Category: Roxy Music

I Never Wrote the Most Important Story I Ever Wrote, Part 5

Part 1 of this essay may be found here. Part 2 of this essay may be found here. Part 3 of this essay may be found here. Part 4 of this essay may be found here. When I sat down to write this multi-part essay – which has taken on an interrogating memory life of … Continue reading I Never Wrote the Most Important Story I Ever Wrote, Part 5 →

Matt Berger Baltimore, Interrogating Memory, My life, Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia Phillies, Relationships, Romance, Roxy Music, Valentine's Day, Waffle House, Woody Allen, Writing 7 Comments June 12, 2022March 20, 2023 11 Minutes

Crafting the “Soundtrack” to my Interrogating Memory book

In 2005, Rupert Holmes published his second novel, a murder mystery called Swing. Being, well, Rupert Holmes, he also wrote and recorded an accompanying seven-track CD of swing-inflected music; both are well worth finding. The combination, meanwhile, led him to quip, “I’ve been singing songs from my new book.” In the past month, I received … Continue reading Crafting the “Soundtrack” to my Interrogating Memory book →

Matt Berger Bee Gees, Charlie Chan, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, David Lynch, Fiddler on the Roof, Film Noir, Genesis, George Gershwin, Hammett, History, Interrogating Memory, Jazz, Jerry Goldsmith, Jesus Christ Superstar, Judaism, L.A. Confidential, Mark Isham, Miles Davis, Music, My life, Neo Noir, New Wave, Noir City Film Festival, Pale of Settlement, Peter Gabriel, Philadelphia, Robert Hazard and the Heroes, Romance, Roxy Music, Rupert Holmes, Talking Heads, The Beatles, The Cars, The Hooters, The Public Eye, Times Square, Twin Peaks, Yale University 9 Comments January 22, 2022March 25, 2022 26 Minutes

Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part II

In late June, I wrote the first in a series of essays outlining the evolution of the methods I use to rank my favorite tracks (a term I prefer to “songs”), beginning with my first-ever mix cassette tape in August 1981. In the interim, however, moving to a new apartment, the ongoing search for a … Continue reading Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part II →

Matt Berger Data collection, Measurement, Miles Davis, Music, My life, Roxy Music, Stan Ridgway, Statistical reasonsing, The Beatles 3 Comments September 8, 2021March 27, 2022 15 Minutes

Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part 1

I recently updated a data-based discussion of my cinematic “guilty pleasures,” adding a comparison of “most-acclaimed” and “my favorite” films from a given year or years. In so doing, though, I side-stepped the question of determining with something approaching academic rigor just what my favorite films are, relying solely on my gut to select a … Continue reading Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part 1 →

Matt Berger 1984, Data collection, Genesis, Measurement, Music, My life, New Wave, Roxy Music, Statistical reasonsing, Talking Heads, The Cars, Washington DC 14 Comments June 25, 2021November 20, 2021 15 Minutes

Organizing by themes V: Popular music

This site benefits/suffers/both from consisting of posts about a wide range of topics, all linked under the amorphous heading "data-driven storytelling." In an attempt to impose some coherent structure, I am organizing related posts both chronologically and thematically. While I have told many stories from my life (and those of my ancestors), I rarely discuss … Continue reading Organizing by themes V: Popular music →