10 Albums That Were Grunge Before GrungeNirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden didn't invent grunge — they perfected it. These 10 albums, from 1968 to 1984, built every sludgy riff, raw production choice, and punk attitude that Seattle made famous.

Musical Longevity From a Semi-Pro MusicianI’ve been a bassist since the mid-1980s, mostly at a semi-professional level (i.e., earning money but not making a living from music). I’ve toured across multiple continents, recorded in world-class studios, and realized many of my adolescent dreams. Since arriving in L.A. in 2000, I’ve also been a music journalist. On occasions, I’ve acted as manager, booking agent, and/or publicist for my bands, so I have experienced many facets of the industry.

At age 52, with an all-original band (I’ve never done the cover/tribute thing), I signed to a prominent indie label, and we released an album regarded as a genre classic. My most recent gig, at age 59, was a rapturous sold-out show in Mexico City last month, with all the trimmings. My playing is better than ever; I’ve never enjoyed it more; and most of my friends are former bandmates.

Accordingly, my strictly subjective tips below are aimed at those seeking longevity—and maximum joy—as a semi-pro musician playing original music rather than someone wanting to “make it big” or survive as a session or tribute player (though these ambitions can certainly overlap).

Know Your Craft

In a business which places heavy emphasis on “who you know,” networking can start taking priority over actual musicianship. Unless you have absolute rock star talent/looks/charisma, this is a mistake. Think of practice (with a metronome!) and lessons as investments in future fun, creative satisfaction, and maybe a career. Because, sooner or later, the recording light will come on and you’ll need to deliver. I once read that after age 25, all a musician has to offer is their chops—an exaggeration but grounded in truth. This doesn’t mean you have to be a virtuoso unless the gig explicitly requires it. I’m a competent bassist, nothing more, but often get gigs specifically because I keep things simple, solid, and play for the song. 

Be A Good Hang

A few years ago, we hired a pro drummer for an Australian tour. He explained that, as he put it, “being a good hang” is crucial to working consistently in the music business. Because, with countless great players to choose from, especially here in L.A., artists are looking for those who’ll also be fun (or at least amiable) when sandwiched together in a van, studio/rehearsal space, or shared hotel room. Most music making will involve one or more of these situations, so “playing well with others” applies on and off stage. (I once heard of a fantastic guitarist who was fired mid-tour because he kept masturbating on the bus and would hog all the fruit on backstage riders!)

Prepare

“Practice for rehearsal, not at rehearsal,” the old saying goes. No one wants to battle traffic for 45 minutes then stand around in silence at an expensive lockout while one member of the band listens to the material and figures out their parts. Do that stuff at home! Of course, this is infinitely more important when auditioning. Humans are naturally lazy and so are inclined to hire the person who walks in knowing their parts without instruction. For example, I was once asked to learn three songs from an album before auditioning for a signed singer. I learned the entire record. We played it front to back at the audition and, while the last notes were still ringing out, the drummer declared, “Right—let’s books some shows.” A year of fantastic international touring followed.

Get a Flexible Job 

Making music the only thing you do doesn’t make you a musician. Because for most of us, being unemployed will only make you a liability to a band: unable to maintain a reliable vehicle or gear and too broke to contribute to rehearsal/recording costs. Plus, it’s hard to practice if you’re living in your car in a CVS parking lot (I knew a drummer who did just that). So, a day job should be embraced as an intrinsic part of being a semi-pro musician rather than resented as a detriment to that pursuit. Flexibility is key: a job or business that will allow you time off to tour. This is precisely why, when I realized I had appropriate ability, I worked feverishly to build a freelance writing career. And if that job can be complementary to your musical dreams, all the better (I’ve learned so much from interviewing rock stars that applies to my own musical efforts).

Get Out There

In an ideal world, we’d all form our dream band with our best mates at high school and spend adulthood touring the world together. In reality, most musicians are making creative compromises most of the time. But it’s important to stay out there playing rather than just sitting at home scouring Craig’s List and waiting for the perfect opportunity. Even if it’s not entirely your style, joining a band will develop your chops and put you around other musicians with whom, or through whom, more apt situations can evolve. If you can really play and are the aforementioned “good hang,” word-of-mouth often does the rest. But you need to be “in the shop window,” demonstrating what you can do. This doesn’t mean a hardcore punker joining a Barry Manilow tribute act—seek out situations that check at least some of your boxes but be ready to be flexible.

Be A Team Player

This should go without saying but is depressingly common. Don’t be that band member who insists on being loudest in the mix or on rehearsals being scheduled/rescheduled around their whims. Musicians exhibit diverse motivations for playing in bands and, counterintuitively, these sometimes don’t include simply contributing to making the best sound possible. I’ve met folks who’ll join a band mostly so they can live rent-free in its lockout or who are lonely and simply seeking a captive audience. Be a team player and seek out team players, because music is almost always a collective endeavor. This will not only yield better creative outcomes but will also make the process way more enjoyable. Because making music, even in the darkest and angriest genres, is supposed to be fun.The post Musical Longevity From a Semi-Pro Musician first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

The Last Time All 7 BTS Members Were Onstage Together — And What They Said Would Never Happen AgainIn October 2022, BTS performed together as seven members for what fans believed was the last time. Over 50,000 attended in Busan. Tens of millions watched online. Most of them were in tears.

