WASTED ENERGY

Blog on all things music. From local show reviews, to crusty opinion pieces, interviews with the stars, and historical content from "Waste Paper," a 1980s zine.
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Will any album ever outsell Michael Jackson's Thriller?
Will any album ever outsell Michael Jackson's Thriller?
A couple of weeks ago, I watched a customer grab a copy of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” off the Wax Trax best sellers wall. “The biggest selling album of all time…”... Read more...
Artists versus AI
Artists versus AI
I’ve been a musician for the better part of eight years, and trying to make a name for myself has been  a game of patience, trial and error, and spending... Read more...
TRAITRS: When half a band disappears with no explanation
TRAITRS: When half a band disappears with no explanation
I sought to separate fact from fiction about the recent change in TRAITRS synth player Sean Patrick Nolan, and I’ve gathered what meager evidence there is so that you, the... Read more...
Anything but country
Anything but country
If you’ve asked people the question “what type of music do you listen to?” chances are that you’ve probably the response “anything but country music” at least once or twice.... Read more...
The New Payola
The New Payola
Payola: The illegal act of paying or bribing a radio station to play your record on the radio or television without disclosing the payment. It was made officially illegal in... Read more...
The double-edged sword of biopics
The double-edged sword of biopics
It isn’t very often I have a good excuse to talk about movies here in Wasted Energy. But with the recent release of “Michael” (the first installment in the two... Read more...
Yet another crash threatens Wax Trax
Yet another crash threatens Wax Trax
When the first car hit our family business at 13th and Washington, I was 9 years old. I was still playing records on my Fisher Price turntable – Disney’s “Chilling... Read more...
Five of my highly anticipated albums this Summer
Five of my highly anticipated albums this Summer
A few months ago, I wrote an article touting my most anticipated albums of early 2026. So now that we’re nearly five months into 2026, and four of my five... Read more...
Some stories about our favorite regular, shared in his memory
Some stories about our favorite regular, shared in his memory
An ode to the amazing Stephen Hibbert Some people don’t just shop at a record store, they become part of it. Steve Hibbert, our friend and favorite regular, was one... Read more...
What makes a good cover?
What makes a good cover?
One of my most anticipated albums of 2026 (so far) was released last month – “Xiu Mutha F**kin’ Xiu (Vol. One)” by Xiu Xiu. For those of you unfamiliar ,... Read more...
Our WTF genre system
Our WTF genre system
More than once I’ve heard someone question aloud why this band or that band is this or that section in the store, and sometimes I even agree with them and... Read more...
I listened to 500 Albums in one year and I regret it
I listened to 500 Albums in one year and I regret it
By Oscar Gallup (guest contributor) Back on New Year’s Day 2025, I resolved to listen to 300 LPs that I’d never heard by the end of the year. As it... Read more...
Five of my highly anticipated albums in early 2026
Five of my highly anticipated albums in early 2026
Every January, music fans speculate about who might be putting out new music over the course of the year. And while some are built over false hope (I’m talking to... Read more...
Liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s Hi-Fi buy guide
Liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s Hi-Fi buy guide
Got some records for Christmas, but nothing to play them on? Maybe a bit of green from granny and grandpa? Has your post-holiday indulgence restriction not kicked in yet? Want... Read more...
What the hell is recession pop?
What the hell is recession pop?
Every generation has slang words and phrases that are specific to the time period they were raised in. But Gen Z slang is algorithmically supercharged thanks to the rapid life... Read more...
A post-punk primer: ‘…don’t walk away in silence’
A post-punk primer: ‘…don’t walk away in silence’
There was punk, and it was a gesture, a door kicked open, a single gunshot in the hallway of the early 70s—and then there was the echoing silence that followed.... Read more...
Rap’s next superstars
Rap’s next superstars
(Note: As of writing, “AMERIKA’S NEXT TOP PARTY!” hasn’t been pressed on vinyl—though I’ve got a feeling that’ll change soon. When it does, we’ll be sure to update this.) It’s... Read more...
Demystifying jazz for the casual listener
Demystifying jazz for the casual listener
Jazz has a unique place among the American cultural consciousness–even today, around 80 to 100 years after jazz’s mainstream heyday, there is still a sort of ubiquitous, background awareness of... Read more...
Gender Bullies: ‘Cruelty is the Point’
Gender Bullies: ‘Cruelty is the Point’
[Editor’s note: This is a follow-up piece to Duane’s Ethel Cain review last week – read that piece here.] ‘Are you a boy, or are you a girl?With your long... Read more...
King of Nuthin
King of Nuthin
While walking home to my Airbnb from the Record Store Day “Summer Camp” conference this week in New Orleans, I got a taste of the southern city’s slower pace, and... Read more...
Clipse reach icon status
Clipse reach icon status
After nearly 16 years apart, Virginia Beach’s rap duo Clipse recently reunited and put out the brand new album, “Let God Sort ‘Em Out,” available now. Coming in at 13... Read more...
A new table, not a seat at the old one
A new table, not a seat at the old one
Photos by Michael McGrath [Editor’s note – If you missed it, also read Showing Up and Stepping Back from earlier this month.] Last summer I got called a cunt for... Read more...
Showing up and stepping back
Showing up and stepping back
Dancing in the margins at Lambrini Girls (Larimer Lounge on May 13, 2025) Photos by Alexis Bolton (@alexisaleanaa) for FEMMUSIC Lambrini Girls at Larimer Lounge on May 13th, 2025 in... Read more...
