Song of the Day: Clipse, "The Birds Don't Sing"
I was primed to love the new Clipse album Let God Sort Em Out.
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Song of the Day: Bruce Springsteen, "Maybe I Don't Know You"
Last week, Bruce Springsteen dropped the long-awaited Tracks II: The Lost Albums, a sorta sequel to the box set Tracks that came out in 1998. While the original Tracks was an odd-and-sods collection culled from a bunch of different corners of the Boss’ recording career, Tracks II is actually seven fully-realized albums that Springsteen wrote, recorded, mixed and mastered and then stuck in a drawer for one reason or another.
Read MoreSong of the Day: HAIM, "All Over Me"
When Haim dropped “The Wire,” the killer single that announced their arrival in the mainstream from their debut full-length Days Are Gone, I assumed they would become the next big thing.
Read MoreSong of the Day: The Beach Boys, "God Only Knows"
Brian Wilson passed away. I like the Beach Boys fine but have never been super invested in them (though I definitely like them more than Noel Gallagher does). But I wholly acknowledge Wilson’s contributions to pop music, and I don’t think his talent or his influence can be overstated. His life seemed tough and sad and strange, but it also seemed like he had access to joy.
My Beach Boys interest is basic as hell, and though I’d like to flex about loving some deep cut from Holland, the fact is my favorite Beach Boys song is “God Only Knows.”
Read MoreThe 100: Alanis Morissette, SUPPOSED FORMER INFATUATION JUNKIE
It took me a long time to accept Jagged Little Pill into my life.
Read MoreSong of the Day: Oasis, "The Girl in the Dirty Shirt"
Oasis are returning for a series of huge concerts this summer. I will not be attending, but I have friends who are hardcore fans who have been able to think of little else since the announcement. There’s been a lot of texting back and forth about the potential set list, largely surrounding the question, “Do they play anything that came out in the current century? Do they even play anything past Be Here Now?”
Read MoreSong of the Day: Solé, "Spell My Name Right"
Sacha Jenkins passed away over the weekend. He was 54 years old.
Read MoreSong of the Day: Madonna, "Beautiful Stranger
Remember when characters from movies would appear in music videos? When was the last time that happened? The past was almost always smellier and worse, but if we’re going to be inundated with retrograde unpleasantless from everywhere at all times, then maybe we can have Scarlett Johansson welcoming Dua Lipa into Jurassic Park.
Read MoreThe 100: Oasis, MORNING GLORY B-SIDES (BOOTLEG)
I often say I miss record stores, but that’s not entirely true.
Read MoreSong of the Day: The Porkers, "Aporkalypso"
Ska music keeps threatening to come back, but though certain elements of the late ‘90s two-tone revival have wormed their way into contemporary music, there will be no reconsidering the relative legacies of Voodoo Glow Skulls or Reel Big Fish.
That’s fine, by the way.
Read MoreSong of the Day: H.I.M., "Right Here In My Arms"
On my very first day as an editorial assistant at Spin, I didn’t do a whole lot of work. Does anybody do much of anything on their first day? You meet some people, you settle into your space, you get a spiel from IT about your computer, and otherwise you’re just setting up your e-mail signature and waiting for people to ask you to do stuff (which they don’t feel comfortable doing yet because they have known you for all of 22 minutes).
Read MoreThe 100: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, ECHO
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ 1991 album Into the Great Wide Open was the first CD I truly appreciated as a complete thought. I had loved other albums before that, but I thought every song on Into the Great Wide Open was a smash. I loved the art work. I obsessed over the liner notes. I started watching VH1 because they played the video for “Learning to Fly” more often than MTV did. Even though I fell under the spell of Nirvana and discovered punk rock and old Iron Maiden records shortly thereafter, Petty continued to be one of my guys.
Read MoreSong of the Day: Scott Weiland, "Barbarella"
For reasons beyond my understanding, there are a handful of recent-ish reviews of my deeply out of print book up on Goodreads. They all basically give the proper assessment: it’s not especially good or even coherent, but the enthusiasm is there. There is one sentiment that popped up that I thought deserved further exploration: that I was too mean to Stone Temple Pilots.
Read MoreThe 100: Dave Matthews Band, BEFORE THESE CROWDED STREETS
This Week’s Top 10: Best New Songs on Greatest Hits Albums
Streaming music is broadly bad.
Read MoreSong of the Day: Jarvis Cocker, "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time"
Pulp have returned! They’ve actually been back a couple of times since disbanding shortly after the release of their 2001 album We Love Life, but this time they’ve got a new album with a great new single.
I’ll write about it soon, but today I’ve got one of Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker’s solo joints stuck in my head.
Read MoreThe 100: Deftones, AROUND THE FUR
When I first started buying music, it was on cassette tapes.
Read MoreSong of the Day: Suede, "Animal Nitrate"
Despite my longtime devotion to ‘90s Britpop, I was late to Suede.
Read MoreSong of the Day: They Might Be Giants, "Till My Head Falls Off"
I don’t think they were ever my favorite band (none of their albums are in my top 100 list), but there was definitely a period of my life when I was a very intense apologist for They Might Be Giants.
Read MoreSong of the Day: Age of Apocalypse, "Mortal Coil"
Even though the way we find, consume, and think about music has been repeatedly upended, it’s mildly comforting that there are still some constants. Chart breakthroughs are still meaningful. Physical sales still count for something. Little trend pockets can still cross over and influence the mainstream. Lots of stuff about the current music world is a drag, like Kate Nash literally showing her ass so she can pay for a tour. But even I, a deeply depressed cynic, find silver linings on a lot of these clouds.
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