Determined to find America’s answer to The Beatles, two young TV producers, Bert Scnheider and Bob (Easy Rider) Rafelson got the green light to film a pilot episode of a TV series loosely based on A Hard Day’s Night about a struggling American rock and roll band.

From his early dazzling work with Captain Beefheart to his inspired collaborations with the late Jeff Buckley, Gary Lucas continues to inspire as one of the most prodigiously talented and prolific guitarists of our time. Dubbed “The Thinking Man’s Guitar Hero” by The New Yorker and “Guitarist of 1,000 Ideas” by The New York Times, Gary dropped by the Gibson Showroom in New York City to discuss all things guitar, including his lifelong love affair with Gibson guitars. Oh, and just watch what this man can do with a guitar! Truly amazing.

The days are gone when music could be grouped neatly and innocently into piles like rock, country and classical. Contemporary music genres now fork off into sometimes arbitrary and often perplexing sub-sets. Some of them we can wrap our heads around pretty easily – gangsta rap and indie rock, for instance, we get those – but others leave us dumbfounded. Here we decode 10 of the most bizarre genres.

Marvin Gaye,Let’s Get It On,What’s Going On,Come Get to This,You Sure Love to Ball,Ed Townsend,Kenneth Stover,You’re the Man,Slim Gaillard,Janis Hunter,Tony Orlando,Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree

Most people agree that rock and roll is rooted in southern soil. Somehow, however, the phrase “southern rock” didn’t emerge until 1971, when the Allman Brothers Band released their seminal two-disc set, At Fillmore East. That album, more than any other, established the guitar as southern rock’s central instrument. Below are 10 guitarists who’ve worked the genre brilliantly, some of whom are pioneers, and others who are currently furthering the tradition.

This year has been a busy one for Godsmack frontman Sully Erna. First, his band put out a new album, The Oracle, in May. Fresh off of that, Erna is readying his solo debut, Avalon, for a September 14 release. Not long after, he’ll be back on the road with Godsmack, who have a big fall tour scheduled. Erna recently stopped by Gibson’s Beverly Hills Showroom to talk about his new album, recording music that’s very different from his work with Godsmack and his band’s upcoming tour.

There were more fascinating stories in music news this week. Rock legends Crosby, Stills and Nash announced a classic rock covers album, Slash put out his first 3D video, Gene Simmons announced that he felt like a “god,” Charlie Watts talked about The Rolling Stones’ farewell tour and Eric Clapton said he hated his singing voice. And if that wasn’t enough, it was announced this week that Scott Weiland is making a Christmas album. Sadly, we also lost ELO’s Mike Edwards in a tragic accident.

Les Paul was already a star in 1950 – when the Gibson Les Paul model was still just a glimmer in its papa’s eyes. By then his name had appeared on the charts in the Top 20 five times, including as accompanist to Bing Crosby on the 1945 #1 hit “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” and with the Andrews Sisters on the next year’s #4 smash “Rumors Are Flying.”

Pity P.J. Proby. When the John Paul Jones-booked studio band arrived for his Three Week Hero sessions in September 1967, he must have thought he’d caught lightning in a bottle. What he heard, as he and the band laid down the track “Jim’s Blues,” was a quartet seemingly assembled by the gods — and they were white hot.

With a couple of exceptions, like Jace Everett’s dark and grinding “Bad Things” from True Blood, there’s a surfeit of truly memorable themes for TV shows today – numbers that stand on their own merits.