NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Adam Schlesinger, the absurdly talented and prolific songwriter, died yesterday from coronavirus complications. Go to hell, COVID-19. Schlesinger, best known for co-founding Fountains of Wayne and co-writing over 150 songs for the musical-comedy TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, was 52. He had been churning out songs and musical projects for more than 25 years for…
Chances are that you remember Hanson for their smash single, “Mmmbop.” And if you hadn’t followed their career afterwards, it would be perfectly reasonable to predict that the mop-tops fizzled away. One hit wonders from a marketing machine, right? (Spotify seconds this: “Mmmbop” has more than 20x the number of plays than any of their other tracks.) Yet,…
Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the debut of Gossip Girl, which should make all of us feel old. Since this show was one of the formative ones of my adolescence (which probably explains a lot about me), I feel compelled to eulogize it in an excessively long look back. You’ve been warned. In the mid-2000s,…
This is the third and final part of my Tomas Kalnoky/Streetllight Manifesto retrospective. Read part 1 here and part 2 here. After the release of Somewhere in the Between, Streetlight Manifesto’s incessant touring continued, as did their lofty promises. Within a year or two of the release of Somewhere in the Between, the Streetlight website announced a…
This is part 2 of my Tomas Kalnoky/Streetllight Manifesto retrospective. Read part 1 here. After BotAR broke up, Kalnoky got together a lineup that more resembled a traditional ska-punk band: trumpet, trombone, two saxes, guitar, bass, drums. This new band recorded an EP, signed a 5-album deal with Victory Records, and named themselves “Streetlight Manifesto.”…
This is part 1 of my Tomas Kalnoky/Streetlight Manifesto retrospective Streetlight Manifesto — in conjunction with Tomas Kalnoky’s various acts — is my favorte musical artist of the past quarter century. It was a steady uphill climb. Driven by Kalnoky’s unique and sublime songwriting, I’ve been a fan since he was a teenager writing for ska-punk…
“You don’t discover [The Beatles], you reclaim them… You have to take [them] back from everyone who’s admired [them] before and find your own way in, even if what you’re really looking for in the music is the same thing those old admirers found there.” – Alex Pappademas What, in the name of Saving Private Ryan,…
Since 2009, Earn This has written in-depth retrospectives of some of our favorite musical artists, TV shows, and movie series. We’ve collected them on this page under the banner of “Thistory” (Earn This + History? Get it?). These critical narratives explore the history and development of distinct creative voices. We love learning all about our favorite…
Read Part 1 of this Retrospective To start 2009, Kanye was basking in the sales and critical acclaim of his strange fourth album, 808s and Heartbreak. After a fateful 2008, it seemed Kanye’s world was starting to settle down again. But more upheaval and controversy were just around the corner. He spent the middle part of…
Damn, ‘Ye, it’d be stupid to dis you Even your superficial raps is super-official -Kanye, “Gone” Kanye West is the most controversial, paradoxical musician of the past quarter century. He’s brilliant and a moron, refined and vulgar, self-conscious and gregarious, beloved and hated. He’s the best and the worst, and that’s a big part of…