We waited 17 years for this?
Jim DeRogatis: With the very rarest of exceptions, rock 'n' roll is a dish best served steaming hot, with as little delay as possible between the inspiration of the creative oven and the final garnishing of the finished album. Even some of its most celebrated epics -- "Led Zeppelin IV," "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" by Genesis or "The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd -- had relatively quick, no-muss, no-fuss origins.

Will Rise Against be the next big Chicago band?
Jim DeRogatis: The Chicago quartet Rise Against doesn't fit neatly into any pigeonholes. As ultra-melodic hard-core punks with a serious political consciousness, the musicians never were part of this city's vibrant pop-punk scene or its venerated art-punk tradition, and some peg the group as the next local band destined for the multiplatinum success of Fall Out Boy.

Smashing Pumpkins deliver bombast from the past
Jim DeRogatis: Just shy of eight years after what he said was the band's last show ever at Metro in December 2000, Billy Corgan finally brought the Smashing Pumpkins back home to Chicago Tuesday, marking the return of a key band of the alternative era and one of the best-selling groups this city has produced.

Robyn Hitchcock's chatter is as artful as his songs
Jim DeRogatis: When it comes to stage patter, there’s perfunctory, there’s innocuous and then there’s Robyn Hitchcock. One of the psychedelic troubadour’s many talents is the ability to spontaneously unleash great gushing torrents of free-associated surrealism in between songs, playing with language the way a great bebop improviser plays fast and loose with melody.

What ever happened to the class of '93?
Jim DeRogatis: During its intoxicating heyday in the mid-'90s, "alternative rock" was an ambiguous term for a wide variety of idiosyncratic bands that never subscribed to any one style, coherent aesthetic or single way of doing business. "Alternative to what?" was the question some asked, and it was a good one. But there was one similarity to the many groups that stormed the pop charts after the phenomenal success of Nirvana's "Nevermind" (1991).

Great Pumpkin vows: No more James, D'arcy

Though Billy Corgan has almost always been eager to talk in the past -- in fact, many times, it was hard to shut him up -- the always enigmatic leader of the Smashing Pumpkins has declined numerous invitations to speak to the Sun-Times dating to well before the release of "Zeitgeist" in July 2007.

Spin Control: CD reviews and samples

Demo2Dero: The Avatars
It seems as if the power-pop torch will never be extinguished in these parts, and that's a good thing, at least when bands like the Avatars can make that familiar Big Star/Cheap Trick/Material Issue/Matthew Sweet formula of huge guitars, massive choruses and thundering drums sound as fresh and vital as it does on songs like "Oh Denise" and "Clockwork," a cautionary (or is that celebratory?) tale of "another Midwest love affair," just two of the gems that can be sampled playing on the band's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/theavatarsus).

Deerhunter sets record straight about album's launch

In a brave new media world where most underground rock bands would kill to garner the sort of Internet buzz that greeted "Microcastle," the third album by the Atlanta, Ga., avant-pop quintet Deerhunter, bandleader Bradford Cox had a very different reaction when the music leaked last May, several months ahead of its official release.

Who should rock Barack?
Jim DeRogatis: These days the pop music beat touches upon every aspect of life: politics, religion, sex, the environment, the economy, technology and the law, to name a few. Music is simply the connective thread, because there is absolutely no aspect of life that doesn't involve music.

Demo2DeRo: The Handcuffs

Fronted by sultry vocalist Chloe F. Orwell and powered by irrepressible drummer Brad Elvis, the Handcuffs came together several years ago as a duo, forming from the ashes of the local power-pop band Big Hello and drawing on a range of glam and cool pop influences from David Bowie to Blondie to Britpop. The group eventually expanded to become a quartet with the addition of bassist Emily Togni and guitarist-keyboardist-multi-instrumentalist Ellis Clark, and at long last, they're celebrating the follow-up to their debut album "Model for a Revolution" with the release of their new disc "Electroluv."

Spin Control: CD reviews and samples

Hitchcock looks back at his most introspective work
Jim DeRogatis: After splitting from his influential band the Soft Boys, English psychedelic rocker and surrealist folk troubadour Robyn Hitchcock launched his solo career with a fine album called "Black Snake Diamond Role" (1981). But then something went wrong.

Ghoulish grooves and monster mashes around town
Jim DeRogatis: The Chicago rock scene has a long tradition of pulling out all the stops on Halloween, whether it’s local bands donning the fashions and sounds of some of their musical idols for special one-off cover sets, or local venues booking the most frightening music from across the country in honor of our scariest holiday. Here is run-down of the very best tricks and treats in club land commemorating All Hallows Eve, 2008.

Rhythm of life: Byrne solo still echoes Eno influence
Jim DeRogatis: David Byrne’s collaborator on the recent album “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today” — as well as on the 1981 release “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” and the three most wildly inventive albums by his old band, the Talking Heads — was nowhere in evidence among all of those white-clad bodies gyrating on the stark black stage. Nevertheless, the influence of Brian Eno loomed large on nearly every note throughout the Sunday night concert at Chicago's Civic Opera House.