
Matthew Walther is associate editor of the Washington Free Beacon. His work has also appeared in the Spectator of London, First Things, The Weekly Standard, National Review, the Daily Beast, the Hedgehog Review, and other publications. He lives with his wife, Lydia, and their daughter in Alexandria, Virginia.
The whole idiom of rock would have been different if not for the influx of fantasy themes and imagery made possible by J.R.R. Tolkien’s seminal publishing event.
Nina Gordon and Louise Post of Veruca Salt were pop songwriters of a very high order who were only latching onto grunge because it was the idiom of the day.
As a specimen of de-bluesified, sharp-riffed, harmony-laden, absurdly catchy rock and roll, ‘Ricochet’ from the reincarnated Bay City Rollers is a masterpiece worthy of Big Star or Badfinger.