Performing live music right now is a very adaptive practice, to say the least. Enter psychedelic alternative icons the Flaming Lips whose frontman Wayne Coyne has utilized giant plastic bubbles in performances long before the current pandemic. I saw him do this wondrous and playful part of the band’s epic stage shows at both Lollapalooza and Riot Fest, rolling out on top of the crowd.
Lips have done this plastic performance back in June for CBS’s Late Show with actual audience members dancing in their bubbles.
Back in ’04, playing their Spongebob Squarepants track for the corresponding film Coyne balled out again on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
We miss the smart-ass swarms with muddy boots in Douglas Park of Riot Fets this year, but the lineup for the postponed 2021 RF looks ridiculously awesome with the long-anticipated reunion of My Chemical Romance. The comeback story of seeing beloved bands who reunite on the Riot stage has been one of the festival’s calling cards, so AltPress issued this well-crafted video breaking down the best reunions and final sets in Riot Fest’s history. From the Misfits to screamo titans, this video will give you the feels.
Also, remember Riot Fest Sucks!
Enjoy our interviews filmed at Riot Fest in the past with Weezer, Rise Against, the Offspring, Violent Femmes, GWAR, Social Distortion, Andrew W.K., Riot Fest founder Riot Mike, and many more.
No doubting that Pearl Jam is one of the pillars of The History of Alternative. Now you can get your hands on a reissue of one of their most historic pop culture moments.
The band announced plans to release their 1992 MTV Unplugged performance on both vinyl and CD. Why, yes — there was a limited release of it last year for Record Store Day. But you probably missed out and got real, real sad. But happiness comes your way on October 23rd. It’s coinciding with the last of this year’s “three days over three months” Record Store Day 2020.
‘The Fast & The Furious’ series has long ago abandoned any sense of staying grounded in reality, morphing into an as-ridiculous-as-possible action romp with car fights in the Arctic, cars falling out of the sky, and other preposterous settings, Internet Today breaks down all of this in their weekly ‘News Dump’ plus they confirm we are indeed getting that Borat sequel.
In the 90’s, as video games exploded with sports adaptions and one of the biggest being the arcade smash NBA JAM from Chicago’s very own Midway Games but one big name was missing from the party: Michael Jordan. Through the years, MJ’s presence or lack thereof on THE sports game of decade in which he became THE guy in sports has become the thing of legend. Jordan opted to be out a licensing agreement due to his deal with Nike, but he was included in a very early unreleased version fo the game that was pitched to NBA officials.
In his smart-ass friendly exploration of lost media, Youtube awesome dude Whang covered the whole story with unearthing footage and how the Bulls great along with another superstar player demanded their own private versions of the game with their likeness included. Watch the entire deep dive here…and try not to yell “HE’S ON FIRE” while you watch it.
Does anyone make better angry music than Nine Inch Nails? Â Heck no! Â And it makes sense, considering Trent Reznor had to grow up in Cleveland of all places. Â Releasing their debut album back in 1989, Pretty Hate Machine would provide NIN with the blueprint for success all the way through the early 2000s, when he decided to go more atmospheric. Â Here are some of my personal favorite NIN tracks to add to your playlist.
After some allegations on what Odell Beckham Jr likes in the bedroom flew around the internet, Deion Sanders wanted to throw in his opinion on the matter.
Who knows. And honestly we don’t know much about this new Netflix documentary besides the fact that there is a kind of relationship between a man and an octopus.
I don’t care about anything else, that’s all you need to know.
Hi friends! If the Strokes didn’t happen, for all we know we could still be stuck listening to nu metal <shudders>. And for that reason alone they deserve all of our praise! Â In fact, I remember hearing Last Nite on WKQX when it first came out and thinking “I don’t like this yet, but I think someday its going to be important.” Â Here are some essential tracks from the Strokes to start your playlist. Â Enjoy the History of Alternative.