What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?: Silversun Pickups, “Panic Switch”
"Quite by accident, this series has had much more to say about the expressiveness of music than the brilliance of lyrics. I’m OK with that. I majored in music, not poetry."
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What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?: Psychedelic Furs, “Pretty in Pink”
"Caroline’s lovers may treat her as a joke. Butler doesn’t. He sees that she’s letting herself be a disposable part of these men’s lives. Some interpretations suggest she has a bit of delusion that this is more meaningful, saying “I love you” and “too much.” But Butler sees beauty here as well."
What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?: Aimee Mann, “Lost in Space”
But I am the stuff of happy endings / Though mostly bluff, belief suspending / But close enough for just pretending / To care? What’s...
What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?: Metric, “Gimme Sympathy”
"In a different era, Metric would be huge. It’s easy to imagine them as a staple of early-90s alternative radio, occupying a space somewhere between Juliana Hatfield’s straight-forward lyrics and Belly’s flights of fancy."
What's THAT Supposed to Mean?: Rush, "Witch Hunt"
"Is anyone really libertarian besides college sophomores looking for rationalizations of being selfish punks? We just had an election featuring the two least popular major-party candidates in recent memory, and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson drove off a cliff."
What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?: Stevie Wonder, “Higher Ground”
Lovers keep on lovin’. Believers keep on believin’. Sleepers just stop sleepin’. Cause it won’t be too long. What’s THAT supposed to mean? Aside from...
Popdose Alt-Christmas Film Festival: Actually a Good Love Story (or Eight)
"The same country that taught us all to persevere when its soldiers are being sent to die in miserable World War I trenches or its cities are being randomly bombed in World War II can show that same remarkable national spirit over trivial things like Boxing Day soccer games and talk shows that adeptly mix the urbane and inane."
What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?: Stereolab, “Ping Pong”
Huger slump and greater wars and a shallower recovery? What’s THAT supposed to mean? Stereolab may be the quintessential 90s band, and yet they may...
Book review: Taking on TBN and spiritual voids
"So the question we have to ask here: Is this sort of faith harmless? Even helpful? If, as Crash Davis said, we’re winning because we’re getting laid or not getting laid or buying some sort of trinket from a TBN preacher, then is that victory worthwhile?"
WTSTM: The Sounds, Bill Bruford and creativity’s curse
"To be creative is to open a door for rejection. Failure. Criticism. Maybe all at the same time. Little wonder so many creative people are either self-medicated or psych-medicated."
Book and suburban planning review: What would Bill Bryson think?
Perhaps it’s my rabid Anglophilia, but one of my favorite books is Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island, in which the American ex-pat travels...
Snow day suggestion: The Comic Strip Presents …
One advantage to spending a lot of time at home with snow covering the sidewalks and streets is getting a chance to do a bit...
What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?: Tori Amos, “Caught a Lite Sneeze”
Boys on the left, boys on the right, Sister Ernestine, just bring your son? What’s THAT supposed to mean? Tori Amos wasn’t always so difficult...
A Music Major Confesses: I Love Rock and Roll
"It’s primal-scream therapy. That’s rock and roll. Through alienation and celebration, rock and roll lets us know we’re not alone. It sympathetically voices our frustrations. It amplifies our joy. And it’s a legitimate art form."
What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?: Airborne Toxic Event, “Sometime Around Midnight”
Your friends say you look like you’ve seen a ghost? What’s that supposed to mean? In this case, unlike the first two songs in this...
What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?: R.E.M., “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”
You wore a shirt of violent green and never understood, don’t f— … hey! Whoa! What’s that supposed to mean? Greatness has often sprung from...
What’s THAT Supposed to Mean?: Live, “Lakini’s Juice”
"So Live pulled off a neat trick here, combining spirituality and sex like some sort of alt-rock answer to Prince and doing it with as much power as you can find in an old-school rock quartet with a sturdy but agile rhythm section, an inventive guitarist, and a singer who wasn’t lacking for confidence as he sang about Plato’s cave (maybe), Hinduism (surely), washing someone’s feet with toilet water (most definitely), and a vital organ. (No, not that vital organ.)"
That College Football Playoff Solved Everything, Right?
Is college football a championship sport or a technocracy with cheerleaders? In the first year of a four-team playoff that alleges to give every deserving...
"Weird Al" Yankovic and the ultimate farewell to albums
Here's why pop's premiere parodist has recorded the last album we'll ever need.
In Defense of the Spin Doctors
Their worst hit was overplayed. Is that a reason to hold a grudge against a solid band with a few good pop hooks?
Family Guy: Death of Brian
“I have a message. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake’s plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spun in. There were no survivors.” So...
2012 in MMA, chess, skiing, soccer and non-hockey
"The collective response from the active and predominantly male MMA online communities, already prone to drooling over Rousey, was something along the lines of “garrrhjbbbyaaaaaaah.”"
Why We Can’t Quit The Tour de France
Cycling fans aren’t naive. Not after seeing the mysterious deaths of several cyclists at the height of the EPO craze. Not after seeing hero after...
The Ultimate Fighter: It's the stupid reality, stupid ...
The UFC's reality show could use a dose of reality.
Rachel Dratch, Mindy Kaling: Funny in a good way
We pop-culture watchers have an annoying habit of letting ourselves believe women have it better in the entertainment biz than they actually do. Lilith Fair?...
Ranting about rivalries and respect
College hoops fans and MMA fighters should wash out their mouths with soap.
Super Bowl hype: Yes, we know you don't read it
A journalist confesses the truth: There's really nothing we can tell you in Super Bowl week that you don't already know.
The BCS, like much of the sports world, isn't fair
Beau Dure departs from soccer and MMA long enough to skewer college football and the BCS in his first Popdose post.
Why Aren't Americans Really, Really Into Biathlon?
Guns, fitness, snow parties ... what's not to like? Beau Dure preaches to the not-yet-converted.
2002 World Cup chat
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