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For years, I have taken shots at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame. I have criticized the voters for who they have inducted and who they have ignored. I have ranted indignantly about snubs and unworthy inclusions. I have cracked countless jokes about the institution’s relevance. I have even questioned whether the Rock Hall should exist at all.

But I’m not going to do that this year. I can’t. Because for the first time, I am one of those voters.

For all of the misgivings I have publicly expressed in the past about the Rock Hall, I still believe that if there is going to be a museum chronicling the history of modern popular music, I want to have some say in the matter. Now the time has come (finally!) for me to put my money where my big fat mouth is.

But more than that, I think I am obliged to be completely transparent about how I’m voting. Again, I have yapped about the Rock Hall for years. It’s only fair that I now put myself on the hot seat, and open myself up to the same scrutiny that I have subjected to others. Therefore, I have decided to share my ballot — the deadline for turning them in is next week — and explain why I voted the way I did.

Let me just say this before we wade in: Being a voter for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame is hard! Or maybe this was just an especially difficult year. The class of 2021 is stacked. Out of the 16 nominees, I don’t think there is a single “WTF?” choice in the bunch. I could have voted for anyone (or everyone) and been justified. But I can’t vote for everyone. You get five choices. That’s it.

There are no wrong answers here. But there is also no way to not snub a lot of wonderful artists. So, I am sorry in advance!

With my first (and certainly not my last) apology out of the way, let’s look at my Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame ballot.

WHO I DIDN’T VOTE FOR

Mary J. Blige
Foo Fighters
Jay-Z
Rage Against The Machine

I’m grouping these artists together because they all originated in the 1990s. As a Gen-Xer, I am essentially a generational traitor because I didn’t vote for any of these artists. They’re supposed to be my people! What gives?

Certainly, you can make a solid case for any of them. Mary J. Blige is the queen of hip-hop soul. Foo Fighters are possibly the highest-profile rock band of the last 25 years. Jay-Z is one of the most successful and culturally impactful rappers ever. Rage Against The Machine pioneered the melding of metal and hip-hop.

All of them are important! So why didn’t they get my vote? In situations like this, I have a bias — if this can be called a bias — in favor of older artists whose influence and reach extends deeper from the past. Put another way: If you were great in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, and you laid the groundwork for the artists who came after you, and you’re not already in the Rock Hall, AND I have the chance to vote for you, I will likely think you’re more deserving than younger artists who haven’t had to wait around as long to get recognized.

I have no doubt that all of these people will get in the Rock Hall eventually. So, in my mind, they can wait a bit.

LL Cool J
Chaka Khan
Carole King
Dione Warwick

Remember that thing I said about honoring artists from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s who laid the groundwork for future generations? All of these artists are exactly that, and yet I didn’t vote for them. What in the hell is wrong with me?

Like I said before, voting for this thing is hard. Is it always going to be this hard? Why couldn’t I have been a voter the year Bon Jovi was inducted, so I could at least say I didn’t vote for Bon Jovi? Instead, I have to justify not voting for LL Cool J, one of the earliest rap superstars whose career spans decades. Then there’s Chaka Khan, the queen of funk, the vocal wizard who led Rufus in the 1970s and then proceeded to have a killer solo career. And Carole King — damn, I’m not voting for Carole King?! — one of the greatest songwriters of the rock era whose 1971 album Tapestry is a timeless classic. And of course Dionne Warwick, who I can’t believe is not already in the Rock ‘n’ Hall Of Fame, along with the Twitter Hall Of Fame.

Is anyone else sweating profusely? I’m going to open a window.

Devo
The Go-Go’s
New York Dolls

And now I’m going to jump out the window.

These were the most painful non-votes for me. At some point I had each in my “vote” pile, and then decided against it. Why? Because I’m a moron.

I love Devo because they are Midwestern post-punk freaks whose best three or four albums sound like they came out last week. I love the Go-Go’s because they made some of the catchiest and most enduring pop-punk of the ’80s, including “Our Lips Are Sealed,” which is an absolutely perfect song. I love the New York Dolls — I mean, I l-u-v the New York Dolls — because practically every great rock ‘n’ roll band who came after them stole from the Dolls in some small (or huge) way.

