What makes a truly awful metal album? It’s not just a lack of riffs, awful production, or quarter-assed vocal takes. Most of these records suffer from overdosing on compromise, whether it’s hopelessly chasing a trendy sound or a failure to age gracefully; others have visions more realized yet too noxious to raise the horns with […]
“For me, a great anthem is inclusive and gives people a sense of belonging,” Flogging Molly frontman Dave King says, when asked what makes a great anthem. Some of his personal favorites include Bowie’s “Heroes,” the Clash’s “Clampdown,” and surprisingly, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” Over the years, King has written such legendary Celtic-punk anthems as […]
Listen to “Valentine,” the title cut on the latest album from Matador recording artist Snail Mail, and you feel transported back to the early years of Lollapalooza, if not earlier. The song opens with waves of ‘80s synth and staccato bursts of Police-style guitar, then segues into a crunchy power-pop chorus that Billy Corgan might […]
I share a middle name with one of my nieces, a connective thread tying the two of us together. As she grew up, into that golden age where a child begins to find her own place in the world, that connective thread bound us not only in name, but our respective love and deep obsessions […]
When your primary band has released 20 studio albums in 12 years (with three more to come in the next six weeks), it seems a bit preposterous to also have a side project with five albums and two EPs of its own. Such is the state of affairs for ever-prolific King Gizzard and the Lizard […]
I am a proud Muslim woman born in Italy to a family of Moroccan heritage. Growing up, I was bigger than most of the girls my age, and I was the only kid in my school wearing a traditional headscarf, a hijab. Kids kicked me, called me fat, and tried to take off my hijab. […]
Guitarist Jeremy Popoff and his Lit bandmates have been known for bringing the party since they formed over three decades ago. Here, Jeremy tells us three very different stories of being on tour between 1999 and 2001. As told to SPIN Managing Editor Liza Lentini. The KISS New Year’s Eve ’99 Disaster We got asked […]
“Calling the album Jude was very much a coming of age tale for me,” Julian Lennon says. The title is directly derived from “Hey Jude,” one of the most beloved rock ‘n roll lullabies of all time. Famously originally titled “Hey Jules,” Paul McCartney wrote the song as a message of comfort and hope for a young […]
Now that Labor Day is in the rearview mirror, it means that football season is finally here. For the fourth season running, we asked a group of musicians to give their insight on how this season will shake out. No one predicted last year’s Super Bowl matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals, […]
When you watch the video clips below, the first thing that will strike about Claude VonStroke is how endearing the DJ and producer is with the people around him. You can’t help but notice the ever-present common denominator of warm smiles, all the result of his emotive electronic music. “Anything that someone can remember and […]