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/
https://accidentalevolution.wordpress.com/author/edcchucky
https://chuckeddy.substack.com/
https://accidentalevolution.wordpress.com/author/edcchucky
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
Before everyone gets tired of me endlessly blogging about music from 2025, I opted to post about porcupines instead. Especially one particular porcupine. (This is a TRUE STORY, by the way. With asides about rodent royalty.)
My Prickly Porcupine Pal
Spent a half hour or so December 28, 2023 — the fourth-to-last afternoon of that year — hanging out with an unbelievably cute porcupine while Jiffy Lube performed the annual emissions test on our 2017...
chuckeddy.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Before everyone gets tired of me endlessly blogging about music from 2025, I opted to post about porcupines instead. Especially one particular porcupine. (This is a TRUE STORY, by the way. With asides about rodent royalty.)
Before everyone gets tired of me endlessly blogging about music from 2025, I opted to post about porcupines instead. Especially one particular porcupine. (This is a TRUE STORY, by the way. With asides about rodent royalty.)
My Prickly Porcupine Pal
Spent a half hour or so December 28, 2023 — the fourth-to-last afternoon of that year — hanging out with an unbelievably cute porcupine while Jiffy Lube performed the annual emissions test on our 2017...
chuckeddy.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Before everyone gets tired of me endlessly blogging about music from 2025, I opted to post about porcupines instead. Especially one particular porcupine. (This is a TRUE STORY, by the way. With asides about rodent royalty.)
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
2000-ish words on new wave, new wave, new wave, new wave, DOR vs AOR, pub & glam rock sticking around longer than people think, and why there's nonetheless mostly disco anyway in the top 10 of my 150 favorite albums of 1979, the year I got obsessive about music and my life would never be the same.
150 Best Albums of 1979
I was working in a Fotomat booth in the middle of a parking lot outside a strip mall (“shopping centers” I guess they were called more often then) on Orchard Lake Road in the summer of ’79, taking in ...
chuckeddy.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 2:39 PM
2000-ish words on new wave, new wave, new wave, new wave, DOR vs AOR, pub & glam rock sticking around longer than people think, and why there's nonetheless mostly disco anyway in the top 10 of my 150 favorite albums of 1979, the year I got obsessive about music and my life would never be the same.
2000-ish words on new wave, new wave, new wave, new wave, DOR vs AOR, pub & glam rock sticking around longer than people think, and why there's nonetheless mostly disco anyway in the top 10 of my 150 favorite albums of 1979, the year I got obsessive about music and my life would never be the same.
150 Best Albums of 1979
I was working in a Fotomat booth in the middle of a parking lot outside a strip mall (“shopping centers” I guess they were called more often then) on Orchard Lake Road in the summer of ’79, taking in ...
chuckeddy.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 2:39 PM
2000-ish words on new wave, new wave, new wave, new wave, DOR vs AOR, pub & glam rock sticking around longer than people think, and why there's nonetheless mostly disco anyway in the top 10 of my 150 favorite albums of 1979, the year I got obsessive about music and my life would never be the same.
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT — early December 2025
YEAH: Babes Wodumo: Mabheshingo (Wena Wodumo/Gallo South Africa) 7; Nakibembe Embaire Group & Naoyuki Uchida: Phantom Keys (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda) 5; DJ Bebedera: Clássico (Príncipe Portugal EP) 5...
[continued]:
YEAH: Babes Wodumo: Mabheshingo (Wena Wodumo/Gallo South Africa) 7; Nakibembe Embaire Group & Naoyuki Uchida: Phantom Keys (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda) 5; DJ Bebedera: Clássico (Príncipe Portugal EP) 5...
[continued]:
Pazz & Jop Product Reports, 2025
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
December 1, 2025 at 1:54 PM
PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT — early December 2025
YEAH: Babes Wodumo: Mabheshingo (Wena Wodumo/Gallo South Africa) 7; Nakibembe Embaire Group & Naoyuki Uchida: Phantom Keys (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda) 5; DJ Bebedera: Clássico (Príncipe Portugal EP) 5...
