Ongoing History of New Music

When someone dies, our first reaction is disbelief...we’re stunned...that’s immediately followed by a need to know what happened...how?...where?...it’s only natural...we need information to help us process the news and the emotion that comes with it...

The next stage is might be “could anything have been done to prevent this?”... “Could someone have helped or intervened?”...In some cases, perhaps...in the case of health issues, maybe not...

And finally, there’s this:... “could what happened to that person happen to me?”...again, totally normal.

When it comes to the death of a famous musician, there’s an additional aspect to processing the news...chances are we never knew this person as, you know, a person...our only relationship with them has been as a fan...so why does their death affect us?

Here’s a possible answer...although we never knew them, it was through their music that we learned more about ourselves...and in a way, when they die, a little of us dies, too.

This might only cause us to go deeper into what happened...we just need to know, to make sense if it, and to put everything to rest the best we can...yes, some people get very nosey and gossipy and intrusive, but there’s always a way to handle what’s known through the public record: family statements, doctors’ accounts, police reports, coroners’ testimony, toxicology examinations, and autopsy results.

And we often can’t look away because we just need to know...this is “the last moments of, part 2”
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Ever wonder what really happened in the final hours of some of music's biggest stars?

This time, I want to retrace the final hours and days of some of rock's most legendary figures.

From heartbreaking health battles to shocking accidents and devastating personal struggles, these are the stories behind the headlines as we piece together the events that led to their final moments and explore the questions, mysteries, and tragedies that still surround them today.

Some stories offer answers. Others leave us with even more questions.
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In part two of our series, we continue to figure out why buying concert tickets has become one of the most frustrating consumer experiences…and why it’s always been that way.

From the evolution of ticketing from physical box offices and early computer systems to the rise of Ticketmaster, we want to understand how service fees, scalping, exclusive venue contracts, and industry power struggles shaped the modern ticket market.

Through artists like Pearl Jam and the Grateful Dead, we find out how economics, technology, and demand transformed concerts into a high‑stakes business, setting the stage for today’s world of instant sellouts and dynamic pricing.

All in the hopes of you getting that concert ticket that you've been waiting for, in the virtual line-up.

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Buying a concert ticket should be simple and easy...but has it ever been?

In this two-part series, we're going to try to unpack the surprisingly long, messy, and often corrupt evolution of ticketing, from ancient Greek theatres to the rise of computerized systems in the late 20th century.

We'll dig into how tickets evolved from physical tokens and box-office lineups to early computer-driven services like Ticketron, Select-A-Seat, BASS, and the early days of Ticketmaster.

We've seen persistent problems that never seem to go away: scalping, service charges, bribery, counterfeit tickets, unequal access, and frustrated fans. From the very first rock concert disaster in 1952 to the technological growing pains of the 1970s and ’80s, there were never any “good old days” when it came to buying tickets.
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Movie soundtracks once shaped the direction of popular music...and nowhere was that more true than in alternative rock.

This week, we go back into the Ongoing History vault to trace the evolution of movie soundtracks from their early, days to their cultural impact in the ’80s and ’90s. These are albums that helped define, amplify, and sometimes completely redirect alternative music.

From the electronic shock of A Clockwork Orange to the cult chaos of The Rocky Horror Picture Show...from the John Hughes films that introduced a generation to British alt‑rock, to era‑defining releases like Singles, Judgement Night, The Crow, and Trainspotting...this is an exploration of how film and music collided at exactly the right moments.

Soundtracks may not dominate the charts the way they once did, but their influence is everywhere.

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