The Curmudgeon Rock Report

The Curmudgeons
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Music Commentary
  • Updated Biweekly

A loud-mouth retired rock critic and a cranky expat rock obsessive discuss, analyze and just plain old argue about rock ‘n‘ roll: the old stuff, the new stuff and why it all still matters.

  1. Sep 15

    The Glory of Glam Rock Part 2 (1973-1974)

    In which The Curmudgeons continue their revisitation of the marvelously strange but often gorgeous rock subgenre we call glam rock. Last episode, we covered the genesis of glam rock via the artistic genius of Marc Bolan, David Bowie, guitarist Mick Ronson and producer Tony Visconti. We also shared a bunch of great hit songs and great glam-rock albums released between 1970 and 1972. Now we do the same thing for 1973 and 1974, during which the radio airwaves filled with bubblegum majesty inspired by Bolan and yet also during which albums done in the glam style grew decidedly darker and moodier. David Bowie segued from exotic mystery to nihilistic pessimism. Lou Reed put out the prettiest album about the decline of a self-destructive junkie couple possible. And Bryan Ferry pointed his cabaret pop toward the macabre - sex with blow-up dolls in stately mansions, anyone? We analyze the rest of the best of glam during this episode.    Enjoy the amazing glam rock of 1973 and 1974 by accessing our special Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4aYD0wnqBpG0NMQSJJV2K5?si=969742185a184caa   Here's a handy navigation companion to this episode.   (00:52 - 02:30) - Arturo Andrade sets the parameters for the second of our volleys on glam rock   (03:08 - 20:26) - The Parallel Universe, featuring reviews of new albums from Ty Segall and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard   (21:25 - 01:05:37) - We blast through a host of hit glam-rock singles from 193 and then discuss albums from Roxy Music, David Bowie, Lou Reed and New York Dolls   (01:06:27 - 01:48:53) - We gallop through a number of hit glam singles from 1974 and then discuss albums from Brian Eno, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Kiss, New York Dolls and Lou Reed    Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock   Edited with an assist from Descript! web.descript.com     Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com   Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911   https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb   Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons

  2. Sep 2

    The Glory of Glam Rock Part 1 (1970-1972)

    In which the Curmudgeons tease out our hair, wear tons of makeup and celebrate the most sensual, most decadent brand of rock 'n' roll ever conceived. The glam rock of the early 1970s was an outgrowth of the 1960s psychedelia in which the vibes shifted from a mind trip to a soul trip, one in which androgyny, visceral pleasure and a focus on the cosmos and man's place in the universe thrust front and center. In the early part of the '70s, David Bowie, T. Rex, Slade, Roxy Music, Lou Reed and other artists glammed forth and helped define a truly singular era. In Part 1 of this mini-series, we analyze the elements of this phenomenon and and contemplate this great music.   Enjoy all this great glam rock by accessing our special Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3DVOLhLF2SfiFpaofW9IYc?si=8df98e7630d44a64   Here's a handy navigation companion to this episode:   (00:52 - 02:36) - Arturo Andrade sets the parameters for our discussion of glam rock   (03:17 - 18:30) - The Parallel Universe, featuring reviews of new albums from Modest Mouse and SML   (19:29 - 01:07:48) - Each of us offer five components we feel defined glam rock. Then we focus on the great glam singles and albums on 1970 and 1971   (01:08:27 - 01:39:49) - We rumble through the glam rock of 1972, and Christopher O'Connor spins a tale of an incredible glam-rock club night we experienced way back in 1999.    Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock   Edited with an assist from Descript! web.descript.com     Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com   Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911   https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb   Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons

  3. Aug 19

    The 10 Greatest (Original) Wrestling Entrance Themes

    In which The Curmudgeons get funky like a chunky monkey, if you will, and show off their knowledge of the music of professional wrestling and how it adds to the over-the-top pageantry of one of our shared beloved pastimes. The goal of a wrestler's theme music is two-fold. First, the audience should know who exactly is coming out to the ring within three seconds--and they should be damned excited about it. The music should also add to a wrestler's character arc, to his or her persona and should heat their relationship with the paying masses, whether it makes them of love the act more or despite it with furious booing. More than anything, the music should always add to the fun and the entertainment value of what we're experience. The ten songs we count down on this episode did exactly that to respective performers. Listen as we drop knowledge, and maybe a Stone Cold Stunner, on Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, The Undertaker and others.    Enjoy all of this fun wrestling entrance music (including an enjoyable cover of The Fabulous Freebirds' "Badstreet U.S.A.") by accessing our special Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2rNeVGR6tW8qk6PUdZAZmL?si=920ca17bc0eb494c   Here's a handy navigation companion to this episode.   (00:52 - 02:14) - Arturo Andrade sets the parameters for our discussion of the music of professional wrestling   (03:49 - 19:06) - The Parallel Universe, featuring reviews of new albums from The Heavenly Bodes and Dry Cleaning   (20:05 - 45:29) - We starting counting down the 10 best wrestling entrance songs. Here, we discuss music for John Cena, Shawn Michaels and others   (46:33 - 01:08:54) - We wind our way toward #1. Who wins? Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin? Find out.    Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock   Edited with an assist from Descript! web.descript.com     Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com   Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911   https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb   Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons

