Essays Archive
16 Jan 2020
Whatever Happened to Nena?
In 1983, the musical world was taken with Nena, a German band whose one hit had an infectious synth bass line, changing tempos and mysterious lyrics about balloons accidentally causing World War III. “99 Luftballons” and its
8 Jan 2020
Del Amitri: The Best Unknown Band Ever?
I recently finished the biography of Del Amitri, a book called These Are Such Perfect Days by Charles Rawlings-Way. It’s a detailed account of the rise and (ultimate) fall of the band from Glasgow, Scotland that had only
23 Dec 2019
Whatever happened to Taco?
Taco Ockerse, otherwise known as just Taco, was the ultimate throwback artist of the 1980s. He took a 55-year-old song, Irving Berlin’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” and made it an unlikely top 10 hit in 1982. He