Pete Crigler

When I was growing up, I was big into Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden, but I was late to the Nirvana party. It must have been about ’99 or so before I even bought Nevermind and the Unplugged record, but afterwards, I became a big fan – not super obsessive, but really liking the songs I’ve liked. There was always something different about the band, but it wasn’t until a couple of years later that they stuck out from the rest of the Seattle scene. There’s still something special about the music and those songs, and Cobain’s legacy…

Well, it’s been over 20 years since the Foo Fighters got started, and over that time, they have become one of the most renowned alternative rock bands in the whole musical landscape. While they’ve had some interesting times together, they’ve also managed to crank out some of the most memorable songs of the last 20 years. Let’s take a look back and review their entire catalogue. 8. Sonic Highways (2014)Their most recent work was also their worst and least essential, besides the 2006 acoustic live Skin & Bones record. This album’s scope was initially great: record songs in different cities…

Anyone who knows me knows that I love record stores. Always have and probably always will, even though all the great ones really don’t exist anymore. Director/Actor/Tom Hanks’ son Colin, whom many might remember from Orange County or season 1 of Fargo has done a great job with this loving documentary about Tower Records. Tower was the behemoth of record stores when I was growing up and its demise in the mid 2000s hurt a lot of people, including myself. The closest Tower I had was somewhere in Richmond near a hospital, and every time I went there, I was…

The B-52's were once one of the most exciting, almost revolutionary bands of the entire New Wave era. Now they’re the type of band that one can see on retro bills alongside the rotting corpses of Blondie, A Flock Of Seagulls and numerous others. Their career started off with a bang and nowadays it’s a bit of whimper. But the trajectory in between is really something to behold. What the hell happened, you might ask? Well, read on and you’ll hear quite a story. Forming in Athens, Georgia in the mid-‘70s, the band – guitarist extraordinaire Ricky Wilson, his sister…

Ever since I was a small child, Weird Al has been one of my favorites. One of the undisputed kings of humorous music and one of the bestselling and most respected comedians of all time (take that Cosby!), Weird Al has always had his finger on the pulse of popular music. Over the course of his thirty plus year career, he has released some of the greatest comedy records of all time. With that in mind, I decided it was time to do an overview of the man’s oeuvre. 14. UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack And Other Stuff (1989)This…

I’ve been a fan of the Violent Femmes since I was about 14, when I discovered Hallowed Ground on cassette from my local library. Everyone knows they are one of the most significant and important bands of the entire ’80s alternative wave. Songs like “Add It Up,” “Please Do Not Go” and the immortal “Blister In The Sun” helped many a teenager get through their awkward pubescent years. After a very long recording hiatus, the band is preparing to release a brand new full-length record in 2016. Until then, let’s take a look at the catalogue of a band that…

With this, the first ever full-length documentary detailing the life and music of the legendary Elliott Smith, the man’s musical legacy comes to the forefront. Drawing together great archival footage from both Heatmiser and Smith’s solo career as well as new interviews with family, producers and close friends, you get the clearest picture of Smith yet seen on film. He was a very complex, heartfelt man with the deepest and most honest lyrics heard in a hell of a long time and wore his emotions on his sleeve and the film covers all of that and more. Tracing his story…

Ever since I was about seven years old, I have been a massive Primus fan. They’ve always been one of those bands that I get super excited about when a new album gets announced. They’re one of the most interesting bands I’ve ever seen live – even being surrounded by annoying hippies the whole time couldn’t diminish their impact. And they are always one of the main bands that I go back to time and time again. Some people really do feel that Primus sucks, but they really don’t understand the band. I understand that some feel that not everything…

There have been hundreds of rock documentaries over the last couple of years, covering everything from Klaus Nomi to Pearl Jam. Some have been good, some have been very modest. This one, without a doubt, is one of the best. Jobriath was one of the most hyped (some say over-hyped) rock stars of the ’70s. He was openly gay before that was accepted in pop music. He was signed by a Svengali who wanted him to be the next Bowie. This film tells that story in the tremendous, fascinating detail. Drawing from exhaustive research and interviews with associates like former…