Miley Cyrus

Exalted Through Degradation: Nick Cave Talks About Push the Sky Away

Five Disturbing Tales of Plots to Kill Musicians

Sometimes, being a rich and famous musician is downright terrifying. It's impossible to know what motivates twisted humans to want to murder celebrities, but it's something that has only narrowly been avoided on several recent occasions. Here are five musicians who were targeted by psychos, but made ... More >>

Five Musicians' Kids Who Have Better Jobs Than You

Guess what, everybody? Despite the invention of child labor laws, there are whole gangs of marauding teens with careers more dazzling and exciting than any of ours. How does this depressing turn of events transpire? Well, usually it happens because someone famous made those children with their priva ... More >>

The First Listens of 2012: What We Got Right, What We Got Wrong

As evinced bu my initial take on Tyler, the Creator's Goblin and my final opinion, a lot happens between one's first listen to an album and their final conclusion after taking it in several times. What I love about writing these features is that you get to read my pure, unvarnished thoughts about a ... More >>

Whoa: Lil B Tries Out for Golden State Warriors' D-League Team

When Lil B tweeted last month that he was going to try out for the Golden State Warriors, it was met with the same skepticism as when he said he was Miley Cyrus or Paris Hilton or Matlock. But our Young Based God actually did it this past Sunday, when he suited up and got on the basketball court at ... More >>

Reddit Troll is Horrible, but Gawker Is Not Much Better

Few people look good after this week's outing of "the biggest troll on the Web" by Gawker. Certainly not the troll, and certainly not Reddit, where the troll was given free rein to post, or facilitate the posting, of all kinds of horrible stuff. But also not Gawker, nor many of the people weighing i ... More >>

2012 MTV Video Music Awards: The 10 Lost Categories

The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual occasion for thrill and intrigue. An arena for a slutty young Madonna to writhe around the ground in a wedding dress, or even for a slutty old Madonna to French kiss a couple of aging pop tartlets. A place for pyro and pasties and grand interruptions -- I'mma ... More >>

Worst New Song of the Week: Karmin's "Hello"

Man. When we heard that really ironically-titled new 3OH!3 song ("You're Gonna Love This"), we were like "Wow. Nothing could ever be more inane and vacuous than this auto-tuned piece of shit." But then we heard the new Karmin song, "Hello," and decided it should be the first in our new Worst Song of ... More >>

Fourth of July: Five Excellent Pro-America Songs to Soundtrack Your Party Today

Happy Fourth, everybody! As we all know, patriotism in this fine land of ours often sounds frickin' terrible when presented in song form. But feeling happy to be American doesn't -- we repeat, doesn't -- have to involve Toby Keith. Or Keith Urban. Or, well, anyone named Keith actually. Here then, ar ... More >>

Justin Bieber's Believe: A First Listen

Like my colleague Andrew Stout, I have mostly managed to avoid Justin Bieber for what I'm pretty sure are good reasons. He's a typical "innocent" white male singer trying to represent universality to nonwhites and nonmales. Then there's his musical blandness: bits that crept through my defenses of " ... More >>

Things Music Critics Hate: Skrillex

Music criticism is as much an affliction as an occupation -- especially these days, it's far more reliable as a sickness than a paycheck. Things Music Critics Hate is an occasional series that will attempt to diagnose and explain the broadly shared beliefs and biases that shape the landscape of musi ... More >>

The Black Keys' El Camino: A First Listen

No matter what you've read, the Black Keys are as generic as Kings of Leon. The super-successful Brothers was a good record, but didn't escape its own sameyness by the time you're waiting for it to be over. And their success only speaks to the market's sore vain need for a famous rock band right no ... More >>

The Perils of Policing Facebook Pages

​First it was the Islamic extremists. Now it's Mark Zuckerberg who is repressing Salman Rushdie. On Monday, Rushdie took to Twitter to complain that not only had Facebook shut down his page, apparently thinking it wasn't really his, but that the company then told him he couldn't use the name und ... More >>

Six Extremely Weird Cover Songs, Featuring Bill Shatner, Dolly Parton, and ... Pat Boone?

Between Miley Cyrus covering Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and now Ben Folds covering "Sleazy" by (our guilty pleasure du jour) Ke$ha, we felt it was only appropriate this week, that we compile some other unexpected covers. Here are six of the weirdest we can think of. 6. Sonic Youth do ... More >>

Soundgarden's Reunion Tour Will Deafen San Francisco This July

Raise your hand if you miss the real '90s. ​ Short of a zombified Kurt Cobain rising from the grave in Lolita shades to sing "Heart Shaped Box" to a bunch of kids raised on Miley Cyrus and sexting, we're pretty sure this '90s revival thing has now gotten as crazy-ridiculous as it can get: Lad ... More >>

In Defense of Miley Cyrus Covering Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

​It is with zero regret that we inform you of the existence of this: Miley Cyrus, Hannah of Montana, daughter of the "Achy Breaky Heart" dude, covering the Nirvana anthem/ gauntlet/ masterpiece "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Horrified? Witness:

Turn, Turn, Turn

The 2011 Grammys, A Timeline: Lady Gaga's Boob Armor, Who Is Lady Antebellum, and What the Hell is Cee-Lo Wearing?

