All posts by Darren Robbins »
Oprah’s Rock Club: Bolt Thrower, “Those Once Loyal”
Girlfriends, I was sitting on my diamond-encrusted toilet the other day thinking that ya’ll probably had no idea what kind of music to buy. Judging by your willingness to accept my book choices as
Read More »Contemplating Jon Brion’s “Ruin My Day”
I don’t wait by the phone like I used to I don’t hope for kind words you might say You don’t prey on my mind like you used to But you can still ruin
Read More »Blatant Pop Attempts: Kix, “Cool Kids”
The cutout bins are filled with what I’ve always called “blatant pop attempts” — albums created for maximum commercial appeal that, despite such intentions, failed miserably on all fronts. In most cases, one listen
Read More »Goodbye, Danny
The news of Danny Federici’s passing has me contemplating a number of emotions. It seems that with every passing week, there is news of cancer claiming yet another beautiful spirit and you can’t help
Read More »Boys Must Be Strong
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away lived a kid who hadn’t a care in the world. In the small Indiana town he called home, he had a ton of friends
Read More »Hey, You Kids Get Out of My Yard!: Holdin’ Out for a Hero
When I was a kid, my heroes were, at the very least, deserving of adoration. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Cheap Trick, Dan Pastorini (the one non-musician of the bunch) — the one thing they
Read More »Listening Booth: The BoDeans, “Still”
Many summers ago, I was a counselor at a remote summer camp in the heart of lake-bound Michigan and, suffering from a bad case of cabin fever (literally), I had been counting the days
Read More »The Year in Rock: 1978
Although released in late 1977, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack would be impossible to ignore for much of 1978, with the Bee Gees’ “Night Fever” and “Stayin’ Alive,” as well as Yvonne Elliman’s “If
Read More »Better Late Than Never: Prince & the Revolution
The weird thing about being into music as much as I am (much to the chagrin of every girlfriend I’ve ever had) is that I still end up missing out on a few —
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