New Music Critique of MOMARZContact: momarz1842@gmail.comWeb: instagram.com/momarz99Seeking: Review, Label, Film/TVStyle: Electronic

The term “electronic music” can mean almost anything nowadays. Most producers, certainly in pop and hip-hop but elsewhere too, incorporate electronic elements. According to his online bio, MOMARZ “centers his music on piano-rooted melodies, hypnotic percussion sequences, and instrumentals.” That makes for a sound which comfortably blends a warm, nostalgic electronic sound, with something still quite futuristic. “Signals” could score a moody scene in an indie movie effectively, while “Party Moves” is reminiscent of club anthems from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. All of which is a good thing.The post New Music Critique of MOMARZ first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Sony Music Publishing wins Publisher of the Year at 2026 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul AwardsSMP songwriters were recognized across 27 of ASCAP's top-performing R&B, hip-hop and gospel songs of the past year.
Source

AllMus‍ic Pi‌cks the 10 Gr​ea‌test Alb‌um O‌peners of the '70sThe 1970s treated the album opener as a statement of purpose. AllMusic ranks the 10 greatest — from the Ramones' two-minute punk explosion to Led Zeppelin's 10-minute prog epic.

Foreign Body Signs with Brutal PandaDate Signed: March 2026Label: Brutal PandaType of Music: Noise-Rock, PunkManagement: bob@brutalpandarecords.comBooking: bob@brutalpandarecords.comPublicity: dave@earsplitcompound.com A&R: bob@brutalpandarecords.comWeb: instagram.com/foreignbody_nyc

The members of Brooklyn-based grimy noise-rockers Foreign Body have been knocking around in different bands for the best part of a decade, often crossing paths during their college years. That’s where they met—at school in New York—and the idea of forming a band together took shape during COVID. Foreign Body was born.

“We wanted to try playing a style of music we felt not many other bands were approaching in a meaningful way,” they say.

They certainly achieved that. The music of Foreign Body is devastatingly ferocious and, dig beyond the uncompromising brutality, it’s also razor sharp and intelligent.

“We are a noise rock band that prioritizes aggression and immediacy,” they say. “Our influences lean towards the heavier, noisier, side of the genre. We have no use for Sonic Youth. When we first started playing there was a more overt post punk sound but that has been thoroughly rooted out over time. Now our sound is closer to orthodox blue collar noise rock bands like Flipper or even some power electronics than something like Unwound. In trimming a lot of the whiny moodiness, our sound has become more unified and intense in the process.”

Earlier this year, Foreign Body signed to Brutal Panda, known for its consistently excellent roster, and released the “Strung Out” single.

“It came about through word-of-mouth from our friends in Couch Slut who passed along the album to the team there,” they say. “Given the label’s roster, especially with bands like Cherubs, who we’ve always held as one of the best of our contemporaries, we thought it was a natural fit. Everyone at the label has been supportive of our music, art, and ideas for the release.”

The guys say that the “Strung Out” single is both the opening track of and the best distillation of their forthcoming full-length album.

“Despite being the first track, it was ultimately one of the last songs we wrote for the album, as we thought it needed something that felt more like a kick in the teeth to start,” they say. “We began working on the album almost immediately after our first album Fixed and in a lot of ways addressed the shortcomings of that record. The sound is simultaneously more dynamic and noisier while throwing in a couple of curveballs which we won’t spoil. Thematically it progresses naturally from themes present in the first—fantasy, vices, and a race to the bottom—while also diving further into subjectivity and a more profound sense of disgust.”The post Foreign Body Signs with Brutal Panda first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Diljit Dosanjh breaks his own record for biggest North American tour by a Punjabi artist with $32M Aura runLive Nation-promoted run sold more than 225,000 tickets, according to the concert giant.
Source

The Story Behind Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" — The Idea Everyone Rejected FirstMax Martin wrote it half-asleep. TLC passed. The label wanted animation. Then 16-year-old Britney Spears had a better idea than everyone in the room — and "Baby One More Time" changed pop music forever.

Deezer’s new in-app remix feature lets users speed up and modify tracks by Céline Dion and other artists ‘with full rights compliance’Deezer says every remix is created with the explicit agreement of the artist, and that streams of remixed versions are attributed to the original work
Source

Assignments: Chris RogersonArtistic Director

The Bravo! Vail Music Festival

The Bravo! Vail Music Festival (Bravo! Vail) has announced composer Chris Rogerson as its next Artistic Director. Rogerson assumes the Artistic Director Designate role immediately and the Artistic Director title on September 1, 2026, for an initial three-year term. “Bravo! Vail represents the highest level of music-making in an incomparable natural setting. From its founding in 1987, it has served as a beacon of artistic integrity and a place of limitless artistic possibility,” said Rogerson.

