By the time of his passing in 2009, Michael Jackson's life had become public property – utterly and completely. There was shockingly little that happened in the singer's world that even passing fans or curiosity seekers didn't know about; the singer had become more a mass media and tabloid commodity and payday than a singer. That perception is so all-consuming that, now, it actually takes a second to remember that Michael Jackson was “The King Of Pop” – not just...

Hardcore punk has mutated into a multitude of monsters since the music first careened inland from both U.S. coasts thirty years ago. The initial germination of the genre was simple; bands like Black Flag, The Minutemen and The Descendents (to name only a few) appeared seemingly from nowhere on the southern West Coast while Agnostic Front leached out of New York and Minor Threat crashed out of Washington D.C., and both factions began making inroads (or trying to) toward the...

Some may argue this (including very possibly the singer himself), but Leonard Cohen has truly established himself as a musical treasure during his 45-year tenure as a performing artist. His is not the biggest or most senses-shattering name to grace a marquis, but that is at least due in part to how his fans treat him on the road; the shows are whispered of in awe, not bellowed about from mountaintops because such a jarring noise as that would very...

Sometimes the only thing a stagnated artist needs to do in order to be reborn is take a walk through the stacks at his local record store and keep his ears open, searching for new inspiration pressed into old vinyl. It might be a beat that gets the ball rolling, or a lick or a mood or a melody and it might even be found on a record he's heard one hundred times before but simply never noticed before but,...

There are some musical hybrids which just don't sound right. The perfect example of a dubious musical mixture would be a lo-fi version of Phil Spector, for example; on paper, it simply should not work. Yet L.A. band Best Coast pull it off. The similarities that Best Coast's new album, Crazy For You, hold to Spector are right up front; earnest female vocals bouncing on top of a wall of sound. The melodies are very Spector-ish too, and Bethany Cosentino's...

Over the years, the seven-inch vinyl release has been a lot of different things to a lot of different people. By turns, it has been an EP medium for punk bands and a commodity for collectors among other things but, at least for most of the twentieth century, it has been used as a single release either to get the new hot song to listeners (and maybe invigorate album sales), or been the cost effective way for a band to...

Roger Waters finally brought The Wall to San Jose earlier this month, and the two-hours-plus feast for the senses proved to be well and truly worth the thirty years that Pink Floyd fans have waited to see the classic album performed live, and in all its' glory. After taking the stage on putting on the leather trench coat that was waiting for him, Waters immediately got the show on the road with "In The Flesh" and, as a fighter plane...

We're not getting any further away from the big day folks, So have you started doing your shopping yet? Got your eye on a couple of prize items that you'd like to pick up for that special someone, but haven't made it to the store yet? Are you totally clueless? It's totally cool if you are, you're certainly not alone. Four days before Chritmas? LOTS of folks haven't finished shopping yet, and some are still looking for that perfect thing....

Merry everyone ya little so's an' so's,Awright, so we're still nine days oughtta the big day, but EVERYBODY seems ta be gettin' into the act; I don' hafta worry about STEALIN' music right now, cause some bands're just GIVIN' it away inna spirit o' da holidays — it's enough ta make yer head spin an' give ya a holidaze I tell ya. An' it ain't jus' the small potatoes that's givin' their music away either — I didn' hafta steal...

Live 105 once again gave their fans the ultimate Christmas gift, and once again it was in the form of a show with some of the biggest bands of the year. Not only that but, with Broken Bells, The Black Keys, Phoenix, My Chemical Romance, and Smashing Pumpkins all on the bill, there was a present something for everybody. After Broken Bells got the still-filtering-in crowd going, it was The Black Keys who really turned the energy level up a...