Columns and Opinions

This July saw the death of an absolute legend, João Gilberto — Brazilian singer, songwriter, guitarist and pioneer of an entire music genre. In honor of him, I hope to make the Berkeley student body more aw...

Peter Edward Baker, better known as Ginger Baker, passed away on October 6, 2019 at age 80.  The drummer, known most for his membership in late 60s psychedelic band Cream, had been suffering from health iss...

Regardless of someone’s degree of Beatles fandom, a look at the cover of their final recording reveals a deeper familiarity with the world culture overall. Abbey Road, 1969’s greatest contribution to music,...

When Paloma Macias walks into a room, she is hard to miss. She struts in, clad in a faux fur coat and bright pink hair as if straight out of a Doors song. She’ll introduce herself as if she’s famous, and li...

Cupcakke, the beloved female rapper known for making sexually explicit songs, unafraid to be herself in music and on social media, was recently silenced by YouTube, as her latest song, "Squidward's Nose," does ...

All my life I have been fascinated by the Soviet Union's history mainly because my parents were growing up as it was unfolding. I’ve sought out various mediums of art — documentaries, films, and photographs...

Growing up as a closeted indie kid means I’ve spent many nights being dramatic and crying to Bright Eyes and Elliott Smith, stressing out about some high school dramas that I was convinced would last forever ...

Up-and-coming NorCal-based indie rock band Carpool Tunnel don’t like to think of themselves as conventional. Instead, they describe themselves on Spotify as “an idea of what it means to be human, and to sha...

I have never connected with electronic dance music. The beats overwhelm me, the melodies bore me, the unpleasantly pleasant mood irritates me, and the buildups, particularly the ones with vortical reverberation...

Debut albums usually take one of two forms — a stepping stone in the development of an artist, or a creative stroke of genius that is impossible to follow up. Chicago’s debut Chicago Transit Authority is un...

If I were to list off my favorite bands based solely on their onstage antics, gimmicks, and overall performance of hijinks, Negativland would easily be in my top three. In 1991 they released their EP U2, contai...

 The editorial team of The B-Side has been working on a new column idea: a journal-wide collaboration to let readers know more about us and why we love music. For this week, I posed the all-telling question ...

The Velvet Underground was an American rock band from New York City consisting of singer Lou Reed, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Moe Tucker. The band was notably managed by pop artist Andy Warhol for...

First thing you need to know — we are not ravers. As much as we like to think of ourselves with “diverse music tastes,” it seems to generally hover around the “My mom used to play me Led Zeppelin a...

“I’m on Fire” by Bruce Springsteen is quite frankly the sexiest song ever written, and if you don't agree I fundamentally don’t understand you. Bruce Springsteen has, as long as I can remember, remained...