Song of the Day 9/5: Smash Mouth, “All Star”
Steve Harwell, the longtime lead singer for Smash Mouth, died Monday of liver failure brought on by years of alcoholism. He was 56 years old and had been in bad…
Song of the Day 9/4: Aretha Franklin, “Muddy Water”
When the news broke about Burning Man 2023 turning into a soggy hellscape, did anyone feel anything but schadenfreude? Like most things that start out being the province of the…
Song of the Day 9/2: Jimmy Buffett, “A Pirate Looks at 40”
Summer's over, all right. Jimmy Buffett, who founded a billion-dollar fortune with a humorous break-up song featuring a popular cocktail, died yesterday at age 76. Along the way he founded…
Song of the Day 9/1: Len Barry, “1-2-3”
Here's some blue-eyed soul one for your Friday night dance party. Len Barry was the lead singer for the Dovells, the Philadelphia doo-wop group who reached No. 2 in 1961…
Song of the Day 8/31: Graham Nash and David Crosby, “Frozen Smiles”
Mitch McConnell's freeze-up yesterday seems like a gift for all those people who wished something would shut him up, but it's also a reminder – and old people need them…
Song of the Day 8/30: The Wonder Stuff, “The Size of a Cow”
I swear this isn't a reference to Donald Trump, though it could be. Not because he's the size of a cow – hey, give him his due, he's a 6'3"…
Song of the Day 8/29: Big Star, “The Ballad of El Goodo”
Power pop was, in a way, the first alternative rock. In the early '70s, a time when the heavy rock of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple was ascendant, three bands…
Song of the Day 8/28: Al Green, “Perfect Day”
Soul legend Al Green hasn't released an LP since 2008 or a single since 2018, so he got a lot of attention last week when he dropped a cover of…
Song of the Day 8/26: Vince Gill, “Danny Boy”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona If country music is leaving a poor taste in your mouth thanks to Jason Aldean’s confrontational “Try That in a Small Town” or Oliver Anthony's…
Song of the Day 8/25: Santana feat. Michelle Branch, “The Game Of Love”
You can better understand the sentiment behind the line "hope I die before I get old" when you see what reactionaries some of rock's elder statesmen have become. Eric Clapton…
Song of the Day 8/24: The Tubes, “She’s a Beauty”
The biggest surprise about the right-wing freakout over drag queens is that they haven't yet shifted the focus to porn. If they're going to get upset over men putting women's…
Song of the Day 8/23: The Specials, “You’re Wondering Now”
The stories about all those Jan. 6 co-conspirators crying the blues about their legal bills ... as someone put it, they signed up for fucking around, not finding out. As…
Song of the Day 8/22: Tim Hardin, “Reason to Believe”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona Tim Hardin and his fans had a reason to believe. He could write much-loved songs like the one with that title. “If I Were a…