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The Dream and the Curse
In Greil Marcus's brilliant new book, America goes on trial, and its artists are the judges.
September 8, 2006 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Mad Love
Remembering Arthur Lee -- psychedelic prophet, proto-punk innovator, cracked genius.
August 16, 2006 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Have You Heard the Word?
Karl Wallinger, mastermind behind World Party, is back from the near-dead with beautiful music and unsettling omens from the recent past.
June 16, 2006 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Look at Those Stupid Girls
Pink's controversial single is an alarmist satire on a fleeting fashion. That doesn't mean it's wrong.
May 12, 2006 | By Devin McKinney | web only

God, This Guy's Good
Don't laugh -- the reggae, rap, and devotion that infuse Matisyahu's third album place him in an elite tradition of lofty style blenders.
April 16, 2006 | By Devin McKinney

Facing the Country Music
Late in their careers, Van Morrison and Neil Young take it back to Nashville.
March 3, 2006 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Idols True and False
Love it or hate it, the most popular reality show on TV does its bit for democracy.
February 3, 2006 | By Devin McKinney | web only

The John & Curtiss Show
How an all-American rock 'n' roll freak shook Minneapolis on the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death.
December 14, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Preoccupied With 1985
Albums from three artists extend the pop legacy of the Reagan decade.
December 9, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

That's Like Hypnotizing Chickens
What can you do about commercials that make great rock and roll songs into ad jingles? Why do anything?
October 28, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Series Of Clichés
Turns out that the Bob Dylan story, at least as chronicled by Martin Scorsese, isn't nearly as weird as you might have thought.
September 23, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

The Times We Never Had
The Rolling Stones' new album is their best in many years. There's something awfully sad about that.
September 9, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

The Soul of the Nation
Two singers grasp for signs of hope in the pop of the moment.
July 22, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Listening to The Monkey
On stage and on disc, Elvis Costello is still The Man. And The Monkey.
June 3, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

More Devils, Less Dust
Bruce Springsteen's new album raises a pressing question: Will the blue-collar rocker ever astonish us again?
May 6, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Playing the Game
Hype may be inevitable in pop music, but the recent "feud" between 50 Cent and The Game struck another blow for rap as social pathology, not musical creativity.
March 25, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Outside Influences
The New Creation and the Shaggs created their "outsider" music thousands of miles apart. So why do they sound so much alike?
March 4, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Pop Irony -- Past, Present, and Future
As a means of communication between artist and audience, irony can be an insult or a gift, an act of spite or an act of love.
January 5, 2005 | By Devin McKinney | web only

Other Voices, Other Countries
A variety of recent releases in which pop travels the globe and comes back as ... something it wasn't before.
December 17, 2004 | By Devin McKinney | web only

The Great Crank
Bob Dylan's Chronicles is a mystical ramble through the mind and memories of a pop superstar (and true-blue American eccentric).
October 29, 2004 | By Devin McKinney | web only

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