Quantcast

Call for Feature Essays About Any Aspect of Popular Culture, Present or Past

John Bergstrom
Image: John Bergstrom
PopMatters Associate Music Editor

John Bergstrom has been writing various reviews and features for PopMatters since 2004. He has been a music fanatic at least since he and a couple friends put together The Rock Group Dictionary in third grade (although he now admits that giving Pat Benatar the title of “first good female rocker” was probably a mistake). He has done freelance writing for Trouser Pressonline, Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express, and the late Milk magazine and website. He currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife and two kids, both of whom are very good dancers.


Features

Friday, November 13 2009

The "Worst" of The Beatles: A Contradiction in Terms?

Certainly not!


Monday, November 24 2008

Various Artists: Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia

You definitely know Motown. You probably know Stax. But it's time to get (re)acquainted with the other big player in the golden age of soul music -- Philly.


Wednesday, November 8 2006

A Sleek, Sporty European Roadster: Reconsidering Depeche Mode

Throughout the 1980s, Depeche Mode built a consistent, hugely-influential body of work. And then they very nearly parodied it. These three luxury reissues tell that story in thrilling fashion.


Thursday, June 29 2006

(Just) Boys from Basildon: The Depeche Mode Reissues

Were the modern rock heroes masters of their own brand of Socratic irony, or were they just what they claimed to be -- fortunate working-class boys? This excellently-packaged set of remasters offers some fascinating clues.


Friday, November 11 2005

The Cut-Out Bin #4: The Psychedelic Furs, Tossed (2000)

Conventional wisdom has it that the Furs failed to recapture the glory of their early sound on this late-career effort. That's true -- they succeeded in creating a different kind of magic altogether.


Reviews

Thursday, February 9 2012

WhoMadeWho: Inside World EP

First single from the Danish indie-dance outfit's forthcoming album is tense and mesmerizing.


Friday, January 20 2012

Elvis Presley - Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) (Legacy Edition)

If you haven't heard it, you should. If you have it, should you buy it again?


Friday, January 13 2012

Scuba: DJ Kicks

Berlin seems to make its way into everything that's recorded there, and this set from the forward-thinking dubstep DJ is no exception.


Wednesday, January 11 2012

Kaskade: Fire & Ice

The superstar DJ vaults into the mainstream. Put fire and ice together and what do you get? A mostly tepid double-album.


Thursday, December 8 2011

Light FM: Buzz Kill City

Fourth album from ex-Chicagoans crackles with power pop energy. Make way for alt.RAWK!


Ivy: All Hours [29.Sep.11]
Jonny: Jonny [4.May.11]
Mr. Mister: Pull [4.Mar.11]
Eskmo: Eskmo [1.Mar.11]
BARB: BARB [30.Nov.10]
Booka Shade: More! [18.Aug.10]
Hey Champ: Star [9.Aug.10]
Funki Porcini: On [30.Jun.10]
Magda: Fabric 49 [15.Apr.10]
Dub Tractor: Sorry [16.Mar.10]
N-Type: Rinse: 09 [27.Sep.09]
Omar-S: Fabric 45 [20.May.09]
Pet Shop Boys: Yes [21.Apr.09]
Chop Chop: Screens [18.Jan.09]
Âme: Fabric 42 [13.Oct.08]
Colette: Push [16.Nov.07]
Recoil: subHuman [19.Sep.07]
Pepper: No Shame [30.Oct.06]
12twelve: LUnivers [18.Oct.06]
Clor: Clor [6.Dec.05]
Cartel: Chroma [7.Nov.05]
Soel: Memento [14.Jul.05]
Moog (2004) [27.May.05]
Gong: You [18.May.05]
Fluke: Puppy [24.Jun.04]

Blogs

Download the Wild Swans' "In Secret" (Mixed Media) [15.Aug.11]
Charlie Louvin 1927-2011 (Mixed Media) [27.Jan.11]
The The - Tony soundtrack (new album) (Mixed Media) [24.May.10]
Rogue Wave Cover Depeche Mode (video) (Mixed Media) [3.May.10]
Depeche Mode - "Wrong" (video) (Mixed Media) [3.Mar.09]
Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia (Consuming Consumables) [7.Dec.08]
Over the Rhine - Snow Angels [$16.98] (Consuming Consumables) [17.Dec.07]
Elvis Presley: The Ed Sullivan Shows [$20.99] (Consuming Consumables) [18.Dec.06]
Now on PopMatters
A Painting Come to Life: 'The Mill & the Cross' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]
A Far Too Safe... and Strained... 'House' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 9:00 am]
'Safe House' Is Ersatz Edgy (Reviews) [Fri, 8:06 am]
The 10 Greatest Shakespeare Film Adaptations of All Time (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 7:50 am]
  1. 'Nebraska': Bruce Springsteen's 'Heart of Darkness' (Columns)
  2. The 10 Greatest Shakespeare Film Adaptations of All Time (Short Ends and Leader)
  3. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 1: From 13Ghosts to Friendly Fires (Features)
  4. The Best Games of 2011 (Features)
  5. Not-So-Central Casting: Kevin Smith and the Birth of the Reality Podcast (Features)
  6. The 10 Greatest Movie Spies Ever (Short Ends and Leader)
  7. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 2: From the Go! Team to the Phoenix Foundation (Features)
  8. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 3: From Real Estate to Youth Lagoon (Features)
  9. Lana Del Rey: Born to Die (Reviews)
  10. The Top 15 Madonna Singles of All Time (Sound Affects)
  11. Get Off of My Cloud!: 'Collecting' Music in the Digital Age (Features)
  12. Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas (Reviews)
  13. Google and the Production of Curiosity (Marginal Utility)
  14. Carole E. Barrowman’s Authorial Journey to Hollow Earth (Features)
  15. Tower Songs: Townes Van Zandt (Columns)
  16. Black Bananas: Rad Times Xpress IV (Reviews)
  17. “Don’t Let Me Fall”: Hip-Hop in the Age of Austerity (Features)
  18. The Gay Ole Countryside (Columns)
  19. Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks (Reviews)
  20. Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom (Reviews)
  21. Counterbalance No. 67: John Coltrane’s 'A Love Supreme' (Sound Affects)
  22. The 10 Best John Coltrane Solos (Sound Affects)
  23. A Look to the Past, An Insight Into the Present: The Use of Gender in 'Mad Men' (Features)
  24. A Tale of How Great Journalism Became Revisionist History: Grambling State U Football (Columns)
  25. Chairlift: Something (Reviews)
  26. The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - "Heart Attack" (Cosmic Kids Remix) (PopMatters Premiere) (Mixed Media)
  27. Mark Lanegan Band: Blues Funeral (Reviews)
  28. The Barbaric (and Poetic) Yawp of Shelby Lynne (Notes from the Road)
  29. After Cease to Exist: The Far-from-Final Report of Throbbing Gristle (Features)
  30. Mitt Romney Can Reside at Today's Proverbial 'Downton Abbey'... Newt Gingrich Cannot (Features)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.