Chuck Eddy

A Sign Not a Reward Cryptic clues, mystic messages, and signs of the times and/or the apocalypse, all guaranteed sighted on the desolate streets of Deep South Austin (Ford Oaks/Tanglewood Forest/Stinson District, to be m...

I wrote about and (mostly) took pictures of several mystifying signs, cryptic clues, discarded notes, batty bumper stickers and other expressive found objects sighted in & around my Deep South Almost Not Austin neighborhood in the relatively recent past. Some required more explanation than others.

A Sign Not a Reward Cryptic clues, mystic messages, and signs of the times and/or the apocalypse, all guaranteed sighted on the desolate streets of Deep South Austin (Ford Oaks/Tanglewood Forest/Stinson District, to be m...

I wrote about and (mostly) took pictures of several mystifying signs, cryptic clues, discarded notes, batty bumper stickers and other expressive found objects sighted in & around my Deep South Almost Not Austin neighborhood in the relatively recent past. Some required more explanation than others.

150 Best Albums of 1991 I’ll be honest, I’d rather not talk about Nirvana at all, but that would be neglectful, right?

5000 or so words about boomers & X-ers, recurrent recessions, proto-Trump pseudo-populism, SoundScan , shoegazing, what people thought of my metal book, other stuff people wrote, alienation, home maintenance, Garth Brooks, Public Enemy, Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana, and my 150 favorite albums of 1991.

150 Best Albums of 1991 I’ll be honest, I’d rather not talk about Nirvana at all, but that would be neglectful, right?

5000 or so words about boomers & X-ers, recurrent recessions, proto-Trump pseudo-populism, SoundScan , shoegazing, what people thought of my metal book, other stuff people wrote, alienation, home maintenance, Garth Brooks, Public Enemy, Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana, and my 150 favorite albums of 1991.

Amy Grant review, 1991 Tomorrow, Amy Grant will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare.

Tomorrow Amy Grant will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare. So here’s a rarity: An Entertainment Weekly review (I probably wrote a couple hundred in the early ’90s) I’m not entirely embarrassed by! Also just learned she was born exactly one day before I was born; had no idea at the time.

Amy Grant review, 1991 Tomorrow, Amy Grant will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare.

Tomorrow Amy Grant will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare. So here’s a rarity: An Entertainment Weekly review (I probably wrote a couple hundred in the early ’90s) I’m not entirely embarrassed by! Also just learned she was born exactly one day before I was born; had no idea at the time.

Give the Fiddler a Dram Blindfold Test #11

25 songs, 1927-2012: Ralph Carney, John Cooper Clarke, Funky Kings, Heavy Metal Kids, Honey Cone, Insect Trust, Dow Jones & Industrials, Kilburn & High Roads, Meat Puppets, Shockabilly, Silhouettes, Alvin Stardust, Suicide Commandos, Gid Tanner & Skillet Lickers, Television, Wall of Voodoo, more!

Burt Meyer, 99, Dies; Made Lite-Brite and Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots

I appreciate this obit and did find it informative, but have to say I think Mouse Trap was a much more interesting invention than Lite Brite or Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots (which were fine, don't get me wrong), and definitely deserved a more extensive explanation for young readers unfamiliar with it.

Burt Meyer, 99, Dies; Made Lite-Brite and Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots

I appreciate this obit and did find it informative, but have to say I think Mouse Trap was a much more interesting invention than Lite Brite or Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots (which were fine, don't get me wrong), and definitely deserved a more extensive explanation for young readers unfamiliar with it.

Give the Fiddler a Dram Blindfold Test #11

25 songs, 1927-2012: Ralph Carney, John Cooper Clarke, Funky Kings, Heavy Metal Kids, Honey Cone, Insect Trust, Dow Jones & Industrials, Kilburn & High Roads, Meat Puppets, Shockabilly, Silhouettes, Alvin Stardust, Suicide Commandos, Gid Tanner & Skillet Lickers, Television, Wall of Voodoo, more!

3 New Wave Albums, 1981 Inchoate genre roundup from college newspaper, almost definitely of albums I picked for free out of a giveaway box in the newspaper office.

Inchoate genre roundup from college newspaper. (1) I say new wave includes Dire Straits and George Thorogood! Unless I was being sarcastic. (2) I call Andy Gibb “teen pop,” ages before the term was in vogue. (3) The lack of specificity in my descriptions and comparisons is rather embarrassing. Etc.

Whenever I play this in the car (most recently yesterday), my teenage daughter asks why I'm playing a TikTok song. (I like it too, regardless.)

Yeah, I can see that -- though I'm not sure it's what I meant. The second one, especially, got a ton of airplay in Detroit. I heard his versions of those Hank Williams and Bo Diddley songs before I ever heard the originals.

3 New Wave Albums, 1981 Inchoate genre roundup from college newspaper, almost definitely of albums I picked for free out of a giveaway box in the newspaper office.

Inchoate genre roundup from college newspaper. (1) I say new wave includes Dire Straits and George Thorogood! Unless I was being sarcastic. (2) I call Andy Gibb “teen pop,” ages before the term was in vogue. (3) The lack of specificity in my descriptions and comparisons is rather embarrassing. Etc.

Singles Reviews, 1988 A very short-lived (only one installment, if my memory and what I can find in my file cabinet serve me) Creem column.

A very short-lived (only 1 installment if my file cabinet & memory serve me) Creem column: AC/DC, Deele, Def Lep, DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, EPMD, EU, Honor Role, Mekons, George Michael, Poison, Prince, Tiffany, etc. — Good variety! Some parts wound up in a couple of my books; most parts didn’t.

