Wildly eclectic soundtracks, mashups, hip hop, pop, neo soul, musical comedy stylings, and a late-era R.E.M. smasher.

I’ve long been fascinated with the musical and pop cultural period of the late ‘70s to the early ‘80s. Punk rock verging into post-punk, disco, second-wave ska, new wave, and good old fashioned ...

I’ve been working my way through the American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest American Films of All Time, starting my way from the bottom (Ben-Hur, #100), and working my way up. And now I’ve just ...

When I scan through the 14 albums from 1965 that were selected for the best 1,000 albums ever, one thing pops out right away. To take a step back, the best 1,000 albums ever is a massive five-year ...

So, first of all, you’re not exactly wrong if you think that Pop Thruster, this here website you’re reading right now, is at least a little bit Ringer coded. In fact I: I’ve had conversations in which ...

Many times, I open these list pieces pulled from the best 1,000 albums ever archives with something along the lines of “while the pop music from that year was no great shakes, underneath the surface…” ...

We all have our own specific and perhaps increasingly hyper specific slants on pop culture and television circa this brave new world of 2026. For my money – and in that case that means Pop Thruster’s ...

Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay contains countless pleasures, and one of my favorite ones involves the delightfully bizarre way the comedy/horror TV show leverages media and television footage within the show ...

“We gotta send a message. Keep outta Hell’s Kitchen.” So says J.K. Simmons’ character, Irish mob boss Eamon Sweeney, in the trailer for the new MGM+ crime drama, The Westies, which premieres on July ...

If you’ve seen the first season of Sugar on Apple TV, then you know there’s a monster twist that takes place near the end of the first season. You may already know about the twist even if you haven’t ...

1978. Even while the blast of the punk rock’s first wave could still be heard, emerging sounds across post-punk and new wave could be heard. Meanwhile, muscular ‘70s guitar rock was still at its peak.

I mostly got bored with the late-night television format around the time David Letterman moved timeslots to launch the Late Show in the early 1990s. In fact, one of the first things I recall thinking ...