At 45 years young, John Popper is an alternative-rock harmonica god who has spent the better part of his life writing infectious tunes and performing in front of sold-out crowds with his band Blues Traveler. This year, the group is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a new album, Suzie Cracks…

Frank Sinatra was one of America’s most beloved crooners and a legendary member of Hollywood’s “Rat Pack” — the über-exclusive cigarette-smoke- and booze-filled social crew of the 1960s, made up of a rather animated bunch: Frankie, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Joey Bishop. Sinatra’s son, Frank Jr., on the…

This summer, Kiss teams up with Mötley Crüe for “The Tour,” and Def Leppard, Poison, and Lita Ford join forces for “Rock of Ages.” But if you spent the better part of your adolescence getting high and listening to funky, reggae-inspired alt rock, the only show worth catching over the…

Indie-music subgenres exist arbitrarily. One critic’s characterization of “witch house” may be another’s description of “electro no-wave” or “fuzz grime,” both a synonym of “ghost house” and “drag,” depending on whom you ask. In an era when the brick-and-mortar record-store industry’s doing all it can to stay afloat, the subjective…

In 2005’s Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story, Chuck Klosterman writes, “There are only two really long songs that get played on classic-rock radio every single day,” Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and Don McLean’s “American Pie.” “I’ve noticed that nobody changes the station when ‘American Pie’…

Success in boxing isn’t strictly measured in power punches and knockouts. A fighter must prove that he’s resilient in the ring by overcoming seemingly certain defeat to rally back and go the distance. Similarly, successful rappers have to rise above adversity, often tackling both professional and personal hurdles to stay…

Before your first tribute tattoo, the only way to express how much you dug certain bands was writing their name in Wite-Out on your middle-school Jansport. Sandwiched somewhere between Nirvana’s happy face and a Smashing Pumpkins heart doodle, you lovingly scrawled three one-syllable words, proving you were a music connoisseur…

In 1972, Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” was named Billboard’s top R&B track. Today, it’s widely considered one of the most important American recordings, earning a top-100 spot on both Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list and the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. Yet despite its…

Though he was preaching peace and love, Ringo Starr may have offended some folks in 2008 when he announced his retirement from signing fan mail. “This is a serious message to everybody watching my update right now,” the former Beatle said in a video message. “I want to tell you,…

The dubstep scene is eerily reminiscent of the real estate bubble. The market was flooded by mainstream exposure, setting us up for an inevitable collapse. Except this demise will rival the 2008 housing market. Like “investors” who flipped houses for a quick profit, too many “DJs” are blindly diving into…

More than one-third of American adults simply “pull up their pants” and go about life carrying an alarmingly high amount of excess body weight. Over the past 20 years, obesity in this country has risen steadily, costing more than $140 billion a year in medical expenses. “I think I weighed…

The West Coast is the homeland of gangsta rap. From cop killing to drug dealing, every horrifically real element of life in the hood has made it into song. Though the game hasn’t changed much since its earliest pioneers, the message and the messenger have. And at the center of…

In regard to metaphors, none sounds as good as The Wall, Pink Floyd’s legendary 1979 prog-rock opera about abandonment and isolation. Clocking in at just over an hour and 20 minutes, The Wall explores the story of its protagonist, Pink, building a metaphorical wall between himself and everyone else. Though…

The Sopranos was unquestionably one of the best — if not the best — television series in the history of the medium. But to think that a show about contemporary New Jersey mobster life would inspire one of operatic pop’s most successful quartets, that’s just nuts! Without it, however, Il…

From Bruce Springsteen to Bon Jovi to Patti Smith, Asbury Park, New Jersey, is to rock ‘n’ roll what Salt Lake Valley is to Mormons. It is a promised land. Its history is rich in guitar riffs and circle pits. And few bands are as familiar with both as the…

As a kid, you dreamt about becoming an astronaut and part-time music critic. The future looked promising, a gnarly life of walking on the moon and reviewing advance releases of culturally relevant buzz bands. Real life, however, eventually caught up. NASA scrapped the shuttle program, and “relevant” acts stopped playing…

The Maddox Brothers and Rose are widely considered the pioneers of rockabilly by music historians, critics, and experts alike. They were playing “hillbilly” with a “rock-and-roll” twist before the latter was even invented, producing an original subgenre along the way. Though the siblings may have hitchhiked to California from Alabama…

Underneath Arboles Libres’ folksy, sonic psychedelia, interconnected lyrics paint images more powerful than a MacArthur Causeway hallucinogen (read: bath salts). “I woke up next to your heart/And I woke up next to your fears,” frontman Juan “Nacho” Londono sing-speaks on their song “Aura.” “And every morning we had breakfast/And every…

A year before the Beach Boys embarked on their Surfin’ Safari, Roberto Carlos was redefining South American music — that was 50 years ago. Though Brazil’s pop-rock movement kicked off in the 1950s, Carlos is considered one the pioneers of Jovem Guarda. For more than half a century, the affable…

Drug addiction and alleged spousal abuse — that’s all behind him. Ever since Whitney Houston was found dead in a Beverly Hills bathtub in February, Bad Bobby Brown has been able to focus on the important stuff, like fighting a DUI charge in California and hitting the road with his…