I’m actually not going to analyze “Crazy”; the chart-topping 2006 radio hit from Gnarls Barkley, on a musical level, in this post. If I were, gee, that would be a challenge, since it’s not every day you come across a song that lacks even a single phrasing unorthodoxy or solitary creative flare, in terms of … Read more“A Couple Desultory Pot Shots at Gnarls Barkley’s PDR Transcription”
I’d like to preface this post by voicing adamant praise of the 2020 album Inlet by mid-’90s Champaign, Ill. alt-rockers Hum. I loved what they did with maintaining their boisterous, distorted grunge sound and validating it with some stretching out of the song lengths into the seven/eight minute territory. In addition, Matt Talbott’s seemed as … Read more“Giving it to Hum Ol’-Fashioned Like a Spirited ’90s Music Cop”
I don’t think there’s any question: no band is selling more shirts these days than Nirvana. Now, I’m not going to attempt to explain this phenomenon, least of all to imply that bands should expect 33-year delays, or time-releases, for gluts in their merch sales. Suffice it to say that a litany of people are … Read more“A Little Nirvana Commemoration Post for Their Newfound Apparrel Zenith”
You are dressed in a shirt with the font of the Nirvana smiley-face logo. The writing on the shirt, however, reads “Pac-Man.” Apparently, you found this shirt at Spencer’s, and paid about $25 for it, because you identified with the subversive message implicit in the mocking of Nirvana’s apparrel. You just never GOT Nirvana. They … Read more“Wanting”
I can’t see the ’90s but I can HEAR them. Sure, they’re long-gone. I know. Nobody says “Pimpin’ ain’t easy” these days, much to the relief of all of us. We know longer must endure pervy, delusional commentary from Adam Corolla or tongue-in-cheek sports analysis from quirky Sports Center anchors. But I can FEEL the … Read more“On ‘Adam’s Song’ and the Everyman Ideal Active within Pop-Punk”
Just as bands can be guilty of falling into a “style over substance” mindset administrative to their creative outputs, such can critics, as well, overemphasize a band’s “style” as a potential pitfall, and ignore emotional authenticity, poesy of lyrics, brilliance in song structuring, and, of course, good ol’ fashioned undeniable energy. Now, granted, the Chili … Read more“A Red Hot Chili Peppers Appreciation Post (Apropos of the Dingbats Online Who Say They’re Overrated)”
It was a rainy, unseasonably cool evening in the bar downtown. Pain was in the air, you might even say. It was the kind of night where you didn’t look anyone too closely in the eye. We were in Indiana. We were in the shadow of Chicago, of the University of Notre Dame, of Michigan, … Read more“Steve Earle”
It so happens that in my idle, time-killing habit of scrolling on Facebook, I’ve encountered a certain number of individuals who refer to The Beatles as “overrated,” or respond as much, implicitly, under post prompts, to be exact. Now, admittedly, there’s a number of cultural forces at work here. One, I think, is the intention … Read more“A Beatles Appreciation Post (Apropos of the Dingbats Online Who Say They’re Overrated)”
I have been fairly pleased, today, to encounter this year’s selections for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. One thing they all have in common is that they’re all beholden to an array of songs which are very near and dear to us — songs people lean on on a consistent basis, on an … Read more“On the Concept of Artistic Quality and the Importance of ‘Like Items’”
I think it’s clear at this point that if mainstream rock music is to continue to evolve, at all, it will have to in some way prioritize an element of funk, as a sort of stylistic catalyst or anchor. This is just my measurement from imbibing artists like Hozier, which seem bent toward a white-boy … Read more“Working toward Placing Black Mountain’s ‘Druganaut’ within the Forum of Political Commentary in Music”