There was an odd cultural moment about twenty years ago when veterans of the 1970s rock avant-garde started showing up in an unexpected place — the pop charts. That old…
Popdose Flashback ’90
Louie Louie’s “Sittin’ in the Lap of Luxury” was one of the best singles of 1990, but what about the rest of his debut album?
My seven-years-older brother went through a heavy Jethro Tull phase during his teens. (I know, I know — this is supposed to be a piece about An Emotional Fish. Stick…
The second (and seemingly final) Traveling Wilburys album turns 20 this week — and for Dw. Dunphy, the disappointment still stings a little.
I like third albums. They’ve got a certain revelatory character about them. They’re not always the best records of an artist’s career (although they often are), but from them you…
Jason Hare reflects on the 20th anniversary of Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 — the beginning of the end for George Michael’s US career.
Robin Monica Alexander and Kelly Stitzel revisit I’m Breathless, Madonna’s 1990 soundtrack tie-in to Warren Beatty’s comic-strip blockbuster Dick Tracy.
On the 20th anniversary of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s death, Michael Fortes revisits the Texas guitar master’s swan song: a collaboration with brother Jimmie Vaughan.
Duran Duran’s “Liberty” turns 20 this year; David Medsker takes a look back at the group’s decline.
Kelly Stitzel brings us back to Christmas 1990 to celebrate the release of Deee-Lite’s debut, “World Clique.”
Though Sonic Youth are the quintessential indie rock group, they actually spent 18 years on a major label. Michael Fortes looks back at the start of it all.
Punk? Metal? No matter what you call Suicidal Tendencies, there’s no argument that 1990’s “Lights…Camera…Revolution” was a peak for the band.
I blame Mike Love. Yes, it’s so easy to blame the guy for everything wrong in music. I mean, he’s egotistical, gave money to help get the PMRC off the…
I am 16. It’s July, and I’m in Florida, where, to quote my uncle Larry, the air is so fucking wet that you won’t notice if you towel off after…
Twenty years ago, Harry Connick shared his recipe for love — and led a new generation of pop crooners to rediscover some time-tested platinum ingredients.
In a very personal Flashback ’90, Popdose writer Michael Fortes revisits the lows and highs of Cheap Trick’s Busted, song by song.
Sure, a big part of Mariah Carey’s success had to do with cold calculation. If you listen to her 1990 debut album, it’s fairly obvious that the folks behind her…
Bobby. Art. Dave. Sonny. Ike. J-’Stache. Curt. Paul (Humphreys, that is). Everly (no, not that one, the other one) … Of all the lesser halves of pop’s greatest duos, certainly…
I first became a fan of Jill Sobule’s after hearing her 1997 album, Happy Town. Though I was familiar with her work via her earlier singles, “I Kissed a Girl”…
It’s been 20 years since Lou Reed and John Cale set aside their differences to pay tribute to their former manager, Andy Warhol. Matthew Bolin takes a look back.
Earth Day 1990 was a very big deal. Held on April 23, a Sunday, it marked the pinnacle of an upswing in green consumerism and a transition for the environmental…
As Popdose’s editor in chief Jeff Giles (y’all) would probably agree, Lindsey Buckingham is still probably one of the most overlooked and underrated of the significant figures in rock music…
The 1980s were not, to put it mildly, a good decade for brass sections. We still heard horns on the Top 40, sure — but more often than not, we…
Everybody remembers Eddy Grant’s early-’80s hit “Electric Avenue,” but he came back strong in 1990 with Barefoot Soldier, as Kelly Stitzel reminds us in this edition of Popdose Flashback ’90.
When the Lightning Seeds sprouted on modern rock radio in the spring of 1990, their songs felt (as much as anything on modern rock radio could feel) like a comfy…
For some people, Social Distortion is the very definition of a rock and roll band. After all, they have everything the average rock fan could ask for – the sizzling…
We’re only a few months into our Flashback ’90 series, and we’ve already unearthed about as many regrettable hits as we have certified classics — and chances are, you aren’t…
Twenty years after this Public Enemy classic was released, Mike Heyliger reflects on its legacy — and laments mainstream hip-hop’s turn away from social consciousness.
Rob Smith tells himself he’s over the Pretty Woman soundtrack, but is he the king of wishful thinking?
Twenty years after it was released, Ben Wiser says Peter Murphy’s Deep still cuts you up.