Brendan Menapace

Brendan Menapace is a Philadelphia-based journalist. He is the Content Director for industry publication Print+Promo Marketing Magazine, and was a Managing Editor for Philly music magazine JUMP until its end. His writing has appeared on Vice, SPIN, Esquire, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, The Recording Academy, WXPN and more. He also has a free Substack newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.

Stereogum •

Modern Baseball's 'You're Gonna Miss It All' Turns 10

Released 10 years ago this Sunday, You’re Gonna Miss It All, Modern Baseball’s first release for emo kingmaker Run For Cover Records, became the band’s statement piece — a statement that they were growing up, to some degree. (“I’ll admit, I’m in the same boat/ Caught between my adolescent safety net/ And where the world wants me to be”). They were growing out of the basement shows they hosted in their West Philly house. The names they were touring with were becoming more recognizable. MoBo mean
Esquire •

What I Learned From Studying Every MLB Player's Walk-Up Song

To so many kids around the world, Major League Baseball players are superheroes. And what do ballplayers and actual superheroes have in common? Well, they're just about the only people on Earth who get to have their own theme song. (So to speak.) So, when a Little Leaguer goes up to bat, they imagine they’re in a stadium—and the announcer’s voice rings out, as they say their name. The crowd goes wild. And, of course, the young athlete's walk-up music pumps through the stadium's speakers.
SPIN •

Alaska: Rock's Final Frontier

For most bands, Alaska is far. Seattle is a nearly two-day drive nonstop from Anchorage, making it pretty hard to squeeze in between shows when you’re running around the country in an unreliable van. That means the next option is flying. Well, flying isn’t always cheap. And for bands with a lot of gear or a large touring party, the cost of those seats and checked bags cuts deep into a budget. It’s also icy as shit for a lot of the year, and sometimes it’s just hard to walk around. “The bigges
Substack •

Radiation Radio

I’m laying on my back, my torso is sticking out of the small MRI machine. My lower half is inside, currently covered by a miniature towel that seems useless at this point, as the radiation techs have already gotten a full, in-real-life view of all of me, as well as a high definition X-ray before the actual treatment starts in order to make sure my bladder is adequately full, something they assured me is important for this whole procedure. My hands are wrapped around a little foam circle, making
SPIN •

The 40 Best Emo Love Songs

While emo music might be most associated with sadness and heartbreak, those lovelorn artists couldn’t have written such songs without experiencing some serious romantic highs. Since it’s Valentine’s Day, we wanted to focus on the good parts of love more than the bad — although there’s still some unhappiness and resentment mixed in. (I mean, it is still emo after all.) SPIN’s writers spanned decades, waves and numerous albums looking for the top emo love songs, and now we’ve gathered them all he
SPIN •

The 30 Best Songs of 2021

A pair of rappers pulling off the best Tom Tom Club sample since Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” (G Perico & Rucci), an iconic New Wave band trafficking in tongue-in-cheek nostalgia (Duran Duran), a blackgaze act embracing their love of vocal harmony (Deafheaven), and psych-rockers using the shopping mall as a metaphor for capitalist greed (My Morning Jacket) — SPIN‘s 30 Best Songs of 2021 offer something for everyone. For our latest year-end track recap, we kept our overall sorting process the same a
Secret Magazine •

Skate Videos and Unhoused People

If you’ve spent any time watching skate videos, you’ve likely encountered a clip featuring someone experiencing homelessness. At its most harmless, skate videos portray them as excited onlookers to a clandestine session. However, the line between celebration and exploitation is never terribly clear. As skateboarding, along with the world at large, reconsiders its relationship to privilege, white supremacy, and mental health, it seems like as good a time as ever to reconsider how skaters capture
Substack •

Think About Direction

Queens of the Stone Age’s 2002 album Songs for the Deaf is gapless, meaning each song blends into one another. But unlike other gapless albums where the instrumentals of one song give way to the instrumentals of the next, many of the songs are tethered together through radio vignettes meant to depict the “protagonist” of the album driving from Los Angeles to QOTSA hometown Palm Desert. The first of the many radio DJ’s we meet throughout the drive is Kip Kasper from KLON Radio who demands, “Give
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