Song Story and the Meaning of the Lyrics to “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine
June 15, 2025
Rage Against the Machine may have been a successful rap-rock band signed to a major label. But the band advocated for nothing other than a Revolution across the Americas, and turned impressionable fans into left-leaning political activists. None of the band’s songs is…
“Freak on a Leash” is a unique song released at a unique point in the history of pop culture. How can you explain an aggressive rock and hip-hop hybrid that lays bare the tortured psyche of the singer, becoming a global hit in our current era? Public expectations…
Marilyn Manson's Top 10 Songs
June 9, 2025
Marilyn Manson was designed to be shocking, controversial and to deliver poppy industrial-rock singles. It succeeded on all counts, and nearly had his career cancelled along the way a few times. But there’s no escaping the fact that Manson is one of the most successful…
Top 10 Songs by The B-52s
June 8, 2025
The B-52s may be known to you as either an eccentric, adventurous new-wave band or a highly successful, slightly kitschy pop group. But you’re unlikely to know or appreciate them for both these things. Still, the B-52s are one of the greatest alternative rock bands of…
Top 10 Songs by Fountains of Wayne
June 7, 2025
Fountains of Wayne may have just been the best pop band of the 1990s. Passionately admired by some, and completely ignored by most, the band created some of the sweetest, most cleverly melodic guitar music ever recorded. It’s clear to me that Fountains of Wayne is one…
Top 10 Songs by Kasabian
June 6, 2025
Kasabian picked up where Oasis had left off, and delivered to rock fans hungry for stadium-sized rock anthems a bombastic, electronica-infused sound. Clearly, in recent times, Kasabian is one of the greatest alternative rock bands.
The band has registered plenty of…
Top 10 Songs by Meat Loaf
June 5, 2025
Meat Loaf, usually in collaboration with Jim Steinman, wrote the kind of rock n’ roll that Bruce Springsteen might conceive if trading New Jersey for Bayreuth and trying to register for the Richard Wagner Festival. Meat Loaf produced over-the-top odes to rebels on…
Top 10 Songs by Social Distortion
June 4, 2025
Social Distortion is a punk-rock fairytale, a story that started out promising, nearly ended in disaster, but was saved by passion and a whole lot of luck. Mike Ness’ Social Distortion is one of the greatest bands in alternative music and one of the top punk-rock bands…
“Runaway Train” is a true classic, and was from the very first day that anyone heard it. One of the greatest alternative rock songs of the 1990s, “Runaway Train”, proves, beyond doubt, that, occasionally, good things happen to good, hard-working…