It’s time to wrap up this series for a variety of unimportant reasons, but before I go, it’s time to pay a debt. Nearly three years ago, I wrote one…
What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?
There’s a formula for power-pop success that simply isn’t used as often as it should be: Have a killer hook, simple and memorable, suitable for jamming and mixing things up,…
The music industry is cruel to … well, pretty much everyone. But it’s especially awful to women who make music-industry men drool. Consider the hand-wrenching over Liz Phair on the…
We’re raising the ante in this month’s installment of What’s THAT Supposed to Mean? — this month’s singer is a fictional version of an important historical/theological figure, Judas. Erm ……
It’s 1993. “Alternative music” is not yet just the genre where we stick anything semi-popular that isn’t R&B or hip-hop. We still have space for bands that have graduated from…
They did warn you about the Seether. Three years after coming out of nowhere with a powerful series of rock hooks on their debut album American Thighs, the quartet fronted by Louise Post…
Creativity is a funny thing. You can work all your life to create something on your own terms, only to find that the quick throwaway thing you did under duress…
A killer bass line fed through one of the fuzziest pedals ever invented. A heavy dose of wah-wah on a two-note guitar solo. A powerful organ blast. A video riffing…
In an era full of quirky bands, XTC may have been the quirkiest. Their debut album featured primary singer/songwriter Andy Partridge leering at the Statue of Liberty amid musical settings…
Some people get crankier when they get older. They drift off and sit in front of whatever TV shows best reinforce their stereotypes and validate their disdain. But unlike decreasing…
This month’s entry is being dictated by the times. We’re still marking the 100-year anniversary of the most ghoulish, pointless war the world has seen — World War I. Mental…
And there’s nothing wrong with me, this how I’m supposed to be, in a land of make-believe that don’t believe in me. What’s THAT supposed to mean? Not all concept…
Are you pistol-whipped? Do you release the glitch? Can you fall asleep with a panic switch? What’s THAT supposed to mean? Quite by accident, this series has had much more…
She turns herself round and she smiles and she says, “This is it, that’s the end of the joke.” What’s THAT supposed to mean? Some songs are ambiguous. Some songs…
But I am the stuff of happy endings / Though mostly bluff, belief suspending / But close enough for just pretending / To care? What’s THAT supposed to mean? The…
Who would you rather be? / The Beatles or the Rolling Stones / Oh, seriously / You’re gonna make mistakes, you’re young. What’s THAT supposed to mean? In a different…
Silent and stern in the sweltering night. The mob moves like demons possessed. What’s THAT supposed to mean? In 1974, Rush replaced departing drummer John Rutsey with Neil Peart in…
Lovers keep on lovin’. Believers keep on believin’. Sleepers just stop sleepin’. Cause it won’t be too long. What’s THAT supposed to mean? Aside from the Beatles’ 1965-1969 output, it’s…
Huger slump and greater wars and a shallower recovery? What’s THAT supposed to mean? Stereolab may be the quintessential 90s band, and yet they may have arrived both too late…
”Standing in the shadows I hear people say, I got confessions to make, listen up! No one sleeps when I’m awake.” What’s THAT supposed to mean? Like some of the…
Boys on the left, boys on the right, Sister Ernestine, just bring your son? What’s THAT supposed to mean? Tori Amos wasn’t always so difficult to understand. Her solo debut,…
Your friends say you look like you’ve seen a ghost? What’s that supposed to mean? In this case, unlike the first two songs in this series, the meaning here is…
You wore a shirt of violent green and never understood, don’t f— … hey! Whoa! What’s that supposed to mean? Greatness has often sprung from the fertile soil of Athens,…
He shared an evening with the sun, took the water from the toilet and yelled out ”Let me ride!” What’s THAT supposed to mean? Welcome to a new recurring series…