_It's Trad Dad!_ (1962) was just supposed to be a fluffy teen jukebox movie but director Richard Lester (who would go on to make _A Hard Day's Night_ with the Beatles) made a wildly innovative — and politically loaded — oddball gem. It's the subject of my latest Underpile.
Diogenes was an OG punk.
I also recommend the "'Tis the Season to Play Glam Rock" game here. It is, as advertised, "exactly the same as Minesweeper." And no ads at all.
Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook to the BBC on the basic message of punk: "If you don't like what's going on and you're not happy with it, just get out there and have a go and do something yourself — and if you don't make it, you tried."
As were the Beatles.
Maybe the Angine de Poitrine phenomenon (6.2 million Youtube views!) is like the Beatles after the JFK assassination — a life raft of brilliant joy and fun in the midst of an ocean of despair and darkness.
I try to ignore this stuff but there's a new round of the perennial "Kurt was murdered" meme. It's just wrong. He tried it twice before he succeeded. Here's a painful passage from my book _The Amplified Come as You Are_ that sheds additional light.
Looks like Anderson Cooper is going for a _Nightfly_ vibe.
"A lot of times I actually don’t know what I think about something until I start writing about it."
— Kim Gordon, _The Guardian_, March 19, 2026
Civics class should be a requirement for graduating from high school. That would solve a lot of problems.
Tōth's new _And the Voice Said_ is wall-to-wall great songs: beautiful melodies, lyrics that touch on things one has felt but never been able to articulate, cool parts that you can’t believe how perfect they are. I played it four times today. It’s on my best of 2026 list.
I'm guessing that a diner doesn't serve wine very often, so she was seeing if the surely already opened bottle had gone bad.
"When things get so big, I don't trust them at all
You want some control, you've got to keep it small
D.I.Y., D.I.Y"
— Peter Gabriel, "D.I.Y."
My old friend, the excellent singer-songwiter Paul Foglino, wrote a song called "Our Band Could Be Your Life." He got the title from my book, which got its title from the Minutemen, but it's not about either one — it's about being in a band.
Sometimes, I look on my CD shelves for something to play and I think to myself, "Nah, that's too good to play right now." Which is so dumb.
n.p.: John Cale — _Paris 1919_
#yolo
Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to discuss it at this time.
Exo-Tech is a semi-rotating all-star NYC band. One plants a kernel of music, the rest explode it into a spontaneous composition — nocturnal tropicalia, misty watercolor ballads, full-on Miles ‘70 etc. Last night's spellbinding show channeled the zeitgeist with fury, contemplation and joy.
Ha, no, but good to know about Kroger’s!
Just heard "Elected" in the supermarket (!) and was reminded that, for teens of my generation, it was but a short leap from Alice Cooper to the Sex Pistols.
Au revoir, Eliane Radigue. If you ever want to have a peak (musical) experience, start playing her three-hour _Trilogie de la Mort_ maybe an hour before dusk and just look out the window, preferably with a view of the sky.
It's Kurt Cobain's birthday today — he would have been 59. Here's something I wrote about his deep connection with Lead Belly, and why I think of Kurt as a high-flying goose.
A very happy 55th birthday to one of the more perfect albums, Carole King's _Tapestry_. Such great songs, such impeccable musicianship. And what a fitting title for a collection of music that's woven itself so deeply into the fabric of popular music.
You don’t want to know.
Thanks, that explains how they're so unbelievably tight on such complex music and clearly on the same page with their entire aesthetic. I hope I get to see them live someday.
Oh. My. God.
Angine de Poitrine rules.
Congratulations to Nardwuar, one of the greatest popular music journalists ever, on receiving one of Canada's highest honors, an appointment to the Order of Canada.
Not sure how long I would’ve gone not knowing about Minutemen if not for OBCBYL. And for sure it’s the only reason I ventured outside of “Pepper” with Butthole Surfers. Just an unbelievably well-written, fun book!
Wow, thank you!
Horn toot! For _The Wall Street Journal_, author George Newman chose my book _Our Band Could Be Your Life_ as one of "Five Best: Books on the Creative Spark."
In there with Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Patti Smith, and Alice Flaherty.