A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs

Every now and again an overview of a cultural phenomena comes along that manages to encapsulate the essence of what is being examined and leads the imbiber to informative, entertaining and life affirming new discoveries. One example is The Harry Smith Anthology Of American Folk Music. Just as that work opened up areas of culture to a wider audience, so to does Andrew Hickey’s podcast. I don’t make the comparison lightly. Just as Smith brought his idiosyncratic, curated take to the music in question, so too does Andrew, making it all the more entertaining and unique. The level of research and carefully chosen subjects, side stories and clips is breathtaking. Andrew has introduced me to information and music that were unknown to me. The fact that he can do this whilst still covering the important but many times told tales and always keep the listener engaged is a great skill. Thank you Andrew and I look forward to the many more episodes to come.

I thought I knew quite a lot about Rock ‘n Roll history. Its origins , stories behind songs , performer's etc… Turns out I knew very little. This podcast does exactly what it says on the tin and rocks ! The stories and the enthusiasm with which they are told is brilliant and very engaging, to the point I’m a bit obsessed with it , and loosing sleep as every time I think to myself “ just one episode tonight “ and fail most nights by listening to between three and four episodes in one hit! If you love music , pop culture history , want to know as much as possible about the subject matter , then you can’t go wrong. Entirely worthy of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Extensive research and mostly interesting stories are some what let down by opinion and speculation presented as fact, the nasally narration which isn’t helped by tinny, echoey recording, and the the fact that Hickey obviously despises many of the artists he is discussing.

Amazing podcast, just listened to 3 and a half hours worth of the ‘hey jude’ epdisode and as a big beatles fan i thought i knew everything there was to know about that song and the white album but i was wrong. So much effort must go to in to each episode