Hidden Gems : Rock music's B-sides

02/10/2026

Karen Zoid – Beautiful | Our First Song of the Week 🎵
Some songs demand your attention.
Others simply find their way in.
Karen Zoid's “Beautiful” is one of those songs — intimate, honest and unmistakably South African.
And that's the new RnR Roulette.
No rules.
No musical passport required.
Just one song a week that deserves to be heard.
🎵 Song of the Week
Go to my blog link, you can get the full story.

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02/10/2026

We've all heard the names.

We know the obvious pioneers. We know the stadium stars. We know the women who became household names.

But what about the women who never quite got their place in the pantheon?

Go to bsideman's link in bio for the full story on Hidden Gems - The Power of B-side Tracks

30/09/2026

How many songs and bands can you find hiding inside one increasingly ridiculous sentence?

We've done quizzes. We've done clues. We've made you identify bands from photographs.

So naturally, the next logical step was to make things considerably more complicated.

One sentence. Sixty hidden rock references.
Get the full September B-side Quiz on Hidden Gems. Bsideman's link in bio.

28/09/2026

Before algorithms decided what you might like, there were people behind microphones digging through the vaults, taking chances and putting great music in front of listeners.
B-side tracks. Forgotten artists. Songs that deserved another spin.
Ian Hunter's Cleveland Rocks is a perfect reminder of what happens when a city, a radio station and a tastemaker get behind a song.
They weren't just playing records.
They were bringing the music to the world. 📻🎸
Get the full Monday Matters story on Hidden Gems. Bsideman's link in bio.

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28/09/2026

Before the algorithm knew what we liked, there was a person.

Someone sitting behind a microphone at two in the morning. Someone in a television studio deciding which band deserved three minutes of airtime. Someone hunched over a stack of records, looking for something that hadn't already been played to death....

Go to bsideman's link in bio for today's story about The Taste Makers.

25/09/2026

England | Three Piece Suite | The Prog Rock Gem You Probably Missed
Prog rock has no shortage of giants.
But sometimes the real treasures are hiding somewhere near the bottom of the crate.
England's Three Piece Suite is one of those discoveries — an ambitious, intricate prog journey from a band that never got the attention its music deserved.
No greatest-hits list. No household name.
Just a seriously good piece of 1970s prog waiting to be discovered.
Sometimes the best way to explore prog is to step off the well-worn path. 🎸 bsideman's link for more.

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25/09/2026

The Blind Squirrel Finds an Acorn
You spend years listening to rock music. You dig through albums. You chase B-sides. You follow rabbit holes. You convince yourself that you've heard just about everything worth hearing.

And then, completely out of nowhere, you stumble across a song and think:

"How the hell did I miss this?"
Bsideman's link in bio for today's story. Got a favorite prog rock track? Drop it in the comments.

23/09/2026

What happens when rock refuses to stay in its lane?
St. Vincent has never seemed particularly interested in following the rulebook. Guitars meet electronics, funk meets art-rock, and everything gets twisted into something unmistakably her own.
Huey Newton is a perfect example — sharp, strange, rhythmic and completely unpredictable.
Rock doesn't always need to reinvent itself.
Sometimes it just needs someone willing to take it somewhere else. 🎸
Bsideman's link in bio for today's story.

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23/09/2026

Rock Was Never Supposed to Work This Way.
Rock was never really about following the rules.
It was about discovering where the rules ended.
Then stepping over the line.
Bsideman's link in bio for today's full story. What song broke the rules for you?