In which we sit through three and a half hours of Grammys twaddle, so you don't have to: 8:01 p.m.: Show opens with an Aretha Franklin montage. Okay... 8:03 p.m.: Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch, Yolanda Adams, and Martina McBride perform "Natural Woman" together, then take i ... More >>

The Top 6 Most Annoying Teen Pop Stars -- Other Than Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber: Is there anything more annoying than his stupid helmet hair, saccharine songs, creepy affinity for hitting on older women and tiny, little, smooth, smug face? Not yet, no. But if Ashton Kutcher gets his way, there may well be. For PerezHilton.com has just reported that not only would ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and lows from the last several weeks in S.F. music.

Was Mogwai Based Before Lil B Was Based?

No, not that kind.​Scotland's dignified linear noise factory Mogwai has released the tracklisting for its forthcoming seventh studio album, which you may have mistaken for a David Shrigley print hanging in the punk rock section at the coolest record store you've never been to: Hardcore Will Never ... More >>

Watch Lil B Explain 'Based' Music, the Cook Dance, and Ellen Degeneres -- On MTV

The Based God on MTV​Last night, rising Berkeley rap sensation Lil B appeared on MTV. If, like me, you follow him on Twitter, this event pretty much dominated your evening. If you don't, well, let's just say B retweeted a stream of silly, profane, and occasionally hilarious comments from pretty mu ... More >>

New Year's Eve 2011: 10 Ways To Celebrate in S.F.

Calibree PhotographyThey think you should make those NYE plans early​No one will fault you on New Years Eve for being too glitzy, too loud, or too boozy. It's the one time of the year we're pretty much required to celebrate to excess -- there's even a mandatory beverage (champagne) and sexual acti ... More >>

Music-based dating site Tastebuds doesn't work for the iPod generation

American Idol Tryouts in S.F.: Too Bad You're Not Like Carrie Underwood

Contestants waiting to try out for American Idol in San Franicsco earlier this week​More than 8,000 singers flocked to AT&T Park yesterday with enough ambition and dedication to wait up to nine hours in order to give a 30-second audition for American Idol. To manage their excitement, contestan ... More >>

"Iron Man 2" will lead to 3, but that doesn't mean it's good

Dandy Rotten Scoundrel

Michael Manos was living the same lie that he peddled across the country. But in San Francisco, the truth caught up with him.

Hannah Montana gets upstaged by sea turtles in "The Last Song"

Noise Pop Preview: Q&A w/ A B & The Sea

Helena Price​Guitarists Joe Spargur and Koley O'Brien of the new indie-pop quintet A B & The Sea moved out to San Francisco from Winneconne, Wisconsin at the end of 2008. They came at the suggestion of the Morning Benders to take a serious stab at the music business. It seems to be paying off. ... More >>

Last Night: The Monthly Rumpus w/ Daniel Handler, Tony DuShane, DJ Real, More

DJ Real​The Monthly Rumpus w/ Daniel Handler, Tony DuShane, Robin Ekiss, Ethan Watters, Kevin Sampsell, DJ Real, the Yello Dress, & Richard Porter on hula hoopMonday, Feb. 8, 2009Make-Out RoomBetter than: Talking about the Super BowlWhere in San Francisco can you get a night of author readings ... More >>

Just Tweet It

Wallpaper.’s Eric Frederic is an unstoppable viral music producer. But can the incessant songwriting, video blogging, and booty tweeting make him a star?

Newsom Baby Arrives: It's a ... State!

Mayor Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, popped out a 20.5 inch long, 7 pound 12 ounce baby girl today at 12:39 p.m.The baby, whose name was apparently being kept secret under threat of retribution, is Montana Tessa Newsom, named for the state in which the couple got married. (What i ... More >>

Hey DJ! Friday Q&A: Kool Karlo & Haightin' Clayton

 ​As you'll learn from today's DJ Q&A, Kool Karlo & Haightin' Clayton are quite fond of skate mags, plastic watering cans, and making Tuesdays into the new Fridays. (But they can also keep Fridays as the new Fridays, if you check Clayton out tonight.)The pair pull San Franciscans out ... More >>

Chron Clueless About the Current State of Radio

Radio GaGa? No, Lady Gaga Interesting article on Bay Area radio Music Directors in today's Chron. When I say interesting, it's because the information presented runs counter not only to what's currently happening with the commercial radio industry, but is written in such a way to suggest that writer ... More >>

Lost In the Zoo -- With Hordes and Hordes of Kiddies

Children to right of them, children to left of them, children in front of them... As you can see in the above photograph, one, two, three -- FOUR -- school buses pulled up simultaneously this morning at the San Francisco Zoo, depositing their youthful, hyperenergetic, Miley Cyrus-adoring cargo onto ... More >>

Hitsville: The Year in Music, by the Numbers

By Randall Roberts You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barrier ... More >>

Leashed Lightning

Disney's latest toon is a starry dog story.