Is it just me or has Will Smith become one of the more esoteric, combustive and intriguing figures in pop culture these days? Now, “fresh,” sure — nobody would deny that. “Cool” — ok, pretty much, maybe until he saw fit to launch that Mormon-esque crusade against the word “turnt” in that one spiel. That … Read more“My Year of Will Smith”
In October or so of 2021 I had a really disillusioning thing happen. I switched from Word Press analytics, which had saying I’d been getting 30,000 page views a day or something like that, to Google, which slotted the number somewhere close to the 20 to 30 mark. My hopes of becoming rich off my … Read more“Dolby’s Top 50 Albums of 2022”
Now, I realize that Radiohead are not primarily a “singles” band — well, is this really true? I mean, think of how classic their music videos were — “Karma Police”; “No Surprises”; “There, There”; etc., all wielding this primordial weirdness that was unforgettable as it was off-putting. They veered toward the bombastic, I don’t think … Read more“A Case for a ‘Best of Radiohead’ Compilation, or Thereabouts”
Oh, how different of a time December of 2019 seems like now! This Beck album came on me out of nowhere (actually making me revamp my “best albums of the decade list” slightly) whilst my present ideal was Wilco’s Ode to Joy and those rocking Eat Fire Spring romps. And, while having proclaimed myself a … Read more“Is Hyperspace Inherently DISPOSABLE?”
I used to not get the 2pac line “How can the devil take a brother if he’s close to me?” I remember when that song came out — I was a freshman in high school, doing freshman things in my comfortable, white upbringing. Hip-hop skill spoke through to me fine but some of the lyrical … Read more“Taking Note of the Eternal Flame”
In 2003 I was in college and all of a sudden lot of people started talking about this AFI band. I envisioned them as kind of a snotty entity deliberately designed to pi** people off or make them uncomfortable, like their fellow Cali brethren NOFX and No Use for a Name. I was pleasantly surprised, … Read more“AFI’s Sing the Sorrow Still Stands as the Last Great Statement in American Punk Rock”
Something hit me recently about “Loser,” Beck’s big single from 1994 that put him on the map. It’s like a trick you can only do once. I mean, if an artist were to issue “Loser,” and then another song that was that overtly suicidal (obviously I know the lyrics are meant tongue-in-cheek but the very … Read more“Mapping the Musical Trajectory of Beck’s Career as Elliptical and Not Linear”
* “You have the right to free speech As long as you’re not dumb enough to actually try it” – The Clash .. Now, please let me preface this post by stating that, for a long time, Kanye West has been engulfed in a money grind the stature of which is something I can barely … Read more“Nothing Kanye West Said Was Antisemitic”