Following his record label’s tepid reaction to what might be his best album, 1993’s Human Wheels, John Mellencamp decided to go in a different direction.
1994’s Dance Naked is a bare-bones rock record. Recorded over two weeks, with most of its songs captured in one or two takes, its best-known track is a cover of the Van Morrison song ‘Wild Nights.’
This blog likely isn’t the first place you’ve encountered ‘Racist, Sexist Boy,’ performed by the tween band The Linda Lindas last month at the L.A. Public Library to celebrate Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
This clip went viral after the library shared it on Instagram and the internet couldn’t resist the juxtaposition of these adorable kids unleashing such a righteous burst of punk rock venom.
Plenty of artists used the COVID quarantine to produce new work of one sort or another. Through Zoom concerts and table reads, virtual presentations became ubiquitous. On the more ambitious side, Taylor Swift hunkered down and recorded not one but two full-length albums.
Miranda Lambert split the difference with a surprise release of her own. Teaming up with two friends and songwriting collaborators, Jack Ingram and Joe Randall, she headed to the small town of Marfa, Texas, to record a decidedly low-fi quarantine album.
It’s been seven years since Counting Crows’ last album, 2014’s underwhelming Somewhere Under Wonderland. That release came six years after another lackluster effort, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings.
Which means it’s been nearly two decades since the last great Counting Crows album, 2002’s Hard Candy. That release capped off a fabulous four-album run for the alt rock band, one that promised a long and brilliant career.
Lana Del Rey released one of the best album’s of the previous decade with 2019’s Norman Fucking Rockwell, a sadly romantic ode to a country on the brink of disaster. The disaster at the time was Trump’s presidency and a climate crisis that had set California ablaze, but the album only grew more resonant in the face of the pandemic.
Following up that masterpiece was a tall order. Del Rey didn’t have a realistic shot at topping what will likely be her crowning achievement, but with this year’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club, she has managed to both build on and stray from the sound of its predecessor.
Meet Me In Montauk 