Again, how are all of these bands not already in?? And how is it possible that I went from being part of the solution to part of the problem in, like. 1.6 seconds?

All of these artists are worthy. The problem when you get into a ballot situation is that you can’t judge individuals on their own merits. It’s all about relative merits compared to others that, for whatever reason, you feel like are slightly more qualified in this context. Whether someone gets in is determined as much by the merits of the other nominees as their own.

It’s brutal! I hate it! If you see Jane Wiedlin, please tell her that in spite of everything I will always love her.

WHO I DID VOTE FOR

So, if I didn’t vote for any of these aforementioned geniuses and world-changers, who did I vote for? Let’s take it one by one.

Kate Bush

Perhaps more than any of this year’s nominees, Kate Bush feels like an artist whose legacy continues to grow with each successive generation. In the ’70s and ’80s, she was often regarded as a quirky curiosity, a cult artist whose highest mainstream profile often came from doing cameos on blockbuster albums by male superstars, like Peter Gabriel’s So. But in the past decade or so, Bush really seems like one of the most influential and adored artists of the alternative era. It’s hard to imagine 2010s era indie, for one, without her art-pop blueprint. Just put on 1985’s Hounds Of Love and notice how much it sounds like Lorde, Billie Eilish, and countless other contemporary acts. Putting her in this year is a rare opportunity for the Rock Hall to actually seem kind of cool.

Fela Kuti

He’s only one of the most significant musicians and sociopolitical figures to come out of Africa in the past century. He’s also credited with basically inventing Afrobeat, and if you are credited with inventing a genre, I think you probably belong in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame. Like Kate Bush, Fela Kuti’s influence only seems to grow with each passing year, and I don’t imagine his music will become less relevant any time soon. (This despite his death in 1997.) But beyond all of these blue-chip “cultural importance” resumé credentials, Kuti has just put out an insane number of funky, joyous, and incredibly danceable records with profoundly heavy grooves. (He’s put out about 50 of them, though that doesn’t include various live albums and compilations.) I don’t know if any other nominee’s music is as fun as Kuti’s, while at the same time being highly politically charged and inspiring to millions.

Iron Maiden

There are plenty of metal-adjacent hard rock groups in the Rock Hall: AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Van Halen, Kiss, Deep Purple, Rush. But in terms of pure metal, you have Metallica, you have Black Sabbath, and that’s it. Iron Maiden deserves to be the next one to cross the rubicon. Their ’80s work is loaded with wall-to-wall classics like The Number Of The Beast and Powerslave that are foundational albums of the genre. But Maiden’s later work is also remarkably consistent, and they’ve been a reliable arena-rock attraction for nearly 40 years. In terms of metal history, they are as important as any band when it comes to defining what exactly this kind of music should sound and look like. There are other metal bands who need to be in the Rock Hall, but Iron Maiden must be included.

Todd Rundgren

My sentimental choice. I have to vote for Todd Rundgren because I suspect that most people won’t. He isn’t as hip as Kate Bush and he didn’t invent a genre like Fela Kuti and he was never the figurehead of a musical movement like Iron Maiden. Todd Rundgren is just an extremely smart and talented weirdo who’s had one of the most fascinating careers in rock history. Just as a producer and recording engineer, his credits are bonkers and all over the place — The Band, Grand Funk Railroad, fellow nominees the New York Dolls, Meat Loaf, Hall & Oates, XTC. And then there’s his solo career, which includes one pop-rock masterpiece, 1972’s Something/Anything, in which he managed to write songs that sounded just like another fellow nominee, Carole King. After that he lost his mind and made his drugged-out pop-rock masterpiece, 1973’s A Wizard, A True Star. And then he formed a prog-rock group, Utopia, and made a concept album about the sun. I could go on but if you’re on board I don’t need to. And if you’re not on board you’re probably mad that I voted for a guy who started a band called Utopia.

