Still relevant after all these years.

Ahead of upcoming Chicago shows this week from The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Sloan, I'm faced with the question over whether either band has any current relevancy. I'm not gonna give away my critical reasons behind my answer, you gotta read Chicagoist tomorrow and Thursday for that, but I ultimately land in the camp of "you're damn right they do!"

OK, here's a sneak peek; despite the '90s flaming out as music plunged into a sea of irony, I maintain that many bands from early in the decade always believed in THE MUSIC and shielded themselves with that belief.

Then again Sloan almost broke up after their second album and critics have long debated Spencer's authenticity, so maybe I'm way off. Then again, Sloan DIDN'T break up and Spencer showed fearlessness when it came to challenging fan expectation without so much as a single wink, so maybe I'm not way off at all.

Tune in over this week to see if I end up making any sense or crumble over my own internal conflicting opinions!