Album A Day: Rent: Original Broadway Cast Recording

Artist: Johnathan Larson (Music & Lyrics) Album: Rent: Original Broadway Cast Recording Released: 1996 Even though Rent is directly or indirectly the cause of many things about the current state of musicals that I really don’t like (that’s for another post), I can’t help but love it, and even though it isn’t the happiest story, [...]

Album A Day: Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

Artist: Public Enemy Album: It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Release Date: April 14, 1988 Look, I get that Public Enemy said some things that don’t go over well with…well…with just about anyone. But you know, I think Public Enemy might have been on to something, in terms of how they [...]

The VLM Awards, 2009 Edition, Part I

As 2009 gasps its dying breaths, it’s time for VLM to join the fracas of those looking back on the year. A full songs and albums list will be coming, but those will not happen till sometime in January, since I intend to catch up on all the unheard albums sitting in my iTunes library. [...]

Album A Day: Sum 41 – Chuck

Artist: Sum 41 Album: Chuck Release Date: October 12, 2004 This was the last really good Sum 41 album. It still had a mountain of guts, delivered a ferocious punch of punk rock and quasi-hair metal that packed some punch and had just enough brains as well. “We’re All To Blame” isn’t the most profound [...]

Avenged Sevenfold Drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan Found Dead

Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, drummer for metal act Avenged Sevenfold, was found dead in his home early this morning. He was 28. The band issued the following statement this morning via their website: It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing today of Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. Jimmy [...]

Album A Day: Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking

In the interest of keeping the blog mostly SFW, I’m refraining from posting the album artwork for this album. Artist: Jane’s Addiction Album: Nothing’s Shocking Release Date: August 23, 1988 I missed the boat on Jane’s Addiction when they were popular. This album came out two months before I was born, and their only release [...]

Album A Day: Counting Crows – Hard Candy

Artist: Counting Crows Album: Hard Candy Release Date: July 8, 2002 In the concluding post of Idolator/Village Voice’s F2K series, in which Maura Johnston and Christopher Weingarten (two writers for the old Idolator) counted down the 50 worst songs of the decade, Counting Crows’ cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” was named the worst [...]

Album A Day: Vangelis – Blade Runner

Artist: Vangelis (composer) Album: Blade Runner Released: 1992 Even though I think the soundtrack to Blade Runner is more than a little trippy, I also think it’s a shame that it took a decade for it to get released. I have all 4 versions of the film (I had to write a paper on the [...]

Album A Day: Vince Guaraldi Trio – A Charlie Brown Christmas

Artist: Vince Guaraldi Trio Album: A Charlie Brown Christmas Released: 1965 No real post for today, but definitely an album. Happy holidays to all! Vince Guaraldi Trio – Linus and Lucy (YSI) ==TJ==

Album A Day (12/24): Bear McCreary – Music From the Television Series Battlestar Galactica, Season 1

Artist: Bear McCreary (composer) Album: Music From the Television Series Battlestar Galactica, Season 1 Released: 2004 Viva La Mainstream is taking two days off (yesterday and today) from serious blogging for the holidays. There’ll be another post marking the Album for today, and then I’ll be back sometime on Saturday to finish off Film Score [...]