Tina Turner

The no-brainer. There is no way Tina Turner isn’t making it into the Rock Hall this year, because there is no good reason why she’s not already in the Rock Hall. She’s an iconic performer who has influenced scores of other iconic performers, from Mick Jagger to Beyoncé. And she’s still super famous and beloved! The only logical explanation for her not being in the Rock Hall is that people must have wrongly assumed that she was inducted in, like, 1989. And then somebody looked it up and said, “Holy crap! Tina Turner isn’t in the Rock Hall? What do we do now?” It’s also possible this is an idiot test and that anyone not voting for Tina Turner will probably have their ballot (rightly) revoked with extreme prejudice. Either way, I’m voting for her.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Top Dawg Entertainment is well-known for esoteric rollouts which include blacked-out profile pics and surprise single releases, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard from the West Coast-based label home of Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, and SZA. Today, the Top Dawg himself, TDE CEO Anthony Tiffith, broke the silence, tweeting out a mysterious release date reveal with a triumphant caption. “THE WAIT IS OVAH!!!!” he wrote, while a video displayed a simulated loading screen with a progress bar that rapidly reaches the 99% mark before resolving into a simple “5/7/21.”

In typical TDE fashion, though, this leaves us with more questions than answers. What is the label planning? Which member of the roster warrants such excitement from the head honcho? It’s been a while since most of the marquee stars of TDE last released full-length projects; fans have been anxiously awaiting updates from Ab-Soul (who last released Do What Thou Wilt. in 2016), Isaiah Rashad (The Sun’s Tirade, 2016), Kendrick Lamar (DAMN., 2017) and SZA (CTRL, 2017). That’s not counting Jay Rock, whose last album dropped in 2018, Schoolboy Q, who last released in 2019, or group efforts like Black Hippy or the collaborative project Reason and Jay Rock hinted at in 2019.

For now, it looks like we’ll just have to wait to see if the label plans to release more information before next Friday or stay glued to their social channels to find out who it is. Check out Top Dawg’s tweet above.

We’ve long since passed the age where we have to explain that anime is for everyone, something I for one am incredibly thankful for. Anime is no longer the best-kept secret, but instead a cultural touchstone, beloved by folks all across the globe in search of moving stories told in a uniquely beautiful way. If you aren’t watching anime, I think it’s time to find the right one for you, and here is hoping this list of some of the best and most popular shows you can stream now helps you find your perfect match.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba

1 season, 27 episodes | IMDb: 8.7/10

It’s still wild to me that I can say this, but you really should be paying attention the Academy Award-nominated Demon Slayer. Yes, Academy Award-nominated. While that is of course in regards to the series’ movie, which takes place after season one, it is indicative of the quality of Demon Slayer as a whole. With only one season down so far, you don’t have too much to catch up on in order to make it to theaters and catch the record-shattering and critically acclaimed film.

Stream Demon Slayer on Hulu now.

My Hero Academia

5 seasons, 93 episodes | IMDb: 8.5/10

My Hero Academia is an anime you hear about pretty much constantly and if you somehow haven’t, think Watchmen meets X-Men meets Sky High, and honestly, you get the picture. The popular anime is not too far off from Naruto and Dragon Ball status at this point, which then begs the question: is it really worth the watch? The answer is: absolutely. See, unlike its Shonen brethren, My Hero Academia has still yet to his “completely overwhelming” status. There are less than 100 episodes, only two movies, and everything is fairly straightforward with next to zero “filler” content. Season five is currently airing now, with new episodes releasing every Saturday, which makes it a great time to catch up and join in on the fun and surprises.

Stream My Hero Academia on Hulu now.

