iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Legendary Williamsburg post-punk duo They Might Be Giants @tmbg.bsky.social have a lot of songs about bands and being in a band. Here, they comment on those songs and show why they're some of the most insightful commentators on the art of making music.

pastemagazine.com

They Might Be Giants unpack their weirdest myths and obsessions

Paste Magazine is your source for the best music, movies, TV, comedy, videogames, books, comics, craft beer, politics and more. Discover your favorite albums and films.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

For drummers only: an outtake from _The Amplified Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana_ about "The Terminator," the already legendary rented snare drum that Dave Grohl played on _Nevermind_, which is 35 years old today.

michaelazerrad.substack.com

Nirvana, Dave Grohl and the Terminator

An outtake from The Amplified Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

On this, the 35th anniversary of Nirvana's _Nevermind_, I will now shamelessly plug my book _The Amplified Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana_. Read about _Nevermind_'s infamous bio and why it backfired, and the surprising cultural depth of the intro of "Territorial Pissings."

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Nirvana's final album _In Utero_ was released this month in 1993. My book _The Amplified Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana_ reveals the fascinating and deeply poignant meaning of the 21 mysterious little pictograms on the back cover.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Using primitive video software, pop-psychedelic artist and overall '60s art icon Peter Max made a beautiful video for a heartbreaking song: Missing Persons' "Surrender Your Heart" (1984). Max just passed at the age of 88.

youtube.com

Missing Persons - Surrender Your Heart

YouTube video by MissingPersonsVEVO

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Last night, speaking after a screening of rare Dylan clips at the Paris Theatre, Bill Frisell conceded he's not the most articulate guy—"I sing through my guitar." And then he did just that, playing three Dylan songs instrumentally. It was lyrical and deep. He went from a caterpillar to a butterfly.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This Tim Curry gem was all over the cool FM stations in '79, '80. What a time capsule the lyrics are: "Pistol Pete," "Miss Rona," "Governor Brown and Linda," "John and Yoko farming beef," etc. Not to mention the vocal pastiche of Davids Bowie and Johansen.

youtube.com

Tim Curry Official Music Video I Do The Rock Superb Quality! YouTube

YouTube video by Chaosmosis

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Reposted by Michael Azerrad

Rob Hatch-Miller @robhatchmiller.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I loved getting to finally meet and interview one of my absolute favorite music writers @michaelazerrad.bsky.social for the Sugar documentary short. Bob Mould’s memoir that he co-authored was obviously a template for us, and Our Band Could Be Your Life is one of the greatest books about music ever.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I'm going to interview the acclaimed composer Tyondai Braxton about his excellent new album _Splayed Werks_ (out Friday on the venerable Erased Tapes label) at Record Grouch in Brooklyn on Thursday, August 20th. Stop by if you're in town!

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I have now sufficiently come down from last night's show and, unclouded by euphoria, can confidently state that Deerhoof is the greatest rock band on the planet and has been so for many years.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Questlove says he's maybe going to do a tribute band with acclaimed jazz bassist Christian McBride, playing "the worst of James Brown," and I am here for it.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This month is the 25th anniversary of my book _Our Band Could Be Your Life_. Fewer than 1% of all books remain in print that long. People still come up and tell me how it inspired them. It's been translated into several languages. The moral of the story: if you have a good idea, make it happen.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I did a lower-level stack about how revelatory a cover can be — not about the song but about the musician who's doing the cover. Featuring: No Wave band DNA, blues legend Willie Dixon, Dirty Projectors and Nirvana.

michaelazerrad.substack.com

When Covers Reveal True Colors

On how revelatory it can be when a musician plays someone else's song

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Some singers just have something in their voice that conveys far more than mere notes and words. One of them is Jenn Wasner (Flock of Dimes, Wye Oak). Here's her lovely new thought-provoking and timely song about gratitude and empathy. Produced by the brilliant Nick Sanborn (Sylvan Esso).

patreon.com

DEMO: "Lucky" | Jenn Wasner

The song is called Lucky. Caveat—it’s really an unmixed demo, and all demo rules apply. I did it in one afternoon with my dear pal Nick “San

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I present to you one of the most stankface-inducing riffs of all time. My college roommate and I used to blast this — until one day, we cranked it up as high as we dared and the speakers shook apart and opened up like blooming flowers.

youtube.com

Earthquake

YouTube video by Larry Graham & Graham Central Station - Topic

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

People, today is a very special day. Not only is it the birthday of Taco, who gave us his immortal 1982 global hit synth-pop version of Irving Berlin's "Puttin' on the Ritz," but it is a Tuesday. And there won't be another true Taco Tuesday until 2031, so celebrate accordingly.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

RIP Dave Kendall, who brought a lot of great underground music to the masses with the late-'80s MTV show _120 Minutes_. Dave was a very smart guy, a longtime vegan and environmental advocate (the three things were interrelated) and a resident of Bali, and I'm sad that he's gone.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I'll take "Amazing and Surreal Career Highlights" for $800, Alex! On Friday night, one of my books was an answer on @jeopardyofficial.bsky.social!

