I n the parking lot of a Panera, just off I-95 in Stafford, Virginia, Rick Dunsford climbed into the passenger seat of a white Ford F-350 pick-up. Depending whose account you believe, he was holding either $12,000 or $15,000 in cash. It was late afternoon on a Friday in July …
Read More »Rob Sheffield's Top 25 Songs of 2022
Give 2022 some credit—any year with Kate Bush crashing Top 40 radio can’t be all bad. So let’s celebrate a superbly crazy year for music, when brilliant tunes kept exploding all over the stylistic map. These are my 25 favorite songs of 2022. (Although many other gems are over on …
Read More »Journey's Neal Schon Files Cease-and-Desist Against Jonathan Cain for Playing Band's Music at Trump Events
Journey’s internal legal battles have spilled into Trump territory as guitarist Neal Schon has filed a cease-and-desist against his bandmate Jonathan Cain to prevent the latter from performing their hit “Don’t Stop Believin’” at Mar-a-Lago. In November, Cain performed the band’s 1981 hit at an event at Donald Trump’s country …
Read More »Adeem the Artist Saw a Divided America and Wrote the Most Empathetic Country Album of the Year
Adeem Bingham just couldn’t abide the Aaron Lewis song “Am I the Only One.” The embittered tune, released in 2021, infamously name-checked Bruce Springsteen for being a disappointment to “real” Americans and moaned about the tearing down of Confederate monuments. Bingham, who performs as Adeem the Artist, wasn’t having it. …
Read More »The Year Everyone Realized They Were Wrong About Taylor Swift vs. Kanye West
What do you recall about the feud between Kanye West and Taylor Swift? Maybe something about a misogynistic lyric in West’s 2016 song “Famous,” or Swift’s subtle-but-scathing swipe at the line at that year’s Grammys — or, later, Kim Kardashian’s claims that the track had Swift’s prior approval. Surely the …
Read More »Rob Sheffield's Top 20 Albums of 2022
What a year for music—any of my top half-dozen or so could have been Number One some other year. But these are my faves, with pop idols, guitar bangers, rap poets, disco visionaries. All these albums keep giving up new surprises for me. The double-digit years are always pivotal for …
Read More »Finneas Isn't Afraid to Break Norms in an Ever-Changing Music Industry
It’s hard to believe Finneas O’Connell — the multi-Grammy winning songwriter, producer, and musician who’s worked with everyone from Justin Bieber to Tove Lo to his younger sister, Billie Eilish — ever doubted a successful career in music; a profession he was motivated to achieve following a Green Day show, …
Read More »See Yo La Tengo Cover the Ramones With Marky Ramone at Hanukkah Show
Yo La Tengo celebrated the fourth night of Hanukkah — and the midpoint of their annual Bowery Ballroom residency marking the Festival of Lights — with an encore entirely dedicated to the Ramones, featuring the punk legends’ longtime drummer Marky Ramone. The indie rock trio hinted at what was to …
Read More »More Taylor Swift Fans Sue Ticketmaster Over Ticketing Fiasco
A federal class action lawsuit has been filed against Ticketmaster and Live Nation following Taylor Swift‘s “Eras Tour”ticketingdebacle. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, alleges that the ticketing company violated federal antitrust laws and unfair competition laws, and that they misled consumers in the sale of tickets for Swift’s tour. “Ticketmaster intentionally …
Read More »An Island Christmas! Dinah Jane Welcomes Common Kings, Sammy Johnson for Holiday Special
Dinah Jane, Common Kings, and Sammy Johnson make it easier to imagine a holiday season in the tropics. On Thursday, the former Fifth Harmony star welcomed her fellow Polynesian musicians for a mash-up performance of “He Still Loves Me” by Beyoncé and Walter Williams and the holiday classic “This Christmas.” …
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