Nostalgia
The Sopranos Creator David Chase Accidentally Reveals Tony’s Fate
The Sopranos has been off the air for over a decade. Yet ever since Steve Perry’s pipes cut off by that now-iconic fade to black, fans have wondered, “What the hell happened to Tony Soprano?” Now, exactly 13 years to the day, we have our answer. In a recent roundtable discussion promoting his new book, The Sopranos Sessions, creator David Chase slipped up and confirmed the fate of his legendary character, putting an end to the exhausting debate that has left fans twisting and turning forever. But first, some context: If you recall, the series finale, “Made In America”, culminates at the real-life New Jersey diner Holsten’s, where the entire Sopranos family gathers around for a basket of onion rings. It’s a charming portrait that suggests an alternative, almost Rockwellian existence for the...
Neil Young Unearths Homegrown Track “Vacancy”: Stream
It took 46 years, but next Friday (June 19th) finally brings the release of Neil Young’s Homegrown. The “unheard bridge between Harvest and Comes A Time,” the 12-track LP was recorded between June 1974 and January 1975, but was ultimately locked away as Young “wanted to move on” following his separation from actress Carrie Snodgress. Now, though, Homegrown will finally receive release on June 19th through Reprise Records. To preview the release, Young previously unveiled the album track “Try”. Now, he’s unveiled a second offering in “Vacancy”. Take a listen below. Of the 12 tracks featured on Homegrown, five of them would later find homes on other albums. “Try”, “Vacancy”, and five other songs have been been issued before. You can pre-order Homegrown on vinyl here. [embedded cont...
Ranking: Every Clerks Animated Episode from Worst to Best
Nothing about Kevin Smith’s 1994 cult-classic film Clerks lent itself to making an animated version for ABC. Not the maxed-out credit-card budget, not the grainy, black-and-white cinematography, and surely not the foulmouthed, esoteric nerding out about innocent plumbers dying on the Death Star or how much the average jizz mopper makes working a nudie booth. And yet, thanks to studio politics, the Disney-owned network is exactly where the animated adaptation landed. It was no surprise then when the premiere got bumped back to the pilot graveyard that is summer, only two of the original six episodes aired on the network, and Dante and Randal curtly got told that they weren’t supposed to be there today … or any day for that matter. Editors’ Picks No, Clerks the cartoon dropped dead qui...
10 Back to the Future Quotes You Probably Say All the Time
Thirty years ago, the Back to the Future trilogy came to an end. Marty McFly finally made it back home in Hill Valley circa 1985, Doc Brown went off with his family (not to mention, that creepy kid), and the Delorean, well, let’s move on. Since then, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s time-traveling misadventures have become an essential part of our own space time continuum. We still watch the flicks, we still turn up Huey Lewis, and we still have crushes on Michael J. Fox. We also never stop quoting the damn thing. Hell, even amidst the pandemic, we’ve found a way to wield Gale’s prose to our own advantage. And given how we’re living in Biff Tannen’s America, the memes have just been nonstop. Editors’ Picks So, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future Part III, which stea...
Whitney Houston’s Self-Titled Debut Introduced a Voice for All Times: Classic Review
The Opus: Whitney Houston premieres on Thursday, May 28th and you can subscribe now. You can also prep for the experience by listening to Whitney Houston via all major streaming services or enter to win a copy of Vinyl Me, Please’s 35th anniversary Whitney Houston box set. Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Follow on Facebook | Podchaser Music allows us to feel an array of emotions and is one of the universal aspects of the human experience. It can be the cause of laughter or the reason for momentary sadness. It sparks fond memories and serves as a time stamp of the most pivotal points in our lives. The music industry is forever changing, and even the most skilled of artists can fade into obscurity if they fail to adapt. Musicians come ...
Song of the Week: Neil Young’s “Try” Hints at a Painful Portrait of a Broken Heart
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This quarantine has definitely thrown the music industry for a crazy loop. Several major album releases have been pushed back to oblivion, and an even larger handful of tours (and fests) we were dying to see have been either cancelled or postponed to God knows when (probably not this calendar year). Still, as an industry has struggled, artists have fought back with living-room concerts, charitable efforts, and, yes, year-affirming new albums and songs. Just this week Perfume Genius and Moses Sumney graced us with must-hear new listens, and Charli XCX and Bad Bunny treated us to surprises created in direct response to these strange ...
