Articles about things I love. Mostly old things.
The title was based on a receptionist’s phone greeting. The business was Nasty Little Man, a New York PR firm representing high-profile musical acts. But for me, the phrase “Hello, Nasty” – or Hello Nasty, as it was rendered for Beastie Boys’ 1998 album – represented salvation. It was the sound of my emergency call […]
Hello Nasty, my old friend Read More »
From a dusty AOL account to an audiobook to the depths of my own subconscious, I’ve built another playlist that makes no sense to anyone but me Another year, another weird catalogue of tunes I’ve collected and catalogued, like a mad naturalist sharing a crumbling mansion with his specimens. Some I stumbled upon by more
Building a playlist from sitcoms and dead email accounts Read More »
Weird things happen when the music industry and the movie industry collide. Sometimes through contractual obligation, simple oversight, or sheer negligence, a movie is paired with a song that just isn’t appropriate. This is about a brief six-year trend of weird end-credits songs – songs that just don’t read the room. Thematically, the list could be
Comically smoochy end-credits movie ballads (1989-1995) Read More »
Despite overflowing with odd creatures and bizarre planets, the Star Wars galaxy does feel strangely predictable these days. There’s greater room for diversity in casting and storytelling. But with so much money at stake, everyone is colouring inside the lines. The work must conform to the style guide and the production slate. Star Wars isn’t
Freedom and nihilism on the Lucasfilm frontier Read More »
In the age of unlimited music streaming, discoverability is key, syncs are critical and algorithms revive forgotten tracks in ways that nobody could have foreseen. I still discover a lot of music via conventional sources: radio, prestige dramas, Top of the Pops reruns and chill streams. But mostly I prefer my playlist to resemble a
Collecting songs in the strangest places Read More »
Wherever I saw Oasis play in the 2000s, the atmosphere was reliably febrile and the band were often adversarial. This was not a short-term relationship. Across the space of ten years I attended four very different Oasis gigs: Old Wembley, Paris, Old Trafford, New Wembley. After the apocalyptic performance I revisited in part one, the
Oasis live: Gallaghers in Paris, a homecoming and the last hurrah Read More »
I saw Oasis play four times in the 2000s, at Old Wembley, in Paris, at Old Trafford, and at New Wembley. This was a decade that took the band from the lowest point in their history, through a period of gradual rehabilitation, and finally through to their sudden, expected end. There was a never a
Oasis live: ten years, four gigs and a Wembley disaster Read More »
What happens when you assume a shared cultural experience, only to discover it doesn’t exist? In 2020, one man’s frustration that his wife did not remember a 90s pop hit triggered one of the most acclaimed podcast episodes ever. The team at Reply All were eventually able to track down the missing song for Tyler
Greatest Headcanon Hits: 3 singles I believed were massive Read More »
Sometimes the ephemera around a movie can become more resonant than the film itself. Maybe it’s a promising trailer, or a score that exceeds its source material, or a single scene that momentarily encapsulates how the whole movie could have played out. I spent most of the 1990s and early 2000s as a die-hard Star
Glimpses of the Force: the proto-Instagram of Star Wars Read More »
Gilbert Arenas is virtually unknown in the UK, where only the most famous and marketable NBA players enjoy any name recognition. In 2021, the Guardian described him as a ‘clownish Steph Curry antecedent turned podcast host.’ I wouldn’t have any idea who Arenas was, but for encountering a strange and memorable magazine profile in 2006:
The Mid-Noughties Ghost of Gilbert Arenas Read More »
