In a parallel world, The Beatles keep making music — Kendrick Lamar had a point in “ELEMENT.” When he said, “Fake my death, go to Cuba, that’s the only option,” he was referring to the theory about famous musicians faking their death and moving to Cuba. The baseball cap and varsity jacket fooled the Cuban public, if true. Either way…

Future civilizations will have a blast — Spotify has a cool feature in the time capsule: it’s a playlist cataloging your most-heard songs on Spotify. I’ve used the service since 2015, meaning I was 19, turning 20 at the end of the year. I heard many screamo/post-hardcore bands from the early 2000s back then. My music tastes…

We don’t, nor should we? — The Game Awards 2022 was wrapping up by announcing Elden Ring as the game of the year. The team of FromSoftware went center stage to give their speech once declared winners. But, once they ended the speech, the unthinkable happened. An unknown guy followed FromSoftware on stage and told us…

The year of female-fronted bands and impactful themes — Turbulent times call for music. Musicians, as a result, wrote introspective and angry albums as an outcry for change. During our midterms, we had a glimmer of hope here in the United States. The US defied the odds and decided against fascism. …

Not every album is a hit — Since music hits existed, there have been flops. Mariah Carey’s Glitter didn’t receive love, and Madonna has had her stinkers. However, flops took on a different meaning in the 2010s. Users of TikTok used the term ‘flop era’ to describe disappointing music from artists. Of course, flop doesn’t mean the…

17 minutes of raw, unadulterated music fan reactions — Two aspiring filmmakers captured a beloved underground metal documentary in 1986. Denizens of Washington D.C., Jeff Krulik, and John Heyn heard countless radio ads about Judas Priest at the Capital Centre at Landover, Maryland. So, they grabbed their cameras and mics to see what they could record. Judas Priest fans…

Music too close for comfort — If you dig deep enough, you’ll find genres unsuitable to the ears and for acquired tastes. Of course, plenty of music genres bend typical structures, yet these genres take it to another degree. Many of the said genres add aggressive sounds, say death metal spliced with the energy of dubstep. …

Forget becoming an influencer and content provider. The music comes first. — It’s one thing to listen to music and another to learn about music history. You can learn music history through books, movie docs, and articles. As with articles, few music writers can catch your attention. But, there are a couple who bring you in, making you come back for more…

Straight from the Puerto Rican front — Deep in the bungalows of Puerto Rico, a couple of teenagers sing their hearts out on stage. While they sing, the DJ plays a steady track of percussive drums and catchy reggae samples. By merging the two, they invented a new genre, reggaeton. Of course, it took a few years…

Mexican love songs with plenty of passion — No contest. Spanish is the language of love. The softer consonants and long vowels are to thank. They help the words flow with ease. Also, the syllables and enunciations sound elegant and pleasing to the ears. You will make hearts mend if you say or type anything in Spanish. …

Forever changing punk rock one lyric at a time — Community College was fun. I was optimistic about finishing and becoming someone in the five years I went. Fortunately, I completed community college with flawless grades. Yet, I’m still working on the someone part. I could’ve finished college sooner if I had had direction and didn’t take unnecessary courses. I…

I’m shedding tears inside — What an undertaking of my musical knowledge and emotions. I’ve ignored challenges for the last couple of weeks, not because I want to, but because my mind drew a blank. I can’t tell what songs I enjoy about trains or food. Regardless, a challenge about emotional songs bewitched me. I’m…

The boys get ranked — Eleven albums in seventeen years; few bands can make such a statement. Many young bands release albums yearly but fall to the wayside two or three decades into their career. Rock bands (typically emo and post-hardcore bands of the early aughts) last for a couple of years, releasing one or…

Unabashed to not show off — Your voice is an instrument; neglecting its potential is wasteful. Such as a physical instrument, your voice can produce harmonics, melodies, and pitch. You may be a natural baritone or mezzo-soprano, but can you sing deeper with bass or soprano? Can your vocals reach tenor or contralto? You can make…

Songs for anyone interested in rock — Many start rock bands with the hope and promise that one day they will sign to a major label, becoming as popular as their inspirations. Some bands luck out, while others reach local fame. Local fame has kept Jack Black’s character Dewey Finn from success in the 2003 classic musical…

Songs fulfilling unrequited lovers — Many writers on Medium have shared their love of music, and it’s delightful reading about the musicians and songs they cherish. Still, many of those songs are from North America, with a few songs from other countries. I wanted to share a band from my Mexican heritage, Camila, to break…

They’re rocking out until daybreak — Rock witnessed its last revision in the ’90s with grunge. By then, the cool kids had tired of the cathartic and angst of alt-rock and went straight to boy bands and joyous pop music to have more optimism in their life. Yet, those who still loved grunge and alt-rock reawaken…

The essential records for any post-hardcore fan — In public, my mother’s phone rang with the ringtone of my favorite song. “Isn’t that heavy metal?” one person waiting in line asked. I’m unaware of what my mom said afterward, as I blew a gasket when someone assumed my favorite song was heavy metal when my mother explained what…

2022s best — Planet Earth’s in turmoil, and its children can’t stand it. The gatekeepers of politics and culture (I admire a few) on Medium keep predicting and informing us of the end of humanity and the collapse of the United States. So true. If we keep our destructive ways, society will become…

The legacy of the proto-punkers — Nineteen sixty-seven, shirtless and white-faced, Iggy Pop struts on stage as he screeches and grunts in a concrete microphone. Ron Asheton bangs on his oil drums, Scott Asheton plays frizzled, distorted guitar riffs, and Dave Alexander’s bass adds to the twisted chaos. The quartet astonished the masses, leaving them in…