In 2012, the hip-hop-identified website Complex assigned me a listicle thing cluelessly called (not by me) 50 Country Songs That Don’t Suck. Most of the writeups wound up in one of my books; these (about ‘90s tracks by John Anderson, Cactus Brothers, Tractors & Alecia Elliott) didn’t. I wonder why!

25 songs 1955-1994: Benny, Oscar Brown Jr., Butterball, Cravats, David Essex, Ferko StringBand, Folk Devils, Growl, Dan Hartman, KalesijskiZvuci, Kursaal Flyers, Kenny Loggins, Look Blue Go Purple, Otto Luening, Pablo Cruise, Plan 9, Pretty Tony, Stack Waddy, Tragic Mulatto, Very Things, 012, more!

Wrote almost 40 years ago about a Florida punk rock band there’s a good chance you never heard of. Their frontman, who I interviewed, passed away in 2013. An amusing article regardless.

Almost 4500 words about good & bad years, good & bad business, rookies & veterans, chickens & people, class & race, U2 hacking iphones, D'Angelo helping protests, enormous dinosaurs, laser magnets, industrial-grade irritants, music that everybody talks about a lot, and my 150 favorite 2014 albums.

Almost 4500 words about good & bad years, good & bad business, rookies & veterans, chickens & people, class & race, U2 hacking iphones, D'Angelo helping protests, enormous dinosaurs, laser magnets, industrial-grade irritants, music that everybody talks about a lot, and my 150 favorite 2014 albums.

1700 words a/k/a more words than any sane person will ever want to read comparing my own 150 favorite albums of 1980, Rolling Stone's 80 favorite albums of 1980 and the Pazz & Jop poll's 40 favorite albums of 1980, plus a lengthy and wonky diversion on the release date of the first Gang of Four LP.

1700 words a/k/a more words than any sane person will ever want to read comparing my own 150 favorite albums of 1980, Rolling Stone's 80 favorite albums of 1980 and the Pazz & Jop poll's 40 favorite albums of 1980, plus a lengthy and wonky diversion on the release date of the first Gang of Four LP.

Plenty to disagree with in this college review, if you can even make sense of it — Hey I was just 20, cut me slack OK? Of the 3 LPs (Haggard, Jones, Costello), only one I still care about is Merle’s. Reviving it to honor what would've been his 89th birthday, if he hadn’t died exactly 10 years ago.

NEW!!!: 4150 words on coups, pandemics, zeitgeists, windmills, winter storms, streaming, cocooning, whispering, feelings, speak-singing, eliminating genres, changing standards, rolling coal, listening to and re-evaluating the past, four-square political songcraft and my 150 favorite albums of 2021.

NEW!!!: 4150 words on coups, pandemics, zeitgeists, windmills, winter storms, streaming, cocooning, whispering, feelings, speak-singing, eliminating genres, changing standards, rolling coal, listening to and re-evaluating the past, four-square political songcraft and my 150 favorite albums of 2021.

25 songs 1972-1991: Abwärts, Aural Exciters, Balcones Fault, Banbarra, Chimo Bayo, Brainstorm, teenage Def Leppard, Feelies, Headless Chickens, Keith Hudson, Kilburn & the High Roads, Booker Newberry, Pink Section, Radiorama, Slits, Stack Waddy, Jermaine Stewart, Strikers, Super Heroines, Ut, more.

25 songs 1972-1991: Abwärts, Aural Exciters, Balcones Fault, Banbarra, Chimo Bayo, Brainstorm, teenage Def Leppard, Feelies, Headless Chickens, Keith Hudson, Kilburn & the High Roads, Booker Newberry, Pink Section, Radiorama, Slits, Stack Waddy, Jermaine Stewart, Strikers, Super Heroines, Ut, more.

Lots of artists have had exactly 2 hits. But to be a true “2-Hit Wonder," you need to be a 1-hit wonder twice — with, let’s say, at least 5 years between your only 2 songs on, let’s say, the U.S. pop top 30, with no others near that. Here are 12 acts that pulled it off. (If you know more, say so!)

Lots of artists have had exactly 2 hits. But to be a true “2-Hit Wonder," you need to be a 1-hit wonder twice — with, let’s say, at least 5 years between your only 2 songs on, let’s say, the U.S. pop top 30, with no others near that. Here are 12 acts that pulled it off. (If you know more, say so!)

2250 words on my 150 favorites of 2005, every one classified: prog metal or not, post-punk hard rock, meat+taters boogie, country pop, country folk, Radio Disney teenpop, Europop not all European, technoravelectronica, rap under- and overground, jazz, experimentalists, pitstops around globe, more!

2250 words on my 150 favorites of 2005, every one classified: prog metal or not, post-punk hard rock, meat+taters boogie, country pop, country folk, Radio Disney teenpop, Europop not all European, technoravelectronica, rap under- and overground, jazz, experimentalists, pitstops around globe, more!

PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT — early April 2026 YEAH: Zu : Ferrum Sidereum (House of Mythology) 5; Cryptic Shift: Overspace & Supertime (Metal Blade) 5; Helix: Scrap Metal (Perris) 5; Pink Fairies: Covered in Pink (Cleopatra) 5; Bullet: Kickstarter (Steamhammer Europe) 3; [continued]:

Pretty sure these ran in an April Fools’ issue of my '70s suburban Michigan high school newspaper. Not only did I write them all; I typed them into columns on an electric typewriter, picked the headline fonts, conjured the artificial adverts, designed the page, and cut and pasted it all together!

PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT — early April 2026 YEAH: Zu : Ferrum Sidereum (House of Mythology) 5; Cryptic Shift: Overspace & Supertime (Metal Blade) 5; Helix: Scrap Metal (Perris) 5; Pink Fairies: Covered in Pink (Cleopatra) 5; Bullet: Kickstarter (Steamhammer Europe) 3; [continued]:

Pretty sure these ran in an April Fools’ issue of my '70s suburban Michigan high school newspaper. Not only did I write them all; I typed them into columns on an electric typewriter, picked the headline fonts, conjured the artificial adverts, designed the page, and cut and pasted it all together!

University of Detroit, where I did my first year of college, was a Jesuit school. Every issue of the Varsity News featured an advice column called “Dear Abbot,” answered by the head of the monastery. In the April Fools’ issue, however, I took over.

University of Detroit, where I did my first year of college, was a Jesuit school. Every issue of the Varsity News featured an advice column called “Dear Abbot,” answered by the head of the monastery. In the April Fools’ issue, however, I took over.

Canines, rear ends, wishes, icebergs, exes, TV dinners, past future presidential candidates and barely remembered EPs from the millennium's dawn, courtesy Causey Way, R. Kelly, Laptop, Deann Macomson, Mya, Mystikal, Neurosis, Stillwater, Trinity Hifi, and a Wisconsin emo band called Paris, Texas.

25 songs c. 1906-1990: Brian Auger, Che-SIZU, Arthur Collins, Col. Jubilation P. Johnston, Der Plan, Golden Dawn, Gruppo Sportivo, Highway 101, Human League, Klaatu, Love, Jukin' Bone, Lyres, Mandrill, Stories, Tommi Stumpff, Edgar Winter, Wobble/Edge/Czukay, Wolfhounds (some under aliases), more!

Linus would have turned 41 today. I miss him more than I can say.

Not much more than a mere 1000 words, written five years ago about 39 years ago, Prince, the Pet Shop Boys, Debbie Gibson, Guns N Roses, hair metal, Latin freestyle, leaving my rockist phase behind, being wildly misinterpreted, and my 150 favorite albums of 1987 (not a bad year!)

Aerosmith might be the band I’ve been paid to write the most words on, total, in my lifetime. No doubt I’ve written some of those words twice. Here’s an essay on their best (or OK maybe 2nd best) album I wrote for a 2011 coffee table book, revived to honor Steven Tyler’s 78th birthday tomorrow.

Aerosmith might be the band I’ve been paid to write the most words on, total, in my lifetime. No doubt I’ve written some of those words twice. Here’s an essay on their best (or OK maybe 2nd best) album I wrote for a 2011 coffee table book, revived to honor Steven Tyler’s 78th birthday tomorrow.

5100 words on obsolete newfangled technology, electronic art-rocktica, block-rockin' beats, chart-toppin' eulogies, triumphant teen-bops, ancient novelty folk songs, economic booms, Bono's spawn, Zimmy Spice keeping it unreal, CD-Rom Barbie girls, keys to jeeps, and my 150 favorite albums on 1997.

5100 words on obsolete newfangled technology, electronic art-rocktica, block-rockin' beats, chart-toppin' eulogies, triumphant teen-bops, ancient novelty folk songs, economic booms, Bono's spawn, Zimmy Spice keeping it unreal, CD-Rom Barbie girls, keys to jeeps, and my 150 favorite albums on 1997.

For years, Metal Mike Saunders mailed me huge annual care packages of 45- and 33-rpm records he’d rejected after salvaging from cheapo bins in used stores or flea markets, frequently in Europe. Much of said vinyl proved fascinating and/or horrifying on myriad cheeseball levels. Here are 19 more.

25 songs 1912-1998: Bogshed, Bonzo Dog Band, Borghesia, Cromagnon, Destroy All Monsters, Funky 4+1, Thomas Leer, Mecano, Billy Murray, Nutz, Man Parrish, Pulsallama, Tommy Scott & Ramblers, Skull Snaps, Frank Soda & Imps, Specimen, SRC, Tonto's Expanding Head Band, United States of America, more!

25 songs 1912-1998: Bogshed, Bonzo Dog Band, Borghesia, Cromagnon, Destroy All Monsters, Funky 4+1, Thomas Leer, Mecano, Billy Murray, Nutz, Man Parrish, Pulsallama, Tommy Scott & Ramblers, Skull Snaps, Frank Soda & Imps, Specimen, SRC, Tonto's Expanding Head Band, United States of America, more!

Nostalgia’s always weird. But it’s even weirder when, during the geologic period everybody’s gotten nostalgic for, you were already too old to pay attention to details. So I found all these late ‘10s songs looking back to the ‘90s and ‘00s quite confusing.

