reviews

Thanks to whoever thought my retro-review of Chinese Democracy was worth linking to in Wikipedia. Hopefully they’ll start citing my “Career Killers” series more.

Biz Markie’s career never recovered after a copyright lawsuit over sampling.

Lip syncing and not performing on albums are nothing new. But when Milli Vanilli did it, people lost their minds.

Nothing splits up a band faster or more effectively than money.

Gary Barlow was supposed to be the next George Michael. Compared to Robbie Williams, he might as well have been Andrew Ridgeley. What happened?

How an iconic, generation-defining song helped break up the band that recorded it.

Eric Clapton’s re-invention as a COVID-skeptic and anti-vaxxer has spilled into his music.

Garth Brooks conquered country. Then he tried to cross over into pop-rock. Kind of. It’s still really confusing — even 22 years later.

Pearl Jam was about to be the next U2 or Led Zeppelin. But then they took a page out of Neil Young’s book.

The Cars tried to go back-to-basics with “Door to Door.” Instead, they broke up for decades.