Gwen Ihnat

Our friend Faiz says Def Leppard is the answer to the question, “What has nine arms and sucks?” They are, in fact, the greatest episode of “Behind the Music” of all time. The band had everything worthy of a rock epic: a bunch of teenage English kids, a gauntlet of sex and drugs underneath the [...]

Brian and I have a game in the car that involves the bands we need to switch off of the radio the quickest. For me these bands include the Floyd, the Chili Peppers, and, for the love of God, the Doors. I hate the Doors with the white-hot intensity of a thousand blazing suns. I [...]

The band, of course, is the Replacements. But what song? After a day of soul-searching, I decided to bypass my usual pick (“Left of the Dial”) and a few other worthy contenders (“Unsatisfied,” “Here Comes a Regular”) in favor of the last track off of the ‘Mats last worthy album. In fact the only song [...]

“A long, long time ago/I can still remember/how that music used to make me zzzzzzzz.” I’m sure it’s not Don Mclean’s fault that this song was horrendously overplayed on the radio during my formative years, but it’s just way too long and way too boring for me to ever have to hear again. I won’t… [...]

Oh, is it my turn for “Champagne Supernova”? I kid, my fellow 30-Day chroniclers. Actually, since I’m behind (surprise!), I’m combining Day 7 (song that reminds you of an event) with Day 8 (song you know all the words to): “The Way You Look Tonight”.

As my husband likes to say, “You’d never know you used [...]

In the mid-90s, I was fortunate enough to have a very fun but low-paying job as a music critic of the local rag the Illinois Entertainer. The “Chicago” “music” “scene” being what it was in those days, I was out several nights a week (nowadays, just the thought of staying out past midnight can make [...]

Rufus Wainwright: “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk”
When Brian McNally and I were courting, we would listen to this album (Poses). A lot. Pretty much every Sunday I would buy a Tribune and we would sit on the couch and pass sections back and forth and listen to this. I love the whole album, but the first… [...]

In October, I got a call from my mother’s oncologist that she didn’t want any further chemotherapy. As her cancer had metastasized and chemotherapy was the only available option from her doctors, even the homeopathic ones, I knew that this meant that she would die soon. It was the very first time my mind had [...]

I defy you to be unmoved by the most infectious song ever, “Wig Wam Bam” by The Sweet: the glitter, the glamor, the florescent headdress! Just try keeping on with your cranky self when faced with this undeniable pop riff – it even has a slide whistle. See also: “Little Willy,” “Fox on the Run.” [...]

Me: “What’s that horrible Blind Melon song? “No Faith”?

Husband: “No Rain”

Me: “Gah! I hate it even more now!”

Let me start off by saying, although I am extremely liberal, I hate hippies. The “South Park” hippie extermination episode exceeds even the Tom Cruise Scientology episode in my opinion. Which is certainly saying something. But in the [...]