If you want real-life examples of abuse and exploitation in showbiz, you have Michael Jackson and Judy Garland. If an unsavory backstory is a dealbreaker for you, I suggest you avoid any of their work.

How is the backstory relevant to the quality of the music? Suppose we discover tomorrow that Lennon and McCartney's entire Beatles catalog was based on original sheet music found in the back pages of the diary of a teenage girl imprisoned in Auschwitz and gassed by the Nazis. What would be your reaction?

I'm as naturally contrarian as anyone, but sometimes it's okay to believe the hype. The Shaggs deserve every bit of their reputation as outside-the-box thinkers and trailblazers.

Maher's worst offense is helping to integrate into mainstream liberalism the notion that the U.S. government must continue to slaughter vast multitudes of nameless foreign brown people every year. Most liberals from the Bush years thought of themselves as anti-war before faux-liberals like Maher helped sell the Left…

If the future of the Grammy's is to be primarily a vehicle for live performances, I'd prefer a modernized version of those 70's live shows like Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and Midnight Special. Skip the awards segment of the show. Nobody cares about those things anymore.

"Hello New Zealand! Throw another orc on the barbie for me!"

Transposing "Am I Evil" into major key would be fun.

I heard this a few days ago. I enjoyed it, but my main reaction was curiosity about how Mercyful Fate and King Diamond's eerie falsetto would sound in a major key.

Heavy metal.

I concur.

Metal rules. Punk, rap, and alt rock is all crap.

Indeed. The American Left has a laughably poor record of holding politicians accountable for broken promises. I've gotten so cynical that I no longer believe most liberals have anything resembling real principles other than loyalty to the Democratic Party.

Yes, let's all clutch this priceless vase forever — the Daily Show style of political advocacy. Because it's worked so well for the Left over the past eight years.

Hot thought: the ongoing liberal addiction to condescending barely-left-of-center corporate-approved celebrity clowns mugging at cameras is part of the problem, not the solution.

Song sounds like it was written for a goddamn TV commercial, just like those shitty American Authors songs featured in HateSong. It even has an "oh oh oh oh" chorus. Why does this pablum deserve the respectability of a review?

I think you missed Phil's point. Hamilton is emblematic of how affluent coastal liberals have drifted out of touch with working-class people in flyover country.

I don't mind waiting a long long time for more Hamilton product. It's that good.

Indeed.

He did work with Neil Young and Stephen Stills during their prime years. They were better songwriters than Fleet Foxes.

She promised me she would move to Canada if Trump won. She fucking promised!