John Lingan
@johnlingan.bsky.social
Writer. "Homeplace," about Patsy Cline's hometown. "A Song for Everyone," about CCR. "BACKBEATS: A History of Rock and Roll in 15 Drummers" is out on 11/11/25.
johnlingan.com
johnlingan.com
Pinned
John Lingan
@johnlingan.bsky.social
· Oct 11
BACKBEATS is out one month from today and it’s a real book! One that Kirkus says is great! johnlingan.com to preorder.
My 2025 books. The long ones (Dhalgren, Tune In, Always Coming Home, Obscene Bird of Night, Underworld) all rank among my favs this year. Gravity’s Rainbow, which I’m currently reading, will almost certainly be my fav of 2026, maybe of my life.
Also, blown away by Notes on a Cowardly Lion.
Also, blown away by Notes on a Cowardly Lion.
December 31, 2025 at 2:30 PM
My 2025 books. The long ones (Dhalgren, Tune In, Always Coming Home, Obscene Bird of Night, Underworld) all rank among my favs this year. Gravity’s Rainbow, which I’m currently reading, will almost certainly be my fav of 2026, maybe of my life.
Also, blown away by Notes on a Cowardly Lion.
Also, blown away by Notes on a Cowardly Lion.
This is so cool and sweet.
I am honoured to announce I’ve been appointed as a member to the Order of Canada. Thank you to everyone for the support! I dedicate this to my late Mom who taught me so much about history, local independent media & research. I know that she would be, like me, screaming with joy! #orderofcanada
December 31, 2025 at 2:04 PM
This is so cool and sweet.
Here it is, the official bluegrass fight song of a football team that played 2 seasons 40+ years ago.
December 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Here it is, the official bluegrass fight song of a football team that played 2 seasons 40+ years ago.
Reposted by John Lingan
Wholly blown away to see BACKBEATS in this company, god bless and keep you @jonbern.bsky.social and @rollingstone.com
Buy the book at johnlingan.com
Buy the book at johnlingan.com
The Best Music Books of 2025
Rolling Stone editors review the best music books of 2025, including books about Cameron Crowe, Ozzy Osbourne, Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Tupac Shakur, and Bruce Springsteen.
www.rollingstone.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Wholly blown away to see BACKBEATS in this company, god bless and keep you @jonbern.bsky.social and @rollingstone.com
Buy the book at johnlingan.com
Buy the book at johnlingan.com
Wholly blown away to see BACKBEATS in this company, god bless and keep you @jonbern.bsky.social and @rollingstone.com
Buy the book at johnlingan.com
Buy the book at johnlingan.com
The Best Music Books of 2025
Rolling Stone editors review the best music books of 2025, including books about Cameron Crowe, Ozzy Osbourne, Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Tupac Shakur, and Bruce Springsteen.
www.rollingstone.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Wholly blown away to see BACKBEATS in this company, god bless and keep you @jonbern.bsky.social and @rollingstone.com
Buy the book at johnlingan.com
Buy the book at johnlingan.com
Christmas surprise of the year was finding the 7” that my late uncle Sid recorded for DC’s United States Football League team. The “official bluegrass fight song” by a Jewish guy who probably watched less than 10 minutes of sports in his life.
December 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Christmas surprise of the year was finding the 7” that my late uncle Sid recorded for DC’s United States Football League team. The “official bluegrass fight song” by a Jewish guy who probably watched less than 10 minutes of sports in his life.
Reposted by John Lingan
Me, grading her quiz (weary, indulgent tone): babe, we've been over this... it's not Jeff Porcaro on "Babylon Sisters" even though yes, he *does* rip off the Purdie Shuffle on "Rosanna"
December 22, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Me, grading her quiz (weary, indulgent tone): babe, we've been over this... it's not Jeff Porcaro on "Babylon Sisters" even though yes, he *does* rip off the Purdie Shuffle on "Rosanna"
Yesterday was my birthday and the biggest/greatest surprise was the rave review for my book in a major daily paper.
This is the one you dream of, the one that starts by saying the book is “a revelation” and ends by comparing you to Questlove.
BACKBEATS makes a great gift! johnlingan.com
This is the one you dream of, the one that starts by saying the book is “a revelation” and ends by comparing you to Questlove.
BACKBEATS makes a great gift! johnlingan.com
Review: You love their music, now find out who these musicians are
Nonfiction: “Backbeats” shows how 15 drummers changed the rock ’n’ roll world.
www.startribune.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Yesterday was my birthday and the biggest/greatest surprise was the rave review for my book in a major daily paper.
