Kurt Cobain

Happy Birthday W. Axl Rose! You're Amazing, and Chinese Democracy Gets a Bad Rap

Axl Rose's birthday was yesterday, but one thing has not changed since last year: Chinese Democracy remains the most expensive album ever produced. Fifteen years and $13 million went into making the 14-track album; about a million bucks and a year, for each song. No record has been as anticipated ... More >>

Mark McGrath On His "Utopian" Cruise

Sugar Ray lead singer and former Extra co-host Mark McGrath has a cruise. No, seriously! This October, fans of the '90s can travel on the Carnival Cruise ship Imagination, alongside Gin Blossoms, Smash Mouth, Cracker, Spin Doctors, Vertical Horizon, The Verve Pipe, Marcy Playground and, of course, S ... More >>

Begley/Huffman in November, Roger Robinson in Fraternity, Brushing up Our Shakespeare, Plus All the Latest New Theater Reviews

Our critics were brushing up their Shakespeare over the weekend, with reviews of CymbelineJulius Caeser and Henry VI, Part I Jeff Stetson's 1987 retrospective drama on the effects of church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama is this week's Pick of the Week. For all the Latest New Theater Reviews, go to ... More >>

Ariel Pink Is the King of Whatever

Raised in Beverly Hills, he became the preeminent Eastside satirical musical madman

The Most Important Album of the Last 25 Years Isn't Nevermind, It's Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction

Pearl Jam Are the Most Boring Band in 20 Years Top 20 Hair Metal Albums of All Time: The Complete List Guns N' Roses' seminal album Appetite For Destruction came out 25 years ago this past Saturday. I was 9 years old when a foreign exchange student taped me a copy of it. I had heard "Welcome to the ... More >>

Pearl Jam's "Jeremy": Why This Song Sucks

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] See also: *Pearl Jam Are the Most Boring Band in 20 Years *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: The Complete List Song: Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" History: Pearl Jam was ... More >>

Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time: The Complete List

See also: *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: The Complete List *Top 20 Greatest Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre: The Complete List *Top 20 Hair Metal Albums of All Time: The Complete List Physical appearance actually has little to do with sexiness. Sure, we've all been known to stare at a shirtle ... More >>

White Fence's Tim Presley Moves Retro Rock Forward

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] See also: Top 5 L.A. Garage Rock Bands Not everything needs to sound like the future. Not everyone wants to dwell in the present. In fact, some aim to a ... More >>

The Worst Song Of The '90s? A Line-By-Line Dissection Of Alanis Morissette's "Ironic"

Don't you think?​When it comes to musical decades, the '60s remains the gold standard. Though the '70s were initially mocked for prog rock and disco, it's now clear that prog rock and disco are awesome. And around this time ten years ago, folks began to venerate the '80s in earnest. But as o ... More >>

Foo Fighters - The Forum - 10/13/11

Timothy Norris​See also: *Nirvana Little-Known-Facts Revealed: The Band and Jon Stewart Celebrate Nevermind's 20th Anniversary in New York *1991: Nirvana Documentary Captures the Band Moments Before They Broke *Nirvana's Photographer Kirk Weddle Recalls The Day In Pasadena He Shot Nevermind's ... More >>

Warrant Singer Jani Lane Found Dead

​Jani Lane, the lead singer for Hollywood glam metal band Warrant, was found dead last night at a Comfort Inn in Woodland Hills. Police responded to a 911 call around 5:30 pm, and fire department officials pronounced him dead shortly thereafter. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office is inves ... More >>

Death, Drugs and Rock n' Roll- "Don't Knock The Rock's" Timely Glimpse into Musicians' Triumphs and Tragedies

Lina LecaroAllison Anders and Patty Schemel​There is a segment in the riveting new documentary Hit So Hard- The Life and Near Death Story of Patty Schemel that explores the concept of "Saturn Returns" (the astrogical phenomenon which is said to influence and test a person's life development be ... More >>

Carolina Liar, 5 Towers Concert Plaza at Universal Citywalk, 7/16/11

Jena ArdellWho says you get what you pay for? We caught a great show for free at Universal Citywalk this weekend.​ WHO: Carolina Liar WHERE: 5 Towers Concert Plaza at Universal Citywalk WHEN: Saturday, July 16 Better Than ... Saves The Day Carolina Liar performed as part of Universal CityWal ... More >>

Music to Pick Up/Download

Like SXSW, but Gayer: Gay Bi Gay Gay Fest (Plus Saturday Chill Out with REM's Peter Buck and Steve Wynn, Meat Puppets and Roky Erickson and JEFF The Brotherhood)

photo by J. HettwerGayBiGayGay​ One last post about the 2011 edition of SXSW: In its 6th year, the SXSW spin-off Gay Bi Gay Gay Fest packs in enough merrymaking and debauchery to hold everyone over until Gay Pride in June.

