[Jefito’s Note: This week’s Cassingle Vault comes to us courtesy of The Big Takeover’s Matthew Berlyant, whose past guest posts have included comprehensive Idiot’s Guides to Joe Jackson and Graham…
Popular rock mythology says the great shift from hair metal to grunge happened the week Nevermind knocked Michael Jackson’s Dangerous out of the top spot on Billboard’s Top 200, but…
Marty Willson-Piper – All That RemainsElla Fitzgerald – Old McDonaldBob Marley – Stop That TrainSpin Doctors – Here Comes The BrideBrooks Williams – JaguarThe Smithereens – In A Lonely PlaceEric…
The very first guy who helped me out when I got to Chicago in Á¢€â„¢86 was Jim Ellison. I did not know him as Á¢€Å“the guy in Material IssueÁ¢€. I…
(cover artwork for my debut CD, “Darren Robbins Steals Your Girlfriend”)Having just had my tune dropped from the Naked Gun flick, my label was momentarily stymied, as they had looked…
Get on the good foot! Shake a tailfeather! All that good shit! SHAKE IT! Bomb the Bass – Beat Dis (extended mix)
There are few things I loathe as much as cell phones. In L.A., there are people who canÁ¢€â„¢t go five minutes without making a call, taking a call, or texting…
I wrote the Fall Movie Preview over at Rotten Tomatoes: Meanwhile: Maybe We Ain’t That Young Anymore delivers some live Billy Idol (1982), then shares some live Radiohead in two…
To date, I have lived in two houses with basements. Budd and EleanorÁ¢€â„¢s nig house on North Park was the original basement. I grew up there, spent my college summers…
Hooray! CHART ATTACK! is back and this time, it’s personal. Won’t you join me in attacking yet another pop chart? This time, let’s take a look at August 16, 1986!…
Today’s Power Ballad was chosen in honor of Matt Nathanson, whose new record, Some Mad Hope, was released this week. Don’t understand what Matt Nathanson has to do with power…
His public displays of dickishness soured me on his music long ago Á¢€” and hell, who can keep up with his output anyway? Á¢€” but I know we’ve got some…
When my first CD was released, during the autumn of 1988, cassettes were still the prevailing format. Yet, there I was, an unknown artist signed to a CD-only label, trying…
Cheryl Lynn – Start Over (1987) purchase this album (Amazon) My wife and daughter went out of town a few weeks ago, leaving me alone in the house to do…
I never got this band. Still don’t. I mean, hey, taste is subjective and everything, but I don’t know how anyone can listen to Tom Keifer’s singing and not feel…
What were you doing in 1986? If you were a suburban kid with access to a radio or MTV, you were experiencing the dawn of rap as a commercial force…
Guest Power Balladologist: Jeff Vrabel Let it never be said that Warrant didn’t know their way around a metaphor: The cover of their sophomore release Cherry Pie featured a raspberry-lipped…
The Sharp Things – A Moveable Feast (2007)purchase this album (Bar/None)review by Kenn Scott New York’s The Sharp Things and their new album A Moveable Feast are a little hard…
It’s summer and although I should be relaxing, I’m actually ridiculously busy. Either way, that means it’s time for a Mellow Gold repost. Often, I’ll pick a Mellow Gold song…
If Disco was dead by 1981, no one bothered to tell Canada. When even the Village People had denied Disco and gone New Romantic by that time, Voggue, a studio…
Dear Eddie, As someone who has lived just up the street from you for close to a decade, we’ve crossed paths numerous times and you’ve never been less than completely…
I completed reading Michael Chabon’s brilliant “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” this afternoon. I found myself so attached to the characters of Josef Kavalier, Sam (Sammy) Clay and…
I had always planned on covering this song, but then David made the following side-splitting comment a few days ago, in reference to Def Leppard’s “Love Bites”: Love this song….
Driving through the Verdugo Mountains, I couldnÁ¢€â„¢t help but grin and crack up. This was the kind of event Matt would have loved to attend, wasted out of his gourd…
Checkpoint Charley – FreeTom Petty – Wake Up TimeGreat Lake Swimmers – Put there by the landGang Starr – Take A RestTeen Machine – Hot MomDavid Cross – Flying on…
The scene: a house party in southern Illinois, summer 1988. With my debut CD’s release date fast approaching, I had driven down from Chicago to shoot a video for the…
(inner sleeve photo from my first solo record, “Darren Robbins Steals Your Girlfriend”)The year was 1986. I was high on life and playing in a little rock band that was…
The Beatles were my first love, musically. I remember being a young kid and having my uncle play me a copy of “Help!”. I hadn’t even heard of the Beatles…
Today, I signed a one-year lease on a crappy little apartment in a crappy little part of the San Fernando Valley. No big news, really. The thing is, I came…