With Pyromania, Def Leppard made a pop-metal hybrid for the ages
In 1983, when much of the music world was turning toward “modern-sounding” synths and electronic music, one young…
Permanent RecordsPermanent RecordsPermanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.
The slow and steady perfection of Galaxie 500’s On Fire
One of the best things about old records is the liner notes. Pick up a jazz or pop LP of a certain vintage and you’re…
Panopticon’s Kentucky combined folk and black metal to take on the coal industry
In 1976, filmmaker Barbara Kopple released Harlan County U.S.A., a documentary delving into Kentucky coal miners’ 1973…
One of punk’s true originals, Germfree Adolescents is as fresh today as it was in 1978
On her 2007 album How To Win!, stand-up comedian Maria Bamford tells a joke about her mother telling her she looks…
40 years after Are We Not Men? we’re just now starting to get Devo
Devo was finished. The quintet—brothers Jerry and Bob Casale and Mark, Bob, and Jim Mothersbaugh—had gotten about as…
Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation is more than a crossover—it’s a beacon
A baby and a breakup. The catalysts for one of the most celebrated albums of 1998 are of some the most difficult and…
The Cars is so much more than The Cars’ greatest hits
There are one-hit wonders and one-album wonders. There are musicians who consistently craft top-notch singles, but fall…
The Thermals’ best album is relevant again, but that’s not what makes it so great
When The A.V. Club put together an Inventory of George W. Bush-era political works that still hold up, we couldn’t have…
20 years ago, Boards Of Canada made electronic music personal
Permanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.
Gang Starr ended one of the greatest hot streaks in hip-hop with its masterpiece
Permanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.
Good timing turned Ace Of Base’s The Sign into the luckiest hit of the ’90s
Throughout 1993, the Swedish quartet Ace Of Base was inescapable. Its international dominance began with “All That She…
Foo Fighters’ second album didn’t change rock music—not that it was trying to
Permanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.
Riot grrrl grew up on Sleater-Kinney’s Dig Me Out
It didn’t take long for riot grrrl to turn into girl power. By 1997, what had started as a provocative, politically…
Either/Or built the myth of Elliott Smith
Permanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.
Big Star’s swan song captured a band—and a genius—falling apart
When is an album not an album? In 1978, the American independent label PVC Records released a Big Star LP called 3rd,…
With We Are The Romans, Botch helped redefine hardcore
Permanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion hit its freak-rock peak on Now I Got Worry
A piercing scream opens “Skunk,” the lead track on The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s Now I Got Worry. It’s a harrowing…
Felt’s caustic, captivating masterpiece cemented a genre
Permanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.
The Disco Before The Breakdown was the release that gave away Laura Jane Grace’s secret
Permanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.
Neurosis’ Through Silver In Blood is still crushing, 20 years later
Permanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.