These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. Samuel David Moore and David Prater, Jr. … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Soul Sister, Brown Sugar”
852. Oingo Boingo, Boi-ngo (1987) Surely, MCA Records expected Oingo Boingo was poised for a major commercial breakthrough when the band delivered Boi-ngo, their sixth album overall and second for the label. Thanks in part to frontman Danny Elfman’s increasing … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #852 to #849
Diligent radio personnel working a shift in the earliest days of WWSP-FM, the student-run radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Fifty years ago today, a college radio station went on the air in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Broadcasting at … Continue reading From the Archive — 90FM-WWSP 50th Anniversary Playlist
Thirty years ago, in the early autumn of 1988. the Feelies released their third full-length album, Only Life. Even though its predecessor came only two years earlier, the arrival of Only Life felt momentous for several reason, arguably the least … Continue reading One for Friday — The Feelies, “It’s Only Life”
856. David Bowie, Lodger (1979) In the relentless fertile field of David Bowie studies, it’s probably accurate to say that Lodger represents the closing of an age. The cycle of constant reinvention of Bowie’s nineteen-seventies output — the decade’s equivalent … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #856 to #853
For a time at my former online home, I devoted the last day of the work week to “Flashback Friday” posts. Going year by year, the idea was that I’d find cause to write about cultural ephemera that might be … Continue reading From the Archive — Destroyer
Thirty years ago, in the late summer of 1988, Sam Phillips released her debut album, The Indescribable Wow. That’s an accurate statement and yet not entirely true. Under her given name of Leslie Phillips, she released a series of albums … Continue reading One for Friday — Sam Phillips, “I Don’t Want to Fall in Love”
These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. In between answering to Steven Demetre Georgiou … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Banapple Gas”
Mitski’s new album, Be the Cowboy, is the white flowers that freckle up on scorched earth. It is beauty and anger and disappointment and resilience. It is a tremor that signals life in a wounded form. It is a mural … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Be the Cowboy
860. Faith No More, Introduce Yourself (1987) Faith No More formed in San Francisco in the mid-nineteen-eighties, essentially as an offshoot of another group called Faith No Man. Three of the band members jumped ship and gave their new outfit … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #860 to #857
Coffee for Two 