I can't even begin to explain how happy this video makes me. A DJ Cummerbund mashup of Paul Simon's "Me and Julio (Down by the Schoolyard)" with Coolio's "Fantastic Voyage," with on-screen cameos by Mickey Mantle, John Madden, and "Macho Man" Randy Savage.

For the longest time, I swore I had been a fan of Depeche Mode since their album Violator dropped. However, I recently looked up the release date (March 19, 1990) and that just doesn't jive at all. I know, for a fact, that I've been listening to them (along with The Cure and Duran Duran) since middle school, which, for me, was 1987-89. That was my personal British Invasion. So I guess that means I've been listening since the days of Music for the Masses although I've never owned that album, though I do know the songs.

Nathan and I officially have a new favorite Christmas song! Who needs Mariah Carey when you have the Old 97s and a motley assortment of alien life forms via the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Holy balls! Metallica's latest single, "Lux Æterna," rocks my world! You gotta check this out!

Katie and I are so pissed right now. After live streaming the first of two tribute concerts to drummer Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters are doing an about-face on the second concert with no live stream whatsoever.

I have been on such a thrash metal tear for the last couple of years.

Over the weekend, I updated my cassette “go bag” with some tapes I wanted to listen to in the near future. Unlike in the past, when I would go into my office and needed to select some to take in and have nothing else, I’ve got my entire collection readily available as I work from home. But I still pick allotments to enjoy at any given time for whatever reason.

I have become absolutely obsessed with watching this meteoric rise of newcomer songstress Kate Bush and her newly released track “Running Up That Hill.”

A classic iPod with on-board WiFi, Bluetooth, and Spotify streaming? That would be so cool!

As a lover of music, documentary films, music memoirs, and, most importantly, the Thin White Duke himself, David Bowie, the upcoming release of Moonage Daydream makes me happy to no end. 

I found these pre-recorded MiniDiscs recently while perusing containers and boxes in the attic.

You know you’ve developed a reputation as a cassette collector (although VERY dialed back in the last couple years) when people start picking up tapes for you.

It was kinda funny reading posts from everyone freaking out that Spotify (and Discord) was down most of today leaving people without a key source of streaming music and podcasts.

An interesting bit of news came down the pipeline today and I wanted to weigh in on it. Veteran rocker Neil Young of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the wet dream of indie and grunge rockers everywhere has said he wants his music removed from the streaming service Spotify.

I've never been a drummer. Not once. I severely lack the timing and coordination to do it right and I accepted that fact a LONG freaking time ago.

I find it kind of funny the memories that music evokes. Be it a personal experience that you tie to a song or some other media like TV or movies. 

No, not the social media site that is supposed to be a portal for professionals to network with like minds and find jobs, that's LinkedIn (although after using LinkedIn for three job hunts, I can safely say it has not gotten me a single job). Also, no, not the neighborhood in Chicago that plays home to one of my favorite pizza joints around (Piece Pizza), that's Lincoln Park. 

It’s been one thing to watch the vinyl resurgence. It has been another to see cassettes claw their way back from the dead. 

Apparently, there is a long-rumored lost video Van Halen recorded back in 1981 for the song “So This Is Love.” It was done also to promote a concert or venue or whatever. It became known as the “dinosaur video.”

Yesterday, I finished watching all six episodes of the first season of Disney+ and the MCU’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I thought it was fantastic and loved nearly everything about it. 

If you could have any 10 musicians who have died back, who would they be? 

Back in 1989-90, during my freshman year of high school, I bought my first Sony Discman and hooked it up to a cassette boombox I owned to be able to play and collect compact discs for the first time. And while I remember this time well, I can never quite remember which was my first CD... was it The Black Crowes' Shake Your Money Maker or the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Mother's Milk? 

I realized something the other day as I was listening to Corbin Reiff's book Total F*cking Godhead: The Biography of Chris Cornell, I think music memoirs and biographies might just be my favorite genre of book.

Y'all know what a "deep fake" is, right? When AI is used to create photos or video or audio content that is so real that it's almost impossible to question its authenticity. Sometimes it's used for nefarious purposes like making it seem as though a political candidate has said or done something they haven't. 

When Soul Asylum broke through to the mainstream with Grave Dancers Union in 1992, I was all on-board for the ride. Not just because of "Runaway Train," though. In fact, the album had been out for a year before that song was even released.

While digging around in a container of old crap, I happened across an ID card from my junior year of high school.

Man, I really don’t do Snippet posts anymore do I? First one this year and the first since last April. Only two in 2020, four in 2019, seven in 2018. I haven’t done this regularly since 2014. Yikes!

Throughout the history of modern music, there have been special pairings of songs that, while perhaps they were meant to be separate entities when initially recorded by the artists, the fans have forever entwined them so that they almost sound strange if played separately.

I have a new addition to my analog addiction. Say “hello” to the Sony Sports WM-FS220. Ain’t she a beaut?

I’ve been a fan of the French electronic duo Daft Punk since I discovered their debut album Homework back in 1997. It was chock full of amazing sounds and it never got old. 

Nathan really digs on popular music. He discovers it mostly from movie soundtracks and YouTube videos and has us add tracks randomly to a playlist we created for him in Spotify. 

A few months ago, I found this really cool Instagram account (actually, he found me) that sells physical audio and video media via his home. He doesn't have a bricks-and-mortar storefront, just an online store supported by images on IG.

I’ve become a bit of a Bandcamp junkie of late poking around and picking out some new-to-me bands I really enjoy and following musical subgenres so I can receive notifications of new music.

[I apologize in advance for a post-Christmas Christmas post, but I forgot to publish it last week. Oh well.] This is Reis O'Brien. He's a creative director for Funko Corporation and also a member of the death metal band Knee Deep in Blood.

As I'm sure just about everyone who is alive has had to do as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, my family has missed out on events that we would otherwise have done this year. We've missed out on sports events and museum trips and vacations and... music.