Stone Temple Pilots

Stone Temple Pilots arose from obscurity in San Diego, where the group was formed as Mighty Joe Young, to worldwide attention so quickly and with a sound so close to what was happening on radio via Seattle that the backlash set in before the quartet’s debut album, Core, finished reeling off its succession of hits.…

Eminem

Almost as infamous for the violence and homophobia in his lyrics as he is famous for his undeniable skills as a rapper, Detroit’s Eminem (born Marshall Bruce Mathers III in St. Joseph, Missouri) is that rarity in turn-of-the-millennium popular culture: a tremendously successful artist who makes his audience equally uncomfortable and entertained by refusing to…

Sleater-Kinney

Formed in Olympia, Washington in 1994 by two Evergreen State College students, guitarist/vocalists Corin Tucker of Heavens to Betsy and Carrie Brownstein of Excuse 17 (listed as Carrie Kinney on the band’s first two records), Sleater-Kinney was originally intended as a side-project, although it wouldn’t be long before the new band became its members’ primary…

Alice in Chains

It was all so simple before Led Zeppelin. Despite some overlap (Deep Purple), it was pretty easy to tell which hard-rock bands were seeking to beat audiences into submission and which ones were expecting credit for melody, dynamics and at least a pretense of innovation. Then came Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones to trample the…

Clem Snide

Clem Snide, which took its name from a character in William Burroughs’ Cities of the Red Night, is a vessel for the alternately sweet and sardonic songwriting of New Jersey native Eef Barzelay. An unabashed sentimentalist capable of finding the truth in Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” the heartache in Ritchie Valens’ “Donna” and the affection in…

Boy George

Boy George’s solo career, launched in the wake of Culture Club, didn’t get off to a good start: Sold is overblown and forgettable, possessing none of the flair his former band once had. The album’s dubious high point is an absurd reggaefied version of Bread’s “Everything I Own,” modeled after Ken Boothe’s mid-’70s interpretation. The…

Falling Joys

Clear-voiced singer/songwriter Suzie Higgie gets rich, electric rock backing from her bandmates on Wish List, the Sydney quartet’s first longplayer. Although Higgie’s refined delivery suggests a West Coast Debbie Harry, guitarist Stuart Robertson sounds like a reformed metalhead, cranking up the contrast in a tastefully loud surge. If the band flirts shamelessly with mainstream radio,…

Contributors

These folks either wrote reviews that appear on the site or wrote for Trouser Press magazine. If anyone listed below cares to E-mail us with a link you’d like added, just let us know. And ditto if anyone is AWOL from this list. Grant AldenDavid AntrobusJem AswadTroy J. AugustoMichael AzerradCary BakerMichael BakerEmily BeckerJohn BergstromArt BlackJohn…