Category: SAY IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY

Happy birthday to Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum)—and the horse you road in on. Read Tommy Stinson (Replacements, Guns ’N Roses) on Soul Asylum in MAGNET here.

Happy birthday to Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Evens, Dischord). Dischord is the “D” and you’re the “I” in DIY. Read the Soundtrack Of Our Lives on Ian in MAGNET here.

Happy birthday to Patrick Carney (Black Keys); photo for MAGNET by the great Joshua Black Wilkins. Giving the drummer some. Read our Black Keys cover story here.

A decade ago today, Frightened Rabbit released breakthrough sophomore album The Midnight Organ Fight. In fact, we named it the seventh best LP of 2008, saying, “How did Frightened Rabbit go from U.K. indie-rock upstart to author of one of the year’s top albums? Tiny changes: simple guitar melodies distilled more than single-malt Scotch; a quivering, mouth-filling brogue cracking at the edges with naked emotion; and sexually charged songs beating strong with a bleeding heart. (Thesis couplet: ‘You won’t find love in a hole/It takes more than fucking someone to keep yourself warm.’) In lesser hands, lyrics as uneasily honest, direct and revealing as these could have been a deal-breaker. Coming from the brothers Hutchison, they are a revelation.”

Want even more of MAGNET on Frightened Rabbit and The Midnight Organ Fight? Read our initial review of the album from earlier in 2008. Even though technically it was the Year of the Rat, 2008 was also the Year of the Rabbit.

Frightened Rabbit: The Midnight Organ Fight [Fat Cat]

Happy 50th birthday to Ed O’Brien (Radiohead). Not anyone can play guitar. Read our 2003 Radiohead cover story here.

Happy birthday to Bessie Smith. Lady sang the blues. Read Madeleine Peyroux on Smith, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and more in MAGNET here.

We never were a Pete Rose fan (the betting on baseball, the tax evasion, the banging of young girls, the general douchebagness), but since Bob Pollard did the music for a documentary on Charlie Hustle (ladies and germs, that would be a great porn name if it’s not already taken), we’ll wish Petey a happy 77th birthday. But no Hall Of Fame for you!

Happy birthday to Win Butler (Arcade Fire). He exists. Read our review of the band’s great, most recent LP here.

51 years ago today, the Bee Gees released their first non-Australia-only single, “New York Mining Disaster 1941.” A photograph of someone that we knew. Read Eric Matthews (Cardinal) on the brothers Gibb in MAGNET here.

Happy birthday to Britt Daniel (Spoon). We want your soul. Cover photo for MAGNET by the great Autumn de Wilde. Read our MAGNET Classics on the making of Girls Can Tell here.