For over 24 years, Umphrey’s McGee have pushed the limits onstage — playing an improvisational progressive rock style that effortlessly merges genres, moods, meters, and tempos. They’re veterans now, but back in September 2001, they’d just graduated from the University of Notre Dame and everything was still fresh. Umphrey’s had built a strong following outside […]
It’s October 28, 2008, and 18-year-old me is roughly third in line for Against Me!’s show at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. It’s the last West Coast stop of their fall tour behind New Wave, and my dorm neighbor has kindly driven me from the Inland Empire to the venue (I didn’t have a car […]
By 1991, Soundgarden had reached a crossroads. All around them, things seemed to be in a state of flux. The Cold War had finally reached its decades-long denouement with the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, just as a new, hot one was about to kick off in the Persian Gulf. Hip hop was emerging as […]
In NOFX’s song “Kill the Rock Stars,” Fat Mike calls out Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna with the lyric, “‘Kill the rockstars’ how ironic, Kathleen/You’ve been crowned the newest queen,” and opines, “You can’t change the world by blaming men.” The song title not subtly references Kill Rock Stars, Bikini Kill’s label at the time. […]
By 1990, New York City’s Living Colour were one of the hottest new rock bands in America following the success of their debut LP, 1988’s Vivid, and a cherished opening stint on the Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels tour. “When we got to Time’s Up, we could reach out to all sorts of people and it […]
By 1990, Sonic Youth no longer belonged to the cool kids. Before Goo was released that June, they were a band you had to read about in music magazines, as none of the record shops in our area carried the SST catalog. Now signed to the newly established Geffen subsidiary DGC, they were no longer […]
“Real hip-hop.” For the cargo short and Jansport wearing set, these regressive and myopic words are synonymous with whatever rap era or aesthetic they deem “foundational” or “pure.” Jurassic 5 was never among this narrow-minded contingent (though they undoubtedly sold records to some.) They took rap back to its roots out of love for the […]