Music

Metallica’s medley of Rainbow covers is inconsistent, but damn, their take on “Kill the King” (at 4:23) sounds great. rol.st/1rkFZSl

In the late ’90s, I interviewed Dave Brockie for a magazine. I was a lousy interviewer but a huge fan, and he made the conversation so fun.

Devastated to hear Gwar’s Dave Brockie died. RIP, Dave. Your creativity and wicked wit were peerless. Thanks for being unapologetically you.

Last night’s Nothing show was way more of a punk thing than I expected; it isn’t the dominant vibe I get from the record. Not a bad thing.

Chad Channing has a great attitude about being Gen X’s Pete Best. Nice of the Hall of Fame to add insult to injury. news.radio.com/2014/03/17/nir…

A straightforward but enjoyable @mountain_goats cover from @ShearwaterBand: rd.io/x/QFyuK0Hyog4/

“100 percent of respondents said the guitarist should hit the whammy bar at the end of a particularly sick riff.” onion.com/1iVNtKb

“From Ghosts,” an overwrought but affectingly impressionistic document of 2008’s All Tomorrow’s Parties fest in NY. youtu.be/hVWSbB4Dytc

This expressive review by @jason_m_heller ably describes the unique difficulty of Unwound’s early records. pitchfork.com/reviews/albums…

Just unearthed the powerfully nutritious Musical Breakfast, a video oddity I made back in 2005. youtu.be/1wLeM6te__M

Can’t get this Nothing album out of my ears. And I don’t want to. rd.io/x/QFyuPn8-ig/

World Peace Is None of Your Business… and Business Is Good! #megassey

Taking my mom to see Mamma Mia. Looking for other males with whom I can exchange sympathetic looks.

10 Ideas for TV Shows Starring Glenn Danzig: pleasekillme.com/10-ideas-for-t… (via @essl)

The plush, brightly lit green room at the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles is clean, colorful, and carpeted, with two large couches, a bathroom with a shower, and an abundance of mirrors. It is probably the most spacious and comfortable backstage area of any we’ve encountered, but it’s still inadequate. Between organizers, performers, friends, and photographers, the room is at more than twice its capacity, topped off with a showgirl’s ransom… See more →

Tonight’s iTunes shuffle realization: Joy Division’s “Transmission” can comfortably follow pretty much any song by any artist.

Tonight’s smart playlist formula: “A-Sides.”

In tonight’s internet rabbit hole news, I just learned that Shirley Temple’s daughter was The Melvins’ bass player for several years.

“Being a Metallica fan is a statement usually followed by a certain number of caveats.” avclub.com/article/enter-…

This morning I discovered a band that chose to call itself Unclown Despair. Surrender your badge, Hoobastank, there’s a new sheriff in town.

Parts of this song remind me of Menthol’s “USA Capable” (which isn’t currently available on Rdio). http://youtu.be/KrVxf-nO2QI

Any film that sets out to play a bunch of Big Star music and talk to people in the know about how it was made and why it’s great can’t really go wrong, and this one doesn’t. But while the early acts offer engaging coverage of the birth of Memphis’s legendary Ardent Studios, Big Star’s formation, and the great records that followed, what comes after is a bit murky. There is much hypothesizing about why… See more →

The first Christmas card of the year has arrived, and it’s a keeper.

My mother just called Bruce Springsteen a bum.

youtu.be/xHPNYKI1-fY

When it comes to aging, there is nothing I am more wary of than nostalgia. There’s a fine line between basking in fond memories and believing your best days are behind you, and getting older presents ever more opportunity to cross it. For many people, and certainly for myself, nostalgia’s gauzy glow is most acute in music. After all, it’s the soundtrack to our lives, and for whatever reason, most of us tend to engage… See more →

Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice guy, I like him just fine. But he’s a mouth breather.

Bedroom Recording

Joe Elliott can’t hit the high notes quite as forcefully as he used to, but otherwise, Def Leppard sounds pretty fantastic here. It’s impressive to hear an album as quintessentially overproduced as Hysteria pulled off live this faithfully, and 25 years later at that. (Of course, the band has had plenty of recent practice aping its younger self by recording verbatim recreations of its classic hits to spite its domineering record label.)

For my money,… See more →

Some advice about aging: When your favorite bands begin their inevitable reunion tours, go see them before they make a crappy new album.

Extremely bummed to be missing Melt-Banana in Brooklyn tonight, but at least I’m with my best Philly people.

Bonfires burning bright. Pumpkin faces in the night.

It’s that time of year again when I contemplate spending an unreasonable amount of money on original Misfits singles. r.ebay.com/Youbun

How was “Purple Rain” never licensed by Welch’s?

Whenever Pearl Jam’s new album Lightning Bolt is mentioned, I think they’re collaborating with the band Lightning Bolt, and I get confused.

Singing An American Tail’s “Somewhere Out There” with @JennLukas. In Portuguese.

Put a box of old records out on the sidewalk. A man of about 75 looked through them all and took only the most severe punk and metal stuff.

Well, at least we’ll always have that first album.

100 Cassettes

“He sounds like he has sharp fingernails.” —@ChamberMonster on @deafheavenband

It may be a cold case at this point, but we mustn’t give up on bringing the inventor of the CD jewel case to justice.

Too much quiet solitude makes me start singing in a contrived timbre somewhere between Scott Stapp and latter-day James Hetfield. Send help.

I got into Shudder to Think just as they were splitting up, and I couldn’t make it to any of the dates on the short reunion tour they did ten years later. So this live album – culled from those reunion shows – is bittersweet for me, since it demonstrates conclusively what a fantastic live band they were. Also, if you’re new to Shudder to Think, the set list here is a great overview of… See more →