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Don't Blame Katie Couric
Katie's gone, but as the late, great Richard Manuel used to sing with the Band, Katie's been gone for such a long time now. Ever since she took over the CBS Evening News almost five years ago, everybody has been predicting her imminent departure. She was hired to do the completely impossible: breathe new life into the chain-smoking dinosaur that is the network evening news, which coughs up a little blood in your living room every night at 6:30. It was obvious right away that Couric couldn't save the format, but she didn't do anything wrong. It was the job that was screwed up. Read the full story here. | More »April 11, 3:00 PM ET| Rob Sheffield -
Charlie Sheen Rallies on Second Night in NYC
The best part of Charlie Sheen's show last night? If not his whole life? When a fan wandered up to the stage and handed him a backstage laminate for the Rush concert. Charlie was psyched. "I fucking love Rush! Not Rush Limbaugh! Not the sex drug! Rush the band!" It made one wonder: what would Rush make of Charlie Sheen? Does he choose Free Will? Is he an oak or a maple? Is he a wild man standing tall against the CBS Priests of the Temple of Syrinx? Or does he really just want to return to the sitcom limelight, with all its glittering prizes and endless compromises? | More »April 11, 12:39 PM ET| Rob Sheffield -
How Radiohead Keep Everybody Guessing
Radiohead released a CD last week, and nobody really cared. You have to admit, that doesn't happen often. They already released The King of Limbs last month as a digital dump, and got the most baffled reactions of their baffling career. The songs were pretty good — they're Radiohead songs, you know? — but fans were puzzled by how the whole thing felt like a deliberate non-event. After mastering the art of packaging every new album as a major breakthrough, Radiohead made sure nobody would hear this one as any kind of big deal. It's like Abed told Jeff on Community: "Everyone else is growing and changing all the time, and that's not really my jam." | More »April 8, 6:14 PM ET| Rob Sheffield -
LCD Soundsystem Pull Out the Stops for Epic Farewell Show
"This is a very weird experience for us," James Murphy told the crowd. "We hope it will be a very weird experience for everybody." It was. LCD Soundsystem blew out the... | More »April 4, 9:03 AM ET| Rob Sheffield -
The 15 Baseball Songs Better than 'Centerfield'
It's a brand new baseball season, and you know what that means: the roar of the crowd, the smell of popcorn and the sound of yet another stadium DJ cranking up Jo... | More »April 1, 8:15 AM ET| Rob Sheffield -
Steven Tyler, the Savior of 'American Idol'
Oh, Steven Tyler, how could we all have doubted you? As soon as the news broke that the notoriously motormouthed Aerosmith stud was taking over the judges' panel ... | More »March 28, 4:35 PM ET| Rob Sheffield -
Why Rebecca Black is a Demon-Wizard Child Piper
1. It’s only been a week since Rebecca Black became a YouTube sensation with “Friday,” but the song remains full of mysteries. Who is Rebecca Black... | More »March 18, 9:09 AM ET| Rob Sheffield -
Pub-Crawl Playlist
In honor of St. Patrick's Day, let us raise a dirty glass to the spirit of Irish music, wherever in the world it shows up. And like the Irish people themselves, I... | More »March 17, 11:50 AM ET| Rob Sheffield -
Charlie Sheen: As American as Apple Pie
Look, nobody fantasizes about being Charlie Sheen. You wouldn't trade brains with the guy, or kidneys, or crotches, or arrest records. What we fantasize about sha... | More »March 16, 6:00 AM ET| Rob Sheffield -
Carrie Brownstein and Mary Timony's Wild Flag: a Gloriously Shameless Celebration of Rockness
I did a thoroughly wretched job of keeping my expectations low for seeing Wild Flag live, but they still sounded even more amazing than I'd hoped. For "Glass Tamb... | More »March 10, 2:55 PM ET| Rob Sheffield -
Those Terrible Oscars: James Franco May Have Been a Highlight
Come on: James Franco was kind of brilliant last night. He treated the Oscars like his own avant-garde conceptual art project, like the way he went on General Hospital... | More »February 28, 2:46 PM ET| Rob Sheffield -
Exclusive Preview: The Strokes' 'Angles' Track-By-Track
How long have the Strokes been away? The last time they dropped an album, the airwaves were full of “Hollaback Girl” and “Laffy Taffy” and &ldq...; | More »February 24, 4:15 PM ET| Rob Sheffield -
Nicki Minaj's Hair and 11 More Great Grammys Moments
Like Ricky Martin’s pants, the Grammy Awards were full of magic moments. Don’t know how it happened, because doesn’t this show usually suck? Last nig... | More »February 14, 4:27 PM ET| Rob Sheffield -
Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way': Much Better Than 'Express Yourself'
Come on, girls! Do you believe in Madonna? Because Lady Gaga has got something to say about "Express Yourself," and she’s turned Madonna’s fourth-best sing... | More »February 11, 1:32 PM ET| Rob Sheffield
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