Ah, Christmas. For most people, it is a season of giving, laughter, togetherness and joy; peace on Earth, good will toward men and so on, et cetera. For those that work in the music business, it’s a ragingly hectic and busy time – in the spirit of giving, there are few people that won’t buy one of their “someone specials” a couple of CDs  (or, for the audiophiles, maybe a couple of records too) in order to show that they...

After releasing a glittery and sleazy breakthrough rock record with the Let’s-Go-Out-Tonites in 2006 and going on to produce a series of similar sounding albums for Avril Lavigne, The Academy Is… and Hot Hot Heat in the time since, it was perfectly reasonable to assume that listeners  knew what to expect of anything that bore Butch Walker’s name. That’s not meant to sound like a disparaging statement in the slightest (although it probably sounds like one) and, in fact, sometimes...

The subtitle reads "How Everything They Touched Turned to Gold." But this book makes it obvious the subtitle should continue, "and how they got almost none of it." The back cover, continuing the cheerful hype, states that The Beatles ended up "pioneering much of what we now recognize as the modern music business." The implication is that they got it all right, figured it all out. Instead, it would be more accurate to say that they invented the modern music...

I'm usually a little leery of press releases and their claims. But when the PR for Andy Yorke's Simple states, "In spite of this promise Andy found… personal demons driving him to write," I believe it. These songs definitely feel necessary—you can tell Yorke was working through deep emotions when he wrote these songs. But, while they are unquestionably cathartic, Yorke has crafted art out of his torment. This isn't just bare pain...

There are some things that simply do not get talked about in the music industry and primary on that list is the behind-the-scenes work and designs that go into presenting a monumental concert. Usually the only times that audiences notice “the little things” that go into a show are when the human component slips up and inadvertently gives a glimpse behind the curtain. Sometimes it’s done on purpose (think Nirvana’s famous music awards show performance when Krist Novoselic knocked himself...

Oasis are not really a skeleton in my musical closet, but have just been one of those bands I have just quietly liked for years. Not only have I always loved their fuck-all attitudes, I've also always admired their abilities to write an amazing pop song, fill it full of hooks, and deliver it full of attitude. I had always regretted not seeing the band live, so when I found out they would be kicking off their U.S. tour in...

If all you’ve seen of Ween from a live performance standpoint is the fantastic DVD released in 2004 presenting an inspired set by the current line-up of Mickey Melchiondo (aka Dean Ween) on guitar, Aaron Freeman (aka Gene Ween) on vocals and guitar, drummer Claude Coleman (also known as very possibly the most gifted percussionist on Earth today), bassist Dave Dreiwitz and keyboardist Glenn McClelland, you’ve seen a pretty incredible show, but you don’t know the whole story. Without going...

Very similar to the phenomenon that found Marc Bolan and T. Rex get some attention and recognition in the Sixties, so did the wave of interest in a particular sound and style crest in the Seventies that left flotsam like Mott The Hoople on the banks of popular taste. Ironically, David Bowie was the individual responsible for creating the fanfare in both cases; it might have been muscle flexing on the part of the glitter rock svengali to see what...

There is no doubt that with the release and runaway success of 2007’s Infinity On High, Fall Out Boy broke onto an all-new level of stardom as songs including “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race,” “The Carpel Tunnel Of Love” and “Thnks fr the Mmrs” reached a sphere of acclaim and recognition that many fans began to equate with being the soundtrack to a lifestyle. Fifteen-year-old girls pined over singer Patrick Stump and bassist Pete Wentz and looked...

Michigan-based psychologist Susan Nolen-Hoeksema recently published a book contending that the human race’s capacity to agonize over even the most trivial of events has now given way to an epidemic of morbid meditation that could prove to be the single greatest stumbling block in the human condition in general, but a possibly insurmountable obstacle for women to overcome. According to Nolen-Hoeksema, women appear to...