Gotta make it quick today due to Thanksgiving prep, including picking up the bird and getting it brined, which made me think of "Surfin' Bird," the 1963 No. Billboard 4…
Americans love horror stories, and Trump's selection of a cabinet designed mainly to trigger the libs provides the media with plenty of them. As Boz Scaggs related in this blues…
"American Fool" is the name of John Mellencamp's breakthrough 1982 album, the one that led off with "Hurts So Good" and "Jack and Diane," the two biggest hits of his…
A lot of music has been written about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In the immediate aftermath songs expressed the shock and grief that enveloped the nation, but within…
This one's for George Frankel, the state senate candidate who wants to employ ex-Green Berets to keep order in high schools. "The Ballad of the Green Berets," written by a…
Yacht Rock might be the only music genre that got its name long after it had passed from prominence. Back when it was made, between the mid-'70s and mid-'80s, the…
No rock singer/songwriter/guitarist has done more while being appreciated less than Bob Mould. Whether with Hüsker Dü, Sugar or solo, he has forged rage, despair and cynicism, alloyed with a…
Record producer Shel Talmy died last week at age 87, and if the name is unfamiliar to you, the music he crafted isn't. The earliest hits by the Kinks and…
I'm not sure why this 30-year-old song popped into my head yesterday – maybe because it's been such a common response from various quarters to various Trump cabinet picks. Weezer…
Prophesies of doom are pretty common in Jamaican music, but they don't necessarily get all minor-key gloomy about it. Willi Williams' "Armagedeon Time" talks about people going hungry and needing…
As yesterday's Graham Parker song illustrated, something about minor chords and a reggae beat seemed to put '70s and '80s rockers in an apocalyptic mood. When Eric Bazilian and Rob…
Despite all the post-election finger-pointing, everyone has overlooked what might have turned the tide in Trump's favor: P'Nut the squirrel. For those too busy paying attention to important matters like…