  4. Aug 5

    The Saga of Grunge Part 5 (1991)

    In which the Curmudgeons commune with their once-and-forever inner 16-year-olds to celebrate the most important cultural shift of our lives. And indeed, that shift happened when both of us were 16 years old. The fall of 1991 unleashed pure magic into our lives when Nirvana's Nevermind, Pearl Jam's Ten and Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger hit record shelves (remember those?). Grunge became a THING in the months that followed. We revisit all three of these albums plus a lot of other great, underappreciated grunge and grunge-adjacent music released by Mudhoney, the Melvins, Dinosaur Jr. and others. Perhaps our most moving episode ever (at least for Curmudgeon Chris it was).    Listen to all the amazing grunge and grunge-ish music of 1991 by accessing our special Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3nQdx0v3Nk3GgMseWA3Uw9?si=50b22976c45a4977   Here's a handy navigation companion to this episode:   (00:52 - 02:41) - Arturo Andrade sets the parameters for oursdiscussion of the grunge explosion of 1991   (02:49 - 15:57) - The Parallel Universe, featuring reviews of new albums from indi cult heroes Kelly Stoltz and Low Cut Connie   (19:15 - 01:02:09) - We remember the context of how grunge changed the way we experienced music back in the fall of 1991. And we discuss a string of Seattle grunge albums, including those from Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.   (01:01:47 - 01:32:53) - WE discuss albums from Screaming Tress and from a non-Seattle contingency that includes Dinosaur Jr., The Jesus Lizard, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Smashing Pumkins and The Pixies    Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock   Edited with an assist from Descript! web.descript.com     Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com   Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911   https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb   Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons

  5. Jul 23

    1991...The Year in Music (Up To Nirvana's Breakthrough

    In which The Curmudgeons revisit the most popular and epic music from most of the year they both turned 16 years of age. Why most? Because on September 24,1991, a whole hell of a lot changed. That was the day Nirvana's Nevermind hit record-store shelves (remember those?). Before then, the world was inundated with diva pop from Mariah Carey and Paula Abdul, the embers of pop metal from the Scorpions, Skid Row and Guns N' Roses, a ton of mostly awful R&B slow jams, novelty hits from folks like Gerardo and MC Hammer and some actually great stuff from R.E.M., Gang Starr, My Bloody Valentine, Metallica, INXS, Londonbeat and others. We put our track shoes on in this episode to brave the rapids of these decidedly mixed and non-zeitgeist-ish first nine months of 1991...covering nearly 100 songs! Enjoy the ride...    Listen to all of this great (and not so great music) from 1991 by access our special Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3EdH6x0Uy5phuXOadoe2z1?si=7fa8ae32186c4562   Here's a handy navigation companion to this episode:   (00:52 - 03:05) - Arturo Andrade sets the parameters for our discussion of the pre-Nirvana months of 1991   (04:04 - 22:29) - The Parallel Universe, featuring reviews of new albums from Mildred and Vince Staples   (23:27 - 01:31:19) - We rumble through songs that were either big or notable between January and May of 1991. Some names some of you may remember: Keith Sweat, Cath Dennis, Wilson Phillips, C+C Music Factory, Extreme, Color Me Badd, Roxette and Massive Attack.   (01:32:25 - 02:33:57) - We sprint through a whole bunch of other songs, this time focusing on June to September 1991. Other names you might remember: Seal, Big Audio Dynamite, EMF, Right Said Fred, Naughty By Nature and The Cult   Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock   Edited with an assist from Descript! web.descript.com     Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com   Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911   https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb   Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons

  6. Jul 7

    The Parallel Universe All-Stars Present...Kurt Vile!