Jujutsu Kaisen

1 season, 24 episodes | IMDb: 8.7/10

Anime and manga are two of the greatest vessels for telling stories of the supernatural (I mean, Bleach, Tokyo Ghoul, Death Note, Noragami…) and Jujutsu Kaisen further proves it. The series follows high school student Yuji Itadori as he attempts to kill Ryomen Sukuna, a powerful Curse his body hosts, and despite only first airing a few months ago, the anime has become one of the most popular around. You might have even seen it mentioned alongside Megan Thee Stallion not too long ago. Jujutsu Kaisen‘s story is just beginning, and it’s not too late to start watching and be along for the whole ride.

Stream Jujutsu Kaisen on HBO Max now.

Attack on Titan

4 Seasons, 85 Episodes | IMDb: 8.9/10

If you’ve seen Attack on Titan thrown around a lot lately, it’s because the decade spanning manga series has, at last, come to an end. The show, however, still has one season left, which will likely be airing sometime early next year. That makes right now the perfect time to give the dark and compelling series and make sure you’re ready to join the rest of the world when Eren’s journey finally reaches it’s end. Be warned, this show is incredibly brutal and even more bleak.

Stream Attack on Titan on Hulu now.

Subtlety is not DJ Khaled’s forte. The Miami collaboration connector recently finished his new album, Khaled Khaled, and to let the world know, he took out a massive billboard in downtown Miami announcing “Album 100% Done” and revealing the release date: April 30. He has not revealed the tracklist as yet, teasing the reveal in a social media post. The cover art, which Khaled also shared on his active Instagram account, features Khaled kneeling on a prayer rug in a lush, green garden, flanked by his sons wearing matching outfits.

DJ Khaled released his last album, Father of Asahd, in 2019, netting a Grammy nomination for the album’s Nipsey Hussle collaboration “Higher,” recorded just before Nipsey’s death in March of that year. The project also featured the hit “No Brainer” featuring Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, and Quavo, the Jay-Z and Beyonce collaboration “Top Off,” which also included Future, and the Outkast-sampling “Just Us” with SZA. Despite having so much star power, though, the album debuted at No. 2 behind Tyler The Creator’s Igor, prompting Khaled to express disapproval at Billboard‘s counting standards after bundle sales of his album were disallowed. A video of Khaled addressing criticisms of his commercial sound went viral when fans attributed it as an attack on Tyler, to which Tyler gave a cheeky reply on Twitter. Meanwhile, some attributed the disappointing result to Khaled’s jumbled rollout, in which many of the album’s singles were released on the same day — after the album itself had actually dropped.

Here’s hoping his next effort receives results more to Khaled’s liking — sure, it’s funny to think of him secretly being a sourpuss over essentially meaningless sales benchmarks, but personally I like the motivational speaker/ultra-positive version of Khaled because the world’s enough of a bitter mess as it is.

Khaled Khaled is due 4/30 via Epic Records. Stay tuned.

Disco had a huge impact on music in 2020, and one of the finest examples of that was Jessie Ware’s album What’s Your Pleasure?. The record helped people dance through a tough year and she’s returning this year with more where that came from: Today, Ware announced What’s Your Pleasure? (Platinum Pleasure Edition), a deluxe edition of the album that introduces eight additional tracks to the album. Ware previewed the new material today with “Please,” a fun and kinetic tune that fits right in with the dance-ready mood of the album.

Ware says of the deluxe album and of “Please,” “I had such an amazing response to the What’s Your Pleasure? record that I didn’t want the lights to go up and the party to be over just yet! ‘Please’ is full of optimism and ready to be played in a place where we can all be together and flirt, dance, touch, and kiss. A wonderful excuse not to stop the party from ending.”

Listen to “Please” above and check out the What’s Your Pleasure? (Platinum Pleasure Edition) tracklist below.

1. “Spotlight ”
2. “What’s Your Pleasure?”
3. “Ooh La La”
4. “Soul Control”
5. “Save A Kiss”
6. “Adore You”
7. “In Your Eyes”
8. “Step Into My Life”
9. “Read My Lips”
10. “Mirage (Don’t Stop)”
11. “The Kill”
12. “Remember Where You Are”
13. “Please”
14. “Impossible”
15. “Eyes Closed”
16. “Overtime”
17. “Hot N Heavy”
18. “Pale Blue Light”
19. “0208 (feat. Kindness)”
20. “Adore You (Endless Remix)

What’s Your Pleasure? (Platinum Pleasure Edition) is out 6/11 via PMR Records/Friends Keep Secrets/Interscope Records. Pre-order it here.

