Chuck Eddy
@chuckeddytor.bsky.social
I write about stuff (books = Stairway to Hell, Accidental Evolution of R&R, R&R Always Forgets, Terminated for Reasons of Taste.) Here's where I mostly write now: https://chuckeddy.substack.com/
In observance of what would've been Adam Yauch’s 62nd birthday, the first long article I wrote about these guys (in the Boston Phoenix), preceding an even longer and much more widely read piece I did (for Creem) by a few months. They weren’t quite famous yet. But I had a feeling they soon would be.
Beastie Boys review, 1987
Not my most famous piece about the band.
chuckeddy.substack.com
In observance of what would've been Adam Yauch’s 62nd birthday, the first long article I wrote about these guys (in the Boston Phoenix), preceding an even longer and much more widely read piece I did (for Creem) by a few months. They weren’t quite famous yet. But I had a feeling they soon would be.
Beastie Boys review, 1987
Not my most famous piece about the band.
chuckeddy.substack.com
Brief but generally quite loud critiques of early 21st Century albums by Akercocke, Blood Ceremony, Cruachan, Destruction, Dodheimsgard, Fentanyl, Hammers of Misfortune, Kotipelto, Krypteria, Leaves’ Eyes, Litmus, Lucifer Was, Mastodon, Opeth, Persephone’s Dream, Spi-ritual, Warmachine, and Zao.
18 Metal reviews, 2006-2008
Akercocke, Blood Ceremony, Destruction, Leaves' Eyes, Mastodon, Opeth, Zao, more
chuckeddy.substack.com
In which UK duo Dept of Eagles glitch cocaine-cowboy campfire-guitar snippets to high heaven; Ohio vinyl virtuoso Mr. Dibbs bites Grace Slick, stereo demonstration records, and Robert Johnson; and Brit Barry Ashworth’s faux big-beat band Dub Pistols throw a Y2K ska & reggae party a few years late.
Sample Collage Licks, 2004
22 years later, Department of Eagles is still easily the dullest of these three records, though 18:51 of Mr.
chuckeddy.substack.com
1630 words on USA For Africa & the Filthy 15, Ronnie & Margaret, center-left populism & ouroboros anarchism, Brit & European imports, reggae & r&b riches, Midwest & New York noise, mid-Americana hyped or not, Minnesotans you'll say I underrate, and my 150 fave albums of 1985 (including EPs galore.)
150 Best Albums of 1985
The big hard-news music stories of 1985, for those who weren’t there yet or who understandably forgot, were the spate of charity efforts doing their darnedest to stem starvation in Ethiopia and aparth...
chuckeddy.substack.com
1630 words on USA For Africa & the Filthy 15, Ronnie & Margaret, center-left populism & ouroboros anarchism, Brit & European imports, reggae & r&b riches, Midwest & New York noise, mid-Americana hyped or not, Minnesotans you'll say I underrate, and my 150 fave albums of 1985 (including EPs galore.)
150 Best Albums of 1985
The big hard-news music stories of 1985, for those who weren’t there yet or who understandably forgot, were the spate of charity efforts doing their darnedest to stem starvation in Ethiopia and aparth...
chuckeddy.substack.com
PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT — early Aug 2026 YEAH: Fillipo Ansaldi & Simone Sims Longo: Solo Suono (Umor Rex Mexico) 7; Sweater On Polo: Almighty Grand Essence (L.I.E.S.) 7; Concepción Huerta: No Queda Nada/Todo Rusuena (Signal Noise) 7; Various: Mzansi Bass (TraTraTrax Colombia) 5; [continued...]
Pazz & Jop Product Reports, 2026
This post is a tool; it’s how I keep track of new music I hear — thus enabling me, for one thing, to put together long lists of albums I like when the year comes to an end.
chuckeddy.substack.com
Not sure if anybody else from that general vicinity has pointed this out, but the distance between Bloomfield Hills Andover (Abdul El-Sayed's high school alma mater) and Birmingham Seaholm (Haley Stevens's high school alma mater) is less than 6 miles. (Michigan covers 96,716 square miles, total.)
In honor of singer Joe Elliott’s 67th birthday today, a thing I wrote for Spin about an odds-and-sods/B-sides-and-outtakes collection Def Leppard put out in the 'mid ‘90s, parts of which review coincidentally comprise outtakes from my own second book (which, at the time, hadn't come out yet).
Def Leppard review, 1994
Time to play B-sides.
chuckeddy.substack.com
PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT — early Aug 2026 YEAH: Fillipo Ansaldi & Simone Sims Longo: Solo Suono (Umor Rex Mexico) 7; Sweater On Polo: Almighty Grand Essence (L.I.E.S.) 7; Concepción Huerta: No Queda Nada/Todo Rusuena (Signal Noise) 7; Various: Mzansi Bass (TraTraTrax Colombia) 5; [continued...]
