The Cure's "Close to Me" narrowly loses to St. Etienne's only U.S. Hot 100 appearance, a Neil Young cover; GZA and Garbage and Erasure snap at their heels; and, fuck, Bon Jovi and KISS can NOT put the X in sex. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/r...

That Kissing the Pink track is great. I think there needs to be a below The Hague for one of those that is consigned to the dock

The Cure's "Close to Me" narrowly loses to St. Etienne's only U.S. Hot 100 appearance, a Neil Young cover; GZA and Garbage and Erasure snap at their heels; and, fuck, Bon Jovi and KISS can NOT put the X in sex. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/r...

Ranking #97 singles, U.S. edition: 1980-1995 In another year The Cure's remix of "Close to Me," released as the second single from Mixed Up, would top my list: bedsit disco at its most charming, with Robert Smith at his sulkiest while dancing in place to synth horns, perhaps his best vocal ("I…

I like Sophie Gault's loud country album. I like less Mitski's middling midtempo album except when it deals with the incorrigibility of cats. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/l...

I like Sophie Gault's loud country album. I like less Mitski's middling midtempo album except when it deals with the incorrigibility of cats. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/l...

Neneh Cherry ranks among the catalog artists I've played most since 2024. Her first two albums still sound fresh, crisp, and fun. And she hasn't stopped. Happy birthday. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2024/10/18/g...

Love her.

Neneh Cherry ranks among the catalog artists I've played most since 2024. Her first two albums still sound fresh, crisp, and fun. And she hasn't stopped. Happy birthday. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2024/10/18/g...

Eddie Money has two tickets to paradise, Steely Dan write a loping ode to how their lives were saved by rock 'n' roll. Billy Ocean's first US hit (one of his best), and Elvis doin' it his way. wp.me/pzXeC-l5O

LOVE Ronstadt's "Tumbling Dice."

It’s a corker for sure! I love Wrong Way Up! Happy Birthday John Cale. 🎸🎂

Eddie Money has two tickets to paradise, Steely Dan write a loping ode to how their lives were saved by rock 'n' roll. Billy Ocean's first US hit (one of his best), and Elvis doin' it his way. wp.me/pzXeC-l5O

Every time it's Eno and Cale's birthdays I promote the hell out of WRONG WAY UP, a multicolored cuckoo clock of an album out of time in 2026 as much as in 1990. Cale's "Cordoba" ranks among his best. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2015/09/19/w...

I review Sophie Gault and Mitski's latest albums. I wish the former had gone Full Cat Lady; the album is too mild, too midtempo. Gault's album is not. wp.me/pzXeC-l5C

Every time it's Eno and Cale's birthdays I promote the hell out of WRONG WAY UP, a multicolored cuckoo clock of an album out of time in 2026 as much as in 1990. Cale's "Cordoba" ranks among his best. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2015/09/19/w...

great list, but justice for sabotage/live which is up there with at least slow dazzle for me

I'm delighted John Cale has had a moment with his appearance on Charli XCX's "House": a generation high-fives another. It makes honoring his birthday a treat. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/12/04/r...

I'm delighted John Cale has had a moment with his appearance on Charli XCX's "House": a generation high-fives another. It makes honoring his birthday a treat. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/12/04/r...

To pass from "Ring the Alarm" and "Promise" to "Mean" and "Whip My Hair" was like hearing the door slam on an era. Yet matchbox 20 still yap and Ludacris still pretends it's the Y2K era but with a dangerous new comer. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/08/r...

To pass from "Ring the Alarm" and "Promise" to "Mean" and "Whip My Hair" was like hearing the door slam on an era. Yet matchbox 20 still yap and Ludacris still pretends it's the Y2K era but with a dangerous new comer. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/08/r...

Months later I review WEAPONS, the horror hit let down by the writing. Amy Madigan is Oscar-nominated. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/08/i...

Months later I review WEAPONS, the horror hit let down by the writing. Amy Madigan is Oscar-nominated. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/08/i...

He released two excellent albums that changed the direction of pop music: its sonic emphasis and point of view. Like they did w/Phil Oakey, critics said he sang like a sad robot. To me he sounded like every dork boy. Happy birthday, Gary Numan. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/01/31/y...

He released two excellent albums that changed the direction of pop music: its sonic emphasis and point of view. Like they did w/Phil Oakey, critics said he sang like a sad robot. To me he sounded like every dork boy. Happy birthday, Gary Numan. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/01/31/y...

