"This list would have been as hilariously funny as the first one had it been posted two or three years ago"

You'd think an Illuminati puppet would be more capable of getting his agenda supported by congress.

I almost mentioned 'Here, My Dear' and in the same breath as 'In the Air Tonight'. There's a whole category of great art that owes its existence to nasty marital dissolution. But as I thought about it, I decided that I preferred the comparatively rare stories of great art that comes from marriages that actually work…

I think it's another indication that the Rock Era is well past its sell by date that this list gets worse every year—the bad aren't even all that funny anymore. And even though this is a curated list selected from a broad range of names, I don't see much difference between these and the ridiculous names of bands that…

"You might want to use the qualifier “band” when Googling this one"

Another “behind the scenes” story that I find particularly instructive as a teacher, although I’d hardly call it a favorite exactly, is the one about the opening credit sequences of Spike Lee’s ‘Crooklyn’. If you know the film, you know that it’s a somewhat nostalgic look at an Urban Black childhood in the years…

Among my favorite stories behind art include the love and elopement of the Brownings (which may not seem to have produced so much directly but is responsible at least for this: http://www.poemhunter.com/b… ), the 1861 so-called "Summer of Frankenstein" ( http://frankenstein.monstro…, ) and the redemption of Johnny…

If that's what it takes.

Commentary Mad Libs!

Oh, I love how Prog gets to be Rock without question, but Hip Hop doesn't. Make up your mind, Rockists, ya can't have it both ways.

Even if it's old junk?

Do we really need to do this again? I agree that Rock is an inadequate catchall for what is basically anything from the second half of the 20th century on but if your definition of Rock is (to use a pun) fully ossified, then the Rock and Roll Hall of fame ought to have ended with The Bobbettes—The fact is there's just…

You know who played on a rack of those Donovan tracks? Jimmy Page. So just shut up already.

Amen on both counts.

Didn't I say "a badass Jew from the Bronx"? Pay attention.

Oh, it'll happen (it's already started above regarding the Beasties). Question is, will I feel provoked enough to add to that mess? Probably.

I wish I hadn't come too late to the "For Your Consideration" piece a while back about what Rock is and is not because I have a whole lot to say about that and while it inevitably overruns any news about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I'm not a big fan of rehashing old arguments or revisiting what I imagine was…

Okay—but that doesn't change the nature of reception (or perception).

I think it depends on the ambiguity of the referent—is "the simple prop to occupy my time" the song itself (i.e. "This One"), "the one I left behind", or some other diversion (like a groupie). I always thought of it as the flip side of Stephen Stills' 'Love the One Your With', but as was often the case with R.E.M. in…

So no Grape Ape?