Opinion
Essays, takes, and arguments worth arguing about.
The Number Ones: The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber’s “Stay”
The post The Number Ones: The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber’s “Stay” appeared first on Stereogum .
The Alternative Number Ones: Live’s “Lakini’s Juice”
The post The Alternative Number Ones: Live’s “Lakini’s Juice” appeared first on Stereogum .
The Bizarre Pilgrimage Of Chariots Overdrive
The band Tang Dynasty started in 1989, when New York-born Chinese American guitarist Kaiser Kuo moved back to the country of his parents' birth. (The actual Tang Dynasty began in 618 AD.) Before the modern internet, culture didn't flow as freely between China and the rest of the
Noah Kahan’s Not-That-Unlikely Everyman Stardom
How famous can a musician become and still seem like he isn't? How much musical precedent must exist — how many artists like you, coming before you — before an artist's ascent is no longer "unlikely"? These are the questions Noah Kahan's The Great Divide had me asking. The post N
The Number Ones: BTS’ “Permission To Dance”
The post The Number Ones: BTS’ “Permission To Dance” appeared first on Stereogum .
Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman Reviews The New Gary Stewart Biography I Am From The Honky-Tonks
Acclaimed biographer Jimmy McDonough's new book Gary Stewart: I Am From The Honky-Tonks goes deep into the rough-and-tumble life of Stewart, one of country music's unsung greats. My own first exposure to Stewart came via an incredible cover of his song "She's Actin' Single (I'm D
The Alternative Number Ones: U2’s “Discothèque”
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Every Hardcore Show Can Be Somebody’s Transformative Experience
Let me tell you about my friend Bryan. Great guy. Big music head. He goes and sees live music all the time now. He loves stuff like Silversun Pickups and Tune-Yards and Gogol Bordello. Last year, he and I went and saw David Byrne together. That was a good night. I know Bryan beca
The Number Ones: BTS’ “Butter”
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The Alternative Number Ones: Garbage’s “#1 Crush”
The post The Alternative Number Ones: Garbage’s “#1 Crush” appeared first on Stereogum .
Lividus Lives: The Return Of Uta Plotkin
From 2009 to 2014, Uta Plotkin was the vocalist for the Portland band Witch Mountain. Those years in American doom had the shape of a miniature heavy metal epoch. A half-decade is an eternity in scene years: The term "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" was coined in 1979, and that
Shinichi Atobe Was Keeping Quiet Long Before Silent Way
For decades, Shinichi Atobe was considered shadowy. Until last May, the 50-something Japanese artist had not been interviewed. He seldom performs, save for the occasional appearance at a space near his apartment in Saitama — such as WWW in Tokyo or the FFKT festival. “When I list
The Number Ones: Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U”
The post The Number Ones: Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” appeared first on Stereogum .
WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, Best Album For The Moment: Why Slayyyter’s Breaking Through After A Decade Of Trying
Back in the days of pre-enshittified Tumblr, there was a blog called Pop Culture Died In 2009. The now-dormant account, run by blogger Matt James, dug into his mom's back issues of Star Magazine and the remnants of Web 1.0 gossip sites on the Internet Archive to surface old tablo
1976 – The Year Jazz Fusion Died
I really want to write a book about fusion. Not just as a specific musical genre, but as an ethos. Because the music of the six-year span from 1969 to 1975, which I often feel was the best era for music, period, was almost entirely defined by the values of fusion: technological a
The Alternative Number Ones: Bush’s “Swallowed”
The post The Alternative Number Ones: Bush’s “Swallowed” appeared first on Stereogum .
“drop dead”: Gorgeous
It’s a hit. That’s my first takeaway from "drop dead." There’s a lot to say about the lead single from Olivia Rodrigo’s third LP, but first and foremost it does what a lead single is supposed to do, drilling itself into your brain immediately. After one listen this morning, the c
Moshing Through Loss At United Blood
United Blood festival 2026. The Canal Club in Richmond, Virginia. Lots of dudes who kind of look like Zach Bryan. Lots of high fades with tattoos on the sides of scalps. An impressive number of really beautiful women, even though dudes make up the vast majority of the crowd. Fade
The Number Ones: The Weeknd & Ariana Grande’s “Save Your Tears (Remix)”
The post The Number Ones: The Weeknd & Ariana Grande’s “Save Your Tears (Remix)” appeared first on Stereogum .
Welcome To Lucid Nap Time With Earl & MIKE
Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE are two of the best, most consistent lyricists of the 2020s, but they’ve never been pretentious enough to try proving it — at least, not outside their individual albums. The post Welcome To Lucid Nap Time With Earl & MIKE appeared first on Stereogum .
The Alternative Number Ones: Sublime’s “What I Got”
The post The Alternative Number Ones: Sublime’s “What I Got” appeared first on Stereogum .
Heavy Listening At Big Ears
I didn’t see Dave Lombardo play at Big Ears. When I was figuring out a way to get myself to Knoxville for the city’s annual modern and experimental music festival, the former Slayer drummer’s appearances with a pair of different John Zorn projects figured heavily into my thinking
Jeff Mills’ Liquid Room Victory Lap
Jeff Mills is a titanic force in techno. As a child in 1980s Detroit, he was introduced to jazz and blues, joining industrial acts as a teenager. "You're always connected to the city you're born in," he muses. "Everything that I learned about music — all the different styles and
The Number Ones: Polo G’s “Rapstar”
The post The Number Ones: Polo G’s “Rapstar” appeared first on Stereogum .
The Inevitable, Confusing Return Of BTS
If Jay Z hadn't already written the line "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man," the rappers of BTS probably would have. The band's four-year hiatus — an inevitability, as South Korea requires all men between ages 18 to 35 to temporarily serve in the military — has brought
The Alternative Number Ones: Eels’ “Novocaine For The Soul”
The post The Alternative Number Ones: Eels’ “Novocaine For The Soul” appeared first on Stereogum .
Monica Is Jack Harlow’s Identity Crisis. It’s Also His Best Album.
About eight years ago, Jack Harlow trolled the fuck out of me. Or, at least, it felt like he did. Visiting XXL’s midtown Manhattan office for a video freestyle, pre-glow-up Jack — glasses, unwieldy curly hair and all — sat down in our video room with his publicist for a listening
The Number Ones: Silk Sonic’s “Leave The Door Open”
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The Alternative Number Ones: 311’s “Down”
The post The Alternative Number Ones: 311’s “Down” appeared first on Stereogum .
Angel Du$t Are One Of The Best Rock Bands In The World
Ten years ago, Justice Tripp made the fateful decision not to sing a great hardcore song. Tripp was up onstage with has band Angel Du$t at Washington, DC's St. Stephen's Church, a local institution that's been hosting punk shows for decades. (Fugazi's second show was at St. Steph
Read An Exclusive Excerpt From Ani DiFranco’s New Book The Spirit Of Ani
Tomorrow, Ani DiFranco's new book The Spirit Of Ani hits the shelves. Following her 2019 memoir No Walls And The Recurring Dream , The Spirit Of Ani finds the legendary musician and activist in conversation with cultural anthropologist Lauren Coyle Rosen. The post Read An Exclusi
The Number Ones: Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”
The post The Number Ones: Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” appeared first on Stereogum .
Welcome To Worm’s Necropalace
In late 2022, not long after the release of Worm’s Bluenothing EP, project mastermind Phantom Slaughter thought he was being phished. Someone claiming to be Marty Friedman, the former Megadeth and Cacophony guitarist and trailblazing solo artist, had apparently just heard the rec