Gone far too soon — I normally don’t write more than one Rate-A-Record piece a week, but this isn’t a normal week. When I published the latest installment on Sunday (about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers deep cuts), I had not heard about the passing of Smiths bassist Andy Rourke from cancer two days earlier…

An eclectic mix of tunes to set your driving mood — I love road trips. As a twenty-something, road trips set the tone of my summers–great companions, amazing music, and an exciting destination formed some of my best post-collegiate memories. I haven’t taken a true road trip since I left Colorado for Los Angeles, the Sequel: Even Filmier, a decade ago…

Apparently not all earworms are bad — I should know by now to not even try to ignore a musical prompt from Pierce McIntyre; no matter how strong my initial resolve, I eventually give in. I thought I might have a chance against his latest challenge: favorite earworm songs. …

Rock, disco, & more — Come get groovy with me! — Writer Paul Combs recently wrote a great series of articles about his favorite album from every year that he’s been alive. Here’s the one that started it all: My Favorite Album from Every Year I’ve Been Alive (Part One: 1966–1979) Now there’s no way for it to only be Springsteenmedium.com I was in the middle of writing a non-music-related article when I read the above, but Paul’s article greatly inspired me. I…

The E Street Band Strikes Back — We’ve reached the new millennium in my limited series on my favorite albums from each year I’ve been alive, and it was as much a transitional decade musically as it was in my personal life. The 2000s saw the arrival of my second daughter, the end of my marriage, the…

1982 was a hell of a year for music — I love a good writing prompt, even when it shows up unexpectedly and completely derails what I’m working on at the time. I’m starting to think that Pierce McIntyre over at Plethora of Pop has set up a lawn chair in my head, given the number of times he’s thrown…

Yes, I said real — It has been pretty well established that I am a grumpy old bastard, and while this trait is enormously helpful when writing rants, it does make navigating the world as it is today a bit of a challenge. I encountered just such a challenge recently when I fell into a…