Why are there so few great songs about not selling out? A Gen X rabbit hole through punk, ska, Devo, and suburban conformity.
Pop Thruster
Your pop culture afterburner – fueling obsessive pop culture projects and deeply opinionated coverage of TV, movies, and music.
The Biden Years: How TV Reflected Our Mood Between Trump Regimes
How TV captured the national mood during the Biden years — trauma, absurdism, capitalism, and the uneasy calm between Trump eras.
Band of Brothers’ “Currahee” is a masterclass in storytelling
“Currahee,” Band of Brothers’ opening episode, remains a masterclass in full immersion storytelling.
Warfare: modern war as messy endurance test
How Warfare reframes modern combat as messy, raw, and wildly realistic.
When Matt Damon breaks bad
Matt Damon is one of Hollywood’s most likable stars — which makes his bad and morally gray roles even more fascinating.
Pop Thruster Afterburner: Sunday night is Sunday night again
Sunday night TV is back, with thoughts on Industry, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Tubi deep dives, Black Mirror, and recent music obsessions.
“That’s one shot, kid”: the fantasy of righteous violence on Jersey Shore (and Long Island)
Jersey Shore, Long Island bullies, and Ronnie’s infamous “one shot” — a pop culture memoir about vengeance and fantasy.
The Rip is a good movie (that knows it’s a movie)
The Rip is a good, pulpy crime thriller that knows it’s a movie — not a limited series, not prestige TV, just a tight two-hour ride.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and the joy of small, talky prestige TV
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms delivers small stakes, sharp writing, and genuine laughs — a refreshing reminder of the joy of talky prestige TV.
A car door closing opens the world of The Sopranos
The Sopranos, early Netflix DVDs, and how a single car door opens up memory, pop culture, and time.
Top 50 Stephen King books ranked (by how much they’ve meant to my life)
The 50 Stephen King books that have meant the most to my life, ranked from The Dark Tower to 11/22/63 and beyond.
Five wildly underrated TV shows from the 2020s
Five astoundingly good TV shows from the 2020s that got lost in the cultural shuffle — and are absolutely worth your time.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: a different kind of Ser affair
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms teases a smaller, lighter Westeros story — less dragons, more humor, and a legit good guy at the center.
Black Mirror gets a Season 8 (or: an excuse to rank every Black Mirror episode)
With Season 8 on the way, here’s Pop Thruster’s take on every Black Mirror episode, revealing what the show does best when it’s scary — and when it’s beautiful.
Queen serves up fried chicken (and all was well)
Iron Eagle, Queen’s “One Vision,” and a fried chicken lyric collide in a nostalgic dive into ’80s movies, music, and formative pop culture.
My Battle With One Battle After Another
I wanted to love One Battle After Another. Instead, it forced me to confront my discomfort with political violence and what I want out of art.
Pop Thruster Scene Busters: Colin Hanks, the Earnest Everyman
A Scene Busters look at Colin Hanks’ TV career — from Band of Brothers to Fargo — and why his earnest everyman presence keeps showing up in great shows.
In the Industry pilot episode, “Induction,” everything happens
A lot goes down in the Industry pilot, HBO’s go-hard drama about high finance in London.
Pop Thruster’s 50 most rewatchable movies of the 21st Century
50 movies from this century we return to again and again.
15 sensational TV episodes from the 2020s
The best TV episodes of the 2020s so far — 15 unforgettable hours from Succession, Andor, Atlanta, The Last of Us, and beyond.
Pop Thruster Scene Busters: True Romance’s obscenely great cameos
Pop Thruster Scene Busters spotlights the iconic cameos that hijack True Romance — from Gandolfini and Oldman to Walken, Pitt, and Hopper.
Pop Thruster Afterburner: Pluribus, ‘90s indie film fest, and the cool of The Uncool
A holiday Afterburner from Pop Thruster: Pluribus, ’90s indie movies, comfort TV, books, headphones, and a game worth your time.
9 things that drive me nuts about the Mad Men pilot, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”
Rewatching Mad Men’s pilot means asking dangerous questions.
“Like to Get to Know You Well” is the most 1980s song ever
Better Off Dead + synth pop + Howard Jones equals the most 1980s song ever.
9 new TV shows Pop Thruster is tracking heading into 2026
Tracking the new TV shows heading into 2026 that actually caught our attention, including A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, DTF St. Louis, and RJ Decker.
Scorsese and the Billions guys are making a Vegas show? Count me all in
A modern Las Vegas drama from the Billions creators has Martin Scorsese on board, and that alone is reason to be amped.
Pluribus curious? Vince Gilligan’s latest is unpredictable and dazzling
Pluribus is Vince Gilligan’s bold, unpredictable new Apple TV+ series. Here’s why it’s one of the most fascinating shows on television right now.
Pop Thruster’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2025
Pop Thruster’s Top 10 TV shows of 2025, from The White Lotus and Task to The Rehearsal and The Last of Us, ranked by what hit hardest this year.
Landman has better actors than it deserves
Landman is fun, pulpy TV, but its real secret weapon is an absurdly stacked cast. Billy Bob Thornton, Ali Larter, Demi Moore and more elevate it.
Carlito’s Way is a Mount Rushmore New York City movie
Carlito’s Way earns Mount Rushmore NYC status: Pacino at his most grounded, Penn unhinged, and De Palma delivering a stunning, muscular final half hour.
Nirvana – Nevermind: #1 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I don’t care what you think unless it is about me.
R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi: #2 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I don’t know what I’m hungry for – I don’t know what I want anymore.
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti: #3 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace, sounds caress my ear.
The Doors – The Doors: #4 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Break on through to the other side.
Frank Black – Teenager of the Year: #5 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I want to live on an abstract plain.
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique: #6 of best 1,000 albums ever!
It’s the sound of science.
The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely: #16 of best 1,000 albums ever!
How you gonna top yourself when there is nobody else?
Operation Ivy – Operation Ivy: #7 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Sound system gonna bring me back up, yeah, one thing that I can depend on.
Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers): #8 of best 1,000 albums ever!
And if you want beef, then bring the ruckus.
The Beatles – Abbey Road: #9 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Because the world is round, it turns me on because the world is round.
Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine: #10 of best 1,000 albums ever!
The land of the free? Whoever told you that is your enemy.
Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York: #11 of best 1,000 albums ever!
In the pines, in the pines, where the sun don’t ever shine, I would shiver the whole night through.
The Doors – Strange Days: #12 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Cancel my subscription to the resurrection.
A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders: #13 of best 1,000 albums ever!
We can get down.
The Beatles – Revolver: #14 of best 1,000 albums ever!
All the lonely people – where do they all come from?
R.E.M. – Live at the Olympia: #15 of best 1,000 albums ever!
This is not a show.
Radiohead – Kid A: #17 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I’m not here, this isn’t happening.
Beck – One Foot in the Grave: #18 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I got time on my hands.
Why didn’t anyone tell me there’s a Nobody Wants This and Party Down connected universe?
Ryan Hansen’s Kyle from Party Down shows up in Nobody Wants This – yes, in a Karma Rocket shirt – creating a surprise connected TV universe.
The White Stripes – White Blood Cells: #19 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Said it once before but it bears repeating now.