Zappagram #41
David Crosby passed away, Foo Fighters headline Boston Calling, and (shocker!) some people on the internet are stupid...
Hey friends,
Welcome back to this week’s edition. How are you? That’s not a rhetorical question. I’d love for you to hit reply (or leave a comment below) and tell me who you are, where you are, and how you are. Tell me how you found this newsletter, what you love about it, and what you’d like to see more of.
Our connections with one another matter, and I’m very grateful to each one of you for being here, so it’d be an honor to hear from you.
As you know, last week we lost the legendary David Crosby. His is a loss that hits hard for me and I’m sure the same is true for many of you. I’ve spent the last few days listening to his many solo albums, as well as his work with CSN&Y, CSN, Crosby/Nash, CPR, and The Byrds. Don’t get me started on all the work he did singing on other people’s stuff or we’ll be here forever. Point is, he left us one hell of a body of work. This weekend, I wrote about him. The link is featured below, but here it is for anyone who is put off by scrolling down and looking for it.
In other completely non-surprising news, certain people on the internet are fucking stupid. Allow me to explain:
This year, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon turns 50 years old. As part of the anniversary, the band has rebranded their social media channels with rainbow-centric artwork (taken from the original album cover. You know, the one that’s been around for 50 years?) Apparently, this has triggered an onslaught of homophobia from the mouthbreathing, knuckle-dragging bigot faction who are lashing out online, voicing their displeasure that Pink Floyd has now gone “woke.”
Roll your eyes. Shake your head. Mutter “what the actual fuck.” That’s what I did.
Okay, enough chit-chat. Take your protein pills. Put your helmet on.
Let’s do this shit…
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“The question isn’t how much time do we have left. The question is what are we going to do with that time.”
-David Crosby
SHOUT SHOUT
:: LET IT ALL OUT
WEEKLY PLAYLIST #41
:: GREAT MUSIC EVERY WEEK
Featuring: Twin Ritual • Old Moon • Breezy The Band • Honeyyycrush • WILSN • Everything But The Girl • Windser • The Waeve • Death Valley Girls • The Velvet Hands • Atticus Chimps • Proper Pet
MASTER PLAYLIST (ALL WEEKS)
RECENT ARTICLES
:: BY YOURS TRULY
Remembering Music Legend David Crosby
Once, in a tweet, I told him how I’d grown up listening to his music and how much it always meant to me. I thanked him. He liked the tweet…
Half a Century of Exile On Main Street
The classic album made in exile takes an inevitable journey to Main Street where it remains relevant fifty years on…
The Best Podcasts for Serious Music Lovers
If we’re not listening to music, we’re listening to people talk about music…
An Introduction to PJ Harvey
Exploring the many sides of a multifaceted artist…
The Greatest Band You Never Knew Was Named After a Dildo
Bring this up at your next dinner party…
MUSIC NEWS
:: WHAT’S GOING ON
David Crosby, Iconoclastic Rocker, Dead at 81
Croz was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. [RollingStone]
Foo Fighters Announce First Full Show Since Taylor Hawkins’ Death
The group will headline the Boston Calling festival on May 26, but has yet to confirm its new drummer. [Spin]
Van Conner Dies: Screaming Trees Bassist Was 55
The co-founding bassist who played on the band’s hits including “All I Know” and “Nearly Lost You,” died last Tuesday of pneumonia. [Billboard]
Wilco Announce Spring 2023 Tour of North America
The band just revealed a new slate of tour dates in support of their latest album, Cruel Country. [Pitchfork]
Pink Floyd Announce ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ 50th Anniversary Box Set
The set, out March 24, is available for pre-order now. [BrooklynVegan]
Alison Goldfrapp Launches Solo Career With Debut Single “Digging Deeper”
She describes the song as the soundtrack to "a blissed-out dancefloor on the island of my dreams." [NME]
Tool’s Danny Carey Announces Week-Long Residency With ‘Seth Meyers’ House Band
Catch the monster of a drummer behind the kit all this week. [Revolver]