Pazz & Jop Product Reports, 2026
This post is a tool; it’s how I keep track of new music I hear — thus enabling me, for one thing, to put together long lists of albums I like when the year comes to an end.
chuckeddy.substack.com
Look everybody, I’m an art critic now!! Okay not really but I did put together a top 10 of pieces I saw at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Didn’t “critique” them per sé in the sense of astute insights, but did research all the artists. If you can figure out my taste aesthetic, please explain it to me.
Studio Museum in Harlem Top 10
First Art Top 10 I’ve ever done, so bear with me and cut me a little slack, okay?
chuckeddy.substack.com
Look everybody, I’m an art critic now!! Okay not really but I did put together a top 10 of pieces I saw at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Didn’t “critique” them per sé in the sense of astute insights, but did research all the artists. If you can figure out my taste aesthetic, please explain it to me.
Studio Museum in Harlem Top 10
First Art Top 10 I’ve ever done, so bear with me and cut me a little slack, okay?
chuckeddy.substack.com
In observation of the 68th birthday of ‘90s pop-country singer Neal McCoy (born same day as Kate Bush!), here’s something ridiculous I put together 31 years ago about him and ‘90s Eurodance group Real McCoy. Had I heard of Juliana Hatfield when I wrote this, I’m sure I would've mentioned her, too.
Real McCoy vs. Neal McCoy review, 1995
Clearly I hadn't heard of Juliana Hatfield yet when I wrote this.
chuckeddy.substack.com
In observation of the 68th birthday of ‘90s pop-country singer Neal McCoy (born same day as Kate Bush!), here’s something ridiculous I put together 31 years ago about him and ‘90s Eurodance group Real McCoy. Had I heard of Juliana Hatfield when I wrote this, I’m sure I would've mentioned her, too.
Real McCoy vs. Neal McCoy review, 1995
Clearly I hadn't heard of Juliana Hatfield yet when I wrote this.
chuckeddy.substack.com
In observation of the 68th birthday of ‘90s country singer Neal McCoy (born the same day as Kate Bush!), here’s something ridiculous I put together 31 years ago about him and ‘90s Eurodance group Neal McCoy. Had I heard of Juliana Hatfield when I wrote this, I’m sure I would have mentioned her too.
Real McCoy vs. Neal McCoy review, 1995
Clearly I hadn't heard of Juliana Hatfield yet when I wrote this
chuckeddy.substack.com
To honor Kate Bush’s 68th birthday tomorrow, here’s something I wrote a few years back answering Chris Molanphy’s contention that she was always “too British” for overwhelming commercial success in the U.S. I'm skeptical of that claim, though I do think she might have been too lots-of-other-things.
How British is Kate Bush?
Too artsy or literary or weird to be huge in America? Sure, why not. But...
chuckeddy.substack.com
15 late '00s Harp mag reviews I wrote of reissues of ‘60s/’70s/’80s music: Artful Dodger, A’s, Continental Crawler, Demian, Finn + the Sharks. Herbie Hancock, Instant Orange, Donnie Iris, Charlie Pickett, Rags, Silver Apples, Skafish, OC Smith, Banastre Tarleton & a "French synth-wave" compilation.
15 Reissue Reviews, 2008-2009
ARTFUL DODGER Honor Among Thieves (American Beat)
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≈2400 words about two presidents, national nightmares, unemployment and welfare lines, inflation and gas shortages, power ballads and quiet storms, flatulent pancakes and sweet sticky stuff, British glam-rock superstars going r&b, Viking explorations, Halloween, and my 150 favorite albums of 1975.
150 Best Albums of 1975
“Our long national nightmare is over,” Gerald Ford had promised his fellow Americans the previous August, as he was sworn in as the most un-elected president ever, replacing the only president who eve...
chuckeddy.substack.com
15 late '00s Harp mag reviews I wrote of reissues of ‘60s/’70s/’80s music: Artful Dodger, A’s, Continental Crawler, Demian, Finn + the Sharks. Herbie Hancock, Instant Orange, Donnie Iris, Charlie Pickett, Rags, Silver Apples, Skafish, OC Smith, Banastre Tarleton & a "French synth-wave" compilation.
15 Reissue Reviews, 2008-2009
ARTFUL DODGER Honor Among Thieves (American Beat)
chuckeddy.substack.com
≈2400 words about two presidents, national nightmares, unemployment and welfare lines, inflation and gas shortages, power ballads and quiet storms, flatulent pancakes and sweet sticky stuff, British glam-rock superstars going r&b, Viking explorations, Halloween, and my 150 favorite albums of 1975.
