The proverbial “they” said it couldn’t be done, but with these words, The Bad Penny has reached its thousandth post since launching way back in 1862 (the same year rock ‘n’ roll was invented!). In celebration of what is still a smaller number than the grand total of songs released by Guided by Voices (no, we didn’t do the math, but are you gonna challenge that assumption?), here are the top 10 most popular posts in the modest history of this website:
Continue reading1. Imogen Heap‘s “I AM __.”
2. Slowthrust‘s “Midnight Slay”
3. Infinity Dream‘s “Lost Embrace”
4. Ratboys‘ “Light Night Mountains All That”
It’s not uncommon for an actor to form or join a band – after all, it takes a certain gene to drive a person to be at the center of attention as much as they possibly can. But this past summer, when we caught up with vocalist Robbie Smith of sasscore squad Heavy Heavy Low Low, we learned that the inverse isn’t necessarily as common.
Sure, he enjoys fronting the band from San Jose, California, and writing and recording their songs – which are so unhinged and berserk that even Guantanamo Bay couldn’t restrain or temper them. Nonetheless, Smith also enjoys stepping away from the physical intensity of the band’s concerts to focus on an artistic endeavor he may value even more than crafting music: filmmaking.
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[This article was originally published on IndiePit in 2010.]
Punks don’t make the likeliest businessmen, for obvious reasons. Capitalism and punk aren’t exactly synonymous – in fact, by definition, they’re more or less contradictory.
But funny things happen in a time of crisis.
These days, more bands are taking more matters into their own hands, whether it be issuing their own material (like Clutch), producing their own records and/or shooting their own videos. But while this trend has mostly arisen out of necessity – the mother of invention, as the saying goes – self-empowerment has historically been a brass ring of sorts for bands adamant about maintaining control over their artistic output. Now they’re managing to find an opportunity in crisis: complete creative control.
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Albums by SWRM, Zabus, Spaceface, Insomniac, Go Kurosawa, Late Again, Nate Smith and Orsak:Oslo made the cut on my list of great, overlooked psychedelic albums released in summer 2025, in my first quarterly column on the genre for Treble.
Consider the following:
1. Michael “Pras” Michel, one-third of the Fugees, was convicted in April 2023 on 10 counts related to falsifying business records. Donald Trump was convicted in May 2024 on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
2. Syd Barrett, guitarist and co-founder of Pink Floyd, allegedly took LSD every morning and locked his girlfriend in a room for three days. Donald is allegedly sending individuals who may or may not be documented U.S. citizens to gulags in El Salvador and is publicly urging Americans to not take Tylenol.
3. Keith Moon, drummer of The Who, admitted to accidentally running over his friend and bodyguard with his car. Moon, who was allegedly drunk at the time of the incident, publicly apologized for the tragedy. Donald Trump proudly and remorselessly declared that he “could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
Continue readingWe hear ya here at The Bad Penny: We cover too much metal, not enough metal, etc. One common denominator across all genres is that artists are capable of creating captivating, innovative, original, hilarious and harrowing music videos regardless of genre. With that in mind, here are the clips we enjoyed the most in the month of September, two thousand whatever.
1. Peter McPoland’s “Last Looks”
The Bad Penny (beta) 