Modern Rock Reviews

The White Stripes - You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told) - A+
The best song off of their latest album (a contender for album of the year for sure), this song is Jack and Meg channelling early Zeppelin like they never have before.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Berlin - A+
Another brilliant single from one of the best albums of 2006, highlighted by a great chorus and a nice build-up in the later verses.

Queens Of The Stone Age - 3's & 7's - A
What, Queens released a second single off of one of their brilliant albums? Weird. Anyway, this one isn't quite as good as "Sick, Sick, Sick", but it's still pretty damn close to excellence.

The Foo Fighters - The Pretender -
A Yet another brilliant single from one of the most reliably awesome modern rock bands of all-time. This song utilizes the old "slow-fast" dynamic that Dave learned with Nirvana. This song would have fit in nicely on "The Colour And The Shape".

Rilo Kiley - The Moneymaker - A
Not the best song on the album (one of the year's best), but it's still incredibly catchy in a Karen O sort of way and one of their best singles to date.

Velvet Revolver - Last Fight - A-
My favorite ballad from Velvet Revolver has solid lyrics, great licks from Slash and a great GNR-esque chorus.

Eddie Vedder - Hard Sun - A-
A good start for the first single off of Vedder's solo soundtrack for Into The Wild. There's a lot of later-day Bruce Springsteen channelled in this song.

1990s - You Made Me Like It - B+
A catchy, Franz Ferdinand-lite dance rock song with clever lyrics.

The Editors - An End Has A Start - B+
The Editors out-Interpol Interpol with the second single off of their latest album.

Interpol - There's No I In Threesome - B+
The better of two new singles from Interpol is a slower song, but still has a better pace to it and much better lyrics.

Hot Hot Heat - Let Me In - B+
An above average indie rock song, but it doesn't quite distinguish itself from the pack.

Spoon - The Underdog - B+
I don't think I've ever heard a Spoon song on the radio, but this one would be a good place to start. It's one of their best, but the whole "displaced song from the 70s" thing doesn't work for me as much as it does for some.

Bad Religion - Heroes & Martyrs - B+
Yeah, it's a good song, but after awhile, every Bad Religion song seems to alike.

The Smashing Pumpkins - That's The Way (My Love Is) - B
Strike two in the "let's release the best song off the album" count. This one is good and might have fit in nicely on Mellon Collie, but it's no "United States" or "Doomsday Clock".

The Cult - Dirty Little Rockstar - B
A bit of a throwback to 80s style alternative, but a step back for a band that has hit a lot of home-runs in it's day.

The Bravery - Believe - B
A decent modern rock song, but like every Bravery song, they'll always be compared to the Killers, who could have probably done it better.

Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan - B
More promising than great, the song never quite develops, but there's promise that the band itself might do much better things in the future.

Interpol - Mammoth - B
Not Interpol's best. The song has a good pulse, but doesn't have the drive one of their songs usually has.

We Are The Fury - Now You Know - B-
An average pop punk song that doesn't impress with lyrics, vocals or beat.

Matchbox Twenty - How Far We've Come - B-
Not quite as good as their 90s music, but at least this song is well-paced and not glaringly awful.

Kings Of Leon - Fans - B-
All the reviews said that Kings Of Leon finally made a good record with their new release, but I see it as a huge step down. This song is alright, but it's incredibly dull compared to "Molly's Chambers" or "California Waiting".

Adema - Cold And Jaded - C+
A dull but not completely repulsive hard rock song from one of the few remaining nu-metal holdouts.

Submersed - Better Think Again - C
A lame but competant Disturbed rip-off. Not a lot of fun.

Alter Bridge - Rise Today - C-
Another over-the-top rock song from the other guys from Creed. Believe me, we don't want people like that trying to rise today and change this world.

Another Animal - Broken Again - C-
Delightful, here come the Three Days Grace ripoff bands. Just what the world needed.