Dominic Harrison may be known as YUNGBLUD, but YUNGBLUD isn’t Dominic Harrison. For him, YUNGBLUD is more than just his identity. “YUNGBLUD is whatever you want it to be,” he tells SPIN over Zoom. That attitude, and his accessibility on social media, make the 23-year-old pop-punk star one of Gen Z’s most relatable artists, which […]
If anyone knows the White Stripes, it’s Ben Blackwell. The Third Man Records co-owner/co-founder, and proclaimed lover of all things Archer Record Pressing, has been with Jack [who is also his uncle] and Meg White from their humble beginnings in Detroit in 1997 to international stardom to their demise in 2011. Blackwell still co-runs Third […]
As part of our 35th anniversary, we’re naming the most influential artists of the past 35 years. Today, we’re at #4. From Compton, California, here is N.W.A. CREDIT: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images Few groups with long, prolific careers have changed the world as much as N.W.A. did with two albums and an EP. Like the similarly […]
“A self-centered way of life will bring all of us down in the end,” Made Kuti sighs on “Different Streets,” the saddest funky track to come out in 2020. The song [a cut off his forthcoming solo album, For(e)ward] starts off on an invigorating note, with an Afrobeat rhythm driven by a pulsing riff. Kuti delivers […]
George Thorogood has made a living performing other musician’s songs. He’s performed them so damn well we all think he’s the original artist. His self-described journey of “starting from the bottom and clawing to the middle” began once he got the heck out of Delaware. As he sang in “Bottom of the Sea,” Thorogood has […]
As part of our 35th anniversary, we’re naming the most influential artists of the past 35 years. Today, we’re at #5. From Cleveland, Ohio, here is Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails. CREDIT: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images Long before Trent Reznor was sitting for thoughtful, lightly acerbic interviews, sitting in on Beats Music executive meetings and steadily amassing Academy […]
SPIN has always highlighted the under-heralded, but an uncountable number of amazing songs have fallen through the cracks since the publication’s 1985 launch. It’s hard to scratch the surface in a list of this size, but consider this chronological mixtape a fun attempt. Many of these selections are personal — cherished, semi-obscure tracks that deserve […]
Music in general is too rarely inspirational. It has too often become the white noise we shove into the background as we scan social media feeds. If music is a savior that pulls us together, we’ll need to embrace the resurrection of the almighty concept album. They fill in the small pixels that complete the […]
As part of our 35th anniversary, we’re naming the most influential artists of the past 35 years. Today, we’re at #7. From Queens, New York, here are Run-DMC. CREDIT: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images Hip-hop had to go through rock in order to become the driving force of American popular music. And […]
Long before the Taylor Swifts, Miranda Lamberts and Brandi Carliles, Carlene Carter set the standard for today’s independent, self-empowered, and irrepressible female country artists—and she did so when country music, as Barbara Mandrell sang in her 1981 Country Music Association Single of the Year, “wasn’t cool.” Three years earlier, the daughter of 1950s and ’60s […]