Library Rock's Backpages

NRBQ: Desperados, Washington DC

Paul Yamada, New York Rocker, January 1980

AFTER A quarter-century of rock 'n' roll, it should be obvious that the idiom (if it can be classed as such) must be maintained by certain forms, structures, (musical) languages, borrowings, adaptations, and alterations made to face the demands of taste and time. Few bands master a multiplicity of styles, and fewer attain this mastery with any originality, live or on records. NRBQ is exactly this kind of band, and more.

Total word count of piece: 1190

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.