poptransmission

Category: Music

  • Best of 1985: The Top Albums From 40 Years Ago

    Let’s look back 40 years and begin this year’s best album series. Before we get to the top 10, here are some musical headlines from 1985: Some new wave heavyweights released albums in 1985, but hard rock and alt rock were in the mix, as well. As usual, it was difficult to keep the list…

  • New Music Alert 2025 #1: Ten Songs to Explore

    A new year calls for a New Music Alert. As usual, I’ve stumbled upon these songs, most of them thanks to Sirius XMU radio. Some bands I’ve never heard of, others I’m a little familiar with, and one is a well-known rock artist. “(Tonight) Was a Long Time Ago” by Jack White – Jack White…

  • The 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

    Until a couple years ago we all had to wait a couple months for HBO to broadcast the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (except the lucky few who actually attended the event). Then in 2023, Disney+ started streaming the event live and the telecast moved to New Year’s Day on ABC. Since…

  • A Complete Unknown Brings Rock History to Life

    Bob Dylan. One of the greatest songwriters of all time. A 60-year career with 40 studio albums, 21 live, and 44 compilations. Inducted into the Songwriters and Rock and Roll Hall of Fames and recipient of the Kennedy Center Honor, Pulitzer Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Nobel Prize in Literature. How does a…

  • Big Head Todd and the Monsters in Concert – 40 Years Strong

    I wasn’t all that familiar with Big Head Todd and the Monsters, besides hearing a few of their ’90s hits on the radio and having the Beautiful World album on CD. I missed their previous visit to the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, so I was glad to have another opportunity to see them…

  • Songs of a Lost World: The Dark and Triumphant Return of the Cure

    Finally. If you’ve followed me over the last four years, you’ve read several asides like, “where is that new Cure album? We’re still waiting.” When I launched my website in early 2020, a new Who album had just been released, and Robert Smith said the new Cure was ready to go. I thought I’d have…

  • New Music Alert: Latest Songs from Old and New Bands

    Time for some new music, one more for 2024. As usual, the new music alert is songs from newer bands, older bands, bands I’ve never heard (the first six), and bands I’ve been listening to for years (the final four). Hopefully, you’ll want to add one or more of these songs to a playlist and…

  • 50 Years Ago: Best Albums of 1974

    We’ve gone back to 1984, 1994, and 2004 in previous posts this year. Let’s do one more of these decade anniversaries. 1974. High school junior year for me. An impressive and broad-ranging year of music. Hard rock, soft rock, country rock, prog rock, glam rock, and combinations of these styles. Reggae, too. Nostalgia weighs heavily…

  • Little Stevie Doc: So Much More Than a Sidekick

    Thirty-five years as guitarist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Lead role in The Sopranos as consigliere and strip club owner, Silvio Dante. These two roles of a lifetime are what most people know about Steven Van Zandt. While I was aware of his “other” music and social justice activism, I had no idea how…

  • Best of 2004: Top 10 Albums From 20 Years Ago

    It’s always fun for a musical look back across the decades. I have remembered 1994 (Through a 30-Year Lense: Best Albums of 1994:) and 1984 (1984: Top Ten Albums From 40 Years Ago) so far this year. But I’ve never gone back 20 years, so here’s the album highlights from 2004: 10. Contraband by Velvet…

  • Todd Rundgren Live in Concert: A Collage of Sound

    Musician, songwriter, singer, and record producer. A pioneer in electronics, internet music, and video technology. Some of the most endearing and enduring pop ballads of the 1970s. 27 solo albums and nine with the Utopia band. A member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Todd Rundgren, what a career! Despite this pedigree, I’ve…

  • Through a 30-Year Lense: Best Albums of 1994:

    Time for another journey back in time. Here’s some memorable musical moments from 1994: Here’s my favorite albums of 1994: 10. Neil Young – Sleeps with Angels: While his classic rock brothers were receding in the public conscious, Neil Young was on a roll in the early ’90s – Freedom, Ragged Glory, and Harvest Moon.…