Pixar’s new animated feature Luca is like Call Me By Your Name meets The Little Mermaid, if Call Me By Your Name was a kid’s movie and The Little Mermaid had gelato in it. That’s my number one issue with The Little Mermaid: not enough frozen desserts. Luca is a coming-of-age story set in a seaside town in Italy about two sea monsters, best friends Luca and Alberto, who travel above the surface as human boys. They learn to ride bikes, jump off cliffs, and befriend a young girl, all while keeping their true form a secret. It looks fun and colorful and, most importantly, there’s gelato. Ariel could never.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera, Disney and Pixar’s original feature film Luca is a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta, and endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface.

Luca, featuring the voices of Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Marco Barricelli, Maya Rudolph, and Jim Gaffigan, released on June 18 on Disney+.

Pixar’s next film, Luca, will be released this June (right now it looks like Luca will follow the Soul plan and be available to Disney+ subscribers, but as we have learned over the last year everything is fluid). We got an early look at around 30 minutes of the (gorgeous looking) film, which introduces us to Luca, a young teen sea monster (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) who lives off the coast of an Italian fishing community – who is warned by his family of the dangers of ever going on land. Of course, Luca does go on land when he meets another teen sea monster named Alberto. And Luca learns from Alberto that, once on land, their sea monster looks disappear and they look like human teenage boys. So these two new pals hop around town with the idea in their head that if they can land themselves a shiny Vespa to ride around on, they will both have it made. They just have to avoid the townsfolk finding out their secret and have to avoid the wrath of Luca’s family for disobeying their wishes.

Ahead we spoke with Luca director Enrico Casarosa, who previously directed the Pixar short film La Luna, and producer Andrea Warren. They give us an early look at the influences of Luca, many of which come from Casarosa’s own childhood and a plethora of classic films, including Stand By Me. Also, they give us a peek inside how movies get made at Pixar these days. And are pretty clear that things have certainly changed about the kinds of movies Pixar makes since Pete Docter took over those decisions.

With Pixar, I’m always curious about the actual pitching of this movie, and how long you’ve wanted to make this, because you’ve been at Pixar a very long time.

Enrico Casarosa: After making La Luna, I certainly started thinking about “what if.” It was such a fun experience. It certainly made me eager to try my hand at a feature. Usually, there’s always a pitching of a few ideas. “Here’s the kind of stories I’m interested in,” is really what happens.

So you pitched this idea?

Enrico Casarosa: The idea itself has had a few transformations, but there was always something about the place. And there was always some sort of a changeling character at the heart of it. I’ve always been fascinated by stories that are like, is there more than meets the eye? Is that a man just fishing? Or is he going to jump in the water? There’s a whole other world there. Those were the heart of it, of the concept. That’s been a little bit in my head from that time. And then it kind of came together with the friendship, the personal story, as I started developing it. Because then the other thing is this important sense of what’s the heart of the relationship? What do you want to talk about? What are the themes? Friendship came as a strong, hard spine to it, right then as I pitched it. And then, of course, the journey actually happens quite a bit in the first year, you start putting it up and you start seeing what works, and what doesn’t. So the major changes have been in development in the first few screenings that we have in storyboard versions.

So I always have it in my head during the pitch you giving this impassioned speech about your vision and what it means to you. And then the next person just goes, “I don’t know, what if we made another Cars movie?” And then everyone’s like, “Yeah, that will make a lot of money.”

Enrico Casarosa: I think you can give more credit to some of the leadership at Pixar because there is more of a sense of, what is sparking…

I just mean it sounds like it would be hard to get a new idea in when there are so many proven commodities there, if that makes sense.

