Rock journalists have varied personal musical histories, and as far as I go, I have the worst. A.) My first concert was New Kids on the Block B.) My first vinyl was Chipmunks sing the Beatles and C.) My super Christian parents banned 95 percent of my record collection through age 17. So, fast-forward to today. I’m randomly listening to KROQ and the song "Sex Dwarf" by Soft Cell came on. I suddenly remembered a good ol' story from my...

What can be said about Billy Bragg that hasn't been said since the singer first appeared thirty-three years ago? In that time, he's been revered in his native UK as a national treasure, he's had a celebrated solo career, and has also found time to sit in and record albums with everyone from Less Than Jake to Wilco. He`s been afforded comparisons to every legend from Woody Guthrie to Joe Strummer and had every other form of praise that can...

At some point, megalomania, ego and vanity eventually give way to genuinely bizarre, deviant behavior and with Soft Power, singer/songwriter/producer Gonzales has found – and crossed – that point. On first listen to Soft Power, the average modern rock listener’s brain recoils in horror as the lead-off track “Working Together” replays every sappy sound of the Seventies from Bee Gees-esque harmonized vocals to weepy piano bar pattering to heart-warming but trite sentimentality. You find yourself hitting stop...

The list of bands that could never hope to have their story told accurately is a short one, but there’s no doubt that The Doors is at the top of it. The characters are just too larger-than-life; Oliver Stone based his movie on drummer John Densmore’s account and it wound up being the same fantastic work of fiction that Densmore’s “tell-all”, Riders On The Storm, was; everything keyboardist Ray Manzarek has written about the band has been hopelessly romantic, theatrical...

Okay, here’s the history lesson for the totally clueless: John Lennon—along with The Beatles—didn’t so much revolutionize pop music as streamline it into a series of memorable ground rules that were easy for anyone to apply. They’re timeless constructs that never sound old and when any given band applied them just right, they can enjoy the same successes The Beatles did due to simple accessibility. Don’t think it’s that simple? The cases have already been made for that fact by...

If superfluous memory serves me correct, I believe I lost my virginity listening to Scream, Dracula, Scream by Rocket From The Crypt. Thirteen years after the release of that monumental album, I found myself at the Mercury Lounge, near the famous Katz's Deli (where a sandwich costs more than my ticket for the night's show), hungering for the latest sliver of rock n' roll liverwurst from Sir John Reis. Sir, mind you, wrought by virtue of my unimpeachable ability to...

I'll be the first to admit that I had always kind of taken Rush for granted. When a band has been around over 35 years, it's easy to say, "Oh, Rush will be touring again, I'll catch them next time.” Well, after saying that to myself year after year, I finally went and saw Rush live and from the opening power chords of "Limelight,” I realized that I had been missing something truly spectacular all these years. Starting the almost...

There is no punk band currently working that is so strikingly unique as The Matches. Last time out, the band shocked listeners when it turned the genre upside down, shook it violently and handed their audience a slightly fractured and very abstract group of songs to try and decode with little or no explanation. For A Band In Hope though, The Matches have chucked that idea and arched a hard left turn that, while the direction they’re headed in now...

No Age are for the people. When it comes to playing free intimate performances for their fans, the shows come a plenty and usually they’re in the most interesting of places (e.g., a vegan grocery store, the Los Angeles River). Prior to the release of their excellent debut record Nouns, the duo of Randy Randall (guitar) and Dean Spunt (drums), showcased a handful of new songs as well as ripped out a few choice selections from their prior compilation Weirdo...

The Constantines have, to date, built a career upon the idea that making solid and enduringly interesting music is possible, even if the only changes made on an album-to-album basis are a series of small alterations that ultimately renovate the face of their music. Confused? Look at it this way: the band first started out making very modal song cycles that, while sinewy, felt expansive. With Tournament Of Hearts a couple of years ago, they broke the mode and, with...