lollapalooza

In 1996, Your Punk Professor interviewed the Clash’s distinguished lead guitarist Mick Jones for a proposed Alternative Press piece on punk’s original guitar heroes. Though it remains unpublished, I asked in the course of it what he thought of Rancid. Jones waxed effusive, noting he’d met the Berkeley punk traditionalists in the course of a […]

There’s a reason mega alt-pop artist Hayley Kiyoko is known as “Lesbian Jesus” to adoring fans who celebrate her celebration and openness about the LGBTQIA+ community in her songs. Now, she’s back with a brand-new track. Long-time listeners have been patiently waiting for new music, and can finally add new single “Found My Friends” to […]

When blink-182 announced the collaborations for their upcoming album, the message-board grumblings were loud. The additions seemed too mainstream for a band who often mocked pop culture.  On the other hand, making a play at distant fanbases can only help the scene. If Pharrell fans turn back to blink-182, maybe they’ll get a taste for, […]

As we exited the ’90s and entered the new millennium, pop divas, prefabricated boy bands and rappers bragging about conspicuous consumption and how poorly they treated women ruled the airwaves. Meanwhile, what passed for “rock” was the white guys who beat you up in high school P.E. class who’d discovered hip-hop and figured it’d sound […]

Alternative rock still dominated popular music in 1993. This obviously begged the question of just how “alternative” something was if it was now on a major label and on the radio. Not necessarily a bad thing. After all, we’d never have to hear Whitesnake again. Bottom end and distortion returned to rock record-making in a […]

Welcome to Alternative Press’ pick of the 15 best punk albums of 1991. It was a momentous year, one in which underground culture burst into the mainstream, taking punk and all its offshoots with it. Blame it on one album: Nirvana’s Nevermind.  Many punkier-than-thou types will moan when seeing this album’s inclusion. They’d be denying […]

As the longest-running animated television show in history, The Simpsons has been around for the rise and fall of grunge, the emergence of pop punk and countless other shifts in the music world. Throughout the past 31 years, The Simpsons has landed some of music’s most successful artists as guest stars. While the fan-proclaimed “golden […]

We all love ’90s music in some way. Even if you aren’t blaring “Everlong” on your way to work, artists of the time set the foundation for most, if not all, of your favorite alternative bands.  Still, given the surge of commercially successful artists over the decade, it can be hard to keep them all […]

Living well is the best revenge. After Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne’s famed manager and wife, was rejected by alternative powerhouse festival Lollapalooza for an Ozzy band performance, she took matters into her own hands and created a metal event of her own, Ozzfest. It was truly a DIY family affair, featuring many of Ozzy’s bands […]

With the amount of different styles of music, trying to stay within a set genre is becoming more difficult and almost unnecessary. That shows when artists such as genre-mixer K.Flay and producer Whethan team up to create songs featuring heart-hitting lyrics and synth-filled rhythms like their latest track, “Hurting On Purpose.” The two exclusively opened […]

In recent years, massive gatherings and festivals such as Burning Man, Lollapalooza and Coachella have become destination events that draw thousands. However, the roots of these cultural juggernauts are far humbler. That honor goes to Desolation Center, an early-’80s DIY venture that booked concerts in off-the-grid locations. And they were only promoted word-of-mouth. These gigs […]

Whether you’re publicly lamenting or quietly sulking about not being able to attend shows indefinitely, coronavirus is a massive blow to the music industry. With festivals and gigs getting either postponed or canceled all together, fans suddenly have a ton of time to kill at home because they can’t go to the bars or movie […]

There is no such thing as a “traditional” mosh pit, but these heavy concert staples sometimes go to extremes. Here are 11 mosh pits that have been remembered for their ridiculousness, tragedy or danger. Read more: Ashley Purdy drops first solo song since Black Veil Brides departure 1. Joe “King” Carrasco appears crowdsurfing in 1981 […]

A lot has happened in 2019. From having nostalgia thrown at us left and right with the rise of Disney + to artists such as Bring Me The Horizon and Palaye Royale shifting into their respective new eras, it’s been a wild ride. Before moving forward, sometimes we have to look back on all the […]