In 1986, the year thrash evolved from a speedy branch of heavy metal into a genuine commercial phenomenon, Anthrax watched from the stage as its ear-splitting assault drove the Denver crowd to madness. Then, in founder Scott Ian’s words, “A kid climbed onstage and fucked up my pedalboard.” Guitar tech Artie Ring, fearing damage to […]
Rob Moura
James Gang’s ‘Funk #49’ numbers among the all-time AOR classics
James Gang’s “Funk #49” represents the platonic ideal of a classic rock song. The trio of Jim Fox, Dale Peters and a pre-Eagles Joe Walsh turned what was originally a spontaneous soundcheck jam into a monster groove, and while “Funk #49” might not have the cultural clout of a “Free Bird” or a “Stairway to […]
George Clinton’s electro classic ‘Atomic Dog’ still raises the woof
George Clinton’s musical career spans two distinct realms. The first is physical: during the 1970s, he led the groundbreaking funk/soul collective Parliament-Funkadelic to intergalactic fame and fortune, recording more than 40 R&B chart hits. The other is spiritual: Clinton’s myriad compositions have exerted an immeasurable influence on American music, in particular shaping the sound and […]
Raise your glass and bang your head to Andrew W.K.’s ‘Party Hard’
Andrew W.K.’s “Party Hard” is a blunt instrument. It’s big, loud, boneheaded and, in case it wasn’t obvious, about partying. The word “party” is uttered 57 times across its three minutes, and each utterance is swaddled in heavily overdubbed guitars spewing bludgeoning power chords. Decades on from its original release, “Party Hard” is still Andrew […]
Orianthi shreds more than preconceptions on ‘According to You’
Orianthi was an anomaly in the testosterone-heavy realm of 2000s-era rock music. The mononymous guitar virtuoso transitioned from stints behind superstars Carrie Underwood and Michael Jackson to solo success with “According to You,” which appended her hair metal shredding onto American Idol-inspired pop stylings. KSID::P4Za51Y604Z09
Thirty Seconds to Mars’ ‘The Kill (Bury Me)’ rockets Jared Leto to emo immortality
Even in 2006, it was hard to separate Thirty Seconds to Mars from its frontman, Jared Leto. Though he and his brother Shannon founded the band in the late 1990s, Jared’s success as a Hollywood actor long overshadowed his musical reputation. It took a record like “The Kill (Bury Me)” for the Leto brothers to […]
‘In Too Deep’ sugarcoats Sum 41’s pop-punk
Sum 41 is synonymous with scabby late-Nineties pop-punk, but its music skews decidedly pop on “In Too Deep.” Though it originally failed to match the chart success of its predecessor, “Fat Lip,” “In Too Deep” has since proven to be the band’s most enduring song, a blissful mixture of Beatlesque vocal harmonies and chunky power […]
How 4 Non Blondes’ ‘What’s Up?’ became the Nineties’ most divisive hit
You can’t help but sing along to “What’s Up?” 4 Non Blondes’ lone chart hit, penned by the band of brunettes’ frontwoman, Linda Perry, catapulted the San Francisco alternative act to short-lived stardom in mid-1993, and despite Perry’s subsequent success as a songwriter, “What’s Up?” continues to define her career as a performer — especially […]
The Allman Brothers Band’s ‘Jessica’ triumphs over tragedy
“Jessica” is seven-and-a-half minutes of light and love — what producer Johnny Sandlin called “the happiest song I’ve ever heard.” The instrumental surfaced at an intensely turbulent time for the Allman Brothers Band, which was reeling from the deaths of two founding members and struggling with drug addiction. That didn’t stop guitarist Dickey Betts from […]
Ike and Tina Turner’s ‘Proud Mary’ rolls on through triumph and tragedy
“Proud Mary” tells the tale of a nonconformist taking control of their life by ditching the shackles of working-class reality for the freedom of a rolling riverboat. But when the Ike and Tina Turner Revue set the U.S.A. ablaze by recasting Creedence Clearwater Revival’s mid-tempo strut as a rollicking boogie, Tina was trapped inside a […]
