Serge Gainsbourg
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Sometimes you’re the windshield; sometimes you’re the bug. This bit of philosophical wisdom was imparted to me long ago by a guy whose name I don’t remember, nor can I recall the breakup. I suspect that in this case, I was the windshield. Indeed, sometimes a romantic breakup feels like ballast thrown overboard so your ship can sail, baby, sail. And sometimes, breakups pierce the heart and wound the spirit forevermore. This is the stuff of poets and songwriters — the “see ya” and “ciao” and “so long” to lost amours. or maybe the ones you didn’t appreciate until they walked out that door. Now you’re sorry. So classic. Breakup songs have always been about the important things like love won, then love gone. Sometimes breakups are wistful and sometimes they’re full-on insane, and on some occasi...
The 13 Best Make-Out Songs
Making out is timeless — kisses rev up the romantic mood and stir the spirit, if not the loins. Make-out songs contain multitudes too, like the one playing when you sync with that special someone, or the tune that nano-second sucks you right back to high school when you held your teenage crush in a mind-blowing embrace. Perchance you remember making out on the disco floor when the wild tsunami rush of sensuality and freedom hit you, lights strobed and “J’taime” raced your heartbeat as Jane Birkin breathily simulated pleasure to Serge’s song written in homage to his affair with Brigitte Bardot. They had their song. We have “our” song — the one that’s seared into memory and flesh. Or the song you’ll play tonight when the mood lights dim. In homage to these classic make-out tunes, one must me...
The 50 Best Albums of 1971
It’s become a cliché, even for post-Baby Boomers, to look back wistfully on the early ’70s as some kind of untouchable golden age for popular music. But when you survey all the era’s best albums in list form, it’s hard not to trust that instinct. I mean…holy shit. In 1971, the psychedelic era hadn’t completely wilted; prog was nearing its popularity apex; Motown was still a revolutionizing soul music; the folk-rock movement was in full flight. The possibilities were limitless. You know it’s a banner year when 50 albums don’t begin to scratch the surface — when both John Lennon and Paul McCartney release definitive LPs and neither make the top 10. Was 1971 the greatest album year ever? We’ll save that debate for another time (or maybe another list). For now, we present 50 stone-cold cl...
