Fucked Up: Crazy/Beautiful
Blood-splattered gigs. Onstage meltdowns. Airport assaults. Nineteen-minute songs. They're called Fucked Up for a reason. The naked truth behind punk's ballsiest band.
By Brian Raftery 11.20.08 5:31 PM
Damian Abraham is a formidablelooking dude -- he describes himself, accurately, as "a 300pound balding lead singer, covered in hair in all the wrong places" -- and when he steps to a basement studio microphone in Toronto, he resembles a squishy giant preparing for combat. Abraham (a.k.a. Pink Eyes, a.k.a.
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Lyrical Assassin
For a music critic, being immortalized in song could be the highest compliment...unless the song is a death threat.
By Michael Azerrad 10.27.08 12:33 PM
"I have got a feeling you've never been in this situation before," says the English fellow on the other end of the line. He's right -- I've never spoken with someone who has publicly vowed to murder me.
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Black Rock: An Oral History
In the 1980s, a brotherhood of bands led by Fishbone and Living Colour refused to let their race dictate the style of music they played. Here's how they splashed onto the scene, how they struggled to stay afloat, and what they're doing now.
By David Browne 10.23.08 5:12 PM
In 2008, indie-rock bands with black members virtually amount to a genre unto themselves; think TV on the Radio, Black Kids, Bloc Party, the Dirtbombs, Apollo Heights, Earl Greyhound, and Dragons of Zynth, among many others.
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Faking the Band
Want to buy "All Summer Long" from iTunes? Even if you did, it wouldn't be Kid Rock's hit version -- just a generic soundalike (sorry, tribute). SPIN blows the cover off one of pop's dirty little secrets.
By David Peisner 10.21.08 3:57 PM
Anonymous message board postings aren't exactly a reliable barometer of public opinion, but anyone who logged on to iTunes on August 24 to buy the site's sixth-most-popular song couldn't help but be struck by the near unanimity of attitude toward the track in question.
"Ahhh this STINKS! Why is it in the top 10??" wrote "coleenybeany.
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The SPIN Interview: Lou Reed
With the Velvet Underground, he was the epitome of downtown cool. As a solo artists, he played the part of glam god, noise provocateur, and critics' bete noire. Still, Lou Reed insists, "There's nothing complicated about me." Kind sir, we beg to differ.
By David Marchese 10.21.08 3:06 PM
Lou Reed does not abide. Nor should he.
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Heavy Mental: The Story of Anvil
Goulash. Dildos. Hurt feelings. Anvil's journey to metal immortality ended before it began. But thanks to a totally not-made-up movie, these old-school Canadian headbangers may just get there yet.
By Tom Roston 09.23.08 9:14 AM
Something was wrong. On the second night in Prague shooting the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, cinematographer Chris Soos approached director Sacha Gervasi looking deadly serious.
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