Beastie Boys’ Licensed To Ill turns 25

In hindsight Licensed To Ill — released November 15, 1986 — came to the table with a virtually infallible recipe: Rick Rubin produced the seminal radio-friendly rap album and Russell Simmons had not only signed Beastie Boys to a then baby Def Jam, but was also managing the three white…

New Order’s Movement turns thirty this Sunday

The debut album from New Order, 1981’s Movement (which sees its 30th anniversary this Sunday, November 13, 2011), represents a turning point and a crossroads for the former members of the cult band Joy Division. Most bands do not survive the loss (or in this case, death) of a core…

My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless is twenty

The subject of great scrutiny, misinformation and mythologizing, My Bloody Valentine’s massively influential album Loveless (released on November 5, 1991) is an enigmatic masterpiece to those who have embraced its kaleidoscopic soundscapes, and a self-indulgent landmark of alternative rock to those who begrudgingly give its eleven tracks their proper due…