its ease and
speed of access, but also by the way that
it is constantly improving and updating
its archive. I consider it an invaluable
asset to any researcher or serious fan of
the subject.”
Senior Lecturer in
Popular Music Studies
Studies, Liverpool John
Moores University
Rock’s Backpages feedback
At Rock’s Backpages we love to hear
any kind of feedback, be it praise or
ideas for improvement!
Here are some testimonials from a few
of our Academic Subscribers.
“Rock’s Backpages is as comprehensive
as a Google search, but with less insane
liars.”
- Lauren Laverne
Rock’s Backpages endnote!
“There’s no finer website for the
Archivalist snob than Rock’s
Backpages.”
- snobsite.com
“Rock’s Backpages is as important to my
research in writing books as Graham
Green.”
- Andrew Loog Oldham
“Rock’s Backpages is an invaluable tool
to remind me of what was really going on
in the ’60s and ’70s when I started out in
this wonderful business.”
- David Enthoven
(Manager, Robbie Williams)
Rock music journalism is a unique
niche, and a peculiarly self-referential
and exclusive one. The barrier to entry
is low, especially in the era of
filesharing, podcasting, and blogging,
but with any given article, essay,
polemic, or review, the observer maybe
almost as interesting as the
observed…To look back on the rock
writing of yesteryear is to see how the
attitudes of the audiences, as well as
those of musicians, have changed – and
how they have remained the same.”
- Williams, Genevieve, Music Library Association
(Notes- Volume 63, Number 1, September 2006, pp. 155-157)
The Online Library of Rock and Roll
Find out more about the
Rock’s Backpages team at
www.rocksbackpages.com/about
CONTACT US
To request a free trial email
info@rocksbackpages.com
or call
Paul Kelly: +44 (0)7590 317 326
Tony Keys: +44 (0)7721 437 516