John Covach

Celebrating a style of music that dominated the 1970s, the University of Rochester’s Institute for Popular Music features an evening of country rock as part of its "In Performance" concert series.

Rochester professor and rock historian John Covach

John Covach talks with Nick Bruno in the studio about the Monkees, their influence on pop culture, and how their music ended up taking on a life of its own, in the premiere episode of UR Quad-Cast.

In 1967, the Monkees outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined, and remain the only band with four No. 1 albums in a 12-month period. "Their music stands up," says John Covach, director of the University's Institute for Popular Music.

As people around the world begin to mourn the legendary musician and performer, rock historian John Covach remembers him as one of the “most important artists in American popular music during the last two decades of the twentieth century.”

The 2015-2016 “In Performance” concert series continues on Saturday, Feb. 6, with a concert celebrating a genre that Institute for Popular Music director John Covach describes as "often overlooked by rock ‘n’ roll establishments like the Hall of Fame."

David Bowie, who died Sunday at the age of 69, wasn't the first performer to create an alter ego. But as music professor and director of the Institute for Popular Music John Covach explains, the difference with Bowie was how his personas would change over the years, sometimes shifting drastically.

John Covach, a prominent rock historian, founding director of the University’s Institute for Popular Music, professor and former chair of the Department of Music, and professor of music theory at the Eastman School of Music, has been named the inaugural director of the newly created Institute for Performing Arts.

For the past five decades the Rolling Stones have enjoyed tremendous success as the original bad boys of rock for their image based on sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. But what many people don’t realize is that this hasn’t always been the case for the group, according to John Covach, director of the Institute for Popular Music.

The Institute for Popular Music (IPM) celebrates the 50th year of the Rolling Stone’s breakthrough hit, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” with a special concert January 24. This musical tribute coincides with the launch of a free online course on "The Music of The Rolling Stones."