Music Analysis Off the Beaten Track

Hundreds of Songs & Stories: Read. Listen. Repeat.

Current Post

Neil Young “After The Gold Rush” The meaning of one of Neil Young's most famous songs is disputed, but its use of a rare solo instrument is not.... Read More

Featured Posts

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Featured, Top 10 List

The Greatest Opening Guitar Riffs Ever

What's the greatest opening guitar riff? SMGM documents the 10 best of all time. But...
March 3, 2023
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Featured, Lyrics, Pop/Rock

Bruce Springsteen “Mary’s Place”

Whether Mary's dress waves or sways to open Thunder Road, a character named Mary recurs...
July 18, 2021
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Classic Rock, Featured, Holidays, Top 10 List

The Top 10 Best American Bands

To celebrate Independence Day, So Much Great Music went through the painstaking process of choosing...
July 2, 2021
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Featured, Movie/Media Clips, Top 10 List

Top 5 Movie Songs by Fictional Bands

Real movies, fake bands: the So Much Great Music countdown of the best 5 songs...
November 7, 2022
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Classic Rock, Featured, Weird Counts

Steely Dan “Bodhisattva”

It’s doubtful you would ever think of Steely Dan as a “guitar solo” band, and...
November 29, 2019
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Classic Rock, Featured, Top 10 List

The 10 Most Perfect Albums

In search of perfection: So Much Great Music makes the case for the 10 most...
October 22, 2021

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Recent Posts

Neil Young “After The Gold Rush”

The meaning of one of Neil Young's most famous songs is disputed, but its use of a rare solo instrument is not....

Top 5 All-Time Greatest Motown Groups

Who are the Top 5 All-Time Greatest Motown Groups, and what makes Motown unique from any other type of music in history?...

Art and Artists

When do you separate the art from the artist? Michael Jackson provides a telling example....

Jazzfest Reigns

Culture, karma and the singular city of New Orleans: I used to think Jazzfest was the greatest event around, now I know that it is....

Paul Simon “American Tune”

How many songs have both the beauty and power of Paul Simon's "American Tune"? And, somehow, it seems as relevant today as when it was written....

Tom Petty “Down South”

It's sometimes easy to forget Tom Petty was a southerner. But a significant part of his iconic American identity came from down south....

Boston “Don’t Look Back” (really)

A follow-up album that sounded just like its masterful predecessor, somehow too good to be considered as good....

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