No band on 21st-century radio has mined pre-grunge hair-metal's sleaze like L.A.'s Buckcherry. So it makes poetic sense that they'd spend their sixth album tallying all seven deadly sins.

I like critics with strong opinions.

Mayer Hawthorne's old school pop-R&B homages are so meticulous that it's tempting to overrate his pipes.

Few bands in hard rock history have been so adept at balancing the awesome and trivial as Van Halen in their prime.

Gary Allan has long been one of country's most reliably velvet-voiced beautiful losers.

I'm that grumpy old guy yelling at all those pesky little Grizzly Bear fans to get offa my lawn.

Music critics are part of the world, and I am part of the world.