Beyoncé, ‘Renaissance’ The problem Beyoncé created for herself when she released Lemonade back in 2016 was it was instantly regarded as her best project. It was lauded by critics, showered with awards and consistently ranked as one of the best albums of the year, decade and—sometimes—of all time. How…

Joan Jett, courtesy. Last Tuesday, March 8, was International Women’s Day. That means I get to list women who rock. I mention women who rock fairly often in this column, so it deserves some explanation: It doesn’t necessarily have to be women who perform rock music. Being a rock…

We were also shocked to learn that there was an era of Sammy Hagar that did not include the goatee. It’s hot. After a rainstorm in the Bay and snow in the Sierras for Memorial Day, we skipped spring entirely and leapt dramatically into summer. It’s going to be…

Last week I finished the yearlong journey through the last half-century of music. It was quite the project; 52 weekly columns each taking on a year and culminating in the best five songs of 2018. Then RIFF’s editor, Roman, asked when I’d have this week’s column in. So… I…