150 Best Albums of 1970 It sure seems like a lot of people paying close attention to rock music in 1970 thought it was falling apart — or at very least, cracking in half.

NEW!! 5000 words on rock cracking, Frankenstein festivals, 4-D geometry, Detroit's peak year, reggae's roots, riverboat gospel, folk fission, pud rock, teenage riots, self-titled debuts, one-and-done bands, Ted Nugent gender switches, getting back to 1957 or '65, and my 150 favorite albums of 1970.

150 Best Albums of 1970 It sure seems like a lot of people paying close attention to rock music in 1970 thought it was falling apart — or at very least, cracking in half.

NEW!! 5000 words on rock cracking, Frankenstein festivals, 4-D geometry, Detroit's peak year, reggae's roots, riverboat gospel, folk fission, pud rock, teenage riots, self-titled debuts, one-and-done bands, Ted Nugent gender switches, getting back to 1957 or '65, and my 150 favorite albums of 1970.

Other Chuck Eddys Back in the ’80s I think it was, or possibly even before that in high school, somebody somewhere decided there was something intrinsically drag-racey about my name and I should therefore from hereon r...

1800 words on the Chuck Eddy who wrote for Car Craft magazine in the '50s, the Chuck Eddy who ran for Kentucky state senator, the Chuck Eddy who owned a shady Youngstown-area auto dealership and says his niece Casey Anthony never hid out there, the chiropractor leader of the Chuck Eddy Band, etc...

35 Best Singles of 2021 I tend to live in my own bubble, if not on my own planet, when it comes to singles these days.

4 years ago. Main requirement is I heard them as standalone entities, apart from whatever album they wound up on. I almost never found out about them while listening to the radio, much less in dance clubs. But “Ballerman” compilations of songs young Germans trinken bier to on ski vacations? Sure!

25 Excellent "Bad" Cover Versions There are bad cover versions and….There are cover versions you only think are bad, because they sound wrong on paper, since they come from artists or genres who get even less respect than Rodney Dange...

There are bad cover versions and….There are covers that sound wrong on paper, until you hear them. If you haven't heard the 25 records here, there's a good chance you'd scoff at them. But sometimes it takes disreputable artists to bring classics back down off Mount Olympus and into the real world.

25 Excellent "Bad" Cover Versions There are bad cover versions and….There are cover versions you only think are bad, because they sound wrong on paper, since they come from artists or genres who get even less respect than Rodney Dange...

There are bad cover versions and….There are covers that sound wrong on paper, until you hear them. If you haven't heard the 25 records here, there's a good chance you'd scoff at them. But sometimes it takes disreputable artists to bring classics back down off Mount Olympus and into the real world.

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

There's no such thing as a "perfect album." But here are a few I like (or love) from that year anyway:

Speed Goys and Pigeons for Life Blindfold Test #10

25 songs 1926-2013: Margaret Berger, John Cooper Clarke, Controllers, Kevin Coyne, Cravats, Dehumanizers, Hollywood Brats, Insect Trust, Dee D. Jackson, Kano, Los Iniciados Sam McGee, Mikki, Steve Miller (early), Wazmo Nariz, ONO (not Yoko!), Really Red, Robey, Seawind, Sandie Shaw, Twink, more!

Speed Goys and Pigeons for Life Blindfold Test #10

25 songs 1926-2013: Margaret Berger, John Cooper Clarke, Controllers, Kevin Coyne, Cravats, Dehumanizers, Hollywood Brats, Insect Trust, Dee D. Jackson, Kano, Los Iniciados Sam McGee, Mikki, Steve Miller (early), Wazmo Nariz, ONO (not Yoko!), Really Red, Robey, Seawind, Sandie Shaw, Twink, more!

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 - late November 2025

YEAH: Scúru Fitchádu: Griots I Riots (NubianRiot! Portugal) 7; Chicks On Speed: HEARandNOWtopia (Grönland Germany) 7; Yalla Miku: 2 (Les Disques Bongo Joe Switzerland) 7; Paul St. Hilaire: W/ The Producers (Kynant Germany) 7...

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10 LPs I Liked in Early 1982 A snapshot of my listening, when I was weeks shy of 21½ years old.

A snapshot of my listening when I was 21½ years old. Given the date (“one third of 1982 gone” = at least May 1, and pretty sure I got my Army commission May 15), quite likely my last contribution to University of Missouri's student weekly. And far from my worst even if my thesis is full of baloney.

10 LPs I Liked in Early 1982 A snapshot of my listening, when I was weeks shy of 21½ years old.

A snapshot of my listening when I was 21½ years old. Given the date (“one third of 1982 gone” = at least May 1, and pretty sure I got my Army commission May 15), quite likely my last contribution to University of Missouri's student weekly. And far from my worst even if my thesis is full of baloney.

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 - late November 2025

YEAH: Scúru Fitchádu: Griots I Riots (NubianRiot! Portugal) 7; Chicks On Speed: HEARandNOWtopia (Grönland Germany) 7; Yalla Miku: 2 (Les Disques Bongo Joe Switzerland) 7; Paul St. Hilaire: W/ The Producers (Kynant Germany) 7...

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Neil Young Review, 1986 Note gratuitous but arguably prescient Dinosaur Jr.

In belated honor of Neil Young's 80th birthday 2 days ago, I am reviving more or less the only review of his music I ever got paid to write. And I like him a lot! Unfortunately, the album I review here might be the worst one he ever made. If you disagree, by all means nominate your personal choice!

Have to admit I can not argue with this logic. (Even if The Elder scares me.)