The Penguin's Hall of Fame was created from the personal collection of music writer, Gary Wien, who runs The Penguin Rocks.
"People always say that you love music from a certain era more than at any other time in your life. For many, it is the music of their youth. I thought about that one day - wondering if there was a period of time that stood out from any other for me. When did I fall in love with music? Did that love stay throughout my life? So, I started this project to find out..."
"I thought about the music I love. If I included everyone, I would never finish. Bands from the sixties and seventies were largely gone before I started buying music, but those albums are in my collection and include some of my all-time favorites. I decided to start with the year my music collection began to take off - 1983. That was the year I was buying albums as they first came out. It probably makes sense that it was the year I became a teenager. Likewise, it was also the year MTV came to my cable system. For me, MTV was like America's own BBC channel. The early years were filled with alternative rock acts that I fell in love with. A few years later, I'd become a die-hard listener of FM 106.3 - a great alternative rock station in my area. Between MTV and 106.3, my musical tastes were defined. Those songs changed my life."
"As an adult, I started writing about music. There was a period of time in which I was at The Saint, a club in Asbury Park, most nights during the week. I saw tons of talented local artists and tons of touring artists - some became big, some faded away, but their music stayed with me."
"Going through my music collection, I pulled out the songs and albums that stood out to me. The songs in which you can clearly remember the lyrics decades later. The ones in which the choruses are burned into your memory. Those are the songs found in this Hall of Fame. Some became hits, some are obscure, but nearly all were played on my internet radio station for years. There are probably hundreds of albums and songs not found in here that I love, but these are the ones I wanted in my music collection - the ones I needed to own. I figure if it is in my collection, I went the extra step to get it and that makes it special."
"Everybody has their own Hall of Fame whether they actually create it or not. I wanted the artists in the HOF to know that someone was listening, someone still loves their music, and someone has never forgotten them. The music here is important to me. Give the music a try, maybe you'll love it, too. It's music that I think should be remembered."
Here is a look at shows taking place from August 12-18, 2025 along with our featured listings and a look at some upcoming shows. New Jersey Stage offers previews of concerts throughout the Garden State as well as select shows in New York City and Philadelphia areas.
