Jeff Beck, Eddie Van Halen, and a Life in Music Journalism

Host Jesse Jackson welcomes back music journalist and author Steve Rosen to discuss his new Jeff Beck book, rewritten and expanded from a Japan-only 1978 biography originally commissioned by Player magazine. Rosen recounts growing up in Culver City listening to early rock, discovering Jeff Beck through the Yardbirds and seeing the Jeff Beck Group in 1969, and how learning guitar fueled a deep-dive curiosity that led to music journalism. He describes his earliest reviews for school papers, the LA Free Press, and eventually major rock and guitar magazines, plus meeting and befriending Eddie Van Halen in 1977. Rosen explains why Beck was under-covered—rare touring, long gaps, and instrumental direction—shares musicians’ respect for Beck alongside stories of his erratic bandleading, plugs tonechaserbook.com, and answers the “Thunder Road” question.

https://a.co/d/005a57V5

01:28 Meet Steve Rosen

02:48 Jeff Beck Book Reborn

04:46 Growing Up in Culver City

07:53 Falling for Jeff Beck

11:13 Deep Dive Guitar Obsession

14:25 First Byline Breakthrough

20:41 Meeting Eddie Van Halen

26:11 Writing the First Beck Bio

29:09 Rewriting the Beck Book

29:47 Why Beck Stayed Underrated