Deep Cuts

Music writing for the long play

Category

Long Plays

  1. The Hottest Cold Streak: Foreigner's Unusual Heat and the End of an Era

    After thirteen years and seven multi-platinum albums, Foreigner's voice walked out. The band that remained — Mick Jones, three sidemen, and an Atlantic Records frontman named Johnny Edwards — made a record that should have worked. It peaked at number 117 on the Billboard 200, the worst chart position of the band's career, and effectively ended Foreigner's run as a commercial force. A long play on the album that exposed exactly what Foreigner had always been — and what it could not be without Lou Gramm.

    By Deep Cuts · Issue 02 · · 18 min read

  2. Their Heaviest Mistake: The Story of Mötley Crüe's Self-Titled Album

    In 1994, the biggest glam metal band in America fired their lead singer, hired a stranger with a different voice, and made the most ambitious record of their career. It debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold within seven weeks. Then the audience walked away, the tour collapsed into half-filled clubs, and within three years the experiment was over. A long play on the album that was supposed to save Mötley Crüe and instead got quietly written out of their own history.

    By Deep Cuts · Issue 02 · · 18 min read

  3. Scorpions and the Robot War: A Defense of Humanity: Hour I

    In 2007, four decades into their career, Scorpions made the strangest album of their lives — a concept record about a war between humans and machines, co-written with Bon Jovi's hitmaker, featuring Billy Corgan singing about Jesus and John 5 playing guitar on the opening track. Almost nobody bought it. This is the case for taking it seriously anyway.

    By Deep Cuts · Issue 01 · · 17 min read