Maureen Ryan

When the Tribune's Tom Popson wrote about them a dozen years ago, the Smithereens were riding the wave of acclaim that greeted their first major-label release, "Green Thoughts." They're still...

Q. What happens when a radio station wants to play a popular single that has bad language in it? A. It depends what kind of language you're talking about. If...

A dozen of our favorite nonsense song titles 1. The Beatles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 2. Alex...

In the '60s they were animals: Turtles, Monkees, Crickets, Byrds and Beatles. In the '80s they were toxic: Poison, Venom, Ratt, W.A.S.P. and the Scorpions. It only takes a brief...

Q. I've heard songs by everyone from Peter Gabriel to Steely Dan sampled in rap hits. Do the original artists get any money when their songs are sampled? A. When...

Back in the '80s, Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley started playing cover songs for their friends; now they fill clubs like Metro on a regular basis (they'll play a two-night...

It seems like movies are getting longer. The question is, are movies getting better -- or just longer? Sure, there were plenty of epic-length Hollywood flicks in the past, but...

Ice Cube: The Bud Abbott of the millennium? It doesn't sound so far-fetched for the rapper and actor to be mentioned in the same breath as the longtime partner of...

In 1966, the rock 'n' roll revolution that was partly invented by Little Richard (who plays the House of Blues on Sunday) was rolling on by the Macon, Ga., legend....

FUNNY, SHE DIDN'T WARN US ABOUT "EXIT TO EDEN" Rosie O'Donnell didn't quite earn an Alewife for her rude treatment of her TV show guest Tom Selleck because we like...