[continued]:
YEAH: Babes Wodumo: Mabheshingo (Wena Wodumo/Gallo South Africa) 7; Nakibembe Embaire Group & Naoyuki Uchida: Phantom Keys (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda) 5; DJ Bebedera: Clássico (Príncipe Portugal EP) 5...
[continued]:
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
Nobody facilitated dance-oriented rock’s turn of the ‘80s melting pot as creatively as NYC’s ZE Records, which connected post-punk/disco dots by taking chances on oddballs nobody else would. Best place to start investigating the label might be these 8 LPs — including my 2nd favorite Xmas comp ever.
Ze Records Essentials
By the end of the ‘70s, disco was turning rockier (think Prince, or Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”) new wave was turning dancier (think the B-52s, or Ian Dury’s “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”) and both m...
chuckeddy.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Nobody facilitated dance-oriented rock’s turn of the ‘80s melting pot as creatively as NYC’s ZE Records, which connected post-punk/disco dots by taking chances on oddballs nobody else would. Best place to start investigating the label might be these 8 LPs — including my 2nd favorite Xmas comp ever.
Nobody facilitated dance-oriented rock’s turn of the ‘80s melting pot as creatively as NYC’s ZE Records, which connected post-punk/disco dots by taking chances on oddballs nobody else would. Best place to start investigating the label might be these 8 LPs — including my 2nd favorite Xmas comp ever.
Ze Records Essentials
By the end of the ‘70s, disco was turning rockier (think Prince, or Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”) new wave was turning dancier (think the B-52s, or Ian Dury’s “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”) and both m...
chuckeddy.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Nobody facilitated dance-oriented rock’s turn of the ‘80s melting pot as creatively as NYC’s ZE Records, which connected post-punk/disco dots by taking chances on oddballs nobody else would. Best place to start investigating the label might be these 8 LPs — including my 2nd favorite Xmas comp ever.
PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT — early December 2025
YEAH: Babes Wodumo: Mabheshingo (Wena Wodumo/Gallo South Africa) 7; Nakibembe Embaire Group & Naoyuki Uchida: Phantom Keys (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda) 5; DJ Bebedera: Clássico (Príncipe Portugal EP) 5...
[continued]:
YEAH: Babes Wodumo: Mabheshingo (Wena Wodumo/Gallo South Africa) 7; Nakibembe Embaire Group & Naoyuki Uchida: Phantom Keys (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda) 5; DJ Bebedera: Clássico (Príncipe Portugal EP) 5...
[continued]:
Pazz & Jop Product Reports, 2025
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
December 1, 2025 at 1:54 PM
PAZZ & JOP PRODUCT REPORT — early December 2025
YEAH: Babes Wodumo: Mabheshingo (Wena Wodumo/Gallo South Africa) 7; Nakibembe Embaire Group & Naoyuki Uchida: Phantom Keys (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda) 5; DJ Bebedera: Clássico (Príncipe Portugal EP) 5...
[continued]:
YEAH: Babes Wodumo: Mabheshingo (Wena Wodumo/Gallo South Africa) 7; Nakibembe Embaire Group & Naoyuki Uchida: Phantom Keys (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda) 5; DJ Bebedera: Clássico (Príncipe Portugal EP) 5...
[continued]:
25 songs 1965-'99: AC Temple, Big Youth, Bonzo Dog Band, Caroliner, Alvin Cash, Cold Chisel, Danielle Dax, Elastic Oz Band, Wayne Fontana, Gorillas, Wilbert Harrison, Ides of March, Malaria!, McCoys, Millie, Bobby Orlando, Alan Parsons, PragVec, Spandau Ballet, Womack & Labelle, Youngbloods, more!
