Chuck Eddy

Reggae Tings an' New York Times First there’s the question of spelling.

Explored earliest writing about reggae and adjacent genres in the NY Times, including one notable (and racist) clip from 1885 containing a word not seen in the paper again for another 85 years. Then went on to trace discussion through 1973 and beyond: Ska, dub, lover's rock, toasting, dancehall...

30 "Best" Singles of 2024 Those scare quotes surround “best” in the headline for a few different reasons.

I wrote about my 30 favorite-ish non-country singles of 2024 (since I already did 44 country ones last week), lots of their videos, lots of what commenters on youtube said about their videos, and whatever else seemed irrelevant at the time. Sometimes I was more serious about them than other times.

30 "Best" Singles of 2024 Those scare quotes surround “best” in the headline for a few different reasons.

I wrote about my 30 favorite-ish non-country singles of 2024 (since I already did 44 country ones last week), lots of their videos, lots of what commenters on youtube said about their videos, and whatever else seemed irrelevant at the time. Sometimes I was more serious about them than other times.

Bill Lee profile, 1987 As far as I’ve been convinced, the 1970s of Mark Fidryrch and Dock Ellis and Luis Tiant and Al Hrabosky (all pitchers, hmmm) were the last great era of baseball eccentricity.

The Mark Fidryrch/Dock Ellis/Luis Tiant/Al Hrabosky 1970s were arguably the last great era of baseball eccentricity. By mid-decade, I'd mostly stopped following my childhood obsession. But in 1987, I did find time to interview one of my favorite diamond weirdos for the Village Voice sports section.

150 Best Albums of 1976 The album that’s been on my shelves, in my collection, longest came out in 1976.

My 150 favorite albums of 1976, plus 1600-some words about the Bicentennial, breakbeats, brands of boogie, American history, apostrophes, the mystery of why rock critics that year liked Graham Parker so much, and the technicality that kept the album I owned longer than any other album off the list.

150 Best Albums of 1976 The album that’s been on my shelves, in my collection, longest came out in 1976.

My 150 favorite albums of 1976, plus 1600-some words about the Bicentennial, breakbeats, brands of boogie, American history, apostrophes, the mystery of why rock critics that year liked Graham Parker so much, and the technicality that kept the album I owned longer than any other album off the list.

Aretha Franklin and Swans review, 1987 Two double-albums ostensibly about the big guy or gal upstairs, both by artists I’ve otherwise mostly ignored over the eons (I’d say “respected” artists if another 23 years didn’t pass before Swans pl...

Two double-albums ostensibly about the big guy or gal upstairs, both by artists I’ve otherwise mostly ignored over the eons (I’d say “respected” artists if 23 years didn’t pass before Swans placed in Pazz & Jop) — Can’t imagine I would’ve gotten away with this irreverent pairing anywhere but Creem.

Aretha Franklin and Swans review, 1987 Two double-albums ostensibly about the big guy or gal upstairs, both by artists I’ve otherwise mostly ignored over the eons (I’d say “respected” artists if another 23 years didn’t pass before Swans pl...

Two double-albums ostensibly about the big guy or gal upstairs, both by artists I’ve otherwise mostly ignored over the eons (I’d say “respected” artists if 23 years didn’t pass before Swans placed in Pazz & Jop) — Can’t imagine I would’ve gotten away with this irreverent pairing anywhere but Creem.

Walkman Ist Kaputt Blindfold Test #4

25 songs, 1935-2005: Kevin Coyne, F.R. David, (Hammersmith) Gorillas w/ goofy hair, Greater Than One, David Grant of Linx, Killjoys, Moon Mullican, Roy Newman & Boys, P!off? w/ broken Walkman, Prana People, Reddy Teddy, Skeleton Crew, Sylvia (Robinson) w/ Moments, Shelly Thunder, UnknownmiX, more!

Walkman Ist Kaputt Blindfold Test #4

25 songs, 1935-2005: Kevin Coyne, F.R. David, (Hammersmith) Gorillas w/ goofy hair, Greater Than One, David Grant of Linx, Killjoys, Moon Mullican, Roy Newman & Boys, P!off? w/ broken Walkman, Prana People, Reddy Teddy, Skeleton Crew, Sylvia (Robinson) w/ Moments, Shelly Thunder, UnknownmiX, more!

Was he quizzing you -- as in, he already knew the answer? (Otherwise, where did he find this stray quote floating around?)

A 1981 Top 10 -- From 1981! One rock-critic task I was never crazy about was when magazines would ask me to blurb a few “best albums of the year” for their year-end issues.

Here I was at just-turned-21, couple years before I received a paycheck for reviewing anything, doing the daily-paper-style year-end Top 10 thing, concise blurbs and all, for my college newspaper — something I’m fairly certain I never did again, in all my years criticking. I did okay, considering!

To see her in that négligée is really just too much.

Maybe stipulate "if you're in the UK" for Oasis, then?

A 1981 Top 10 -- From 1981! One rock-critic task I was never crazy about was when magazines would ask me to blurb a few “best albums of the year” for their year-end issues.

