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The Current Comeback Tour Trend: Not Reunions, Not Reinventions (Not Addressing the Issue.)
15 May 2007Of course the beauty of music is in the listener’s reaction to how it sounds. Why is this stated like a revelation? Is this also part of the super-saturation of image marketing, identity-politics, fashionable rebellion, and Marxist signifiers?
Pazz and Jop Poll Quotes Jack Rabid / Guest Essay: Tired of Jim Morrison Worship?
10 February 2007I am pleased to note that the Village Voice’s annual Pazz and Jop music critic’s poll has used two quotes from my piece on the Year in Music 2006 in their cover story this week. / “Jim Morrison was supposed to be a great poet, though none of us read poetry and would have hated it if we’d been forced to. Still, his literary reputation had the convenient effect of giving Morrison’s expressions an irrefragable claim to high merit, like the work of a Nobel laureate. The upshot of all of this was that Morrison became the hero of a bunch of small town teenagers who, naturally, got it all ass-backwards. I can’t break the connection in my head between Jim Morrison and the highly ironic movement of teen conformity that his life inspired.”
Danava and the "Return of Rock": Word to Your Wolfmother
31 July 2006They’re called DANAVA and they’re from Illinois-via-Portland, Oregon. They’re definitely retro, but the influences have shifted to the mid-70s…
Shocker! Howard Stern’s New Show Airs for Free!
6 February 2006Stern’s radio show on Sirius Satellite, which listeners have to pay to hear, has been made available for free online and by pirate radio stations. With all the talk about music piracy, why did no one see this coming?
U2 Fans in Brazil Feel the Heat
21 January 2006BONO says he’s working to end world poverty, but for an upcoming U2 show in Sao Paulo the cheapest full-price ticket will cost someone earning the minimum wage there two-thirds of his monthly salary.
Is Easy Access to Music Making Us Tune Out?
17 January 2006A new study by British researchers argues that increased access to music is making people appreciate it—less.
Beyond the Echo Chamber
16 January 2006Isn’t it more useful to read a list of 10 albums that you’ve never heard of than to read one more list of the same 10 albums that you already know are supposed to be ‘important’?
The Whoring of Korn
15 January 2006The problem is that as long as promoters and record labels function as bank-loan vehicles for artists, the equation is going to be a long shot for 99% of musicians.
Mass Customization
28 December 2005Customization is predictable in an aging industry, and any music executive with an MBA should recognize the signs and see a revolution on the horizon.
"Flat Is the New Up"
23 December 2005And that’s apparently the good news in the accounting department of the music business.
Jack Rabid’s Top 10
Week of August 17
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Billy Bragg – Mr. Love & Justice (Anti)
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Bad Religion – New Maps of Hell (deluxe edition) (Epitaph)
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Ray Davies – Working Man’s Cafe (New West)
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Ron Sexsmith – Exit Strategy of the Soul (Yep Roc)
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Billie Holiday – Beautiful Ballads & Love Songs (Columbia/Legacy/SonyBMG)
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Everest – Ghost Notes (Vapor)
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Rob Dickinson – Fresh Wine for the Horses (double CD) (Fontana/UNI)
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Secret Shine – All of the Stars (Clairecords/Tonevendor)
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The Effigies – Reside (Criminal IQ)
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For Against – Shade Side, Sunny Side (Words on Music)