Enrico Casarosa: But I don’t think you’re going to get as easily excited if you were only making sequels, right?

Oh, I agree.

Enrico Casarosa: You always find the heart of it. If I get excited about a sequel, it’s about the idea. That has happened, and has happened plenty of times. I think we want new voices and I feel that’s important. I think Pete Docter is wonderfully open to fostering us new directors. That’s so cool, and that is different. Like Domee Shi, she’s directing the movie right after us [Turning Red]. It’s very different from ours. And we are very different from Soul. And that is really Pete Docter completely embracing that and fostering it. It’s been really wonderful to see them wanting new things. And the crews are really excited about making new things, so there’s a little lightening in the bottle that you have when you’re trying to do new things within making it.

You mentioned Pete Docter. Was there a noticeable shift when he started making the decisions? Did you feel it? Like, okay, we’re going to be doing some new stuff here?

Enrico Casarosa: There was a shift. In the sense of, a certain openness to solutions. We’ve always had good leadership that had good instincts, but sometimes we might have felt like I need to fix it this way. I think what’s wonderful is that Pete Docter is going to tell you: you have a problem here, you need to find a way to fix it. He’s all very open to the ways you can do it. Sometimes he’s like, “I’m not sure about this,” but maybe you have it. He’s a very open to different points of views, person. There isn’t a whole lot of edicts coming down other than, “let’s make an awesome movie.” He loves quirkiness. I think that’s a little bit of extra power there, that he loves different things. It’s enabling us to really open up a little bit, our style and our stories.

Andrea Warren: I’ve known Pete for years, and Enrico has as well. We’ve both been here a while, as you mentioned. I think Pete stepping in, he has a very clear vision of openness. He’s a very available mentor.

Because from the outside looking in, it does seem like we’re getting a lot of different kinds of stories now.

Andrea Warren: Yeah. And I think you’ll see that. Like you said, and Enrico mentioned: Soul, and there’s our film, and there’s so many behind us and, obviously, even more in development that are trying to embrace a lot of different new filmmakers and new perspectives. And I think it’s very exciting.

Are there other films that inspired Luca?

Enrico Casarosa: There are so many wonderful coming-of-age stories, that focus on friendship. We watch Stand By Me a lot.

That’s surprising. Because that movie has a darker tone to it.

Enrico Casarosa: For sure. Totally. We originally had a slightly larger cast, we had a third kid. But we then decided that we wanted to focus more on Luca and Alberto. I mean, we knew Luca was a protagonist, but we had the funny third wheeler…

I feel bad for the funny third-wheeler. We’re now never going to know.

Enrico Casarosa: Well, he’s in the movie, in a different incarnation. There are just so many amazing coming-of-age movies that I love. I think we watch so many. And then Italian movies. Seeping myself into the Italian fifties Golden Era was a big part of this. Fellini, and De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves. La Terra Trema I mentioned often because it’s very much of the small fishing town with non-actors, so we looked at it very carefully. Beautiful, beautiful, specific design and the true working-class. Those are the inspirations for a lot of what we’ve done. I’m trying to think of any other movies. Of course, I’m a huge Miyazaki fan. Visually speaking, I kind of love it: Think in those terms and this intention also for nature that I love. And I want to portray a kid who was experiencing beautiful nature and a beautiful Italian town for the first time. It gave us this opportunity, for not only imagination, but also wonder and attention.

Luca will be released on June 18th and stream via Disney+. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Marvel Comics’ Colossus is no stranger to different looks. The Fox movies even handled the frequently metal-skinned mutant differently in the X-Men films (he was portrayed by Daniel Cudmore) than in the two Deadpool flicks, where he was joint-portrayed by five different actors (including Stefan Kapicic). The comics have now further refreshed his look, though, and it’s one that’s prompting remarks akin to those Infinity War-era Thicc Thanos jokes. The thing is, though, these new remarks sound much more serious. People are genuinely thirsty over the new Colossus look that’s grabbing all kinds of attention for the upcoming “Hellfire Gala” crossover event.

