Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll Archives

The wig is the central motif of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, an expression of hyper-femininity that also functions as a mask in how it draws the eyes up and away from her face, the cacophony of glitter brushed above the eye as well as the palpable loneliness swirling inside of it.

“I Wonder What Happened to the Oneders”: Redrawing the One-Hit Wonder in That Thing You Do!

Olivia Rutigliano·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

That Thing You Do! gleams with friendliness, gladness, soulfulness—the kind of personable perfectionism of a homespun masterwork.

Josie and the Pussycats is the Most Prescient Movie Ever

Kellie Herson·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

In spite of the Total Request Live and low-cut bootleg pants of it all, Josie and the Pussycats captures—and then eviscerates—the bizarre contours of early-2020s culture with more clarity than any piece of contemporary media.

Almost a Love Affair

Robert Stinner·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

While fictionalized accounts of rock stars' sex lives and personal relationships are often sensational, The Hours and Times distinguishes itself as a small-scale, conversational film, one that centralizes an ambiguous relationship.

Am I the Drama?: Notes on Fleetwood Mac on Film

Carrie Courogen·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

Maybe I’m being hyperbolic here, but does anyone better exemplify sex, drugs, and rock and roll than Fleetwood Mac?

Darlin’ Don’t Refrain

Gabe Bullard·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

“November Rain” is more than a music video. It’s every idea that existed in hard rock in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s compressed into nine minutes.

Episode #12: Amadeus (1984)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll Podcast

To salute our May theme, Chad sits down with deputy cohost Fran Hoepfner and movie and music writer Sydney Urbanek, to discuss the greatest initially-PG-rated movie of all time(?): Miloš Forman’s 1984 Amadeus.

I Don’t Wanna Quit

Christian Craig·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

What makes Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell so refreshing is its admission of recovery as a continued effort.

On Myth & Sid and Nancy

Dorothy Bendel·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

We have mythologized Sid and Nancy because we need to make sense of senselessness.

Sing About Your Own Time

Robert Daniels·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

While I'm Not There features several inspired leaps, few are as audacious as reimagining Bob Dylan as a young African American kid.

The Ballad of Cookie Mueller

Claire Mullen·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

Using humor and goodwill, Cookie Mueller drafted her own terms for navigating life within a misogynistic society.

There’s No Need To Make Life Tougher Than It Has To Be

Elizabeth Cantwell·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

Like nearly everything David Lynch has created, Wild at Heart haunts the space after the idyllic 1950s American suburban dream was proven corrupt, but outside of an ability to not at least secretly long for some shred of that back.