Collective Effervescence: Music as Medicine for Disconnection
Collective Effervescence: Music as Medicine for Disconnection
By Susan Abbott, organizer of Analog Salon I recently read an article on 6 Ways Live Music Could Help with the Loneliness Epidemic. As a social science researcher, it struck... Read more...
Resonance #10: Images of Domesticity in “Lady and the Tramp” and “Sid and Nancy” (1986)
Resonance #10: Images of Domesticity in “Lady and the Tramp” and “Sid and Nancy” (1986)
When I wrote the following review of the “Sid and Nancy” movie back in 1986, Sid Vicious (the storied second bassist of the Sex Pistols and subject of the movie)... Read more...
I have become an unparalleled master of selecting tracks for event playlists and I’m just going to give these secrets to you here, for free, for some reason
I have become an unparalleled master of selecting tracks for event playlists and I’m just going to give these secrets to you here, for free, for some reason
I run an outdoor market here in Denver called Market in the Park-et, and I can’t afford to pay a DJ fairly, so I am also the music selector. But... Read more...
The view from one little record shop
The view from one little record shop
Our little Wax Trax Records is just one of 33 million small businesses in the US, and our staff are just 20 Americans out of 340 million, so we don’t... Read more...
From behind the Record Store Day counter
From behind the Record Store Day counter
Record Store Day is arguably the most anticipated day of the year for a certain stripe of vinyl enthusiast. It’s a day where the all ages music-loving community get together... Read more...
Is the internet destroying the world, and is analog the answer?
Is the internet destroying the world, and is analog the answer?
Once again I’ve been roped into “writing something” for the newsletter by our brilliant and youthful staff – and true to form for the old man I am, it’s gonna... Read more...
Wax Trax is for lovers
Wax Trax is for lovers
Over the years, Wax Trax has wormed its way into the hearts of many of Denver’s lovers. Whether it be the soigné fiances bonding quietly in the Radiohead section, or... Read more...
Shows on a Denver teen’s radar
Shows on a Denver teen’s radar
Hey again! I’m Sam, the resident not-intern-anymore-employee-now at Wax Trax. Last August, I wrote about what music a kid in the Wax Trax orbit is listening to, since I was... Read more...
A eulogy for TikTok (from a Gen Z audiophile)
A eulogy for TikTok (from a Gen Z audiophile)
On January 19, TikTok could be banned in the United States. Reportedly there will be a way around it, at least for a while, or maybe Elon Musk will add... Read more...
Rolling on the Wax Trax in 2025
Rolling on the Wax Trax in 2025
All signs seem to be pointing in ominous directions for the immediate future of our country and our world (no matter what your political bent is), but while I lead... Read more...
Are album rollouts a dying art?
Are album rollouts a dying art?
On November 22, Kendrick Lamar released his sixth studio album “GNX” without any fanfare, surprising many. That sentence alone might not sound crazy to some, especially with the victory lap... Read more...
Forty-five years later
Forty-five years later
Pictures by @isabelvphotography Next May will mark 45 years since Joy Division singer Ian Curtis succumbed to depression on the eve of the band’s first US tour. His suicide led... Read more...
Getting punched at FIDLAR
Getting punched at FIDLAR
While thrashing and flailing in the FIDLAR mosh pit last week, my best friend and I locked eyes, and braced myself for her fist against my face. The concept had... Read more...
A brief rant on the sanctity of the album
A brief rant on the sanctity of the album
Do you remember the first album you loved? I don’t mean the first album you bought, or the one with a couple songs you liked. I mean the first album... Read more...
The changing face of selling records
The changing face of selling records
Coming back to work at Wax Trax after being a teacher for the last twenty years has been the perfect transition into semi-retirement. The store hasn’t fundamentally changed. It’s still... Read more...
In the Wax Trax orbit: From Greeley fangirl to momming a Wax Traxxer
In the Wax Trax orbit: From Greeley fangirl to momming a Wax Traxxer
I was 16 the first time I set foot in Denver’s Wax Trax Records. It was the late 80s. Pretty in Pink had recently taught all my friends what I... Read more...
Queer art doesn’t exist in a void
Queer art doesn’t exist in a void
Opinion piece We are currently experiencing an unprecedented cultural phenomenon, dare I say, a nation-sweeping femininomenon. In the past couple months, self proclaimed ‘Midwest Princess’ Chappell Roan has risen to... Read more...
Is the concept album back?
Is the concept album back?
A visit into the modern concept album (and my personal favorites) The other day, tapping away at a dusty computer in a dark corner of Wax Trax, I overheard a... Read more...
Is music streaming on shaky ground? 
Is music streaming on shaky ground? 
Universal Music removes their catalog from TikTok Several weeks ago Universal Music Group (UMG), one of the “Big Three” in recorded music production and distribution, removed all their artists’ music... Read more...
The Tall Man with the Breakup Ukulele
The Tall Man with the Breakup Ukulele
There is an uncanny charm that seeps from Wax Trax’s heavily postered walls. It goes far beyond the age of the building, the circus of mice seen only by lucky... Read more...
Brief Noise Complaint Rant
Brief Noise Complaint Rant
The whole mess strikes us as the city’s left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. On the city’s right hand, the city has a call out to... Read more...
Help bring back Sidewalk Shows!
Help bring back Sidewalk Shows!
Your local music scene needs you! Last year, one of our neighbors decided to try to end the weekly 2-3 hour long sidewalk shows we’ve been offering since 2020 (also... Read more...