Here’s to Never Letting Avril Lavigne Grow Up on ‘Love Sux’
Capitalizing on early 2000s pop-punk nostalgia, Love Sux is an algorithm-appeasing record that feels like the most impersonal Avril Lavigne has ever been.
pop rock
Fefe Dobson Is Ready to Rock Again
Twelve years since her last album, Canadian pop-rock singer Fefe Dobson talks about her new music and speaks frankly about growing up in a music industry that wasn’t always on her side.
Fun’s ‘Some Nights’ at 10: A Predecessor to Conscientious Pop
The indie band fun.’s thoughtful pop songwriting on Some Nights ushered the music industry into the internet age and created a still-omnipresent legacy.
Tears For Fears Make a Resplendent Return on ‘The Tipping Point’
Tears For Fears’ The Tipping Point is exquisitely intimate, poppy, and multilayered, highlighting the deepest beauties of Smith and Orzabal’s partnership.
Andy Bell’s Solo Career Just Keeps Getting Better with ‘Flicker’
Andy Bell’s Flicker is the sound of a musician known primarily in shoegaze/Britpop circles who decided to make a singer-songwriter album, and it’s smashing.
The Wombats (Again) Deliver One Hell of a Dance-Rock ‘Fix’
After an extended break and freak TikTok hit, the Wombats are back at their dance-rocking best on Fix Yourself, Not the World.
‘Oh, You Pretty Thing’: David Bowie’s Glam Masterpiece ‘Hunky Dory’ Turns 50
David Bowie’s Hunky Dory is self-conscious about artifice and image. It maintains a resounding undercurrent of human longing for connection and recognition.
45 Years Later ‘Blondie’ Remains a Powerful Debut
Blondie’s first LP absorbed a wide range of influences and synthesized multiple genres, including surf pop, ’60s girl groups, mod rock, and even disco.
40th Anniversary Deluxe Editions Reinforce the Pretenders’ Place in Rock History
These 40th Anniversary Deluxe Editions provide a rich trove of material for Pretenders completists to pour over while we wait for that documentary.
Genesis Ride Into the Sunset With a Compilation to Cap Their Career
Genesis compilation The Last Domino? The Hits reminds us of a time when rock music, be it progressive, popular, both, or neither, was afraid to stay stagnant.
How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Fly: U2’s ‘Achtung Baby’ at 30
In 1991, U2 risked tearing down the structure they built in the 1980s with the release of Achtung Baby and made a phoenix-like return to rock god status.
ABBA’s ‘Voyage’ Is More Than Pretty Good
ABBA have pulled off a very good reunion album with Voyage despite the odds and expectations. The bar remains where they left it nearly 40 years ago.