Why It Matters

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  • 201. Stray Party

    Jody and I had nowhere to go on our first Christmas in Hollywood. We’d only been in town for a couple of months, and the few friends I’d made working at the record store were as broke as we were. We couldn’t afford to go home for the holidays. We couldn’t even afford a telephone…

  • From The Stacks: Christmas Rock

    Here we have a 1982 Rhino release shaped like a Christmas tree, but I guess you probably already figured that out.

  • On Diffuser — The Roots of Indie: Stiff Records

    In the days before the intergooglewebtubes it was much harder to get info on new music. Fortunately, one could depend on some labels to always deliver, and Stiff was the daddy of them all. Read all about ’em on Diffuser.

  • From The Stacks: A Midnight Christmas Mess

    Rock and roll Christmas songs. Elvis recorded “Blue Christmas” back in ’57. Only one Beatle never released a Christmas song (know which one? Leave a comment). Bruce, Elton, Bowie — even Lemmy recorded a Christmas cut. Overall, though, good Christmas pickin’s have always been hard to come by. Holiday cuts normally fall either into the…

  • On Diffuser: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Upstairs, First Door on the Left

    The 2014 inductees have been announced. Did the Hall make the right calls? You can read my two bits on Diffuser.

  • Throw Beck Thursday: How to Maintain Your Sanity at the Cash Register

    Tired of watching your coins fly off the stack of wrinkly bills shoved into your palm? I have you covered. I’m going to get to the world’s simplest and most satisfying hack, I promise, but first a rant. And before the rant, how about a little pre-rant about the post-rant rant? There’s always one Mr.…

  • Deep Cuts: Torture Songs

    Holy Dick Cheney’s Situational Ethics, did Monday’s piece strike a nerve with some folks. A couple of sites have asked to republish it, which is nice, the traffic has been great, which is wonderful, but the comments have really been the best. Apparently I’m not alone in feeling like a helpless little ant watching his…

  • On Diffuser: Confessions of a Guy In Black Tee Shirt Who Jams

    Okay, now we’re talking. Here’s a full blown Diffuser/Why It Matters crossover.

  • 200. Can’t Happen Here

    I was raised in the shadows of major events. We forget that the ’60s spilled over into the ’70s: Vietnam and Watergate, school bussing, the Equal Rights Amendment, Tiny Tim’s Tonight Show wedding to Miss Vicki. The early ’70s were every bit as tumultuous as the ’60s, just with a Carpenters and John Denver soundtrack.

  • On Ultimate Classic Rock: Meet the ‘Other’ Magician Behind Pink Floyd’s Album Covers

    I am a great admirer of Hipgnosis album covers. I’ve written about them here on Why It Matters, and I maintain a little gallery of their 190 sleeves so that you can enjoy them, too.