“At any time of the day or night, Bob Seger is playing on a radio station somewhere in the continental United States,” Tal Rosenberg writes in the opening of his music feature in this week’s Reader. This goes double for Michigan, Seger’s home state and mine, where his music ruled rock radio with an iron fist. I was weaned on the Silver Bullet Band, so discovering Seger’s pre-stardom material—specifically the shockingly raw garage rock he played with the Bob Seger System—was a revelation. I highly recommend Tal’s review of the digital bootleg Never Mind the Bullets: Bob Seger 1966-1974, and I even more highly recommend finding a download so you can hear it yourself. If you can shelve your assumptions for a minute, it’s entirely possible that you’ll come out of the experience with your head turned way the fuck around.
Also in this week’s Reader, local rock ‘n’ roll couple My Gold Mask talk to Echo & the Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant in Artist on Artist. Three Beats brings you news from the local electronic, experimental, and metal scenes, including addictive new beats from Supreme Cuts and new nastiness from Weekend Nachos. Gossip Wolf has another Kinsella Watch entry (this time about Tim’s debut novel), along with items on the Neon Marshmallow fest and the latest tragedy to befall country music, Gwyneth Paltrow. And the Soundboard highlights upcoming shows by the Cola Freaks, James Blake, the Twilight Singers, Holly Golightly, Young Widows, and the intriguing-sounding Alien Queen: The Concert, which mashes up the music of Queen and the plot of Aliens, long considered two of humankind’s crowning artistic achievements.