150 Best Albums of 1975
“Our long national nightmare is over,” Gerald Ford had promised his fellow Americans the previous August, as he was sworn in as the most un-elected president ever, replacing the only president who eve...
chuckeddy.substack.com
Not sure why I felt the need for a gratuitous dig at a Western “world music” crowd whose only sin was being open-minded, but otherwise this Rolling Stone appraisal of a compilation of al jeel & shaabi music circa the first Gulf War embarrasses me less in retrospect than it probably has a right to.
Egyptian music review, 1991
Al Jeel and Shaabi music, compiled via Island Records circa the first Gulf War
chuckeddy.substack.com
Evidence of both my longstanding musical Teutonophilia and my on-again/off-again heiß-und-kalt relationship with early ’70s Kraut-rock. But mainly I consider mid '90s schallplatten by Die Goldenen Zitronen, Einstürzende Neubauten, KMFDM, Mo-Do and Scatman John, plus a comp called Sturm und Twang.
German album roundup, 1996
More evidence of my alleged Teutonophilia. Though it’s not like I’m entirely positive about all these schallplatten. And why the droney early ’70s Unidentified Flying Rock which by the mid ’90s was kn...
chuckeddy.substack.com
What I was trying to get at with this grumpy early ‘90s Village Voice roundup of Corrosion Of Conformity, Die Kreuzen, & Prong? Metal was never *not art-rock. And what did I have against free jazz then? Still, nowadays some critics review nothing *but jazz and metal. So maybe I was onto something.
Metal's Modern Jazz Moment
Corrosion Of Conformity, Die Kreuzen and Prong
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Thoughts out loud, ponderings in progress, talking blues clues & bonehead conspiracy theories re: country-adjacent ’60s and ’70s music: CCR, David Allan Coe, Gordon Lightfoot, C.W McCall, Junior Samples, German schlager, lightning bar Burmese blues, early Southern Soul country soul disco, harpoons.
Rolling Minstrels and Troubadours II
CCR, D.A. Coe, Gordon Lightfoot, C.W McCall, Junior Samples, schlager, harpoons...
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A goddess on a mountaintop burning like a silver flame: In Minnesota's City Pages I salute the mythical Latina who inspired the inescapable dance craze & all those who serenaded her — Los Del Rio, Los Del Mar, Mazz, Mestizzo, and all the saints. Plus Scatman John’s ditty on the hit single’s B-side.
Macarena Wins 1995
A goddess on a mountaintop burning like a silver flame
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Fungi in this post, all of which I personally found and photographed, has the distinction of being red, orange, and/or yellow — in most cases, two of those colors at the same time. A dumb way to classify organisms obviously, but hey I’m no expert. Proudest and most disgusting discovery: Stinkhorns!
Fungi Bright as the Sun, Guy
The fungi in this post, all of which as usual I personally found and photographed, has the distinction of being red, orange, and/or yellow — in most cases, two of those colors at the same time.
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Gargantuan redneck butt-boogie from Truth and Janey; Icarus rock riding to the midnight sun from bare-chested Native American Strat enigma Winterhawk; four scary dudes with titles and logos like Graham Platner tattoos calling themselves Survivor before any Rocky fans did. (From the Village Voice.)
Monster Records Metal Reissue Licks, 2004
Truth and Janey, Winterhawk and Survivor (but not that one)
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Bobby Bare Jr., Hayes Carll, Dolly, Tom T. Hall, Hank III, Isbell, Jamey Johnson, Chris Knight, Los Lonely Boys, McMurtry, Mellencamp, Willie (w/ & w/o Wynton), Old 97s, Petty, Reckless Kelly, Seger, Those Darlins, Lee Ann Womack, more - in Billboard, Blender, emusic, Rhapsody, Rolling Stone, Spin.
27 Americana Album Reviews, 2006-2013
Dolly, Hank III, Isbell, McMurtry, Mellencamp, Petty, Willie, Lee Ann Womack, more
chuckeddy.substack.com
Bobby Bare Jr., Hayes Carll, Dolly, Tom T. Hall, Hank III, Isbell, Jamey Johnson, Chris Knight, Los Lonely Boys, McMurtry, Mellencamp, Willie (w/ & w/o Wynton), Old 97s, Petty, Reckless Kelly, Seger, Those Darlins, Lee Ann Womack, more - in Billboard, Blender, emusic, Rhapsody, Rolling Stone, Spin.
27 Americana Album Reviews, 2006-2013
Dolly, Hank III, Isbell, McMurtry, Mellencamp, Petty, Willie, Lee Ann Womack, more
chuckeddy.substack.com
Birds captured on my camera here in Texas’s capitol: Black and turkey vultures, Cooper’s hawks, eastern screech owls, great egrets, yellow-crowned night herons, plus assorted ducks and chickens and a mysterious nest. (I also write about them.)
Austin Ornithology
Austin’s favorite and/or least favorite bird is the grackle, basically a giant blue crow (or miniature blue raven, take your pick) best known for stealing people’s salsa chips, which I suppose serves ...
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