This is the one you dream of, the one that starts by saying the book is “a revelation” and ends by comparing you to Questlove.
BACKBEATS makes a great gift! johnlingan.com
This is the one you dream of, the one that starts by saying the book is “a revelation” and ends by comparing you to Questlove.
BACKBEATS makes a great gift! johnlingan.com
This was cool!
The Minnesota Star-Tribune says BACKBEATS is “a revelation.”
“Lingan’s writing slides throughout the book, underscoring its themes and occasionally popping out to dazzle us. Like Questlove…he demonstrates that he’s a practitioner who’s also a scholar and a superfan.”
“Lingan’s writing slides throughout the book, underscoring its themes and occasionally popping out to dazzle us. Like Questlove…he demonstrates that he’s a practitioner who’s also a scholar and a superfan.”
www.startribune.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:30 PM
This was cool!
The Minnesota Star-Tribune says BACKBEATS is “a revelation.”
“Lingan’s writing slides throughout the book, underscoring its themes and occasionally popping out to dazzle us. Like Questlove…he demonstrates that he’s a practitioner who’s also a scholar and a superfan.”
“Lingan’s writing slides throughout the book, underscoring its themes and occasionally popping out to dazzle us. Like Questlove…he demonstrates that he’s a practitioner who’s also a scholar and a superfan.”
www.startribune.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:59 PM
The Minnesota Star-Tribune says BACKBEATS is “a revelation.”
“Lingan’s writing slides throughout the book, underscoring its themes and occasionally popping out to dazzle us. Like Questlove…he demonstrates that he’s a practitioner who’s also a scholar and a superfan.”
“Lingan’s writing slides throughout the book, underscoring its themes and occasionally popping out to dazzle us. Like Questlove…he demonstrates that he’s a practitioner who’s also a scholar and a superfan.”
This concerns Norman Podhoretz, a scumbag necon incapable of better manners (but I repeat myself), though the attitude still persists somehow. "Come to blows" as the ultimate metaphor of fiery emotion. Get a life.
Coming to blows over literary arguments is not a sign of passion. It’s a sign of immaturity and lack of self-control. It’s a sign that you’re failing to understand how to live in a society.
December 18, 2025 at 4:48 PM
This concerns Norman Podhoretz, a scumbag necon incapable of better manners (but I repeat myself), though the attitude still persists somehow. "Come to blows" as the ultimate metaphor of fiery emotion. Get a life.
BACKBEATS is out in the UK today! Hoping that my mentions of Clem Cattini endear me to British readers! 🥁💂♂️💷
December 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM
BACKBEATS is out in the UK today! Hoping that my mentions of Clem Cattini endear me to British readers! 🥁💂♂️💷
So they’re the psychedelic Black Flag at this point?
Among other things Drozd’s drumming defined the sound of that band’s greatest years and that wasn’t even his main contribution. Coyne stinks.
Among other things Drozd’s drumming defined the sound of that band’s greatest years and that wasn’t even his main contribution. Coyne stinks.
After 33 years the Flaming Lips are “done” with Steven Drozd, he says
The Flaming Lips Split With Steven Drozd After 33 Years
Steven Drozd joined the Flaming Lips in 1991. At that point, the long-running Oklahoma City psych-rock band had already been around for eight years. Drozd started out as their drummer. Over the years,...
stereogum.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:53 PM
So they’re the psychedelic Black Flag at this point?
Among other things Drozd’s drumming defined the sound of that band’s greatest years and that wasn’t even his main contribution. Coyne stinks.
Among other things Drozd’s drumming defined the sound of that band’s greatest years and that wasn’t even his main contribution. Coyne stinks.
For all the endless problems with my local paper, they still publish this. Smartest, deepest arts criticism that you’ll find in a daily. Book section too. We have that.
In THE D.C. SCENE, yesterday’s music still sounds like tomorrow
Here are five amazing records that got remastered, resurfaced and/or reissued in 2025
wapo.st/4aWEGXh
Here are five amazing records that got remastered, resurfaced and/or reissued in 2025
wapo.st/4aWEGXh
5 recordings from D.C. artists that make yesterday sound like tomorrow
Remastered and resurfaced music from Bad Brains, Bratmobile, Danny Gatton, Glo-Worm and Music Inc. are among the year’s best reissues.
wapo.st
December 17, 2025 at 9:26 PM
For all the endless problems with my local paper, they still publish this. Smartest, deepest arts criticism that you’ll find in a daily. Book section too. We have that.
