“Comparing and Contrasting Two High-Profile Commercial Followups, Adore and Secret Samadhi.”

Both LIVE and The Smashing Pumpkins took three years to release albums subsequent to their commercial apex as bands, the mid-’90s. I’m not sure if this is important but it’s sort of interesting to note. It’s also pertinent that there was a lot of messed up sh** going on in the world, such as an … Read more“Comparing and Contrasting Two High-Profile Commercial Followups, Adore and Secret Samadhi.”

“Where Black Sabbath and Creed Meet in the Dark World of Hopeless Sports Bar Denizenship”

It seems a shade misanthropic but my version of He** is pretty much hearing the music that people play in the sports bar on a Saturday night. I’ll be having a decent time, anyway — I was chilling in there this past Saturday evening, dead tired from a crazy dinner shift, and the Washington – … Read more“Where Black Sabbath and Creed Meet in the Dark World of Hopeless Sports Bar Denizenship”

“A Bit on ‘Snow (Hey Oh)’ and Its Ironic Endorsement of Narcissism”

It’s puzzling to me that in pretty much all of the Reddit discussions on “Snow (Hey Oh),” a hit single from the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2006 album Stadium Arcadium, nobody really talked about the lyrics at all. They would tend to extol the guitar riff as if it were the second coming of Led … Read more“A Bit on ‘Snow (Hey Oh)’ and Its Ironic Endorsement of Narcissism”

“Second-Favorite Drummer of All Time? I’ve Got a Somewhat Eccentric Pick”

If it were going to happen at all, it would have happened by now. I’ve heard reams and reams, droves and droves of cocksure rhetoric on Neil Peart. I’ve heard this ex-junkie I used to work with go “Fu** John Bonham” and then put on Sublime after we’d just had Sublime on the last night. … Read more“Second-Favorite Drummer of All Time? I’ve Got a Somewhat Eccentric Pick”

“Dolby’s Rupees: Supertramp – ‘Take the Long Way Home’”

Supertramp is one of those bands that seems so singles-oriented that you’re tempted to ask, What kind of band ARE they? I mean, even Electric Light Orchestra, for all their spotlight-leaning proclivity for radio drama, have a slight history in hard rock, or at least in the impetus for centering things on guitar which would … Read more“Dolby’s Rupees: Supertramp – ‘Take the Long Way Home’”

“Dolby’s Top 10 Tracks July – Sep. 2023”

10 Blur – “Barbaric” On “Barbaric,” Britpop heavy-hitters Blur go in a pretty typical directions for rock bands nearing the ends of their careers, which would be electronic, or at least the drum machine territory. A beautifully resigned and catchy chorus then paints the perfect disaffected picture of this malady: “I have lost the feeling … Read more“Dolby’s Top 10 Tracks July – Sep. 2023”