Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 10/22: Ryan Adams, “Breakdown”
Ryan Adams, the prolific singer-songwriter and producer whose career was derailed by a #metoo scandal in the Before Times, has long been notorious for odd behavior in concerts – aborting songs halfway through, playing entire shows with his back to the audience, berating hecklers – but his recent tour Down Under has brought on another […]
Song of the Day 10/21: Dropkick Murphys, “Smash Shit Up”
The metaphors for Donald Trump’s destruction of the United States are getting a little too obvious, aren’t they? First he releases a video of himself flying a jet and dumping shit on Americans – quite a stretch of the truth considering there’s no evidence he even knows how to drive a car – and now he’s […]
Song of the Day 10/20: Prefab Sprout, “The Best Jewel Thief in the World”
Officials called yesterday’s broad-daylight robbery at the Louvre a professional job, but the bandits certainly aren’t the best jewel thieves in the world, or they wouldn’t have dropped a couple of the priceless artifacts on their way out. I visited that gallery last year, so I recognized the pieces of 19th-century jewelry they stole. Prefab […]
Song of the Day 10/19: The Offspring, “The Kids Aren’t Alright”
The “young” Republicans – mostly a bunch of chubby mooks in their 30s – revealed themselves as a bunch of wannabe Nazis, crystallizing the reality that demographics won’t save democracy. Offspring’s “The Kids Aren’t Alright,” sort of an answer song to the Who 30-plus years later, was written by frontman Dexter Holland after a visit […]
Song of the Day 10/17: Kiss, “New York Groove”
Ace Frehley, the original guitarist for Kiss, died yesterday at age 74, after suffering a brain bleed in a fall last month at his home recording studio. In a band known mainly for posturing and pyrotechnics, Frehley, a self-taught guitarist whose stage persona was the Spaceman, brought a measure of technical proficiency, even if his […]
Song of the Day 10/16: Sonic Youth, “Youth Against Fascism”
The fascists running the country now think it’s OK to proclaim their love of Hitler and the Nazis, as evidenced by the reaction of JD Vance to the exposed group chat among the Young Republicans. His claim that it was no big deal is the best possible way for him to say “I’ve said the […]
Song of the Day 10/15: Blood, Sweat & Tears, “Go Down Gamblin’”
It just might be that Trump and his MAGA movement aren’t as popular as the mainstream media would have you believe, because a lot of those clicks are from people who hate Trump rather than love him. The latest evidence comes in the form of a Trump specialty, bankruptcy, in this case of Dr. Phil […]
Song of the Day 10/14: Pulp, “Common People”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona Jarvis Cocker of the British band Pulp was once at a party when a posh girl asked him how to “live like common people do.” He felt a little insulted by the patronizing, but he got a tune called “Common People” out of it. It turned out to be the […]
Song of the Day 10/13: Curtis Mayfield, “We Got to Have Peace”
Give credit where it’s due: Donald Trump has managed to stop the slaughter in Gaza, at least temporarily, and because of his relationships with both Gulf princes and Netanyahu he’s probably the only one who could have pulled it off. Josh Marshall made this point last week: The key here is Trump’s extremely close relationships […]
Song of the Day 10/12: Paul McCartney, “We All Stand Together (The Frog Song)”
Everyone by now knows the story of the Portland Frog, who mocked the “war zone” narrative of Fox News and Trump’s Melting Brain by protesting in an inflatable frog costume, and got pepper-sprayed for his trouble. What you might not realize is that he’s spawned a group of imitators. So don’t be surprised if you […]
Song of the Day 10/10: The Gentrys, “Keep on Dancing”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona After the Gentrys recorded what became the first part of “Keep on Dancing,” they apparently couldn’t figure out how to keep on singing. Not even the vocalist who became the celebrity wrestling manager known as the Mouth of the South. No radio station was going to play a song roughly […]
Song of the Day 10/9: Bram Tchaikovsky, “Girl of My Dreams”
Hollywood is up in arms over a new actress who literally came out of nowhere. Tilly Norwood is an AI creation that has real actors worried that they’ll soon be looking for new careers. Variety scoffs at the threat, pointing out that Tilly is the brainchild of a serial provocateur, but that’s unlikely to tamp […]
Song of the Day 10/8: Joe Cocker, “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona Kristi Noem has been stamping her little feet because she was denied access to a toilet by staff at a municipal building in suburban Chicago. The folks inside had watched her armed henchmen snatch people off the street and basically told her she could just hold it. Ice Barbie followed […]
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