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Famous Album Covers Photographed in the NYC Locations Where They Were Shot

By Judy Berman on

Bob Egan isn’t the only person who’s photographing famous album covers superimposed over the locations where they were shot — in fact, the idea has become so popular that even advertisers have picked up on it — but he’s certainly doing more thorough research for his project than anyone else we’ve seen. At his website, PopSpots, Egan chronicles the detective work he does to find these places, providing multiple photos and maps that both show his process and help readers place the image within the city. While most of the covers (and other famous rock ‘n’ roll pictures) are from New York City, where Egan is a real estate agent, he’s also tracked Bob Dylan and The Who to London. See a few of our favorite PopShots photos below, and visit the site for a whole lot more. … 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

Web

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

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we were tickled by these photos of women’s basketball teams from the early 1900s — particularly the long skirts. We found it adorable that cartoonist/dad Mark Anderson spent nearly two years recreating the alphabet for his kids using LEGO spaceships. We tried (and failed!) to solve … Read More

Music

The Etymology of 10 Famous Band Names

By Margaret Eby on

On Monday, Coach Leonard Skinner — the beloved high school teacher and namesake of Lynyrd Skynyrd — passed away at the age of 77, and a little piece of frat rock died with him. A sad event for lovers of Southern jukebox-jams everywhere, to be sure, but also a reminder of a pretty good band name back story. It got us thinking about our favorite, unexpected band names and where they come from. Virginia Woolf stories, slang terms for speed, poorly understood foreign terms: all are fodder for some pretty excellent handles. So, in memory of Coach Skinner, we’ve compiled the etymology of 10 famous band names. … 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