The Secret History of Rock 'n Roll

2026-08-19

Insanely Great 90s Songs You're Not Sick of: 1996

Oh, 1996; you saucy minx of a year...

Forgotten Nineties: Catherine Wheel, on Their Way Down

Shoegaze gurus Catherine Wheel hopped aboard the grunge-lite red-eye with their 1995 single, "Way Down." The song's commerciality puzzled their original fan base, but I still think this single and video are '90s highlights.

The tune and the album it was taken from (Happy Days) were clearly designed to "break America." But even though "Way Down" and the album's other single, "Judy Staring at the Sun," hit the upper reaches of the modern rock charts, the album itself petered out at a paltry #163 on the Billboard Top 200.

That said, do note that Catherine Wheel singer Rob Dickinson is the cousin of Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, who was also the writer and producer of Chemical Wedding, a sci-fi horror film about a scientist looking to resurrect the Great Beast 666 Aleister Crowley.

BONUS NOSTALGIA: I used to wonder if Chris Carter saw the "Way Down" video and used it as inspiration for the Mythology two-parter Tempus Fugit/Max.

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2026-08-10

How Bill Clinton and His Cronies Killed Popular Music

So many of the seeds of popular culture's demise were planted in the Nineties, and Paul Chato walks you through the poisoned fruit of one of those evil blossoms.

2026-08-06

Name and Shame the Rock and Roll Destroyers.

Hearing a lot of talk confirming what those in the know realized a long time ago: rock and roll was deliberately murdered by Globo-Corporate meddlers and replaced with paint-by-numbers moron-music designed to reduce its audience to useless-eater status.

The Day "Jeremy" Swam to the Siren

Trevor Wilson, best known to the world as “Jeremy” in the award-winning music video directed by Mark Pellington for grunge superstars Pearl Jam, drowned while swimming at a Puerto Rican beach notorious for its dangerous riptides, ten years ago today.

The Crossing in the Year That Broke Reality

Today marks the 42nd anniversary of the release of The Crossing, an album that didn't come to my attention until late September of that momentous year. Still and all, it came to rule my autumn of 1983, so much so that I had a little ritual where I'd give it a spin every year whenever the first chill of fall set in.

Oh, I Got Your Secret History Right Here, Pal.

It felt good to dive back into this topic. Come on in, the water's fine.

2026-07-16

Should I Strange or Should I Go?

Today is the 10th anniversary of the premiere of the first series of Stranger Things. By that I mean the real Stranger Things - the only Stranger Things - not the clownish cartoons that wore the name and trappings of it like a skinsuit.

The Great Eighties Playlist Project in Now Complete.

Well, it seemed to take forever but I'm finally finished with my Eighties playlist project. These things take time, OK? Perfection can't be hurried.

1987 Alternative Rock Top 40

1987 was a turning point for Eighties rock: Boomercentric classic rock was starting to fade again after getting a big corporate push in the mid-Eighties, GenX metal and alternative rock were on the ascendancy, and the Top 40 was rapidly losing the luster it had just three years prior.

Talking Synchronicity (and the Year That Broke Reality)

Secret Sun Radio Mystery Hour: You Will Know Synchronicity by Christopher Knowles

How 1983's blockbuster album helped break reality.

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2026-06-18

Opening Presence (Led Zeppelin's Presence, That Is)

Presence is an album a lot of Led Zeppelin fans don’t own, and even a lot of those that do don’t listen to it very often.

The Siren In the Stars: Jeff Buckley's Birth Chart...and more.

Siren Week was so active this time around that it's bleeding over into this week. So much so that our man Karl is on the case with the birth charts of the Shepherd Boy and other major players.

Hell Hath No Fury (Like a Madonna Scorned)

Seeing as she has been such a primary vector and conduit for metaphysical evil and cultural degeneracy for the past forty years, it's no surprise that Madonna would play a role in the mythopoetic magical mystery play of the Siren.

Eatin' to the Eighties: Your Summer Party Megamix has Arrived

From the cities to the suburbs to the countryside, I hear the people shout it out everywhere I go: "The Twenty-First Century sucks - how can we go back to the Eighties?"