Ed Ward
Ed Ward is the rock-and-roll historian on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
Ward is the author of The History of Rock and Roll, Volume 1, 1920-1963, and a co-author of Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll, Ward has also contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and countless music magazines. The first part of his two-volume history of rock and roll, covering the years 1920-1963, will be published by Flatiron Books in the fall of 2016.
Ward lives in Austin, Texas. He blogs at City on a Hill.
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The legendary guitarist, songwriter and singer died Saturday at the age of 90. Rock historian Ed Ward looks back on Berry's music and career. Originally broadcast in May 2008.
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Rock historian missed the "Prefab Four" the first time they came along. Listening now, he finds that the Monkees' best songs have held up, mostly because they used top-notch songwriting talent.
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It's been 40 years since The Ramones released their self-titled first album. Rock historian Ed Ward remembers the debut as a confrontational and divisive record with a "cartoonish overlay."
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The New Zealand band began releasing records on the Flying Nun label in the 1980s. Four decades later, they are still at it. Rock historian Ed Ward tells story of The Chills.
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Rock historian Ed Ward takes us back to California's Redondo Pier, where Dennis Wilson and his cousin Mike Love first decided to write a song about surfing. The Beach Boys were formed soon afterwards.
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After his 1958 hit "Endless Sleep," Reynolds continued to record interesting music — though he never connected with the public in the same way again. Rock historian tells his story.
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Rock historian Ed Ward says that musicians in Düsseldorf, Germany, including Klaus Dinger of the band Neu!, helped start a new German pop movement in the 1970s and '80s.
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In the mid-1970s, a hard-luck band from California was in the right place at the right time and changed London's rock-and-roll scene. Their album Good 'N' Cheap has just been reissued.
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Herman's Hermits hit the American pop charts 22 times in the 1960s and early '70s. Now, a new anthology compiles 66 of the Hermits' tracks. Rock historian Ed Ward considers how the music has held up.
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Carter's influence on pop and soul predates his best-known hit, "Patches," and is still felt today. Rock historian Ed Ward revisits the early career and the lasting impact of the expert songwriter.