somewhere in the US in 1979, someone was driving around a Styx van they won from A&M records (Billboard, Feb '79)

this is a really fun article and great work from the NYT digital storytelling team. richard hell is a type of, like, semi-enlightened dirtbag that we just don’t make any more, for a lot of reasons.

696/1000 Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Fire" - Jimi always gets accolades as the ultimate guitar soloist, but this song really highlights how well he wielded a power trio to get a funky groove going too. Drummer Mitch Mitchell goes nuts on this one, so many cool little fills! #brodystoprock1000

Gift post, no paywall. The playlist was SO fun to make, brought me back to my NYC days in the '70s / '80s. Willie was a mixed bag for sure, like a lot of family. But goddamn his jams are hot.

OTD 30 years ago, Bad Religion released The Gray Race. BR was my favorite band as a teen; this was the 1st album that came out while I was a fan. I loved Ric Ocasek's energetic production with barely a pause between songs. Ex-Minor Threat guitarist Brian Baker added some new vigor too. #brodys1996

Some people might be overestimating the American appetite for conservative entertainment slop. There have never been more options to entertain yourself and turn off what doesn't interest you.

"Semi-Charmed Life" aside, I mentally filed the other singles from the self-titled Third Eye Blind album as not my thing at the time. But they all go just as hard. Exuberant bubblegum rock with a touch of shoegazey grunge in the guitars, scratches the same itch as looking at old embarrassing photos.

697/1000 The National, "Fake Empire" - A defining song of Dubya-era malaise, which at the time I thought would be a nadir in recent US history. A twinkling, winking, half-drunk response to a non-stop firehose of militaristic nonsense. Let's not try to figure out...anything at all. #brodystoprock1000

"Forever" by Jesse and the Rippers

yeah this is my philosophy, pretty much. Radiohead, Broadcast, Boards of Canada, Wu-Tang, Timbaland, etc etc were meant to be heard on CD

I love Help! Many days it’s my favorite Beatles album; the love songs on it are their most flowery and emotional if you ask me. ”Tell Me What You See” is a key track for me in that regard and I can’t believe Dizzy Miss Lizzy beats it in streams! The human mind is an enigma.

The American Masters documentary on Sun Ra is really good. Impressionistic, immersive, unironic, and offers an on-ramp for new listeners and skeptics (like myself) alike. It's streaming until 3/21; make time to watch it. www.pbs.org/wnet/america...

Gutted about Willie Colon‘s passing. Impossible to imagine salsa and Fania Records without him, his NY attitude and his classic albums with Hector Lavoe and Ruben Blades. Would probably choose this song as my favorite, it really shows the rock and soul influences on early salsa. Descansa en paz.

Sad to see that Willie Colon died. His record covers document his claim to have been, at one time, the coolest man alive.

20 years ago tomorrow, Man Man released Six Demon Bag. These guys put on a killer live show that made me a convert. Listening back now, the psychotic carnival aspect of their sound owed a lot to influences like Tom Waits, and maybe Gogol Bordello was a better version of the same thing. #brodys2006

OTD 30 years ago Lou Reed released Set the Twilight Reeling. I was just getting into VU and I struggled to reconcile the cool junkie beat poet with this guy who was like my dad waxing nostalgic about egg creams. "Sex With Your Parents" is the worst protest song about a deserving target. #brodys1996

Miles Davis meeting Kenny G is one of my fave photos ever. His look is priceless.

Remember when you wanted to buy dozens of CDs by bands you heard on the radio but only had money for 1 or 2 at a given time? It's been fun to listen to a smattering of 90s alt rock buzz bands with one radio song and find out which ones actually came from a good album. For Squirrels, not so much.

Was kinda indifferent to Bad Bunny at first but hearing his latest album in a variety of different social contexts where I wasn't the person who put it on has turned it into a grower for me. Feels like this happens to me much less with so many people now in siloed internet rabbitholes, including me.

698/1000 Change, "The Glow of Love" - Goes down so smooth. One of Luther Vandross's earliest hits before he launched a solo career, and captures the moment disco morphed into something gentle enough for regular life off the dancefloor. The sound of solace. #brodystoprock1000

OTD 20 years ago, the Knife released Silent Shout. I loved the creepy and off-putting music, with its constant pitch-shifting vocals and icy beats. Their live show was also mind-blowing; the duo dressed in all black, wearing masks and neon facepaint in what felt like an occult ceremony. #brodys2006

Holiday morning listening imagining what a “Grandchildren of Nuggets” box set of garage rock revival revival could look like.

A few of my favorite songs about New York City, or that feel like they have the city deep in their DNA.

30 years ago today, the Fugees released The Score. I loved the late-night vibe of this album, with Wyclef's kooky flow, Lauryn Hill's rasp, and Pras like a businessman who decided to rap. Fu-Gee-La and Ready or Not were my faves, as well as the twangy guitar underpinning Manifest/Outro. #brodys1996

699/1000 The Coasters, "Charlie Brown" - These guys get dismissed as merely a novelty doo-wop group sometimes. But even with some goofy chipmunk and deep bass vocal jokes, this song rocks as hard as anything of its time. Though it has nothing to do with the Peanuts character. #brodystoprock1000

The best thing Tame Impala ever did was having The Field remix "Mind Mischief" it is one of the greatest remixes of all time youtu.be/DEgCdtbg7BA?...