Feels a Bit Stuffy
Blindfold Test #12
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:56 PM
25 songs 1965-'99: AC Temple, Big Youth, Bonzo Dog Band, Caroliner, Alvin Cash, Cold Chisel, Danielle Dax, Elastic Oz Band, Wayne Fontana, Gorillas, Wilbert Harrison, Ides of March, Malaria!, McCoys, Millie, Bobby Orlando, Alan Parsons, PragVec, Spandau Ballet, Womack & Labelle, Youngbloods, more!
It’s not so much that singles are an afterthought for me these days as that they’re very much a side dish. Here are my favorites from five years ago, most of which I bet you still haven't heard, and a few of which are topical. (It *was* 2020, after all. A whole lot going on that year.)
33 Best Singles of 2020
It’s not so much that singles are an afterthought for me these days as that they’re very much a side dish.
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:26 PM
It’s not so much that singles are an afterthought for me these days as that they’re very much a side dish. Here are my favorites from five years ago, most of which I bet you still haven't heard, and a few of which are topical. (It *was* 2020, after all. A whole lot going on that year.)
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
I wrote about and (mostly) took pictures of several mystifying signs, cryptic clues, discarded notes, batty bumper stickers and other expressive found objects sighted in & around my Deep South Almost Not Austin neighborhood in the relatively recent past. Some required more explanation than others.
A Sign Not a Reward
Cryptic clues, mystic messages, and signs of the times and/or the apocalypse, all guaranteed sighted on the desolate streets of Deep South Austin (Ford Oaks/Tanglewood Forest/Stinson District, to be m...
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:23 PM
I wrote about and (mostly) took pictures of several mystifying signs, cryptic clues, discarded notes, batty bumper stickers and other expressive found objects sighted in & around my Deep South Almost Not Austin neighborhood in the relatively recent past. Some required more explanation than others.
I wrote about and (mostly) took pictures of several mystifying signs, cryptic clues, discarded notes, batty bumper stickers and other expressive found objects sighted in & around my Deep South Almost Not Austin neighborhood in the relatively recent past. Some required more explanation than others.
A Sign Not a Reward
Cryptic clues, mystic messages, and signs of the times and/or the apocalypse, all guaranteed sighted on the desolate streets of Deep South Austin (Ford Oaks/Tanglewood Forest/Stinson District, to be m...
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:23 PM
I wrote about and (mostly) took pictures of several mystifying signs, cryptic clues, discarded notes, batty bumper stickers and other expressive found objects sighted in & around my Deep South Almost Not Austin neighborhood in the relatively recent past. Some required more explanation than others.
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
5000 or so words about boomers & X-ers, recurrent recessions, proto-Trump pseudo-populism, SoundScan , shoegazing, what people thought of my metal book, other stuff people wrote, alienation, home maintenance, Garth Brooks, Public Enemy, Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana, and my 150 favorite albums of 1991.
150 Best Albums of 1991
I’ll be honest, I’d rather not talk about Nirvana at all, but that would be neglectful, right?
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:27 PM
5000 or so words about boomers & X-ers, recurrent recessions, proto-Trump pseudo-populism, SoundScan , shoegazing, what people thought of my metal book, other stuff people wrote, alienation, home maintenance, Garth Brooks, Public Enemy, Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana, and my 150 favorite albums of 1991.
5000 or so words about boomers & X-ers, recurrent recessions, proto-Trump pseudo-populism, SoundScan , shoegazing, what people thought of my metal book, other stuff people wrote, alienation, home maintenance, Garth Brooks, Public Enemy, Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana, and my 150 favorite albums of 1991.
150 Best Albums of 1991
I’ll be honest, I’d rather not talk about Nirvana at all, but that would be neglectful, right?
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:27 PM
5000 or so words about boomers & X-ers, recurrent recessions, proto-Trump pseudo-populism, SoundScan , shoegazing, what people thought of my metal book, other stuff people wrote, alienation, home maintenance, Garth Brooks, Public Enemy, Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana, and my 150 favorite albums of 1991.
