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…
Ken Shane
830 Articles
Popdose Staff
1 Min Read
When Alex Chilton died, it left a gaping hole in the hearts of music fans everywhere. The Popdose staff remembers Chilton’s life, music, and legacy.
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
The power trio has had a long and glorious history in the annals of rock and roll. The simple, but often explosive blend of electric guitar, bass, and drums is…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
In 1979, following an acrimonious divorce from Mercury Records, Graham Parker & the Rumour released an album that would become a rock and roll classic.
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
I wish that record companies, publicists, and critics for that matter, would kick the habit of feeling the need to describe artists in terms of other artists in their press…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
The Beatles broke up in 1970, and Paul McCartney released his first solo album. In California, a young McCartney-influenced musician was beginning his own solo career.
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
The sixth and final chapter in the American Recordings collaborations between Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin is a direct conversation between a man and his maker.
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
You know, between Yeasayer’s new album Odd Blood, and Shout Out Louds new one, Work(Merge Records), I may finally be taking a liking to this new-fangled music. Both bands have…
Ken Shane
2 Min Read
“To live now, as human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” Howard Zinn (1922-2010) In these days of sneering…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
The 5th Dimension had their first hit with Jimmy Webb’s “Up, Up, and Away.” When the time came for their second album, they turned to Webb again. The rest is pop history.
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
San Francisco’s Big Light is a band you’ll be hearing about. Their new album, Animals In Bloom, will be released on March 2, and Popdose is the exclusive host of the first single, “Monster.”
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
The Brooklyn-based band (yes, another one!) Yeasayer garnered a lot of positive critical and public attention with their 2007 debut album All Hours Cymbals. Following rigorous touring in support of…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
A meadow. Sheep. A wild-eyed man with torn britches playing the flute whilst standing on one leg. All of those images occurred to me when I listened to the new…
Ken Shane
3 Min Read
Bill Withers released his last album in 1985. After a relatively brief but hit-filled career, he walked away. Frustrated by the efforts of the so-called “blaxperts” at Columbia Records to…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
In 2008 the Uglysuit came riding out of Oklahoma City. Their debut album impressed a lot of people, and their live show is winning them new fans at every stop on the road.
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
In the summer of 1978, EMI saw the light. Driven by interest in Big Star in the U.K., they released a gatefold double album package containing the first two Big…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
The new PBS series Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders debuts tonight. The program offers a magazine-style look at the various ways in which music is influencing politics and culture around…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
In January of 1990, the Blue Nile released their second album. Ken Shane celebrates 20 years of listening to what he calls “one of the great pop albums of its, or any, time.”
Ken Shane
2 Min Read
“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?” – Captain Oveur Only a creepy airline pilot could appreciate the epic television fart that is Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Yes, you will…
Ken Shane
2 Min Read
If you have been reading my ramblings here on Popdose, you know that I like a lot of music, and a lot of different musical styles. There are some genres…
Ken Shane
2 Min Read
In 1978, a band I was working with was recording an album at A & R Studios in New York City. In the studio was the keyboard called a Mellotron….
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
More than anything else, A Nod Is as Good as a Wink … to a Blind Horse is an album that reminds us. It reminds us of the great songwriter,…
Ken Shane
2 Min Read
I know that I have a tendency to dwell on the past, but it seems somehow sad to me that the release of a new album by a member of…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
If you read the Jon Cummings interview with Freedy Johnston on Popdose yesterday, you know that Rain on the City (Bar None) is his first studio album in eight years….
Ken Shane
2 Min Read
Maybe it’s because I’ve read Peter Guralnick’s comprehensive 2005 Sam Cooke biography Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke that the newest entry in the generally wonderful PBS series American…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
Todd Rundgren is one of rock’s great auteurs. Along with artists like Emmit Rhodes, Paul McCartney, and Prince, Rundgren has the ability to put together entire albums on his own….
Ken Shane
3 Min Read
In June of 1967, the Zombies entered EMI’s Abbey Road studios to record their masterpiece, Odessey & Oracle. Earlier that year, the Beatles had recorded their own masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper,…
Ken Shane
4 Min Read
The Austin Rehearsal Complex (ARC) opened on March 1, 1990, using funds provided by the city’s arts council to get started. A few months later, in August of that year,…