Sam is an admirably wide reader and thoughtful critic. Great year-end thread here.
Here's a brief thread of the fiction that has stayed with me most in 2025, a year in which I reviewed exactly 100 books, and was more grateful than ever for the chance to do so. First, these are screenshots of the three brilliant novels that made the WSJ Best Books list. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
December 17, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Sam is an admirably wide reader and thoughtful critic. Great year-end thread here.
Reposted by John Lingan
it's that time: Don't Rock The Inbox's best country albums of the year - read all about them over at @stereogum.com!! stereogum.com/2483029/the-...
The 10 Best Country Albums Of 2025
This year’s best country albums list is once again presented in partnership with Don’t Rock The Inbox, the amazing country music newsletter run by Stereogum contributors Marissa R. Moss and Natalie We...
stereogum.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:53 PM
it's that time: Don't Rock The Inbox's best country albums of the year - read all about them over at @stereogum.com!! stereogum.com/2483029/the-...
Top-tier stuff from all involved. Loooooove this movie.
With Testament on Criterion another American Playhouse gem due for a disc is Jonathan Demme's wonderful Who Am I This Time? youtu.be/_UtctfUfreU?...
Who Am I This Time? | FULL MOVIE | Christopher Walken, Susan Sarandon | Kurt Vonnegut | Rare PBS
YouTube video by Chicken Soup for the Soul TV
youtu.be
December 15, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Top-tier stuff from all involved. Loooooove this movie.
Reposted by John Lingan
@johnlingan.bsky.social’s BACKBEATS is as an amazing work of music criticism, illuminating the percussionist’s brilliance on dozens of tracks i’ve often heard but never noted. like Hal Blaine’s inspired ideas (see img). or Maureen Tucker’s assimilation in VU of African drumming as an early influence
![photograph of a page in a book, text as follows:
And if the monster kit didn't have the right sound, he [Hal Blaine] could save the day with anything. He played an iconic tinkling backbeat to Dean Martin's "Houston" on a glass ashtray. He created the enormous thwack in the chorus of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer" by playing a snare at the bottom of an elevator shaft, then hit a cement floor with snow chains to add a dramatic flourish to the end of "Bridge over Troubled Water." The latter won Record of the Year at the 1971 Grammys, and though he didn't get to stand onstage, the industry knew that Blaine had some kind of magic touch: "Bridge" was the sixth consecutive Record of the Year winner to feature him on drums. Starting in 1965, he played on Herb Alpert's "A Taste of Honey," Frank Sinatras
"Strangers in the Night," then alternating songs by the 5th Dimension and Simon & Garfunkel: "Up, Up and Away," "Mrs. Robinson," “Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In," and now the duo's faux-gospel epic.
Blaine played on eight Record of the Year winners altogether](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:c43pxuwco5wdaoeoxsjirabo/bafkreiefmbqkekc3fsja3hh25vlhq6t3tqoqks2ujjyg7mxptgq2v4ieqq@jpeg)
December 14, 2025 at 9:32 PM
@johnlingan.bsky.social’s BACKBEATS is as an amazing work of music criticism, illuminating the percussionist’s brilliance on dozens of tracks i’ve often heard but never noted. like Hal Blaine’s inspired ideas (see img). or Maureen Tucker’s assimilation in VU of African drumming as an early influence
Just listened to it again for about the 1200th time. One of my top 21st century albums.
Happy holidays!
Happy holidays!
true story: partly because of when it came out, but mostly because of the dreamy backdrops from old LPs & the gorgeous foreground guitar melodies, @billorcutt.bsky.social's "how to rescue things" was/is an instant modern holiday classic for wintery nights. billorcutt.bandcamp.com/album/how-to...
December 14, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Just listened to it again for about the 1200th time. One of my top 21st century albums.
Happy holidays!
Happy holidays!
Drummers: they’re just like us.
reading @johnlingan.bsky.social’s BACKBEATS for the gritty & arcane lowdown on the history of rock drumming. like the time Sam Lay’s gun discharged midsong & shot off a testicle. what
December 13, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Drummers: they’re just like us.
Reposted by John Lingan
spotted @johnlingan.bsky.social at @interabangbooks.bsky.social in dallas, which has one of the best selections of music books of any store i've ever been too (esp considering its size)
December 12, 2025 at 6:54 PM
spotted @johnlingan.bsky.social at @interabangbooks.bsky.social in dallas, which has one of the best selections of music books of any store i've ever been too (esp considering its size)
Reposted by John Lingan
Fun trivia: the Myddle Class’s lead singer was David Palmer, who went on to sing briefly in Steely Dan. That’s him on “Dirty Work.”
