Are almanacs still necessary? Yeah, I think they are. Even though you can find exactly the thing you need on the Internet instantly, on your goddamn phone with Bing and…
Brian Boone
126 Articles
Brian Boone writes about music, pop culture, and other nonsense. He does more of this kind of thing on Twitter and wrote this swell book called "‪Rock Lists For Obsessive Music Connoisseurs, Zealots, and Junkies‬," which you totally want.
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Most of the stuff on sale at the Apple Store, both physical and virtual, tends to be made by Apple itself. Usually if Apple likes a company that makes something…
0
4
Brian Boone
4 Min Read
Need advice? Popdose’s advice columnist, circa-1982 “John Cougar” is here to help. Also, he’s an ageless shapeshifter.
0
2
Brian Boone
2 Min Read
Headphones don’t have to be super-expensive or designed by Eazy E’s super best friend to be super-excellent.
0
3
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Here’s the deal, fathers. If you have daughters—or sons who don’t care about outmoded gender roles (and if so, good on you, man)—there is a 90 percent chance that at some point during your day, you’re going to have to watch something with unicorns in it. The key is to find a unicorn-based entertainment which
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
I don’t quite understand what happened with GCB. There was a ton of preseason buzz and preseason advertising, as ABC was clearly positioning it as the heir apparent to the…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
As a rock snot, music writer, and Young White Male, you’re kind of supposed to already know everything there is to know about Yo La Tengo. It’s like that list…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Warm milk. A bath in lavender soap. An old episode of the 80s TV adaptation of Babar. These are the three things that every parent knows can relax and put to sleep even the fussiest of toddlers. Glory be, as Nelvana’s Babar, long a mainstay of VHS, the early morning hours of family-friendly cable channels,
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Politics hasn’t really been covered in movies or TV like this before. Perhaps that’s because Veep was created and co-written by Armando Iannucci of the satirical British series “The Thick Of It” and the film “In the Loop.”
0
2
Brian Boone
2 Min Read
Of all of the at least pretty good, moderately successful alt rock bands of the mid-90s, the one that everybody in my high school loved was the Toadies. The Dallas…
0
2
Brian Boone
2 Min Read
Carly Simon’s song from Working Girl was the first Oscar-winning song in a decade not to be a smash hit, and also it was by the iconic Carly Simon. What gives?
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Beavis and Butt-head had their cultural moment in 1993. All of 1993. Their cartoon was the #1 show on MTV (even after they couldn’t say “fire” anymore because some kid…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
This is one of those songs that wasn’t a hit that I’m surprised wasn’t a hit. Even today, you hear it all the time, predominantly in commercials for things like…
0
2
Brian Boone
2 Min Read
Being influenced by and being extremely similar to are two different things, separated by a thin line. The biggest musical success of the last few years has been Lady Gaga….
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
When duos split up, there’s usually only one breakout star who goes on to any semblance of a successful solo career, with the public casting its vote with its dollars…
0
2
Brian Boone
2 Min Read
In 1996, after a decade and a half of high but rapidly diminishing record sales and influence, Van Halen was suddenly a hot band again, and it was because of,…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks” is the most indie rock indie rock song of all time. They’ve got all the checklist items covered: odd band name, maudlin lyrics about…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
The Beatles are kind of always in the not-distant background, as they are the goddamn Beatles. But every five years or so, there’s a major resurgence in Beatles interest, popularity,…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
The Slits’ cover of “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” should have been that one song from the weird, still-breaking genre of punk that got some radio play and introduced…
0
2
Brian Boone
2 Min Read
A Guns N’ Roses live album is probably never going to happen. Axl and Slash hate each other, and even if they say that there’s gonna be a Guns N’…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
An unlikely song hit #1 on the U.S. in 1962: “Sukiyaki” by Kyu Sakamoto. It’s the only song in Japanese to top the charts in America, and that’s especially surprising…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Daft Punk is a household name for music nerds now, and all the kids on the playground wear helmets and robot suits and speak French. Their sophomore album Discovery was…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
“Friday” is the Song of the Year for 2011. Over the course of about two weeks, this thing went from pseudo-professional amateur project to hipster YouTube sensation to cultural phenomenon…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Priory is indie band zeitgeist. They’re a combination of equal parts Portland (where they’re based) and Brooklyn scenes, with a dose of sleepy Swedish dream pop. But I think this…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Ween is one of those fantastic, cult-beloved quirky bands too interesting to ever be extremely popular that should have been one of those fantastic, cult-beloved quirky bands that eventually scored…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Ohio-based indie band the Big Sweet are very young, they’re teenagers even, but they rock a very sophisticated sound, which is that finely tuned, happily fussed about power pop sound…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Live albums are hard. They’re rarely good, because they rarely deliver on what they aim to be: an encapsulation of an act’s live show experience. But they just can’t; a…
0
2
Brian Boone
2 Min Read
I’m not going anywhere for the next couple of days. Because I have the complete run of The Monkees—32 episodes of season 1, and 26 episodes of season 2—spread across…
0
1
Brian Boone
1 Min Read
Teen rock acts bridged the teen pop and Avril Lavigne eras. Despite a large corporate push, all-girl Canadian band Lillix failed to catch on.