≈ 4550 old words or less old footnotes about folk-rock sanctimony, metal widening horizons, garage rock that doesn’t sound like it, Gen Xers who need to hang it up already, Timbaland vs. Neptunes, mashups aka bootlegs, less stuck-in-rut answers to Sleater-Kinney and my 150 favorite albums of 2002.

≈ 4550 old words or less old footnotes about folk-rock sanctimony, metal widening horizons, garage rock that doesn’t sound like it, Gen Xers who need to hang it up already, Timbaland vs. Neptunes, mashups aka bootlegs, less stuck-in-rut answers to Sleater-Kinney and my 150 favorite albums of 2002.

≈3900 words on animal songs, 78-rpm lip-synching, global terrorism, Ireland's Troubles (Happy St. Pat’s Day!), Nixon, protest parodies, rap precursors, hot pants, words you can't say on TV, You Had To Be There rock, Native American rock, great Black hit singles, and my 150 favorite albums of 1972.

PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT - late March 2026 YEAH: Oberkas Travel: Oberkas Travel (Tańce Poland) 7; Praed: Al Wahem الوهم (Annihaya Lebanon) 7; MT Gemini: Hawk Deh Near (Vlek Belgium) 5; Al-Jiçç: Níger Suite (Al-Jiçç Portugal) 5; Gogol Bordello: We Mean It, Man! (Casa Gogol) 5...[continued]:

PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT - late March 2026 YEAH: Oberkas Travel: Oberkas Travel (Tańce Poland) 7; Praed: Al Wahem الوهم (Annihaya Lebanon) 7; MT Gemini: Hawk Deh Near (Vlek Belgium) 5; Al-Jiçç: Níger Suite (Al-Jiçç Portugal) 5; Gogol Bordello: We Mean It, Man! (Casa Gogol) 5...[continued]:

≈3900 words on animal songs, 78-rpm lip-synching, global terrorism, Ireland's Troubles (Happy St. Pat’s Day!), Nixon, protest parodies, rap precursors, hot pants, words you can't say on TV, You Had To Be There rock, Native American rock, great Black hit singles, and my 150 favorite albums of 1972.

Crazy shouting Hamburger H.P. Baxxter aka Hans Peter Geerdes turned 62 yesterday. Accordingly, here's something I wrote about his band 18 years ago. In the 4 years after I wrote it their sales figures had reportedly more than doubled — 30 million by 2012, Wiki says. In the 14 since that, who knows?

Another installment of my quarter-century-old Village Voice singles column: Chumbawamba, Dandy Warhols, Detroit Grand Pubahs, Everclear, Hoku, LL Cool J, Oneida and Jessica Simpson on sandwiches, hamburgers, burritos, chili dog riffs, Penthouse fantasies, fighting fascism, and remembering the ‘70s.

25 songs, 1928-2014: Afflicted Man, Jocelyn Brown, Carambolage (x2), Chills, Godz (NY not Cle), Heera Group, Ike Yard, Jameson Raid, July, Les Rita Mitsouko, Lindisfarne, Maggotron, Odyssey, She Mob, Silverhead, Sir Lord Comic, SRC, Surface Mutants, Bonnie Tyler, Sven Väth, Tony Joe White, more!

25 songs, 1928-2014: Afflicted Man, Jocelyn Brown, Carambolage (x2), Chills, Godz (NY not Cle), Heera Group, Ike Yard, Jameson Raid, July, Les Rita Mitsouko, Lindisfarne, Maggotron, Odyssey, She Mob, Silverhead, Sir Lord Comic, SRC, Surface Mutants, Bonnie Tyler, Sven Väth, Tony Joe White, more!

I'd think birds escape zoos all the time — at least species like peacocks that always roam around free and uncaged. They have wings, right? And zoos don’t have roofs. But the NY Times always makes room for 'em anyway! This journalistic boondoggle dates back to at least 1935. What am I missing here?

5000 or so words on jazz with words, ethics vs. aesthetics, Soundcloud rap by dying juvenile delinquents, bubble rap whatever that is, what an EP is and what year was best for those ever, why 21st Century indie rock might not be horrible, and my 150 favorite albums of 2018 (plus oh so much more).

Anybody in Austin during SXSW week, here are Alamo South Lamar screen times for the Robert Christgau documentary The Last Critic. Allegedly I'm in the movie a bit. Hopefully I'm halfway coherent. Sat 3-14 11am (World premiere) Mon 3-16 2:15pm (followed by a Q&A I'll be part of) Wed 3-18 11:15am

5000 or so words on jazz with words, ethics vs. aesthetics, Soundcloud rap by dying juvenile delinquents, bubble rap whatever that is, what an EP is and what year was best for those ever, why 21st Century indie rock might not be horrible, and my 150 favorite albums of 2018 (plus oh so much more).

On earthballs, puffballs, turkey tails, dog turd fungi, bracket fungi, split gill fungi, cellar fungi, wood rot, slime molds, and other organisms I may or may not have photographed and incorrectly identified in the woods. (Puffballs are the coolest.)