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I would just like to note that the person who recently presented Ringo Starr with his honorary doctorate in music from the University of Liverpool is named Wendy Beetlestone.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

New Orleans brass band jazz is like luggage with stickers on it from all the places it's been — it adds more and more sounds as it travels through time. Last night in Battery Park, the Rebirth Brass Band joyously stuck Miles Davis, James Brown, P-Funk, TLC and more on a funky Dixieland suitcase.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

“France still hasn’t found what they’re looking for,” says the World Cup commentator after a save by a player named Bono.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Maybe my fellow post-punk buffs would like to read a Substack I wrote about Devo's anthem for the UK's legendary Stiff Records label that they didn't actually write for the UK's legendary Stiff Records label.

michaelazerrad.substack.com

"Be Stiff": Devo's Accidental Anthem

The story of Stiff Records' herky-jerky theme song

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Imagine a single that sampled Drake, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Lady Gaga — without permission — and then hit #3 and went platinum. That's right, you're imagining the mother of all lawsuits. But you're also imagining something that pretty much already happened — in 1956.

michaelazerrad.substack.com

Dickie Goodman, Goofball Pioneer of Postmodernism

How novelty record king Dickie Goodman kind of invented sampling

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Hurray for @franznicolay.bsky.social, one of the most astute and eloquent voices in the music business, not to mention an excellent author and longtime Hold Steady keyboardist, for testifying before Congress about the Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly.

youtube.com

How the Live Nation – Ticketmaster Settlement Threatens Antitrust Enforcement

YouTube video by House Committee on the Judiciary

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

For those who asked, here's what I played for my DJ set at the sold-out opening show of Sugar's reunion tour, May 2nd 2026, at Webster Hall in NYC. And good grief, what a ferocious, intense show they played. Catch it if you can.

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Reposted by Michael Azerrad

SUGAR @sugarcopperblue.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Guest DJs! Saturday: Legendary author Michael Azerrad. Sunday: NYC radio luminary Eric Holland. Monday: Friend of SUGAR, David Cross.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

I am what I play: I'm so honored and excited to DJ opening night of @sugarcopperblue.bsky.social's reunion tour Saturday night at Webster Hall in NYC. No laser show but I may occasionally nod my head meaningfully.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Mark E. Smith once said, "If it's me and your granny on bongos, it's the Fall." And if it's David Longstreth on piano with a drummer and stand-up bassist, it's Dirty Projectors. Beautiful set last night at Public Records in, of course, a radically new direction.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

They looked like a cross between Marlon Brando in _The Wild One_ and the Beatles if they'd been in reform school. They sounded like a girl group played through a V8 engine. The Ramones blew our teenaged minds. Their first album came out 50 years ago today.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Bands like Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, and Dinosaur Jr stoked the fire that's always in Bob Mould's belly, and he outdid himself: Sugar's _Copper Blue_ is a Perfect Album, one of the truly great records of the alt-rock era. Sugar reunion tour this spring. It'll be great to hear those songs live.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

_It's Trad Dad!_ (1962) was just supposed to be a fluffy teen jukebox movie but director Richard Lester (who would go on to make _A Hard Day's Night_ with the Beatles) made a wildly innovative — and politically loaded — oddball gem. It's the subject of my latest Underpile.

open.substack.com

It's Trad, Dad!

Richard Lester's visionary, subversive étude for A Hard Day's Night

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook to the BBC on the basic message of punk: "If you don't like what's going on and you're not happy with it, just get out there and have a go and do something yourself — and if you don't make it, you tried."

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Maybe the Angine de Poitrine phenomenon (6.2 million Youtube views!) is like the Beatles after the JFK assassination — a life raft of brilliant joy and fun in the midst of an ocean of despair and darkness.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

I try to ignore this stuff but there's a new round of the perennial "Kurt was murdered" meme. It's just wrong. He tried it twice before he succeeded. Here's a painful passage from my book _The Amplified Come as You Are_ that sheds additional light.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Looks like Anderson Cooper is going for a _Nightfly_ vibe.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

"A lot of times I actually don’t know what I think about something until I start writing about it." — Kim Gordon, _The Guardian_, March 19, 2026

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Tōth's new _And the Voice Said_ is wall-to-wall great songs: beautiful melodies, lyrics that touch on things one has felt but never been able to articulate, cool parts that you can’t believe how perfect they are. I played it four times today. It’s on my best of 2026 list.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

My old friend, the excellent singer-songwiter Paul Foglino, wrote a song called "Our Band Could Be Your Life." He got the title from my book, which got its title from the Minutemen, but it's not about either one — it's about being in a band.

youtube.com

Our Band Could Be Your Life

YouTube video by Paul Foglino

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Sometimes, I look on my CD shelves for something to play and I think to myself, "Nah, that's too good to play right now." Which is so dumb. n.p.: John Cale — _Paris 1919_ #yolo

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Exo-Tech is a semi-rotating all-star NYC band. One plants a kernel of music, the rest explode it into a spontaneous composition — nocturnal tropicalia, misty watercolor ballads, full-on Miles ‘70 etc. Last night's spellbinding show channeled the zeitgeist with fury, contemplation and joy.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Just heard "Elected" in the supermarket (!) and was reminded that, for teens of my generation, it was but a short leap from Alice Cooper to the Sex Pistols.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Au revoir, Eliane Radigue. If you ever want to have a peak (musical) experience, start playing her three-hour _Trilogie de la Mort_ maybe an hour before dusk and just look out the window, preferably with a view of the sky.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

It's Kurt Cobain's birthday today — he would have been 59. Here's something I wrote about his deep connection with Lead Belly, and why I think of Kurt as a high-flying goose.

open.substack.com

Kurt Cobain, Lead Belly and "Grey Goose"

The greatest song that Cobain never sang

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

A very happy 55th birthday to one of the more perfect albums, Carole King's _Tapestry_. Such great songs, such impeccable musicianship. And what a fitting title for a collection of music that's woven itself so deeply into the fabric of popular music.

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Michael Azerrad @michaelazerrad.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Congratulations to Nardwuar, one of the greatest popular music journalists ever, on receiving one of Canada's highest honors, an appointment to the Order of Canada.

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Reposted by Michael Azerrad

Jonathan @jwaldrop.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Not sure how long I would’ve gone not knowing about Minutemen if not for OBCBYL. And for sure it’s the only reason I ventured outside of “Pepper” with Butthole Surfers. Just an unbelievably well-written, fun book!

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