The Chronicles of Michael Christopher
Writings. Musings. Mediocre Photography. Travel. Skulls.
Making her debut as the musical act on Saturday Night Live last weekend, Phoebe Bridgers has spent recent days since facing a public skewering that would be laughable if it weren’t so misplaced and wildly off base. The Grammy nominated singer-songwriter raised the ire of many for committing what they saw as a cardinal sin... Continue Reading →
Whether you love or hate Def Leppard, there's no denying how huge they were for a stretch beginning in the mid-80s through the early 90s. And never were they more popular than with the release of the 1987 album Hysteria, which spawned an impressively ridiculous seven singles. The final one, "Rocket," came out in January... Continue Reading →
It was announced this week the 63rd annual Grammy Awards would be shifting its ceremony scheduled for later this month to the middle of March. While the move isn’t completely unexpected, given the ramped up spread of Covid-19 in Los Angeles where the event is set to take place, it may very well be a... Continue Reading →
Anniversaries are nothing new when it comes to music writing. It helps quite a bit during dry times when there isn't much else happening in the industry. That's been the case over the past several months due to the pandemic, and it will be for many more to come unfortunately. The silver lining is there's... Continue Reading →
Just like you and I, there are rockers, rollers and other assorted musical miscreants out there who need help keeping their declared promises to make the next 12 months better than the dozen prior. It shouldn’t be that hard to improve upon the raging dumpster fire of 2020, but – hey – people thought the... Continue Reading →
The fine folks over at Ultimate Classic Rock have run an exclusive excerpt from my book Depeche Mode: All That's Left to Know About the World's Finest Synth-Pop Band, which lands on shelves December 28 and is available for pre-order here. The passage details the time around the release of the group's 1990 mainstream breakthrough... Continue Reading →
I'm incredibly excited to announce my second book is slated for release in fall 2021! Titled, Van Halen: The Eruption and the Aftershock, it's something I've been working on for some time and have wanted to do forever. It will be published via Backbeat Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, the same publishers who... Continue Reading →
Forty years ago today, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin declared they would officially be breaking up, a little over two months removed from the untimely passing of drummer John Bonham on September 25, 1980 at the age of 32. Each of the surviving members - singer Robert Plant, bassist John Paul Jones and guitarist... Continue Reading →
The organizers behind Record Store Day have struggled this year, first needing to push their namesake holiday back and then into three separate “RSD Drops” days this fall across a series of months. It’s all worked out pretty well thus far, but now comes what used to be known as “Back to Black Friday,” heretofore... Continue Reading →
The long-awaited first taste of solo music from Wolfgang Van Halen was released this week, and it was a heartbreaker. Dedicated to his late father Eddie Van Halen, the song “Distance,” best described as pop rock with an edge that sees the 29-year-old singing and playing every instrument, is an emotional whirlwind reflective of the... Continue Reading →
