Artist Spotlight
Björk’s Biophilia: The Sound of the Ocean Floor
Discover how Björk used specialized hydrophones to capture tectonic shifts and marine life for her 2011 masterpiece, Biophilia, a landmark in music technology.
10 min read
The Blog
Stories & Deep Dives
Page 8 of 8 — 184 articles
Music History
How the Spice Girls' 911 Predicted a Global Crisis
Discover how the Spice Girls' 1997 hit "911" used frantic R&B beats and emergency lyrics to accidentally forecast the 24-hour news cycle of a new era.
10 min read
Music History
When Entombed Played a Kid's Party with Buzzsaw Guitars
Discover the legendary moment when Stockholm death metal legends Entombed brought the HM-2 buzzsaw sound to an unsuspecting children's birthday party event.
12 min read
Artist Spotlight
The Night Mariah Carey Shut Down a Birmingham Hotel
Discover the true story of Mariah Carey's 1994 Birmingham hotel takeover, from chilled dressing rooms to white roses and the cost of diva demands.
9 min read
Music History
Brian Ferneyhough and the Art of Musical Impossibility
Explore the extreme technical demands of Brian Ferneyhough's New Complexity scores, where notation pushes musicians to the absolute edge of human capability.
8 min read
Music History
The Banana That Failed, Then Conquered Hip-Hop
Discover how the critically panned 1967 Velvet Underground & Nico album became a sonic blueprint for hip-hop and electronic music producers worldwide.
8 min read
Music History
WFMU's 24-Hour Loop: A Protest Against Corporate Radio
Discover how New Jersey's WFMU used Shari Lewis's "The Song That Never Ends" to protest corporate radio consolidation and accidentally grew its global audience.
8 min read
Artist Spotlight
Ornette Coleman: The Man Who Shattered Jazz
Explore how Ornette Coleman used Harmolodics to break bebop traditions, from his 1959 Five Spot residency to his 1985 Grammy win for In All His Glory.
9 min read
Music History
De La Soul: The Legal Battle for Hip-Hop Autonomy
Discover how De La Soul won a landmark legal fight to reclaim their masters and trademark, preserving the legacy of the Daisy Age era.
11 min read
Music History
The American Pie Lyric Myth and the 1970s
Discover how a misunderstood lyric and the tragedy of 1959 propelled Don McLean's American Pie to the top of the Billboard charts in 1972.
12 min read
Music History
How a Ziggy Stardust Typo Created Glam Rock
Discover how a simple tracklist error on the back of Bowie's 1972 masterpiece helped define the era of glam rock and the legend of Ziggy Stardust.
10 min read
Music History
When Madonna Opened for the Beastie Boys
Discover the awkward 1986 UK tour where Madonna's pop precision clashed with the Beastie Boys' beer-soaked, abrasive hip-hop chaos at the Hammersmith Odeon.
10 min read
Artist Spotlight
Carol Kaye: The Wrecking Crew's Secret Bass Power
Discover the incredible story of Carol Kaye, the session bassist behind 50 number-one hits, from The Beach Boys to Nancy Sinatra and the Wrecking Crew.
11 min read
Music History
How Frank Zappa Humiliated the US Senate in 1966
Explore the day Frank Zappa stood before the US Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency to dismantle the moral panic surrounding rock and roll lyrics.
12 min read
Music History
Steely Dan's Million-Dollar Quest for the Perfect Beat
Discover how Donald Fagen and Walter Becker spent a fortune on session drummers to achieve the sonic perfection found on the 1980 album Gaucho.
9 min read
Music History
The Beatles in Rishikesh: The Birth of The White Album
Discover how a month of meditation in India stripped away psychedelic studio trickery to create the raw, acoustic essence of The Beatles' White Album.
8 min read