Michael's Top 40

When I turned 21, I remember thinking, "I don't feel 21; I feel like I'm somewhere between 14 and 28." At the time this is published,...

Here's one thing I remember very clearly about the 2000s: George W. Bush was not a good president. He surrounded himself with lying...

In 2006, the conservative magazine The National Review published a tongue-in-cheek list of its top 50 rock songs, and predictably, the...

There really is no rationalization behind music genres. Classifying songs in different genres can often be tedious and possibly...

So yeah, these fucking guys. Look, I don't believe you should apologize for liking a song or an artist when you did. And I don't think...

I honestly believe that everyone has at least one novel inside of them. Few people are able to get it out into the world. Fewer still...

Emo is not supposed to be happy. It's not on brand for an artist categorized as emo to sing about how great everything is. They're...

DATE WEEKS October 4, 2003 2 There's a scene in "The Angels Take Manhattan", a 2012 episode of Doctor Who , where The Doctor rips out the...

Cover songs are a risky proposition for any artist, especially one that's relatively unknown. That's usually why they're relegated to...

Calling a love song "The Scientist" feels counter-intuitive. It's like writing a song about cars and calling it "The Pedestrian". Love...

I don't know how I'm going to write this one. That's the thought that keeps crossing my mind for this column. Because this was...

Anyone who struggles with their mental health knows that the distinction between crazy and unwell can be razor-thin. I know how fucking...

What was it about some of my favorite early-2000s bands where their lead singers turned out to be raging assholes? Why are they such...

DATE WEEKS May 24, 2003 4 How we handle failure often defines us more than how we handle success. No one goes undefeated in life. In my...

DATE WEEKS May 10, 2003 2 Looking back at some of the songs I loved when I was in high school, I think it's fascinating how few of them...

DATE WEEKS March 22, 2003 7 There's a very small number of songs that I can remember where I was the first time I heard them. "Bring Me...

DATE WEEKS March 15, 2003 1 A song about a lesbian relationship becoming a hit in the United States at a time when gay marriage still...

What really makes a song a classic? I guess that's one of the questions this column in general tries to answer. Because different...

DATE WEEKS January 18, 2003 6 Here's the thing about a band like the Red Hot Chili Peppers having such a long and sustained career: you...

DATE WEEKS January 4, 2003 1 A familiar refrain among some music fans in the early 21st century was that they just wanted the artists to...