Posts by Zach Johnson

For a special St. Patrick’s Day edition of Manic Monday, it only seems fitting to pay tribute to perhaps the greatest punk band to emerge from Ireland over the years: The Pogues. Fronted by the late great Shane MacGowen, The Pogues made a name for themselves in the 80s with their authentic and distinctive folk-punk […]

After Brian James effectively helped birth punk-rock as a founding member of The Damned, a few years later he found himself handling guitar duties for the somewhat obscure supergroup known as The Lords of the New Church, which launched in 1981. Granted, “supergroup” might be a slightly generous term, but the band nonetheless consisted of […]

In honor of the late great Brian James (who passed away last week at 70), we’ll be spotlighting some of his most significant contributions to the world of punk and rock and roll over the years. And without a doubt, his guitar playing on The Damned’s classic debut album Damned Damned Damned (released way back […]

Continuing our tribute to the recently departed David Johansen, as alluded to on yesterday’s Manic Monday, it’s really hard to overstate just how pioneering and brash the New York Dolls were when they first burst onto the scene with their classic self-titled debut album way back in 1973. The term proto-punk gets tossed around a […]

In case you haven’t already heard the news, David Johansen sadly passed away last Saturday (2/28) at the age of 75 after fighting a long/private battle with brain cancer. Perhaps best known as the frontman of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls, it’s tough to overstate his impact on rock and roll history […]

Rounding out our tribute to Stax Records this week, today we’re paying tribute to perhaps the label’s most entertaining artist, the late great Rufus Thomas. Granted, Stax had plenty of raw, talented, and “entertaining” artists, but Rufus certainly stood out from the pack thanks in large part to his notoriously animated and comedic flair that […]

As captured in the fantastic HBO Documentary on Stax Records released last year, the classic Memphis soul label had no shortage of legends in its 1960s heyday. Indeed, everyone from Otis Redding to Booker T. & the MG’s (who were the original house band of Stax), to Sam & Dave, and of course, The Staple […]

For yesterday’s Tuesday’s Gone selection, the late Jimmy Ruffin asked, “What Comes of the Broken Hearted?”. And for today’s Weirdo Wednesday, another late great legend from yesteryear offers a potentially profound answer. Well, maybe not so much an “answer” per se, but a different perspective at least. Indeed, according to Frank Zappa, it doesn’t really […]

Some folks deal with heartbreak better than others. On the one hand, it can conjure up a lot of raw, angry emotions, which may or may not lead you to write a bitter and spiteful 12+ minute goth-rock opus about it (see yesterday’s Manic Monday for example). But on the opposite end of the spectrum, […]

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, it’s officially that special time of the year filled with flowers, heart-shaped everything, and a generally simplistic/romanticized celebration of “love” everywhere you go. But as most folks eventually find out one way or another, love can be a complicated, fleeting thing, often ending in disappointment, heartbreak, and sorrow (Happy Monday, […]

Continuing our spotlight on the late great David Bowie this week, let’s a take a look at this artistically intense video for “Sense of Doubt” off his fantastic “Heroes” album from 1977. A strikingly ominous instrumental track, in conjures up a foreboding sense of dread in the listener that is palpably unsettling. It’s decidedly avant-garde […]

Sandwiched between David Bowie’s infamous glam-rock years and his more avant-garde Berlin trilogy of albums later in the 70s, we find the iconic frontman’s curious “blue-eyed soul” era. Perhaps more accurately described as “plastic soul” by the man himself, it saw Bowie exploring his love of classic R&B music and putting his own unique spin […]

While the words “heavy” and “David Bowie” aren’t synonymous, the late great Starman nonetheless produced his fair share of visceral material over the years. If you go back to the earliest days of his career, he incorporated a bit of heavy-metal flavor into some of his tunes, namely on songs like “Width of a Circle”, […]

Continuing our spotlight on Swans this week, for today’s Weirdo Wednesday, we’re fast-forwarding to the band’s stellar second act that took flight in the 2010s. For those not privy, Swans had seemingly broke-up for good shortly after releasing their magnum opus Soundtracks for the Blind circa 1997. One listen to that strikingly dark, mind-fuck of […]

You’re by chance relatively new to Swans, or perhaps only familiar with their pulverizing/bleak early material (see yesterday’s Manic Monday, for example); it might surprise you that their sound evolved considerably in a relatively short amount of time. Indeed, Swans have gone through many different eras, each one compelling in their distinct way. The band […]

Pop quiz: who was the heaviest band of the 80s? If you’re tempted to respond to that question with some of the usual suspects from heavy metal or hardcore punk, please try again. In this writer’s (not particularly humble) opinion, the correct answer is Swans. Granted, music is often a highly subjective experience, and “heavy” […]

Continuing our 21st-century Trent tribute this week, with all the excitement around NIN’s upcoming tour this year, it’s reasonable to speculate about a potential new album as well. And while Trent has confirmed the band is indeed working on new material, whether or not that coalesces into a new album in 2025 is anyone’s guess. […]

Yesterday’s Manic Monday spotlighted one of the many highlights from perhaps the best Nine Inch Nails album post-The Downward Spiral, the brilliantly conceptual (and somewhat prophetic) Year Zero, which was released in 2007. But not to be overlooked was the subsequent companion piece to that album, which was released (for free via download at the […]

Is anyone else out there excited to see Nine Inch Nails live in 2025? To help get everyone rightfully amped for their forthcoming “Peel It Back” tour (which will be their first proper world tour since 2018), we’ll be spotlighting some choice NIN performances this week from eras that probably deserve a bit more attention. […]

Identifying the weirdest part of Brian Eno’s career depends a lot on your definition of “weird”. Was it his decadent and glammy Roxy Music days in the early 70s, or perhaps the inherently cerebral nature of his abstract ambient records to come later in the decade and beyond? For this writer, the answer has always […]