In last night’s blog on the subject of “sleaze,” I said that, considered as a matter of fashion or style, sleaze does not immediately invoke...

My previous blog entry discussed the word “raunchy,” in which I concluded by saying there was a rather significant difference between the me...

The word raunch is to raunchy as the word sleaze is to sleazy—or the word grunge is to grungy: by the process known as back-formation, a new...

I received an interesting email from David Borden, Director, Retired, of the Digital Music Program, Department of Music, at Cornell Universi...

The word “cool” emerged out of 1940s American jazz culture known as bebop. Bob Yurochko observes: “[One] phenomenon that rose from bebop [o...

In the history of rock music there have been several musicians whose mental illnesses have severely impaired their careers. Immediately one ...

Today is Michael Jackson’s birthday. Born in Gary, Indiana in 1958, he has turned 50 years old. The event has caused barely a ripple in the ...

In popular literature, song, poetry, and film, the femme fatale is a wicked, dangerous, irresistibly alluring woman who seduces and then le...

In the discourse about popular music, you’ll find that that the re-recorded version of a song previously recorded by an earlier artist is re...

In Tikaboo Valley, Nevada, the only significant landmark along a long, lonely stretch of Nevada’s Highway 375—officially named the “Extrater...

Slightly over three weeks ago I posted a blog entry on Time-Life's forthcoming The Ultimate Oldies But Goodies Collection , a large, 10...

Reverb is echo (the repetition of sound) produced by electronic means (such as that produced by the Fender ’65 Twin Reverb Amp, pictured). ...