New York Dolls
The Dolls set the stage for punk to turn rock ‘n’ roll on its head in the late ’70s. Their wild, burly, cross-dressed image together with their rough-and-tumble sound created an unforgettable rock ‘n’ roll Style-with-a-capital-S. Always teetering and stumbling, the Dolls’ music, like the band itself, was in constant danger of falling on its face. David Johansen’s howling vocals perfectly matched the ragged, dueling guitars of Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain. They twisted the ’60s girl-group aesthetic to their own seedy purposes, steamrolling the lost sound into over-the-top performances. Their sneering attitude and rule-breaking sound spawned legions of admirers and detractors, gave birth to the New York punk scene, added flash to glam and fuel to early heavy metal.
- Mark Murrmann
Angels & Airwaves
Looking for a “more significant” means of expression after his blink-182 disbanded, singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge formed Angels and Airwaves in 2005. Comprised of former members of the Offspring and the Distillers, AVA (as they’re also known) is an ambitious, far-flung concept from a songwriter better known for pop-punk hitmaking. While DeLonge’s trademark emo-esque vocals are still evident, his lyrics delve deeply into optimistic themes of personal betterment and social change, perhaps arrived at during his involvement with the Kerry campaign in 2004. Musically, We Don’t Need to Whisper is several degrees of complexity and grandiosity beyond blink-182, layered with guitar and synth overdubs, dramatic electronic flourishes and big-budget production.
- Jonathan Zwickel
Since coming together in Los Angeles in 1992, the members of Weezer have lived an especially capricious existence: In the course of a decade, they went from dorky alt-rock outsiders to absentee cult figures to arena-filling megastars. The band’s original lineup — lead singer and songwriter Rivers Cuomo, bassist Matt Sharp, drummer Patrick Wilson and guitarist Brian Bell — looked uncomfortable from the get-go, posing for the cover of their 1994 self-titled debut as though they were waiting to be noogied. Produced by ex-Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, Weezer (Number 16), which came to be known as the Blue Album, could not have sounded more antithetic to the grunge-rock and pop-punk that was dominating modern-rock radio at the time; Cuomo was neither as cynical as Kurt Cobain nor as charmingly infantile as Billie Joe Armstrong, and the unapologetic riffs made it clear that he was more influenced by the likes of Heaven Tonight than Raw Power. Songs like “Undone – The Sweater Song” (Number 57, 1994) and “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here” sound like handwritten notes found at the bottom of a locker — the early musings of a colossally self-aware nerd. And while the album’s best-known song, “Buddy Holly” (Number 2 Modern Rock, 1994) was bolstered by Spike Jonze’s nostalgia-tripping Happy Days video, its success was due less to the Fonz and more to the song’s chimerical young-and-in-love chorus: “Wooh-e-oooh, I like just like Buddy Holly/Oh-oh, and you’re Mary Tyler Moore.” Weezer would sell more than 3 million copies, and a 2004 reissued edition includes several worthy B-sides.
Cuomo had originally intended for Weezer’s follow-up to be a sci-fi rock opera called Songs from the Black Hole, but after recording a series of tracks by himself, he shelved the project in favor of Pinkerton (Number 19, 1996). Though it’s since become a fan favorite and a bellwether for he late-’90s emo boom, Pinkerton was initially seen as a downer: Cuomo had undergone a painful leg operation after the Blue Album, and the new LP was packed with brutally honest songs about falling in love with lesbians and teenage fans living oceans away; the opening track, tellingly, was “Tired of Sex,” and songs like “El Scorcho” (Number 19 Modern Rock, 1996), and “The Good Life” (Number 32 Modern Rock, 1996) were rife with frustration. The album takes its name from a character in Madame Butterfly, and the record is peppered with references to the opera. After a tour in support of the album — which failed to reach platinum — Sharp left the band to spend more time with his new-wave side project, the Rentals, while Cuomo dropped out of view altogether, prompting rumors that he had begun a Brian Wilson-like retreat from society (Cuomo left Harvard but returned again, earning his English degree in June 2006). Between 1997 and 2000, the band released only a handful of songs, including a cover of “Velouria” for a Pixies tribute album. But the band retained an ardent following on the Internet, as evidenced by the numerous threads about Pinkerton, which was quickly becoming a cult favorite.
In 2000, the band reformed for a string of shows on the Warped Tour, where Sharp was replaced by bassist Mikey Welsh, a former member of Juliana Hatfield’s backing band. The live dates were a success, prompting a sold-out mini-tour and a new album, titled Weezer (2001), which debuted at Number 4 on the Billboard charts and retuned the band to its power-chord grandeur. With Ocasek returning as producer, the so-called “Green album” gave the band two of the biggest hits of its career: “Hash Pipe” (Number Two Modern Rock), and “Island in the Sun” (Number 11 Modern Rock), a lulling ballad that later wound up being covered for a tropical-resort ad. A few months after the Green Album’s release, Welsh experienced a psychotic breakdown, and was replaced by bassist Scott Shriner.