Top 10 Strangest Rock Star Action Figures (In Honor of the "Hard Rock Barbie" Lawsuit)

Tiny Rockers! 10 Best Rock Star Action Figures (Not Including HorrorPops' Lawsuit Lovin Bassist)

Nightranger: Tatted and Torn

Nightlife: Wonderland LA Opening featuring Kat Von D & Jesse James' "Love," Lemmy's Head, and Some Seriously Mad Art

Lina Lecaro Kevin Llewellyn, Kat Von D and Jesse James in Wonderland​ Tabloid culture met tattoo culture in an over the top, somewhat curious (and curiouser!) fashion last night at the grand opening of Wonderland, the new art gallery from LA Ink's Kat Von D (adjacent to her shop) featuring the ... More >>

"What does it feel like to have Kurt's blood pumping through your veins?": The Incredibly Strange World of Grampa Cobain's Fan Mail

Peter MumfordSmells like senior spirit: Grampa Cobain​ Meet Leland Cobain. Our sister publication the Seattle Weekly has an amazing feature by Connor Christofferson on the incredibly strange world of the obsessive fan mail sent to this day to Kurt's grandfather, who lives in a trailer decorat ... More >>

Record Shopping with The Slits!

The Slits, the legendary UK punk band who created in 1979 the groundbreaking dub-fusion masterpiece Cut (which you should own, or run and get if you don't), were recently in town promoting a comeback release. The band, still led by irrepressible frontwoman Ari Up and original bassist Tessa Pollitt ( ... More >>

Camp Freddy's Billy Morrison and Donovan Leitch List Ten Important Cultural Moments of the 1990s

Editor's note: In honor of the final week of Camp Freddy's December residency, which happens tonight at the Roxy, West Coast Sound asked members of the band to chime in on their favorite music of the decades. Two weeks ago Billy Morrison highlighted his favorite things about the 1970s. Last week Don ... More >>

Ready for His Retouch: David Yow Adjusts the Picture as He Prepares for the Jesus Lizard Reunion

The singer hadn't seen original drummer Mac McNeilly for 12 years: "We hugged for, like, three minutes and just giggled."

LA People 2009: Heavy Metal’s Afterbirth — Steel Panther, the Band

Tonight at the Smell: The Godfather of Indie, K Records' Calvin Johnson

Among Calvin Johnson's many accomplishments over the course of his illustrious career: He was part of the petri dish that morphed into Sub Pop Records in the early 1980s. He founded K Records in 1982, a label that has gone on to release some of the first and best recordings by Beck, Bikini Kill, ... More >>

Nightranger Attends the Gidget Gein Memorial

Lecaro mourns, porns, and gets adorned with L.A.'s original punks and scene makers.

So X-Cited

X Games, Gibson guitars and Crash Mansion's woes

Radiohead: Rainbows in Curved Air

The analog pleasures of Radiohead's digital revolution by Randall Roberts (Photo by John Spinks) There are a few different ways to get to Big Sur from Los Angeles, but in the big picture it doesn't matter which route you take, because regardless, you're leaving Los Angeles and going to Big Sur. You ... More >>

Rock Picks: Detroit Cobras, Gore Gore Girls, MF Doom, Squeeze

For the week of August 9 – 16

Nightranger

Pussycats and a Cougar

Last Night: Architecture in Helsinki

Architecture in Helsinki June 19, 2007 Henry Fonda Theater In the overflow of Canadian and U.K. based indie-rock which currently floods the airwaves and play lists of American music lovers, it seems as though Australian indie-pop has been overlooked. Architecture in Helsinki proudly – and pai ... More >>

The Blog That Refreshes

Tony Pierce

Face in the Hip Crowd

Thai Town After Dark

Genesis Regenerated

Sleepwalker

Elliott Smith’s unhappy dream life

Petting the Koala

Audiences just want to cuddle enigmatic Mitch Hedberg

California Tuffy

Carla Bozulich in the time of the preacher

It’s Too Funky in Here

Rockers invade Groovetown

Too High To Die

Coming down with the Meat Puppets

Fashionation

Gloria Ohland on the dog days of fashion

Club Fight

Resurrection and ascension at the Wake Up Show hip-hop battle

Coffee Break

A view from Ramallah

Think Pink

Nuts to You

Edited by Kateri Butler

Hungry Heart

Dan Bern’s hometown of the world

Creation Myth

Drugs and musicians, together forever

Don't Read This Story

Listen to Brad Mehldau

Truth and Beauty

And adolescent mind control

Inger Lorre, Patron Saint of Fucked-over Musicians

Built for Speed

Fastbacks: Punk in the present tense