Poultry Emotion: A 20-Piece Bucket o' Classic Chicken Songs
In honor of golden-throated Kentucky chicken farmer Kevin Skinner, who won the million-dollar grand prize on America's Got Talent last week, we offer this squawkingly great list of songs about the animal this new pop-cultural phenomenon used to spend so much time looking after... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the Day10 Songs That Summon Sleep
There is a lot of road between Athens, Ga. and Decatur, Ga., and to keep from brooding over the gallons of gas that trickle off my gauge or the precious hours of life I spend hunched in the driver's seat during my commute, I rely on music as my one, true beacon of sanity (talk radio as my second). It is my trusty buoy for when I'm stuck in the ebb and flow of Atlanta traffic, or numbed in the limbo of bland highway expanses.... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the DayBeck Writes, Produces Album for Charlotte Gainsbourg
For a while now, Beck's been taking a step back from making albums. His own albums, that is. Since releasing the understated Modern Guilt in 2008, he's kept busy with several different projects of other people's tunes. With his Record Club, Beck covered Velvet Underground's classic album with Nico, and Planned Obsolescence is a series of extended mixtapes. ... read more
Found in: Music, NewsFifteen Songs About The Body Parts I Might Sell Just To Own Specimen's Little Horn Speakers
Right this minute, I am listening to music on my laptop's built-in speakers. I cycled through endless pairs of $10 Target earbuds until Santa Claus brought me a half-decent pair of Bose headphones a few years back, my iPod dock of choice was purchased at a store called Linens & Things, and I don't know my treble from a hole in the ground. Needless to say, I am not an audiophile. So why am I so transfixed by the Little Horn Speakers unveiled this week by Chicago-based custom guitar and amp shop Specimen? Well, just look at them. They're gorgeous.... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the Day21 Songs About Booze
Above: Prohibition, what a waste. Angelo Cammarata, 95, is the world's longest-running bartender. He's literally been serving since a few minutes after prohibition ended in 1933—he's even in the Guinness Book and Jim Beam's Bartender Hall of Fame for his longevity slinging suds. Of course, there's more to being a barkeep than pouring drinks. As this man has presided over his family business—no-frills neighborhood bar Cammarata's Cafe in West View, Pa.—for the better part of the last century and into the new millennium, he's also been a friend and counselor to his devoted regulars. Now, Cammarata plans to retire, and... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the DayBeck Revamps Website, Launches Record Club
Beck Hansen boasts a lengthy catalog of personal experimentation. These days, though, he's more focused on revisiting the work of others, and at rapid-fire speed. As part of an overhaul of his website, Beck has launched Record Club, a project for which he and fellow musicians will complete entire cover albums in a day's time, posting single songs once a week on the site. The first fruit of their labor is already up on Beck.com.... read more
Found in: Music, NewsTales of the Coffin Nail: 27 Smoking Songs That'll leave you Breathless
Aside from that one weekend on the eve of 7th grade, when my parents left me with my older sister, I’ve never been a smoker. When I actually inhaled, it always tore my throat up so bad I couldn’t even finish a whole cigarette. Still, that weekend, a random, inconsequential moment occurred that I still—for some strange reason—remember in astonishing detail. It was the night before the first day of school—late August 1991 in the Atlanta suburbs—and an intense thunderstorm had just rolled through. My sister was already asleep in her basement apartment, so I took my boombox down to... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the DayClassic Paste: The Best of Issues 11-15 (Aug. 2004 - May 2005)
(JUST A FEW MORE REASONS TO HELP SAVE PASTE)In less than two weeks, I'll celebrate my 6th anniversary at this magazine. When I started as Paste's second-ever intern on June 1, 2003, we were still a tiny operation. Only five of us were in the office full-time: publisher Nick Purdy, editor Josh Jackson, assistant editor Jason Killingsworth, myself (who would go on to become associate editor) and my intern cohort, Steven Bevilaqua. Other important folks—like senior/film editor and future Paste president Tim Porter, design director José Reyes, and future associate publisher Joe Kirk—were working part-time, since Paste couldn't yet support a full staff. Back then, we... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the Day50 Best Bob Dylan Covers of All Time
As we began to compile this list of the 50 Best Bob Dylan Covers of All Time—asking for input from Paste readers, writers and editors—someone suggested that it might be easier to compile a list of artists who haven't covered Dylan. I've listened to literally hundreds of Dylan covers over the course of the past week, trying to weigh choices like, "Who's version of 'Tomorrow Is a Long Time' is better, Nick Drake or Nickel Creek?" But I don't mean to make it sound like grueling work. My biggest take-away from this exercise is that going to Dylan for source... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the DayTen Divorce Songs
So Mel Gibson is getting divorced, and it could be the most expensive in Hollywood history. The event got us thinking about divorce songs. Divorce is usually a bummer, but it’s inspired some great music. ... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the Day
