How Not to Write About Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is playing Cowboys Stadium on Saturday. Here are some important facts about Taylor Swift: 1. She made $57 million from May 2011 to May 2012, making her the highest-paid musician under 30 in that time period. 2. Her latest album, Red, has sold over 5 million copies since…

The 15 Greatest Original Film Scores From the Past Decade

Established musicians composing film scores is nothing new. Some of the best scores of the last 50 some odd years have come from pop stars: Dylan’s score for Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Danny Elfman’s whole career and Queen’s legendary Flash Gordon score. With the rise of various indie…

Why Are Old-School Electronic Artists Annoyed With EDM?

Credit: Timothy NorrisBroadly speaking, if you’re an electronic music fan over 40, you probably dig Danny Tenaglia more than Skrillex. And chances are, if you’re a Skrillex fan under the age of 30, you’re like, “Who the hell is Danny Tenaglia?” Coachella 2013 exemplified the generation gap in the world…

How Music is Helping Me Fight Cancer

Lindsey BestAndrew Youssef [Editor’s Note: Longtime concert photographer Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV Colon Cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for our sister paper OC Weekly on top of other freelance work and working a…

Do Mexicans Love Guns as Much as We Do?

Dear Mexican: Like many Americans, I’ve heard about the “Fast and Furious” scandal in which our own ATF was shown to be corrupt and guilty of supplying guns that ended up in the hands of the drug cartels. I also recently saw a report about the violence in Mexico, and…

So Long, Suhm

I knew some people whose only kid went off to college. Tears, blubbering, World War II refugee-style moving day with boxes lashed to the top of the car, the whole nine yards. So now the kid’s gone. They don’t just clean up his room. They don’t just clean out his…

The Ten Best American Hardcore Punk Albums

Seeing that a form of Black Flag is touring right now (and playing Trees on Friday), we thought it a good time to investigate American hardcore punk rock. For all practical purposes, the beginning of hardcore in the states happened in the early 80’s. While many hardcore acts were inspired…

Christian Chavarria Educates and Inspires Young Singers

Christian Chavarria is a talented jazz musician, and former UNT Jazz student, who has become so tireless in his trek to grow, produce and expose young artists he’s had to backburner his own projects for now. Chavarria has been working under vocal coach Linda Septien (Jessica Simpson, Selena Gomez) at…

How to Know When It’s Time to Quit Your Band

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to…

Why Kanye West May Prove to Be the Perfect Punk Rock Rapper

This weekend Kanye West released two new singles off his upcoming album, Yeezus, in the most grandiose possible fashion. On Friday, he announced the video for his newest single, “New Slaves,” would be projected onto 66 buildings across six cities around the world in one night. Crowds gathered by the…

Ask Willie D: Kids Today are Out of Line Because Adults are Spineless

Photo courtesy of Peter BesteWelcome to Ask Willie D, where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, “funny, serious or unpredictable.” Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! LONG DISTANCE LOVE FADING Dear Willie D: I’m in a long-distance relationship with a good man,…

Man, I Used to Really Love Dave Matthews Band

In September 2000, a few days before Dave Matthews Band played with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at Coca-Cola Starplex, I got into a car accident turning onto Inwood Road from Walnut Hill. My ’99 Explorer was crunched, and the woman I hit injured her arm. I sat on the…

Last Shot: Time Is Running Out

Lindsey BestAndrew Youssef [Editor’s Note: Longtime concert photographer Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV Colon Cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for our sister paper OC Weekly on top of other freelance work and working a…

Eazy-E and Ol’ Dirty Bastard Holograms will Headline Rock the Bells. We’re More Excited About Snow Tha Product

Rock The Bells season is officially here. This Tuesday, promoters Guerilla Union held their launch party/press conference for this year’s festival. Hosted by HOT97’s Peter Rosenberg, the festivities started off with the longstanding tradition of freestyle extraordinaire MC Supernatural rapping the 2013 lineup. Seated on stage with the likes Black…

Everything’s Better with an O

Dear Mexican: Where did the notion of adding an -o to the end of an English word and assuming it makes it a Spanish word come from? Juanito Dear Wab: “Anglos have long held power in making Spanish and Spanish-speaking culture invisible,” writes University of South Florida foreign language professor…