1984 was an excellent year for popular music, as a lot of what got released was in some way revolutionary and forward-looking. Artists of that year wanted to put the “new” in “new wave,” so […]
Time flies when you’re having fun, and while a lot of the music made in 1994 is the furthest thing on earth from fun, that year saw some genuinely classic albums released. These albums have […]
Every New Year’s Eve, we embark upon mysterious customs whose origin no one seems to know. Why do we drop a ball in New York City’s Times Square? Why is there so much smooching at […]
A lot of people like to argue about whether or not “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but we know one thing for sure – people never tire of […]
Ah, New Year’s. It is when we embrace wretched excess while simultaneously discussing all the positive changes we will make, starting right away on January 1. While we hate to be negative, Nellies, you’re not […]
For many of us, ringing in the New Year on Dec. 31 involves much celebration and bacchanalia. For others, it happens in April and consists of paying respect to one’s elders. The latter practice derives […]
While heavy metal music has been associated with devil worship, drug abuse, and other societal ills, the fact is that heavy metal people are like everyone else. They put their pants on one leg at […]
When we’re sitting around on our couches eating potato chips, and one of them happens to be shaped like the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima, most of us say, “Oh, that’s neat.” […]
Most of the time, when some piece of technology becomes obsolete, that’s it. No one wants yesterday’s news, and many gadgets that were once examples of cutting-edge technology are now examples of archaic refuse that […]
Those of us who celebrate Christmas frequently have decorations in the attic or a closet, and they are only seen briefly when December 25 rolls around. Then, they return to those dark and musty places […]
“The Twelve Days of Christmas” may be 250 years old, but that’s done nothing to diminish its popularity as a Christmas carol. Does that mean people today love to observe all 12 days of Christmas? […]
Each year at Yuletide, a slew of albums is released with all sorts of different takes on the holidays. Some are entertaining and come from musically talented individuals, while others are just cynical attempts to […]
Since the advent of streaming services like Spotify, the phenomenon of the rich rock star has dried up significantly. According to LaabelGrid, Spotify pays artists between $0.003 to $0.005 per stream, a pittance compared to […]
Many lines of flowery prose have been written describing the vast cultural differences between the 1970s and 1980s. Whatever the differences, though, we’re sure people in wide-shouldered 1980s clothes inspired by “Dynasty” enjoyed the holidays […]
The 1970s was the decade of leisure suits, disco, and M*A*S*H*. It was also a decade like any other in that when December rolled around, people were uniformly preoccupied with the holidays, just as they […]
The 1960s was a decade of social turmoil, upheaval, and transformation. However, when the holidays rolled around, people were only too happy to put down their antiwar protest signs and quaff egg nog by the […]
If you drive to work every day, you know that it’s not accurate to call it ‘driving’ so much as “sitting in pokey, stop-and-go traffic for over an hour in what should be a 15-minute […]
The next time you’re scrolling through Spotify to find music to vacuum your living room to, try this experiment – look at the names of some of the more popular artists. If you’re baffled by […]
Many of us wish to follow in the footsteps of our parents. This is why so many hardware stores change their names from “Steve’s Hardware Store” to “Steve and Sons’ Hardware Store” after about 20 […]
People of a certain age will fondly recall the television show “Name That Tune,” in which contestants would identify a popular song after hearing only a couple of notes of the melody. Since then, decades […]
Many of us wish to follow in the footsteps of our parents. This is why so many hardware stores change their names from “Steve’s Hardware Store” to “Steve and Sons’ Hardware Store” after about 20 […]
Urban legends aren’t limited to just Hollywood stars. As rock music got bigger, many hard rockers and heavy metallers found themselves implicated by fantastical stories of dubious origin, and once they stuck, they stuck. An urban […]
Country musicians have a lot to say. It may not always be politically correct, and it may not be exactly what everyone wants to hear, but when we hear one of our beloved C&W stars […]
Punk rock — sometimes the lyrics are very realistic, worldly, and thought-provoking. At other times, they’re the work of an idiot with a crayon. Can you tell the difference? Below, we’ve given 15 examples of […]
Todd Wolfson is the most prolific and widely published music photographer you’ve never heard of. A native of Austin, Texas, Wolfson has been in the business for close to 40 years and has captured over […]
Rock music is almost as much a visual medium as a musical one. A lot of fans may have liked Keith Richards’ guitar playing, but he wouldn’t really be Keith Richards without his disheveled signature look, and […]
Money. When you’re a musician and you don’t have any, you’ll do some crazy, out-of-character things to pad your bank account. This includes working with songwriters to get a radio hit, and many rockers who […]
The worst thing you can yell at an artist in any discipline is, “Don’t quit your day job.” The statement tells the recipient that they’re bad singers, guitarists, drummers, what have you, and that the […]
The music of the 1970s is said to be more introspective than that of the preceding decade. In the 1960s, people sang about ending the war in Vietnam and smiling on your brother, but the […]
During a period spanning many decades, rock and roll has established itself as the music of young ne’er-do-wells, people who wanted to live fast and die young. The lyric “Hope I die before I get […]