Marvel Entertainment didn’t even need to put him in the center of the other attendees (Sunfire, Synch, Wolverine and Cannonball) because he’s grabbing all of the attention. “One era ends as a new one begins,” the Marvel tweet read.

As Entertainment Weekly reveals, the Hellfire Gala will gather up all manner of mutants “to celebrate their ascendancy following the foundation of an independent mutant nation-state on the living island of Krakoa.” This is poised to be one hell of a party, given that it will spread across a dozen X-Men comics, which will be followed by the emergence of a new X-Men team. And they are fashionable types, but it seems like everyone is only looking at Colossus. As one Twitter user wrote, “colossus really said i’m gonna make you forget all the bad things i’ve done by looking sexy… i’m not forgetting but i am looking.”

This comparison between Bucky’s arm and a certain part of Colossus’ anatomy is, well, relevant. Thank goodness for comic-book artists who simply cannot help themselves. Let the dreamcasting begin.

Violet Grohl and her father Dave released their first collaborative single a few days ago, a cover of X’s “Nausea.” The younger Grohl sounded like a seasoned pro singing on the track, and she delivered a similarly confident performance of the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night. She and her father were joined by Krist Novoselic (Dave Grohl’s former Nirvana bandmate), Dave Lombardo (of bands like Slayer and the Misfits), and Greg Kurstin (a regular Foo Fighters collaborator as a producer and a member of The Bird And The Bee).

In a recent post, Dave Grohl explained the familial significance of the song and wrote of recording the track with his daughter:

“It felt so meaningful to have the first song Violet and I record together be a tribute to our Bonebrake heritage. I crossed my fingers and awaited her response. Around 9 pm she answered with an excited ‘Yes!’ so I ran upstairs to my little demo studio and recorded the instrumental tracks as fast as I could. After about half an hour, I was done, and I brought her into the vocal booth to sing her part. As nervous as she was, she stepped up to the microphone and sang with the power and confidence of a seasoned pro as I engineered the session like a proud father, encouraging her to let it all out. I then sang my harmonies over her vocal in the chorus, our two voices blending perfectly in the mix, and we smiled upon listening to playback at full volume. It was a moment that superseded anything musical. A life moment that I will cherish forever. A family moment.”

Watch the Grohls and their supergroup perform “Nausea” above.

Much of the curiosity on my end regarding Apple TV+’s The Mosquito Coast involved whether it could justify being remade (or rebooted, or relaunched, or whatever term you wanna use). The 1986 film (based upon Paul Theroux’s 1981 novel) starring Harrison Ford turned out to be a box-office non-entity, which is telling, considering that Ford should have been a huge draw at the time after the original Star Wars trilogy and the first Indiana Jones movie. Here, too, he played a renegade type, Allie Fox, albeit in a role that pushed hard against his charismatic rogue characters. His Fox was a brilliant and idealistic but paranoid and frighteningly erratic inventor, a guy who railed against everything that America stood for but arguably became the embodiment of what we now know as the Ugly American stereotype. In retrospect, the film’s an interesting character study; and I imagine that a series could have been an intriguing project, had it committed to exploring an even deeper emotional terrain with its extended runtime. Worth stressing: this is brought to the small screen by, you know, the same conglomerate that pushes out different iPhones almost every year.

In a way, the timing of the series starring Justin Theroux is awkward. It’s (unintentionally) releasing almost immediately after consumers saw the star player of the most recent Apple event — the purple edition iPhone that is visually stunning (like this show) but kind-of has no reason to exist other than to entice people to trade in older phones. To Apple’s credit, they’ve got a serious recycling policy, but there’s no denying that the company’s frequent phone upgrades encourage the rabid consumerism that’s tackled in Paul Theroux’s novel and the faithful Ford film. Hell, I would have been interested to see how Apple would put up a worthwhile exploration about an eccentric, overbearing, and eventually psychotic patriarch who drags his family to Mexico as a grand statement against the evils of consumerism. Yet the series resembles the film in set-up only. Actually, it bizarrely feels like the show doesn’t wish to remake the film or reimagine Paul Theroux’s book nearly as much as it wants to be the next Breaking Bad.

