Tom Petty occupies a strange place in our collective psyche. Because of his notable collaborations with respected rock elders like Bob Dylan, George Harrison and the late Del Shannon, we tend to view him as a rookie instead of the 20-year veteran that he is. When he and the Heartbreakers…

Democracy’s a funny thing. It can define civilizations. It can liberate minds and unleash souls. It can prompt unending, impenetrable gibberish from bespectacled poli-sci students. And it can kill a rock band. Music groups adhering to egalitarian ideals are breakups waiting to happen. Dictators–benevolent, malevolent and all points in between–seem…

Mike Watt is an easygoing sort. He’s a big, friendly guy with a gruff voice that makes him sound even bigger and friendlier on the phone. At the moment, Watt’s speaking from Los Angeles. The rambling conversation concerns, among other things, Watt’s long career as one of the better-known and…

March 22, 1995 New songs, old songs and a studied sense of slack highlighted a performance by Cake at the Rockin’ Horse last week. Singer John McCrea, a brimmed fishing hat on his head and an undersize acoustic guitar between his arms, looked like a slovenly Jimmy Buffett as he…

Chuck Cleaver of the Ass Ponys has stories to tell. Some of the stories are about himself growing up in a small Ohio town. There’s the one in which Cleaver found a dead body on his way to high school. Cleaver says it was really no big deal. He was…

If 1994 was the Summer of Punk, what gives for 1995? The Spring of Spunk? The Fall of Funk? John Brannon would go for something like the Year of Junk. Brannon’s the lead howler for Detroit’s Laughing Hyenas, a band that incorporates the kind of junky, blues-based mayhem that inspired…

Morrissey World of Morrissey (Sire/Reprise) Back in the Sixties, patchwork albums like Magic Bus: The Who on Tour or the Rolling Stones’ December’s Children and Flowers were the norm. Part rip-off, these collections of B sides and unreleased-in-the-U.S. tracks were often padded with selections already available on other albums without…

Throwing Muses University (Sire) Throwing Muses used to be an easy band to loathe. Chief Muse Kristin Hersh wrote wildly inconsistent songs and sang them with the vocal equivalent of buckshot on broken glass. Rock critics from the indie underground drooled ecstatically over the Muses in part because the noise…

Russell Sepulveda wears a cowboy hat and sings with a twang. His songs leave room for pedal-steel-guitar breaks, and his bands–both of ’em–cover C&W tunes by the likes of Buck Owens and Gram Parsons. Sound like a country boy? Not quite. “Country music today is so far from its roots,”…

Texas singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston’s either a nut or a genius. Singer Kathy McCarty says he’s both, and she should know; McCarty’s seen Johnston battle terrifying cycles of manic depression, replete with periodic stays in mental hospitals. She’s also seen Johnston write and perform some of the most honest and aching…

Alice Tatum Piano (TTC) The only things missing from longtime Valley artist Alice Tatum’s new CD are cocktails and cigarettes; Piano is an exercise in soft, spare, lounge-ready vocal gymnastics. The singer caresses 13 standards, accompanied only by the subtle keyboard work of locals Chuck Marohnic, Charles Lewis, Phil Strange,…

He goes by the name of Mr. Manson. He’s the lead singer of Marilyn Manson, a Florida-based shock-rock act. Mr. Manson has tattoos, piercings, a startling pair of eyes and discolored, misshapen teeth. His songs are rhythmic rants against anything even approaching societal norms. He’ll sometimes perform those songs wearing…

Consider the words of Gary Finneran. Start with one of the better songs on the debut CD by Finneran’s band, Ex-Idols. “I’m insane,” Finneran screams. “And I might not hear you say/`Please don’t kill me/Please don’t kill me anymore.'” The song is titled “I Love You.” Here’s Finneran again, this…

Live Shows Diamanda Gals, and John Paul Jones Gammage Auditorium December 2, 1994 Three hundred years ago, Diamanda Gals would probably have been burned at the stake. Even in these progressive times, she’s managed to upset more than a few folks–mainly religious officials–with her own particular brand of “entertainment.” And…

Bob Mould’s been reading his press again. He’s seen Tower Records’ Pulse! magazine chronicle his history of hassles with record companies. He’s read Musician detail the nasty breakup of his old band, Hsker D. And Rolling Stone did a nice job of exploring Mould’s nontraditional sexual identity (he’s gay) and…

Galen Herod runs into his living room. He’s got a microcassette tape deck with him. Herod smiles, starts waving his arms, dancing to the beat of the scratchy noise. He skips into the front room of the house and taps out the song’s melody on an old, banged-up piano. He…

Dead Hot Workshop River Otis (Seed/Atlantic) You know about Dead Hot Workshop. You’ve heard ’em, you’ve seen ’em. It’s the band most likely to succeed the Gin Blossoms as Tempe’s top pop export. Indeed, many would argue that Dead Hot was the best band on Mill Avenue back before the…

BeauSoleil L’Echo (Forward/Rhino) Cajun music is a curious beast. At times it can make for a glorious jolt to the soul. Other times it can be annoying as hell. BeauSoleil is a bit of both on L’Echo, a collection of old-timey Cajun cover songs. The good stuff is the same…

Tom Jones The Lead and How to Swing It (Interscope) For millions of females over the last several decades, Tom Jones has been a seething, pulsating mass of unbridled sexuality, the consummate stud with a throat of leather. For millions of others, he has been the ultimate camp joke with…

Marsha Genensky’s heard the question before, and she’ll no doubt hear it again. In fact, the leader of Anonymous 4–the chart-topping, all-female medieval choral quartet–is hearing it again right now: Can she possibly explain the continued and apparently limitless success of the Gregorian-chant music made by the monks of Santo…

Laurie Anderson’s latest is more of what she does most. She’s again putting out experimental, highbrow hoo-ha, spewing words in big spaces between beats. Occasionally, she’ll try to force a melody, and it almost works on the almost American gothic “Muddy River,” one of Bright Red’s better cuts. Other times,…