This Tuesday (4/21), did you celebrate Robert Smith of The Cure’s birthday or Iggy Pop’s? Or, which means more to you, “Love Cats” or “I Wanna Be Your Dog?” KNDD PD Garett Michaels said Iggy, for sure, a sentiment he and I share. I ran a college radio station that played imports by The Cure, Depeche Mode, Thompson Twins, Heaven 17, Modern English, etc., but the DJs’ hearts belonged to stateside punk, new wave and the regional indie scenes that were blossoming in Athens, Hoboken, Minneapolis, Boston, NYC, Chapel Hill, etc. There’s an outpouring of birthday love on Facebook for both Iggy and Robert Smith, although most of my nearest-and-dearest have “Lust for Life” coursing through their veins 24/7/365…

Somehow, Coachella managed to have its most successful year ever, even minus my attendance. Like I said, not being there wasn’t intentional—I just had no horse in the race. I can’t imagine anything last week could have been more entertaining and life-affirming than The Replacements show at the Palladium last Thursday night. Rob Goldklang and I were hanging on the front barricade, while most of our friends were in the balcony. I think I’ve seen The Replacements more than any other band I never worked with directly—at least 50 times—beginning in 1982. This show was even better than their Coachella reunion a year prior—can’t hardly wait to see them again!...

Congrats to Red Bull’s Joe Guzik for starting off the week with AWOLNATION’s “Hollow Moon (Bad Moon)” at #1! As big as “Sail” was (and continues to be), it never reached the top spot, so hooray for Joe and his team! Some day I will write a song called, “#2, #6, #11 Equals Failure,” because there’s little more heartbreaking than those peaks to a promotion person…

It’s as close to a lock as fathomable: Alabama Shakes’ Sound and Color will debut at #1 next week. “Don’t Wanna Fight” is now Top 20 at Modern Rock, although first-week sales might suggest that greater attention from the format is warranted. There are so few sophomore records that succeed on the promise of a debut, especially one as heralded and beloved as Boys & Girls, but the accolades for Sound and Color are even more effusive…

Think about it, how many bands have followed their critically and commercially successful debut with a sophomore release that surpassed it in both sales and praise? Mumford & Sons? Adele? I will also assert that Interpol’s Antics was a better (and more successful) record than Turn on the Bright Lights, but I might be alone…

Last year, I couldn’t understand why “Jungle” by X Ambassadors f/Jamie N. Commons wasn’t a bigger radio hit. The song was used in every commercial that wasn’t using KONGOS’ “Come With Me Now” (which was obviously a radio smash) and selling over 20k/week. There were believers, like the folks at WROX and Dustin Matthews at WRXL, but it never quite came together. Now, the band is back with “Renegades,” which is #5 on the iTunes Alternative song chart, and #46 overall, selling over 25k/ week! If you own a TV, you’ve undoubtedly seen the Jeep campaign that features the band and song prominently. Now radio has jumped on board, including a massive nod as this month’s “On the Verge” for iHeartMedia, plus early adds at KROQ, WLUM, and more. This band is poised to have a #1 song—I just know it. Wait ’til you see X Ambassadors live—they give a very powerful and connected performance—there’s nothing hipster-cool or jaded about these guys, and it’s incredible to watch while their audience, which is already substantial, hangs on every note…

Ted and I were in an artist’s studio a year or so ago, for a playback of a record still in progress. The artist introduced a song by saying that he didn’t think it was a single, but that it was the song his friends seemed to gravitate towards. Another attendee responded to the intro with, “Sometimes the best song is just the best song.” I was the first to find this insight to be amusing, ok, hilarious, and then Ted caught on to how ridiculous a statement it was (and how much more this guy was paid than us), so we spent the length of the song doing our best not to laugh aloud (while trying to make the other one crack up). When I heard the new Cold War Kids’ single “First,” I called Mark Czarra to tell him that the song was an unequivocal SMASH and, after years of developing a loyal following (this generation’s Afghan Whigs), THIS was going to be their massive radio hit. Because, you know, sometimes the best song is just the best song…

Kiss me on the bus: [email protected].