Susan Boyle

Tracing "Hallelujah" From Obscurity To Ubiquity

Back in September of 2010, noted music journalist (and former editor-in-chief of SPIN and Vibe magazines) Alan Light was among 4,000 people sitting in the Jacob Javitz Center for Yom Kippur services when the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah choir took the stage to conclude the solemn proceedings with ... More >>

How Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' Went From Obscurity to Ubiquity

Cold, broken, and holy

Dear Internet: All The Snickering About Madonna's Age Is Getting Real Old

This week Madonna's 12th studio album and dive into the deep end of the EDM pool, MDNA, came out. I didn't like it very much. But what I like even less is the sexism-tinged age-baiting that the record seems to be inspiring in so many critics. Forbes was likely the worst offender of the bunch, going ... More >>

Lana Del Rey Takes Her Place On The Internet's Sacrificial Altar With "Born To Die"

​In another era, Lana Del Rey would just be another pretty pop singer with a second-rate voice and big, unrealized ambitions, a major-label footnote maybe worth a page or two in a book about the foibles of the early-'10s music industry. But this is The Age Of Trollgaze, and so her "mysterious" ... More >>

Amazing Good/Bad Old Movie Alert: The Cool Ones

​If the 1967 "classic" The Cool Ones ever pops up again on TCM, please do mama a favor and watch it. This one had my kind of "good/badness" written all over it, and when I finally checked it out, it totally delivered, man. A spoof of the '60s music biz, it centers on a girl (played by bland ... More >>

100 & Single: How Adele, Not the Beatles, Is The Music Biz's 2011 Redeemer

​ The music business spikes the football over its gradually improving sales the same week a certain U.K. chanteuse completes her conquering of the U.S. pop charts. Coincidence? Maybe not. The omnipresent Adele takes control of Billboard's Hot 100 this week; "Rolling in the Deep" finally evict ... More >>

American Idol, Season 10: Separating The Nobodies From The Assholes

Our sources tell us this girl is "molten hot." Credit: Michael Becker/FOX.​Last night's show ended with a cliffhanger: We didn't know, as it faded out, whether Jennifer Lopez would be able to continue judging, or whether the strain of eliminating good kids was just too much. As the show return ... More >>

The 20 Worst Songs of 2010, #1: Train, "Hey, Soul Sister"

F2K10 has been a countdown of the 20 worst songs of 2010. Relieve the journey here. The future of rock music, right here.​Here are some important things to know about Train's "Hey, Soul Sister."

Live: Laurie Anderson Brings Her Delusion To BAM

Theories on the afterlife, and how many times you die. Photos by Rahav Segev courtesy of BAM, more below.​Laurie Anderson BAM/Harvey Theater Tuesday, September 21 Better Than: Hearing anyone else on earth talk about their dreams. Laurie Anderson should be legally required to provide the voi ... More >>

I Went To Michael Bolton's House In Connecticut For A Cocktail Party

Our host, in his element​Look, when you get an email with that offer, you say yes. It's just a fact. And thus do I find myself on a bus yesterday evening with 20-odd publicists, journalists (OK!, In Style, Vibe, Entertainment Weekly, etc.), and TV/radio people, a merciful lack of ironical "LOL ... More >>

Barack Obama is Golden, Rush Limbaugh is Screwed -- Predictions for the Year of the Tiger!

By Fatimah Surjani Ortega Yes, Tiger, this could be your year​Sunday ushers in the Year of Metal Tiger, which sounds like a golf club. That's actually appropriate, because things look auspicious for Tiger Woods -- as long as he can keep his dick in his pants. Just in time for Chinese New Yea ... More >>

So Was Lil Wayne's Rebirth a Modest Success Or a Total Commercial Failure? Maura Johnston Reads the Charts

"Billboard's 'Tastemakers' chart is the one we should all paying attention to, don't you think?"​This week's Billboard 200 is headed once again by Lady Antebellum, the milquetoast country trio whose second album Need You Now moved 481,000 copies in its debut week, and 209,000 copies in the sal ... More >>

The Year of Too Much Consensus

Indie rock is the new Springsteen, but not in the way you think

Michael Jackson and the Endless Summer of Death

What the King of Pop left behind, and what he took with him

The Top 10

Arguing about mellow indie rock, Lady Gaga, and the real grizzly bears

Michael Musto's Year (and Decade) in Review!

Gaga for Google and every twittle thing that made the Aughts fraught with fakery and fun

The Ecstasy, the Agony: Live Blogging the MTV VMAs

In honor of 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, we've invited SOTC buddies and pop savants Sean Fennessey and Ryan Dombal to lend a certain wisdom and perspective to these sure-to-be completely dignified proceedings. Gentleman? John Shearer​ 9:00pm Sean: We're coming to you live from one or two or ... More >>

Fringe Festival 2009 Reviews

Live Blogging the Michael Jackson Memorial

Live Video streaming by Ustream For all the lovely grace notes, homages, and eulogies that have flowed from any number of erudite and compassionate individuals in the wake of Michael Jackson's untimely death at the young age of 50, a celebrity's death is not over in American until the huge, gaudy, ... More >>

Jackson Memorial Worthy of a Master Showman

The Michael Jackson all-star memorial concert at the Staples Center was so riveting I expected Michael to pop out of the shiny, silver coffin and do one last moonwalk. Janet and LaToya really turned it out fashionwise (and dignity-wise); old-time Motown legends like Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, and S ... More >>

Rightbloggers Mourn Michael Jackson's Death -- As Good News for Obama, Ahmadinejad

It was no surprise to most of us when the death of Michael Jackson on Thursday took over the news, both mainstream and citizen varieties, and even the internet. Americans are suckers for celebrities, and the unexpected demise of one of the world's most famous entertainers was bound to obsess us. ... More >>