The Who’s Live at Leeds Remains a Peerless Document of Rock and Roll Power
Today, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of arguably the greatest live rock and roll album of all time. June 1969. Back from the brink, The Who are bigger than they ever imagined possible. With Tommy selling 200,000 copies in the first two weeks in the US alone, it was a remarkable turnaround for a band who, only a few months earlier, neared bankruptcy and calling it a day. In what must have seemed like the blink of an eye, the rock opera was born, and, with it, Pete Townshend ascended to his throne, the last high king of 1960s counterculture. With FM-friendly Tommy A-sides “Pinball Wizard” and “I’m Free” refining their “maximum R&B” down to proto prog-inflected rock, The Who found themselves zig-zagging across the world, topping major festival bills and — full testament to their expan...
Prince and the Revolution 1985 Live Album Finally Released: Stream
The companion album to the 1985 concert film Prince and the Revolution: Live has finally been unlocked from the vault. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. The recording was made on March 30th, 1985 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York, as Prince and his famed backup band The Revolution toured in support of 1984’s Purple Rain. The set included all nine tracks off of Purple Rain, as well as a smattering of hits and B-sides from 1999, the Controversy cut “Do Me, Baby”, and even a “Yankee Doodle Dandy” interlude. Sheila E., who opened for Prince, joined him on “Baby I’m a Star”, and the concert ended with an 18-minute rendition of “Purple Rain”. To capture the performance in all its luscious glory, the tapes have been remastered by The Purple On...
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Uploads Hundreds of Video Clips From Past Induction Ceremonies to YouTube
Over the course of this period of self-isolation, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has opened its vault and uploaded hundreds of video clips from past induction ceremonies to YouTube. The initial batch of uploads consists of video from last year’s ceremony enshrining Radiohead, The Cure, Stevie Nicks, Roxy Music, and others. There’s both performance footage — including Stevie Nicks teaming with Harry Styles for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart” — as well as each act’s respective induction speech. Since then, the Rock Hall has posted video from Neil Young’s 1995 induction, including Eddie Vedder’s introduction and their on-stage collaboration of “Fuckin’ Up”; Talking Heads’ 2002 induction and the band’s subsequent live reunion; and Prince’s 2004 induction, which saw him take the stage and rip ...
Hundreds of Hard-to-Find Peel Sessions Cataloged on YouTube
John Peel’s BBC 1 radio show was iconic at the time it aired. In hindsight, it’s only grown all the more legendary. The legendary broadcaster recorded over 4,000 sessions with over 2,000 artists, which is, objectively speaking, a lot. To help make sorting through the Peel Sessions archive easier, angel-in-disguise and blogger Dave Strickson has uploaded and alphabetized hundreds of available recordings from the show to stream online (via BrooklynVegan). Most of the original studio sessions from Peel’s radio show were released as Peel Session EPs by his label, Strange Fruit Records, but many of those are unavailable to stream online. Thankfully, listeners occasionally upload those almost-lost-to-time recordings to YouTube. That’s where Strickson comes in. To help make the process of di...
Ranking: The Beatles’ Albums from Worst to Best
Almost everybody has a Beatles moment. Mine came when I was 10 years old, riding in the middle row of a 1994 Dodge Caravan on a family road trip from Indiana down to the Great Smoky Mountains. My step-brother had just gotten cassette copies of 1962-1966 and 1967-1970, better remembered as “The Red Album” and “The Blue Album” by anyone who grew up with parents who’d spent the ’60s as teenagers. We played those tapes non-stop from Kokomo to Gatlinburg and back again, the sounds of “Love Me Do” and “Ticket to Ride” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” on a continuous week-long loop. I remember tears welling in my eyes during “In My Life”, the hairs raising on the back of my neck at the start of “Eleanor Rigby”, the strange kaleidoscopic friendliness that radiated off of “Penny Lane” and “All Y...
Peter Hook on 40 Years Without Ian Curtis, Working with Gorillaz, and Keeping the Party Going
“The best thing you can do in life is stick on that smile and get out there and enjoy as much as you possibly can,” Peter Hook says over our lunch on Skype. “Because as we’ve seen from the way that you’ve suffered in America — the way that we’ve suffered here in the UK — time can be very short. You don’t know what’s around the corner do you?” With the utmost tragic timing, an alert flashes on my iPhone screen, informing me of the death of Kraftwerk legend Florian Schneider, who I learn has passed away from his battle with cancer. Absolutely destroyed, I tell Hook, who reflects, “There you go Phillip. A prime example isn’t it? Life can be very short. Too short … and not filled with harmony…” Hook knows a thing or two about harmony, both off stage and on it. The veteran musician, who laid do...