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
Tomorrow Amy Grant will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare. So here’s a rarity: An Entertainment Weekly review (I probably wrote a couple hundred in the early ’90s) I’m not entirely embarrassed by! Also just learned she was born exactly one day before I was born; had no idea at the time.
Amy Grant review, 1991
Tomorrow, Amy Grant will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare.
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Tomorrow Amy Grant will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare. So here’s a rarity: An Entertainment Weekly review (I probably wrote a couple hundred in the early ’90s) I’m not entirely embarrassed by! Also just learned she was born exactly one day before I was born; had no idea at the time.
Tomorrow Amy Grant will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare. So here’s a rarity: An Entertainment Weekly review (I probably wrote a couple hundred in the early ’90s) I’m not entirely embarrassed by! Also just learned she was born exactly one day before I was born; had no idea at the time.
Amy Grant review, 1991
Tomorrow, Amy Grant will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare.
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Tomorrow Amy Grant will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare. So here’s a rarity: An Entertainment Weekly review (I probably wrote a couple hundred in the early ’90s) I’m not entirely embarrassed by! Also just learned she was born exactly one day before I was born; had no idea at the time.
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
25 songs, 1927-2012: Ralph Carney, John Cooper Clarke, Funky Kings, Heavy Metal Kids, Honey Cone, Insect Trust, Dow Jones & Industrials, Kilburn & High Roads, Meat Puppets, Shockabilly, Silhouettes, Alvin Stardust, Suicide Commandos, Gid Tanner & Skillet Lickers, Television, Wall of Voodoo, more!
Give the Fiddler a Dram
Blindfold Test #11
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:27 PM
25 songs, 1927-2012: Ralph Carney, John Cooper Clarke, Funky Kings, Heavy Metal Kids, Honey Cone, Insect Trust, Dow Jones & Industrials, Kilburn & High Roads, Meat Puppets, Shockabilly, Silhouettes, Alvin Stardust, Suicide Commandos, Gid Tanner & Skillet Lickers, Television, Wall of Voodoo, more!
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
I appreciate this obit and did find it informative, but have to say I think Mouse Trap was a much more interesting invention than Lite Brite or Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots (which were fine, don't get me wrong), and definitely deserved a more extensive explanation for young readers unfamiliar with it.
Burt Meyer, 99, Dies; Made Lite-Brite and Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I appreciate this obit and did find it informative, but have to say I think Mouse Trap was a much more interesting invention than Lite Brite or Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots (which were fine, don't get me wrong), and definitely deserved a more extensive explanation for young readers unfamiliar with it.
I appreciate this obit and did find it informative, but have to say I think Mouse Trap was a much more interesting invention than Lite Brite or Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots (which were fine, don't get me wrong), and definitely deserved a more extensive explanation for young readers unfamiliar with it.
Burt Meyer, 99, Dies; Made Lite-Brite and Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I appreciate this obit and did find it informative, but have to say I think Mouse Trap was a much more interesting invention than Lite Brite or Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots (which were fine, don't get me wrong), and definitely deserved a more extensive explanation for young readers unfamiliar with it.
25 songs, 1927-2012: Ralph Carney, John Cooper Clarke, Funky Kings, Heavy Metal Kids, Honey Cone, Insect Trust, Dow Jones & Industrials, Kilburn & High Roads, Meat Puppets, Shockabilly, Silhouettes, Alvin Stardust, Suicide Commandos, Gid Tanner & Skillet Lickers, Television, Wall of Voodoo, more!
Give the Fiddler a Dram
Blindfold Test #11
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:27 PM
25 songs, 1927-2012: Ralph Carney, John Cooper Clarke, Funky Kings, Heavy Metal Kids, Honey Cone, Insect Trust, Dow Jones & Industrials, Kilburn & High Roads, Meat Puppets, Shockabilly, Silhouettes, Alvin Stardust, Suicide Commandos, Gid Tanner & Skillet Lickers, Television, Wall of Voodoo, more!