Almost exactly a year after the release of the Green Album, Weezer delivered Maladroit (Number Three, 2002). Due in part to Cuomo’s abundant songwriting output, many of the self-financed Maladroit tracks had already appeared in demo form on the band’s Website, and the songs’ early release spurred a public battle between the band and its label, Interscope Records. But neither the controversy — nor the inclusion of singles “Dope Nose” (Number 8 Modern Rock) and “Keep Fishin’” (Number 15 Modern Rock) — could prevent Maladroit, an album that paid homage to several of Cuomo’s metal influences, from becoming a commercial misfire.
Weezer teamed with Rick Rubin for 2005’s Make Believe (Number Two), an album that gave the band its biggest single to date: the Grammy-nominated “Beverly Hills” (Number 10, 2005) a sarcastic anti-fame rant that was misinterpreted by some as an ode to luxury branding. Longtime fans lamented that the Weezer responsible for Pinkerton was long gone, but “Beverly Hills” and the piano-plunking anthem “Perfect Situation” (Number 51, 2006) helped Make Believe sell more than a million copies in the U.S., and prompted an arena tour with the Foo Fighters.
In 2007, Cuomo released Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (Number 163), a collection of demos that included songs originally intended for the long-jettisoned Songs from the Black Hole album. Weezer’s sixth album, once again produced by Rick Rubin — and once again titled Weezer — was released June 3rd, 2008. The Red Album, as it’s known, spawned the single “Pork and Beans,” which came with a clever video featuring many YouTube stars. The band is reportedly prepping another album produced by Jacknife Lee for 2009.
Alice Cooper
In the heyday of Glam rock, Alice Cooper’s blood-and-guts stage show put conservative America on alert in much the same way as Marilyn Manson’s 1996 tour. The media portrayed him as a sort of Antichrist — venues were shut down, records were burned and box offices swarmed with teenagers wearing white face paint, black clothes and a frightening amount of eyeliner. The years have passed, and shot after shot of Alice Cooper playing golf and helping challenged kids has assured the general public that he was a mere showman and rocker, not the force of evil they once imagined. The music that scared everybody was a commercialized combination of Stooges ruthlessness and New York Dolls retro-rock energy, injected with gore borrowed from the burgeoning slasher flick genre. Alice Cooper’s earliest records are the best example of this, and his explorations of Rock Opera prove to be fun, if indulgent, gems. Cooper’s later material relies more on Pop Metal pose and extremely slick production. Nonetheless Cooper remains true to formula, with his trademark Vincent Price delivery and silly-psycho songs sung from the viewpoint of a host of deranged characters.
- Mike McGuirk
3 Doors Down
Can you raise your lighter high in the stadium and still keep your indie cred? Probably not, but you can combine the catchy hard rock of the Scorpions with the grungy street metal of Nirvana and get 3 Doors Down. Their debut hit, “Kryptonite,” was a surprise smash, selling quantities that would make Shania or Britney very happy. Not bad for a rocking band who had just broken out of a small town in Mississippi. 3 Doors Down don’t smell like teen spirit, but this is still the sound of acceptable teen rebellion.
- Nick Dedina
Brazilian Girls
With an Argentinean, an Italian/German and two Americans in their ranks, the Brazilian Girls don’t exactly live up to their name. But when you’re making such sultry, border-crossing electro-pop, labels don’t really matter. The group came together in New York City and honed their sound in small clubs there, fronted by the dynamic Sabina Sciubba. Their multilingual 2005 debut set critics and fans buzzing.
- Sarah Bardeen
Dashboard Confessional
Led by the therapeutic vocals of Chris Carrabba, Dashboard Confessional have earned a fair amount of popularity with heartfelt, unplugged emo for those who can do without the genre’s typically hard-hitting guitar theatrics, but value the music’s sincerity. And sincerity is where Dashboard Confessional excel: Carraba’s heart-on-sleeve vocals and songwriting exude feeling and melody, much to the delight of melancholy teens in search of a like-minded voice. It’s a long way from Rites of Spring (or even Sunny Day Real Estate), but it’s obvious why so many take this to heart.
Death at a Funeral Remake: Great Idea. Or not.
The original Death at a Funeral was pretty good. Not great, but good. It was also made in 2007, with English-speaking actors, many of whom are recognizable. It was directed by Frank Oz. And they’re remaking it. Remaking a two-year old movie that already received a U.S. release. What the hell?
This remake, of all remakes that have come before it, crosses the line of artistic integrity. Sure, there have been perfectly good films that were remade only a few years later in the form of Vanilla Sky and The Ring and several others. Those remakes are annoying enough, because if you watch the originals they are just as good or better, and not at all dated. They just don’t star as marketable actors as Hollywood can bring to the table. And they’re in a different language, made in another country, and there are a lot of people who don’t like subtitles for some sad, misguided reason (you’re exempt if you are visually impaired, of course).
But to remake a perfectly good English-language film that everyone can see, most people had the opportunity to see in theaters, everyone has had the opportunity to rent… that’s just ridiculous. It’s artistically stupid. Hell, it’s artistically insulting.
If you’re wondering, the remake will star Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, Martin Lawrence and Zoe Saldana- oh, and Kevin Hart just joined the cast. OK, there are some big names in there, but if you look at the box office history of these actors, they’re not exactly going to rake in the dough.
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