“It’s daunting because you’re starting over every time,” says The Wallflowers’ Jakob Dylan. “You check in and ask yourself, ‘Am I ready to do this?’ It’s not a matter of success or not. It’s another record that I have to write and turn myself inside out for — and then, hopefully, make the record, and […]
There’s not much that Willow Smith hasn’t done. Actor? Check. Talk show host? Check. Artist? Check. But at 20, the artist who goes simply by WILLOW, is ready to try something new: being a rock star. But her foray into the genre is nothing less than authentic. Even since the release of her debut single […]
Three of the 100 are in this picture! The Rolling Stones, in 1964, from left to right: Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones. The problem with lists like this is they are invariably bullshit. So our prime objective was to make sure we didn’t do a bullshit list. I’m not saying we did a scientific one […]
Throughout the 1990s, corporate CD clubs like Columbia House and the BMG Music Service dumped millions upon millions of compact discs on a consumer public ready to replace their vinyl collections en masse. But with an unbelievably cheap collection of great music came contracts full of semantic trickery, double asterisks, and paragraphs in parentheses. BMG […]
I grew up in Whitehorse, the capital city of Yukon. Northern Canada, right next to Alaska is how I find myself describing its location most of the time. We lived somewhat removed from culture unless it was dominant. In the spring of 1995, AM/FM radio and print magazines with glossy covers were the main insights […]
Up a difficult-to-see road, branching off one of the busiest roadways that cuts through Beverly Hills to the San Fernando Valley, is one of the most famous numbers in all of hard rock: 5150. The studio—accessible by navigating several corners of a curvy, gravelly road—sits behind a gate that’s carefully monitored. For the average person, […]
About two years after her mother passed away, Michelle Zauner was people-watching in the food court of a Korean supermarket in Philadelphia. She studied the people eating, wondering what their stories were and wondering if they cared about hers. “I felt this real need to tell them and to show them. I think that’s very […]
A pair of classic comedy albums from a revolutionary standup, a previously unreleased live recording from one of Germany’s most influential bands, a new collection honoring a post-disco R&B queen and the “Ultimate” edition of a John Lennon masterpiece are just a few of the archival gold hitting retail this Spring. But first, we dive […]
Picture this: You’re riding the high of finally being in a crowded dive bar again. The drinks are flowing, possibly too much. You just heard someone absolutely nail “Sweet Caroline” on the karaoke stage. Now the DJ is calling for the next contestant. Your friends are egging you on. Your brain is saying no, definitely […]
Heavy music veterans Monster Magnet just released A Better Dystopia, a 13-track “DIY” covers album featuring fringe and underrated artists including Hawkwind, Poo-Bah, The Scientists and Morgen. We asked MM singer Dave Wyndorf to riff on some “then and now” music and culture musings, and he kindly obliged. Read what he had to say below. I […]