LOVING FUN

Sheer Mag’s newest song was written using artificial intelligence.

The sentence above might set off alarm bells of shock and horror if one were to learn it entirely out of context. THAT Sheer Mag? The iconic Philadelphia garage-punk outfit that’s written so many of the best powerpop songs of the past decade? With those killer riffs and the Thin Lizzy meets Freaks and Geeks vibe? I’d worry about the future of rock ’n’ roll. But before I continue, let me tell you a bit about the song, made using the AI tool Udio. It’s a real Whitesnake-esque hair-metal crusher; the

vocals howl, “This ain’t a concert, it’s a revolution!” with the same ferocious energy as David Coverdale or Dee Snider; the guitars blaze; the drums crash. It has a face-melting, mullet-banging guitar solo. It would have made a seamless addition to the Monsters of Rock compilation that captivated late-night TV audiences in the late ’90s. To put it succinctly: It rocks. “Sheer Mag—they’re rock ’n’ roll gods!”