1991 was a transformative year for rock music, a time when alternative rock and heavy metal entered a new era of commercial dominance. Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden ushered in the explosion of Seattle grunge alongside blockbuster albums by Metallica, R.E.M. and Red Hot Chili Peppers, to say nothing of influential indie classics by My […]
For 58 years, Charlie Watts manned the drum kit behind Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the unflappable bedrock of the Rolling Stones sound. Compared to his British Invasion contemporaries, he wasn’t a bombastic virtuoso like Keith Moon, and a gregarious personality didn’t shine through his playing like Ringo Starr. Instead, Watts was a drummer’s drummer, […]
Music videos are the perfect bastard child of art and commerce, even more than pop music itself. A promotional visual accompaniment to a popular song doesn’t need a coherent narrative (although on rare occasions, they do). It just needs to suit the song, sell the record, and possibly make the artist look cool. But since […]
Three of the 100 are in this picture! The Rolling Stones, in 1964, from left to right: Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones. The problem with lists like this is they are invariably bullshit. So our prime objective was to make sure we didn’t do a bullshit list. I’m not saying we did a scientific one […]
The concert industry exploded in the 1970s, and the live album, a stopgap project once reserved for only the biggest artists, became a compulsory ritual and a pivotal moment for many artists. Live albums captured legendarily loud bands like The Who and The Ramones in their natural element. Once obscure regional acts like Bob Seger, […]
It was a banner year for producers. The Neptunes — a major commercial force since Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Got Your Money” — helmed more great songs than we could fit on this list. (Shout out to NSYNC’s “Girlfriend,” an all-time classic boy band single.) Timbaland, Kanye West and Dr. Dre were similarly on fire. It […]
The world may be getting more and more digital (NFTs — more like no fucking thanks), but record stores are beloved Luddite-havens where music culture thrives. Mainstream stores pivoted out of the brick and mortar locales over the years, or closed altogether like Sam Goody, but not independent shops. Their dedicated owners understood their importance […]
Best Album lists tend to earn all the internet hype — it always feels like a somewhat serious, academic endeavor, adding to the pantheon of OK Computers and To Pimp a Butterflys. But Best Songs lists are weirder, messier, even more challenging on a nuts and bolts level. (When was this song released? When was […]
Despite what some “best of” blurb intros may tell you, there is no exact science to list-making. And constructing one so methodically just might ruin the joy altogether — for both us, the curators, and you, the readers. Even though debate is a natural reaction, anger is not. These stories are supposed to be fun! […]
Making out is timeless — kisses rev up the romantic mood and stir the spirit, if not the loins. Make-out songs contain multitudes too, like the one playing when you sync with that special someone, or the tune that nano-second sucks you right back to high school when you held your teenage crush in a […]