Posts by Zach Johnson

This past Saturday (April 25th) in Las Vegas, a (fittingly) gray overcast sky greeted the tens of thousands of black-clad/angst-inclined humans that descended in droves upon the Las Vegas Fairgrounds. Which, of course, could only mean one thing: the annual Sick New World Festival was clearly back in town! Indeed, after taking a brief hiatus […]

Tuesday’s Gone – 2/17 Continuing our tribute to Peter Gabriel this week, for today’s Tuesday’s Gone, we’re throwing it all the way back to his original band Genesis by way of this characteristically mesmerizing performance of “Watcher of the Skies” from 1974. Here we find Gabriel decked out in full costume with fluorescent makeup and […]

Keeping the sensual vibes going in the run-up to Valentine’s Day this week, for today’s Tuesday’s Gone, we’re showcasing another band that might not be the first to come to mind when thinking of sounds that suit the season: Killing Joke. But when lead singer Jaz Coleman wasn’t crafting dystopian post-punk dirges that were often […]

Like it or not, Valentine’s week is here, which of course makes it the perfect occasion to spotlight some bands that have been known to indulge in some salaciously sensual subject matter over the years.  Take the late great Steve Albini for example, who was nothing if not a hopeless romantic as evidenced by such […]

Rounding out our salute to the late great Ian Dury this week, for today’s Weirdo Wednesday, we’ve dug up this peculiarly amusing video of the tongue-in-cheek “I Want To Be Straight” from 1980. Indeed, after cheeky introductions from each member of The Blockheads, the camera pans to a half-face-painted Dury, where he earnestly declares: “…and […]

“Sticking” with our tribute to the late great Ian Dury this week, for today’s Tuesday’s gone, we are spotlighting this classic performance of one his trademarked jams, the fantastically funky: “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick”. Indeed, as mentioned on yesterday’s Manic Monday, Dury was a master wordsmith who often enjoyed including playfully suggestive double-entendres […]

Anyone else out there find themselves dusting off their Kraftwerk records during the dark and icy recesses of winter? For this writer, the band’s infamously abstract, stoic, and mechanical variety of music has always been a fitting soundtrack for the often otherworldly conditions that typically characterize January in particular. And although Kraftwerk are primarily known […]

As we head into the final week of January with a good portion of the country trapped under a thick blanket of snow/ice and bitter cold, suffice it to say we have arrived smack dab in the dead of winter.  And while some folks might view such conditions as a wonderful “winter wonderland”, for the […]

Do you like jazz? Personally, that’s a question this writer has always somewhat struggled to answer. The short answer is: yes. The longer answer is, yes, I like the concept of jazz, it’s cool, it’s a vibe, it’s a headspace, it can be complex, it can be soothing, there’s a lot to like about it, […]

Let’s face it, Mondays can suck (especially dead-of-winter ones in January, no less). Which is why Manic Mondays were created to deliver something harsh, abrasive, and maybe a little mean to help jar everyone back into the weekly grind in a decidedly visceral fashion. So, in that spirit, we’re making it a Motörhead Manic Monday […]

Rounding-out our homage to Ministry’s underground 80s days, for today’s Weirdo Wednesday, we’re going all the way back to their very infancy as a band when they first hit the new-wave scene in 1983. In this remarkable video for “Revenge”, we get a lot of (somewhat amusing) close-up shots of a baby-faced Al Jourgensen singing […]

With the harsh, icy darkness of January now entirely upon us, this writer often finds himself reaching for some fittingly harsh, icy, and dark music to suit the season. And while there is certainly no shortage of moody bands that fit the bill on that front, perhaps there’s no better genre than industrial if you’re […]

For a special New Year’s Eve edition of Weirdo Wednesday, we’re throwing it all the way back to the dawning of the new millennium with this characteristically uncanny performance of “The Anchor Song” by Bjork from December 31, 1999. While the song has become a bit of a tradition around New Year’s Eve for Bjork […]

Continuing our spotlight on infamous New Year’s Eve gigs from yesteryear, for today’s Tuesday’s Gone, we’re serving up the Grateful Dead’s classic 1978 performance that effectively closed out the illustrious Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. After rousing opening sets from the New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Blues Brothers, the Dead didn’t even […]

With New Years’s Eve right around the corner, it seems fitting to revisit some classic NYE performances from yesteryear. Kicking things off on the Manic Monday front today, we’re serving up the Ramones legendary concert at the Rainbow Theater in London from December 31, 1977. The show became “It’s Alive” (titled after the 1974 horror […]

Continuing our seasonal salute to the holidays this week, for today’s Tuesday’s Gone, we’ve dug up this pure gold Johnny Cash Christmas special from way back in 1970. It’s a solid 40 minutes of hokey holiday goodness that includes a performance of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” with the Carter Family & Statler Bros, “Do […]

With only three more days left until Christmas, chances are you may already be fully into the holiday spirit (or perhaps beyond sick of it) at this point. But whatever your particular disposition around this time of year, this writer is here to help exasperate those feelings one way or the other with a few […]

Continuing our tribute to King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard this week, for today’s Tuesday’s Gone, we’re throwing it all the way back to their very infancy as a band with this fittingly lo-fi footage from their “Muckraker” video, circa 2012. At the time, the band had just dropped their debut album 12 Bar Bruise, […]

This week, we’ll be shining the spotlight on one of the most prolific, talented, and versatile bands to have sprung up over the past decade, Australia’s very own. Since their founding in 2010, they have produced an astounding twenty-seven studio albums (and counting), including five in 2017 and 2022. Perhaps even more impressive is the […]

On a typical mid-December Friday night in Chicago, many folks are out gallivanting around town, merrily partaking in all the holiday festivities the city has to offer. Yes, whether it’s attending holiday parties, hitting up Christkindlmarket, ice skating, indulging in rampant, shameless consumerism, or maybe just some festive (albeit cringe) caroling, there’s no shortage of […]