For more, contact powens@bravovail.org.The post Assignments: Chris Rogerson first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

AllMusic Rated These 5 Whitney Houston Albums — And Clive Davis Would AgreeClive Davis signed Whitney Houston at 19 and shaped every major album of her career. Following his death on June 22, 2026, AllMusic rates 5 Whitney Houston albums that earned top-tier acclaim and which Davis himself would likely recognize as key chapters in a carefully built legacy

FILM - TV - THEATER - GAMES: PROPS AND OPPS FOR JUNE '26PROPS

Mega Ran, the GRAMMY-nominated rapper and educator known for pioneering nerdcore hip-hop and bringing the worlds of videogames and music closer together, returned to Morocco for a second national tour this spring. He was joined by rapper and gaming culture innovator Richie Branson, for a cross-country tour that brought the duo’s unique blend of hip-hop and video game culture to 12 cities. Through a partnership with the American Cultural Association and the American Language Centers, the tour was able to engage students and adults through live shows, workshops, and creative sessions focused on hip-hop fundamentals and game design for beginners. Together, the artists are using music and gaming as vehicles for storytelling, creative expression, and cross-cultural connection. Contact Jeff Moses at management@megaran.com for more information.

A live audience recording of Experiencing the Dream: MLK the Musical recently took place this spring at Greater Emmanuel Temple in Lynwood, California. Written by Kesha L. Ealy and co-written and composed by Marcus S. Mason, the 26-song production featured a 27-piece orchestra and explored the less-public side of the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King from their courtship through the civil rights movement. Rather than focusing solely on King's legacy, the musical takes a look at the fear, love, and personal sacrifice in his private life, inviting audiences to see his story as an unfinished, living call to purpose. For more information, contact Tim Choy at t.choy@dcpublicity.com.

Five-time Emmy-winning composer Jeff Beal brought a newly imagined score for Fritz Lang's landmark 1927 silent film Metropolis to the stage at the Karlín Musical Theatre in Prague this past April. Conducting the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in a live-to-picture performance, Beal wove electronic sound design into the orchestral presentation to create a fully immersive experience for the audience. The event served as a highlight of the 5th Edition of Composers Summit Prague, an international gathering of leading film, television, and video game music composers. Beal drew on the film's themes of wealth inequality, artificial intelligence, and humanity's relationship with technology to connect Lang's vision to the modern age. For further details, contact Rebekah Alperin at ralperin@costacomm.com.

Orchestral Soundtracks, a San Diego-based community orchestra devoted to video game and anime music, teamed up with Scarlet Moon recently to present their free 2026 Spring Concert at Canyon Crest Academy. Founded in 2023 by volunteer musicians from across San Diego County, the group offered free admission on a first-come, first-served basis. The program featured arrangements drawn from popular titles and series including Xenoblade Chronicles, Genshin Impact, Frieren, Arcane and Beastars, among others. San Diego game music labels Scarlet Moon Records and Streaming Arrow Records also participated in the event. The orchestra was created by musicians with a shared passion for soundtrack music and a desire to keep performing together after college. Contact Jayson Napolitano at jayson@scarletmoonpromotions.com for further details.

OPPS

July 30 is the deadline to submit your work (the registration deadline is July 24) to the Indie Film Music Contest, a competition that focuses on musical storytelling without giving consideration to sound quality, so beginners have a fair chance. The winner will be announced September 18. This international competition is open to amateur composers of all ages who will have the chance to get feedback on their work from professionals in the field. Learn more at indiefilmmusiccontest.com.

Though applications for professionals are closed, pre-professional dancers can still video audition until June 15 for the Laguna Dance Summer Stage Festival, August 7-9. Video submissions will be fully reviewed by the Laguna Dance Artistic Team and stand an equal chance as live auditions. Laguna Dance is a nonprofit arts organization that offers world-class dance performances across theaters, film, and public spaces. Apply at lagunadance.org/about.

The Small Plates Choreography Festival, open to both emerging and seasoned choreographers, will accept applications until August 1. The November 13 and 14 event in New York entails a series of two curated dance performances with facilitated dialogue between the artists and audience. Learn more about this unique festival and how to apply by visiting smallplatesdance.com/performances/nyc.

The post FILM - TV - THEATER - GAMES: PROPS AND OPPS FOR JUNE '26 first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

UMG’s Bravado targets A$AP Rocky merch bootleggers on ‘Don’t Be Dumb’ tour with trademark suit, seizure orderA trademark infringement complaint was filed on Thursday June 11
Source

The Rolling Stones Song Keith Richards Wrote in His Sleep — and Almost Refused to ReleaseKeith Richards woke up with no memory of writing it. He thought it was a joke. Then his manager released it without telling him — and he heard it on the radio in Omaha. The story behind "Satisfaction."