It’s no surprise Billy Joel flipped for singer-songwriter AJ Smith’s pop-ballad homage—“Billy Joel.” It’s beautiful, heartfelt, and intoxicating. In high school, Smith served as a young associate violinist to the National Symphony Orchestra, while simultaneously serving as an engineer and infrared systems developer for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. After choosing the path of music […]
Welcome to Blast Rites, SPIN’s monthly metal column! In this edition, we’ll celebrate the return of one of experimental metal’s most celebrated bands, queer doom from Boston, London’s noisy metalcore sensation, and two new rippers from the Bay Area. Genghis Tron — Dream Weapon (Relapse) A lot was taken from us in the past year, […]
One of the biggest surprises of the Grammys’ new “In Memoriam” segment was that Eddie Van Halen seemed to be ignored as compared to other legends who died in 2020. Though not completely slighted — a guitar sat alone while 20 seconds of “Eruption” played with archival footage of Van Halen was shown in the […]
For the better part of the last two decades, Muse has most likely been your favorite band’s favorite band. And for most of the last year, Nandi Bushell has most likely been your favorite band’s favorite child prodigy of rock music. On Sunday, the English youngster released her take on “Plug In Baby.” She described […]
One of the more memorable moments of the Grammys was the reconfigured “In Memoriam” segment. In it, select artists paid tribute to those who died in 2020 with performances of their songs. One of the best was when Brandi Carlile performed a tender version of John Prine’s final song, “I Remember Everything,” which won two […]
Last night’s Grammy Awards were pretty good! They had a nice mix of performances, quips and mostly got the actual awards part right — with a few exceptions, of course. However, that didn’t mean that people tuned in. According to early ratings reports from Nielsen, the actual telecast on CBS was the lowest-rated Grammys in history. The […]
St. Patrick’s Day is this week, and Flogging Molly isn’t about to leave everyone high and dry for a second straight year. Sure, COVID might’ve gotten in the way of their plans last year, but the Celtic punk legends are going above and beyond this year to bring a live-streamed show straight from Ireland just […]
While the excitement of last night’s Grammy Awards is still fresh, the 2021 Oscar nominations landed this morning, with the prolific Nine Inch Nails duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross nabbing nominations for their work on David Fincher’s Mank and Pixar’s Soul. A pair of music films — Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The United States vs. Billie Holiday — received Best […]
When Cocteau Twins broke up in 1998, it came as a surprise to virtually no one. Five years earlier, guitarist Robin Guthrie and vocalist Liz Fraser ended their 13-year romance, leaving the band to operate on thin ice. “To be honest with you, I’m amazed that we stayed together as long as we did,” admits […]
After a historical year, K-pop superheroes BTS took over their own version of the Grammys stage Sunday night from afar. Already holding the distinction of being the first K-pop acted nominated for a Grammy award — in this year’s Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category — the mega-group hit the Grammy stage for an electrifying performance of their […]