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Break Me Off a Piece of that Breakup Song

Thao Nguyen on the perverse pleasure of musical pain
Break Me Off a Piece of that Breakup Song
Article by Thao Nguyen, appeared in issue Art/See; published in 2009; filed under Music.
No one pays attention to breakup songs until they need them. When you first hear one you are probably not interested; you are probably turned off by its utter depression, and so you skip ahead to the next upbeat track, something with shouting and hand claps in the chorus, something for happier people.

Fortunately for you, the dirge you just flitted by is secreted away and catalogued in the depths of your mind's ear for your future employ. Months, years, possibly hours later, the shit goes down, and you are so sad. And you’re searching, searching. You’re pretty sure the only thing that will make you feel better is listening to something that makes you feel…sadder. Why does one crave the wallow? I do not know. But one does. You want full immersion in the dissolution. You don’t want to just take the language courses. You want to go live in the country of origin; you want to stay with a host family.

Enter the breakup song to function as a vessel, a vehicle, a holding pen....

Ladies' Camp Rock

Wrocking ’n’ Rowling with wizard- and 
Twilight-themed bands
Ladies' Camp Rock
You only have to look to the history of Star Trek–
inspired music—ranging from surf-punkers No Kill I to the Klingon heavy-metal band Stovokor—to see that fantasy and science- fiction fans have made music devoted to their obsessions for generations. Nothing in the history of fandom, though, can compare to wizard rock, a thriving subculture of musicians and fans devoted to Harry Potter–inspired rock ’n’ roll. But don’t let the name fool you: It’s witches, not wizards, who dominate this scene.

Love Guns, Tight Pants, and Big Sticks

Who Put the Cock in Rock?

cock rock: To some, the term conjures up images of rock gods in white jumpsuits, long hair haloed by a rainbow of lights, fans waving their Bics in unison as an immaculate guitar solo screams out from a tower of amps. To others, it evokes backstage legends of drugs and debauchery, the triumph of malecentric hedonism over social conscience, the unapologetic celebration of sleaze. To still others, it’s shorthand for memorable riffs with a backbeat that makes you want to throw some devil horns and bang your head.

Editors' Letter: Music

Why Music?

Whether a music writer makes a living marshalling lyrical evidence for supposedly new trends or manufacturing arguments to shore up tired clichés—and whether you applaud women’s progress in the musical arena or not—one thing’s clear: Women in music, prevalent as they may be, are consistently positioned as an aberration or an exception. Even the phraseology is troublesome: “women in music,” “women in rock,” and the erstwhile “year of the woman” (thanks for the generosity, guys).

Teen Girls + Boy Love Dolls = Tru (heart) + $ 4Ever

Teen Girls + Boy Love Dolls = Tru (heart) + $ 4Ever
Article by Andi Zeisler, Allison Fensterstock, Diana Huculak, Illustrated by Patti Rothberg, appeared in issue Music; published in 2001; filed under Music; tagged boy bands, marketing, music history, music industry, pop music, teens.

Pop-sensation lifespans have been shrinking since the dawn of pop sensations, but the power of the boy band has proved enduring. These prefab crews of scrubbed, smiling teens busting a synchronized move to manufactured beats have a special place in pop – music history and in the hearts—and notebooks and lockers—of their (mostly female) fans.


Action Jackson

Luscious Jackson's Kate Schellenbach on Blondie, basketball, and building her own musical all-star team
Action Jackson
An interview with Kate Schellenbach by Tom Kielty, published in 2000; filed under Music; tagged Beastie Boys, female artists, Lilith Fair, Lollapalooza, Luscious Jackson, music festivals, music industry, record industry, women in rock.

Kate Schellenbach is cool. Cool not because, after starting the fanzine Cheap Garbage for Snotty Kids in the early '80s, she was the first to take a seat behind the drum set for the Beastie Boys. Not because nearly 10 years later Luscious Jackson, the band she formed with friends from New York clubs like Hurrah and Tier 3, was the first band signed to the Beasties' Grand Royal label. Not even because since putting Luscious together the band has shared stages with the likes of Bettie Serveert, Urge Overkill, and R.E.M. Kate Schellenbach is cool in that intangible way that the person you chat casually with in the bookstore is cool—she’s smart, funny, and unassuming. On the verge of Luscious Jackson's national tour with labelmate Ben Lee, supporting their new record Electric Honey, the band played a radio show broadcast from Foxboro Stadium outside Boston alongside the Pretenders, Natalie Merchant, Sugar Ray, Melissa Etheridge, and Blondie. In between playing her set and jetting back to the stage to rock out to the Pretenders, she found time to have lunch with me.

Bitch Suggested Listening #1

Reviewed in this issue: Red Aunts, #1 Chicken (Epitaph); Cub, Betti-Cola (Mint); Cibo Matto, “Birthday Cake” b/w “Black Hole Sun”; Liz Phair, Juvenilia (Matador); Team Dresch, Personal Best (Chainsaw/Candy-Ass)