Basic rock followers are about to get a uncommon, behind-the-scenes have a look at the place a few of music’s most vital historical past is saved—and who’s defending it.
CNN has introduced a brand new unique docuseries hosted by Fred Armisen that may take viewers deep inside Common Music Group’s vaults, house to what’s extensively thought of the most important music archive on the earth. The untitled collection is about to premiere later this yr as a part of CNN Originals’ 2026 programming slate.
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The collection will discover pivotal moments in popular culture via the artists and recordings that helped form them—lots of them rooted firmly within the traditional rock period. Common Music Group’s archive consists of unique grasp tapes, uncommon recordings, various album artwork, pictures, and efficiency footage, a lot of which has by no means been publicly seen or heard.
On the middle of the challenge is an enormous, extremely safe vault positioned 220 toes underground at an Iron Mountain facility in Boyers, Pennsylvania—a former limestone mine that now homes priceless musical artifacts spanning generations.
Armisen, a longtime music fan and musician himself, will function the viewers’s information via the archive. In response to CNN, the collection will mix discovery with storytelling, uncovering not simply well-known recordings however the lesser-known moments, choices, and inventive dangers that helped outline eras like traditional rock’s golden age.
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“This collection opens the doorways to one of the crucial extraordinary music archives on the earth,” mentioned Amy Entelis, govt vice chairman of expertise, CNN Originals and inventive growth. “His deep connection to music and pure sense of marvel permit viewers an opportunity to expertise music historical past up shut, discovering the sudden tales behind a few of the most iconic sounds ever created.”
EVP and Chief Administrative Officer at Common Music Group Will Tanous added, “This collection was born from a need to indicate followers what it’s prefer to mine the best underground musical archive on the earth—giving them a way of the hunt, the problem, the fun of this work—in addition to direct entry to the devoted specialists who protect and champion these unimaginable musical legacies. Fred’s singular mix of humor, fandom, and musical expertise makes him the perfect storyteller to disclose the intimate era-defining moments and unheard gems that type the inspiration of in style tradition.”
Whereas the collection is predicted to span a number of genres, traditional rock looms giant in Common’s catalog, which incorporates recordings tied to a few of the most influential artists and albums of the twentieth century. From grasp tapes to unreleased materials, the archive represents a long time of cultural reminiscence—rigorously preserved, cataloged, and guarded.
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The challenge continues CNN Originals’ current run of music-focused storytelling, following acclaimed documentaries which have explored legacy artists, landmark albums, and defining cultural actions. It additionally builds on Common Music Group’s increasing slate of movie and tv tasks that revisit music historical past with recent entry and trendy context.
For longtime followers, the collection guarantees one thing particularly compelling: an opportunity to see the place the music they grew up with bodily lives, and the way fragile and beneficial that historical past actually is.
As traditional rock continues to search out new audiences via streaming, reissues, and documentaries, this collection positions the archive itself as the following frontier—revealing not simply the sounds, however the tales buried deep beneath them.
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