Posts From Jim Sullivan

Jim Sullivan

As a high school baseball player growing up in Maine, I used to pump myself up for games by playing Raw Power by Iggy & the Stooges –the ultimate adrenaline rush. My friends and team mates didn't quite get it. They liked Chicago (the band). But that was OK: the punk rock revolution was around the corner, and that's where my musical taste locked in with many others, bored with corporate rock. Yes, I had Slade, Mott, Bowie and Roxy to get me there, too. That punk (and post) period was a time of extreme excitement (friction, joy, conflict) that inspired me to write about what I loved. And it opened the doors to even more worlds. I wrote about pop music and other arts for the Boston Globe for 25-plus years, with more than 10,000 stories to my credit before leaving in 2005. Since then I’ve freelanced for the Boston Phoenix, Boston Herald, Where magazine, Boston Common, Yankee magazine online, Time Out Boston, US News & World Report, the Cape Cod Times. I host the XFINITY on Demand music/interview show “Boston Rock/Talk,” and write and edit www.jimsullivanink.com, which serves as a critical guide to arts and events around metro Boston.

‘More Cowbell’: How Blue Öyster Cult Came to Be

Lead singer Eric Bloom talks about how Soft White Underbelly evolved under their manager/producer Sandy Pearlman, who got them their major label deal

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Producer Jack Douglas Talks About the Aerosmith Years

We go behind the scenes with the legendary producer who made four classic albums with Aerosmith. “They sounded like truth,” he says.

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15 Unlikely Covers by Classic Rock Artists

Surprising choices from The Beatles, Judas Priest, the Who, Deep Purple, the Stones, and 10 more unusual versions. Give a listen!

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Joe Perry Interview: Aerosmith Then & Now

We talked to the guitarist and songwriter in 2018 in this intimate interview on a variety of topics.

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Yup, We Once Reviewed a Madonna Concert

Our reviewer may not be a fan of her music. But he knows an entertaining concert when he sees one, and her 2015 tour was just that

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Paul Anka Interview: So Square That He’s Hip

The legend wrote “She’s a Lady” (the Tom Jones hit), the English-language lyrics to “My Way” and The Tonight Show theme.

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A Little ‘Hanky Panky’ with Tommy James: A Revealing Interview

He came to fame in 1966 after a song he and his teenage band, the Shondells, covered hit the top of the charts. The hitmaker reflects on his long career

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Ian Anderson Talks About Jethro Tull, Rock Hall

The band’s longtime leader talks about its namesake, his opinion on the Hall of Fame, and Frank Zappa, in this far-ranging Interview.

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Deaths of Older Rock Legends Continue to Shake Us

A wave of deaths of older rock legends has given boomers reason to pause. Is 67 or 70 the new 27? “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.”

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Tom Scholz Talks About Boston’s Recording Process

On the eve of the band’s big 2017 Hyper Space Tour, the mastermind behind one of classic rock’s biggest bands spoke to us about touring, recording and more

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