Hey Junky – I'm baa-aack, I know I was a little late las' week junky, so inna spirit o' da season, I thought I'd come right back an' unload a bunch more SWAG on ya! It's really da mos' wondaful time o' da year – if yer a big fan o' nabbin' alla stuff'at falls offa trucks like I am! It's jus' pourin' off now boy – I'm tellin' you – on toppa da stuff I unloaded on ya a...

Fate has never been a mistress that it's wise to put a lot of faith in. She has too many flaws to ever be considered reliable; fate is fickle, often late and regularly gives those who pin some hope in her only what they need instead of what they want. Fate can be frustrating because of those things but, as capricious as she can be, sometimes she comes through and makes good in all the right ways too. She certainly...

No one ever realizes how much music Saul “Slash” Hudson has made until a set like Made In Stoke comes out. The image of Slash as the top hat-wearing guitar god of Guns N' Roses is the one permanently emblazoned on the mind's eye of most, but there's actually a whole lot more in the guitarist's songbook than that; there is Slash's Snakepit – which has been an on-again-off-again endeavor since 1994 – Velvet Revolver from the early new millennium...

Happy Christma-Kwanz-hanukah Junky,…Or whateva ya celebrate. It'sat time o' da year anna big day's only gettin' closer so, I figure, what kinda deala would I be f'I didn' show ya some kindness wit'a great big bag o' SWAG – fresh-fallen offa da back o' a great big truck! So here it is ya reprobates, my firs' gift to ya fer 2011 annis motha's swollen – I gots some good from all ova da map here, but I got some picks...

How nice of R.E.M. to give us this career spanning collection immediately after they announce their break-up. It gives us a chance to assess their body of work as a whole, and trace the growth and development of their sound. As much as many fans may say otherwise, this collection argues that the band's sound has been far more consistent across the nearly thirty years than one might think. There is a definite flow to this album. It demonstrates that...

Quadrophenia is always described as The Who’s second rock opera, but I have always thought of it more as a rock novel. Why a novel? First, it just feels more like a novel than an opera. Its scope, its characters, its focus all feel novelistic. When I break it down, I can list definite reasons why it fits the one genre over the other, especially if I compare it to Tommy: Tommy is plot driven, Quadrophenia is mainly a series...

Yuck's self-titled debut proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that all artistic trends in pop music are cyclical in nature. The proof of that can be seen pretty clearly if one stands back and looks at the shapes guitar-driven rock has taken over the last twenty-five years; in the late Eighties and early Nineties, underground rock bands like Soundgarden, Pavement, Sonic Youth, The Lemonheads, Sebadoh and Screaming Trees all took ideas and inspiration from the likes of The Beatles,...

If you pride yourself in being a Nickelback fan, go ahead and pick up their latest album, Here and Now. You'll find that it's pretty much on par with anything they've offered in the past, and you should enjoy it. Feel free to stop reading now if this is the case. For those of you who don't list yourselves as fans (like the audience at a recent Detroit Lions game), you'll likely find Nickelback's inability to change or grow as a...

Hey Junky, Alright, I gotta tell you – dis holiday gift-givin' season's startin' ta look great! Da music bizness is jus' pourin' onna extra reckids fer sale an' ya know what dat means: mo'stuff ta grab as I'm trippin' through da interwebs lookin' fer more SWAG ta unload on you! I figure it's fair, it jus' keeps fallin' offa digital trucks or somethin', I'd swear ta that onna stack o' bibles! This week I nabbed a little more o' da...

Why does a rat desert a ship? Marilyn Manson keyboardist, drummer and producer Chris Vrenna announced yesterday that, after seven years, he and the self-proclaimed God of Fuck would be parting ways. The announcement comes now, shortly after a release date for Born Villain – Manson's forthcoming eighth album and first for new label Cooking Vinyl – was confirmed for February, 2012. "I'm incredibly proud of the work I did with Manson and look forward to the release of Born...