Boygenius Announce New Album The Record, Share Three Songs
The supergroup of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus will release its debut LP, The Record, on March 31, via Interscope. [Pitchfork]
Axl Rose, Alanis Morissette, Billy Corgan and More Give Emotional Performances During Lisa Marie Presley Memorial
The livestream of the service is available to watch here. [Vimeo]
Dolly Parton Reveals Her Rock Album Will Feature Stevie Nicks, Paul McCartney, John Fogerty and More
Parton had previously said that the record, titled “Rock Star,” would be set to come out some time this year, although no official release date has been confirmed. [Variety]
Queen Launch 50-Week YouTube Series Celebrating Live Legacy
The first episode sees Brian May and Roger Taylor talk about their process in rehearsals. [NME]
Glenn Danzig Announces “Danzig Sings Elvis” Concert
The show is set for Feb 10th at The Montalbán in Hollywood. [Consequence]
Sade Inducted Into Songwriters Hall of Fame
Other 2023 inductees include Snoop Dogg, Gloria Estefan, and new jack swing originator Teddy Riley. [Pitchfork]
Marshall Tucker, Namesake of The Marshall Tucker Band, Dies at 99
The man who gave the Marshall Tucker Band their name, died on Jan. 20 at the age of 99. [AmericanSongwriter]
LINKS OF NOTE
:: MAY OR MAY NOT BE MUSIC-RELATED
David Crosby Almost Made a Post-Apocalyptic Hippie Film in 1971—Until Being Given an Ultimatum by United Artists
The film project was halted at the last minute when the studio asked for Crosby’s song's publishing rights as collateral. [AVClub]
Synth Repairman Accidentally Gets High After Touching Old LSD on a Vintage ’60s Synthesizer
The strain was possibly from Owsley Stanley, the Grateful Dead's notorious sound engineer. [Consequence]
Taylor Swift’s Cat Olivia Benson Is Richer Than All of Us
The pop star's beloved feline Olivia Benson has an estimated net worth of $97 million, according to a new list. Stop the planet. I want off. [RollingStone]
A Guide to Psychobilly in 25 Songs
You can’t go wrong with The Cramps, Misfits, and Batmobile. [FarOut]
At 80, John Cale Is Still Inventing His Future and Wrestling With His Past
The Velvet Underground co-founder's first album in a decade features collaborations with innovative new artists and songs about his legendary peers. [RollingStone]
RECOMMENDATIONS
:: WORTHY OF YOUR TIME
My friend Jacob Givens runs a killer podcast called Waterproof Records with Jacob Givens which I highly recommend for anyone who loves music, and specifically for those who love explorations of great 90s bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, and the like.
###
Perhaps my favorite music journalist of all time, Amanda Petrusich, is currently a staff writer for The New Yorker. In this piece, Amanda does the deepest of deep-dives on Metallica as they fiercely enter their fourth decade as a band, still kicking ass and taking names.
###
From producer Cameron Crowe, David Crosby: Remember My Name reflects on Crosby's life of music stardom, while forging new paths to relevancy at his age of 77 in this deeply personal documentary. Watch the trailer here.
NEW RELEASES
:: RECENTLY DROPPED MUSIC
Gemma Ray [listen]
Gemma Ray & The Death Bell Gang
Guided By Voices [listen]
La La Land
Honeyyycrush [listen]
I Want It To Be Light So They Can See We Disappeared
John Cale [listen]
Mercy
Mac DeMarco [listen]
Five Easy Hot Dogs
Måneskin [listen]
Rush!
Proper Pet [listen]
Mirror
RELEASE RADAR
:: UPCOMING RELEASES
- JAN 27 -
Aoife O’Donovan: The Apathy Sessions
The Arcs: Electrophonic Chronic
Elle King: Come Get Your Wife
Green Day: Nimrod (25th Anniversary Edition)
Hammock: Love In The Void
Kimbra: A Reckoning
King Tuff: Smalltown Stardust
Meg Baird: Furling
New Order: Low-Life (Definitive Edition Box Set)
Patchnotes: Endless Surrender
Pelican: City of Echoes
Twin Ritual: - New Single -
- JAN 31 -
The Smashing Pumpkins: ATUM – Act 2
- FEB 3 -
Korn: Requiem Mass
The Waeve: The Waeve
The Velvet Hands: Sucker
WILSN: Those Days Are Over
Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy
- FEB 10 -
El Ten Eleven: Valley of Fire
Mogwai: Mogwai Young Team (Remastered)
Paramore: This Is Why
The Rolling Stones: GRRR Live!
