Bryan Wawzenek is a freelance journalist who writes for Diffuser.fm and Ultimate Classic Rock. He learned more from a three-minute record than he ever learned in school. His mind is racing, as it always will. Don't start him talking, he could talk all night. The sunshine bores the daylights out of him. Don't touch him, he's a real live wire. Most things he worries about never happen anyway. But he's been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come.
Bryan Wawzenek
40 Years Ago: The Jam Show Growth, Still Slump With ‘This Is the Modern World’
Only a few months after releasing their debut LP, the Jam were back in the studio making the follow-up, which encountered a dour reaction in November 1977.
How Paul Simon’s ‘Songs From the Capeman’ Became Such a Failure
He may have put more effort into this Broadway musical than any other project in his long career.
15 Years Ago: Pearl Jam Reads the ‘Riot Act’
On the band's seventh studio album, Pearl Jam mixed melodic rockers with experimental sounds while dealing with tragedy.
In Defense of… R.E.M.’s ‘Shiny Happy People’
For years, R.E.M. has been dragged through the M.U.D. over this pop hit. We defend the song's place in the band's rich catalog.
Up Where They Belong?: How Rockers Transitioned to Adult Contemporary
The phrase “Adult Contemporary” might as well be an epithet to rock fans.
How Lou Reed Became a Top 40 Star With ‘Transformer’
If few consider this his masterpiece, it still appears in conversations of the best rock albums ever made.
35 Years Ago: Siouxsie and the Banshees Pull a Classic Out of Chaos With ‘A Kiss in the Dreamhouse’
The Banshees endured management problems, experimented in the studio and did plenty of drugs on the way to making 1982's 'A Kiss in the Dreamhouse.'
When Bob Dylan Unplugged for ‘Good as I Been to You’
When the creative river ran dry, he retreated to the well.
30 Years Ago: Sinéad O’Connor Channels Rage Into Her Debut Album, ‘The Lion and the Cobra’
As a young woman, Sinéad O’Connor was running towards a career in music as much as she was running away. She wrote, recorded and produced her debut LP in 1987.
How Steely Dan’s Darkly Humorous Debut ‘Can’t Buy a Thrill’ Finally Got Made
For a time, no one seemed to like the band's tunes as much as their creators.