Katy Perry

The Six Most Uncomfortable Lyrics In Songs Kids Like

Since the dawn of pop music, there has always been a dissonance between the music kids listen to and the content of the lyrics within. This can make an adult cringe when a child enjoys a song with an inappropriate lyric, especially one he or she does not understand. Here are the six most uncomfortab ... More >>

The Six Best Namedrops In Song

Musicians frequently reference each other, consciously or otherwise. Usually the reference is something subtle, like a chord progression or a melodic phrase. For those less subtle moments, here are the six best name-drops in song. Let us know your favorites in the comments, but make sure that your p ... More >>

Dharma Bummer: On the Road, tamed at last

The Top 15 Things That Annoy the Shit Out of Your Local Sound Guy

By Nate Jackson Imagine for a moment that your job's sole requirement was to make live bands sound great every night. Pretty awesome right? Late nights, live music, and an endless supply of nightlife encapsulate a typical day at the office. Then after actually doing it for a few minutes you start t ... More >>

No, Playing Guitar While Singing 'Renegade' Isn't Karaoke

Karaoke can be a dangerous endeavor. What can you sing that won't make friends shun you? How can you go balls-out during your next performance? Each week in "Ask a Karaoke Host," RFT Music writer and professional karaoke host Allison Babka answers your burning questions about maximizing your melodio ... More >>

Can White People Succeed in R&B?

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

Crotching Whiskey at the Justin Bieber Concert and Getting Thrown Out: A Review

Justin Bieber was genetically engineered in a secret government laboratory to be the Ultimate Teen Heartthrob. Millions of dollars are spent every year to ensure that the Earth's population worships the Bieb; the number of powerful men in suits whose job it is to ensure that "Operation: Hot Bieber" ... More >>

LMFAO Goes On Hiatus, Is Replaced By Less Insistently Ridiculous Korean Guy

Have you ever watched a K-Drama? I'm not suggesting you should, or anything, it's just that the more Korean Wave stuff you're familiar with, the easier it is to understand why you might find PSY's "Gangnam Style" a little less annoying at wedding receptions in 2018 than LMFAO's own novelty pop, now ... More >>

Between the Rock of Snark and the Hard Place of Crap: Two Meditations On Negativity In Music

Art and life co-habitate, informing, imitating, and enriching each other constantly. Each week in Better Living Through Music, RFT Music writer Ryan Wasoba explores this symbiotic relationship. 1. I saw The Wall this weekend for the first time, at the Wildey Theater in Edwardsville. I've always bee ... More >>

VMA Awards 2012: Handicapping the Video of the Year Nominees

The 2012 VMA nominees are out, and while there are certainly plenty of big names and obvious choices, there are a few surprises buried in there. Frank Ocean gets a nod, as do A$AP Rocky, Jack White and Regina Spektor. But those are curiosities -- Rihanna, Drake, Katy Perry et. al. get the lion's sha ... More >>

If You Don't Buy Katy Perry's Songs, You'll Get More Katy Perry Movies

Katy Perry: Part of Me came out last weekend, and early returns are not great. Friday-to-Sunday it made $7.1 million, edged out by the month-old Madagascar 3 and Madea's Witness Protection, which is a real movie that exists. In spite of its 3D release, no movie in the Top 10 made less money per scre ... More >>

A Part of Me reveals Katy Perry's essential Katy Perry-ness

Twitter Follies: Brian Elliott Finds a T-Shirt He Likes

If you're not periodically checking with Blues' goalie Brian Elliott via his Twitter (@KidElls1), you're missing his relentless hyping of Badgers hockey and the occasional corny joke in which the punchline is always a photo of something with his name on it. Last week he discovered the existence of a ... More >>

Six Most Overused Rhymes

You've been there, listening to a song for the first time, hearing the word at the end of one lyric and thinking "please don't end the next line with (insert predictable rhyme here)." Of course, nine out of ten times, the internalized wish is futile. Nobody expects songwriters to reinvent the wheel ... More >>

The Hibernauts Will Retire After Tomorrow's Off Broadway Show

Click to enlarge.​Post-punk popster The Hibernauts will playing its final show as a regularly operating unit at Off Broadway (3509 Lemp Avenue, 314-773-3363) tomorrow night. The group released two albums, 2007's Periodic Fables and 2009's Velvet Suit and will be playing the former release in i ... More >>

Six Least Appropriate Radiohead Songs to Make Out To

"Summer after high school when we first met / We make out in your Mustang to Radiohead" Such is the opening couplet of "The One Who Got Away" by the inescapable Katy Perry. The namedrop is confusing. Radiohead is beyond famous at this point, so it's not necessarily a cred pull on Perry's part; if t ... More >>