The Monkees may have begun and ended as a scam perpetuated by cynical men who saw infinite dollar signs exploiting the vagaries of youth culture; but the quartet’s enthusiasm didn’t flag. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/12/30/w...

Ranking #30 singles, US edition: 1992-1998 I know I'll get resistance for sticking Better than Ezra in the lowest category and confining Spacehog to the solids, but, dear readers, I was there at the time, and the ubiquity of the former made the chorus of "Good" repellent and the glam affectations …

The Monkees may have begun and ended as a scam perpetuated by cynical men who saw infinite dollar signs exploiting the vagaries of youth culture; but the quartet’s enthusiasm didn’t flag. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/12/30/w...

I'm with you on Better Than Ezra - "Good" was omnipresent in a bad way. They have three or four other singles I liked way better anyway.

Ranking #30 singles, US edition: 1992-1998 I know I'll get resistance for sticking Better than Ezra in the lowest category and confining Spacehog to the solids, but, dear readers, I was there at the time, and the ubiquity of the former made the chorus of "Good" repellent and the glam affectations …

So this happened at my university. An inevitability, I suppose. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/07/t...

Man, I hate this for you and other staff and faculty at FIU. Also so glad I got out of the higher ed biz, particularly as practiced in Florida. Best hopes for y’all

So this happened at my university. An inevitability, I suppose. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/07/t...

@singlesjukebox.bsky.social reached consensus with Hemlocke Springs's "Be the Girl." Good songs by Charli XCX and A$AP Rocky follow in this month's roundup. wp.me/pzXeC-l55

@singlesjukebox.bsky.social reached consensus with Hemlocke Springs's "Be the Girl." Good songs by Charli XCX and A$AP Rocky follow in this month's roundup. wp.me/pzXeC-l55

He populated his films with upper middle class airheads who couldn't articulate what ailed them but used geography as reflection of their turmoil. On Michelangelo Antonioni, who fascinated me as a young writer. wp.me/pzXeC-l4W

A come-on, a challenge, a rebuke, "Piece of Me" is one of Britney Spears' sharpest singles. A pity My Boring Turgid Fantasies remains an embarrassment that "Power" and its straight-fire Nicki Minaj verse almost redeems. What did listeners HEAR in this Kanye farrago? wp.me/pzXeC-l53

A come-on, a challenge, a rebuke, "Piece of Me" is one of Britney Spears' sharpest singles. A pity My Boring Turgid Fantasies remains an embarrassment that "Power" and its straight-fire Nicki Minaj verse almost redeems. What did listeners HEAR in this Kanye farrago? wp.me/pzXeC-l53

He populated his films with upper middle class airheads who couldn't articulate what ailed them but used geography as reflection of their turmoil. On Michelangelo Antonioni, who fascinated me as a young writer. wp.me/pzXeC-l4W

Many acts have good debuts and excellent second albums. Others have excellent debuts and terrible second ones. I address the second category: humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/02/08/t...

David Gilmour's solos softened into gelid professional stuff by the 1980s, but a decade earlier he wrote the aural equivalent of flying buttresses. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/12/13/r...

I published this in 2020. I return to it now because I heard some of these tunes again in a Ford-era countdown and reranked them. I like my introduction to this list of #2 hits of the '70s: sardine-egg canape, Barry White, and Eagles pathology. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/05/r...

David Gilmour's solos softened into gelid professional stuff by the 1980s, but a decade earlier he wrote the aural equivalent of flying buttresses. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/12/13/r...

I published this in 2020. I return to it now because I heard some of these tunes again in a Ford-era countdown and reranked them. I like my introduction to this list of #2 hits of the '70s: sardine-egg canape, Barry White, and Eagles pathology. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/05/r...

You don't start a war when half a million of your countrymen have no means of getting out of the region you're bombing. But when has Donald Trump worried about other people? Or the ethnofascist in search of Agartha who coplays as Defense Secretary? humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/05/o...

You don't start a war when half a million of your countrymen have no means of getting out of the region you're bombing. But when has Donald Trump worried about other people? Or the ethnofascist in search of Agartha who coplays as Defense Secretary? humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/03/05/o...

I just discovered her this year. What a talent.

Among the funkiest of balladeers and the sultriest of funk masters, Teena Marie remains an undiscovered treasure. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/c...

Among the funkiest of balladeers and the sultriest of funk masters, Teena Marie remains an undiscovered treasure. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/c...

Decades after Eddie Murphy impersonations, "I Feel Good" bursts from the earphones as glorious punctuative noise, released at the height of the civil rights era. wp.me/pzXeC-l4I