Tennis: Pollen
Yo La Tengo: This Stupid World
- FEB 14 -
Caroline Polachek: Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
- FEB 16 -
Slow Fiction: Slow Fiction EP
- FEB 24 -
Algiers: Shook
Death Valley Girls: Islands in the Sky
Gorillaz: Cracker Island
Neutral Milk Hotel: The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel
Philip Selway: Strange Dance
ON THIS DATE
:: MUSICAL HAPPENINGS OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
- JAN 23 -
Birthdays: Django Reinhardt (1910) • Danny Federici of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band (1950) • Robin Zander of Cheap Trick (1953) • Singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke (1964) • Nick Harmer, bassist of Death Cab for Cutie (1975) • David Bowie released his tenth studio album Station to Station, which was the vehicle for his last great character, the Thin White Duke. (1976) • Terry Kath, best known as the original guitarist and founding members of Chicago, accidentally shot himself dead. (1978)
- JAN 24 -
Birthdays: Neil Diamond & Aaron Neville (1941) • Warren Zevon (1947) • Jools Holland (1955) • New Jersey state prosecutors issue a warning to U.S. record dealers that they would be charged with distributing pornography if they were caught selling the John Lennon / Yoko Ono LP Two Virgins. The front cover of the album showed the pair frontally nude, while the back cover showed them from behind. (1969) • Butch Trucks, drummer of The Allman Brothers Band, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at the age of 69. (2017)
- JAN 25 -
Birthdays: Etta James (1938) • Alicia Keys (1981) • After changing their name from Warsaw (inspired by the song “Warszawa” on David Bowie's Low album), Joy Division made their live debut when they played at Pips Disco in Manchester, England. (1978)
- JAN 26 -
Birthdays: Andy Hummel of Big Star (1951) • Lucinda Williams (1953) • Eddie Van Halen (1955) • Anita Baker (1958) • Prince made his TV debut on the U.S. show American Bandstand. (1980) • Billie Eilish swept the board at the 2020 Grammys, winning five awards including “Best New Artist” and “Song of the Year” becoming the first person to achieve the feat since Christopher Cross in 1981. (2020)
- JAN 27 -
Birthdays: Blues musician Elmore James (1918) • R&B singer Bobby Bland (1930) • Nick Mason of Pink Floyd (1944) • Music journalist Legs McNeil (1956) • Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies (1961) • Mike Patton (1968) • Tricky (1968) • John Lennon wrote, recorded, and mixed his new single Instant Karma!, all in one day. (1970) • Mahalia Jackson died in Chicago, aged 60. (1972) • Folk singer, songwriter, and activist, Pete Seeger, died at the age of 94. (2014)
- JAN 28 -
Birthday: Sarah McLachlan (1968) • Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane died in San Francisco at the age of 74. (2016)
- JAN 29 -
Birthday: Tommy Ramone (1952) • Blues singer/guitarist Willie Dixon died of heart failure. (1992)
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Until next week,
🤘🏻
CZ
What the actual fuck is exactly right, Chris. I don’t personally have a tribe, nor will I be looking for one. Why make life more chaotic than it already is, right? I’m 68 years old, and I remember Cros from the onset of his musical career. As you know, I also love Dan Reynolds and Imagine Dragons. My genre choices come from the people and the sound that inspires me, and tie dye pastels are absolutely pleasing to anyone’s eye. So screw the agitators. Their anarchy soothes only their troubled spirits, and I have no room in my life for them.
Thanks for all you do here, Chris, as well as for the great human being you are in the real world.