It’s time to peel back the layers of The Smashing Pumpkins’ iconic 1995 masterpiece “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” to expose the secret art history hidden in the haunting cover art. Art that shaped the emotional world created within the album. We jump into Billy Corgan and John Craig’s […]
In 2001, the most unlikely rock album took the world by storm. It didn’t feature seasoned musicians. It featured 200 elementary school kids in a school gym, performing rock and pop songs of the 1970s, in the 1970s, in a single take. It’s backbone: the music of Brian Wilson and […]
In January of 2010, indie and dream pop duo Beach House had made the jump to Sub Pop Records, releasing their third album, Teen Dream. In this video, I dig into the album history, from the group’s 2004 formation through the release of their first two albums on Carpark Records, […]
This is the story of “Float On” and how a slew of bad events led Modest Mouse to create the greatest perseverance anthem of all time. Their 2004 album “Good News For People Who Love Bad News” turns 20 in 2024, and that means it’s the perfect time to look […]
The Stooges are pioneers of the proto punk movement, with Iggy Pop often hailed as the Godfather of Punk. In this album story, we explore the origins of the title, and trace it back to a bad decision — something The Stooges kinda made part of their career. This is […]
This is the story of when Janis Joplin was asked to join psychedelic rock pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators. Today, we explore this little discussed piece of music history, delving into the context behind the ask and why Joplin responded as she did. We’ll look at Janis’s first trek to […]
Before they became famous, Radiohead set out to make Pablo Honey. This is the story of their hit song Creep and how an act of sabotage and a secret recording led to the band’s international success, one of their most defining songs, and one of the greatest slacker anthems of […]
R.E.M. is one of the most important alt rock bands to come out of the early 1980s, and much of it comes down to their unique sound, blending jangly pop melodies with punk and post-punk sensibilities. But there’s a little told story in how they got that sound, and it […]
Blue Monday was a joke. A mistake. New Order never intended for the song to be a hit. In this week’s episode of Poetic Wax, Andy pulls out the 1988 pressing of Blue Monday. This is the surprising history of the song that blended alt rock, new wave, and electronic […]
On the 30th Anniversary of Purple by Stone Temple Pilots, Scott Weiland’s widow set the record straight about the legendary STP and Velvet Revolver frontman: He didn’t overdose. This is an alternate look at Scott Weiland’s death, and how Jamie Weiland feels we have it all wrong. 💡 Subscribe For […]
