Annie Zaleski

Annie Zaleski is an award-winning journalist, editor and critic based in Cleveland, Ohio. Her profiles, interviews and criticism have appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, NPR Music, Guardian, Salon, Billboard, Stereogum, The A.V. Club and more. Zaleski wrote the liner notes for the 2016 deluxe edition of R.E.M.’s “Out of Time” and contributed an essay to the 2020 Game Theory compilation “Across the Barrier of Sound: PostScript.” Her book on Duran Duran’s “Rio” for the 33 1/3 book series comes out in May 2021. She is currently working on the book “Why the B-52s Matter” for University of Texas Press.

Collections

Poignant Complications

Aimee Mann captures humanity in her character-driven songs

Stories

Story

How Evanescence Rekindled the Fire

The road to the first Evanescence studio album since 2017, “The Bitter Truth,” began on an inauspicious note. After safety concerns forced promoters to cancel the final date of the band’s 2019 tour on Nov. 30 at Knotfest Mexico, a small group of angry attendees set fire to Will Hunt's drum kit. Rather than let any lingering frustrations fester, Hunt and the rest of Evanescence used them as creative fuel.

Story

‘You’ve Just Seen the Best Band of All Time’

Vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson co-founded Echo & The Bunnymen in Liverpool, England, in the late 1970s. Though the band certainly took inspiration from the seething post-punk bubbling up in the U.K. at the time, it was even more enamored with moody 1960s American bands.

Story

Lollapalooza Nation Godfathers

At one point during this Jane's Addiction documentary, guitarist Dave Navarro describes the group as "a traveling art installation." The image is apt: During the alternative music boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Los Angeles band was populated by iconoclasts who became rock stars.

Story

Halloween in New Orleans

Bands tend to go over and above to plan unique Halloween concert experiences. Some wear disguises, the more unexpected the better. Other artists put in extra musical effort and work up elaborate themed sets. Athens, Georgia's Widespread Panic does all of this — and then some — for its three-hour Halloween 2019 show in New Orleans, which is a loving (and high-concept) tribute to the late Andy Kaufman.

Story

Not Easily Charmed

Aimee Mann first found mainstream fame while fronting 'Til Tuesday, a polished pop-rock band known mostly for its 1985 Top 10 hit "Voices Carry." That single — which Mann later said was one of the first songs she ever wrote by herself — established her as a precise and observant songwriter. "Voices Carry" captures the anxiety, fear and pain inflicted by an abusive partner; Mann's voice soars and breaks as she describes how the song’s protagonist is minimized and demeaned.