Author: Thomas Inskeep

Pop Rock 

Easy For Her to Say: Linda Ronstadt’s Get Closer at 40

September 25, 2022September 25, 2022 Thomas Inskeep 0 Comments 1982, 40th Anniversary, Asylum Records, Billy Joe Shaver, Get Closer, Ike and Tina Turner, Jimmy Webb, Linda Ronstadt, Lindsey Buckingham, Peter Asher, The Exciters

The final mainstream pop album the iconic singer would make for seven years is a gleefully mixed bag 

Read more

Dance Pop 

Remix/Remodel: Assessing Madonna’s Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones

August 29, 2022August 29, 2022 Thomas Inskeep 8 Comments Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, Give Me All Your Luvin, holiday, Jump, Like A Virgin, LMFAO, Lucky Star, Madonna, Rhino, Shep Pettibone

The (former) Queen of Pop celebrates a record-setting tenure on the dance charts with a new, occasionally questionable compilation

Read more

Pop Remembrance 

It Was A Landslide: Olivia Newton-John, RIP

August 10, 2022August 10, 2022 Thomas Inskeep 0 Comments Billboard, Grease, Heart Attack, Hopelessly Devoted to You, Olivia Newton-John, Physical, RIP, Sandy, Twist Of Fate, VH-1, Xanadu

The British-Australian Dame with a remarkable career has died at 73

Read more

Music Journalism Pop 

Pop Top 40: Hot 100 Week Ending August 29, 1981

August 27, 2021August 27, 2021 Thomas Inskeep 0 Comments Diana Ross, Journey, Juice Newton, Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, Lionel Richie, Lulu, Pop Top 40, Stevie Nicks, The Commodores, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty

The month of MTV’s birth, the biggest singles in the U.S. didn’t exactly reflect the new cable channel

Read more

New Wave Pop 

It’s All in the Draw of the Cards: Mistaken Identity at 40

August 12, 2021August 12, 2021 Thomas Inskeep 3 Comments 1981, 40th Anniversary, Bette Davis Eyes, Draw of the Card, EMI, EMI America, Kim Carnes, Mistaken Identity, SiriusXM, Voyeur, Waddy Watchel

Looking back at Kim Carnes’s fluky #1 album, and her brief hit-making career

Read more

Dance Pop 

A Future Love Paradise: Seal at 30

July 22, 2021July 22, 2021 Thomas Inskeep 2 Comments 1991, 30th Anniversary, Acid House, Adamski, Crazy, Future Love Paradise, George Michael, Killer, Seal, Sire, Trevor Horn, Violet

His debut is still a stunner three decades later, and still the best Seal album

Read more

Music Journalism Radio Records 

LISTEN: I Got a Pride, You Got a Pride, Everybody Got a Pride (But This One’s Mine)

July 8, 2021July 8, 2021 Thomas Inskeep 1 Comment Diana Ross, Dog Park Dissidents, Erasure, Katy Perry, LGBTQ, Maxine Feldman, Nile Rodgers, Pride, Riot Grrl, RuPaul

A personal LGBTQ playlist for Pride Month 2021 – and beyond

Read more

Disco Funk Pop Soul 

Pop Top 40: Hot Soul Singles For The Week Ending February 28, 1981

April 7, 2021April 8, 2021 Thomas Inskeep 0 Comments A Taste of Honey, Disco, George Benson, Grover Washington Jr., Jermaine Jackson, Kool and the Gang, Pop, Pop Top 40, Smokey Robinson, Soul, The Gap Band, The Isley Brothers, The Jacksons, The Manhattans, The Sugar Hill Gang, Yarbrough & Peoples

40 years ago, post-disco R&B was on fire

Read more

Alternative Rock New Wave Soundtracks and Film Scores 

Left of Center: the Pretty in Pink Soundtrack at 35

March 3, 2021March 3, 2021 Thomas Inskeep 1 Comment INXS, John Hughes, Molly Ringwald, OMD, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Pretty In Pink, Prince and the Revolution, The Psychedelic Furs, The Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Whitney Houston

Director John Hughes’s curatorial powers got college rock higher than ever on the charts

Read more

Dance Electronic 

We Were The Robots: Daft Punk, RIP

February 23, 2021February 24, 2021 Thomas Inskeep 1 Comment Daft Punk, Discovery, France, Homework, Nile Rodgers, Paris, Pharrell Williams, Random Access Memories, RIP, Stevie Wonder, The KLF

Some personal notes on the French Touch icons

Read more

Music Journalism Radio 

Pop Top 40: CMJ Radio Top 20, January 25, 1991

January 30, 2021January 30, 2021 Thomas Inskeep 1 Comment Buffalo Tom, Butthole Surfers, Daniel Ash, Danielle Dax, Happy Mondays, Jane's Addiction, KMFDM, Lush, Nine Inch Nails, Ride, Sisters of Mercy, The Blake Babies, The Charlatans, The Connells, The Cure, The Pogues, Trash Can Sinatras

As ‘91 began, these were the late-’90 records that college radio was spinning

Read more

Fusion Indie Rock jazz Post-Hardcore 

Taut But Never Tame: Millions Now Living Will Never Die at 25

January 27, 2021January 27, 2021 Thomas Inskeep 1 Comment 1996, 25th Anniversary, David Pajo. Slint, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire, Spiderland, Thrill Jockey, Tortoise

The second Tortoise album made the Chicagoans icons of post-rock

Read more

Holiday 

Christmas Present(s): 2020 Holiday Album Roundup 

December 17, 2020December 17, 2020 Thomas Inskeep 0 Comments A Holly Dolly Christmas, A Very Chilly Christmas, Carrie Underwood, Chilly Gonzales, Christmas, Christmas Albums, Dolly Parton, Goo Goo Dolls, My Gift, Shaggy

What’s notable in this year’s crop of Christmas+ albums?

Read more

adblock Alternative Rock Art Pop Electronic Hip Hop New Wave Pop Rock 

Well, Did You Evah: Red Hot + Blue at 30

December 16, 2020December 16, 2020 Thomas Inskeep 0 Comments 30th Anniversary, AIDS, Cole Porter, Fine Young Cannibals, Jimmy Somerville, Jody Watley, Jungle Brothers, Les Negresses Vertes., LGBTQ, Red Hot + Blue, Red Hot Organization, Salif Keita, Sinead O'Connor, The Pogues, Tom Waits, U2

The Red Hot Organization was launched in 1990 with a Cole Porter tribute album

Read more

Alternative Rock Music Journalism 

Pop Top 40: Modern Rock Tracks for the Week Ending March 24, 1990

April 1, 2020April 1, 2020 Thomas Inskeep 1 Comment Adam Ant, Cowboy Junkies, Depeche Mode, Electronic, Michael Penn, Midnight Oil, Oingo Boingo, Peter Murphy, Pop, Robert Palmer, Sinead O'Connor, Social Distortion, The Beloved, The Blue Nile, The Church, The Cramps, The Creatures, The Smithereens

This is as peak “Poppy Bush Interzone” as it gets

Read more