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
Inchoate genre roundup from college newspaper. (1) I say new wave includes Dire Straits and George Thorogood! Unless I was being sarcastic. (2) I call Andy Gibb “teen pop,” ages before the term was in vogue. (3) The lack of specificity in my descriptions and comparisons is rather embarrassing. Etc.
3 New Wave Albums, 1981
Inchoate genre roundup from college newspaper, almost definitely of albums I picked for free out of a giveaway box in the newspaper office.
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Inchoate genre roundup from college newspaper. (1) I say new wave includes Dire Straits and George Thorogood! Unless I was being sarcastic. (2) I call Andy Gibb “teen pop,” ages before the term was in vogue. (3) The lack of specificity in my descriptions and comparisons is rather embarrassing. Etc.
Inchoate genre roundup from college newspaper. (1) I say new wave includes Dire Straits and George Thorogood! Unless I was being sarcastic. (2) I call Andy Gibb “teen pop,” ages before the term was in vogue. (3) The lack of specificity in my descriptions and comparisons is rather embarrassing. Etc.
3 New Wave Albums, 1981
Inchoate genre roundup from college newspaper, almost definitely of albums I picked for free out of a giveaway box in the newspaper office.
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Inchoate genre roundup from college newspaper. (1) I say new wave includes Dire Straits and George Thorogood! Unless I was being sarcastic. (2) I call Andy Gibb “teen pop,” ages before the term was in vogue. (3) The lack of specificity in my descriptions and comparisons is rather embarrassing. Etc.
A very short-lived (only 1 installment if my file cabinet & memory serve me) Creem column: AC/DC, Deele, Def Lep, DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, EPMD, EU, Honor Role, Mekons, George Michael, Poison, Prince, Tiffany, etc. — Good variety! Some parts wound up in a couple of my books; most parts didn’t.
Singles Reviews, 1988
A very short-lived (only one installment, if my memory and what I can find in my file cabinet serve me) Creem column.
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
A very short-lived (only 1 installment if my file cabinet & memory serve me) Creem column: AC/DC, Deele, Def Lep, DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, EPMD, EU, Honor Role, Mekons, George Michael, Poison, Prince, Tiffany, etc. — Good variety! Some parts wound up in a couple of my books; most parts didn’t.
Reposted by Chuck Eddy
NEW!! 5000 words on rock cracking, Frankenstein festivals, 4-D geometry, Detroit's peak year, reggae's roots, riverboat gospel, folk fission, pud rock, teenage riots, self-titled debuts, one-and-done bands, Ted Nugent gender switches, getting back to 1957 or '65, and my 150 favorite albums of 1970.
150 Best Albums of 1970
It sure seems like a lot of people paying close attention to rock music in 1970 thought it was falling apart — or at very least, cracking in half.
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:52 PM
NEW!! 5000 words on rock cracking, Frankenstein festivals, 4-D geometry, Detroit's peak year, reggae's roots, riverboat gospel, folk fission, pud rock, teenage riots, self-titled debuts, one-and-done bands, Ted Nugent gender switches, getting back to 1957 or '65, and my 150 favorite albums of 1970.
NEW!! 5000 words on rock cracking, Frankenstein festivals, 4-D geometry, Detroit's peak year, reggae's roots, riverboat gospel, folk fission, pud rock, teenage riots, self-titled debuts, one-and-done bands, Ted Nugent gender switches, getting back to 1957 or '65, and my 150 favorite albums of 1970.
150 Best Albums of 1970
It sure seems like a lot of people paying close attention to rock music in 1970 thought it was falling apart — or at very least, cracking in half.
chuckeddy.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:52 PM
NEW!! 5000 words on rock cracking, Frankenstein festivals, 4-D geometry, Detroit's peak year, reggae's roots, riverboat gospel, folk fission, pud rock, teenage riots, self-titled debuts, one-and-done bands, Ted Nugent gender switches, getting back to 1957 or '65, and my 150 favorite albums of 1970.