    In which The Curmudgeons share their reverence for one of modern indie rock's most singular and iconoclastic talents. Kurt Vile has worked hard from his native Philadelphia for nearly 20 years now to build for himself an idiosyncratic, shamanistic style that melds folk, psychedelic, classic rock and pure pop into something wholly his own. As Curmudgeon Arturo Andrade puts it, "Imagine Lou Reed and Tom Petty having a bastard child who smokes pot with Pavement and Dinosaur Jr., and the weed is provided by the Meat Puppets. Yeah, his shit is that good." Yet for as wacky as Vile may seem, he's a craftsman and a brilliant shaper of ideas and moods. And, hey, his name is actually Kurt Vile. So perhaps he was truly born to be great. Listen as we analyze Vile's work and, most especially, his vibe.   Listen to the music of Kurt Vile by accessing our special Spotify playlist:   https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6tvHBRaA2dgN7fZW1x5wU8?si=cf1a4d4ea7d44412   Here's a handy navigation companion to this episode:   (00:52 - 02:15) - Arturo Andrade sets the paramaters for our discussion on the music of Kurt Vile   (03:20 - 15:18) - We offer initial thoughts about what we think makes Kurt Vile so special and then offer up his origin story as a blue-collar guy working his tail off to get his music career and find his voice.     (16:16 - 32:18) - We analyze Vile's first three proper albums: Childish Prodigy, Smoke Ring For My Halo and Wakin' On a Pretty Daze.   (33:22 - 01:03:00) - We diver just as deep into the rest of Kurt Vile's catalog of albums, including 2026's urgent ode to gratitude and contentment, Philadelphia's Been Good to Me.    Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock   Edited with an assist from Descript! web.descript.com     Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com   Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911   https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb   Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons

  7. Jun 23

    The Saga of Grunge Part 4 (1990)

    In which The Curmudgeons revisit the year before grunge exploded into the mainstream. And 1990 was indeed a really important year for the development of our beloved genre. Mother Love Bone was on the cusp of hitting it big until frontman Andrew Wood, a beloved figures in the Seattle scene, died of a heroin overdose. The band's album Apple, in the can but not yet released, was effectively tanked by its record label, robbing Wood of a posthumous star turn. But another enigmatic blonde guy started preparing for his own star turn in 1990, as Nirvana released a titanic single that signaled its pivot from sludgier sonics to a more commercial, song-driven approach. Another essential grunge band, Alice in Chains, also had its first leap toward superstardom in 1990 with the release of their downbeat glam metal juggernaut Facelift. By the end of this important year, the veritable stage was set for rock's last truly special phenomeon to become huge.      Enjoy the fantastic grunge and grunge-adjacent music of 1990 by accessing our special Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2wAlMYcAn38MwZKXMHoEto?si=57fc9f65e9184ad4   Here's a handy navigation companion to this episode.    (00:52 - 2:57) - Arturo Andrade sets the parameters for ourdiscussion of the grunge rock of 1990   (03:53 - 17:10) - The Parallel Universe, featuring reviews of new albums from Genesis Owusu and Twisted Teens   (18:09 - 48:30) - Arturo laments the effect of heroin on the story of grunge. We then analyze 1990 grunge releases from Nirvana, Tad, Alice in Chains and Mother Love Bone   (49:31 - 01:09:05) - We analyze grunge-adjacent 1990 albums from L7, The Afghan Whigs, The Breeders and Sonic Youth    Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock   Edited with an assist from Descript! web.descript.com     Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com   Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911   https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb   Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons

  8. Jun 3

    Kendrick Lamar - The Last Hip-Hop Genius Standing

    In which The Curmudgeons express deep appreciation for how Kendrick Lamar both honors and respects hip-hop as an artform and continues to move it forward--even as the rest of modern hip-hop stagnates, suffers and embarrasses. We cover the span of his entire career and analyze each of his official album releases musically and artistically. This includes discussion two absolutely staggering achievements in Good Kid, m.a.a.d City and To Pimp a Butterfly and a total of five albums built around a central literary theme. And, of course, we recall thoroughly Kendrick kicked Drake's rear end in their storied musical battle from 2024.   Check out the extraordinary musical output of Kendrick Lamar (including To Pimp a Butterfly in its entirety) by accessing our special Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Wu3GrqmxcJaiflYLjTga7?si=720b42881a0e49bc     Here's a handy navigation companion to this episode.   (00:52 - -03:52) - Arturo Andrade sets the parameters for our discussion of Kendrick Lamar   (04:21 - 15:39) - The Parallel Universe, featuring reviews of new albums from Kneecap and Weird Nightmare   (16:38 - 50:43) - First, Christopher O'Connor offers a not-so-great state of the union of today's hip-hop. Then we recall the origin story of how Kendrick Lamar established his career. Then we start discussing his albums, including Good Kid, m.a.a.d. City.   (51:49 - 01:46) - We discuss the rest of Kendrick Lamar's catalog, including To Pimp a Butterfly. We also revisit what Chris had to say about the Kendrick-Drake beef right as it was about to end two years ago--and then tell the rest of the story.   Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock   Edited with an assist from Descript! web.descript.com     Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com   Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911   https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb   Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons

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About

A loud-mouth retired rock critic and a cranky expat rock obsessive discuss, analyze and just plain old argue about rock ‘n‘ roll: the old stuff, the new stuff and why it all still matters.

Information

  • Creator
    The Curmudgeons
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    143
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Central Covenant, LLC
  • Show Website
    The Curmudgeon Rock Report