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The 50 Best Albums of 1982
Looking back at 1982 in music, the headline is obvious: Thriller Sells A Bajillion Copies, Becomes World’s Biggest Album. But is it the year’s best album? Funny enough, Michael Jackson‘s sixth LP hardly even affected the charts that year — it snuck out in late November, just as Men at Work’s 1981 blockbuster, Business as Usual, began its commercial stranglehold in the U.S. Only one record on our list, Fleetwood Mac‘s chart-targeted Tusk follow-up, Mirage, hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200. (Doesn’t it seem weird, looking back, that Prince‘s 1999 peaked at No. 9?) Lots of fascinating shit was happening in 1982, and you didn’t always find it on the radio. On our list, we included everything from early hip-hop (Grandmaster Flash) to horror-punk (Misfits) to lo-fi synth-pop (Solid Space). Revisit...
106 Musicians Predict the 2022 Baseball Season
The powers-that-be did their best to prevent this year’s Major League Baseball season from happening, but, alas, we’re back. By we, I mean the annual SPIN baseball preview. As usual, everyone (or almost everyone) is optimistic about their team’s chances in 2022. In 2021, a good chunk of the season was played with minimal fans in attendance, but things should be mostly back to normal this year. As I said last year about the season: Will it be weird? Probably. But aren’t they all? If it wasn’t a weird season with bizarre injuries, what kind of season would it be? Not baseball, Suzyn. Somehow, we almost doubled the number of participants from 62 to 105. Maybe we go for a cool 162 next year? If nothing else, we know that musicians love America’s Pastime (even if many feel that it doesn’t love ...
Dave Grohl’s Daughter Violet Joins X Onstage to Sing ‘Nausea’
Dave Grohl‘s daughter Violet came full circle last night when she performed “Nausea” onstage with X during their long-awaited show at the Greek Theater to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Los Angeles. Earlier this year, Dave and Violet released a recorded cover of the song that they ended up performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and keyboard player Greg Kurstin. Violet also joined Foo Fighters onstage during their Lollapalooza set to play the cover. Before releasing the cover, Dave revealed that X’s drummer DJ Bonebrake is actually a distant relative of his. That revelation contributed to his project with Violet. “I then had an idea that elaborated even further on the concept of inspiration and fam...
62 Musicians Predict the 2021 Baseball Season
Somehow, some way, it’s baseball season again. Yes, already. Last year’s abbreviated run saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Tampa Bay Rays in six games to win their first World Series title in 32 years, something that Ben Gibbard predicted in our 2020 preview. As you can imagine, Dodgers fans — especially the ones below — are in great spirits heading into the 2021 season. So what does that mean about this year? Absolutely nothing. As COVID restrictions start to loosen and with more fans allowed back into stadiums, excitement is beginning to buzz, especially with our group of experts. Like last time, many are hopeful that this will be their team’s year. We searched far and wide to get predictions for the upcoming Major League Baseball season, creating a proper barometer of what these su...
X Release Two B-Sides From Last Year’s Alphabetland
In a year of chaos, one of the best things that happened was when L.A. punk veterans X surprise-released a new album with their original members. Alphabetland was the ripping album we needed in the early pandemic days and thankfully, a few new tunes from those sessions have emerged. On Tuesday morning, X revealed B-sides “True Love, Pt. 3” and “Strange Life,” with the latter song featuring none other than the Doors’ Robby Krieger on slide guitar. “Robby came down on our last day in the studio and played on ‘Strange Life’. How fitting and how wondrous! And can there ever be enough ‘True Love’?” Exene Cervenka said in a statement. “Writing this reminds me of how much fun it was being in the studio with Rob Schnapf. He is a great producer and really helped make Alphabetland&nbs...
X Get Clips and Pix From Fans for New ‘I Gotta Fever’ Video
X are celebrating their 43-year career in their new video for “I Gotta Fever,” off their latest album Alphabetland. It’s the L.A. band’s first studio release in 27 years and the first with their original line-up in the past 35 years. To make the video as special as the album, the quartet enlisted the help of their fans and included various clips and photos that devotees have sent to X over the years. “This year has been so hard on everyone, not just musicians but fans, too. And our fans have been so loyal and amazing to us for over 40 years, we wanted to include them in this video,” X said in a statement. “We’re grateful every day that we get to make music and tour, we can’t wait to get back out there to see you all!” Billy Zoom emphasizes the gratitude, saying, “The show ha...
28 Musicians Predict the 2020 Baseball Season
Against all odds and the advice of many virologists, the 2020 MLB season is finally underway. Whether that’s a good idea in the midst of a pandemic is beside the point because it’s happening. Baseball is back, albeit in a much stranger fashion than anyone could have imagined when spring training began in February (which may as well have been 1923). With a 60-game season looming and a bunch of bizarre rule changes in effect (universal DH, runner starting on second base in extra innings, expanded rosters, and more playoff teams), the season is set to be the most unpredictable in years. You know who else is stoked about the season finally starting? Musicians. There’s always been a romanticism between artists and baseball that makes perfect sense. Thus, we’ve summoned a panel of baseball...
The 30 Best Albums of 2020 (So Far)
On one hand, who can think about stuff as trivial as this? On the other, what else is there to do? If art was made to fill a cultural vacuum, well… now’s the fucking time, buddy. Hopefully, you’ve been binging every show, reading every book, repainting every bathroom you’ve been putting off. Hopefully, when (and if) we make it out of quarantine alive, we’ll be able to look forward to better things. For now, we still have music. Some of the great albums and EPs below demand your full and undivided attention. Some of them demand to intensify your workout or gaming session. Mostly they just sound good, and you should pair them with whatever activities music enhances for you. Even sleep; lord knows that could be improved upon. Others will keep you wide awake. If any of these albums make you th...
