Happy Thanksgiving!

Today on the show, we're re-airing highlights from our summer series "Iconic at 50" and looking at, or rather listening to, some iconic albums that turned 50 this year and digging into the political and social context in which they were made and their impact on both music and culture, including:

• Sean Ono Lennon, musician and son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, discusses how John Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine" was shaped by its time and has influenced music for generations to come.
• Andy Beta, music writer whose byline has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR and more, discusses how Alice Coltrane's 1971 album "Journey in Satchidananda" was shaped by its time and has influenced music for generations to come.
• Loren Glass, chair and professor of English at the University of Iowa and author of several books including, most recently, Carole King’s Tapestry for Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series, discusses how Carole King's 1971 album "Tapestry" was shaped by its time and has influenced music for generations to come.
• Henry Rollins, host at KCRW and former lead vocalist of the hardcore group Black Flag, discusses how Black Sabbath's 1971 album "Master of Reality" was shaped by its time and has influenced music for generations to come.
• Jon Burlingame, music journalist who writes regularly for Variety, music-and-TV theme expert and host of "For Scores" podcast, discusses how Isaac Hayes's 1971 album "Shaft" was shaped by its time and has influenced music, and culture, for generations to come.
• Aaron Cohen, author of Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power (University of Chicago Press, 2019) and professor at City Colleges of Chicago, discusses how George Harrison's concert and album "The Concert For Bangladesh" was shaped by its time and has influenced music for generations to come.

These interviews were edited slightly for time, the original versions are available here:

Iconic at 50: John Lennon's 'Imagine' (Oct 21, 2021)

Iconic at 50: Alice Coltrane's 'Journey in Satchidananda' (Jul 23, 2021)

Iconic at 50: Carole King's 'Tapestry' (Aug 6, 2021)

Iconic at 50: Black Sabbath's 'Master of Reality' (Jul 16, 2021)

Iconic at 50: Isaac Hayes's 'Shaft' (Jul 29, 2021)

Iconic at 50: George Harrison's 'The Concert For Bangladesh' (Sep 3, 2021)