Strong Island baby!

Lotta jokes about Kid Rock makes music for people who steal catalytic converters but like Not in my experience. Those guys listen to ICP & Tech9. Kid Rock is for guys who work normal jobs but inexplicably dress like they steal catalytic converters

Morning listening. PM Dawn is a very underrated act these days even though I hear their influence and dreamy hip-hop sound everywhere now. They even had a #1 hit and 2 other top 10s but they were also treated as a sort of hippie punching bag in the boom-bap 90s. They deserve some reevaluation.

While most of you are yelling GO SEAHAWKS or GO PATRIOTS, I’m rooting for Bad Bunny to bring out Bomba Estéreo for Ojitos Lindos.

20 years ago tomorrow, Beth Orton released Comfort of Strangers, an album that hit me emotionally like a ton of bricks and is my favorite of hers. Jim O'Rourke produced it, and his eccentric folk stylings were a big influence; the electronics were a bit more muted. #brodys2006

Since Rushmore, always had a soft spot for this ornately titled Kinks klassic. Nothin' in the World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout That Girl

700/1000 Blur, “The Universal” - I never really cottoned to The Great Escape, but the orchestral swoon of this song always pulls my heartstrings. When Damon sings “It really really really could happen,” it’s almost enough to keep my stubborn inherent cynicism at bay. #brodystoprock1000

These chuds try so hard to act like they don’t care what artists think while they’re fighting off tears. Every one of them desperately wants to be prestigious and it’s absolutely killing them that artists haven’t made a show of submission before MAGA, never mind a show of respect.

This is about The Washington Post but it is also about the slow death of movie theaters, of book stores—the rapid integration of AI into schools—the Kennedy Center—the way so many people in power are afraid of art (and wow even sports) for the power it has to give people common language and cause.

The guy who owns Amazon shutting down the books section of the Washington Post is beyond parody

If you haven’t heard this album before then Black History Month would be a great time to crank it up for the first time.

701/1000 The Castaways, "Liar, Liar" - A one-hit wonder garage rock classic that made the Nuggets comp. A driving four-chord organ riff, a ridiculous falsetto, a blood-curdling scream, a guitar solo you could probably learn on the fly, and in under 2 minutes it's all over. #brodystoprock1000

30 years ago this past Saturday, NOFX released Heavy Petting Zoo. They were one of my favorite bands back then, but this album was the beginning of the end for me; I increasingly found their humor a bit too sophomoric (the cover, ugh), and I revisit the 2 albums before this the most. #brodys1996

conservatives cannot abide the fact that they can't control the levers of culture the way they do the levers of power.

Always hated these 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection compilations. They look terrible (why gray?), have perfunctory track lists with the occasional poorly-chosen live swap-out, and just plain have no gravitas. I guess they were cheaper than better compilations? I’d say splurge instead.

Easy to dunk on Rage Against the Machine but Tom Morello has always been a genuine activist at heart, someone who shows up and speaks out whether or not it sells records

‪20 years ago today, She Wants Revenge released its debut self-titled album, one of many at the time that tried to sound like Interpol trying to sound like Joy Division. This might have been the most ridiculous of them all though; they barely sound like they are not a post-punk parody. #brodys2006

30 years ago today Ministry released Filth Pig. While I enjoyed its transgressive cover of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay," the rest was kind of a letdown compared to the onslaught of their previous album, Psalm 69. Modern rock radio by this time preferred knockoffs like Stabbing Westward. #brodys1996

I can't believe that music this well-recorded is about to turn 100 next month. Listening to some of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five recordings and just struck dumb by the fact that we can hear what was going on in a room somewhere 100 years ago long after everyone has passed on. Truly a marvel.

It is quite funny that younger people get told by my generation that the Nineties was all Britpop (or perhaps Grunge in the US), but if you actually look at the British charts, it's mostly dance records made in Italy and the Netherlands.

You know who I’ve grown to appreciate? The guy who draws Garfield. You never hear about him. He doesn’t Sephiroth post or deconstructosubvertify things. Hey Jim, cat still fat? Still like lasagna? Yep. Okay. Cool.

702/1000 Prince, "Kiss" - The spare sound of this nasty robotic funk groove does so much with only a few elements. The synths, guitar, bass, and drum machine are all muted and tightly wound. Not that falsetto though! Its negative space echoes all over streaming-era pop charts. #brodystoprock1000

703/1000 AC/DC, "You Shook Me All Night Long" - AC/DC's first (but not last!) pop hit, their catchier instincts given a boost from producer Mutt Lange's more polished take on their sound. Feels like an industrial-sized makeover compared to their earlier stuff, but it suits them. #brodystoprock1000

Put the Hoodoo Gurus on the flag and we'll salute that