Mozart's Merrie Melodies

The Six Most Absurd Pop Songs of 2011

​The old model of popular music: dumb it down to the lowest common denominator and make it go down easy. Reviewing the Billboard and iTunes charts of this past year, the tides have obviously changed. In days when nobody is buying, the flashiest, loudest, weirdest thing sells -- how else can yo ... More >>

The Ten Best Things to Do in St. Louis This Weekend: August 19-21

Todd OwyoungThe last time they were here, Blink 182 gave us sex, immature jokes and rock 'n' roll. We're hoping for more of the last one this time. ​This weekend is one for nostalgia. There's the PG-13 excess of the Nickelodeon '90s that comes with a concert fronted by Blink 182 (and shared wi ... More >>

Is God The New Black?

Terry Richardson/Rolling Stone​A span of three weeks separated their respective Rolling Stone covers--apart from the quality of the writing and the, howyousay, dynamism of each subject, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry's profiles in the formerly legendary mag offered the same startling conclusion--for ... More >>

Review: All Time Low and Yellowcard, The Pageant, Monday, April 4

​When All Time Low headlined the sold-out Pageant last night, the reigning princes of bubblegum punk seemed bent on taking their young audience to an all-time high. The full bill, which also featured Yellowcard and up-and-comers Hey Monday and the Summer Set, kept up the energy with polished, ... More >>

Battle Reuben: East Coast vs. West Coast

​Gut Check can think of countless perks of living in a so-called flyover state: no hurricanes, smaller egos and virtually no pressure when confronting the unanswerable question -- 2Pac or Biggie? Here at the crossroads of America, where our most famous rapper was best-known for a singsong cade ... More >>

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis art scene

Show Announcements: Week of February 10

image viaThe novelty of chillwave subsided long ago, but Neon Indian's hypnagogic ennui is still compelling two years after the nascent rise and fall of the much-maligned genre. Catch their St. Louis debut on June 8 at The Firebird. ​ Apop Records *Taboo, February 23 2720 Cherokee *Bawn in th ... More >>

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis art scene

Katy Perry Bringing Her "California Dreams" Tour to St. Louis

Pop sweetness and fluffy candy dreams will be yours on August 20, when starlet Katy Perry brings her "California Dreams" tour to the Scottrade Center. Tickets are on sale Saturday, February 12, at 11 a.m. No opening act has been announced yet, but let it be known that Robyn and Marina and the Diamon ... More >>

Interview Outtakes: Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis on Making Music and Liking Katy Perry over Lady Gaga

Dove Shore​Tonight is the long-awaited, very-sold-out Girl Talk show at the Pageant. In this week's paper, D.X. Ferris spoke with Gregg Gillis, the man behind the moniker. (Note: The author is a fellow Pittsburgh native who grew up in the same classic-rock-obsessed area and witnessed Girl Talk ... More >>

Ten Girl Talk Mashups That Should Exist

Tonight, Girl Talk returns to the Pageant for what will inevitably be a sweaty, calorie-burnin' good time for those who possess an affinity for pop culture and a lack of attention span. In light of this event, A to Z was contemplating the (debatable, perhaps illegal) art of the mashup, and came up w ... More >>

2010: The Year In Music

Twelve Things To Do This Weekend: September 24-26

​Shut out of the Avett Brothers show? Not a Kings of Leon fan? Don't worry: There's plenty of other things to do this weekend -- aside from Financial Aid at 2720 Cherokee and the Blues City Deli Streetfest, of course. Friday: Alex Chilton Tribute @ Off Broadway Christian Schaeffer interviewed ... More >>

New Release Highlights for August 24: The Sword, Usher and Everyone's Favorite "California Gurl"

(New albums are typically released on Tuesdays, i.e., today. What can you spend your hard-earned pennies on this week? Find out below. Post delayed a day due to server issues!) Apocalyptica 7th Symphony​*Apocalyptica, 7th Symphony Stream Apocalyptica's seventh album, which features guest voca ... More >>

Warpaint's Stella Mozgawa Talks Gaga, Van Smells, Hip-Hop and the Band's New Album

LA's Warpaint play tonight at the Luminary Center for the Arts. From left, Theresa Wayman, Jenny Lee Lindberg, Stella Mogzawa, Emily Kokal(front).​The Los Angeles four-piece Warpaint crafts haunting dreampsych with iridescent harmonies and filmy reverb, but don't label them as an all-girl band ... More >>

Warpaint

8 p.m. Thursday, August 5. Luminary Center for the Arts, 4900 Reber Place.

