Jon Cummings »
Jesus of Cool: Rock Wars 1980 – Shooting Star vs. Touch
I would hope that every music geek had a friend growing up like my friend John – a guy who was just as passionate about music as you were and wanted to talk about
Read More »Political Culture: Songs for the Stump
Silly Republicans: Don’t you know heartland rock is for Democrats? We seem to go through this every election cycle: Another GOP contender tries to trade his corporate-shill reality for some Reagan-Democrat populist cred, appropriates
Read More »Jesus of Cool: The Worst #1 Hits of The ’50s
Welcome to the first installment of an occasional series that dares you to wallow in the very worst of the very best — or best-selling, at least — singles from what Casey Kasem used
Read More »Jesus of Cool: One Grammy Worth Caring About
Grammy week is upon us, and I couldn’t be less excited. I used to live for the Grammys during the early part of the year, just like I lived for the Oscars and the
Read More »Songs for the Dumped: Volume Two
In most cases, a breakup song is whatever happens to be playing in the background, but on rare, special occasions, it’s as though the DJ has temporarily set up shop inside your brain, ready
Read More »Political Culture: No Sex, Please, We’re American
Last week the Federal Communications Commission harrumphed briefly to life, handing down one of its outrageous and seemingly arbitrary fines to a broadcast network that dared show a bit of live flesh. It was
Read More »Jesus of Cool: In Praise of Mandy Moore
Here in the etherworldly state of Serious Pop Culture Fandom, Internet division, it’s traditional to set impossibly high quality standards and then smite with mighty (and snarky) blows any album/film/novel that isn’t up to
Read More »Political Culture: Rudy and the First Amendment, Part Two
“In Rudy Giuliani’s New York, where the curtain is being lowered on civil rights and civil liberties, anyone who dares to challenge the Mayor, this joyless man with the angry visage who throws out
Read More »Political Culture: Rudy and the First Amendment, Part One
“Freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great
Read More »Jesus of Cool: Pop Goes My Heart — 10 Great Films About the Music Biz
Ladies and gentlemen, the best music-movie moment of 2007:
Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not loony enough to think that Music and Lyrics was the best music-relatedRead More »