One of the few true talents in American popular music, a transcendent artist who, even with his iconic status, was underrated. No one wrote better songs in the 1980s, and while that makes it sound as though I’m saying he’s outdated, his music still informs the pop, electronic, r&B, slow jam music being manufactured…

He was great at so many things but I’ve always thought of him as one of the greatest guitar players of all time. It has always struck me as odd that he was never on any of the lists.

He was legitimately transcendent. Like...there are no words. He’ll be one of those people look back on in 20 years and go “wait, how did you guys get gifted this?” Also I loved how he always played covers of other people’s stuff and would put a hell of a spin on them like Foo Fighters at that Super Bowl show.

As a child of the 80's and MTV this is crushing. Prince and Madonna seemed like they were MTV and all of pop culture.

Fuck off, 2016. Just fuck the fuck off.

Still have a tee-shirt from LBCT’s New Rock 102.1 Christmas 96 concert appearance (Face to Face, Gravity Kills, LBCT, if memory serves, at the Modjeska Theatre in the Milwaukee barrio) that I will wear from time to time, & once, as I waited for my order at the East Side Five Guys about five years ago, one of the…

From Milwaukee, highschool age in the mid-90s: I know from Little Blue Crunchy Things. They drew a frattier, preppier crowd, but they could kick some jams. Much closer to punky funkness than Dave Matthews Band.

The Jenny Jones Show Houseband!!!

Thanks for posting this. Second lines are a long traditionally held way to respect a person’s passing for those who may not know. Mournful music marks the march to the gathering site with joyous music on the return. Hopefully, it will be a peaceful celebration of Smith’s life.

please forgive the portrait mode

People Under the Stairs flirt with soul, reggae, jazz, funk, disco basslines and of course a frikin’ flute that blows beneath the samples.

Video Killed the Radio Star.

About to start the second line for Will Smith. Will post video when I figure out how.

Kick Out the Jams!

Happy Friday everyone!

Blues Traveler - Regarding Steven. This song has been said to be about addiction. On today’s Adam Carolla Podcast, John Popper ssid he wrote it about a good friend of his that went through rough times as a kid

I think it’s because the 80s were the last mostly-analog decade and the last time we (in the US, anyway) believed we faced an existential threat to our existence, and as such the decade remains the last cultural touchstone to the real and authentic.

Also, that stuff that has you all upset is called “life”, and it’s what organized religions try to insulate you from. Engaging with it is “living”, and that is what makes art happen. Radical changes to your current situation might help, but finding an art form or artist that has been through what you’re going through…