Robert Loss is an assistant professor in the Writing, Literature, and Philosophy department at Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD) in Columbus, Ohio. He is the author of Nothing Has Been Done Before: Seeking the New in 21st Century American Popular Music (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017). His music criticism and journalism have been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Public Books, and Ghettoblaster. Visit him at www.nothinghasbeendonebefore.com.
"Hell You Talmbout" and "Cry No More" are a new kind of protest song that reintroduces traditional minimalism and congregational singing into this contemporary moment.
Complicated, fabulous and deeply progressive, Angels in America may be more pressing and relevant in the time of SCOTUS' decision on marriage equality than it was during the height of the AIDS crises.
Nostalgia has its uses, its benefits. But is it useful and beneficial when it obscures the reality of the past and present, usually in the service of power, prestige, and making a buck?
There are times when you hear Kurt Cobain sing that you believe no other voice has ever told the truth about suffering. But it's more complicated than that, isn't it?