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The 10 Best Songs We Heard This Week: Savages, Laurel Halo

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, and we are, as ever, rounding up the best songs we’ve heard this week, which to be honest is a rather pleasant distraction from all the other fucked-up stuff going on in the world. This week we swooned (again) at new material from Savages, were intrigued by the return of Laurel Halo, enjoyed the new Daft Punk song (albeit perhaps not quite as much as everyone else), and elsewhere generally got down to new stuff by Com Truise, Gunslinger, Tempers… and Black Sabbath, whose new song actually isn’t that bad at all. Who’d have thought it? Anyway, click through and get listening. … Read More

Music

Fascinatingly Bizarre Radio Ads for ’60s and ’70 Bands

By Tom Hawking on

We were fascinated to see yesterday afternoon that Dangerous Minds’ latest YouTube discovery was… a vintage radio ad for The Velvet Underground. Quite apart from the fact that the ad in question is weird as hell, we were amazed by the simple existence of such a promo for a Velvet Underground album, and the whole thing got us thinking: If Lou Reed et al were getting plugged on radio back in the day, surely there must have been other, similarly unexpected slots? Sure enough, looking for radio ads for ’60s and ’70s bands turns out to be one hell of an awesome YouTube rabbit hole. Record companies shelled out to promote bands you’d never, ever expect, and there’s a certain bizarre charm to the resultant commercials — especially when it’s clear that whoever wrote the ads didn’t know what on earth to make of the band in question. We’ve shared a selection of the best! … Read More

Music

15 Hilariously Negative Early Reviews of Classic Albums

By Tom Hawking on

Everybody likes reading a really nasty review every now and then, but sometimes critics get it wrong. Here’s a look at misguided reviews of albums that’d go on to be acclaimed as… Read More

Music

A Selection of Cheery Tunes to Soundtrack the Apocalypse

By Tom Hawking on

So, yes, Flavorpill HQ is located in NYC, and yes, we weathered the stormpocalypse and came out the other side. Happy days. It looks like the world isn’t going to end — or not today, at least. But shit, even if it does, we’re gonna keep posting until the end times are upon us, and when they are, we’re gonna need something to listen to. So here’s a selection of the best apocalyptic songs that music has to offer, with plenty in the way of biblical storm imagery and general portentousness. Here’s to hoping everyone out there is OK. … Read More

Design

Beautifully Designed Posters for Dream Concerts That Never Happened

By Judy Berman on

David Bowie, Missy Elliott, and Lightning Bolt. Lady Gaga, Kraftwerk, and Neutral Milk Hotel. We imagine most music fans have spent idle hours daydreaming about the totally improbable — and sometimes even impossible — concert lineups of their dreams. But have any of us taken the time to create posters for them, as the artists, illustrators, and designers who contributed to A Famous Night have done? In eight posters billed as commemorating “the greatest gigs that never happened,” they fantasize about a night where Black Sabbath and Rage Against the Machine open for Nirvana on the moon, and Spiritualized, Broadcast, and Boards of Canada all share the stage. Even Katy Perry and Justin Bieber get their very own (albeit demonic) tribute. Check out the excellent posters below, which we spotted via The Fox Is Black, and visit A Famous Night to buy prints. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Here’s your first look at the Greendale crew’s video game avatars from Thursday night’s 8-bit season finale of Community. It’s also worth noting that three new episodes of the show are airing that evening — at 8pm, 9pm, and 9:30pm. [via THR]

2. It’s official: Aaron Sorkin has signed on… Read More

Music

The Worst Nicknames in Rock

By Margaret Eby on

Editor’s note: Some parents name their kids after family members, living or dead. Others take inspiration from religion or history. But what about those of us who worship at the altar of pop culture? Back in 2010, we published Margaret Eby’s “Rock ‘n Roll Baby Name Dictionary” on Flavorwire. Today, Gotham Books releases a much-expanded version, Rock and Roll Baby Names, which details both the meanings of names and the associations they’ve picked up through pop music. For expectant parents and rock nerds alike, it’s a fascinating journey through musical history. A version of the list below appears in the book and has been reprinted by permission.

There are cool names, there are interesting and edgy names, and then there are those nicknames that make you wince a little. Avoid naming your children after these rock models at all cost, lest they be in a world of hurt on the grade school playground. … Read More

Books

Literary Mixtape: Faust

By Emily Temple on

If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite literary characters might be listening to while they save the world/contemplate existence/get into trouble, or hallucinated a soundtrack to go along with your favorite novels, well, us too. But wonder no more! Here, we sneak a look at the hypothetical iPods of some of literature’s most interesting characters. What would be on the personal playlists of Holden Caulfield or Elizabeth Bennett, Huck Finn or Harry Potter, Tintin or Humbert Humbert? Something revealing, we bet. Or at least something danceable. Read on for a cozy reading soundtrack, character study, or yet another way to emulate your favorite literary hero. This week: the most famous scholar of German legend and literature, Faust. … Read More

Music

Axl Rose Gives His First Live Interview in 5 Years

By Emily Temple on

In case you weren’t aware, Friday was National Metal Day, and what a day it was. Black Sabbath announced (after much teasing) that they would be reuniting to headline the Download Festival with Metallica, followed by a worldwide tour. Next, VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show conducted an extensive interview with Guns ‘N Roses frontman and all-around legend Axl Rose — his first interview of any kind in 5 years, and his first televised one in over a decade. We’ve been worried about Axl for a while now, but he sounds much more lucid than we had imagined he might. Click through to watch as he talks about his pre-tour rituals, starting shows late (we heard he was 15 hours late even to this interview), violent fans, and trying to put the Challenger explosion on an album cover, among other things. … Read More

Boldtype

Chuck Klosterman Presents: 12 Albums That Kick Writer’s Block

By John Hood on

Considering Chuck Klosterman kicks off his new book of essays, Eating the Dinosaur, with a piece about the inherent lack of truth in interviews, especially his own, it only makes sense to skirt the straight-up Q&A and angle for something the man might not want to lie about. Sure, there’s a risk Klosterman might not take the bait (“I don’t feel it’s my obligation to respond to anything…”), yet 99 times out of 99, he probably will (“still, I provide answers to every question I encounter, even if I don’t know what I should say”). So, instead of asking him to answer questions, per se, and risk a variable truthiness, we thought we’d get a better bead on the word-worker at work if he told us what music he plays while he’s reading and… Read More