Interview Outtakes: Cary Brothers on DIY Music, the Hotel Cafe's Magic, Katy Perry's Hidden Past and Why the Thompson Twins Rule

Heidi RossCary Brothers​Tonight, singer-songwriter Cary Brothers will be performing at the Old Rock House with fellow troubadour Greg Laswell and up-and-coming band Harper Blynn. (The latter is also functioning as the house band for the night.) The show starts at 9 p.m. and tickets are $12. ($ ... More >>

So, What Should Be in the Missouri Version of Katy Perry's "California Gurls"?

Have you heard Katy Perry's "California Gurls"? Dumb question; of course you have. The song is everywhere this summer. Of course, the parodies are already rolling in, including this one called "Pennsylvania Guys" by Sloppy Secondz. Even if you're not from the state, it's pretty funny. (Sample lyrics ... More >>

Get to Know: Junk Culture, Who's in Town Tonight at Antarctica

Deepak Mantena, soon to be better known as Junk Culture, is the sample-happy, electronic virtuoso signed to Girl Talk's Illegal Art label. Mantena takes his name from a 1984 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark album -- and the Portland-by-way-of-Idaho-and-Mississippi artist just picked up a tour with ... More >>

Diana Horner's Country Hip-Hop Dancing: The New Craze Sweeping the Nation(?)

So, Katy Perry tweeted the following video at Taylor Swift earlier today. It's a whole treatise on country hip-hop dancing, colloquially known as "cowboy hip-hop." I'm not sure what's better: the new-age flute on the video's soundtrack, the fashion -- spandex bike shorts under jean shorts, classiqu ... More >>

The Morning Brew: 6.18

CNN reports that 15 million pounds of Spaghetti-O's with Meatballs have been recalled. Campbell's Soup Co. issued the recall because the product might have been "under-processed". Thanks to Aimee Levitt for picking this story. Slashfood reports/warns that The Ice Cream Store in Rehoboth Beach, De ... More >>

Jill Sobule

8 p.m. Monday, November 30. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.

Tomorrow! Vans Warped Tour Anniversary Movie Screens in St. Louis

As part of its fifteenth anniversary celebration, the Vans Warped Tour is holding a one-night only, simultaneous screening of a movie featuring two hours of performances culled from its September 6 anniversary show in LA. Says this website: Featuring larger-than-life performances on the big screen ... More >>

Interview: Ted Bruner, Ex-Colony, Now Pop Songwriter, Part 1

In my Jason McEntire/Sawhorse Studios profile, the studio engineer mentioned he was in an high school incarnation of the St. Louis band Colony, which recorded for a major label in the '90s. McEntire has kept in touch with the band in the ensuing years -- and in fact recently collaborated with Colony ... More >>

Interview: Ted Bruner, Ex-Colony, Now Pop Songwriter, Part 2

In my Jason McEntire/Sawhorse Studios profile, the studio engineer mentioned he was in an high school incarnation of the St. Louis band Colony, which recorded for a major label in the '90s. McEntire has kept in touch with the band in the ensuing years -- and in fact recently collaborated with Colon ... More >>

Tomorrow! Woodhands at Pop's Blue Moon Katy Perry and Eddy Grant Covers!

Last minute show addition! And it's a good one! Toronto electro act Woodhands is playing at Pop's Blue Moon tomorrow night, May 9. I know, I know, Asobi Seksu AND Centro-matic are in town, but this is going to be a cool show too. After all, the act is keytar and drums. How can you go wrong? Check ou ... More >>

Open Comment Thread: The 2009 Grammy Awards

Because I'm on vacation, I'm writing this FROM THE PAST (ooh, spooky), and there won't be any live-blogging about Sunday's Grammy Awards broadcast from me this year. However, consider this post an open commenting thread for the show. According to Grammy.com, the list of performers is crazytown:Curre ... More >>

The Worst Lyrics of 2008: NCAA-Style Showdown

And now it's time for the "I love you like a fat kid loves cake" memorial Worst Lyrics of 2008, March Madness-style tournament, this year a terrifying mélange of appalling oral-sex requests, bargain-bin philosophies, grammatical atrocities, and cringe-inducing pillow talk. To elevate the drama, I ... More >>

Ear Burns: Our critics spew some haterade about 2008's bummer songs, albums and events

Show Review: Warped Tour at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Tuesday, July 1

Warped Tour St. Louis: The Popular, the Local and the Weird