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Comic Book Covers Featuring ’80s Post-Punk/New Wave Singers as Superheroes

By Tom Hawking on

If you’re a regular-ish reader, you might remember that Flavorwire has featured the work of a pop culture and Smiths-obsessed Brazilian artist by the name of Butcher Billy a couple of times over the last few years. Well, he’s back, and this time he’s designed a series of faux comic-book covers featuring ’80s post punk/new wave singers (including Morrissey, of course) as superheroes. They’re amazing. Obviously. … Read More

Music

10 Great Anti-Consumerist Anthems for Buy Nothing Day

By Tom Hawking on

As we noted on Wednesday when we discussed Black Friday and its associated Record Store Day releases, we’re not such big fans of the whole getting-up-early-to-battle-other-shoppers-for-discounted-flat-screen-TVs idea that comes with the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, we’re much more in favor of the inverse Buy Nothing Day concept, and not just because we loathe shopping at the best of times and thus buying nothing isn’t exactly a stretch for us. As such, we thought we’d get into the non-spirit of the day with some of our favorite anti-consumerist anthems. … Read More

Music

Listen to “Don’t Roof Rack Me, Bro,” Devo’s Song About Mitt Romney’s Dog

By Judy Berman on

Remember “Don’t Roof Rack Me, Bro (Seamus Unleashed),” that Devo song about the cruel, stupid thing Mitt Romney did to his family dog in 1983 we told you about earlier this month? It’s here! The track is streaming in advance of its iTunes release this coming Sunday, scheduled to coincide with National Dog Day. Written by frontman (and animal lover) Gerald Casale, it’s got that same boing-y, geeky New Wave feel Devo have spent so many years cultivating, with the kind of arena anthem shout-along chorus that, as far as we’re concerned, should earn it a spot on the Obama campaign trail playlist. Listen to “Don’t Roof Rack Me, Bro” after the jump — and visit Casale’s website RememberSeamus.com to buy merch that will partially benefit no-kill animal shelters. … Read More

Music

Devo Record Song for Mitt Romney’s Dog: “Don’t Roof Rack Me, Bro!”

By Judy Berman on

What do Mitt Romney and the Griswold family from National Lampoon’s Vacation have in common? An incredibly stupid road-trip story involving a dog, that’s what. In case you somehow haven’t heard about it yet, back in 1983, Romney and his family drove 12 hours from their home in Massachusetts to Ontario with their dog, Seamus,… Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we discovered the American towns that have the most unfortunate names. We found out that Guantanamo Bay detainees are obsessively watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. We remembered Devo at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and then we visited the London Olympics in 1908. We spotted a pulsating … Read More

Music

The Top 10 Record Store Day Releases to Snap Up

By Tom Hawking on

Record Store Day, which is coming up on Saturday, has grown into quite an industry over the last few years, which is certainly great news as far as promoting awareness of independently owned brick-and-mortar record stores goes — but it does also make it rather difficult to keep track of the wealth of exclusive releases on offer. But never fear, we’re here to help — we’ve trawled the extensive list of RSD-only releases and come up with the ten we’d definitely be investing in if we could only wake up early enough to get hold of them. Let us know what’s on your shopping list! … Read More

Books

Literary Mixtape: Harriet the Spy

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 eponymous character from Louise Fitzhugh’s ’60s classic, Harriet the Spy. … Read More

Art

Manda Rin’s Manga-Inspired Remakes of Classic Album Covers

By Judy Berman on

Fans of ’90s indie pop will know Manda Rin as the frontwoman of Glaswegian trio Bis, who broke up in 2003. These days, after weathering a difficult MS diagnosis, Rin has embarked upon a solo career and also makes art. In addition to creating graphics for an iPhone game called All Fridges Are Psychotic, she showed some new work over the weekend at Glasgow Popfest 2011. Titled Cover Versions and Other Hits, the exhibition collects Rin’s remakes of classic album covers, in the signature manga-inspired style that was ubiquitous in Bis’s album art. Check out some of our favorites, from Nirvana to X-Ray Spex to Sleater-Kinney, after the jump. Then visit Rin’s website to see more. … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we tried to imagine a world where Ringo Starr didn’t end up as one of the Beatles. We thought that Jillian Tamaki’s “Have a Sexy Halloween” illustrations for The Hairpin were laugh out loud funny. We watched Rihanna puke out a bunch of ribbons in her new… Read More

Music

10 Excellent Pre-MTV Music Videos

By Judy Berman on

To commemorate the space shuttle Atlantis’s return from its final mission, Boing Boing posted the music video for David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” It’s a great and weird clip, featuring Bowie as a retro-futurist, silver-clad astronaut gyrating through space. And he’s also ground control, which you can tell because he’s wearing a red baseball cap that says “GC.” Then there are some girls with big hair, who don’t appear to be astronauts. Anyway, it got us thinking about how much we love stumbling upon music videos from the days before MTV, when the medium was new and unpolished. Ten of our favorites, including everyone from the Beatles and the Stones to ’60s French pop and Devo, are after the jump. … Read More