More like Breaking Worst. I know: worst joke ever, but the reason why this show chose that direction is confusing, considering that star Justin Theroux is the nephew of Paul Theroux, so presumably, this series was a labor of love. Both are executive producing, too, so they must have wanted the pseudo-Walter White thing to happen. Unfortunately, the show omits the element that made Heisenberg compelling and downright irresistible: Walt began as a character that viewers could identify with. Never, even for a moment, is Justin Theroux’s Allie Fox someone that people can relate to or feel sympathy for or even comprehend, especially since his ultimate cause remains a mystery. So, it’s hard to care about Allie at all. In fact, it’s very easy to despise him.

Worst adventure ever, Dad.

Granted, there are worse approaches out there than aiming for the Breaking Bad mold. Ozark has successfully done so without appearing too derivative, but The Mosquito Coast TV series feels derivative of both shows. And that might not have been an issue, either (the family-man-turned-criminal-to-provide-for-his-family template’s one that viewers enjoy), but the fatal problem is that the show does not successfully pull a Walter White with Allie Fox. As with the film, Fox remains unlikeable overall, but the film portrayed an incrementally deteriorating mental state, whereas the series starts Allie off as balls-out, wild-eyed crazy. He’s profoundly unsympathetic from the beginning. This tweaked-up Allie seems to exist so that Justin Theroux can be, like, the edgiest character ever. So unhinged, so insufferable, yet so magnetic! Yes, Justin Theroux can’t help but bring a magnetic presence to any project, but dude, it’s too much here.

I could not warm up to this new Allie Fox, which crushes the whole point of a Walter White character, given that the Vince Gilligan-created series began with an objectively good man whose initial goal — to deal with his cancer-stricken state by raising some cash and doing exactly what the show title suggested — was, if not honorable, at least semi-understandable. Walt’s transformation into ruthless meth kingpin felt so incremental that the end result worked, and the audience couldn’t help but root (at least a little bit) for Heisenberg. Whereas Allie Fox is the type of character that I want to shove into an elevator shaft. There’s nothing likable about this guy, and it’s impossible to guess the process by which his wife, Margot (Melissa George), fell under his spell to the degree that she conceded that it’s feasible to push their kids, Dina (Logan Polish) and Charlie (Gabriel Bateman), though a never-ending nightmare that will f*ck them up for life.

More to the point: why on earth are the NSA and drug cartels after Allie? Why must his family live this existence? No one seems to know, or at least, no one will clarify a thing. It’s frustrating to sit through countless chase scenes, brutal action layups, and perpetually suffering family members, along with the absence of any real character development. There should have been plenty of time for that in seven hours to add texture. Instead, the family members seem shell-shocked and numb with Theroux’s madman popping wheelies around them. It’s exhausting to witness.

The Mosquito Coast turns out to be an uncomfortable watch. For seven interminable installments, we watch these poor teens receive zero relief as they’re pulled along on an unwanted “adventure” (that word’s from the Apple TV+ synopsis) with Dad and Mom. Granted, it’s not unexpected for a show that wants to be prestige TV to claim some epic-style adventure-approach. Yet Allie practically terrorizes his family, and what they go through most certainly qualifies as abuse, starting with being uprooted for a mystery reason, and suddenly, dad’s hanging with cartels and coyotes. And my goodness, this show looks expensive, yet it feels like, despite the often-gorgeous surroundings, an anti-ASMR show, even as background noise. Fox’s delusions grow to the point where it’s sometimes hard to believe what’s happening, and it makes less of a statement about consumerism and the dangers of a free market than it, as I said already, does the Walter White thing in a misfired manner. It’s a stressful series to behold, and that’s probably not the vibe that both Paul and Justin Theroux were aiming to achieve here.

Apple TV+’s ‘The Mosquito Coast’ debuts on April 30.