Here I was at just-turned-21, couple years before I received a paycheck for reviewing anything, doing the daily-paper-style year-end Top 10 thing, concise blurbs and all, for my college newspaper — something I’m fairly certain I never did again, in all my years criticking. I did okay, considering!

YouTube video by Nite Goat Beastie Boys Prank Home Movie

Ha, you think you have PTSD memories...

Scarry!

'70s NY Times Mines Heavy Metal Being well aware how pathetic it is that I’ve spent way too much of my adult life arguing about what is or isn’t heavy metal, a few years ago I gave in — If somebody wants to believe the genre started...

If you’re among the many who continue to doubt the high-decibel genre was alive and kicking butts way early in the ’70s, in this post you’ll find 19-count-’em instances when “heavy metal” appeared in America’s daily newspaper of record prior to the end of 1975. At least a few may well surprise you.

Pazz & Jop Product Reports, 2025 This post is a tool; it’s how I keep track of new music I hear — thus enabling me, for one thing, to put together long lists of albums I like when the year comes to an end.

PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT - early October 2025

YEAH: Wucan: Axioms (Long Branch/SPV) 5; Castle Rat: The Bestiary (King Volume/Blues Funeral Recordings) 5; Species: Changelings (20 Buck Spin) 5; The Wildhearts: Satanic Rites of the Wildhearts (Snakefarm UK) 5...

[Continued]:

20 (+24) Best Country Singles of 2024 Most of the intelligentsia scuttlebutt about country music I came across in 2024 had to do with people like Post Malone and Lana Del Ray taking country detours now that, as Lainey Wilson sang, country...

I wrote probably way too much about my favorite (20 + 24) country singles of last year (2024), most of which weren't hits and you probably never heard of, plus their music videos where applicable and other ancillary issues sometimes directly connected to country music and occasionally not so much.

20 (+24) Best Country Singles of 2024 Most of the intelligentsia scuttlebutt about country music I came across in 2024 had to do with people like Post Malone and Lana Del Ray taking country detours now that, as Lainey Wilson sang, country...

I wrote probably way too much about my favorite (20 + 24) country singles of last year (2024), most of which weren't hits and you probably never heard of, plus their music videos where applicable and other ancillary issues sometimes directly connected to country music and occasionally not so much.

Pazz & Jop Product Reports, 2025 This post is a tool; it’s how I keep track of new music I hear — thus enabling me, for one thing, to put together long lists of albums I like when the year comes to an end.

PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT - early October 2025

YEAH: Wucan: Axioms (Long Branch/SPV) 5; Castle Rat: The Bestiary (King Volume/Blues Funeral Recordings) 5; Species: Changelings (20 Buck Spin) 5; The Wildhearts: Satanic Rites of the Wildhearts (Snakefarm UK) 5...

[Continued]:

Smells Like Teen Nothing #1 My wife and daughter went to Houston for the weekend, which always presents a bit of a quandary.

People who lose their sense of smell often maintain they’ve also lost their sense of taste, but really it might just be so altered without the nasal part that they don’t recognize it. For people like me who could never smell in the first place, that’s a moot point — There are five senses, not four.

150 Best Albums of 1999 I never even heard of matheletes back then.

NEW! 6000+ words on Freaks & Geeks & other cliques, Radio Disney teen-pop for math wonks, how Napster destroyed America, Latin mirages, hostile men, trenchcoat mafiosos, oldsters in the way, pollsters stuck in ruts, violent videogame blame + my 150 favorite albums of pre-Y2K (party like it's) 1999.

Pretty sure the Army had a word back in Viet nam for what used to happen to arrogant wet-behind-the-ears butterbar lieutenants like that schmuck.

150 Best Albums of 1999 I never even heard of matheletes back then.

NEW! 6000+ words on Freaks & Geeks & other cliques, Radio Disney teen-pop for math wonks, how Napster destroyed America, Latin mirages, hostile men, trenchcoat mafiosos, oldsters in the way, pollsters stuck in ruts, violent videogame blame + my 150 favorite albums of pre-Y2K (party like it's) 1999.

Whew!

Definitely liked Pussy Galore more, of the two bands. The EP where they covered Einstürzende Neubauten made my metal book! #493!! But it was still fun to yell out Appetite For Destruction requests at them during a Detroit show back in 1987, after they put out their Exile on Main Street covers tape.

Honestly can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. (They were never not minstrel schtick, is what I remember. But then again can't say I've revisited them in recent decades. And given I'm the guy whose Spin review of them was killed for being not reverent enough, I may not be the person to ask.)

Appetizer for American Pie Phil Dellio asked me to write a foreword to his 2023 book Happy For.

"That music died, hurt my pride," Bob Seger sang in 1973's “Back In ’72,” looking back a year to Tricky Dick and Don McLean's hit about music dying. Later, in bicentennial 1976, Seger “started humming a song from 1962,” the year whose last night moves of summer American Graffiti celebrated in 1973.