This show was Moe Tucker’s VU debut. Here’s the story from BACKBEATS:
This show was Moe Tucker’s VU debut. Here’s the story from BACKBEATS:
![creative spirit. The remaining trio decided that MacLise's attitude was against the Velvet Underground spirit and fired him to proceed with the gig. Now they just needed a drummer.
The ensuing desperate scramble led them to the sister of Reed's friend from Syracuse University, a Long Island girl named Maureen Tucker who had been playing drums for about a year and a half and only for her own enjoyment other than a three-week stint in a garage band. She was simply a teenager who loved the Rolling Stones and Bo Diddley, but she also had either a car or an amp (depending on Reed and Aronowitz's competing memories) and that was reason enough to bring her aboard. Reed came to Tucker's house to ensure she could actually play, and the group first rehearsed the afternoon of the gig.
When the band was revealed behind the parting curtain, they stood "tall and dressed mostly in black; two of them were wearing sunglasses," according to one attendee. "One of the guys with the shades had VERY long hair and was wearing silver jewelry. He was holding a large violin. The drummer had a Beatle haircut and was standing at a small oddly arranged drum kit. Was it a boy or a girl?
Before we could take it all in, everyone was hit by a screeching (sic] surge of sound, with a pounding beat louder than anything we had ever heard."
Sixty years on and counting, now that the Velvet Underground are an acknowledged inspiration for generations of artists across genres and cultures, it can be hard to imagine just how assaultive their first incarnation felt to the unprepared. And no one was prepared. Not even New Jersey teenagers, some of whom had surely heard "The Ostrich," all of whom had heard "garage rock" like the Kingsmen's
"Louie Louie." But the Velvet Underground with Moe Tucker were not that. They weren't a group of scamps playing three chords with loud hooks, verse-chorus-verse. They played three songs that day:](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vqnmqsaa3izkhob7bopcxus2/bafkreidf2up3b7tcb2ceedfohzldeyaapvbofo2oazug7vkpxsrx55tyxy@jpeg)
December 11, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Fun trivia: the Myddle Class’s lead singer was David Palmer, who went on to sing briefly in Steely Dan. That’s him on “Dirty Work.”
This show was Moe Tucker’s VU debut. Here’s the story from BACKBEATS:
This show was Moe Tucker’s VU debut. Here’s the story from BACKBEATS:
Still wild to me that I made my debut for NatGeo, writing about the Grand Ole Opry of all things. Flew to Nashville, interviewed Vince Gill, Steve Earle, and Pam Tillis, and published 3000 words about a U.S. institution that walks a razor’s edge between tradition and populism.
December 11, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Still wild to me that I made my debut for NatGeo, writing about the Grand Ole Opry of all things. Flew to Nashville, interviewed Vince Gill, Steve Earle, and Pam Tillis, and published 3000 words about a U.S. institution that walks a razor’s edge between tradition and populism.
Fun trivia: the Myddle Class’s lead singer was David Palmer, who went on to sing briefly in Steely Dan. That’s him on “Dirty Work.”
This show was Moe Tucker’s VU debut. Here’s the story from BACKBEATS:
This show was Moe Tucker’s VU debut. Here’s the story from BACKBEATS:
December 11, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Fun trivia: the Myddle Class’s lead singer was David Palmer, who went on to sing briefly in Steely Dan. That’s him on “Dirty Work.”
This show was Moe Tucker’s VU debut. Here’s the story from BACKBEATS:
This show was Moe Tucker’s VU debut. Here’s the story from BACKBEATS:
Reposted by John Lingan
truly honored that @marissarmoss.bsky.social and @natalieweiner.bsky.social let me be the first guest writer for Don’t Rock The Inbox and that they trusted me to memorialize Raul Malo, who i tried to find the words to describe www.dontrocktheinbox.com/remembering-...
Remembering Raul Malo
An homage to a legend of country and beyond.
www.dontrocktheinbox.com
December 10, 2025 at 3:15 PM
truly honored that @marissarmoss.bsky.social and @natalieweiner.bsky.social let me be the first guest writer for Don’t Rock The Inbox and that they trusted me to memorialize Raul Malo, who i tried to find the words to describe www.dontrocktheinbox.com/remembering-...