For decades, it was uncommon for a professional musician to take his or her career seriously. Many considered what they were doing to be a leisure industry – the guiding mindset being that they were able to work at a leisurely rate and whatever they were doing...
Whether it's deserved or not, some records just get a bum rap. Sometimes it makes sense – there have been occasions when the makers of the “bad record” in question were in an unfortunate place personally that reflected in the band's music or...
Hey – where ya been junkie? I dunno about you, but I always get a kick outta cover songs. I dunno why, but I always think it's cool to hear when some musician decides to show where he came from or what got his attention as a kid by raiding their books and...
It's hard to believe that the Vans Warped Tour is now in it's sixteenth year, but it sure as hell is. At this point, there's actually a tremendous amount of history and no shortage of great band that have crossed the Warped stage but, just when you thought...
After so many years working in the record industry – watching and commenting on trends, watching the rise and fall of stars and their meteoric egos – it has become very easy to forget that, while the music business is a business, everyone got started in it...
The nature of a collaborative music effort – be it an album, concert or even something as simple as a duet – can be a dicey proposition which renders all bets off if just one variable doesn't line up. Certainly the hearts of contributors are always in...
Since first smashing into the mainstream consciousness in 2003 with their sophomore album, Make Up The Breakdown, Hot Hot Heat has charted a surprising and unlikely course to rock stardom. Songs like “Bandages” and “No, Not Now” tread a...
Those familiar with Johnny Cash's story know that, if one were to collect all of the material the singer released in just one year at the height of his career and released it, the results would be a staggering, multi-disc tome. Particularly in the '60s and...
Outside of Kiss and maybe The Who, no band in rock history was so perfectly able to sum up and speak to the teenaged experience as Cheap Trick was at the height of its' game. The band was able to encapsulate the sound (Kiss may always have the image locked),...
In case of music history, some terms are just synonymous. If someone were to say “punk,” and people instantly think of The Ramones or Sex Pistols first. If someone were to say “pop,” one of the first names that will come up is Michael Jackson...