The Chicago Reader debuted October 1, 1971—almost two years before DJ Kool Herc threw the very first hip-hop party in the Bronx in August 1973, nearly three years before the Ramones made their first appearance onstage at CBGB in August 1974, and more than five years before Frankie Knuckles first spun at the Warehouse in […]
Tag: Bill Wyman
Posted inBlogs
A note from the harsh macho underground
Or 1990s Wicker Park encapsulated in a single letter to the editor by Weasel Walter.
Posted inBlogs
How the Reader reviewed Exile in Guyville when it first came out
Nobody bothered to acknowledge what young women already knew: Liz Phair wasn’t singing for Steve Albini. She was singing for us.
Posted inBlogs
The time Chicago skinheads beat up a Nazi
Yes, Chicago does have a history of punks who’ve shown Nazis what’s what.
Posted inBlogs
What caused the melee outside a Public Enemy and Sonic Youth show at the Aragon in 1990?
In 1991, Reader critic Bill Wyman hit the pavement to figure out how one of the biggest shows of the previous year ended in a brawl that resulted in 18 concertgoers behind bars.
Posted inBlogs
The Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair hit the road together, 22 years after an infamous takedown in the Reader
Twenty-two years ago, Steve Albini called the Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair “pandering sluts.” At least they didn’t turn out to be flavors of the week.
Posted inBlogs
A former Reader writer really didn’t like Lollapalooza ’92
A #TBT to Bill Wyman’s takedown of the music fest’s inaugural year
Posted inMusic
Houston rap in photographs
In Houston Rap photographer Peter Beste shares images of one of the new century’s most influential hip-hop scenes.
Posted inMusic
In Rotation: Jessica Hopper, Rita Bacon, and Aay Preston-Myint share their aural fetishes
Every week, one of our staffers shares three musical obsessions— then asks someone else (who asks someone else) to take a turn
Posted inBlogs
Subtext always ruins everything for me
Why I can’t watch even Michael Jackson’s memorial service without feeling a creeping sense of exploitation.
Posted inBlogs
Some Michael Jackson readings
A roundup of some of the more compelling tributes and reflections on the King of Pop.
Posted inBlogs
On the proposed merger . . .
The ongoing saga of the proposed Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger.
Posted inBlogs
Death or new life for film criticism?
Is film criticism dying, as Roger Ebert claims, or being born again on the Web?
Posted inBlogs
Bill Wyman on the Edwards love child and the MSM
Bill Wyman explains how the press might do a better job on the John Edwards love child story.